Chapter 124: In the Company of Beauty (Part II)

A carriage in the Song style generally had a semicircular canopy, with the enclosed cabin beneath it. On either side of the cabin was a small window hung with curtains, while at the rear stood a door half the height of a man, through which passengers entered and alighted.

For ordinary people, especially women, a wooden step had to be placed on the ground before they could board or leave a carriage. They would then lift their long skirts and ascend or descend with graceful elegance.

Some high-ranking officials, nobles, and members of the imperial family even had servants kneel down to serve as steps.

At this moment, Li Sanjian had accepted Cai Rongxue’s invitation and intended to climb into the carriage, but there was no step to be found in such haste.

Thus, Li Sanjian employed a movement known as “Treading Water Without a Trace,” or perhaps the “Carefree Stride Swift as the Pursuing Wind,” intending to leap straight into the carriage. This martial art allowed one to spring like a startled hare and vault a hundred feet into the air—so what was a mere carriage by comparison?

He gathered his strength, drew himself upward, and sprang rapidly into the air. A moment later, one foot landed upon the carriage step, his posture incomparably nimble and agile.

In front of a beautiful woman, one must at least keep one’s hair in order and maintain an air of elegant poise, mustn’t one?

“Thud—ow…”

Unfortunately, Li Sanjian’s training was inadequate, and the carriage was especially slippery in the snowy weather. Though his foot landed precisely upon the carriage, it slipped at once, leaving him unable to keep his balance.

At that moment, he had two choices—or rather, two possible outcomes: he could either plunge headfirst into the cabin, or fall from the carriage and land flat on his back with his arms and legs sprawled in every direction.

Naturally, Li Sanjian would never choose to roll off the carriage. That would be humiliating beyond words, and he would end up covered in snowy mud, looking utterly wretched.

So he hurled himself forward with all his might and landed sprawled across the carriage. His upper body had entered the cabin, while his lower body still hung outside the door, his legs flailing and struggling without pause.

The carriage was small, large enough for only two or three passengers. Li Sanjian was a six-foot man, and his weight was considerable. When he landed heavily upon it, the carriage tilted upward beneath him. At the same time, two female screams rang out from inside.

It seemed there were two women in the carriage.

Cai Rongxue, who had been sitting peacefully, was thrown forward by the rocking carriage and tumbled into the cabin. She nearly collided with Li Sanjian as he came crashing in. Their noses were barely two inches apart, and Li Sanjian could smell her breath, faint and fragrant as a secluded orchid.

“Ah? You… you… what are you doing?”

Cai Rongxue, too, caught the strong masculine scent clinging to Li Sanjian. Her heart immediately fell into confusion. Opening her lovely eyes wide, she stared fixedly at him.

“I beg your pardon, I beg your pardon. I was rash.”

Li Sanjian struggled desperately into the cabin, then rose and settled himself on his knees. After straightening his clothes and breathing out twice, he gave an embarrassed laugh.

“I have startled both young ladies. Please forgive me. Heh heh, please forgive me.”

Damn it. Once he got back, he would definitely settle accounts with Taoist Zhang. Hadn’t he promised him a form of lightness kung fu in which one could tread upon anything without leaving a trace? It had truly misled him badly, Li Sanjian thought bitterly.

There were indeed two women inside the carriage. One was, of course, Cai Rongxue; the other was a maid of barely more than ten years, presumably in Cai Rongxue’s service. A grown man had suddenly burst into the carriage, making such a commotion that the little maid was utterly flustered. She stared blankly at Li Sanjian, unable to utter a word for quite some time.

If you cannot perform martial arts, why show off?

Cai Rongxue had by now regained her composure. She secretly found the scene rather amusing, and after smoothing the disordered hair beside her ear, she smiled lightly.

“Would you care for some tea, Young Master Li?”

“I am a humble man of low birth. How could I deserve to be called ‘Young Master’? You may simply call me Li Sheng.”

Li Sanjian sat upright and proper. After glancing at the carriage’s elegant furnishings, he continued, “Thank you. I hope I am not troubling you.”

The carriage’s interior was much like Cai Rongxue herself: simple, yet exceedingly refined.

Cai Rongxue nodded and instructed, “Little Qin, pour Li Sheng a cup of tea.”

The maid, Little Qin, glanced at Li Sanjian before taking up the teapot. She placed a delicate cup before him, then held the pot with both hands and poured a little clear tea into it.

“Please have some tea, Li Sheng.”

Cai Rongxue then lifted a cup of tea herself. After taking a small sip, she said softly, “The way of tea lies in appreciating it. The vulgar know only how to drink tea, not how to savor it. Tea has four stages: brewing, admiring, smelling, and drinking. These four stages refine the heart and cultivate virtue, broadening one’s learning while restraining one’s conduct.

“Take this clear tea before us. It is merely ordinary green tea, and not expensive. Yet it is clean, pure, true, and full of spirit. Its fragrance spreads the instant it touches the tongue. How then could one say it is not good tea?”

Whenever Cai Rongxue drank tea, she naturally had to lift the thin veil covering her face. At last, Li Sanjian saw the small cherry-like mouth and lotus-white chin revealed as she sipped.

He was instantly transfixed.

He had long expected this woman to be beautiful, but he had never imagined she could be so extraordinarily lovely. One could glimpse the whole leopard from a single spot: if her chin and lips were so exquisite, then surely the rest of her could not be lacking. The more he thought about it, the more his imagination wandered into wicked directions.

