When Luo Wei woke, it was already the afternoon. The first person he saw when he opened his eyes was Wei Lan, guarding by his bedside.
“Are you up?” Wei Lan crouched down beside the bed to ask Luo Wei.
Luo Wei looked at Wei Lan, a little dumbfounded at first, but then started smiling.
Wei Lan quietly asked him, “Young master, do you want to eat something?”
Luo Wei shook his head.
Wei Lan paused for a moment, then asked shyly, “Does it still hurt?”
Luo Wei laughed, “I’ve been taught how to take it by the best of the best, how could I be hurt like that?”
“Don’t,” Wei Lan wished he could cover Luo Wei’s mouth with his hands, “Don’t say that!”
Luo Wei sighed, “Lan, I’m sorry, I’ve hurt you.”
Wei Lan didn’t understand Luo Wei’s words. Even now, he couldn’t fully understand why Luo Wei gave him his body last night, “How could the young master hurt me?” Wei Lan was only sure of one thing and that was the fact that Luo Wei would never hurt him.
“Call me by my name. What ‘young master’? What kind of master am I?” Luo Wei said.
Wei Lan didn’t know what to follow that up with, so he stood, “I’ll go and get you some ginseng soup.”
Luo Wei watched Wei Lan leave, and he couldn’t hold back the slow, warm smile that was forming on his face. At the very least, there was someone like this around him.
Not long after, Wei Lan brought in the soup.
“Is it still snowing outside?” Luo Wei asked, suddenly.
“It stopped this morning,” Wei Lan answered, seating himself beside the bed, planning to feed Luo Wei the soup.
“No need, it’s not as if I can’t move,” Luo Wei took the soup from Wei Lan, and drank it down in a few mouthfuls.
Wei Lan saw that Luo Wei’s spirits were quite high today, so he said, “Young Master, the plum blossoms in the courtyard have bloomed.”
“Lan, do you like plum blossoms?”‘ Luo Wei asked.
Wei Lan smiled, abashed, “Flowers are all the same in my eyes, but I thought the young master might like it.”
“Plum blossoms, huh,” Luo Wei thought about it a good deal. He was of the same mind as Wei Lan, there wasn’t any flowers specifically that he liked, nor did he dislike any flowers.
“Does the young master want to see?” Wei Lan asked, his face still full of a sort of affection, “The plum blossoms have a fragrance too.”
Luo Wei smiled, for real now, “Plum blossoms come from the bitter cold, what else could it have to attract pollinators other than fragrance, naturally. Lan, have you never seen plum blossoms before?”
Wei Lan answered, “Qi Lin Villa has them, only that, we weren’t allowed in the garden.”
“I see,” Luo Wei nodded, “Then let’s go and take a look at these blossoms.”
Outside his little room, the wind and snow has already stopped. The subtle scent of the winter plums floated in the air, the plant at the end of the hall stood there stubbornly, the branches holding up bits of snow. The overall effect made it seem as if the light pink blossoms were blooming on the snow.
Luo Wei stood with Wei Lan from the other end of the hall, watching the flowers quietly, as if they both were seeing these blossoms for the very first time.
“Once the plums bloom, winter will start its retreat for spring,” Luo Wei said to Wei Lan, “Lan, another year has pa.s.sed us by.”
“The estate is planning for the new year,” Wei Lan answered, “The mistress of the house is planning to do a Buddhist ceremony for the young master, to chase away some of the bad luck.”
Buddha? Luo Wei thought about the chant that the grand master recited in his dream of the past life, and those words he spoke, as if he knew something. Those that have died, have died, why not go back? How many are those lost in the affairs of love and obsession, not knowing that such thoughts lead to hurt, that longing leads to a shortened life. Were these words for Luo Wei, or was he talking about Long Xuan, who had already died in the past life? Everyone says that this grand master has opened his third eye, and can see through the past and future lives. Luo Wei thought that perhaps he should go and see this high priest. With his current status as the disciple of the emperor, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be able to see him, right?
“Young master?” Wei Lan saw that Luo Wei was daydreaming while watching this winter plum. So he called out quietly and asked.
Luo Wei was just about to answer when Qi Zi jogged in in a rush, a face full of shock.
“What’s happened?” Luo Wei asked quickly.
Qi Zi started telling him, his words stumbling over one another as he tried to give a full answer from the very beginning.
Luo Wei’s face darkened. The crown prince, Long Yu, has suffered an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt, Xie Yu, who was accompanying him on the way back to the capital, did his best to protect him, and has been injured severely.