Ye Wuchen grasped the painting, and then asked in a gentle voice. “Young miss Hua, pardon me for asking but would this Twin Lotus Flower on One Stall painting obtain your good graces? A good painting should be in the hands of a beautiful woman. If young miss Hua doesn’t mind my inelegant painting skills, please accept it to spare my feelings. If this painting is not able to garner young miss Hua’s appreciation, then it has lost its meaning of existence, and it would be fine to burn it.
The people fixed their gaze simultaneously at young miss Hua. Some men even seized the opportunity to unabashedly admire her. The more they looked, the more they saw that she was gentle and beautiful beyond compare. Thinking about Lin Xiao and then Ye Wuchen, their hearts dropped. Whether by appearance, family background, or talent…they would never be able to reach these two. Perhaps only this kind of extraordinary intellectuals can match with such beautiful women. Even those young women seemed to admire her, and some were even jealous. To be admired wholeheartedly by men from Lin and Ye, even to the point of fighting openly and maneuvering covertly just for her…. how could the other females not envy her? For those who loved painting as much as their own lives, their hearts alarmed and trembling with fear. Who cares about the engagement between Lin and Hua family, they only fear that Hua Shuirou would not be agreeable. They would be helpless to do anything if she wished to destroy the one of a kind painting. The feeling was so hard to bear that it was almost felt as if they were getting killed.
“Chen-er, has he fallen for the daughter of Hua family?” Wang Wenshu said softly.
“I think so. The daughter of Hua family is an outstanding beauty, Chen-er falling for her is absolutely normal. Not to mention, Chen-er is not a child anymore.” Ye Wei said smiling, having no intention to blame Ye Wuchen for his actions. But rather…if he can win over the future daughter-in-law of the Lin family and create a bond with Hua family, he could only imagine the livid expressions the Lin family would have. He would surely enjoy it. Besides, Hua Zhentian only has one daughter, and spoils her very much. If anyone married his daughter, it would also mean that they will inherit the entirety of the Hua family. In those days, the Ye family had tried their best efforts to convince Hua Zhentian to let his daughter be betrothed to Wuchen, but was repeatedly rejected. At the time Ye Wuchen had been a good-for-nothing. He was repeatedly mentioned to the Hua family, but when Ye Wuchen had reached the age of sixteen, he still had no marriage proposals from their family. Wang Wenshu had shamelessly taken the initiative to mention the marriage proposal to other aristocrat families, but they had always found an excuse to change the topic or even escape from her presence.
Based on Hua Zhentian’s nature of keeping his word, making him cancel the engagement with Lin family was next to impossible. Ye Wei had the same thoughts in his mind.
“The young lady of Hua family is really attractive. If Chen-er really likes her, we should help him with it.”
“...” Ye Wei was terrified by his wife’s statement, cold sweat started to appear in his forehead.
Ye Shuiyao listened to their conversation in silence. Her gaze fixed at Hua Shuirou, but she could not understand what her heart felt, as though she felt suddenly uncomfortable. For some reason… she did not know.
Hua Shuirou felt her heart beating very fast. This can be considered the first time she was being stared at by so many people all at once, she wished she could escape then and there. After a long while, Hua Zhentian finally said, “Daughter, do you really like this painting? Please say something.”
“I...:”
Even though Hua Shuirou had a very delicate nature, her thoughts were not as simple as white paper. She knew that she should be loyal to her future husband, since they were already engaged. Even if she really liked the painting—quite a lot actually—based on this situation she really needed to say no.
In the end she lifted her head, about to speak, but suddenly met Ye Wuchen’s eyes. The smile on his face was so gentle, it slowly wiped the nervousness in her heart. His meaningful glance was gentle and deep, as if containing a deadly attractive force pulling her heart and all her attention - it was positively addicting.
On the verge of saying “no” she was suddenly unable to let her voice out. No matter how hard she tried she was not able to say it. And her heart started beating faster and faster...
“Do you want this painting?” He asked one more time, soft and gentle as the wind.
“I… want it.”
Ye Wuchen broke into a smile from the corner of his mouth and nodded with satisfaction. A sharp cry broke the silence, the bird on Hua Shuirou’s shoulder spread its wings to rise high into the air and flew towards Ye Wuchen. It landed atop his raised left arm, chirping cheerfully. Ye Wuchen rolled up the painting and placed it in its claws. The bird grasped it firmly with both claws, and then with another sharp cry, spread its wings and flew back towards Hua Shuirou, placing it atop her hands.
All eyes widened…Gasps of surprise, envy, denial…it was as if they had rehearsed this scene beforehand. For the green feathered bird to show its emotions and thoughts, this incredible scene played out so naturally, as if it were planned by God. It was as if this bird truly understood their wishes and used itself as a means to link it all together.
Holding the painting in her hands, Hua Shuirou had yet to awaken from her baffled state. Today’s events would stay with her for the rest of her lifetime. Up to this moment, she still couldn’t believe why she had agreed, perhaps it was the demons and gods at work. She was aware that she was going to say what she meant to say, any hesitation and worry had disappeared without a trace for that specific moment.
The whole Lin family’s facial complexions became ashen, their gazes on Hua Shuirou were full of resentment, but Hua Zhentian burst into a loud laughter saying, “I knew my clever daughter would love this painting. Not to mention, even I, a person who doesn’t know anything about painting, thought this painting was pretty good. It would be strange if she didn’t like it. But what happened to this bird? Could it be that it likes this painting too and couldn't wait to grab it?”
He still wasn’t aware that the three words from Hua Shuirou was exactly like giving the Lin family a violent whip using a rod. Hitting them to the point of choking and spitting out blood. In the middle of this situation it was compulsory to restrain oneself in order to help regain the reputation of Lin family. Just as Lin Xiao had mentioned before in a relaxed manner, “... after all she is still not yet a part of the Lin family, so everyone still has the right to seek after her!”
To be slapped straight at his face... he had yet to witness such a resounding slap like this. Lin Xiao originally thought that based on the character of Hua Shuirou, she would most certainly decline it, but to his surprise she accepted it. His heart felt like it was being scooped out by a lot of blades and twitched in pain.
No one had noticed, although Ye Wuchen’s face was smiling, his eyes were closed.
When he finally opened his eyes, the sense of dizziness from a few moments ago had disappeared without a trace.
This was one type of the power of the “spirit”, categorized as the first element of the ten major orders.
(The ten major orders include seven natural major elements and three major elements of fate. The seven natural elements were: water, fire, wind, thunder, earth, light and darkness. The three major elements of fate are: life, death and spirit.)
Spiritual power is miraculous and very difficult to manifest. It is a kind of the power element which was very difficult to apply and manipulate. Since he had a faint power of “premonition”, it would suggest that his spiritual powers were inborn, and he tried to use it a few times before. However, today was the first formal application, causing Hua Shuirou to shout out what her heart desired, and giving the green feathered bird a spiritual hint.
Applying this power to Hua Shuirou and the green feathered bird who both had no powers had already caused him dizziness, and he almost fainted on the spot. He thought of this with a sigh. Apparently, I must sparingly use this kind of power in the future. If I used it on a person with a little power, it might not only bear no results, but instead bring great harm to myself.
Translated by: Fatty_Uncle
Edited by: patrick_father_of_dragons
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