Chapter 164
Chapter 164
Deep Mountain was protected by a maze formation. Anyone who entered without the mountain owner’s permission would become hopelessly lost.
Although Weiqing Song was the crown prince of a kingdom, he had never dealt with the people of Deep Mountain.
After all that explanation, the truth was simple: he did not have the mountain owner’s permission, so he could not enter.
But neither he nor Fusheng Duan had intended to climb the mountain directly.
Deep Mountain was not truly cut off from the world. Anyone sincerely seeking aid from its inhabitants had to solve a riddle they posed.
Weiqing considered himself reasonably intelligent, and he had even invited Fusheng along to help–though the fellow had ulterior motives for ascending the mountain. Surely nothing could stump the two of them.
Yet comeuppance might arrive late, but it always arrived. Standing before the riddle, Weiqing and Fusheng stared at each other. Weiqing wondered if he should simply marry Shengsheng Zhou off after all.
As a young lady, Shengsheng had been told to remain in the carriage. But her curiosity about the riddle proved too great, and she secretly slipped out.
The passing crowd was long accustomed to seeing people attempt the puzzle. Far too many visitors came from every corner of the land seeking an audience with the living immortals. If these two men differed from the others in any way, it was that their faces alone had already won the contest.
That was why a young woman passing with a basket–her heart utterly captured by Fusheng–walked over and struck up a conversation. “Have the two young masters come to solve the riddle?”
Fusheng glanced at her, lost interest, and looked away, thinking, *Do you not have eyes of your own?*
Weiqing replied warmly, “Indeed. Do you live nearby, miss?”
The young woman thought that this one was also remarkably handsome. She nodded. “Yes, yes. My home isn’t far from here.”
Once she started, she could not stop talking. Weiqing did nothing but nod and smile throughout, yet still coaxed every scrap of information out of her.
Stripped of the chatter, the useful part was this: the riddle before them had only recently been replaced. Someone had solved the previous one and gained passage up the mountain.
When he questioned her further, the young woman knew nothing more, so Weiqing had to give up.
“Imperial Brother, you still haven’t solved it?” Wearing a veil, Shengsheng appeared beside Weiqing.
He glanced at her. “Why did you come down?”
“You’re taking too long. Let me have a look.” She nudged Weiqing aside and walked up to the wooden board bearing the riddle.
The board looked new, as though it had only just been placed there and had yet to suffer the ravages of wind and rain.
The words on it had been carved with a small knife.
They read: Following the clue below, name and perform the correct dance.
Her gaze moved downward to a carving of two hands forming a lotus.
The hands had been carved with lifelike precision. Their pose was delicate, yet their pronounced knuckles made it clear they belonged to a man.
After reading it, Shengsheng stepped backward. This spot saw many visitors and the ground was filthy and uneven. She stepped on something, twisted her ankle, and toppled sideways.
The person who had been watching her all along stepped forward and held out both hands.
The moment Shengsheng glimpsed the crimson corner of his robe from the edge of her vision, she threw all her weight the other way, forcibly changed direction, and slammed into a different chest.
There was no romantic slow motion or happy accident from an idol drama. When the back of Weiqing’s head struck the ground and stars burst before his eyes, he even vaguely saw a light flashing in the heavens.
Ah… He had devoted himself to the Buddha all these years. Now that his time had come, had the Buddha sent someone to escort him away?
“Imperial Brother! Are you all right?”
The human cushion had certainly been comfortable. But the moment Shengsheng rose and turned around, she saw a trickle of blood hanging beneath Weiqing’s high-bridged nose. He lay flat on the ground with a vacant stare, looking utterly devoid of the will to live.
Fusheng Duan stood behind her and lowered his gaze to his own fingers. Pain flickered through his eyes, but he quickly concealed it.
“He’s fine. The back of his head is merely a little swollen.” Fusheng crouched down, pawed at Weiqing Song’s handsome face, and spoke.
Shengsheng Zhou thought, *You haven’t even looked at the back of his head. How do you know it’s swollen? Did the back of his head tell you?*
They helped Weiqing–who was babbling incoherently about Buddhas and fairies–into a nearby pavilion. Shengsheng silently repeated to herself that this was necessary for the task and she absolutely harbored no selfish motives. Then she beckoned Fusheng over. “I know how to solve the riddle, but I need your cooperation.”
As though not surprised in the least, Fusheng walked over and said solemnly, “Very well.”
At some point, the ever-present languor around Fusheng seemed to have faded a little. He had gone from an utter sloth to a merely lazy man.
Shengsheng glanced at him and took an uncomfortable step backward. “Does Noble Consort have someone he likes?”
Fusheng’s gaze stilled. “There is no one I like.”
Shengsheng’s heart lurched. Then she heard him continue, “There is only someone I love. She is very important to me, but now… she is no longer by my side.”
He lingered over *someone I love* with such tenderness that it seemed as though a piece of candy rested upon his tongue, dripping honey.
A thought gradually formed in Shengsheng’s mind.
He recognized me.
But it was too unbelievable, so Shengsheng chose to numb herself and reject the idea.
Impossible.
The only thing connecting her to Shengsheng Zhou was that red beauty mark, and the palace maid sent to apply her makeup that morning had covered it.
Wait! No wonder Weiqing had deliberately sent a maid over first thing in the morning to conceal the mark. The bastard had planned this all along!
Shengsheng even began to suspect that Weiqing had discovered the truth too.
Fusheng said nothing. He merely watched her and quietly waited for her to process it.
He had barely spoken throughout the journey. It was not that he felt uncomfortable; he simply did not know what to do.
He felt somewhat at a loss.
Shengsheng suddenly coughed. “Ahem… I know the story behind the riddle, but the dance must be performed by a man.”
The drawing depicted a man’s hands, so she had boldly made an assumption.
Fusheng showed a flicker of surprise.
Because Shengsheng Zhou’s attitude toward him seemed to have softened.
Something flashed in Fusheng’s eyes. He thought he knew what to do now.
But that composure collapsed the moment Shengsheng finished explaining.
Fusheng glanced at Weiqing, who still leaned dazedly against the pavilion, and envy flickered through his eyes.
Why could he not have been the one injured?
It was already afternoon, and the people nearby had gradually drifted away.
After demonstrating for him, Shengsheng looked at him with an indescribable mixture of excitement and anticipation in her eyes. “Have you learned it?”
Fusheng nodded reluctantly.
Shengsheng cleared her throat and shouted toward the mountain, “I’ve solved the riddle!”
A noise soon came from within the mountain. Shengsheng knew someone was approaching.
Standing before Fusheng, Shengsheng narrated with great emotion, “A long, long time ago, there lived a legendary group of young delinquents. Every full moon, they would perform an ancient and mysterious ritual.”