At the same time, his favorable impression of Cai Rongxue increased greatly. She was using tea as a metaphor for people, comforting him and telling him not to keep the words “humble” and “lowly” forever upon his lips. There was no need for him to be so self-effacing—or even so self-abasing.

What Li Sanjian could not understand was why she treated him this way. The two of them had scarcely known each other before, having met only a few times.

By rights, Cai Rongxue was the daughter of a wealthy household. She should have inherited some of the pride characteristic of such families. Girls of her station generally looked down upon men like Li Sanjian and treated them with a measure of cold arrogance. Yet Cai Rongxue was not like that at all. Instead, she was exceptionally easygoing.

Moreover, every time Li Sanjian met her, he sensed a faint sorrow clinging to her, which left him deeply puzzled.

The reason he had shamelessly climbed into the carriage to travel alongside Cai Rongxue was that he wanted to learn more about her. She resembled the woman who appeared in his dreams in many ways—especially the birthmark on her wrist.

At this thought, Li Sanjian stole another glance at her wrist, hoping to confirm it once more. But all that showed from beneath her long sleeve was half of a slender finger, delicate as a scallion shoot. The rest of her was wrapped so tightly that her wrist could not be seen at all.

“Thank you, Miss.”

After offering his thanks, Li Sanjian asked, “Where are you traveling?”

“Gui Prefecture, in the Guangnan West Circuit.”

Cai Rongxue hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Gui Prefecture?”

Li Sanjian was stunned. Was he not traveling to Gui Prefecture as well? What an extraordinary coincidence. She too was heading to Gui Prefecture in Lingnan—and would be taking the same route as he.

At the same time, he felt increasingly perplexed. This place was separated from Lingnan by countless mountains and miles, while the roads through Lingnan were dangerous, filled with peril at every turn. Even a man traveling alone would proceed with fear and caution, let alone a young woman.

Even if she had attendants with her, the danger would remain.

What if bandits waylaid her and carried Cai Rongxue off to the mountains to make her their chieftain’s bride? Would that not be a terrible waste?

What puzzled Li Sanjian most was how her family could possibly feel at ease allowing her to undertake such a long journey.

“What is it? Are you also going to Gui Prefecture, Li Sheng?”

Seeing the surprise on his face, Cai Rongxue asked him.

“Indeed.” Li Sanjian nodded. “It happens that I shall be traveling alongside you.”

Cai Rongxue smiled faintly.

“Are you going to Gui Prefecture to sit for the provincial examination?”

“How did you know?”

The moment he asked, Li Sanjian realized how shallow the question sounded. It was practically an invitation to state the obvious.

He was dressed like a scholar, and there was a book chest tied behind his horse. Besides, the examinations conducted by the prefectures and military circuits of the Song were about to begin. Since Li Sanjian was from Dan Prefecture on Qiong Island, what else could he be doing but traveling to take the examination?

Even so, he could not help admiring Cai Rongxue’s keen powers of observation.

I am neither blind nor an imbecile, Cai Rongxue thought inwardly. The clues were so obvious that anyone could have guessed.

She knew that Li Sanjian had previously suffered defeat in the examination and failed the tribute selection. At the time, she had felt deeply sorry for him. Now that he intended to attempt the examinations once more, she was secretly delighted on his behalf.

A gifted young man ought to be like this: unyielding despite repeated setbacks. How could one allow a single failure in the examination halls to ruin the rest of one’s life?

Li Sanjian had no idea what Cai Rongxue was thinking.

She lowered her head and smiled without speaking. After a moment, Li Sanjian asked, “Please forgive my boldness, but may I ask why you are traveling to Gui Prefecture?”

Since you are being bold, why ask at all?

Cai Rongxue had not wished to answer. Yet, for some reason, after only a brief hesitation, she told him the truth.

“My… my mother’s tenth death anniversary is approaching. I am traveling to Gui Prefecture to pay respects at her grave.”

“I understand. Forgive me for intruding.”

Li Sanjian nodded.

Yet he grew more and more puzzled, and his curiosity deepened.

If she was going to Gui Prefecture to pay respects to her mother, then her mother must have died there in the Guangnan West Circuit. But Cai Rongxue was clearly the daughter of the Cai family of the capital. Why had her mother died in Gui Prefecture? Moreover, if she was going to honor her birth mother, why was her father not going with her? Why send a frail young woman alone into Lingnan?

Unless he was her stepfather…

Li Sanjian began to grasp the truth.

Wait.

At that thought, he unconsciously raised his head and looked at Cai Rongxue. Was not the woman his father, Li Qing, had once promised him in an arranged marriage the daughter of the Cai family?

Now he had encountered a daughter of the Cai family once more. Could the woman before him be that very person?

Heavens! He should have realized this much earlier.

Li Sanjian had long since abandoned any hope of marrying into the Cai family after his mother, Second Lady Fu, had been humiliated at their gate. He had come to loathe the arrogant and faithless Cai family.

Yet the woman before him was so gentle and refined. How could she possibly be arrogant and overbearing?

Well, a daughter need not necessarily resemble her father, Li Sanjian told himself.

“If there is something you wish to ask, then ask freely.”

Seeing him hesitate as though he wanted to speak but did not know how to begin, Cai Rongxue said softly.

“Oh, heh heh.”

Li Sanjian smiled.

“Since you put it that way, then I shall ask.”

Cai Rongxue nodded.

“Truly, I am going to ask.”

Li Sanjian saw that the atmosphere had grown somewhat stiff, so he began teasing her.

“Pfft.”

Putting on an exaggeratedly solemn expression, he immediately amused the little maid, Little Qin, who could not help laughing.

Cai Rongxue also smiled despite herself.