All around was silent. She seemed to be speaking to the air. Feng Zhiwei was neither hurried nor impatient, smiling as before. Sure enough, the next moment, the flower cluster swayed, and that person, holding a wine cup, walked over leisurely.
“Why is it that every time I see you, a good show happens?” His slanting eyebrows were dark as if carved from feathers. Below those brows, his eyes were deep and dark, unlit by daylight.
“It would be more accurate to say that good shows frequently occur around your lordship.” Feng Zhiwei turned with a smile, somewhat surprised that he could recognize her disguise every time. Was this sallow face too distinctive?
Ah, next time she’d disguise herself as a handsome youth—perhaps then he wouldn’t recognize her?
The mischievous thought flashed by, and the young girl’s eyes therefore rippled with dancing colors, fresh and vivid as spring, drawing the man to look at her more deeply. A faint light flickered in his eyes, yet his true thoughts couldn’t be discerned.
His gaze fell on her palm, his expression half-smiling, part surprised and part strange. Only then did Feng Zhiwei remember the egg pouch in her hand. She smiled somewhat awkwardly, instinctively wanting to hide it, but ultimately chose to grip the egg pouch even tighter.
“I’ve seen you three times, and twice you were killing people.” The man took a sip of wine, his gaze falling distantly beyond the clouds and sky. “Do you truly believe there’s no law in this land, that I cannot intervene in such matters?”
“Next time you encounter me, I definitely won’t kill anyone.” Feng Zhiwei answered solemnly.
His hand paused. The man let out a helpless laugh, once again examining her carefully. The young girl before him leaned against the flower cluster, her figure slender, yet her bearing between her brows was open and expansive. The sun was somewhat fierce—she had broken into a light sweat, and her skin took on a crystalline, watery sheen. Set off by those hazy eyes, it produced a somewhat touching charm.
Of course, this touching feeling was predicated on not seeing that egg pouch.
Gently turning the wine cup in his hand, the man seemed to be pondering some matter with indecision. He suddenly said, “You’re not returning to the Qiu household?”
“I will return.” Feng Zhiwei answered very honestly. “Being a male servant doesn’t suit me.”
“Then why did you seek refuge in a brothel?” The man turned his eyes to look around. “In such a filthy place, how will you return later?”
“Seeking possibility within impossibility.” Feng Zhiwei smiled helplessly. “No matter how the Qiu household thinks, they would never imagine I’d come here. This is actually better than making a living outside with my head exposed, giving the Qiu household a handle on me. Besides, women of the wind and dust are more loyal—actually more reliable than ordinary people.”
“You could temporarily stay at a nunnery.”
“Your lordship is also a person of the capital—don’t you know that nunneries are just the back gardens of wealthy families?” A faint smile played at the corners of Feng Zhiwei’s lips. “They hide filth and shelter evil, no less than brothels. Once I went there, perhaps I’d never be able to leave for my entire life.”
She sighed softly, saying, “I’m just a weak woman, my fate like duckweed. My greatest ability is merely to protect my own safety.”
The man didn’t answer, only quietly watching her. His gaze fell into her eyes, and in that young girl’s restrained edge, he saw her undisguisable wisdom.
For some reason, no one came to the area. Even the constant chirping of birds couldn’t be heard. The wind blew heavily, the flowers bloomed silently, and breathing… held to silence.
After a long while, the man raised his sleeve and drained the wine in his cup, smiling at her.
When he smiled, it was like the sun first rising with rosy clouds steaming upward, so brilliantly beautiful it defied comparison. The wind suddenly flowed leisurely, the flowers therefore bloomed brilliantly, and her breathing finally flowed open like water.
Then she heard him say lightly, “Dwelling in the imperial capital is greatly difficult. I hope the next time I see you, you’ll be more well-behaved.”
She bowed, solemnly accepting the instruction.
In her lowered field of vision, she saw that corner of moon-white elegant brocade robe departing at an unhurried pace.
Feng Zhiwei didn’t move, but lightly shook her back clothing.
On her back, her clothes had been soaked with sweat, sticking and itching.
Just now in that instant, like their first encounter, he had again revealed killing intent—even more intense than the first time.
She knew her luck was bad. Both times she had attacked people were under his nose. Both times she had killed or injured people who seemed to have some connection with him.
She didn’t know what he was doing, only vaguely felt that perhaps she had ruined his plans?
Even if there were no inside story, a person like him would certainly feel someone like her was dangerous. A person like him certainly wouldn’t want others to see through the edge hidden behind him. And the best way to resolve these dangers was to kill her.
She had just desperately explained herself to tell him that she had no intention of interfering and posed no danger to him.
For that instant, she felt she hadn’t moved this person who was outwardly elegant and beautiful but inwardly cold as iron and stone, this person of power and privilege.
