Ruan Wang woke up some time in the middle of the night with a horrible headache.
"My lord, you're awake!" Xu Fei cried as he quickly rushed to the bedside.
"What happened?" He asked as he rubbed his head.
"I'm uncertain, Duke Ming Xiang had sent a servant saying that my lord has fainted. The good news is that the doctor said that rest is the best treatment."
"Where is the young man?" Ruan Wang suddenly remembered something.
"Uh… Who?" Xu Fei asked he was confused as to what his lord was talking about. After thinking about it, he said: "My lord, the scholars were sent home."
Ruan Wang nodded a bit before going back to sleep. Perhaps his mind was too muddled and he saw something that did not truly exist outside of his imagination. Who knew if that face that he thought there was some familiarity to was real in the first place. Maybe it was a sense of longing that gave him hallucinations, but they weren't that bad at all, at least he could still meet people who had long gone.
Xu Fei hesitatingly retreated, wondering if his lord's mind was starting to unravel, after so many years of solitude. He had heard tales of a young maiden whose mind unraveled when she was confined for days and separated from her lover who did not have the same status as her. It was when there was a large fire somewhere in the capital that he heard of such an occurrence.
His lord's mind would not be so frail, would it?
He abruptly stopped those thoughts there.
~
Within a small house that was built over the pier. The white foam waves were splashing into the wooden structures firmly planted int the grounds as a pillar of support. The weather was too cool for anyone to be outside.
There was one lone figure that was sitting with glassy eyes, pouring himself a drink in his pristine porcelain cup. Gulping the liquor down as fast as he poured it. The strong and spicy liquor was burning his tongue as he continued his empty gaze across to the cold yet beautiful scenery that was the single most prosperous pier of the entire capital of Qing Cheng.
There were countless ships that docked to unload and reload goods before setting off again. At the dim of night, lanterns would be lit to give some semblance of light. The lanterns cast an eerie red glow at the deck of each ship. It was not difficult to spot such a ship a few miles away.
This little house that was built over the river was in just the perfect spot to look at everything. Such places could be used as restaurants or wineries, but these places would close down when it became too cold to have a meal comfortably outside.
Lin Qinghui sat in such a barren house, silently sipping the wine.
A pair of footsteps came closer, nearly blending with the few gusts of wind outside. The footsteps stopped as the person expected that Lin Qinghui would turn around, but their hopes were dashed when the young man resumed drinking the liquor.
With a sigh, the person said: "Mister Song's signature liquor was never meant to be drunk in such large amounts."
"Really? I've never heard of such strange rules. Why didn't he tell me when he handed them to me?" Lin Qinghui asked. His cheeks were slightly rosy from drinking the liquor.
"Perhaps that is because he can't bear to say no to you."
"I've heard he refused when my mother asked him to make a wine that would make it harder to get drunk."
"Young master." Ru An sighed as she came closer to the young man. Her steps slightly flustering as she came closer. In the end, she stopped three steps away from Lin Qinghui.
"Will I bite?" He asked.
Ru An shook her head. She could never understand how to properly serve a person, whether it was the man in front of her or his mother.
"Then why are you so far away?"
Ru An did not say much when a gust of strong wind blew in, rattling the bamboo curtains.
"Should you not be serving my mother, why would you come here?" Lin Qinghui seemed to think of something, "Was it Wen Jian who told you?"
"Your mother has people taking care of her, what use would I be?" She seemed to be saddened by how she was merely a drop of water in a stream. But Madam Lin did have many people serving her, she was neither one too many nor one too few. It did not matter whether she was gone or not.
Lin Qinghui poured another cup, setting it on the table across from him.
Ru An stood for a while before accepting his invitation. "Thank you." She said quietly, quietly looking at her young master's side profile as he stared across the pier. His skin was pale, almost translucent, and even in darkness only lit by dim candlelight, she could see the rosy tint on his cheeks.
Her memory of him was very similar to this person before her. When there was a light in those eyes that were filled with compassion. She remembered that he was no different from an untouchable immortal when they first met on that faithful day in the forest.
The sound of the waves quietly pounded the pillars beneath their feet. Ru An had yet to touch her cup. There were ripples on the surface, quietly like water that was dancing to the wind.
She followed his line of sight to the pier, which was a vital part of the capital. Without it, there would be no way to get necessities across the harsh terrain that was a part of the capital. Though it was a cold night, there were still some walking the streets holding a lantern. That made for small dots of light that were slowly moving across the visage of land in darkness.
This place was quite close to Ruan Wang's manor, could it be that this is the reason the young master had decided to sit here by himself and drink?