Zhao Huai caught the faint fragrance at the tip of his nose and fell into a brief daze.
A screen painted with winter plum blossoms and snow concealed the beauty's face, but he could vaguely make out a graceful, shapely silhouette. Her figure was far better than Zhao Huai had expected.
"You've arrived, Young Master."
A soft, magnetic voice rang out, as pleasant and lilting as an oriole's song.
Hearing it, Zhao Huai came back to himself. He turned to close the door, then cupped his hands with a smile.
"My name is Zhao Huai. Greetings, miss."
"This humble girl, Qing Han, greets you, Young Master."
The voice answered. Its owner rose and gave him a slight curtsy, but to Zhao Huai's surprise, she did not coyly hide behind the screen, too timid to show herself.
Instead, she rose with open poise and walked straight out, carrying an inexplicable air of grandeur.
The graceful figure emerged directly before him, a pair of imposing phoenix eyes fixed unblinkingly on Zhao Huai by the door.
Even Zhao Huai had to admit that her eyes were truly beautiful—exquisitely captivating and radiant with spirit, impossible to look away from.
The only strange thing was that Zhao Huai sensed an intangible pressure within her gaze.
Still, that did nothing to detract from her beauty. She was stunningly lovely. Her long white gauze dress, embroidered with plum blossoms, made her figure appear especially elegant. Her flawless oval face wore no powder or adornment, pristine as a precious jade. Her dark hair was lightly gathered like clouds, her delicate brows curved like willow leaves, and her thin lips were as rosy as cherries.
Pure and untainted, ethereal as an immortal—she looked like a fairy who had stepped out of a painting scroll.
Was she really my blind date?
Wasn't she supposed to be ordinary? Zhao Huai's expression remained calm, but his heart was filled with doubt and astonishment.
He felt that this woman was far more beautiful than the portrait he had seen, and she did not even look the same. Could I have gone to the wrong room? "Young Master Zhao, don't just stand there. Please, have a seat."
The woman smiled slightly, seeming to see through Zhao Huai's thoughts at a glance. Still, she gestured for him to sit and poured each of them a cup of hot tea.
"Let me introduce myself first. My name is Qing Han, with the single surname Yu."
"Yu Qinghan, Miss Yu?"
"That's right."
Yu Qinghan nodded lightly, and a faint smile surfaced on her lips. "You seem quite puzzled, Young Master."
Zhao Huai shook his head. "Not puzzled, exactly. I simply feel that you are rather different from the one in the portrait."
To him, it did not matter who sat across from him. His only goal was to spend the afternoon here peacefully.
"How am I different?"
Curiosity appeared in Yu Qinghan's eyes.
Zhao Huai smiled. "Generally speaking, when a man and woman meet like this, all sorts of absurd and laughable things are bound to happen. But you are much more beautiful than the portrait, so I was somewhat surprised."
At that, the smile on Yu Qinghan's lips deepened. Then she said, "I also think you look different from what I imagined. You don't resemble the man the matchmaker described. I thought you would be somewhat thin and frail, but I never expected your complexion to be so good. Your vigor and spirit are also far better than an ordinary person's."
Her first impression of Zhao Huai was quite favorable. She even felt a trace of fondness for him.
Of course, she knew she was beautiful. Before this, she had met no shortage of potential matches, and without exception, they had all behaved terribly.
When ordinary men saw her, they were either intimidated by her stare or too afraid to meet her eyes, acting all coy and bashful. They hardly seemed like men at all.
Or else they were crude louts with no understanding of etiquette. Seeing that she was merely a woman, they relied on their own modest family backgrounds to repeatedly offend her.
But this young master before her had clear, bright eyes. Not only could he converse with her and meet her gaze normally, his manner of speech was also rather remarkable. He was not bad-looking either, with swordlike brows and starry eyes, quite handsome. He was very much to her taste.
Yet Yu Qinghan's words caught Zhao Huai's attention.
Naturally, he knew his own condition well. As a cultivator at the Qi Training Ninth Layer, how could his complexion, vitality, and spirit possibly be poor?