Yet ultimately, he had let her go once again.
Feng Zhiwei stood in a daze before the winter jasmine cluster. The golden flowers reflected her slightly pale lips, while all around dusk gradually rose—evening was approaching.
“Xiao Zhi, bring a few more flowers—I need them tonight!”
“Right away!”
The daily exchanges at Orchid Fragrance House continued. After that day, Feng Zhiwei smoothly retrieved the banknote and also heard news of Scholar Li’s sole grandson leaving the capital to travel and study. She very carefully waited for a while, yet discovered that everything had already returned to calm, appearing to have left no impropriety whatsoever.
Because she had helped the madam and Lanxiang resolve a crisis, Feng Zhiwei’s days were now quite comfortable. However, each day she still persisted in going out to shop for the young ladies.
Midday was the liveliest time on the imperial capital’s Tianshui Street. Shops displayed their wares in dazzling array, merchants came and went in an endless stream. Galloping carriages were inlaid with brightly gleaming glass, while swaggering noble youths carried exquisite double-barreled firearms over their shoulders.
Prosperous and elegant.
Tiansheng was now the greatest nation under heaven. Its territory extended south to the Jinsha Sea borders, where island nations bowed in submission; north to the Huzhuogedamu snow mountain range, with the fierce and proud Twelve Tribes of Huzhuo all gathered under its wings; east overlooking the Sucang Plateau, where vast green grasslands pastured sheep numerous as stars; west controlling the Changhe Ancient Road, where blond-haired, blue-eyed foreign merchants frequently knocked at the city gates.
From south to north, riding fast horses, one could scarcely arrive in a year.
Such strength and vastness came from six hundred years of Great Cheng dynasty accumulation. The Great Cheng dynasty’s uniquely distinguished Divine Jade Empress Meng Fuyao, born an empress herself, married with a kingdom as dowry, together with the startlingly talented and gorgeous founding emperor of Great Cheng, were called an unparalleled imperial couple. The two were in perfect harmony, sharing equally in the power to handle state affairs. During their reign, they developed commerce, opened sea markets, reformed currency, optimized the official system, promoted literacy and education, encouraged agriculture—their national power advanced a thousand miles in a day, leading the western barbarians by over a hundred years.
However, there was no eternally ironclad kingdom under heaven. After Great Cheng unified the realm, over six hundred years of national fortune and thirty-two emperors, the early period mostly had wise rulers. But after the nineteenth generation, unworthy descendants brought constant internal strife, and national power gradually declined through internal consumption. By the thirtieth emperor, Emperor Li, the country even closed its borders to isolate itself, finally falling two generations later into the hands of the maternal relatives, the Ning clan.
After the Ning clan established the Tiansheng dynasty, they strengthened central authority, widened class gaps, increased checkpoint taxes, and controlled foreign trade. Due to excessive internal fighting, the court’s control over outer vassals was also far inferior to the original Great Cheng. Today’s Tiansheng dynasty, though still prosperous, no longer had the free and vigorous spirit of Great Cheng’s founding. Instead, from its very bones, it exuded the decayed smell of age and obsolescence.
Just like that glass—originally something that could be popularized among all people, it was artificially controlled by the court, becoming a luxury item for nobles.
Feng Zhiwei used the glass of a carriage by the roadside to adjust her hair ornaments. She couldn’t do disguise techniques, yet was naturally quite gifted in this way. When disguised as a youth, she was quite convincing—even her ear piercings were carefully filled with pale yellow rouge mixed with clay.
Then she went around the carriage and turned into an alley with seven twists and eight turns, stopping before a dilapidated house door.
She extended her hand to push the door. Her extended fingers were steady and cautious.
“Whoosh!”
The door opened a crack, and a black light shot out directly toward her face. In her haste, Feng Zhiwei twisted her body, shifted her steps, and tilted her head. The black light, carrying fierce wind, passed dangerously close by her ear, bringing down several strands of hair from her temple.
Watching the hair strands drift down leisurely, Feng Zhiwei smiled bitterly—so today it was a flying sword.
Just in this instant of dodging, the scorching hot airflow that constantly tormented her meridians inside her body suddenly cooled by a few degrees—a bone-penetrating comfort. Feng Zhiwei narrowed her eyes, savoring that rare ease.
A light cough came from inside the door, seeming dissatisfied with her slow reaction. Only then did Feng Zhiwei enter. Darkness rushed at her face. There was no lamp or light in the room. In the corner sat a person in wide black robes wearing an ebony mask. The entire person merged with the darkness—forget distinguishing male or female, it was difficult even to see that there was a person there.
Seeing Feng Zhiwei enter, that person raised their hand and pointed at a furnace in the corner of the room. Feng Zhiwei said nothing and resignedly went to fetch and boil water.
