Chapter 46 – The Peacock Lingers, an Old Friend Crosses the Mountains

Lu Jing was not wrong.

The most famous place in Zhunan City of the Mountain Sea Pavilion was not the Treasure Market or the lantern tide, but a street called Glazed Street. Both sides of the street were lined with brothels, catering to both men and women. Due to the regulations of the Mountain Sea Pavilion, red lanterns were hung high outside their doors, hence it was also known as “Red Railing Street.” It was truly the number one pleasure quarter in the world, with no equal in all the Twelve Continents.

And the Qin Tower was the crown jewel of this gilded den.

“Damn it all,” Zuo Yuesheng said, his face contorted as he held a White Peony Flower Slip, his hand trembling slightly. “One piece of paper, and it cost a thousand taels of gold? I should just come here and sell paper at the door instead!”

He was truly heartbroken!

Why did that damn Lu Jing have to shout about coming to the Qin Tower?

To enter this blasted Qin Tower, one had to present an invitation slip. Otherwise, not even the Jade Emperor himself could get in.

You could try to force your way in with martial arts, but first, you had to be sure you could withstand the “saber drawn to help in the face of injustice” from the other guests. There was once a reckless fool at the Half-step Guardian Stage who tried it, only to be sent flying ten streets away by a guest who didn’t even show his face—according to Fatty Zuo’s exposé, that guest was actually the great Pavilion Master Zuo, who happened to be drinking at the Qin Tower that day… Secondly, even if you did manage to break in, by the next day, you would become the “public enemy of the Twelve Continents.” Not to mention the verbal and written attacks from scholars and poets, there would also be countless men and women waiting to deal with you. The reason female cultivators were also included was, one, because as women, they felt a sense of sisterhood, and two, because it wasn’t just men who frequented the Qin Tower… There was once a courtesan queen who disdained all men in the world, spent a thousand gold to buy her own freedom, and ran off to roam the world with a female saber wielder.

The invitation slips for the Qin Tower were called the “Twelve Flower Slips.”

They were divided into twelve colors, such as peach, pomegranate, lotus, chrysanthemum, orchid, and so on, each corresponding to an elegant pavilion of a different style and level. The flower slips were given by a congenial beauty or a young man. For first-timers who didn’t know anyone, they had to “request” a flower slip.

It was called a “request,” but it was really just buying one with money.

Zuo Yuesheng had originally intended to buy only the cheapest peach blossom slip, but he was forced by those two detestable fellows, Lu Jing and Monk Budu, to buy the most expensive White Peony Flower Slip. As soon as the four flower slips were in his hand, tears streamed down Fatty Zuo’s face.

“A fine place indeed,” Monk Budu said with his palms pressed together. “It’s not much different from the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.”

“You damn bald donkey, what are you doing in a brothel? Do you dare to break your vows?” Zuo Yuesheng glared at him fiercely. “And you dare to compare this place to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss? Aren’t you afraid the Buddha will strike you dead with a bolt of lightning?”

Bringing Chou Bodeng and Lu Jing was already painful enough for Zuo Yuesheng’s wallet. Who would have thought that Budu, this wine-and-meat monk, would use the “Three Lives Flower” as leverage to shamelessly tag along?

Zuo Yuesheng almost kicked him into the vast sea to feed the turtles. On second thought, he had just returned to the Mountain Sea Pavilion and wanted to enjoy a few days of freedom. If he fed the Buddhist Saint to the turtles, he would definitely be exiled again, so he reluctantly endured it… although the bigger reason was that he couldn’t beat the bald donkey Budu in a fight.

“Benefactor Zuo, you are mistaken,” Monk Budu said with a dignified expression. “Have you forgotten that our Buddhist Sect has the concept of ‘Joyful Zen’?”

Zuo Yuesheng was speechless.

Damn Joyful Zen.

“Why is the white peony considered the best? In terms of elegance, the plum and orchid are superior, aren’t they?”

