Glancing at Ma Junying, whom he was pulling by the hand, Liuzi’s eyes darted around before he loudly exclaimed and ran off to the kitchen to fetch the specially prepared tasting samples.
Meanwhile, in front of Fuman Building, a luxurious carriage had stopped, and a delicately dressed maid hopped down, then reached out to lift the curtain of the carriage.
As the carriage curtain parted, the first thing to appear was a translucent white slender hand, with long, thin fingers and exquisitely trimmed nails that gleamed like a string of lustrous milky pearls.
That hand gently rested on the maid’s, seemingly soft and boneless.
The clientele of Fuman Building were all figures of status and worldliness, but all were captivated by the lady’s delicate and boneless appearance.
The woman slowly descended from the carriage, clad in a tender pink long skirt, over which she wore an ivory, diagonally buttoned shawl. Even though the season wasn’t particularly cold, she was dressed more warmly than most.
Her hands alone were beautiful enough to move one’s heart, and her figure was even more graceful, compelling one to wonder if her face was equally stunning.
Unfortunately, she wore a white veil that obscured her features—an inner layer delicate and fine, the outer layer somewhat longer. These two veils completely concealed her face, giving her an ethereal and mysterious allure.
Even though her face was hidden, the eyes that shimmered like water could not be concealed. Her eyes were not particularly large, but they were slender, radiating an innocent gentleness that seemed to plead against condemnation. As her pupils moved, they sparkled brilliantly, as if clear springs might overflow from them at any moment.
Looking into her eyes touched one’s very soul.
"Yaner, is this his Fuman Building?" the lady’s voice was as flowing as her eyes, as if constantly streaming.
The maid supporting her nodded: "Miss, this is the Fuman Building that Second Young Master mentioned. If there’s no mistake, Second Young Master Xia is the Young Master of this establishment."
The lady lifted her head, her gaze drifting to the signboard hanging high above the building. That day, her second brother returned from delivering disaster relief in Jiangnan, without bringing Xia Zheng. Heartbroken and aggrieved, she cried all night in her room.
Just when she was in the depths of despair, her second brother shared a secret with her, instructing her to seek out Fuman Building in Zhuma Town. And so, she came.
Indeed, the woman before us was Su Qiuyu. She first saw Xia Zheng when she was six years old and was enthralled by his mischievous smile and captivating eyes. Yet, to him, she was no different from any other woman, despite the fact that her second brother and Xia Zheng were close enough to share clothes, she never received any special treatment from him.
Thinking of the man she yearned for day and night, a mist began to form once again in Su Qiuyu’s eyes. Although her brother hadn’t spelled it out, from his words, she discerned that something was amiss. Xia Zheng had been charmed by a village girl here to the point of not wanting to return home.
She panicked. Xia Zheng was the man she had dreamed of since she was a child, the one she wholeheartedly wished to marry. How could she let another woman take him, let alone a village girl?
Could she, the legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister, truly be inferior to a mere village girl?
"Let’s go, we’re going inside." Su Qiuyu dabbed at the corner of her eye with a handkerchief, but no matter how she dabbed, it felt as if tears were threatening to spill over.
At that moment in Fuman Building, the clientele was sparse. Shopkeeper Liu was engrossed in tallying the month’s earnings when he sensed an unusual atmosphere in the great hall.
He looked up, just in time to see a beautiful young lady standing before him. To call her beautiful might not be accurate, as her face was veiled, but her presence was nothing short of stunning.