Yan Shisheng sat dazedly beneath the wall, looking up at the girl perched at the window, radiant as spring sunshine. She gazed down at him, and it took him a while to remember he ought to rise and bow.
But his elder brother and Guard Fang had trained him too rigorously—his hair was drenched in sweat, his abdomen tight, and his calves sore and numb. For the moment, he truly couldn’t stand.
Moreover, judging by Mu Wan Yao’s gently curved brows and eyes, she seemed in excellent spirits, not at all like she was about to lose her temper.
So Yan Shisheng remained seated and struck up a casual conversation: "How does my lady plan to help me? What if I love mountains of gold and treasure? Or what if I adore beauties fair as jade?"
Mu Wan Yao chuckled. "If you love mountains of gold, I’ll have them loaded onto a horse’s back for you to chase after. If you adore beauties fair as jade, I’ll have my maids mount horses for you to pursue. To be frank, each of my maids is as lovely as a flower. Back in... they had countless suitors knocking down my door."
She mentioned that place name only to trail off, glossing over it without uttering it clearly.
Yan Shisheng pondered: Why not mention the place name? What’s wrong with it? Is she afraid of others knowing, or does she not want them to know?
Mu Wan Yao pressed, "I asked you a question—why are you spacing out?"
Yan Shisheng replied, "Then my lady’s kindness will be in vain. I neither love mountains of gold nor beauties fair as jade."
Mu Wan Yao raised an eyebrow, still smiling. "Then what do you love? Fame and fortune? Power and influence?"
Yan Shisheng shook his head and chuckled softly. "Not those either."
Mu Wan Yao fell silent, her dark, clear eyes fixed on him, assessing whether he spoke truthfully or was merely putting on a show.
The young scholar’s demeanor was upright, his bearing refined and pure. His eyes were clear and bright, indeed free of wild desires...
Yet Mu Wan Yao’s face darkened, and she let out two cold laughs.
How could a man have no desires? Whether high-ranking officials or lowly commoners, given the chance, they would abandon everything to climb higher—forsaking wives and children without a second thought, treating murder and arson as commonplace.
How could Yan Shisheng be any different from other men? What made him so special?
Amidst widespread corruption, how could he alone remain untainted?
His words were surely just an act, a pretentious display.
Mu Wan Yao said lightly, "Oh, no interest? What a pity then. If you care not for fame, fortune, or beauty, you’ll never amount to much in this life."
With that, she snapped the window shut above Yan Shisheng.
Yan Shisheng was baffled—
Originally, the weather had cleared, and Chunhua had suggested the princess set off for Nanhai to meet her uncle sooner and settle matters quickly.
But now, because the princess was waiting for Yan Shisheng to finish making the facial and hand cream, Mu Wan Yao sent a letter to Nanhai informing her uncle of her delayed arrival.
Setting aside how worried Li Zhi, the magistrate of Nanhai County and Mu Wan Yao’s uncle, might be, Mu Wan Yao remained at the Yan residence for the time being. She dragged Yan Shisheng before her, waiting for the cream.
By evening, the maids and guards waited outside. Through the bamboo curtain, they glimpsed the faint shadows of a man and a woman cast upon the Xuanli screen.
They dared not look too closely. For now, they stayed with Yan Xiaozhou, the youngest daughter of the Yan family, watching the wine simmering gently on the stove.
People of the time preferred warmed wine over raw liquor. They heated it over a low flame, waiting until it was warm enough to soothe the stomach—truly a peerless delight in this world.The previous Lingxi Boluo had been gifted to the princess, so naturally it was gone. However, Lingnan was different from the Central Plains—every household in Lingnan brewed their own wine, and the Yan family had other fine wines. The maids and guards were naturally eager to taste them.
The aroma of wine wafted in through the window from the stove outside, while inside the room, candles were lit. Mu Wan Yao sat cross-legged on a brocade couch, with a side table placed beside her, allowing her to lean comfortably.