As he was now, smashing stones on his chest, leaping across rooftops and walls, or throwing a punch with the force of a thousand catties were all trifles. After all, his physical body had already reached preliminary saturation.
But this young woman's discernment was unusually sharp. If she could sense even such details, then her strength was likely not low either.
"When I have nothing to do, I rise early every day and practice some external hard-style boxing techniques to temper my body. That is why my health is better than most."
Zhao Huai lied without so much as a blush or a racing heartbeat.
Concealing one's cultivation was a form of protection.
He did not know her well. When meeting someone for the first time, one had to hold something back.
"Oh? Young Master, are you interested in the path of cultivation as well?"
Surprise flashed through Yu Qinghan's eyes as she smiled with evident interest.
This smile was more genuine than her earlier polite ones, as though she had felt the delight of encountering a kindred spirit.
"Uh... could it be that you practice martial arts too, miss?"
Zhao Huai asked in return, polite yet not awkward.
"That's right. Qing Han has cultivated since childhood and followed my father into the army for more than ten years."
Yu Qinghan smiled faintly. "I forgot to mention it—my father was an old general of the current dynasty. However, he made a mistake and has already retired into obscurity. That is all in the past now. Still, our Household can be considered a military Household. We have practiced martial arts generation after generation, and my eldest brother is still serving in the army."
After saying this, a trace of worry appeared in Yu Qinghan's eyes.
Because of her own circumstances, she truly worried that she might scare him away. That was not what she wanted to see.
Sure enough, when Zhao Huai heard this, his eyelid immediately twitched, and he inwardly cried, Good heavens.
A father who had been a general, an elder brother still in service, and generations devoted to martial arts.
Isn't that unmistakably a military Household?
This woman was the young lady of a military Household, with no small background.
Would someone of my status be unsuitable to associate with a person like her? Zhao Huai thought this, but still said half-jokingly, "With your qualifications, miss, it is hard to imagine that you would come to the Marriage Agency."
"I ran away on my own."
Yu Qinghan's gaze dimmed.
"Ran away?"
Zhao Huai was slightly stunned by that answer.
"Could it be that your family treated you badly?"
Although this world centered on immortal cultivation, the children of great Aristocratic Clans still lived in fine clothes and rich food, surrounded by splendor and wealth, their privileges fully stacked. Their lives could not possibly be poor.
"No. I was simply tired of life at home and disliked fighting for things," Yu Qinghan said, shaking her head.
Zhao Huai gave a bitter smile but did not reply.
Yu Qinghan's eyelashes trembled lightly. A few casual words had stirred up old memories, and she spoke with a sigh, almost as if talking to herself. "Young Master, do you know? When I was little, I did not like practicing martial arts. Like other girls, I liked rouge and powder, liked fussing over embroidery and needlework, and liked the lifelong devotion and evening songs of fishing boats spoken of by storytellers. The forever-and-ever love in storybooks was everything I dreamed of."
"But my father told me that if one was born into an Aristocratic Clan, one had to shoulder part of its responsibilities. Daughters, too, should strive for strength and pursue great undertakings. The life of ordinary commoners did not belong to me. From that day onward, I began practicing martial arts and cultivating."
"I did not like martial arts at first, because training was bitter and exhausting. I liked killing even less, because I often had nightmares at night and could not sleep."
"Sometimes I thought that if I had not been born into such a family, how wonderful that would have been. I could sleep until noon every day, listen to music in the afternoon, stroll through the streets, read the books I wished to read, follow interesting plays, and eat whatever I wanted. Even coarse tea and plain rice would have been fine. Even if no one cared for me, even if I were destitute and down-and-out, it would still be better than exhausting my mind and strength on the battlefield."
"After I grew up and achieved the goals my father spoke of, I realized that none of them were what I wanted. Yet my hands had already been stained with too much blood. I could no longer separate myself from martial arts, and it had become a habit."
"Now, I am tired. I only want to find someone and live a peaceful life for the rest of my days. That is why I ran away."
By the time Yu Qinghan finished, her voice had gradually grown quiet, but the longing in her eyes lingered for a long time.
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