8 1.8: Under the cherry blossom rain
Qin Feng and his men rushed all the way to capital without rest and the tall gates of the capital could be seen from afar. Following the main road surrounded by dense foliage of trees for half an hour, they arrived at the base of the Fushen temple.
Judging from the distance, it will take them more than half an hour to reach the capital gates but their horses were tired and thirsty from the journey and so were the men. Seeing that his men and horses really couldn't hold on any longer, Qin Feng pondered for a moment and commanded.
"We are only half an hour away from reaching the city gate so we don't have to rush anymore. Since we are already here, we can rest for a while and replenish our energy in the Fushen temple."
With his command, the men were relieved and happily shouted their obedience. From the northern border to the capital, it was a vast distance and they had rushed back with only a few stops to restock their supplies in some small towns or cities on the way.
With only a minimal rest and the continuous jolting on the horseback, everyone was dead tired and their whole body ached. Even with their years of experience in the battlefield, they were still only normal humans. They could also feel tired, hungry, thirsty and pain. Now that they could finally rest, they were obviously happy.
Qin Feng said, "Mo Qi, go and inform the head priest of the temple to provide a resting place and food for us and the horses. But do it discreetly. I don't want to attract unnecessary attention so be careful."
Mo Qi respectfully cupped his hands and said, "This subordinate obeys!" then quickly went to do his bid after handing over his horse to someone else. The other soldiers also tied the horses to the nearby trees and started to set up tents for them as it was impossible for the temple to provide a place for more than 30 men and horses to stay.
They were already used to camping in the wild and they would be staying here only for a short time so they didn't care where they stayed as anywhere was fine as long as they could rest their sore buttocks and fill their empty stomach.
The hill was naturally surrounded by dense forest and rivers from both sides so they had more than one path that led up the hill to the Fushen temple. Qin Feng and two of his personal guards took a more secluded path that led to the back of the courtyard and had to walk through the back mountain to get there.
The back mountain usually didn't have much visitors and was most of the times left vacant.
They weren't worried about getting seen by someone due to this confidence so they walked through the forest of cherry blossoms in an unhurried pace.
The ground was covered by fallen cherry blossom petals as the dampness of the winter had yet to dry. The bright colour of the cherry blossoms densely spread across their path as some birds tweeted sweetly on top of the trees. It was very peaceful and relaxing.
Qin Feng, still with an expressionless face, strode through the path when his feet suddenly paused as if rooted to the ground. The two personal guards following from a distance also paused for a bit and wanted to go over to check the situation ahead when they were stopped by him with a raised hand.
Still puzzled, the two guards didn't dare to disobey him and stood on their spot with no further movements and awaited his order with a slightly guarded stance.
What the two guards couldn't see was a scenery that seemed to have come out of a fairytale, so breathtakingly beautiful and surreal that it looked as if it would break with just a bit of disturbance.
Before his eyes, under a big cherry blossom a bit far from his place, an otherworldly beauty of a man stood with his head slightly titled upward to stare at the gently swaying branches.
From his place, he could only see his side profile which clearly showed his perfect sharp yet delicate facial features; his tall nose, his slightly pale lips and his long and fair neck raised like a graceful swan. His plain black robe with some silver lining at the collar and sleeves lightly fluttered to the wind as his knee-length black hair flowed from his back like a waterfall.
He was only standing there yet it seemed to make the most beautiful scenery no mortals could've ever seen. Even the bright and beautiful forest of cherry blossoms dimmed in comparison to his sole beauty and elegance.
Qin Feng stared at the lone figure in a trance, as if his eyes were glued to that lonely and sorrowful silhouette of the beautiful man and a strange prickling pain spread in his heart.
The more he looked at him, the more his heart palpitated as a sudden urge to go over and take the man in his embrace emerged. His feet moved on their own as they stepped forward towards that man when a sudden crisp sound of a twig being snapped came from his foot which was stepping on a now broken-into-two tree twig.
In the otherwise silent place, the crisp sound rang louder in everyone's ears. The beautiful man also came out of his daze and turned his head to him, finally revealing an even more beautiful countenance which almost took away his breath at the sight.
