At his words, the Grand Tutor leaned forward slightly, wine cup in hand, a smile playing at her lips. Yet her gaze clung to the two before her like an abscess eating into bone.
Just then, the music of strings and flutes in the hall softened.
Every gaze settled on Xuanzang's face.
The Queen propped her cheek on one hand and watched Xuanzang, her phoenix eyes smiling.
Xuanzang did not look away. Instead, he met the Queen's burning gaze directly and nodded with a smile. "Your Majesty is indeed exceptionally beautiful and graceful in bearing."
The Queen's eyes immediately curved into crescents.
She lowered the hand that had been supporting her cheek.
She leaned a little farther forward.
"And then?"
Those three words fell.
Even the last faint clinks of cups around them ceased.
The palace maids on either side all looked toward Xuanzang with smiles.
Even True Immortal Ruyi, who had remained silent farther down the table, raised his eyes briefly.
Xuanzang pressed his palms together. His voice was neither loud nor soft, but everyone in the hall could hear him clearly.
"Has Your Majesty heard the story of the celestial maiden scattering flowers?"
The Queen blinked and shook her head.
Xuanzang said, "Long ago, when the lay practitioner Vimalakirti was discussing the Buddhist Dharma with the Bodhisattvas, a celestial maiden scattered countless heavenly flowers from the air over the Bodhisattvas and the great disciples."
"When those flowers landed on the Bodhisattvas, they naturally fell to the ground."
"But when they landed on some of the disciples nearby, they clung to their robes. No amount of shaking, or even magic power, could remove them."
The Grand Tutor's fingers paused slightly around her wine cup.
As the Queen listened, curiosity grew in her eyes.
"Why?"
Xuanzang said, "One disciple asked