The Yan family’s Bofeng Tower was much quieter today than usual.
Outside the tower, colorful flags fluttered high, and the large red lanterns by the entrance for wine and tea glowed eye-piercingly bright. Looking up, one could see no guests on the second floor, yet the first-floor hall was packed to capacity, with people even standing and waiting for seats, creating a strange sight for anyone who observed.
Yan Fuzhi had barely set foot across the threshold of Bofeng Tower when a waiter bent forward to greet her: “Young Miss.” As he spoke, he stole a glance at Meng Tinghui in her plain cloth dress beside her, his smile fading slightly: “Young Miss has brought a friend without giving us advance notice…”
Yan Fuzhi paid no attention and simply pulled Meng Tinghui toward the second floor: “How strange today, why is there no sound of guests from the second floor?”
The waiter hurriedly stepped forward to block them: “Young Miss doesn’t know, several distinguished guests arrived today and reserved the entire second floor. Look at all these people in the main hall—aren’t there plenty with money? Yet even they can’t go upstairs… Perhaps Young Miss might consider coming back later…”
Yan Fuzhi gave him a sidelong glance and said with a cold laugh: “Do I need to wait in line to have a drink in my own family’s establishment?”
The waiter’s forehead was covered in sweat. Knowing her temperament, he dared not block her further and could only watch helplessly as she pulled her companion upstairs. Finally, he stamped his foot and turned to report to the manager of the main hall.
Yan Fuzhi dragged Meng Tinghui up the stairs, muttering: “Why are you looking so gloomy? You don’t know that people come to Bofeng Tower for food and drink specifically for the view from the second-floor windows! Otherwise, why would they come…”
She was so busy talking over her shoulder that she failed to notice an arm suddenly extending across the stairway entrance, blocking their path. She stopped abruptly and looked up with furrowed brows.
“My master has reserved the entire second floor today. Please, young ladies, take a seat downstairs.” The speaker was a tall man with long arms resting on the stair railing, his face expressionless.
Yan Fuzhi scanned him, saying angrily: “Judging by the fabric of your clothes, you do have some money. But does your master know whose territory he’s sitting in right now?”
The man maintained his cold expression and said nothing more, his gaze passing over her head to look below.
Meng Tinghui stood behind her with a slight curl of her lips. Knowing Yan Fuzhi’s pride, she understood that being ignored by a servant like this would be intolerable. She leaned aside with the attitude of one waiting to enjoy the show.
Sure enough, Yan Fuzhi’s face reddened with anger as she pointed at the man and said: “I’m talking to you!”
The man remained silent, but from the wide-open window facing the street came a clear, bright laugh from a young man—
“Whose territory? Naturally, it belongs to His Majesty the Emperor of our Great Peace Dynasty.”
Upon hearing these words, Meng Tinghui couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and turn to look in that direction.
A young man was lounging by the window, one leg casually propped on the windowsill, holding a black folding fan that he was waving leisurely. The hem of his light blue brocade robe rose and fell with the breeze, and combined with his face that bloomed like a flower when he smiled, he truly evoked a sense of spring’s arrival.
Yan Fuzhi hadn’t expected him to say this. After being stunned for a moment, she turned to Meng Tinghui and said with a cold smile: “Early spring is still cold, yet some brainless person is fanning himself, making cold drafts blow through here. I no longer care for this place. Come, let’s go downstairs…”
“Please wait, miss.” The young man called out to her, then gave a dismissive look to the man guarding the stairway.
The man understood and respectfully said: “Yes, young master.” He immediately stepped aside.
Yan Fuzhi didn’t move, still smiling coldly: “So you’re the one who reserved the second floor? What a waste of those pretty eyes of yours, not seeing how many people downstairs have left disappointed due to lack of seating.”
Meng Tinghui noticed the young man’s expression change slightly and couldn’t help but laugh softly. She walked away to a nearby table by the window and sat down, uninterested in their verbal sparring.
The second floor had several private rooms, with the westernmost one’s door half-open. She could vaguely see people sitting inside but couldn’t make out their appearances.
The young man jumped down from the windowsill and walked straight up to Yan Fuzhi, looking her up and down. His expression turned somewhat peculiar as he closed his fan and asked: “Judging by your attire, are you a student from the women’s academy in Chongzhou?”
Yan Fuzhi glared at him and walked toward Meng Tinghui, spitting out: “Shameless lecher.”
The young man showed no anger but followed behind her, smiling as he asked: “May I ask, since you are a student at the women’s academy, why are you visiting a tavern instead of studying? Do you know how much effort Her Majesty invested in establishing a hundred women’s academies throughout the country? How can you waste such precious time on…”
Yan Fuzhi was utterly confused and said to Meng Tinghui: “I don’t know where this madman came from.”
Meng Tinghui responded absent-mindedly, her gaze focused outside the window.
The young man raised an eyebrow. “I am not a madman, I am…”
Before he could finish, a male voice from the private room interrupted him: “Yan Zhi, say no more.”
That short, cold sentence immediately silenced the young man, who put away his smile and retreated.
Yan Fuzhi waited until he had entered the private room before turning back to Meng Tinghui with a snort: “At least he knows his place.” The man in the private room sounded only about twenty years old, yet could make him so restrained, which aroused her curiosity. She couldn’t help but turn her head to look several more times. When she turned back, she saw Meng Tinghui looking distracted, and poked at the small wine cup in front of her in resignation: “Tell me, is there anything you care about?”
