In the cold mountain night, within a dream, he stood by the Xiang River banks. Like in ancient times, he saw the goddess of Mount Wu. At dawn she was the morning clouds, at dusk she was the falling rain. The goddess wore clouds as her clothes and water as her shoes. She walked gracefully through the dark night, her eyes downcast with tears, surrounded by wisps of clouds and mist.
As the mist gradually dispersed, the woman turned around, the clouds covering her body scattered. She revealed her stunningly beautiful face, with eyes like clear water, glistening with tears.
She showed a weak, self-pitying smile. As the bright moon broke through the clouds, her beautiful, sacred body walked towards him step by step and embraced him.
Her face was so familiar that it filled his heart with terror…
The next day, Lu Yun woke up the latest. Prince Chen and others had already finished breakfast, and Luo Lingyu was again enthusiastically trying to please Mr. Wang when Lu Yun finally arrived. Luo Lingyu secretly glanced at him and saw that after just one night, Lu Yun looked as if he had been drained by a female spirit – his face was extremely pale, his eyes were drooping, with dark circles underneath.
Mr. Wang observed this and sighed: “It must be our humble accommodations that inconvenienced Lu Yun.”
Lu Yun remained silent.
He couldn’t exactly say that some unexpected events last night had left him tossing and turning, unable to sleep, could he?
Thinking of this, he felt dark hatred and annoyance in his heart, coldly glancing at Luo Lingyu. However, Luo Lingyu had already withdrawn her gaze from him. The young lady’s eyelashes trembled gently as she kept stealing glances at Zhou Yangling. Zhou Yangling calmly endured Miss Luo’s repeated looks. Though she had great patience, even Prince Chen Liu Shu noticed Luo Lingyu’s constant glances at her.
Liu Shu looked at these people and saw that whenever Miss Luo looked at Zhou Young Master, Lu Yun’s face would darken a bit more. Yet Lu Yun didn’t say anything, just staring at Miss Luo.
His Highness Prince Chen was slow to realize, feeling that after one night, he seemed to have missed many interesting stories.
Luo Lingyu was muttering to herself while feeling regretful.
She kept sneaking glances at Zhou Young Master because she couldn’t believe someone so handsome and refined could come from a humble background. How could a commoner’s family raise someone with such composed dignity? It was truly such a shame… If Zhou Young Master had been born into a noble family, she wouldn’t have to feel so stifled in front of Lu Yun.
Zhou Young Master’s temperament was so much better than her hot-and-cold third cousin…
She even felt somewhat disgusted with her own “disdain for the poor and love for the wealthy,” feeling that she had failed to appreciate Zhou Young Master’s kindness towards her.
Luo Lingyu’s heart was also full of complaints about Lu Yun.
In Luo Lingyu’s eyes, Zhou Yangling was a gentleman with an excellent temperament.
As Luo Lingyu kept stealing glances at her, when Mr. Wang wasn’t paying attention, Zhou Yangling looked up and smiled at Luo Lingyu.
Luo Lingyu immediately became flustered and lowered her eyes, silently warning herself: Zhou Young Master comes from a humble background, he’s not a suitable match, I can’t give him the wrong impression…
Thinking this way made her feel even more like a bad person, failing Zhou Young Master.
Lu Yun: “…”
She was flirting again. He felt that he must be like a dead person in Luo Lingyu’s eyes.
But this wasn’t the end of it.
After having breakfast at Mr. Wang’s place that morning, they planned to bid farewell, not wanting to disturb the teacher any longer. Lu Yun was quite familiar with Mr. Wang, so he stayed behind to chat for a while.
When leaving, Mr. Wang was in high spirits and even gave Lu Yun a bamboo container of qin fish.
Mr. Wang happily stroked his beard and explained to the curious Luo Lingyu: “Young lady comes from Nanyang, you probably haven’t seen this kind of small fish. These qin fish were brought by several of my good friends from the Qin Gao River — in ancient times, there was one called Qin Gao who rode a fish up to the blue sky. Though these fish are small, they have no fishy smell and are extremely delicious.”
“These fish can be boiled together with ‘Yongxi Fire Green’ tea. When brewing the tea, the fish falls into the tea, creating swirling green mist, with the green tea and fish moving about quite beautifully.”