Chou Bodeng casually asked Lu Jing, who was a grandmaster in this field.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Lu Jing said, opening his fan with a flourish and fanning himself as he walked. He had changed into a white robe and specially wore a silver crown. Anyone who didn’t know his true nature would probably mistake him for a refined young gentleman at first glance. “The Qin Tower is actually also known as the ‘Qin Wei Tower,’ taken from the ancient song ‘The Qin and the Wei, are now in full flow. Knights and maids, are bearing the orchids. The maid says, “Shall we go and see?” The knight says, “I have been already.” “But let us go again to see. Beyond the Wei, the ground is truly spacious and fair. There the knights and maids, are frolicking with one another, and they give each other peonies. [1]’ But that’s not the most important part. The important part is what comes next… Hey, this flower slip wasn’t requested for nothing. Take a look at what’s written on the back.”

Hearing this, Chou Bodeng flipped over the flower slip that was worth a thousand gold.

The slip was cut from the famous “Falling Snow Xuan Paper” of Qing Province, about a foot long and an inch wide. The front was sparsely painted with a half-opened white peony in light ink and silver powder, and the back had a line or two of text in small regular script:

The Qin and Wei are in full flow, bearing orchids.

The Qin and Wei are clear, full and abundant.

At the end was a vermilion seal, with the characters for “Heavenly Maiden” in seal script.

“Right,” Lu Jing said, seeing that he had noticed the seal, with the expression of a proud teacher. “This Heavenly Maiden is the top courtesan of the Qin Tower. It’s not easy to become the Heavenly Maiden of the Qin Tower. All past Heavenly Maidens have been recognized as the number one beauty in the Twelve Continents. As the saying goes, ‘Three hundred towers of song and dance on Red Railing Street, but the peony of Qin and Wei is uniquely gentle.'”

The charming lady leading the way turned sideways and smiled, “You gentlemen have come at a fortunate time. Tonight happens to be Heavenly Maiden Lian’s first time descending from her pavilion to receive slips.”

Lu Jing’s face lit up with joy. He closed his fan and tapped his palm, “This couldn’t be better. If I can get the first peony of the Qin Tower tonight, this trip to Qing Province will have been worth it.”

“If you like peonies, just say so,” Zuo Yuesheng said through gritted teeth. “I’ll go to the old man’s flower garden and pluck some for you, as many as you want.”

“What do you know?” Lu Jing felt deeply embarrassed. “Only the Heavenly Maiden can give away the peonies of the Qin Tower. The Heavenly Maiden’s first peony is more glorious than winning the championship of the immortal sects’ Dao discussion conference, you know?”

“In the end, it’s still just a flower,” Zuo Yuesheng sneered.

“A piece of rotten wood cannot be carved!”

Lu Jing and Monk Budu cursed in unison.

Zuo Yuesheng felt they were insane and moved to stand next to the equally unenthusiastic Chou Bodeng, asking with ill intent, “Are you saying that Young Master Chou is also a piece of rotten wood?”

“Young Master Chou has himself to admire in the mirror, can you do that?” Lu Jing mercilessly ridiculed Zuo Yuesheng. “Even if you look in a mirror, it’s a question of whether the mirror can even fit you.”

“Gentlemen, we have arrived at the private room.”

Meiniang half-drew the beaded curtain and gently mediated.

The room corresponding to the highest-grade White Peony Flower Slip was furnished elegantly but not plainly, clearly but not solitarily. The scent of the white jade openwork sandalwood incense burning in the corner was cool and not overpowering, worthy of the several thousand taels of gold that Zuo Yuesheng had bled. After inspecting it, Chou Bodeng went to recline on the soft couch in front of the screen, satisfied, and slowly flipped through the red folder listing the teas, wines, and snacks.

With every page the three of them turned, with every item they named, Zuo Yuesheng’s face turned a shade whiter.

By the end, the Young Pavilion Master of the Mountain Sea Pavilion was lying on a chair, pretending to be dead.

Chou Bodeng went over and pretended to search his Mustard Seed Pouch.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Zuo Yuesheng jumped up, trembling as he took out his money. “Let’s get this straight, I’m only paying up to this point. After this, whoever wants to please which lady can pay for it themselves. Don’t even think about getting another copper coin out of me!”