Her reduction to being this person’s “servant” was quite peculiar to speak of. When she first arrived at Orchid Fragrance House, once when going out shopping, she accidentally bumped into a wealthy young master and was ordered by that person to have his servants give her a thorough beating. She fled into this alley and in her panicked flight accidentally kicked over a furnace brewing medicinal herbs. As a result, the master of this house rushed out and gave her another thorough beating. This person incidentally drove away those pursuing servants, yet ordered her to compensate for his “Nine Continents Ten Lands Great Luo Golden Immortal Resurrection Pill.”
Nine Continents Ten Lands Great Luo Golden Immortal Resurrection Pill—the name was very intimidating, but the reality was very fraudulent. Even an idiot could see that a shabby alley, broken house, and mud furnace brewing licorice root and acanthopanax could in no way produce any “Resurrection Pill.”
However, Feng Zhiwei could only hold her nose and accept it. She wasn’t afraid of power—she was afraid of powerful fists.
From then on, she sold herself into hard labor, reporting daily to repay the “enormous debt” as soon as possible. After coming for just a few days, she profoundly recognized that this master’s temperament was extremely vile and their behavior so bizarre it truly made one’s hair stand on end—asking her to wipe a table, the four corners of the table could shoot out mechanisms; asking her to wash clothes, after washing them she would start breaking out in spots all over her body that only faded after three days, forcing her to cover herself up completely those days; accompanying him to eat, the dishes before him were fragrant while those before her were unpalatable. What was even more excessive was that every day when she opened the door, hidden attacks awaited—sometimes a silent finger strike, sometimes fierce fists with tiger-like wind sounds, sometimes a long sword with cold flashing light, sometimes weapons appearing and disappearing unpredictably—never repeating.
How could one person have so many attack methods? Feng Zhiwei didn’t understand. However, dodging day by day, she discovered that her body was actually gradually becoming lighter and more nimble, and moreover, that scorching hot airflow inside her body also seemed to have a tendency to become obedient.
Having gained this understanding, Feng Zhiwei willingly submitted to enslavement, reporting for duty daily after finishing her shopping.
Carrying a bucket of water, she poured it into the furnace. The medicinal herbs in the furnace emitted a strange smell. Feng Zhiwei had been personally taught by Madam Feng since childhood and had dabbled extensively in medical principles, being familiar with the human body’s meridians and acupoints and various medicines. Yet she couldn’t identify what was brewing in this furnace. In fact, except for the licorice root and acanthopanax Great Luo Golden Immortal Resurrection Pill on the first day, every day afterward the medicinal herbs brewed were impossible to identify.
Feng Zhiwei patiently controlled the furnace fire, occasionally opening the lid to check the heat—accepting the baptism of that unpleasant medicinal smell hitting her face. This was also one of this person’s strange requirements.
Faintly red mist emanated from the pot, striking her face. It was actually slightly cool, carrying a somewhat acrid taste. Feng Zhiwei unconsciously took a breath, feeling her mind and spirit refreshed. The hot flow inside her body suddenly circulated joyfully, yet no longer with its former scorching heat—warm and soothing instead.
She was immersed in this peculiar feeling, reluctant to leave for a moment. Suddenly, that wide-robed person raised their hand and viciously threw something at her. Feng Zhiwei dodged, and turning her head, saw the black-clothed person’s eyes flickering, their expression rather strange.
She was stunned. Only then did she lower her head to look at the object in her hand—it was a booklet so tattered that even its cover had fallen off. Opening it, it was a miscellaneous record. The author’s handwriting wasn’t particularly good, yet the brush strokes were flying and contemptuous, using words novel and interesting, different from contemporary language. The content encompassed insights on martial arts, travel records, politics, classics and history in all aspects, written in a disorderly and casual manner, yet every word was a pearl. Feng Zhiwei casually browsed through it, becoming more alarmed the more she read. Her gaze suddenly froze on a certain page.
At the top of that page, another person’s handwriting suddenly appeared—elegant bones and clear spirit, iron strokes and silver hooks, writing: “Qingqing, please allow me to peek.”
Then came the original author’s handwriting, written with swords drawn and crossbows cocked, looking quite vicious: “Peeping is shameful!”
The next line, in beautiful handwriting, replied: “Announcing before peeking is not shameful.”
The original author even more viciously: “Being rebuked yet continuing to peek is even more shameful!”
Feng Zhiwei couldn’t help but laugh out loud with a “pfft,” finding this pair truly wonderful. Somehow, she just felt that these two people who left these written traces must be a man and woman, and moreover, lovers whose hearts and spirits were in harmony.
However, when her eyes swept to the next line, she suddenly dropped the booklet from her hands in shock!