494 I Want to Have a Look at Your Face

In the darkness, the palace was cold and cheerless. The pool and the smallgarden were also very cold and cheerless, even though it was a summer night. It wasn't just two people by the pool. There was also the Black Goat. It wasin the thicket not too far away. Chen Changsheng first saw the middle-aged woman and then saw the Black Goat.If it were another person, they definitely would have been given quite thefright, but he was not. He had already grown accustomed to seeing the BlackGoat every time he emerged from the underground space below New North Bridge.As for the middle-aged woman, he also did not find it strange. The first timehe came out of the pool, he had seen her. Deep within the Forbidden Palace, as if afraid that alarming the people withinthe palace would cause big trouble, he said nothing. Clasping his hands, hebowed towards the middle-aged woman. His action was very courteous and his movements very proper. It was just thathe was still soaked to the bone, so this respectful bow of his couldn't helpbut look rather comical. The Black Goat watched him through the leaves, slightly tilting its head as ifit was making fun of him. He couldn't deal with all this. He gestured to the middle-aged woman that heneeded to change into a clean set of clothes and wished her to turn around andwait a moment. Then he used his mouth to say to the Black Goat, "Close your eyes." He had always believed that the middle-aged woman was deaf and dumb and socould naturally understand the sign language he had learned from Senior Yu Ren.In fact, she really did know sign language. But she did not turn around because nothing in this world had thequalifications to make her turn around and avert her gaze. The Black Goat also did not close its eyes. On the contrary, it opened themeven wider, two bright spots in the darkness. Chen Changsheng didn't know what to do. Soaked through and through with waterdripping off his body nonstop, he cut quite the pitiful figure. The middle-aged woman seemed somewhat displeased at his reaction and waved hersleeve. A gust of wind blew across from her side of the pool and wrapped around hisbody. The wind of summer nights wasn't at all dry, but it was rather hot. In a moment, his clothes were dry. From the inside out, they were dry andclean beyond compare. Chen Changsheng was stunned, then he saw the middle-aged woman walk out of thegarden, her hands clasped behind her. The Black Goat glanced at him, then turned its head and walked out of thethicket to catch up to the middle-aged woman. In the past when he had made his way back to the Orthodox Academy from theImperial Palace, the Black Goat had always led the way, even later on when hehad the key. Habit was always a most powerful thing. Consequently, he followedthe Black Goat, accompanying the middle-aged woman into the darkness of theImperial Palace, then through that secluded secret door arrived at…the HundredHerb Garden. Presently, Luoluo was staying in the Li Palace for a month, and then in theImperial Palace for a month. The Hundred Herb Garden had been deserted forquite some time. Besides when he came with Tang Thirty-Six to steal medicinal herbs, ChenChangsheng had also not been here in quite some time. But the Hundred Herb Garden was still the same as ever. Its long hallways werestill extremely perplexing. The trees and flowers were still growing extremelywell, half-obscuring the paths. The table in the forest was still at itsoriginal place. Still arranged on that stone table were one teapot and twoteacups. It was just that today, the tea being drunk was white tea. The tea wasvery clear, but very fragrant. There were many things that he found impossible to comprehend, to understand.For instance, why was it that although the Hundred Herb Garden had no people,this stone table had a teapot and teacups—why was the tea freshly brewed andhad just reached the perfect temperature, neither too hot nor too cold? Forinstance, why was it that this Black Goat which he heard Mo Yu had raised inthe palace, was so close to this middle-aged woman? For instance, why was itthat this middle-aged woman needed only a wave of her sleeve to have the nightwind dry his clothes and hair? For instance, this middle-aged woman…just whowas she? This middle-aged woman's cultivation was unfathomable, at least in his eyes.Her status in the Imperial Palace was very high and she could move about as shepleased. Moreover, she knew many of the secrets of the Imperial Palace andseemed to have a peculiar affection for the Hundred Herb Garden—Chen Changshenghad long realized that this middle-aged woman was not simple. He had evenspeculated as to her identity many times, guessing her to be everything from animperial concubine once doted upon by Emperor Xian but now fallen from grace toa Daoist nun that had cultivated together with the Divine Empress in theHundred Herb Garden, but he always felt these guesses to be wrong. Later on, Chen Changsheng ceased to guess. The middle-aged woman had neverasked him to do anything and had even helped him in passing. In addition, justas Tang Thirty-Six had once said, because of his own reasons, he didn't carevery much for many things and would always reveal a composure that surpassedhis age. It was also because he had many of his own secrets and didn't wish toseek the secrets of others. More importantly, he had grown used to, even enjoyed, the mood when he andthis middle-aged woman sat across from each other in the Hundred Herb Garden,drinking tea, even though it had only happened three times. When they were drinking tea in the Hundred Herb Garden, the middle-aged womanwould never speak and he was not required to speak. The middle-aged woman wouldspend the vast majority of the time gazing up at the stars in the night sky orthe marks of time in the Hundred Herb Garden. She didn't look at him, so therewas no need for him to be nervous. That sort of tranquility seemed able tobring him back to Xining Village's old temple, as if he were sitting withSenior Yu Ren by the stream. Nothing needed to be said, nor did either of themneed to know what the other was thinking. They could just sit like this,whiling away the time. Because of the Garden of Zhou, Chen Changsheng's emotions were ratherunsettled recently. He had no means of entering the Garden of Zhou and so had no means of finallyconfirming that maiden's tracks. This made him very anxious and he desperatelyrequired this moment of tranquility. Yet this time was different. This sort of tranquility which he yearned for andtreasured was shattered. The middle-aged woman withdrew her gaze from the starry sky and began to lookat him. This look lasted for a very long time. She looked very carefully, very calmly,very attentively. It was like his face contained mountains, water, flowers,trees, clouds—contained limitless sights. Chen Changsheng didn't know why she was looking at him. There was anindescribable feeling about it and naturally some tension as well. As time flowed on, the middle-aged woman continued to examine, making him evermore nervous, so much so that his body began to turn stiff. At this moment, the middle-aged woman suddenly reached out her hand, using herforefinger to raise his chin. Chen Changsheng was startled. The first time they had drunken tea at this place, the middle-aged woman hadonce caressed his cheeks. Back then, because of the emotions in her eyes, ChenChangsheng had held it in and done nothing. But caressing a cheek and raising his chin were two actions with completelydifferent implications. The former could be understood as a senior showingtender affection for a junior, recollecting some sort of lost emotion. As forthe latter…it was more like teasing a small animal or flirting. Moreover,although this woman was old enough to be his mother, in the end, they were manand woman. He really couldn't endure this sort of action. He wanted to turn hishead and avoid it, but realized that some incomprehensible Qi was beingtransmitted from that finger and made it impossible for him to move. She raised his chin and carefully scrutinized his face. Of course, she was not flirting with a young man, nor was she teasing a smallanimal. There was no tender affection in her eyes, no sense of nostalgia, noemotion whatsoever. She examined Chen Changsheng's face like she was looking at a painting,wanting to see what sort of secrets lay hidden behind the painting. Chen Changsheng found the expression in her eyes deeply unpleasant because itwas too apathetic. However, he didn't move an inch. His nose rose up and down,his breathing much coarser than usual. If it were Luoluo or Tang Thirty-Six seeing this scene, they would know thathe was truly angry. But she did not know, and even if she did know, this would not affect herdecision. No man or matter could change her decision.