Schemes Of A Flower

Lin'an Flower City is a wonderful place, long celebrated as the City of Flowers.

There's a saying that goes, "The best sceneries come from the Capital, and the finest flowers from Lin'an."

Another spring has come, and flowers bloom throughout Lin'an, filling the air with their rich fragrance everywhere.

Hua Yan sat on a rattan chair in the courtyard, listlessly basking in the sun while complaining to Qiuyue, "Life is so boring, when will it ever end?"

Qiuyue whispered, "In half a month, the Crown Prince will send people to collect you. Just bear with it a little longer, and soon your confinement will be lifted."

Hua Yan pouted, "Even if he sends someone to bring me to the Eastern Palace, it's just moving from Hua Residence to the Crown Prince's Residence—from one cage to another. How is that freedom? What confinement is lifted?"

Qiuyue advised, "Though there are many rules in the Eastern Palace, you will be the Crown Princess Consort. Apart from the Crown Prince, you will be the most important person there. It is said that the Emperor's health is deteriorating again, and he has delegated all court affairs to the Crown Prince. With the Crown Prince so occupied, he probably won't have time to control you once you move there. It's certainly better than being watched by the old master, the old mistress, the lord, the lady, and all your uncles here at Hua Residence."

After contemplating, Hua Yan said, "Weighing the pros and cons, does that mean living in the Eastern Palace might actually be better than staying at Hua Residence?"

Qiuyue coughed softly, "It seems so from the current perspective."

Hua Yan plucked a flower and tossed it into her mouth. After chewing it a bit and tasting something, she suddenly asked, "The Crown Prince's name is Yun Chi, right?"

Qiuyue's mouth twitched, "Miss, that is indeed his name."

Hua Yan further inquired, "Does the Eastern Palace have concubines, imperial concubines, attendants, and such?"

Qiuyue paused, then said, "Perhaps..."

Hua Yan looked at Qiuyue, "What do you mean by 'perhaps'?"

Qiuyue coughed again and guessed, "After all, he is the Crown Prince. The young masters in a noble residence all have attendants quite early on. Given his esteemed status, it's unlikely that he has none..."

Blinking, Hua Yan looked up at the sky and mused, "A place with many women must be quite fun, right?"

Qiuyue became instantly vigilant and hurriedly said, "Miss, that's the Eastern Palace. Even if there are many women, they belong to the Crown Prince, not for you to play with. You must not entertain such thoughts."

Hua Yan snorted with disdain, "What's so great about the Crown Prince's women? Aren't they just women after all? I love to watch women act coy, weepy, flirty—I adore their charming and enticing ways."

Qiuyue was speechless, wanting to remind Hua Yan not to forget that she was also a woman, and now one promised to the Crown Prince.

Gazing skyward again, Hua Yan said, "Half a month is too long. I can't take it anymore. Shall we set out for the Eastern Palace now? If I keep staying in the residence, I'll suffocate."

"Ah?" Qiuyue was stunned.

Hua Yan stood up decisively, brushing off the fallen blossom from her clothes, and said crisply, "I've had enough of Lin'an's floral scent, it truly nauseates me. Let's go to the Capital City and smell the fragrance of beauties."

Qiuyue's mouth twitched, "Miss, aren't you going to wait for the Crown Prince to send someone to collect you? Just going to the Capital City like this... isn't that inappropriate?"

Hua Yan said carelessly, "What's wrong with that? If he sends people, it's such a big commotion; it's a hassle. We might as well go by ourselves—light and simple, how easy."

"But would the old master, the old mistress, the lord, the lady, and your uncles agree?" Qiuyue hesitated.

Hua Yan rolled her eyes, "If I take the initiative to go to the Eastern Palace, they will be relieved from the headache of monitoring me daily. Surely they would be delighted. I'm not escaping; I bet they'd be fully supportive."

Qiuyue looked at Hua Yan, "But the educating maid hasn't finished teaching you all the etiquettes yet. Rushing to the Eastern Palace so rashly, I'm afraid that when the time comes..."

Hua Yan casually plucked a flower and stuffed it into Qiuyue's mouth, "Stop nagging, are you coming or not? Make up your mind; if you're not coming, I'm leaving."

Qiuyue spat out the flower, her face wrinkled, "So bitter..."

Hua Yan returned to her room and quickly packed her bags. Coming out and seeing Qiuyue squatting on the ground, spitting out the bitterness, she cheerfully said, "They say there's a Phoenix Tree in the Eastern Palace, and someone once remarked that one Phoenix Tree in the Eastern Palace surpasses thousands of flowers in Lin'an. I'd like to see for myself how beautiful the Phoenix flowers are."

Qiuyue straightened up, her face etched with a bitter expression as she helplessly said to Hua Yan, "Miss, you have misunderstood. The deeper meaning of the phrase isn't about the beauty of the Phoenix Flowers, but rather, it implies that the Crown Prince himself is beautiful. Not just in Lin'an, but under the entire sky, no one's appearance can match that of the Crown Prince."

