No Repeats

The beautiful Song Wei Li

As Shu Mei was lightly running over the rooftops of the Huang Manor towards Yu Li's study, she thought to herself, that she is being too obedient. Just because he wants her to wait in the study, doesn't mean she should obediently go there and wait for him like a pet.

Obedience and meekness are virtues in a woman that Yu Li particularly likes, therefore, it stands to reason, that she should be more obstinate and mischievous. Shu Mei is willing to bet that unless she crosses his bottom line, like running away or eloping, it is unlikely that he would harm her family for small and annoying things.

Thinking to that point, she looked around the layout of the manor and tried to think of where she could go. But her mind drew a blank, everything in this place holds terrible memories for her and Shu Mei could not think of a single place in this large and sprawling manor that she would want to visit.

She thought hard and then she remembered that the most beautiful part of the manor is the guest wing where the manor's guests are entertained and housed at night. The place is an elegant refuge from the ostentatious décor of this whole manor. She has been there a few times and quite liked it, especially the orchard of peach trees.

In late winter, when the snow starts to melt, the orchard will bloom into a display of little pale pink flowers that are fragilely attached to thin brown stems, bringing colour and life to the bleak whiteness of the place. She remembered that Song Wei Li had once stayed there for over a month and commented on how lovely and poetic this area was.

Shu Mei smiled at the fond memories when she would go with Yu Li to visit Song Wei Li daily, bringing paper and ink so that Wei Li could paint. On the first day he arrived, Shu Mei carried over her favourite guqin for him to use, and since that morning, wonderful melodious tunes of the guquin was played from the guest wing daily. It was a very poetic and beautiful memory for Shu Mei, quite possibly the only happy memory she had of this place.

Shu Mei decided to head over in that direction to see if the place was as beautiful in life as it was in her memories, when she heard a melancholy 'twang' of the guqin string in the same direction. Curiosity flooded Shu Mei's mind as she ran towards the guest wing, her feet bare touching the roof in her flight. As she flew towards it, the pace of the melody picked up into brighter notes and faster rhythm.

Unlike the rest of the manor where the rooms are connected by the rooftops, the guest wing can only be accessed by travelling through the peach orchard. Shu Mei decided that she would walk through the orchard to enjoy the scenery and see if there were any ripe fruits she could pick. She jumped off the roof and landed on the paved winding path that leads towards the guest building.

Shu Mei acknowledged as she walked through the orchard that it was quite an enjoyable experience, the barren trees in winter is now transformed, filled with leaves, and hanging fruits, eager to display its productive nature. 

In sync with ambience of the place, Shu Mei felt that the melody from the guqin player, tells the story of nature, its life and growth. She smiled and felt refreshed as she continued to walk towards the music, all the while constantly picking the heavenly sweet and juicy ripe peaches.

When Shu Mei got to a clearing, she saw a seated figure, bent over, playing the string instrument, his head nodding to each beat and rhythm he created. From the back she could see that this is an elegant man, with his loosely tied long hair and dressed elegantly in luxurious and soft light blue cloth. The loose dress was secured with an embroidered white belt and matched with a simple white jade hair pin. 

Overall, she gives this man a ten out of ten for his tasteful dress.

Shu Mei flew soundlessly in front of the man and as she landed, she could see that he was playing with his eyes closed and sporting a contented smile on his face. She landed so lightly that he didn't notice her presence, so she squatted down in front of him and continued to study his peerlessly his beautiful face.

'Crunch'

The man opened his eyes in surprise and suddenly stopped the music when he heard Shu Mei chomping a piece of the crunchy peach. Shu Mei smiled apologetically and continued to admire his perfectly symmetrical face and fine features. She now likes him, in the last life, he was the only person who understood her love for music and could converse with her genuinely.

He had saved her life, and she knew that he liked her, but unfortunately, she was already Yu Li's concubine and could not betray the womanly virtues. After she was reborn, she had often wondered if he continues to live a good life. She realised that he was such a good person and deserves only happiness.

Song Wei Li saw the beautiful young woman smile at him brilliantly, her dimples and shining bright eyes seem to light up the whole courtyard. He could not take his eyes off her plump red lips that continued to bite into the juicy peach, showing such pleasure that he couldn't help but him gulp visibly.

He thought to himself, she is here, right here in front of him! Wei Li is amazed at how well she has grown, when he met her five years ago, she was already a beautiful bud waiting to mature and blossom. 

Now she is a blooming peony, vibrant, sexy, and angelic, much more beautiful that he imagined. The magnetic attraction that he had felt when he met her five years ago has not been a fragment of his imagination, as it is now proven and much stronger than he thought possible.

Wei Li's previous contented smile bloomed into one of pure joy and his eyes lit up as if he has seen a great treasure, stunning Shu Mei. She inwardly thought that this level of beauty in a man should be illegal, it puts her to shame.

When she saw the light in his eyes, she instantly recalled someone else's emotion filled eyes that had previously pierced her soul and his words rang loudly in her ears, "that cold heart of yours will melt one day, I promise." 

Instantly, it was as if she was transported back to that day on the Zhua Zhu peak when she saw his arm fly up in the air and Bai Ye toppling over with blood sprayed from his stomach. Every inch of the scene came back to her vividly, the red blood covering Bai Ye and Yu Li's the murderous cold eyes while he wiped clean his bloodied sword.

The sensitive Wei Li instantly noticed her smile faded and those beautiful eyes glazed over him.

The playful beauty before him transformed into a dazzling beauty when a layer of sadness enveloped her aura. Her delicate willow shaped eyebrows dented slightly into a frown and her red lips tilted downwards, as her long eyelashes tried to blink away the mist that started to form in her eyes. 

His heart ached for the pain she is feeling at that moment and he felt an instinctive need to break her trance.

"Young miss, you must be fairy from the heavens coming down to visit me in this place?" he asked sweetly. His voice is crisp and sweet, like a ray of sunshine that brings warmth to its listeners.

Those words cut through her reverie bringing her back to the present, Wei Li in front of her and Yu Li at the back of her mind. She giggled as she imagines his enraged face when he finds her.

"No, you are the fairy, beautiful like jade and sweet like plum dessert," she said jokingly.

His perfect face and aura broke into a hearty laugh before saying, "seriously, I am surprised that such a beautiful woman like you is here, this manor is famous for being barren, without a harem of beautiful women. Uncle Huang is single-mindedly devoted to Aunty Huang, and the young master has refused to be around women since he was young."

"Did you know that he had married in four concubines in one go?" said Shu Mei with the attitude of sharing gossip.

"Oh, are you one of those?" asked Wei Li, showing blatant disappointment.

"Nope, I'm just a servant, indebted to the General, once I pay my debt, I will be a free canary!" she said happily.

"That is great to hear. Now that I have found a young lady as lovely as a fairy, I would like to gift you a piece of music that I have composed. Would you like to hear it?" he asked with a brilliant smile.

"Of course, I know a little of dance, would you like to see it?" asked Shu Mei, eager to dance to his music again.

"A fairy dancing to my music, this is literally heaven on earth," he said happily as he started to pluck at a string.

"I will combine sword art with dance, so don't be scared when I whip out my sword," she said teasingly.