“Alright, alright.”

Chou Bodeng said nonchalantly.

The great Young Master Chou had always considered himself to have “nine-tenths of all the beauty in the world, with the rest sharing the remaining one-tenth.” He had not the slightest interest in a bunch of “common rouge and powder” who were not even a tenth as beautiful as him. He had come to this Qin Tower purely to join in the fun and to drink.

In brothels and pleasure quarters, besides song, dance, and beauties, there would usually be one or two famous wines to hold the fort. Just imagine, a beauty rolling up her sleeves to warm white porcelain wine. If the wine wasn’t good enough, wouldn’t it detract from the lady’s beauty?

This Qin Tower had one such wine, called “Zhaoli,” which was ranked in the first category in the `Record of Heavenly Stems and Yeast Starters`.

Lu Jing rolled his eyes at Zuo Yuesheng, “It’s not like we were counting on a cheapskate like you. What do you know about romance?”

Zuo Yuesheng was furious, “Lu Shiyi, if you weren’t counting on me, then you should have paid! Damn it, you were the one who ordered the most just now. Are you a pig? If I were the Heavenly Maiden, I would definitely look down on a glutton like you.”

“If you were the Heavenly Maiden, I’d carry my flying boat and run away overnight,” Lu Jing retorted.

As they spoke, young maids entered in a single file, arranging clear, ice-like white porcelain dishes like lotus flowers.

The Qin Tower had stood tall on Red Railing Street for many years without being shaken by any newcomers. It was clear that it didn’t truly pursue “loftiness” for its own sake. Rather, it had deliberately set the rule of “no entry without a flower slip” for the sake of better profits. In essence, it was a business savvy enough to know how to please its distinguished guests without being obvious.

When Chou Bodeng and his group entered the Qin Tower, they didn’t announce their identities, but the charming lady in the tower had recognized Zuo Yuesheng, the Young Pavilion Master of the Mountain Sea Pavilion with his signature round and broad build, at a glance. Guessing his tastes based on his father, the great Pavilion Master Zuo, a regular at the Qin Tower, she had arranged for the best performers, from the wine pouring and dish placement to the zither playing and soft singing.

First, fair wrists held vermilion baskets, and red fingers pointed to icy cups.

As she left the private room, Meiniang thought to herself: The Young Pavilion Master will surely be satisfied this time, right?

…Satisfied my ass.

Zuo Yuesheng took one look, and his face turned green. The things that cost dozens or hundreds of taels of gold were only the size of a fingernail. He almost pulled out his identity as the Young Pavilion Master on the spot to slap a hundred or so seals on the Qin Tower and raid it to the ground.

“Your father is also a regular at the Qin Tower.”

Lu Jing reminded him. He leaned back in his chair, enjoying a beauty massaging his shoulders, feeling like he had finally come back to life after being away from home for so long.

Zuo Yuesheng angrily devoured the fruit snacks one by one. The female entertainer next to him had probably gotten some wind from Meiniang and kept casting flirtatious glances at Zuo Yuesheng, but it was purely casting pearls before swine. On Monk Budu’s side, however, he was very seriously reading the fortune of a girl in blue, first her face, then her palm, using “observing all beings” to coax the young girl into laughter.

Among the group of entertainers, the most beautiful was a young girl in red who looked the youngest. She knelt on the soft carpet by the couch, holding a pipa, bowing her head and plucking the strings, occasionally stealing a quick glance at Chou Bodeng, who was pouring and drinking by himself.

The girl’s name was Luo Yi.

She had always been groomed as a future Heavenly Maiden. She looked quiet, but her personality was actually a bit arrogant. Meiniang, wanting to cultivate her future bearing, hadn’t worn her down much, and with intentional or unintentional indulgence, Luo Yi only played the zither when receiving guests and never rushed to pour wine and sell smiles like the others. Luo Yi didn’t get along with the newly chosen Heavenly Maiden. The Heavenly Maiden liked to wear white, so she only wore red dresses, proud of her fiery beauty.