Catching the scent of wine, Mu Wan Yao, who had been resting with her eyes closed, opened them and looked toward Yan Shisheng seated at the side.
On the long table in front of Yan Shisheng, books were piled on the left, while the right side was filled with baskets of materials: aconite, angelica, spikenard, costus root, patchouli... a total of twenty to thirty varieties.
These materials were all provided by Mu Wan Yao, while the task of grinding them into facial and hand creams was entrusted to Yan Shisheng.
Yan Shisheng had been sitting there since morning, experimenting repeatedly, yet none matched the one used by Mu Wan Yao’s mother. Unfazed, he continued his attempts again and again.
Mu Wan Yao sat nearby, watching him toil with great interest all day long.
With his lowered gaze and solemn expression, he remained silent—a sight Mu Wan Yao found utterly amusing.
Now, as the wine scent reached her, Mu Wan Yao stared at Yan Shisheng’s profile and realized he hadn’t changed his posture in a long while. She retrieved a fan from beside her and shifted to a casual kneeling position.
Fanning herself, perhaps due to the stifling atmosphere and her prolonged silence, her voice emerged languid and bewitching: "A'lang."
Yet, her flirtatious glance was wasted on the unresponsive.
Yan Shisheng showed no reaction.
Mu Wan Yao tossed the pearl-inlaid feather fan in her hand, hitting Yan Shisheng’s back, and called out again: "A'lang!"
Yan Shisheng turned his face toward her, surprised: "...Are you calling me?"
Why had she changed how she addressed him again?
Mu Wan Yao snorted. As he stood to return the feather fan she had thrown, she rested her chin on it and smiled, "They’re drinking outside—the wine smells wonderful. Would A'lang like a cup?"
Yan Shisheng smiled slightly and shook his head: "I fear it might hinder my work. I abstain from drinking."
Mu Wan Yao: "..."
She scrutinized him from head to toe, wondering what kind of eccentric creature he was. Only seventeen years old, yet he could resist drinking. In all of Great Wei, such oddities who didn’t drink were few and far between.
Mu Wan Yao scoffed, "You’re far too cautious."
He smiled faintly without another word, lowering his head to study the cream recipes in the book again. Mu Wan Yao noticed several samples laid out before him, yet he still seemed unsatisfied.
Mu Wan Yao grew somewhat bored.
Sitting close to him, seeing Yan Shisheng’s calm, detached, and ascetic demeanor, she couldn’t resist disturbing him.
She extended her foot and lightly poked his spine with the tip of her shoe. Mu Wan Yao: "A'lang!"
The lady’s kick was neither too light nor too heavy—part punishment, part flirtation. It sent alternating waves of heat and chill through him, sending an electric shiver down his spine.
Yan Shisheng stiffly turned around. Behind the candlelight, her collar gaped slightly, revealing a soft, milky glow.
His face suddenly warmed, and he averted his gaze, embarrassed: "...My lady, please don’t call me ‘A'lang’ anymore."
It made him break out in a cold sweat.
Ignoring him, Mu Wan Yao struck up a conversation: "Let me ask you—do you remember when my maids falsely accused your third brother, and I had their hair shorn and them beaten thirty strokes?"
Yan Shisheng lowered his head and replied indifferently, "Mm."Mu Wan Yao rested her chin on her hand. "Did you visit them afterward? Did you send them medicine?"
Yan Shisheng was taken aback, unsure why she was asking. He shook his head. "No."
Mu Wan Yao: "Oh, so you treat people differently. When Guard Fang was injured, you visited him. But when my maids were hurt, you didn't. I can't understand why."
Yan Shisheng remained silent and didn't turn to face her.
Mu Wan Yao leisurely fanned herself with her feather fan. Since he didn't respond, she stretched out her foot to poke him again. Her embroidered silk skirt brushed against the floor, and her beaded slippers, elegant and luxurious, repeatedly jabbed at Yan Shisheng's waist.
With a playful smile, she said, "A-Lang, why are you ignoring me again?"
