Phoenix's Requiem

Chapter 139: Love, Blossoming

On her brother’s pink sachet was embroidered a flower she had never seen before. It had no leaves, and the petals were long, slender, and fiery-red. They looked a little like a chrysanthemum’s petals, but were even more dazzling. As if alive, they stretched out and fluttered in the wind.

Yun Moxiao gazed at the sachet tenderly.

Yun Ruoyan was very curious regarding the identity of the person who had made the sachet. Her brother had spent most of his life within the army barracks, so it was highly unlikely that he’d had a chance to come in contact with girls or women.

And in the few days since his return, there hadn’t been any banquets or parties by the nobility that would have allowed him to meet the scions of the other noble families. So who could have made it?!

“Brother,” Yun Ruoyan suddenly called out. Yun Moxiao raised his head to see his sister’s bright eyes directly by his face. “Who made the sachet you’re holding?”

Yun Ruoyan’s words aroused Lin Qingchen’s interest, and she too glanced at the sachet in his hands.

“The wuye flower…” Lin Qingchen murmured.

“Qingchen, you recognize this flower?”

“This is called the wuye flower?”

Yun Ruoyan and Yun Moxiao asked at the same time. Yun Ruoyan glanced at her brother and noticed that he was looking at Lin Qingchen with a curious expression on his face. Clearly, he hadn’t known the identity of the flower either.

“The wuye flower is emblematic of the beastkin. It’s a rare, precious flower that only grows on the top of the Yueli Mountain, which can be consumed and used as an herbal remedy to both soothe wounds and cure poison,” Lin Qingchen explained. “Trying to successfully grow the wuye flower in a greenhouse is an extremely difficult affair, and only the beastkin of the past were successful in doing so. That method has since been lost, so most people aren’t aware of the existence of such a plant. Even Brother Zhuo and Lin’er would only have heard of it, not seen it.”

“Is that so?” Yun Moxiao thumbed his sachet appreciatively. “I thought I was ignorant for not knowing what this flower was.”

“Qingchen, you’re really knowledgeable,” Yun Ruoyan praised in a heartfelt manner. Lin Qingchen’s talent in pillmaking might not be high, but she worked at least as hard as she did.

Lin Zainan had advised Lin Qingchen that refining spiritual pills required both significant talent in pillmaking and an advanced blademaster cultivation as support. Based on her latent talent, she likely would not be successful on this front.

As a result, after a humbling period of self-reflection, Lin Qingchen decided to focus on the theoretical aspects of the craft, including the development of novel techniques for refining pills.

She had learned about all sorts of spiritual herbs and medicine in order to guide this development. Even if she didn’t have any ability to refine such pills herself, she firmly believed that she could still help advance the field.

She had learned about the wuye flower while reading a few histories of the beastkin. After meeting the Zhuo siblings, Lin Qingchen had grown interested in the rise and subsequent downfall of the beastkin.

The flower on the sachet was remarkably lifelike both in color and shape. Although she had never seen its like, she was certain that that was the famed wuye flower.

“The person who embroidered this sachet must have seen the wuye flower in person,” Lin Qingchen continued. “There’s no way she could have captured the brimming vitality and spirituality of the flower otherwise.”

Yun Moxiao’s face revealed an expression of shock.

“Brother, won’t you tell us who made this sachet for you? I’m really curious now.”

“I’m curious as well,” Lin Qingchen added. “I’d like to meet this person very much.”

The girls stared fervently at Yun Moxiao, waiting for him to reveal her identity, but Yun Moxiao only laughed in embarrassment. “I’m equally curious, because I don’t know whom the owner of this sachet is, either.”

The day that Yun Ruoyan had gone to the Slaughtering King’s manor, Yun Moxiao had encountered her carriage and had followed behind to ensure her safety. However, along the way, a group of black-clad men snuck up on him and attacked him. The group of men had such advanced cultivation that Yun Moxiao was no match for them, even as an eighth-rank blademaster.

Luckily, their goal didn’t seem to be to hurt him. After stalling him for a moment, they all retreated, and Yun Moxiao lost track of his sister’s carriage.

“I wasn’t familiar with the capital, so after this sudden attack, I both lost track of Ruoyan’s carriage and got lost in the depths of the capital.” Yun Moxiao laughed at himself. “I was just about to ask for directions when a flamesteed burst out of nowhere. It was wild and rampaging, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. In its path was a little girl, too far for me to save. Just as the horse was about to trample her over, a veiled woman in green suddenly appeared and rescued her from its hooves.”

But after the woman saved the girl, she became the one in danger. Luckily, the temporary diversion had given Yun Moxiao enough time to successfully subdue the steed and save that woman, who then thanked him and left.