Luo Lingyu widened her beautiful eyes in surprise, looking down at the bamboo container the teacher had given them with great interest, clicking her tongue and smiling: “Drinking tea with fish in the water? Sounds scary, I wouldn’t dare.”
Mr. Wang laughed heartily, pointing at Lu Yun: “That’s because you haven’t tried it yet, you don’t know how refined this tea is. Lu Xuechen is an expert at brewing ‘qin fish tea,’ ask your cousin to make some for you to drink, then you’ll understand what I mean.”
Lu Yun brewing tea?
Luo Lingyu glanced at Lu Yun. Lu Yun remained expressionless, sitting on the couch with his sleeves resting on his knees, his clean and slender fingers extending from his sleeves. Lu Yun’s hands were as beautiful as the person himself, but Luo Lingyu had never seen Lu Yun brew tea. Since she had known Lu Yun, everything around him was done by maids and servants; she had never seen Lu Yun brew even a bit of tea.
Naturally, a noble young master wouldn’t be idle enough to brew tea for her… Luo Lingyu envied the noble atmosphere once again. If she could marry into a prestigious family like the Lu family, she would also never brew tea again. She would be like her third cousin, who despite being excellent at brewing tea, was never seen doing it.
Lu Yun noticed her gaze and glanced at her.
Luo Lingyu remembered last night’s events and lowered her head nervously.
Since Mr. Wang wanted to discuss political matters with the two young masters, Luo Lingyu was given a look and left with Zhou Yangling. When Lu Yun and Liu Shu came out of the room, they happened to see Zhou Yangling leaning against the fence, head lowered, handing a blue brocade lucky bag to Luo Lingyu. Luo Lingyu refused to accept it, but Zhou Yangling said softly: “Sister, don’t be afraid. I disturbed you last night, and I feel very guilty about it. I thought about it all night, and to apologize to sister, I’m giving you this charm that my mother once got for me, to bless sister with lifelong peace.”
“Please don’t blame me for disturbing you last night.”
Luo Lingyu’s eyes immediately turned red: “Young master, I… I…”
She mumbled: “You’re so good to me…”
Zhou Yangling: “This is what I should do. Sister was frightened last night, remember to bolt your door from the inside at night from now on…”
Luo Lingyu clutched the charm in her hand, listening to Zhou Young Master’s gentle reminders with a red face. Though her face was flushed with embarrassment, her heart was greatly shocked. How could there be such a generous gentleman in this world?
She remembered that she hadn’t been particularly kind to Zhou Young Master; she had merely considered him as a potential choice, yet Zhou Young Master took such good care of her.
Unlike Lu Yun who always made her blush with embarrassment, Zhou Young Master’s care was like a spring breeze, without any aggression, yet it moved her…
Luo Lingyu looked up, her affectionate gaze fixed on Zhou Young Master’s handsome face — Zhou Young Master was so good-looking and had such a good temperament, why did he have to be born into a humble family?
Is it true that good things never come in pairs?
Not far away, Liu Shu and Lu Yun, who were standing in the corner watching the two of them, both had very strange expressions. Liu Shu narrowed his eyes, feeling slightly uncomfortable, thinking secretly that Lu Yun’s cousin was truly troublesome, like a bewitching consort from the previous dynasty who brought disaster to the country and people. Every gentleman who met her would lose their senses and develop feelings for her. First, there was his friend Lu Yun, and now Zhou Young Master Zhou Zibo, whom they had only known for a short time.
Lu Yun, on the other hand, felt very strange in his heart: clearly Zhou Yangling was a woman, which shouldn’t matter. Clearly Luo Lingyu loved power and status, which also shouldn’t matter. But watching the two ladies reluctantly expressing their emotions there, why was it so eye-catching?
Making him feel uneasy?
…
This time, Luo Lingyu truly took Zhou Young Master to heart. Zhou Yangling spoke to her too gently and was too kind to her; she felt ashamed in her heart. After returning to the Lu family mansion down the mountain, she immediately sent people to return the chime bells to Zhou Yangling. The returning maid mentioned that Zhou Young Master had given them some interesting little trinkets in return, as gifts for Miss Luo to play with. A row of twelve brightly colored ceramic figurines was placed on the small table, and Luo Lingyu couldn’t put them down as she played with them.