Meng Tinghui withdrew her gaze and after a long pause slowly said: “Studying, passing the imperial examinations, entering government service.”
“Never thought about marriage?” Yan Fuzhi stared at her. “Back then, Madam Shen née Zeng was the first female official in the court, rising to the position of Privy Council Secretary. Yet in the end, wasn’t she afraid of growing old without a husband, so she hurriedly resigned to get married…”
Meng Tinghui closed her eyes. “No.”
—For someone like her with no father, no mother, no family, and no social standing, who would want to marry her?
She was not exceptionally beautiful; the only thing people could praise about her was her knowledge. But if she couldn’t pass the imperial examinations and become an official, what use was all that knowledge without a place to employ it?
Her answer was so direct that Yan Fuzhi was momentarily speechless. After a long while, she spoke again, almost defiantly: “Since Madam Shen, for so many years, women who have entered government service mostly worked in the Court of Imperial Entertainments or the Court of Imperial Banquets. Occasionally some served in the Six Ministries, but none ever entered the Two Departments again. Other women who seek to earn scholarly honors do so only for a few years of glory, but you seem determined to become a high official. Have you considered whether that’s even possible?”
Meng Tinghui’s eyelashes flickered, but she said nothing more.
Her hand, hanging beside the chair, quietly clenched.
Some images flashed through her mind, making her heart tighten and her breathing quicken.
—If my life could save the people, I would not spare myself.
That year, in that torrential rain, those sincere words from that person…
Still echoed in her ears.
On the cold, rainy night, that person held her tightly, their warm breath entering her ear as they softly said, “Little girl, don’t be afraid, don’t cry…”
“Meng Tinghui?”
She suddenly came back to her senses, her heart still pounding uncontrollably.
Just then, the door of the private room opened, and the muffled laughter of a man could be heard.
Yan Fuzhi turned around and saw it was the blue-robed young man from before. Her irritation grew, and she was about to accuse him of eavesdropping when another person emerged. She was momentarily stunned.
This person wore a black robe and black boots—simple attire, yet the white jade hairpin at the back of his head was extremely valuable. He carried himself proudly, his face extraordinarily handsome, but his right eye was covered by a black cloth—he was a one-eyed man.
The two men walked one after another, with the tall man who had guarded the stairway following respectfully behind them, not a step away.
As the three passed by their table, the blue-robed young man suddenly stopped, turned sideways, and leaned close to Yan Fuzhi’s face, saying with a grin:
“Young lady, you said something incorrect earlier. Madam Shen née Zeng did not resign and marry because she feared growing old without a husband. In the future, please refrain from such nonsense.”
Yan Fuzhi’s face turned completely red with embarrassment. She quickly moved away, cursing: “Shameless! Rude!” She turned to pull Meng Tinghui, saying angrily: “I’ll tell my father about this lecher’s behavior, and then…” But she found Meng Tinghui in a daze, staring fixedly at the black-robed man.
“Meng Tinghui?” she called out in surprise.
But Meng Tinghui showed no reaction. Her hand was clenched as hard as stone, her gaze following that man, watching him step by step walk toward the stairs, step by step go down, step by step walk out the door…
His back was so straight, his shoulders so broad, his steps so steady.
There were no jade ornaments at his waist but instead hung a thin black stone tablet with faint patterns visible on it. It swayed gently as he moved, hidden within the ink-black color of his robe—almost unnoticeable unless one looked closely.
She saw it, her eyelid twitched violently, and her whole body trembled. Without thinking, she rushed downstairs.
It was him…
It was him!
Outside Bofeng Tower, the sun shone brightly, its golden fragments of light so dazzling that one could barely keep one’s eyes open.
She stood there panting, searching everywhere for his figure.
The neighing of horses came from the street side. She looked over and saw him mounting his horse and turning the reins.
He turned sideways, his gaze sweeping across her face without lingering, then looked toward the other two men. His lips moved as he said something, and the three spurred their horses away.
He never looked back.
She felt as if she were nailed to the ground, without even the courage to step forward and ask him a single word.
He didn’t recognize her…
But how could he still recognize her?
Ten years ago, he had picked her up from among the dead, ragged, disheveled, barely able to speak clearly. He couldn’t even tell if she was a boy or a girl.
Ten years later, she stood before him with her hair bound, wearing the clothes of a women’s academy student, clean and tidy. How could he possibly think she was that child from years ago?
After all these years, he was the only person she had cherished in her heart, but why, now that she had seen him, did it end like this?
Ten years ago, he had left in the same way. She didn’t know his name or his identity, only tremblingly remembered that face, that eye, and that beautiful stone tablet hanging at his waist. She remembered every word he had said to her.
Ten years later, he had grown taller and stronger, but his face was still handsome, his eye still penetrating, that stone tablet still hanging at his waist… She still lacked the courage to step forward and ask him who he was, or whether she could ever see him again.
…
“Meng Tinghui, what’s wrong?”
Yan Fuzhi had followed her down, her tone somewhat hesitant.
She shook her head. “Nothing.” The sunlight made her eyes sting, and she felt like crying. After a pause, she smiled slightly and said: “Didn’t you say you’d take me for a drink?”