Chapter 7: Two Strands of Red Leaf Drifting Away

  Hua Xiang Rong had been cooped up in her room for over ten days, and her originally fair and delicate skin had become even whiter, as if she hadn't seen the sun in a long time.

  For the sake of her health, when she had barely accepted this world and her own identity but not necessarily her fate, she left Xue Ling Yuan, which had imprisoned her for ten days, with her personal maid Ling'er.

  She said: Bask in the warm sunshine.

  Zhu'er thought that Huaxiang's words and actions were strange recently, but Lingdang just served her well without asking her this and that. So she simply let Zhu'er and others be in charge of cleaning the room, while Lingdang was in close attendance.

  Hua Xiang Rong walked in the Jin Wang Fu, surrounded by maids, family members and guards who cast surprised, puzzled and curious glances at her. She turned to ask Ling Dang quietly, only then did she realize that for half a year, Hua Xiang Rong had been hiding in her room, unless there were important events where the king and queen needed to show their harmony, otherwise she would spend her days writing poetry, painting or playing the zither and embroidery in the Snow Spirit Garden, in short, she refused to come out.

  Is she afraid of seeing someone? Or is she afraid of being seen in a state that isn't favored?

  The flower thought it was impossible to know its own beauty, so it just smiled and forgot about it.

  She didn't care about the gaze of those people, she lifted her chest and head, walked along the small road, enjoying the warm sunshine at noon, and kept walking forward, as if this road led to a piece of freedom. Her footsteps were light and quick, humming a nursery rhyme that came to mind.

  Suddenly, two red leaves fell in front of her eyes, and Huā Xiǎng Róng caught them. She looked up and glanced around: "Líng Dāng, didn't you say that Dōng Xún Guó doesn't have winter? Then why are these deep autumn red leaves falling here?"

  "In response to Miss Hui's words, Dong Xun country is not without winter, it's just that the winters are not too cold. Autumn will have falling leaves, and naturally there will be red leaves." Ling Tong replied respectfully.

  Hua Xiang Rong lowered her eyes and looked at the leaves in her hand, then turned to look at a place in front of her that seemed like a garden, and quickly walked over.

  When I see a man-made hill next to it, there is a stream that seems to be man-made, with uneven stones on both sides as guardrails. The small stream seems to lead out of the palace, so the water is clear and natural.

  Hua Xiang Rong lowered her head again, looked at the two leaves in her hand, and suddenly had an idea. She wanted to imitate the ancients' way of passing time by entrusting her emotions to someone with fate outside the wall. As a transmigrator herself, would she also be like those people who found a destined person through a single leaf?

  She told Ling Tong to fetch the pen and ink, but then had him use a dagger to scrape off the hair from the brush, and whittle the handle into a sharp point before dipping it in ink to write on the red leaf.

  Beside him, Ling Tong gazed at the strange pen in Hua Xiangrong's hand and her actions that seemed like she was writing with a steel pen. Not only did he not ask any questions, but a faint smile also appeared on his lips, and a glint of light flashed through his lively eyes.

  Hua Xiang Rong wrote two poems on two leaves and then blew them dry with the wind, before putting down her brush with a smile.

  "The flowing water is too hasty, the deep palace is idle all day. Diligently thanking the red leaves, it's good to go to the human world." Ling Tong bowed his head and looked at the leaf in Xiang Rong's hand: "Miss, your poem is getting more and more atmospheric."

  Hua Xiang Rong's face turned red with anger, "This isn't what she wrote, it's obviously something she plagiarized! But...she still smiled slyly, well, plagiarism isn't a bad thing after all. Tang poetry and Song poetry are like that, just take one out later, no one will investigate the copyright."

  "What's this...?" Ling Tong turned his gaze to Hua Xiangrong's other hand holding the poem, and his eyes lit up instantly.

  "Once in the palace, year after year without seeing spring. Just write a piece of leaf, send it to those who...". Hua Xiang Rong murmured to herself, then whispered softly: "Wanting to make oneself like the original Hua Xiang Rong, elegant and refined with emotions full of poetry, really needs to prepare more poems to arm oneself..."

  Just as she was reading out her second poem with the red leaf in hand, Hua Xiang Rong already knew that a pair of men and women were walking towards the stone gate on the left side of the garden.

  Fufei looked over and saw Huaxiang Rong sitting by the stream, holding a red leaf and reciting poetry. At first, she was stunned, then her eyes blazed with anger, fiercely staring at her back.

  And beside her was the one person that Hua Xiang Rong did not want to see recently - her husband, Jin Wang - Xiao Yue Han.