Upon the start of the new day, the risen sun was up early in the morning - bringing along the wet dew of the foggy night. The beautiful flowers set in front of the room given to Peng Mingzhu were blooming brightly, but the person that they were grown for was currently nowhere nearby. With no one to appreciate the beauty of the flowers, they all grew shy and hid from the eyes of the servants passing from and to by withering themselves to hide behind the tall wall that gave birth to them.
"I told you did I not?" Wei Kangnuan asked Wei Li with a smirk as though he had won a game.
"Yesterday she was so angry at me for waking her up early that I thought she was not an early rise," Wei Li told Wei Kangnuan while still remembering the shivers that went up his spine when Peng Mingzhu gave him warnings.
"She is not angry at you for waking her up early, but mad at you for dragging her out of her room without her permission," Wei Kangnuan commented with an innocent smile.
It was only after hearing this comment though that Wei Li finally learned…
Learned that he had been tragically betrayed by his biological baby brother…
"Xiao Nuan…" Wei Li slowly spoke, the smile that was originally on his face from the good weather disappearing. "Did you just trap your brother?"
"Nope," Wei Kangnuan shook his head. "It was you who trapped yourself."
After Wei Kangnuan said that, he laughed out loudly as though to rub it in and make fun of Wei Li.
Before he could continue to laugh though, he was interrupted by a harsh voice.
"Would you stop laughing and hurry into the carriage?" Peng Mingzhu shouted from the carriage window. "Or do you two not want to head to the palace? I can certainly just let you guys do everything yourself."
The two brothers stared at each other when they heard her threat. Even though they wanted to speak more privately amongst themselves, they knew that if they truly did take too long, Peng Mingzhu would surely stop helping them.
"Alright, we are getting in now," Wei Kangnuan responded with a smile. "We were just discussing something."
"What can be so important that you cannot discuss in the carriage?" Peng Mingzhu asked. "Wait, that's the wrong question. What secrets do you guys have amongst yourselves that you're keeping me out of the conversation?"
"None," Wei Kangnuan answered while stretching his smile to his eyes in an attempt to change the topic. "How was your sleep?"
"It was good," Peng Mingzhu answered abruptly, but then immediately went back to the question she was asking earlier. "Don't think that you can distract me. Anyways, it can't be about the case since you guys would've already told me by now. That means it can only be about me."
"..." Wei Li could not stop his face from making a twitching movement. 'Does she have to always be so smart?'
As though he could read the mind of Wei Li, Wei Kangnuan answered, "Yes."
Peng Mingzhu thought that Wei Kangnuan was answering her question.
However, Wei Li thought that Wei Kangnuan was answering his mental question.
Though no matter who the "yes" was for, they would not affect the rest of the storyline. Well, at least that was what Wei Kangnuan thought while he was looking at the woman he loved more than anyone else.
While they were still seated in the luxurious carriage, Wei Li said, "Miss Wu, the identities of the dead have yet to be discovered, however, Elder Kang has finished drawing all of the portraits to be posted at the city board."
"How are the coffins?" Peng Mingzhu asked.
"I have already had my men send them to the underground room where the bodies are residing," Wei Li answered before reaching out to grab a red bean bun to munch on for breakfast.
For the first time ever, Wei Li was experiencing what hunger felt like. Usually, he would be able to wake up early enough to eat breakfast before leaving for the palace at dawn. However, Peng Mingzhu was just too much for him.
Wei Li used to praise himself for being resistant and strong. Definitely not as talented or as skilled as Wei Kangnuan, but he was quite a good character himself. Only…
Peng Mingzhu was making him doubt his adaptive abilities.
From early in the morning, before the sun even started rising up from the horizon, Peng Mingzhu was already up to wake him and Wei Kangnuan up. Then, she even held a sudden intrigue meeting as though there were important things to be discussed and such, but then all she did was just have people lay, sit, or stand around doing almost practically nothing.
Wei Li thought that maybe Peng Mingzhu was waiting for something but...in the end, they were nothing important.
"Let's head to Elder Kang and Elder Xiao first before we head to interrogate the man," Peng Mingzhu stated.
"Mm. We will follow your lead," Wei Kangnuan immediately agreed to Peng Mingzhu.
"I just remembered…" Wei Li suddenly spoke.
"What?" Peng Mingzhu asked, staring at Wei Li.
"Xiao Nuan just had the servants plant some red and pink orchids for you last night right before I left," Wei Li told Peng Mingzhu. "They were right in front of your room. Did you see them?"
Hearing Wei Li say that, Peng Mingzhu thought back to when she just woke up this morning.
Then, shaking her head, Peng Mingzhu said, "Maybe I was too focused on getting to the palace that I didn't look at what was in front of me."
"You do not seem to be surprised though?" Wei Li stated though he was obviously asking her, not stating something.
"What's there to be surprised about?" Peng Mingzhu asked Wei Li while tilting her head to the side with confusion.
"..." Wei Li had no response to her question. 'Is she ignorant or does she just not care?'
In China, orchids symbolize love and marriage, but also fortune and money. However, normally when it is a male giving an orchid to a female, it signified love and marriage.
Of course, different colors of orchids also held different meanings. Originally, Wei Kangnuan just wanted to have the servants plant a bunch of different colored orchids. Later on though, Headmaid Yang told him that some colors were appropriate to his pursuit of Peng Mingzhu; like red orchids and pink orchids; while others were not: like yellow orchids and lavender orchids.
Unfortunately, yellow orchids symbolize friendship and new beginnings. Wei Kangnuan held no intentions to be just friends with Peng Mingzhu. Whereas lavender orchids represented elegance, grace, and femininity.
Peng Mingzhu was indeed the embodiment of those three things. However…
Lavender orchids were only given to mothers!
She was not going to be his mother, but his wife! How can he give her those?!
Red and pink on the other hand…
One symbolized passion, determination, perseverance, and unconscious love while the other emphasized on the happiness and joy that filled him when he was spending time with the person he cared and loved.
"Brother is surprised that you are not surprised that I have given you some red and pink orchids," Wei Kangnuan tried to clarify with the littlest hint he could give.
Being as intelligent as she was, Peng Mingzhu instantly understood the hint, so she said, "Wei Kangnuan has profusely proposed to me, so I'm not in the least shocked that he has given me orchids of such. I'd be more surprised if he didn't give me any flowers. Though, at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't."
"Why is that?" Wei Kangnuan asked Peng Mingzhu.
Wei Kangnuan understood why she would not be surprised. He has always been aggressive in pursuing her, so he understood that she would not be surprised by his flowers. However, why would she not be surprised at the same time if he did not give her any?
"We come from two different countries," Peng Mingzhu answered. "Every place has their own culture and though I've read all the books relating to the Wei Empire, I still can't be sure of the unspoken culture that goes on in your country."
Understanding what Peng Mingzhu was trying to say, Wei Kangnuan then asked her, "Then, in your country, is it normal to give flowers to someone you love? Perhaps, someone you are pursuing?"
"Very normal," Peng Mingzhu answered while she thought back to all the times she has received flowers.
"Have you received flowers from prospective partners then?" Wei Kangnuan tried to peer into the life of Peng Mingzhu which he did not know much about, though it was mostly his jealousy speaking.
"Lots," Peng Mingzhu sighed frustratingly. "I still remember that when we first opened up my study and allowed people to directly mail to my study, on my first day of work, I could not enter the study at all. In the end, I told my subordinates to never send all my mails to my study, but to a different storage compartment and had my right-hand man choose the most important things from the unimportant."
"What did you do with the things that your person did not choose?" Wei Kangnuan continued to ask with a bit of darkness slowly entrenching his heart.