Then she covered her sleeve in sorrow, extremely melancholic: “Why did he have to be born into a humble family…”
Marrying him would not elevate her status, which Luo Lingyu was extremely unwilling to accept. But she still felt very conflicted…
In the following days, Lu Yun took time to bring Luo Lingyu to visit several other famous scholars. The competition for “Flower Goddess” among the ladies of Jianye was fierce; one moment Chen Xiu was ranked first, the next moment Princess Ping Ning Liu Tang could also rise to first place. The ladies of various families used all their methods, not only competing in on-stage talents but also in behind-the-scenes connections and influence. While Chen Xiu and Liu Tang were fighting for first place, Luo Lingyu benefited like a fisherman, quietly breaking through. More and more gentlemen and ladies were frustrated and confused by the two powerful ladies Chen Xiu and Liu Tang, not knowing who to give their “top grade” to, and finally just gave it to Luo Lingyu —
The “Flying to the Moon” that Miss Luo composed that night not only made Lian Qiniang become the most popular dancer in Jianye’s dance houses recently but also helped her own stunning performance amaze countless gentlemen.
The gentlemen agreed to go to the dance house to watch Lian Qiniang dance again, but after she danced, they felt the novelty had worn off and it wasn’t as interesting as that night’s feelings. Thinking this way, they naturally felt that Miss Luo must have arranged everything perfectly that night to make the dance amaze them. This kind of capability deserved a “top grade.”
After the voting from various gentlemen and ladies, the five famous scholars also gave their answer. Both expected and unexpected, this year’s Flower Goddess was not Chen Xiu who lost, nor Princess Ping Ning who participated for the first time using her princess status. The first place went to the Lu family’s new cousin, Luo Lingyu.
“So Miss Luo is this year’s Flower Goddess?”
The gentlemen thought of that lady’s charm and were naturally delighted.
After their initial disappointment, the ladies thought of Luo Lingyu’s beauty and quietly accepted it, thinking to themselves that they couldn’t compare. Such beautiful features made her much more suitable as “Flower Goddess” than Chen Xiu, the talented lady of previous years. Chen Miss had been “Flower Goddess” for three consecutive years, and everyone said this was because of the scholars’ favoritism. This year’s “Flower Goddess” was chosen as a great beauty, and everyone was quite satisfied.
When Princess Ping Ning learned of this result, after a moment of disappointment, she was genuinely happy for Luo Lingyu. However, her brother Prince Chen Liu Shu had someone remind her: “When you initially participated in the ‘Flower Goddess’ selection, you were just being used as a stepping stone by Luo Lingyu to target Chen Xiu. This woman had intentions to use you… You should be careful when dealing with her in the future.”
Liu Tang was stunned: … but Sister Luo had never harmed her, only encouraged her to participate in the “Flower Goddess” selection. Should this kind of use be held against her?
While Liu Tang felt slightly uncomfortable, Chen Xiu was extremely uncomfortable. Miss Chen went home and cried heavily, feeling particularly unwilling to accept the result. The great scholar Chen was stressed out by his daughter’s crying. The Chen family was originally preparing to leave Jianye, and with his daughter’s outburst, Chen the great scholar simply wanted to leave earlier, taking his daughter with him. This made Chen Xiu even more upset — Jianye was the capital of the Southern Kingdom, full of refined culture; she was unwilling to leave this place to go study with her father in some rural area.
While everyone was in turmoil, the Lu family was the happiest.
The Lu family never imagined that their young cousin could win a “Flower Goddess” title; previously, when the Lu family’s direct eldest daughter Lu Qingyi was unmarried, she had participated in the “Flower Goddess Selection” many times but had never become “Flower Goddess.”
The Flower Goddess would be painted into scholars’ portraits of noble ladies, with her beautiful name spreading throughout the world…
The Lu family’s old madam personally met with Luo Lingyu and rewarded her generously; Lu Ying, who was usually busy sightseeing and traveling, was also amazed by his niece’s capabilities and rewarded her again; then Madam Lu was equally happy — their cousin’s reputation was also the Lu family’s, and the Lu family hadn’t had a girl make such a splash for many years…
Reward!