Yan Shisheng finally had no choice but to relent.
He stood up and moved further away from her before replying, "Lady Mu, I am not a saint. That day, I witnessed them falsely accusing my third brother, who nearly got injured by your sword. How could I not resent them? How could I visit them without any reservations? I am not that benevolent."
Mu Wan Yao was surprised. "Aren't you an overly kind person?"
Yan Shisheng looked up helplessly. "When have I ever been overly kind?"
His long, narrow eyes met her round, clear ones. They stared at each other for a moment, and in the silence, the atmosphere suddenly felt peculiar.
Both subtly averted their gazes.
Yan Shisheng lowered his head and continued making the ointment.
Mu Wan Yao absentmindedly touched her chest.
After spacing out for a while, lost in thought, she suddenly asked Yan Shisheng, "Why isn't your ointment ready yet? It's so late—aren't you leaving? Are you trying to linger here on purpose?"
Yan Shisheng: "..."
He replied softly, "I've been working on it all day, but I can't fully replicate the ointment your mother left you. It's only about seventy to eighty percent similar. I'm afraid I'll need a couple more days to—"
Mu Wan Yao cut him off. "Seventy to eighty percent is enough. No need to put in more effort. Once it's done, just hand it over to my maid."
Now it was Yan Shisheng's turn to look up at her in surprise.
Mu Wan Yao said calmly, "My mother wasn't that good to me anyway. Seventy to eighty percent similarity is like the seventy to eighty percent kindness she showed me. When she gave me this facial and hand ointment, it was to send me off for marriage. She just wanted me to remember her 'kindness' and obediently follow her arrangements. Now that it's all over, there's no need for it to be exactly the same. You may leave."
Yan Shisheng fell silent, stunned.
He blurted out, "Send you off for marriage? You've been married?"
Mu Wan Yao: "..."
Her charming eyes frosted over as she glared at him sharply. "Why are you so shocked? Do you look down on me? Do you despise me?"
Yan Shisheng hurriedly said, "No, no, I just..."
He just thought she was still young and couldn't tell she was a married woman. Moreover, if she was married, why would she come to Lingnan...
Yan Shisheng hesitated for a long time but didn't ask, "Where is your husband?"
Because Mu Wan Yao was already slamming the table in a rage. "Get up! Get out!"
This time, her anger was genuine, completely different from her previous playful teasing.
Caught off guard, Yan Shisheng was driven out of the room. He turned back to apologize, but the door had already slammed shut, nearly breaking his nose—
Mu Wan Yao was in a foul mood.
That night, she had a dream, reliving her wedding banquet from two years ago.She had never returned to that grand wedding in her dreams, because it was a nightmare. She had personally shattered that nightmare, her conscience clear, with no desire to revisit it. Yet tonight, she dreamed of it.
She dreamed of a vast plain, teeming with thousands of troops and horses. The fifteen-year-old Danyang Princess, clad in a sweeping crimson gown with pearls and jade adorning her forehead, descended from her carriage. Her cloud-like hair and flower-like features exuded grace and nobility. The hem of her dress spread across the plain, dazzling like the lingering glow of sunset.
This symbolized the unparalleled, magnificent beauty of the entire Great Wei.
Vermillion robes and scarlet banners stood silently behind her, their flags flapping emptily in the midair breeze. Above Danyang Princess and her husband, falcons soared and circled in the sky, emitting clear, piercing cries.
Danyang Princess stood expressionless before the multitude, waiting for her husband to take her hand, to share a blood oath, to establish a covenant together, vowing never to betray one another.
Mu Wan Yao waited for a long time, but the cold, indifferent hand that the man had extended to her when she was fifteen never came. Her heart remained unruffled, and she calmly looked over—only to be instantly startled by what she saw.
In her dream, the groom standing beside her had gentle, refined features and a jade-like demeanor. This husband was no longer that man, but... Yan Shisheng, the second son of the Yan family.
Mu Wan Yao: "..."
OpenNovel