Wind, Flower, Snow

Another combined chapter.

Sure enough.

The moment Sun Shaozong stepped out of Dali Temple, Baochan, the pretty maid from the Xia household, appeared from an alley at an angle.

With others still standing before the gates, Baochan did not dare approach him. She merely kept signaling with her eyes.

Sun Shaozong nodded impassively, then secretly gestured for her to lead the way while he followed at a distance.

Baochan was fairly clever. After thinking it over briefly, she understood Sun Shaozong's meaning. She made her way to the street corner, looking back every few steps. When she saw Sun Shaozong strolling up behind her at an unhurried pace, she knew she had guessed correctly and quickened her steps.

Sun Shaozong followed behind her through the snow for about half a street before finally reaching the vicinity of the Flower Shop. Yet its front doors were tightly shut, and even the plum blossoms that had stood beneath the eaves had vanished.

Baochan hurried to the door and gently knocked several times. The two halves of the door then parted, revealing Xia Jingui's exquisitely sculpted brows and eyes.

"You've finally come, my lord!"

She made as if to welcome him outside, but while her upper body leaned forward, her feet remained perfectly still. Clearly, she feared someone might notice her whereabouts.

Sun Shaozong stepped forward swiftly instead, taking hold of her wrist, white as porcelain. Only then did the two enter the Flower Shop hand in hand.

The moment he entered, he saw a Red Candle burning atop the kang table in the center of the Arhat Bed. Several small dishes had been laid out beside a copper winepot and two silver cups.

Looking to either side, he saw that the Arhat Bed was surrounded by snowy white wintersweet blossoms, which encircled