But tonight, that pride suddenly dissipated.

When she entered the room, Luo Yi, holding her pipa, casually glanced inside. Through the sisters in front of her, she caught a fleeting glimpse of the young man reclining on the soft couch… In that instant, Luo Yi almost wanted to turn and leave, to quickly change out of her red dress.

There are just some people like that in the world.

If he wore plain snow-white, then no one in the world would dare to wear white. If he wore scarlet, then there would be no other vibrant color in the Twelve Continents.

Luo Yi, in her red dress, suddenly became common rouge and powder before him, suddenly lowered to the dust.

“Do you know how to play ‘Peacock Terrace’?” Chou Bodeng suddenly asked.

Luo Yi’s fingertips trembled, and she almost plucked the wrong string. Realizing that this unbelievably beautiful young master was talking to her, she was somewhat flattered… He was so exquisitely beautiful, a kind of aggressive beauty that made you feel it was only natural for him to look down on anyone. Unexpectedly, when he spoke, although he couldn’t be called gentle, he was much more comfortable to be around than those “gentlemen” who were extremely arrogant yet pretended to be modest.

“I do.”

Luo Yi answered nervously.

“Play it, then.”

Chou Bodeng slowly filled his wine cup.

He sat in the gilded and silver-plated pleasure quarter, surrounded by luxury, his ears filled with the sound of silk and bamboo instruments, and with a casual wave, countless handsome youths and beautiful maidens would attend to him. But he didn’t want anyone to drink with him. He lowered his eyelashes, staring at his cup, as if there was no one in the entire room with whom he truly wanted to drink.

But who could drink with him?

Luo Yi didn’t know. She bowed her head deeply, tuned her instrument, and began to play “Peacock Terrace.”

The peacock lingers once, a clear song on the cloud-high terrace.

The peacock lingers twice, an old friend comes across the mountains.

***

Jun Changwei squatted on the reef for most of the night and, not surprisingly, intercepted a figure who was silently crossing the border of the Mountain Sea Pavilion’s main headquarters.

“You shouldn’t have come.”

Jun Changwei said in a deep voice.

The newcomer stood in the sea breeze, his sleeves billowing, making him appear even more slender and tall. Unlike the brilliantly lit nine islands of Zhunan, Qiwu at night was dark and cold, with only two night-luminescent pearls shining in the distance at the southern dock connected to the sea bridge. The rest of the place was deep and dark, the silhouettes of the giant rocks like countless broken sabers and swords, silently pointing to the sky.

“He is here.”

A paper lantern was lit, and the flickering candlelight illuminated Shi Wuluo’s cold and handsome face.

“You know you shouldn’t see him right now,” Jun Changwei said faintly. “You promised that yourself.”

“It’s been seventeen years. I’ve never been to Taiyi once. He came to see me.”

Shi Wuluo said in a low voice. His already stern face was now even more taut, every line tense, like a drawn saber, its edge facing the entire world, not retreating a single step.

He wasn’t answering Jun Changwei; he was answering himself.

He had also asked himself, should he not be doing this? Should he not be unable to resist appearing by Chou Bodeng’s side? In the Twelve Continents of the Central Lands, he could kill and slaughter without restraint, but Taiyi alone was a place he dared not set foot in, dared not appear within a hundred miles of its mountain gate.

He was afraid.

He was afraid that if he went to Taiyi, he wouldn’t be able to resist going to see that person. He was afraid that one look would ruin everything.

So he could only stay far away.

For seventeen years, knowing that someone was there, knowing that someone could wake up at any moment, yet he had to endure it, not going to see, not going to look. These seventeen years were even longer than the endless time he had waited before.

He could see him, but he couldn’t.

He had waited for so long, he had waited for seventeen years, he could always continue to wait.

It was just a matter of water drops forming years.

But, in Fu City, the person he wanted to see but couldn’t, had appeared before him so unexpectedly. Without giving him a moment of preparation, without giving him a chance to react… The sky was bright, and the young man in red directly ignited his entire world, leaving not even a speck of ash.

