Out in the garden, the young men had found many places of amusement. Some were setting up places to compete in their archery skills. Some sat in the nearby pavilion rejoicing in the atmosphere, the murky sunless day, its pitty-patty showers and soft breezy caresses over their faces. For these artistic lads, nothing flickered by to entangle their romantic gazes; even the whether couldn’t save their small talks. How could the melancholic murkiness of wet, sullen day be any good for auspicious words? How could the nostalgic air that seeks solitary reprieve be a nice thing to observe upon, especially in the midst of that medley of jubilation?

As such they hummed and hawed till they had pretty much dwelt upon all the popular news and academic discussions, conferring a sturdy air of scholarship to this small corner of pavilion. Perhaps owing to the fact that some embarrassment of sudden acquaintance had considerably wafted away, topics were skillfully maneuvered towards more colorful alleys.

What else could substitute such perennial topics as a gentlemen’s courtesy, but maidens and their beauty, their virtuosity, their characters. And so they talked some of that. Did someone hear anything new from the scholar who released the ‘most influential beauties of the land’? Was there a mention of capital city, and its several newly found accomplished women? Was there someone in there who was completely a surprise to them? Were they in a relationship, engaged or married?

"His highness the second prince really appeared at most opportune time. Before the flower could fully bloom in the spring, it was plucked off. Alas! What can one do but raise a toast to a missed fate."

"Nothing unusual to me. In fact, I had expected something of the sort. With such caliber as he has, nothing short will suite the status of our "White Lotus of the Western Mountains"! Not even the "Peony of the imperial city" could ever match her in her grace. At such a tender age too, she has such learning, such vibrant spirit."

“You talk of miss Wei, I assume. I still don’t understand, what is this about those titles? Who keeps a record of these, and who even decided to come up with that?” a boy sitting with his ankles in the nearby pond, looked up at his friend who immediately rolled his eyes at him and took a sip of his wine. “Come on! Don’t tell me it’s a common knowledge. I don’t know. How could it be unknown to me if it were so popular? All day long, there is someone calling miss Wei the “white lotus” and there just happens to be another one – I don’t recall the lady’s name – “the orchid of lone mountains” and whatnots. Although they sound poetic, but who has so much time in their hands to dwell on these things? It exasperates me!”

“Not someone like you, at least. All day long, I see you doing nothing but ploughing through those texts. Fine, good for you! But when not even a simile, nor metaphor comes in them, those texts– just ramblings of scholars on laws and didactics; don’t talk as you know what poetic expressions mean. How could you know of what it entails as all you do is read those ‘dry’ texts? Don’t embarrass yourself An Jin. We know what stuff you are made of.” A few of them burst out laughing.

“No, in all seriousness brother. There must be a book, you all refer to. Because if it was spontaneous, you wouldn’t all just come together to think of the same title, would you? Let’s say it happens in one case, no, it couldn’t be true for all. No way is that possible – you are hiding that book from me. I live with you guys all day and night, and I haven’t heard of these things in the academy, it could only be that you are hiding it! Why – because you are ashamed of it! Tell me, have I diagnosed this problem.” In his anticipation to know the effect of his speech, An Jin dragged out his wet ankles and sat besides his friend, his arms reaching over his shoulder in half-embrace.

“Ah! You are such a pain.” Sui Mo exclaimed as he tried to wrestle his body away from his grip.

“No, I am not.”

“You are! Now, An Jin lets stop here. Okay, I confess. We did hide it from you. And no, there is nothing shameful about it! We just thought you wouldn’t be interested in these things.”

“I really am not. But don’t hide things from me. When we go back to Imperial Academy together, you can show it to me there. I don’t think you have brought that book with you, have you?”

“No, of course not!”

“And he has successfully derailed our conversation. Just like always.” Luo Chen whispered to his companion. They were sitting over the carpet, leaning against the pavilion walls. “Second prince’s entourage hasn’t reached yet. Something must have happened to them. They would have reached before the ceremony, but there is no sign. I don’t think any of us has even received a letter.”

