The piece ended. Si Lingxi departed gracefully.
Yes, Si Lingxi had gone. After the duet, she once more invited Lu Zheng, Shen Ying, and Liu Qingyan to Phoenix Mountain on the eighth day of the tenth month. Then she drifted away. Only a faint voice lingered on the wind. “I like this gift very much.”
Lu Zheng raised an eyebrow. He knew she meant the promise on Wansong Mountain, where she had asked him to play a piece for her.
Clearly, that promise was now fulfilled. The result seemed satisfactory.
Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying exchanged a glance. Liu Qingyan could not help murmuring. “It cannot be.”
As the two who cared most for Lu Zheng, they had noticed the occasional looks Si Lingxi gave him during the duet. They were rare and brief.
Shen Ying also sounded uncertain. “By rights, with the Palace Master’s status and cultivation, what peerless genius has she not seen in three thousand years? Did she not just mention one with extraordinary literary talent and peerless poetry?”
Yet Liu Qingyan hesitated. “But compared to past heavenly prodigies, how does my husband fare?”
Shen Ying. “…”
Proficient in qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Chess skill profound as an immortal. Music that astonished everyone. Calligraphy flowing like clouds and water. Paintings unlike any in the world.
Gifted beyond measure. His cultivation path knew no bottlenecks. In mere years he gained millennia of dao. He mastered many arts: cloud arts, sword dao, thunder arts, wind incantations, martial dao, water arts, spiritual secret arts, pill refinement. Now he had learned the Spark Curse too. Though he never displayed it, given his past pattern, he had surely integrated it fully.
She knew little of those who ascended in one step, but among the ancients she knew of, few could match Lu Zheng.
Even those who achieved sudden enlightenment and direct immortality, or shook the world with three months of literary study, probably lacked his breadth of mastery. Otherwise, the Daoist of Ten Thousand Pines would not have been stalled for a thousand years by a single immortal chess game.
The more she thought, the more she realised Lu Zheng’s fearsomeness: solving an immortal chess puzzle for a ten-thousand-year great demon. One piece of music moving a phoenix.
To think such a man was their husband. Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying felt their hearts flutter. They turned to look at Lu Zheng, who was twirling a jade xiao in his hand, looking immensely pleased with himself.
The two women shared a smile and silently resolved.
“Tonight together?”
“Tonight together.”
…
The next day, the sun was high in the sky.
Lu Zheng held his waist with one hand and the doorframe with the other. He called towards the front courtyard. “Xiao Cui, is there breakfast today?”
At the sound of his voice, Xiao Cui appeared at the rear courtyard gate, giggling. She said sweetly. “No breakfast, but lunch is nearly ready. Will the young master eat?”
Lu Zheng glared at her. “What do you think?”
“I know.” Xiao Cui shrank back, then leaned forward again with a mischievous grin. “Um, do the madams need to wash and dress?”
Lu Zheng’s mouth twitched. He nodded with a smile. “Prepare it.”
“Right away.” Xiao Cui withdrew to the front courtyard. Soon she returned with a wooden stand, copper basin, towels, and hot water. She entered the master bedroom and saw, beneath the thin silk cover on the bed, the graceful curves of two delicate figures.
Having heard the exchange between Lu Zheng and Xiao Cui, Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying were already awake.
When Xiao Cui entered, Shen Ying gave a gentle stretch. She casually threw off the silk cover and slipped into a semi-transparent pink gauze gown. Between glimpses and shadows, pink and white blended enticingly. Even Xiao Cui felt her heart quicken.
Liu Qingyan, once fully awake, felt rather shy. She stayed huddled under the covers, rustling as she dressed. Only then did she step down from the bed, face flushed crimson.
After everyone washed and dressed, they sat in the hall, eating peacefully while chatting.
After Si Lingxi left the previous day, the group had lingered a while longer. Then the five women from Five Beauties Manor departed early. Liu Qingyan asked Du Yueyao and the three Tu sisters to take Liu Qingquan home. She herself stayed at Peach Blossom Manor. After dinner, she returned to the bedroom with Shen Ying and Lu Zheng.
Shen Ying sipped a little peach blossom brew and smiled. “It is already midday. Qingyan, do not go to Benevolent Heart Hall today. Rest for the day. Later we can go to Hundred Springs Valley.”
Liu Qingyan smiled shyly and nodded. “Very well.”
Thus, after the meal, the three rose on clouds and flew straight to Hundred Springs Valley.
At the valley, they found a secluded spring and descended.
Clouds and mist swirled around. No one else was near. The three slipped into the water without swimsuits, letting the hot spring soak their bare skin.
“Comfortable.”
Lu Zheng sighed. Then he felt a soft, slippery body on each side. His frame tensed. “Again?”
Liu Qingyan blushed. “Qingyan only wishes to lean against you.”
“I think it is fine.” Shen Ying gave a soft laugh, reached out, and gently moved.
“Ahem.” Lu Zheng gave a dry cough. He saw Liu Qingyan’s eyes flicker, rippling like autumn water. Then she softly brought her jade lips close.
…
Warm spring flowed gently. Jade stream carried springtime. Soft whispers lingered, threading into the soul.
…
Lu Zheng parted his lips slightly. Liu Qingyan had peeled a grape and gently fed it to him.
Shen Ying peeled a lychee nearby and popped it into her mouth. A trace of white juice spilled from the corner of her lips. She wiped it with a slender jade finger and returned it to her mouth.
She lightly licked the sugar-water on her fingertip. Feeling Lu Zheng’s gaze, she turned, sent him a meaningful glance, and said pointedly. “Still, lychees taste better.”
Then she peeled another and fed it to Liu Qingyan.
“We had meant to play a piece at the Palace Master’s birthday banquet. Now you have already played it. On the eighth of the tenth month, what birthday gift shall we bring?” Liu Qingyan suddenly asked.
Lu Zheng paused, blinked, and said. “That is indeed a problem. Yet she seems to lack nothing.”
They held phoenix wu leaves, marking them as honoured guests of Phoenix Mountain. Even without a gift, Si Lingxi would never mind. Still…
As guests personally invited by Si Lingxi, merely attending as juniors would diminish their own standing.
The earlier plan of playing a piece had been Si Lingxi’s own suggestion. Both women trusted Lu Zheng’s skill. A heartfelt composition would rival any other gift.
But now the piece had already been played. They could hardly arrive empty-handed.
“Send more fruit and wine?” Lu Zheng muttered, then immediately shook his head. “Not presentable.”
No matter how fine Lu Zheng’s wine, it was mortal brew. Fine for casual gatherings with friends, but utterly inadequate for Si Lingxi’s three-thousand-year celebration.
It was not in the same class as a personally performed piece.
At such an occasion, everything the three currently possessed would likely fall short. Even Liu Qingyan’s finest pills would probably rank only as ordinary offerings from mountain-visiting demons.
Yet Shen Ying’s eyes brightened. She seemed to have an idea. She said softly. “Your concubine has a thought…”