The two pair of eyes met in the air and a strange connection seemed to have formed between their hearts that seemed to want to jump out of their chests. The place seemed to be shrouded with an even heavier silence as the two men stared at each other with bated breath.
It was only just for a moment yet it seemed as if the time had stopped for them at that very moment which was deeply etched in their mind forever.
Before he could get out of his daze, it was the beautiful man who first regained his composure and with a calm face, nodded his head to him as a greeting then turned around to leave without giving another glance at him again.
Seeing this, he wanted to chase after him but quickly stopped himself after his two personal guards called out to him with puzzlement clear in their voices, "General?"
He finally calmed down from his sudden agitated state and calmed his still racing heart in his chest.
He didn't know what was wrong with him today to act so strangely. It was only just a stranger yet he was actually enraptured by his stunning presence without any warning which left him shocked by his own reactions after calmly thinking over it again.
It wasn't as if he had never seen beautiful people before. What's more, it was only a beautiful man at that. Although his beauty was indeed unparalleled and enchanting, he was still a man the same as him. How could he be left staring at the other in a daze like that? He felt ashamed of himself inside as he admonished at his stupid mistake.
Then a realisation suddenly struck him.
Right, he forgot to ask him for his name!
As this thought flashed in his mind, his mood suddenly turned gloomy as cold air emanated from his whole being.
The two guards behind him shuddered when they saw this scene. They had been following Qin Feng for many years so they knew that at this moment, their master was in a very bad mood and whenever that happened, it was always the innocent bystanders who suffered from the cold atmosphere enough to freeze them into an ice popsicle.
But they were also very perplexed by the sudden change in their master's mood as it all happened too fast that they couldn't even react on time and were hit straight on by the cold air.
Grieving over their misfortune, the two guards cried in their hearts.
Qin Feng stood on the same spot with the same pose of a foot at the front, stepping on the twig, for what seemed to be half a day where in fact only a minute had passed. He opened his mouth and said to the guards behind in a serious tone, "Go and find out who came to visit the temple today and make a list of them before reporting to me."
Not knowing for what reason their master suddenly asked about this, they still hurriedly cupped their hands and uttered, "Yes!". They quickly disappeared from the scene as if given amnesty, to complete their master's command, leaving him there alone.
After standing there for a while longer, Qin Feng finally continued towards the courtyard's back entrance with his head still occupied by the memory of that beautiful man from before.
....
Bai Yu had already arrived at the front yard after he left the back mountain. He was also thinking back to the handsome man he saw just now and was trying to guess his identity.
Was he also one of the guests invited for the outing? But he didn't seem to be as his outfit wasn't quite fit for such events.
Maybe he was a personal guard of one of the guests? But then again, whose guard could be so peerlessly handsome and wear such fine clothing?
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't tell the identity of that man and just set it aside for the time being. Since he couldn't get anything from brooding over it then he would just not do so to save himself from the unnecessary headache.
Because he and Long Ji Rui wanted to wander around and have a peaceful time together, they had left their personal servants at the front yard. When he came back, he found that the remaining guests had already arrived and the place was now crowded with people.
He looked around for a while and couldn't find the figure of that handsome man anywhere so he guessed that he really wasn't one of the invited guests. But the Fushen temple was closed off for other visitors to not disturb the merriment of the noble personages today so who was that man to be able to come here so easily? Was he really a personal guard of a guest?
Realising that his mind was wandering off again, he quickly shook off the doubts in his head and calmed down. These insignificant matters could be set aside for now as he had yet to see his brothers. If he didn't do anything to annoy them with his sight then he would have come here today in vain.
At the thought of this, his mood instantly became better and he searched for his elder brothers in the crowd. He easily found the two men with completely different presence from the rest of the crowd, in the middle of toasting to the noble men surrounding them in a circle.
It was really worthy of their status as imperial princes. Their dignified aura was more prominent than any, a dragon among dragons. One was cold and dignified with a cool imposing air while the other was handsome and majestic with a natural air of arrogance enveloping his proud figure.
Really, they were indeed two proud sons of heaven.