“I found this sachet on the ground after she left, and it must be hers,” Yun Moxiao finished.

“Brother, how can you be so certain that it was hers? There must have been a lot of commotion, so what if someone else had left it behind?”

“Because of its smell. This sachet smells exactly like that woman,” Yun Moxiao replied confidently.

As soon as he spoke, Yun Moxiao felt that something was amiss. Discussing a woman’s smell in front of someone else… this was the first time that Yun Moxiao had done so in his entire life. He couldn’t help but blush a little.

Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen glanced at each other with a slight smile. Yun Ruoyan sighed. Ah, was her handsome brother about to engage in his first romance?

But then she turned glum again. If they didn’t know the masked woman’s identity, how would they ever find her? She couldn’t bear to have her brother’s budding romance nipped in the bud!

“Brother, was she beautiful?”

“I’m not sure. She was wearing a veil.”

Yun Ruoyan furrowed her brows.

“How old did that woman look to be?”

“I’m not sure. Based on her stature, she’s probably fairly young.”

Yun Ruoyan continued furrowing her brows.

“Then, did she sound like someone from the capital?”

Yun Moxiao reflected on his memories. “I’m not sure. There was so much idle chatter that I didn’t pay much attention to her voice.”

Brother, what do you expect me to do with so little information?!

“Young Master, Young Misses, we’re here at the apothecary,” the driver informed them.

The three of them immediately stepped out of the carriage. As soon as they got out, Yun Ruoyan noticed a vendor by the west side of the street, another selling sweets on the east, and three beggars right opposite the apothecary glancing at them with shifty eyes.

Yun Ruoyan tugged on Lin Qingchen’s sleeve, and she gave Yun Ruoyan a slight nod. Those were indeed the suspicious men she’d mentioned earlier. She leaned in close to Yun Ruoyan’s ear and murmured, “The men by our manor try to hide their presence, but those here are spying on us brazenly.”

“Let’s head inside.” Yun Moxiao strode forward without turning to look at the suspicious men.

The apothecary was located in one of the less-frequented areas of the capital, but its presence had brought new life to the area. Although it was only noon and the streets weren’t as crowded as they would be come the afternoon, the apothecary was already packed with people.

Lin Qingchen had veiled herself before entering the apothecary.

Although the women of the Chenyuan continent weren’t particularly conservative, it was common for those who didn’t want to advertise their appearance to veil themselves. Quite a number of women had also succumbed to the latest fashion: applying the gauze patches that Lin Qingchen had originally designed for Yun Ruoyan.

There were a significant number of patients queueing up to see a physician. Those who had just finished their appointments would head straight to the back counter to have their prescription filled, and there were even designated workers to maintain order and answer patients’ questions.

As a result, despite the density of people in the apothecary, everything was neat and orderly.

“Miss, you’re here!” A middle-aged, bearded man walked up to Lin Qingchen. Yun Ruoyan recognized him as the manager of this apothecary, Zhong Bo.

“I’m just here to show my cousins around, Zhong Bo. Please, don’t worry about us,” Lin Qingchen replied.

Zhong Bo had seen Yun Ruoyan a few times before, but never Yun Moxiao. He couldn’t help but sneak him a few additional glances before returning to his own affairs.

“Qingchen, are you in charge of the entire apothecary now?” Yun Ruoyan asked, still admiring her surroundings. She remembered that, the last time she’d been to the apothecary, it was still situated on the most crowded street in the capital and administered by Lin Zainan himself.

There had only been two physicians on-duty at once, and the long lines would easily snake out of the apothecary and onto the streets in the afternoons, clogging up traffic.

Now, although the apothecary had moved to a quieter location, the number of patients had only grown. Without the hubbub and traffic of its original location, the apothecary was far more efficient than before.

Yun Ruoyan was very impressed by her cousin, who had effected these changes on her own at such a young age. After her rebirth, Yun Ruoyan was mentally in her thirties, and even she didn’t think she could have done a better job than Lin Qingchen at twelve.

“Sister Ruoyan, look!” Lin Qingchen pointed behind the counter at a man who was adroitly filling a patient’s prescription.

He deftly pulled out five pieces of waxed paper for carrying herbs, took a single glance at the prescription the patient handed him, and began scooping up the requisite herbs from the drawers and cabinets all around him. It took him only two breaths to open up the right drawer, scoop out the appropriate quantity of herbs, and evenly distribute it among the five pieces of paper. He repeated this eight times without a second look at the prescription.

His skills required both a deep familiarity with such herbs and an impressive memory.

Yun Ruoyan couldn’t help nodding in praise.

“That’s Ling Lan’s brother, Che Mingchen.”