He almost wanted to hold the person tightly and never let go.

And he almost dared not reach out his hand.

There was no greater joy or sorrow in the world, no stronger fear.

He was afraid of the moon in the mirror, the flower in the water, afraid that it would shatter at a touch.

“He came to find me,” Shi Wuluo repeated slowly, his silver-gray eyes reflecting the lonely, faint fire, like a person who had traveled through eternity and raised his head to see snowflakes drifting down from the sky. “He said he would find me. He never breaks his promise.”

He came to find me, he came to see me.

At the end of the floating dream, this had become the only thing Shi Wuluo could hold on to tightly. Once he grasped it, he never wanted to let go again.

No matter what others said, it was useless.

Jun Changwei was silent for a moment. The words he wanted to say finally turned into a long sigh.

No one knew better than the old geezers of Taiyi how much Shi Wuluo had done for that person over the years… From the ten thousand great mountains to the heavy miasma of the nether wilderness, so many materials that might not even exist. Even Taiyi didn’t have the confidence to gather them all, but in the end, he did.

“Forget it,” Jun Changwei inverted his saber hilt and tapped it on the reef. “Anyway, we can’t stop the Little Martial Grand-Ancestor from doing what he wants. If you want to see him, then see him.”

Shi Wuluo was slightly stunned.

He rarely showed emotion, so his stunned expression was quite rare.

“What are you stunned for,” Jun Changwei cursed irritably. “I really don’t know what the Little Martial Grand-Ancestor sees in a guy like you. No elegance, no romance, and you look like you’d be prickly to the touch. Forget about everything else, I’m warning you, if you dare to do anything you shouldn’t, just wait to be ganged up on. Taiyi doesn’t have any rules about having to fight one-on-one. Wait!”

As he spoke, Jun Changwei suddenly became alert.

Although Taiyi was known as the second monastery and nunnery, it wasn’t a real monastery. Jun Changwei was the rare “straight man of Taiyi” in Chou Bodeng’s words… Back in the day, he had fought with a certain senior sister who beat him up every day, and they ended up fighting their way into bed. They had all been young once, who didn’t know about “absence makes the heart grow fonder”!

—After such a long separation, it would be unbelievable if they didn’t do something, right?

“Something I shouldn’t do…?”

Shi Wuluo hesitated for a rare moment, asking as if a beat behind.

Without another word, Jun Changwei gripped his saber hilt, staring at Shi Wuluo like an eagle, not missing the slightest clue, and said sinisterly, “Whether you move your hands or your mouth, prepare to die!”

The lantern in Shi Wuluo’s hand trembled violently.

Move my mouth?

…Wha-what move my mouth?

He suddenly thought of that rainy day in Fu City.

He and Chou Bodeng were standing under the same eaves.

The cold rain drizzled down, and the only warmth came from the young man’s body. The young man’s lips, habitually pressed into a straight line, were the only bright color in the dimness, a line of watery red that cut through the dusky night… Their breaths were so close, and in that instant, he heard his own heartbeat, heard his own blood rushing.

He didn’t know what he wanted to do.

He only remembered that Chou Bodeng had leaned in without warning, and the sharp, moist tips of his teeth had brushed against the soft cartilage of his earlobe. It had been a long time ago, something he deliberately tried not to think about, pushed to the depths of his memory. Now that Jun Changwei had mentioned it, a faint, slight stinging and moist heat seemed to return to his ear.

Shi Wuluo’s ears suddenly turned red.

He belatedly realized that he might know what he had wanted to do back then.

Swoosh.

The Gold-Inlaid Saber came slashing at him.

Shi Wuluo subconsciously retreated, dodging the blow.

When Jun Changwei saw him silently dodging without retaliating, his heart grew colder… He knew there was no such thing as a “virtuous man” in this world! He couldn’t help but curse him as worse than a beast while swinging his saber. Shi Wuluo came to his senses, met the attack with his scarlet saber, parrying the Gold-Inlaid Saber, and explained in the gap.

