Nightfall

Planting Lotus

Standing on the bank of the lake, Ning Que looked back and saw the towering trees, pink walls and black roof behind the trees. Ning Que thought this would be his own home; he couldn’t help but sigh like Sangsang and said, “In the future, we will live in bigger houses.”

Sangsang was surprised. She looked up and said, “Only the Mansion of the Princess and the Imperial Palace can be bigger than this house.”

Ning Que reached out and held her in his arms, rubbed her head in and said, “We’ll also frequently go to the Princess’ Palace and the Royal Palace. If you really want to live there in the future, I will ask His Majesty.”

Sangsang leaned on his chest and smiled happily.

The light that leaked from the green leaves of old trees suddenly became a lot weaker. Ning Que looked at the sky, and saw that a few big clouds flew on the sky above and covered the blazing sunshine.

He pushed Sangsang away from his arms and said, “Let’s go boating.”

The distinct treatments did not make the little maid too uncomfortable. She answered with an “oh” and walked to the newly built simple dock.

A 30 feet long wooden road stretched into the Yanming Lake,and two boats were tied in front of it. There were paddles on the stern and the boats had a roof. The boats were very new. It was Ning Que who bought the boats.

Wooden paddles cut through the white clouds reflected in the lake. The waves of the lake began to rise and they swayed to the distance. The grass in the clear water was disturbed and the fish among the aquatic plants were scared.

The boat left the dock and sailed towards the middle of the lake.

The center of Yanming Lake was a lotus field.

Ning Que was half lying on the boat and his collar had been untied. He laid in the shade of the boat and sniffed the faint scent from the wind, then closed his eyes to rest.

Sangsang stood at the stern and slowly rowed.

“Close your eyes and feel it,”

Ning Que said.

Sangsang obeyed, putting down her oars and moving near Ning Que. She leaned on him and closed her eyes. The slightly sparse eyelashes moved gently and the yellowish hair was waved by the wind.

“What did you feel?”

“The lake wind is very cool.”

“I was talking about the Qi of Heaven and Earth.”

“It looks like… it’s stronger than on the shore.”

Sangsang opened her eyes and looked at the lotus field not far away. Her thin eyebrows twisted.

Ning Que took a blueprint from his pocket. He pointed at the Yanming Lake which was fingernail sized on the blueprint and said, “This lake is the left eye of the array of Chang’an. The imperial court dredged this lake last year. To the public, it said that doing this was Chang’an Local Government’s request. In fact, it is the daily maintenance of God-stunning Array by the Imperial Center Administration.”

Sangsang asked, “The imperial court agreed to us buying the house beside the lake?”

“I’m now in charge of this array of Chang’an City, so why not?”

Ning Que then said, “The reason why I had to spend every coin, even sell some calligraphy to buy this house is this lake. This large array in Chang’an City has never been triggered, but it is running slowly. Yanming lake is the left eye of the array, the lake must naturally gather Qi of Heaven and Earth. Although the self-uniformity of heaven and earth is too strong, the concentration here cannot be too special, but it is good for cultivation.”