“There was a landslide in Shijiazhuang, I think. I heard my old man talk of that. If anything, he must have gone there first. He will arrive here. Of course, official duties are more important than a brother-in-law’s coming of age ceremony. I just don’t know why they thought of sending all of us here first?” Yu Mingyang whispered. Although the others around the two seemed to be engrossed in their own conversations, many ears were listening to them. A few even stopped their own conversations, lowered their voices to hear.

“Ha -! As if. You brother know more than that. I know you; you cannot lay still till you have got your hands around some nice gossips. You don’t seem restless to me, right now. It can only be that your old man slipped something more in his drunken stupor, did he?”

“Fine! There is a plan, are you happy? Indeed there is. But not here. We are to catch up with another entourage, and join them in the ‘Mysterious Mountains’. I only know of this much. You know my old man seems to talk a lot when he is drunk, but he will never say more than he really can let others know. Even if I make him drunk like a drowning horse, he will still not talk of official secrets with me!” Yu Mingyang replied.

“At least you do know something.” tilted his head, doling while he drank some more. “It’s a funny business, ha. Our grandfathers won’t talk, our fathers are silent. But they all treat us like some porcelain dolls, always fussing about something or other. I haven’t talked to my father so much in eighteen years of my life as I did these past three months! And that says a lot about them, doesn’t it?”

For some while, they both stayed silent.

“It stinks of mystery. I don’t like that. But what were we talking about? That “White lotus” thing An Jin?” Here Luo Chen raised his voice to eavesdropping An Jin and asked him aloud. Although a little startled, An Jin raised his drooping head and met Luo Chen eyes as if to affirm. “As you guessed, it is indeed a book. “Three thousand blossoms” is kind of a long running series. The author has been running it for five decades, so you know its old. Even our father’s used to secretly read them. I don’t know of yours, but my mother would always become angry whenever anyone recalled a certain young maiden’s title.” He chuckled a little and then continued, “It came out in recent volume, the ‘White Lotus’ thing. Dajin, Daxia, Qi, Jing, Xia, Wu, Samhan, every known nation on our Tianxin continent, and their countless beauties but each ranked in a single list of some hundred people. So the competition is brutal, many will die to just see their names coming up in there. Someone tried to dig a little deeper into who the author was, some think it’s a complete organization to be able to reach out into so many places. But it’s really funny to guess what their purpose can be – if they are a powerful organization, isn’t it? What can you do by recounting names of beauties of a certain place and of certain period, make a marriage brochure? If someone does have so many resources at hand, why don’t they use it for something else?”

“How can you be sure that they actually don't do something on the side? They might as well be running a secret alliance somewhere. What if what you think is a silly project of searching about maiden’s, assigning them a title – they are, in fact, doing something underhanded in secret?” An Jin interrupted. “There are so many things that someone of their caliber can actually do! Don’t you find it strange that people still haven’t found their real purpose in doing all this?”

“Or,” Sui Mo interrupted suddenly, “you are over-reading it. They can just be a few merchants who travel all around and hear of ‘beauties’ from the people they come in contact with. And it does sell, doesn’t it? People of all kind buy into the fuss, and purchase the book. Just think about the profits. Let’s not let our imaginations lose, shall we?”

“A good point.” Luo Chen said. “But let’s talk of something else. We have been in Jinghai for many days now, a fortnight almost. Apart from our ‘White Lotus’, you found out something interesting?”

“What do you have in your mind? Like something other than soggy legs, weather-beaten bodies and continuous rain? I have never been to a land as wet as this place!” Yu Mingyang sighed.

With a brief silence another voice went on. "What about murder? Will that be too macabre of a topic for present?”

“Definitely, but who cares. If its between us, and no words goes about, why not? Let’s talk of that.” Luo Chen replied looking at the few faces that had come closer together. They were all from the same academy, there was no outsider at the moment. Although, some of them had only come to Jinghai for the first time in their lives – there were still many who were originally from this place. The speaker, Ji Si, seemed to have had something to do with Jinghai, either his father or grandfather was in the local Yamen.

“I heard, there was a maid found dead in her ladyship’s courtyard. I don’t know if it’s true. It was all the rage of town a few days ago.”