“I didn’t do anything.”

Jun Changwei became even angrier, “I’ll believe you when pigs fly. You don’t even look in a mirror when you lie. Your ears are red and you still say you didn’t do anything.”

“…”

—I didn’t do anything, but I did think about doing something.

Shi Wuluo stopped talking, focusing on parrying with his saber.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Jun Changwei cursed and sheathed his saber, returning to sit on the reef. He flicked his hand and threw a letter to Shi Wuluo. Shi Wuluo re-hung his scarlet saber at his waist, took the letter without a word, glanced at it, and then threw it directly into the lantern to burn.

“What were you trying to do in Fu City before? A guy like Ge Qing doesn’t have the clout to get you to act, does he?”

Jun Changwei sat cross-legged, took the large gourd from his waist, and took a swig.

Shi Wuluo stood far away from him.

It wasn’t because he was worried Jun Changwei would draw his saber again, but because he was used to keeping a great distance from others—except for a certain person.

“Soul-Returning Grass.”

Shi Wuluo said concisely.

“If the Little Martial Grand-Ancestor hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t have stopped Ge Qing from refining the Divine Fu Tree at all,” Jun Changwei said affirmatively, putting down his large gourd.

Shi Wuluo did not deny it.

Jun Changwei frowned but didn’t say anything about it, instead asking about something else, “Did you know that the evil weapon refined from the Divine Fu Tree can attract a High God from Heaven Beyond Heaven?”

This time, Shi Wuluo finally answered, “The Fu wood can be used as the frame to build a Chen String.”

“Chen String?” Jun Changwei repeated, then immediately understood. “The Southern Chen Bow? Someone from Heaven Beyond Heaven has set their sights on the divine artifact that guards the Four Poles?”

Shi Wuluo nodded slightly.

Jun Changwei cursed under his breath, then pondered for a moment. “Recently, some people in the Mountain Sea Pavilion have been restless. I don’t know what Zuo Liangshi is planning, and I don’t really trust him. It’s good that you’re here. Keep an eye on the Little Martial Grand-Ancestor. I need to investigate the matter of Ru City… The Huai Ningjun that the Little Martial Grand-Ancestor mentioned, I need to find out which skulking fellow from Heaven Beyond Heaven that is.”

“He doesn’t seem like someone from Heaven Beyond Heaven,” Shi Wuluo said suddenly.

“Are you sure?”

Jun Changwei was surprised. With Shi Wuluo’s personality, saying “doesn’t seem like” was basically a firm “is not.”

Shi Wuluo nodded silently.

After a long while, Jun Changwei shook his head. “The Sect Master told me to tell you to be careful in all things. He also feels that there’s more than just Heaven Beyond Heaven behind this.”

Heaven Beyond Heaven, the Kongsang Hundred Clans, Taiyi, the Mountain Sea Pavilion, the Witch Clan…

There were already so many people involved on the surface. How many more were there standing in the shadows?

Jun Changwei gazed at the surging tide of the vast sea. After a while, he remembered something and suddenly turned his head.

“Don’t go looking for the Little Martial Grand-Ancestor today…”

It was empty behind him.

Shi Wuluo was already gone.

Jun Changwei was silent for a moment, then slowly bowed his clasped hands in the direction of the Qin Tower… Little Martial Grand-Ancestor, I really did try to stop him for you.

At this moment, in the Qin Tower.

In the private room, Lu Jing was writing a poem for a beautiful dancer, Zuo Yuesheng, in the spirit of not letting his money go to waste, was telling a girl about his experiences in exile, and Monk Budu was enthusiastically telling fortunes… It was a chaotic scene. Chou Bodeng had finished a pot of Zhaoli wine by himself and was slowly picking up a second pot, continuing to pour it into his white jade cup.

Luo Yi had played “Peacock Terrace” several times and was looking at him with surprise.

This beautiful young master could really hold his liquor.

