Sweet Pomegranate Flowers

In the fifth month of the year, Zhao Zhi fulfilled his promise to Song Caitang. It was time to bring her to see the prettiest pomegranate flowers.

Perhaps it was because this was a date he had planned a long time ago, Zhao Zhi took it very seriously. He described the scenery in detail again, then talked about the terrain and which trails would be best… He was getting nervous.

But Song Caitang didn’t know anything about such things and didn’t even have a good sense of direction, so she just nodded along and didn’t make any comments.

He was a tall and broad shouldered man, while she was a sweet and gentle woman, and they sat with the moonlight shining on them… If anyone happened to walk past, they would find this scene very heartwarming.

But actually, Song Caitang really had no idea what Zhao Zhi was talking about at all. If she didn’t nod her head, then what was she supposed to do? Say something? But she didn’t know what to say.

Zhao Zhi eventually just sighed and patted her head. “In short, just make sure you follow me. I’ll make sure you don’t get lost.”

“Okay.” Song Caitang dodged his hand expressionlessly.

She hadn’t washed her hair since the day before!

Zhao Zhi just stared at her. “You’re really not like the other girls.”

Song Caitang raised an eyebrow. “And so? You’ve fallen for another girl? I’m sorry I didn’t meet your standards.”

Zhao Zhi sighed. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Oh? Then what did you mean?”

An unreasonable and silly argument that occurred solely between lovers quickly began.

Not even the logical and rational Song Caitang could resist getting into such an argument.

But the moonlight was too beautiful, and the young woman sitting beneath it was simply too beautiful too. Her eyes were watery, clear and bright, as though they contained the starry sky. Even her long brows seemed intelligent and charming.

Zhao Zhi couldn’t find it in himself to argue with her at all. His heart was pounding.

He pulled his arm around her waist and gave her a deep kiss that she couldn’t dodge.

“I would like to fall for someone else and make sure I don’t die in your arms, but…there’s only one woman named Song Caitang in the world.”

His breathing started getting heavier.

He ran his hand through her hair, which was long, smooth and a little cold. It was like top quality silk and he simply couldn’t get enough of it.

“Don’t try to dodge me, Song Caitang. That only makes me…want you more.”

Song Caitang’s face suddenly reddened.

Why was he being so forward now?! ARGH!

…

Song Caitang felt that she had embarrassed herself too much that night and wanted to get some dignity back.

On the day she was to meet Zhao Zhi, she walked out of her house and spotted Zhao Zhi from afar.

He was standing by the road with his horse, Blackie, next to him. It was hard to say if Blackie was unhappy with something or if he was trying to discipline Blackie and stop it from being playful, but his back was against Song Caitang and he didn’t seem to be paying attention to his surroundings, so he didn’t seem to realize she was approaching him.

Song Caitang immediately decided to just run straight into Zhao Zhi.

If Zhao Zhi moved aside, she would scold him for not caring about her and allowing her to nearly fall. If he didn’t move aside…then she would scold him for forgetting what he said before. Didn’t he say he would make sure to reject any woman who threw herself at him, regardless of time and place?

She didn’t care what Zhao Zhi was going to say. She had the right to be unreasonable, so she was going to do that today!

Moments before she crashed into him, she shut her eyes and was prepared for the pain that was to come…

But Zhao Zhi turned and stretched his arms out to catch her properly.

She didn’t crash into his back, didn’t stumble to the side or fall backward. She was perfectly fine and wasn’t in pain at all.

“Why didn’t you move aside?” She frowned at him and purposely looked fierce so that she could continue with the script she had written in her mind before this. “Or were you excited about a random woman throwing herself into your arms?”

When she was a distance away, Zhao Zhi might not have noticed her. But once she got close enough, he would have known she was a woman. She hadn’t said anything, but her lighter footsteps and her sweet body fragrance would have made it clear that she was female.

Zhao Zhi reached out to tuck some playful strands of her hair back behind her ear. He sighed, “Silly girl. How could I not recognize you?”

He could tell even when he hadn’t seen or heard her voice?

She stared at her feet. “The sound of my footsteps?”

But they were outside in the day, so the environment was noisy and footsteps were barely audible.

She pulled her sleeves up and took a whiff. “My smell?”

But she did not use any one particular fragrance. She either used whatever Guan Qing gave her, or something that Guan Wan concocted for her. As a result, she often smelled like one of her cousins for a period of time and never had a unique smell around her.

Zhao Zhi looked at her. “I don’t need something special about you to know it’s you.”

Song Caitang looked confused.

“The three words Song, Cai, Tang, are the most special to me. There’s nothing else in this world that compares.”

It was part of his instincts. He didn’t need any clues.

He stared intently at her. “I don’t feel like taking you to see the pomegranate flowers anymore.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re prettier than the flowers.”

Song Caitang blinked a few times before a red flush slowly covered her cheeks. Did this man suddenly…gain the ability to sweet talk?!

But Zhao Zhi was speaking from his heart and only realized how mushy it was after he uttered it. He cleared his throat and looked away. “Let’s go?”

It had been a long time since Blackie last saw Song Caitang and it really missed her. When Song Caitang came closer, it started snorting loudly to greet her, but Zhao Zhi was holding onto its reins very tightly, so it couldn’t move closer to her.

But now that Zhao Zhi had loosened his grip, it galloped over and nudged Song Caitang’s shoulder with its head with a few happy snorts.

Song Caitang burst out laughing and touched its face gently. “Blackie, you’re going out with me for some fun today, aren’t you? Did your owner treat you badly in any way? Did he feed you enough? I’m very heavy, you know…”

Blackie galloped excitedly around her, its eyes gleaming with excitement and anticipation, as though it couldn’t wait to take this beautiful girl for a ride!