“Which ladyship?” An Jin perked up. “Amazing. A murder. By god! I was just expecting some small blunders but my brother here, just straight went and blurted out murder. Go on, tell us who was murdered? Who is this lady?”

“Who else? That white lotus, of course. The one by whose purity everyone swears by. Who would have thought that such an event would come out from the backyard of such an accomplished woman?”

An Jin looked up at the slowly rising head of the speaker. He wasn’t familiar with this person, Song Muchen. He was from another group, quite different from his own small circle of friend – at least their group had never been as well renowned as the one Song Muchen belonged to. Many people seemed to be coming closer once they saw who was speaking. They walked around and then sat in close proximity, as if quite interested in the talk.

“A maid got murdered. A waiting maid who had accompanied the lady growing up. What happened- how do I know? Heard some rumors that some secrets were spilled? What was it about – nothing that will see the light of the day. But a washerwoman seemed to have been dragged to the Yamen a few days ago. She was yelling about how her sister-in-law was innocent and she had only talked of something when she was drunk; maybe it was the same case.” Ji Si continued to explain the events.

“Ah -! I was there! I was just in the opposite restaurant pavilion facing the Yamen. But I thought they were dragging a mad woman to do away with her, she didn’t look right. I even heard someone swear that she was just a lunatic.” Another boy joined in the conversation. “I searched a little deeper into it – because I have seen mad people, and she struck me in particular. I don’t know how, or why. But I went around and heard a little. Guess what? Her whole family had suddenly committed suicide. It was said that they were all very heartbroken by the sudden sinking of their small business – the woman’s father-in-law was a tofu seller – with no one in the family left to support them. It will not take a genius to see that there was something fishy. Song Muchen, you seem to know more than that right?”

“I don’t know, unfortunately.” Song Muchen spoke languidly, drawling out his words in slow, clipped words. His eyes though seemed to have dulled, unfocused as if chained in a reverie. He turned his head to look at the boy who had addressed him and replied. “Only that the maid in waiting, was of lowly birth. No one cares if she died an unjust death, even I or anyone of us. I mention it because she was maid to her ladyship – the eternally pure, ‘White Lotus of the western mountains’ and we people, usually don’t associate such accomplished lady to deal with their subordinates in such a high-handed manner. That's it.”

“No, you definitely know something more. Is it a hidden secret that none of us can know of?” An Jin stated stubbornly. “Come on – have some faith in us brother. We don’t go spreading rumors. What we hear, will always remain in our hearts. Promise.” He tried to persuade Song Muchen.

“Yes, I do know something - the maid was found gossiping about a certain person.” Here he lowered his voice, taking in a white jade cup from the serving platters and filling it with some hot tea. After he had taken his time, seeing the growing anticipation in the eyes of his audience, he began in his nonchalant tone. “There used to be an aunt, an illegitimate aunt a few years older than the eldest lady Wei, something Hua, some kind of flower was in her name. Quite like lady white lotus. Beautiful. Skilled in four arts and could even talk down the scholars who taught her in the Clan school – an accomplished scholar of his time, himself. Never heard of her elsewhere, I doubt anyone of you know of her. I heard, she was more beautiful than the purest of the snow, had hands that could paint of worlds so mesmerizing the world wondered at its sublimity. Duke of Weizhou seems to have collected some of her works before – but again, no word about such an accomplished woman elsewhere.”

Song Muchen stood up from his position and walked up to the balustrade, he seemed to be gazing at the still waters of the pond. He had left the others pondering over this strange person they had just heard of. Perhaps even a bit about his strange state of mind. The company descended into silence.

“Tales, I say, some made up story resounding in the market among commoners." Another voice barged in.

“How could such a famous person remain unknown? Its almost like a fairy, an apsara descending and then vanishing. Like, think about it! Even a fairy leaves behind a legend after she is no more. How come, we have never heard of this person? And she wasn’t that far away from our generation.” With his lips taut in an unbelieving smirk, Yu Mingyang picked up the kettle and began to pour himself a serving of tea.

“Yes, its too far-fetched. She must have a name in the “Three thousand blossoms” at least? Did she?” Luo Chen agreed wholeheartedly.