Meng Lan gently rolled up her sleeves and quietly ground the ink. Its faint fragrance drifted into the air and tickled her nose, leaving her thoughts a little hazy.
Glancing to the side, she saw Xue Mu writing swiftly, his posture relaxed. He carried an easy elegance rarely seen in this world, and his handsome profile, so focused, was a delight to look at.
Men were visual creatures, and women were, too. Looks were justice: they could shape a first impression, and in turn influence everything that followed.
Meng Lan remembered that night when all was quiet. She had stood at his side, grinding ink just like this, stealing occasional glances at his profile. What had she felt that day? She could barely remember.
Well... most likely, she had hoped his idea would work, bring the Hundred Flowers Garden back from the brink, and spare her from having to sell her smiles at any moment. That day, she had been nervous and full of anticipation, until his story was revealed in full and drew her attention away.
To be honest, she admired him and was grateful to him. But feelings between a man and a woman seemed a long way off. Even though she had once tried to seduce him, she had only treated him as a stepping-stone.
And today?
She didn't know what she was feeling. It seemed the same as before, but she knew it wasn't.
He was already her master. He could make her live or die as he pleased, and she had no room to resist anything shameful he might ask of her.
He was an ordinary man without a shred of cultivation, yet with a flip of his palm, he could turn the tides. It was as if he were mocking her with a living example: You say you've trained for over a decade? What the hell good has it done you?
Meng Lan sighed softly and turned her attention to his story.
He had written half of it already.
The story was about a young nobleman named Xiao Mu, who was vying with his brothers for the right to inherit the family estate and trying every means to win his father's favor. His brothers all trained hard in martial arts, hoping to prevail through force and earn their father's approval. Only Xiao Mu was more resourceful, knowing to observe his father's other interests.
He discovered a portrait hanging in his father's room. It showed a breathtakingly beautiful woman, and his father often gazed at it with a long sigh. She must have been a lover his father had met in his youth, someone he still couldn't forget. Xiao Mu came up with a plan: find a woman who looked like her and present her to his father. His father would surely be delighted.
After a long search, one day he finally found a courtesan named Qing'er at the Hundred Flowers Garden. She looked almost exactly like the woman in the portrait. So he paid a hefty sum to buy her freedom, intending to present her to his father.
One couldn't simply enter a noble household; before that, Qing'er had to be taught all sorts of rules and etiquette, as well as her future master's likes and dislikes. To ensure everything went perfectly, Xiao Mu personally accompanied her and gave her pointers. Sometimes, he had to get close and adjust her movements. Qing'er was gentle and graceful, with a delicate charm, while Xiao Mu was a refined young nobleman. After several days of close companionship, the two fell in love with each other.
Now Xiao Mu was tormented. Should he give the woman he loved to his father? He simply couldn't do it...
At this point, Meng Lan unconsciously looked up at Xue Mu again. Why did this fellow always write such tangled, conflicted feelings? Was he only happy when he had put his protagonist through the wringer?
But the facts had already proven his point: the more conflicted the situation, the more people talked about it. In the day and night since the story came out, countless people throughout the Capital City had debated what the Wandering Swordsman should do about Qianqian. Some had even come to blows over their differing opinions. Without anyone noticing, the story's fame had spread once again, prompting even more people to seek it out.
Xue Mu kept writing at a furious pace, while Meng Lan continued reading.
Xue Mu was truly skilled at depicting a heart torn by conflicting feelings. The Wandering Swordsman's inner turmoil in the last story had been vividly portrayed, and now Xiao Mu's pain and indecision stirred the same ache in her heart. Should he stick to the original plan and win his father's favor? Or should he follow his heart and marry Qing'er himself?
Qing'er was still a courtesan, after all... The more Xiao Mu thought about it, the more unwilling he became. At last, one day, his feelings erupted, and he went to bed with Qing'er. She could tell something was troubling the man she loved. Rather than reject his advances, she tenderly indulged him, hoping to soothe the pain in his heart.
The bedroom scene was as explicit as could be, yet Xiao Mu's anguish and Qing'er's gentle comfort were woven through it. The alternating portrayals didn't feel vulgar at all. Instead, they left readers with a deep ache, anxiously wondering what fate awaited the two of them.
At last, one day, clever Qing'er probed Xiao Mu's trusted attendant and learned the whole story. She sat beneath the oil lamp, lost in thought all night, and finally made a difficult decision.
Without telling Xiao Mu, she asked his trusted attendant to take her to his father's room.
When Xiao Mu found out, he rushed toward his father's room like a madman. Only then did he fully realize that he couldn't bear it. Even if it meant losing his right to inherit the estate, he had to stop Qing'er and his father!
With a crash, Xiao Mu burst through the door, but the scene before him left him frozen in shock.
His father was holding Qing'er and weeping uncontrollably. When he saw Xiao Mu enter, tears streamed down his weathered face. "Xiao Mu, you came at just the right time. This is your long-lost elder sister!"
Xue Mu tossed aside his brush. The story ended there.
"..." Meng Lan stared at the godlike twist, utterly dumbfounded.
What was this...? Qing'er and his father hadn't gotten together, so everyone was happy? No... Xiao Mu and Qing'er's heart-wrenching love story ended with them being siblings?
Was this incest? But they'd already slept together!
What were they supposed to do now?
Meng Lan swallowed, still lost in the story's final twist. Xue Mu hadn't written any further, so no one knew how Xiao Mu and Qing'er felt as their worlds crumbled... Nor did anyone know whether they would continue their forbidden romance or end it for good.
All the readers could do was guess, debate, argue, and spread the story on their own.
Wait... Meng Lan's eyes suddenly widened.
She remembered Xue Mu's meaningful words from earlier: "Do you want to read it, elder sister?"
A romance between siblings... Qing'er and Xiao Mu... the Sect Master and Xue Mu...
Only at the very end had Xue Mu finally bared his fangs! It was killing two birds with one stone. The little story promoting the Hundred Flowers Garden was just a sideshow; this was clearly retaliation against the Sect Master for sending her to seduce him, a counterattack aimed at the Sect Master. Was this... a love letter? Or an open declaration of war?
He was practically defying heaven!
Looking back at the bedroom scene, the more Meng Lan read, the more Qing'er's expressions reminded her of the Sect Master...
But on the surface, he had only written a little story to promote the Hundred Flowers Garden. It was thought-provoking, too, and was sure to stir up a discussion every bit as heated as the last one. If the Sect Master flew into a rage, he could claim he'd written it only for the Hundred Flowers Garden. She shouldn't take it personally...
Meng Lan was eager to see the Sect Master's expression when she read the story.
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