Zhao Zhi hopped onto the horse, then held his hand out to Song Caitang.

Song Caitang took his hand firmly.

Before she knew it, the wind was blowing past her ears and the sound of Blackie’s hooves galloping at high speed filled the air. The scenery changed almost immediately as they rode into the distance.

Song Caitang was very happy throughout the journey. Riding a horse was something she had done very few times in her life. It was tiring, but both the feeling and the things she could see, especially the breeze in her face and the floral fragrance in the air, was especially enjoyable.

Blackie was also eager to impress the pretty girl on its back, so it galloped at a steady pace without being playful at all.

Song Caitang didn’t need to worry about falling off at all, so she could appreciate the scenery around her. The flowers in full bloom, the large swathes of green. It had been a long time since she enjoyed nature like this.

But Zhao Zhi was having a much harder time.

He wasn’t trying to say sweet nothings just now. He meant it.

Song Caitang was in a light pink dress and an off-white sheer jacket over it. The waist was cinched and the sleeves were on the narrow side. He had no idea who thought of this design, but both the color and the cutting suited her perfectly.

Her skin was very fair and almost translucent, she stood a little taller than most girls and did not give others the impression that she was delicate, so it would seem like she wouldn’t suit such a sweet color. But this dress perfectly outlined her shoulders and waist, highlighting her femininity, and the sheer off-white jacket made her gentle but not frail, which matched her pretty brows. Even her blush and lip color was a sweet pink. Everything made her look so sweet and gentle.

Zhao Zhi felt like he was losing control of himself. He almost forgot he was outside in broad daylight!

Thankfully, Blackie did its best to gallop as quickly as it could. It still threw Song Caitang an adorable and charming glance every now and then, but it didn’t take long for them to arrive at their destination.

Zhao Zhi did his best to control himself and hopped off the horse as naturally as possible. He stared at his horse with a slightly conflicted look in his eyes.

He had hoped that Blackie would go faster, but he also hoped that Blackie would go slower. But when they got to their destination, he realized that his real wish was for Blackie to go slower…

But Blackie ignored him. It just stomped a few times at him, then sashayed toward Song Caitang to gain her favor without even bothering to look at him.

Zhao Zhi was in disbelief. Do you even remember you’re MY horse?!

“It’s really pretty…” Song Caitang was stunned by the bright red flowers before her.

She had always found herself very strange. As a coroner, she had cut through many dead bodies and seen a lot of blood, but instead of hating red, she loved the color a lot. To her, this was the color of life, a fresh, vivid color.

They were in a mountain pass and it was completely covered in pomegranate trees. It was blooming season, so the entire place was covered in red. Even the white rabbits at the foot of the trees looked like their fur was reddish.

Zhao Zhi was pleased to see that she was enjoying the flowers, but suppressed his smug smile. “I have a house on top of this mountain, so we can go there and rest when you’re tired.”

Song Caitang turned to look at him. “A house?”

Zhao Zhi turned his head away casually and looked like this was no big deal as he said, “The garden is also full of pomegranate trees and everything is in bloom now, so while it’s pretty and all, it’s not as fun or impressive as the mountains. But you can have a meal among the flowers, which makes for a fairly refreshing experience.”

“Wow…” Song Caitang responded well to this suggestion. “I want to go there!”

She sincerely liked the idea.

Zhao Zhi covered his mouth with his fist and suppressed his smile. “I’ll get the servants to prepare some food that you like.”

Song Caitang didn’t care if he smiled or not. She only cared about the beautiful flowers in front of her. She even got Blackie to support her as she picked an especially pretty one off a branch. She turned to ask Zhao Zhi, “Isn’t it pretty?”

Zhao Zhi went into a daze for a moment before finally saying, “Very pretty.”

It was hard to say if he was talking about the flower or about her.

His eyes were full of Song Caitang in her long pink dress, her cinched waist, her pink and soft lips, her fair arms, standing among the fiery red flowers.

Her eyes were beautiful and her smile was sweet as she stood in the midst of the flowers, alongside the silly Blackie. Zhao Zhi felt like he would never forget this scene for the rest of his life.

There was always one person in the world who would appear one day and bring color and brilliance to your life.

Blackie was having so much fun. Nobody was stopping it from being so close to Song Caitang for such a long time! Yay!

And because it was having so much fun, it raised its head proudly as it led Song Caitang to Zhao Zhi to boast about it. Or perhaps the horse finally found its conscience and wanted to repay its owner, so it nudged Zhao Zhi in the back.

Zhao Zhi was caught off guard and found himself face to face with Song Caitang.

His nose was nearly touching hers.

He wasn’t going to let this chance slip. That would be such a waste.

He immediately pulled Song Caitang into his embrace…

No matter how secret they would like their date to be, there was no way for them to be completely alone, given their social status. Qingqiao and one of Zhao Zhi’s long serving subordinates were not too far from them.

Qingqiao was a clever girl, so after fighting with the other maids sent by Madam Zhang in the Luanze house, she learned how to survive in such a household. And after Guan Qing gave her “special training” from time to time, she had become a pretty good head maid already.

She understood when she ought to step in to take care of her Young Mistress’ matters, and when she should turn her eyes away and not look.

So when she saw what was happening between Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi, she immediately covered her eyes and turned around.

At the same time, she barked fiercely at Zhao Zhi’s subordinate, “You too! Cover your eyes and turn around!”

He stared blankly at her.

“What are you staring at! You’re not allowed to look at me! Or I’ll get a knife and gouge your eyeballs out!”

Qingqiao was indeed the head maid to the number one female coroner of Da’an. Even her threats included the use of a knife.