Only after writing a few voluminous pages did Shen Yanyi suddenly stop. Her hand hovered, unmoving, allowing the ink to follow gravity and drip, falling onto the surface of the paper, smudging into a dark plum blossom. Suddenly, she tossed the brush onto the table, watching it clatter, disorderly, to the ground. So, no matter how she thought, she felt that the words she herself wrote weren't at all fitting, and no matter how she changed them, she wasn't satisfied; she feared that, if Xie Qianbing saw them, she would think she was showing off. So, Shen Yanyi simply threw the brush away, and crumpled the ink-smudged papers into a ball, and tossed it out. Then, she stood, and called towards the outside, "Le Dong, ready a horse, I'm going out." In the past, there hadn't been maids at Shen Yanyi's side; now, as an official, she'd moved out and established a residence, and had, following others, bought a couple servants to keep up appearances. Le Dong was on...

Once the waiter, serving food, had left, only the three of them remained in the private room. Chen Xun gazed at this youthful Emperor before her, and, hesitating repeatedly, still spoke to explain. "Anhe's young; she isn't proper when speaking. When encountering matters, she's easily moved; I beg you for tolerance." Jiang Changbai didn't speak, only watching her. Frustration flashed in Chen Xun's heart; having precariously managed Honghailou alone until now, this was the first time the sensation of terror had risen in her when interacting with others. But she couldn't not say it, and so she breathed a deep breath, and asked, "What more do you want to know? I'll not hold anything back." Yet Jiang Changbai smiled. "I don't want to know anything; I only wanted to take a look at what the foremost business in the capital looks like." For a while, Chen Xun fell into silence. Jiang Changbai, not minding her, continued speaking. ...

"Is there anything else you want to say?" The morning light scattered about easily, and cast shadow after shadow in the square before the Shengru Palace. Jiang Changbai wore the full, bright yellow Emperor's robe, and sat atop the Dragon Throne, her expression cold and remote. Yet the one kneeling before the steps of the palace, head lowered and not speaking, was Xie Qianbing. "It was this minister who was ineffectual; I beg Bixia to punish me," Xie Qianbing said, her complexion as pale as paper, biting her lower lip, her hands curled into fists, her nails deeply embedded in her palms. But she truly didn't feel any pain; in her eyes, almost level with the ground, was entirely self-recrimination and guilt. Jiang Changbai sighed, her tone easing somewhat. "From the time We ascended the throne, We trusted and relied on you to a degree We fear has rarely been seen since the establishment of the Great Li. We broke the established tradition to promote you to ...

"Honghailou?" Jiang Changbai had raised her brush to write, and hearing this, raised her head as well. "The one in the capital?" "That one." "Yet how is it that We remember that the proprietor of that establishment isn't surnamed Qin at all? Is she truly your older sister?" Jiang Changbai set her brush down as she spoke, her entire figure leaning backwards, simply staring fixedly at Qin Anhe. Qin Anhe had always assumed that Chen Xun had hidden her identity exceedingly well, and besides the few close to her, there wasn't anyone who knew what the true name of the proprietor of Honghailou was. Now, suddenly having been asked this by Jiang Changbai, her mind was greatly alarmed, such that even her lips parted softly, and she was dazed for a good while, before she said, "Replying to Bixia, the relationship between the two of us is the same as sisters." As she spoke, Qin Anhe's fingers, hidden in her sleeves, unconsciously twitch...

When she spoke, it was like spring waters were overflowing from her eyes, pooling atop cool slabs of rock; living up to her name, she refreshed the mind. [1] "Get up and speak," Li Shiyi said. Qin Niang let out an affirmative sound, rising with her waist bent, as graceful in bearing as a white snake wending its way up a stick. Women of romance, Song Shijiu had met many times; usually, they were lazy, but Qin Niang wasn't like that; others would be lazy or swing their hips, or the lower their eyelids, while Qin Niang's expression was candid, her figure agile, and she left laziness in her breaths, breathing in a small, gentle breath, and then letting it out softly, an pitiful terror showing from within the indolence. Song Shijiu couldn't help herself, and said, "In a place this desolate and wild, what are you doing?" "I…" Qin Niang only spoke half a word, somewhat hesitant. Li Shiyi waited quite patiently for a while, and only then swept her gaze...

"You, do you capture yao?" Yang-er-shenzi strove to absorb the words from just before, repeatedly casting a glance at this man before her; he had a large belly and a wide forehead, and as he spoke, his right leg was placed on the threshold, the shaking of his leg even more fragmented than his words. The two young ladies behind him were unexpectedly dignified, their faces as neat as if from a landscape painting, their expressions half hidden and half revealed, and when looking at them carefully, there was unexpectedly some strength of Daoist practitioner's character. "Ah," Tu Laoyao replied, drawing Yang-er-shenzi's back, his foot pressing against the threshold once more, and he asked her, "has there been anything out of the ordinary?" Song Shijiu held Li Shiyi's hand behind her back, calmly and collectedly looking about. Three days ago, they'd received a letter from Yushiqie, saying that the strange beast of Mount Zhongshan, the Bashe, had ...

In the innermost of Honghailou's private rooms, Qin Anhe was minding herself, drinking tea. Her shifu had always had a good relationship with Honghailou, and as a result, she and Chen Xun were incredibly well-acquainted. It was such that even in the private room which wasn't open to any outsiders, she was as at ease as if she were in her own home. "So, you're here bringing disaster to my tea again." Chen Xun pushed the door open, entering, her voice approaching from a distance. Although her words were such, there wasn't the slightest trace of rebuke in her tone. Qin Anhe, though, wasn't lacking in confidence, but was actually bold and confident in her convictions. "Don't be so stingy; you let anyone else drink this tea, so what if I drink it?" "It's precisely that you drink it; other people all sample it." As she spoke, Chen Xun sat across from Qin Anhe, pouring herself a cup along the way. "I'm young, and I don't k...