Hua Yan pouted, "He is quite handsome, but what's the use of a big man looking so good? In the future, won't all the beauties in the six palaces pale in comparison to him?"

The corners of Qiuyue's mouth twitched violently again.

"Let's go." Hua Yan said, picking up her package and walking towards the west wall.

Qiuyue immediately said, "Miss, are you planning to climb the wall again? Aren't you going to inform the master and madam? Didn't you just say that you won't sneak away this time?"

Without turning her head, Hua Yan replied, "You can leave them a letter on my behalf. It's too troublesome to say it in person. I reckon that as soon as they hear I am voluntarily going to the Capital, they'll fear I might change my mind and escape halfway. Even if they agree, they'll send a basketfull of people to follow me, which is unbearable just to think about."

Qiuyue nodded, "Alright then, I'll leave the letter."

Hua Yan waved her hand, urging her, "Be quick about it. I'll only wait for you as long as it takes to drink a cup of tea."

Qiuyue looked at her carefree demeanor, guessing that there weren't even two outfits in the package, mostly filled with banknotes, and reminded her, "When the master grounded you, he ordered the west wall to be raised by another three feet..."

Hua Yan said unconcernedly, "Zheng Erhu has probably been waiting outside the west wall for eight days now, ready to help me escape. What's there to worry about? He has a ladder; I won't fall to my death."

Qiuyue was utterly speechless, thinking that Zheng Erhu really had a lot of nerve. Hadn't he had enough of prison? Yet here he was, daring to come again.

Hua Yan climbed an old apricot tree that was smooth and stripped of branches on the lower half but lush and clustered with flowers on top. She laboriously scaled the high wall. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she straddled the wall top, snapped off a branch of apricot flowers, and, as expected, saw Zheng Erhu squatting at the foot of the west wall, groggily waiting. Hearing the commotion, when he saw her appear, his dull expressions instantly lit up, and he repeatedly said, "My lady, you've finally come out. I've been waiting so long that the flowers are almost withering."

Hua Yan let out a "pfft" of laughter and tapped the wall top with the apricot flower branch, showering his head with a multitude of falling petals, "These flowers are in full bloom; how could they have withered?"

Zheng Erhu promptly replied, "The flowers in my heart were about to wither."

Hua Yan scoffed, "It doesn't seem like it."

Zheng Erhu hurriedly said, "My lady, let me go fetch the ladder. Please don't just sit on top of the wall and chat with me. Hurry up, your father keeps a close eye, he has driven me away several times, and threatened that if I don't leave, he will call the government office to arrest me again for jailtime. Last time, helping you escape landed me in jail for more than half a year, I definitely don't want to eat prison food again this time."

Hua Yan looked at him, "The last time because of me, you spent half a year in prison, and I cleared your ten thousand taels of silver debt with Wanfu Gambling House for you. I didn't treat you unfairly. It seems to me you're not afraid of prison, so how much have you racked up this time? You're so eager for me to escape?"

Zheng Erhu scratched his head, smiling embarrassingly, "Not much, just thirty thousand taels."

Hua Yan snorted, "Your life isn't even worth that much, ten years of prison wouldn't cover that."

Zheng Erhu quickly replied, "This time it's different. Helping you carries a big risk, after all, stealing someone from the hands of the Crown Prince, so... thirty thousand taels is about right..."

Hua Yan couldn't help but laugh, "You do know how to calculate."

Zheng Erhu pleaded, "My lady, please save me. I have a father who loves to gamble; I can't do anything about it."

Hua Yan raised an eyebrow, "You ate prison food for half a year and he wasn't killed over gambling debts, why do you still care about him?"

Zheng Erhu stubbornly stuck out his neck, "He's still my father, the man who gave me life. My mother died early, and in this world, he's my only kin. He's just fond of gambling. As his son, I am bound to be filial."

Hua Yan clicked her tongue, "I've seen countless people since coming into this world, but your filial piety truly shines as brightly as the sun and the moon. Fine, I agree to help you pay off those thirty thousand taels of gambling debt, but you must follow me. From now on, you do as I say."

Zheng Erhu hurriedly brought over a ladder from a distant alley, supporting it for her to climb down from the wall, and readily agreed, "Alright, wherever you go, I'll follow. From now on, I'm yours to command, which is much better than serving ten years in jail."

Hua Yan, smiling, handed him the apricot flower branch, "Here, go ahead and take this to the Eastern Palace first."

Zheng Erhu was taken aback, staring at Hua Yan in disbelief, "This... apricot flower branch? To the Eastern Palace?"

Hua Yan nodded, "Yes, give it to the Crown Prince and tell him there's no need for him to send someone to fetch me; I'll go there myself."