Biluo Palace. Visiting Orchid Residence.

Knowing that Fu Zhumei loved orchids, Wanyu Yuedan had him stay in another courtyard filled with orchid flowers. Fu Zhumei’s martial arts also came from the Skill-Exchanging Great Method, but contrary to everyone’s expectations, after being poisoned, he didn’t have the same strong resistance to the poison as Tang Lici. Even after Wen Renhe performed acupuncture treatment on him, he continued to fall ill constantly.

“Master Fu, don’t get up, you haven’t recovered from your cold yet…” Yun Cui, a maid from Biluo Palace, carried a bowl of fish soup and looked helplessly at Fu Zhumei crouching under the table, hammering something. “No matter what you want to do, just order us servants to do it. Please get up.”

“Cough cough…” Fu Zhumei seemed quite accustomed to catching minor colds and getting minor illnesses. “It’s just a cold… ah, just catching a chill, it’ll be better in a few days, it’s nothing. I’ll be done soon, don’t… don’t tell Xiao Yue, I’m afraid he’ll throw this table away. He’s like A’Li, both a bit wasteful… just needs a few nails and it’ll be beautiful again.”

Yun Cui watched him hammer with her mouth agape. Having only served Fu Zhumei for a few days, she already felt the world spinning, as if the sky had fallen down several times. This Master Fu was very embarrassed about being served. At night when bathing, he wouldn’t let servants fetch hot water. Without saying a word to anyone, he went to the kitchen himself to fetch water. In the deep autumn, he carried back a bucket of cold water to bathe with, and fell ill with a chill the next day. When she brought tea and snacks for his breakfast, she discovered he had risen early and watered all the flowers and plants in Visiting Orchid Residence once over, washed everything inside and outside the house, and was eating breakfast with the servant who dumped the slop, which left her eyes wide with shock. The next day, early in the morning, she hurried to the kitchen to fetch congee, only to see Fu Zhumei chatting with Chef Zhang, and that pot of congee was actually cooked by the two of them together, again stunning her speechless.

When she asked why he did these things, Fu Zhumei rubbed his hair for a long time and said he had caused Xiao Yue a lot of trouble, so he should do whatever he could. Besides, cooking some congee and sweeping the floor – these were things he did every day anyway. Only then did Yun Cui realize he was originally a cook. But since he was the Palace Master’s friend, no matter how humble his status, she would take care of him wholeheartedly. At noon when she brought wine, she specially selected the dishes, thinking that since he was a cook, he must be particularly picky about such matters.

But the result of carefully selecting and bringing dishes that day was that Fu Zhumei gave her his chair to sit on, wouldn’t let her serve him, ate half the dishes, and carefully stored away the other half, saying he’d save it for dinner. When Yun Cui saw him put away the leftover food, she almost felt like she was going crazy and couldn’t help saying there would be new dishes in the evening, so he needn’t be so frugal. Fu Zhumei rubbed his hair and didn’t mind, saying leftovers would be fine for him. Yun Cui really couldn’t bear it anymore and struck up a conversation with him, only then learning that this Master Fu had never really been a “master” at all.

He had been poor since childhood. When he was four, his mother died. When he was seventeen, his father’s business failed and he also died by drowning himself. He hadn’t studied much and had survived since childhood by doing odd jobs for people to earn meals. At his poorest, he hadn’t eaten meat for several months. Once when he was desperately hungry, he went to steal steamed buns. He climbed over a wall but didn’t dare to steal, yet was still caught as a thief and given a severe beating. Later, when he finally saved enough money to buy some meat, the price had gone up and he still couldn’t afford it. He drifted along aimlessly until he was twenty, working as a menial laborer in a tavern. Later, he also met a benefactor in that tavern who gave him a chance to rise in the world. To make his life better, he worked desperately hard for most of a year, but due to various reasons, he still lost the opportunity.

Yun Cui had grown up in Biluo Palace since childhood and never knew the hardships of life. Hearing him ramble on about these trivial matters, she was quite amazed and asked how he had managed to develop such martial arts skills. Fu Zhumei frowned and thought for a long time but couldn’t come up with a clear explanation. Listening to his confused and rambling explanation, Yun Cui could barely make out that his martial arts origins were greatly related to Tang Lici, but achieving martial arts seemed to make no difference to him. He was still an insignificant nobody who had to rely on odd jobs wherever he went, mostly still working as a menial laborer in taverns.

Some people are born to be strong, to be ambitious leaders, to be heroes. Others are born not to be. Wanyu Yuedan knew no martial arts, while Fu Zhumei was highly skilled in martial arts, but which of these two was the strong one and which was the weak one was obvious at a glance.

However, Yun Cui didn’t dislike Fu Zhumei. Although he was somewhat short-sighted, shabby, and mediocre, how was she any better? She was merely a small maid in Biluo Palace. Apart from not worrying about food and clothing, compared to Fu Zhumei, there really wasn’t much difference. There are always more ordinary people than strong ones in the world. Honestly admitting that one isn’t so extraordinary, isn’t so transcendent and refined, actually isn’t bad either.

“Done.” Fu Zhumei emerged from under the table and looked happily at the table he had repaired. “Look, look, how is it?”

Yun Cui crouched down seriously to examine the crack closely. “It’s really very good…” Suddenly there was a soft creak from outside the door. Someone walked in, smiling. “What are you doing?”

“Palace Master!” Yun Cui was startled. Wanyu Yuedan walked without making any sound – she really hadn’t heard him. “We… we were just looking at… looking at this table underneath… there’s a very strange bug.”

Fu Zhumei looked nervous, but seeing that she really hadn’t told Wanyu Yuedan about the table’s flaw, he immediately sighed with relief.

“A bug?” Wanyu Yuedan also crouched down, curiously looking at the table leg. “What kind of bug?”

Yun Cui and Fu Zhumei looked at each other. “That… bug… it has four wings, eight legs, and two heads – a strange bug.”

Wanyu Yuedan reached out and gently stroked the table leg. “Next time you see a strange bug, you must call me.” Yun Cui repeatedly agreed. Wanyu Yuedan stood up and took something from his bosom. “Xiao Fu, guess what this is?”

Fu Zhumei hadn’t seen Wanyu Yuedan for several days and had heard he had gone out. Now seeing the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes relaxed quite beautifully, and his distinct black and white eyes opened particularly attractively, he felt his mood should be very good. “I can’t guess. What is it?” He could never figure out what A’Li and Xiao Yue and these people were thinking.

Wanyu Yuedan opened his palm. In his palm was a piece of soft white silk. The silk scattered along his opened fingers, revealing a pearl with a gentle luster, slightly tinged with green. This pearl was slightly larger than a fingertip, round and smooth, with first-rate shape and quality, though it had some scratches and had been slightly chipped away.

Yun Cui couldn’t help but exclaim, “Green Enchantress!”

Seeing such a pearl, even the most obtuse person would know it was a rare treasure – the Green Enchantress from the imperial crown!

Fu Zhumei stared intently at the pearl in Wanyu Yuedan’s hand. When Yun Cui exclaimed “Green Enchantress,” he also blurted out, “Where’s A’Li? How is he?”