In the late spring Imperial Garden, begonia petals drifted down in a flurry, looking so much like the flower he had plucked for her when she first entered the Crown Prince's residence. Shen Qinghuan leaned against the vermilion balustrade of the nine-turn corridor, gazing out at the pool of spring water, lost in a trance that carried her back to the wager of that year.
Back then, she was still the legitimate daughter of Minister Shen’s household, having grown up in a scholarly family and mastered every art from the guqin and chess to calligraphy and painting. Crown Prince Xiao Jingyan was the emperor’s most valued son, strikingly handsome and possessing an extraordinary bearing. Yet in Shen Qinghuan’s eyes, he was merely a profligate son of privilege who used his status to bully others.
Until she met Lin Yanzhi. That day she was burning incense at the Prime Minister Temple, and as it happened, Lin Yanzhi had also come to pray for blessings. Dressed in azure robes and gentle as jade, he was intently studying the murals on the wall. Prompted by an inexplicable impulse, Shen Qinghuan walked up to him and struck up a conversation. This single exchange felt like the meeting of kindred spirits; the two chatted from poetry and prose to life's ideals, unknowingly passing an entire hour.
Chapter 228