Madam Lu looked at Luo Lingyu and her own family’s third son, feeling that they were truly a perfect match of talent and beauty, a match made in heaven. If only her son wouldn’t always interfere.
With the glory of “Flower Goddess,” Luo Lingyu almost floated when she walked.
In the spring season, on the Day of Flowers, Luo Lingyu led the noble ladies of Jianye to worship the Flower Goddess and appreciate the red blossoms. That day, everyone played in the Hualin Garden, whether it was worshipping the gods or burning incense, everything was led by Luo Lingyu first. All the ladies wore wide-sleeved long dresses, with Luo Lingyu at the front. The gentlemen watched from across the water, seeing the ladies like celestial maidens, all kinds of beautiful, they were all mesmerized.
Especially this year’s “Flower Goddess,” with her beautiful glancing eyes, charming smile, and graceful figure full of elegance. Whether the ladies were sitting or standing, they all attracted everyone’s gaze —
“Miss Luo looks truly like the Flower Goddess descended from heaven in this state.”
“They chose the right person this year.”
“I must speak more with Miss Luo later!”
Qi Third Young Master Qi An stood in the crowd, motionless as if he had been hit by an acupuncture point. Qi Third Young Master was already entranced, his breathing irregular, staring fixedly at the lady with floating clothes at the front of all the women across the shore! The day she first came to Jianye, she stood at the dock like an immortal consort, already extremely beautiful. Today she was dressed in full formal attire, making his blood freeze even more, every part of his body screaming: Miss Luo, Miss Luo… Miss Luo!
The various gentlemen across the stream commented on the ladies worshipping the Flower Goddess at the table on the other side. Several scholars had already sat down, spread out rice paper, and begun to paint. They would make portraits of noble ladies, recording each year’s Flower Goddess. The scholars’ portraits of noble ladies would be praised throughout the land and passed down through the ages. With this beautiful name to be passed down for ten thousand generations, when the ladies saw the scholars painting, their hearts tightened, and when they looked at Miss Luo’s beautiful face, they all felt somewhat lost and disappointed.
Lu Yun also came to paint.
When he was painting, many gentlemen and ladies surrounded him. With whispers and murmurs, before Lu Yun’s painting was finished, many meanings had already been interpreted from it. Seeing Lu Yun’s handsome and cold profile, noble and aloof, the gentlemen and ladies also felt inspired one after another, asking people to spread rice paper for painting. Across the water, Luo Lingyu sat in the cool pavilion watching the gentlemen on the other side, and she immediately saw the gentleman sitting at the table holding a brush. Luo Lingyu curled her lips —
Lu Yun, hmph! You look down on me in your heart, but still have to paint for me?
The Day of Flowers was very lively, not only did ladies come to hang red decorations, but gentlemen also came to please the ladies. On such a lively festival day, several young masters also came to join in. Lu Xian originally stood behind his own brother, with an approving smile on his face, watching his third brother paint for cousin Luo. Unexpectedly, when Lu Xian looked up, he saw the young Prince of Hengyang staring at Luo Lingyu with deep eyes outside the crowd.
Lu Xian was startled and quickly left his third brother’s side.
Liu Mu played with the jade pendant at his waist, looking with interest at the lady in the pavilion across the shore. Usually it was fine, but today with all the ladies in formal dress, it really brought out Luo Lingyu’s beauty. Miss Luo was already beautiful normally, but what suited her best was actually formal attire, because her eyes and brows were bright and gorgeous, her beauty carrying a sense of aggression. Usually she hid her beauty, but today she completely released it… Liu Mu raised his brush and made a stroke on the rice paper.
He had just made one stroke when someone appeared beside him, their elbow bumping his wolf-hair brush. The ink from Liu Mu’s brush made a heavy stroke on the snow-white rice paper; with his first stroke, this paper was ruined.
Liu Mu: “…”
His eyes blazing with fire, he glared at this suddenly appearing Lu Xian: “Are you sick?! Couldn’t you see I was painting?!”
