Who You Are Book 2

Chapter 19 - Damsel

They arrived at Tanzhou within a day. Before they met up with Lan Xichen, they passed a garden along the way. Seeing how the garden was big and majestic yet had no-one to care for it, all of the disciples went inside out of curiosity. As long as it wasn't anything against the sect rules, Lan Wangji never stopped them, which was why he let them inside.

In the garden, there was a pavilion and a few fences, a table and a few stools, all made of stone, for people to enjoy the scenery. However, through years of wind and rain, one corner had fallen off the pavilion and two of the stools had toppled over. There were no plants or flowers in the garden, only brittle branches and withered leaves. This garden had been abandoned since a long time ago.

After the juniors roamed eagerly around the garden for a while, Lan Sizhui spoke up, "This is the garden of the Damsel of Annual Blossoms, is it not?"

Lan Jingyi was confused, "The Damsel of Annual Blossoms? Who is that? Does the garden have an owner? Why does it look so worn-down? It seems like nobody has been caring for it for a long time."

Annual blossoms were flowers that had short flowering periods and only bloom during certain seasons. There were many varied types and colors, which filled the entire garden with fragrance when they bloomed. Hearing the name, Wei Wuxian couldn't help but recalled something.

Placing his hand over one of the pillars of the pavilion, Lan Sizhui thought for a while, "If I remember correctly, it probably is. This garden used to be rather famous. I read about it on a book once, in the chapter The Blossoming Spirit of the Florist Damsel. In Tanzhou there is a garden, and in the garden there is a damsel. Under the moonlight, if one should recite poetry, when she deems it fine, she grants them an annual blossom, the fragrance of which persists for three years; when she deems it poor or when the rhyming does not pass, she casts a blossom at their face, then fades away."

Lan Jingyi, "So if you recited the poetry wrong she would throw a flower at your face? Hopefully the flowers did not have thorns. Or else, if I were there to try, my face would definitely start bleeding. What sort of fae was she?"

Lan Sizhui, "I would not call her a fae. She was more like a spirit. The legends have it that the earliest owner of the garden was a poet. He planted these flowers himself and treated them as friends, reciting poetry here everyday. Affected by the emotions of the poetry, a spirit crystallized from the flora of the garden and became the Damsel of Annual Blossoms. When someone came, if their poetry was decent and allowed her to remember the one who planted her, she would be happy and give them a flower. If the poetry was wrong or did not sound pleasing, she would emerge from the bushes and hurl a flower onto the person's face. The one who had been attacked would faint and realize that they had been thrown out of the garden after they woke up. Ten years ago, an endless number of people would come to this garden."

Wei Wuxian, "Romantic, romantic. But I know for sure that the GusuLan Sect's Library Pavilion wouldn't hold books that say such things. Sizhui, be honest. Tell us what book you were reading and who gave it to you."

Lan Sizhui blushed and snuck a glance at Lan Wangji, worried that he'd be punished.

...

"Sizhui?" Wuxian called.

"Baba, we are going back to this?" Sizhui asked.

"Who gave you read such a book?" Wuxian asked.

"Ugh..." Sizhui took a glance over at Nie Huaisang who was hidden behind Wen Ruohan and his fan.

Wangji and Wuxian followed Sizhui's gaze that landed in Huaisang, "you gave it to him?" Wuxian asked.