In order to make it easier for the girls to coax more money out of drunken guests, the “Zhaoli” wine of the Qin Tower had a very strong aftereffect. An ordinary person would be so drunk after three or four cups that they would see a fifty-year-old aunt as a celestial fairy. But the young man in red had finished a whole pot of wine by himself and was still reclining properly, not making a fool of himself in the slightest.

“Why did you stop?”

As she was peeking, the young man suddenly glanced over.

“Continue.”

Luo Yi was startled and hurriedly lowered her head to continue playing. Chou Bodeng continued to drink by himself.

As she played, Luo Yi felt a little sad.

“Peacock Terrace” was a piece composed by the famous zither master Yan Weiyu, who had built the Qin Tower in the past.

It was said that Yan Weiyu had a childhood sweetheart, but that person later abandoned her to enter an immortal sect in pursuit of the Great Dao. After falling into the pleasure quarters, Yan Weiyu vowed to build the best brothel in the world, a place where even lofty immortals would have to bow at a woman’s feet. Yan Weiyu had no spiritual roots, no talent, and was just a mortal, but she actually managed to build such a Qin Tower that attracted immortals from the eight directions and the Hundred Clans of Kongsang.

In her hundred years of life, those who loved her were as numerous as those who hated her. There were also those in the immortal sects who were willing to share their lifespan with her, seeking not the Great Dao but only to spend their lives with her.

But unexpectedly, Yan Weiyu didn’t agree to anyone.

She grew old like a mortal and wrote this piece before she died of illness.

The peacock lingers once, a clear song on the cloud-high terrace.

The peacock lingers twice, an old friend comes across the mountains.

Yan Weiyu was waiting for her childhood sweetheart to cross the mountains and come to her. Who was this young man waiting for?

Who could bear to make him wait?

Luo Yi was a little indignant. Her hand accidentally plucked the wrong string, and the zither sound became sharp. She was startled and looked up at Chou Bodeng in alarm, “Young Master, I… I…”

Chou Bodeng shook his head nonchalantly. He was about to ask her to change the song when he heard the sound of chimes ringing one after another.

Lu Jing, who was writing a poem, jumped up and shouted excitedly, “She’s out, she’s out, the Heavenly Maiden is coming out.” Zuo Yuesheng, the rotten wood who had previously claimed to have no interest in the Heavenly Maiden, also rolled over, scrambled up, and curiously tried to poke his head out.

Lu Jing hurriedly pulled him back and scolded in a low voice, “Get a hold of yourself. Have you no sense of style?”

Zuo Yuesheng glared at him, about to complain.

Lu Jing quickly explained to him that the Heavenly Maiden receiving guests wasn’t called receiving guests, but the “Pact of Qin and Wei.” Just like in the ancient song, men and women walked on the moss by the Qin and Wei rivers, and only if they were congenial could they walk hand in hand. The Heavenly Maiden would sit quietly in the lotus pond of the Qin Tower, and the young masters would compose poems, sing songs, and play the zither. Whoever moved the Heavenly Maiden and passed her “Twelve Questions of the White Flower” would be sent a white peony by the Heavenly Maiden through a young attendant… uh, or it could be a she.

“In short, this is elegance,” Lu Jing emphasized repeatedly. “Whoever makes a fool of themselves here will be laughed at by the entire Twelve Continents the next day. Be careful.”

Zuo Yuesheng originally wanted to say, so what if they laugh at me? It’s not like I haven’t done one or two bastardly things over the years.

But his gaze swept over the girls looking at him with adoring and gentle eyes, and he suddenly understood the deeper meaning of “laughingstock”—this wasn’t just about being laughed at once or twice, this was about his future prospects of finding a wife.

He coughed twice and tried to suck in his belly.

As they spoke, a maid in white had already gone to each private room, delivering plain Xuan paper and a purple-hair brush.

Lu Jing looked down and saw that a graceful figure had indeed appeared on the white jade platform in the river pond. He quickly pulled his head back in and moved closer to Chou Bodeng, “Young Master Chou, I heard that the Heavenly Maiden’s ‘Twelve Questions’ are sometimes very difficult to answer… If I can’t answer them later, I’ll be counting on you!!”