Lu Xian thought that precisely because he saw it, he couldn’t let you paint. In the dream, cousin Luo wasn’t the “Flower Goddess” this time, and you painted especially for cousin Luo to comfort her; you even went to find my third brother to paint for cousin Luo to please her. I can see your heart trying to please cousin Luo, but why did you go find my third brother to paint for cousin Luo… Lu Xian said: “Actually, everyone paints portraits, there’s nothing special about it. Your Highness’s temperament is naturally different from common people, what’s so good about beautiful women, better to paint landscapes.”
Liu Mu’s face was expressionless, his hand holding the brush handle trembling: “…”
Lu Xian pretended not to see the Prince of Hengyang’s oppressive cold gaze coming towards him, insisting on standing beside him to point out the scenery to Liu Mu: “Look, today no one is painting these landscapes, the mountains and waters have spirit, how pitiful…”
No one was painting landscapes because today everyone was painting portraits of noble ladies! Liu Mu truly couldn’t understand – this Lu Xian had previously promoted his cousin to him, and now that he finally had some interest, Lu Xian came to destroy his mood, buzzing in his ear like a fly to disgust him. How could the Lu family’s gentlemen be so annoying, and completely unaware of it?
While Lu Xian was making sure Liu Mu’s face turned black as ink, forcing him to paint landscapes as suggested, Qi Third Young Master’s voice came from nearby. Qi Third Young Master was very bashful: “Second Young Master, about the matter I asked you to help inquire about last time, did you find out?”
Lu Xian was confused: “What matter?”
Qi Third Young Master became slightly anxious and reminded him: “About me wanting to make Miss Luo my concubine!”
Lu Xian froze slightly: …he had already forgotten about this. How did Qi Third Young Master still remember?
Liu Mu beside them had an unpredictable look in his eyes and said meaningfully: “Lu Xian, how many people have you recommended your cousin to? Are you so afraid she won’t get married?”
Lu Xian looked at Qi Third Young Master who was staring at him expectantly, then at Liu Mu who was unhappy beside him. Lu Xian’s lips moved but he couldn’t speak: this misunderstanding was huge… Lu Xian couldn’t help but turn his head to look towards Lu Yun in the crowd. But when he looked, Lu Yun was already gone. Lu Xian quickly asked around and learned that a maid had spilled wine and stained Lu Yun’s sleeve, so he had gone to change clothes.
The gentlemen answered this way, their faces bearing that kind of knowing, ambiguous smile that men share.
Lu Xian: …understood. Third Brother had been entangled by a woman using this kind of trick again.
Lu Xian felt bitter in his heart: why could Third Brother and cousin Luo each attract a group of admirers? When he was working hard, who knew his struggles?
Lu Xian could only casually find an excuse to send Qi Third Young Master to help him find someone. He himself felt uneasy and hurriedly crossed the shore to find Luo Lingyu, wanting to warn her to absolutely not be foolish enough to get entangled with Qi Third Young Master. Luo Lingyu sat in the pavilion folding flowers, with a self-satisfied and leisurely smile on her lips. Suddenly hearing footsteps behind her, she peered out from behind the flowers with half her body, seeing Lu Xian hurriedly coming up the corridor.
Lu Xian first looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to this area, then asked Luo Lingyu in a low voice: “Has anyone mentioned becoming a concubine to you?”
Luo Lingyu was stunned and looked up: “…Concubine? Me as a concubine?”
She asked in confusion: “Who mentioned it… Third Cousin?”
Lu Xian: “…Third Brother has already talked to you about this?!”1
He naturally thought of how he often saw Lu Yun and Luo Lingyu together, so he assumed Lu Yun had already mentioned this to Luo Lingyu.
While Luo Lingyu clearly understood it as another meaning, she suddenly stood up, her beautiful eyes hiding anger: “He wants to take me as a concubine?! On what grounds?! After all that between us, he would insult me like this? Second Cousin, where is Lu Xuechen?! I want to demand an explanation from him!”
Lu Xian: “…What do you mean by ‘after all that between us, he would insult you like this’?”
It felt like something was very strange, as if his cousin had misunderstood something.
- T/N: Note that both Lu Yun and Qi An are ‘third’ in the family, and both go by ‘Third Young Master’ (lol). ↩︎
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