The blazing summer sun scorched the earth, and sweat streamed down the pedestrians walking along the road.
Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian sat in a private box in the Begonia Garden, listening to the opera while playing five-in-a-row.
A boy of seven or eight came into view. Though he was at an age that should have been all innocence, his darting eyes betrayed a sleaziness found only in certain adults.
The Li Kingdom had fairly liberal customs, and its noblewomen dressed in a style resembling that of the High Tang era.
In the sweltering summer, many noblewomen wore standing-collar, front-opening, half-sleeved shirts made of silver-striped gauze so fine and light that the color of their skin showed through.
Almost all the noblewomen in the Begonia Garden's women's section were dressed this way.
A noblewoman wearing a silvery-red, collarless, front-opening, half-sleeved shirt entered the Begonia Garden alone through the main entrance, carrying a round fan embroidered with flower-adorned court ladies.
When the sleazy boy saw that she had come alone, he headed straight for her. The instant they passed each other, he reached out and quickly squeezed her breast.
Shang Muyi was a military officer's daughter and had practiced martial arts with her father since childhood. He had never expected her to become a peerless master; he only hoped she would grow strong and healthy.
Qi Le's paltry skills were nothing in her eyes.
He had only managed to grope her because she had been caught off guard.
She seized the back of Qi Le's collar and hauled him in front of her.
"You little brat! Have you swallowed a bear's heart and a leopard's gall? You dare cop a feel off me? You haven't even grown your pubic hair, but your mind's already filthy!"
Shang Muyi was hardly the type to