Ming Huazhang didn’t like to share his own affairs, so Xie Jichuan smiled and said, “Because he believes that warmth and pleasure will corrode his will. To maintain his vigor, he doesn’t use ice in the summer nor charcoal in the winter, he doesn’t even sleep on a soft bed.”
Ming Huashang opened her mouth wide, deeply shocked. Seeing her reaction, Xie Jichuan said, “Do you brother and sister even live under the same roof? He has been doing this for so many years, and you don’t even know?”
Ming Huashang retracted her chin silently; she really didn’t know. She thought back on her life where she was sleepy in spring, tired in autumn, napped in summer, and couldn’t even wake up during the three months of winter1. She deeply spurned herself.
Especially after Ming Huashang looked around and found that Ming Huazhang was strong and self-disciplined. Ren Yao practiced martial arts all year round, and although Xie Jichuan joked about Ming Huazhang, he himself was sitting in a cold room with only unlined clothes, and he didn’t flinch at all. It could be seen that the Xie family might also use the cold to cultivate their children’s willpower.
Among the four present, only she was frozen like a dog.
Ming Huashang felt a little dejected; why were her peers always so outstanding? At this time, she noticed that the attendant brought a pot of fresh charcoal that was burning vigorously and put down a box of pastries beside it. The tip of her nose moved, and she immediately smelled that it was the plum blossom cake from the pastry shop at the southern market.
Ming Huashang lifted the lid, and sure enough, they were the plum blossom cakes she was familiar with.
Ming Huashang looked at Ming Huazhang in surprise. Ming Huazhang was a little embarrassed, coughed softly, and said, “You’ve always been thinking about it. When I passed by, I asked someone to buy it on the way.”
Xie Jichuan twitched his brows and gave Ming Huazhang a meaningful look, “Although I don’t eat pastries very much, I’ve heard that it’s hard to get an item from this shop. Why couldn’t I buy any when I passed by?”
How could Ming Huashang not know that Ming Huazhang arranged this, especially for her, so she happily took out the plum cakes and distributed them to everyone with a smile, “Thank you second elder brother! Brother Xie, Sister Ren, you woke up early this morning and haven’t eaten anything until now, so let’s quickly try the most popular treat in Luoyang!”
Ming Huashang handed a pastry to Xie Jichuan, his eyes were crescent-like, and Xie Jichuan didn’t say anything more. He took the small and delicate plum blossom pastry thinking that Ming Huazhang was cold, but his younger sister really knew how to conduct herself. Her ability to read the room was close to perfection.
After Xie Jichuan took it, Ming Huachang handed another to Ren Yao. Ren Yao was frightened and alarmed all morning. She was indeed a little hungry, but when she smelled the slightly sweet fragrance, she subconsciously wanted to refuse, “I don’t eat overly sweet things…”
“There’s no harm in trying, maybe it happens to suit your taste.” Ming Huashang stuffed the pastry into Ren Yao’s hands, “There’s been an avalanche and we are trapped, I’m afraid the villa will be chaotic for a while. Who knows if the kitchen will prepare breakfast? Let’s snack on some food in advance, then we will have the energy to think of a solution.”
Ren Yao was forcibly given pastries, and she was stunned. Over the years, she practiced martial arts diligently like a tight string, not daring to slack off for a moment. She wanted to prove that she was no worse than a man, so, of course, she shouldn’t like women’s things like rouge powder, pastries, and sweets.
But now Ming Huashang forced upon her a very “feminine” pastry, which was dainty and beautiful, with beautiful petals, and the sweet fragrance floated into her nose like a hook. Ren Yao firmly believed that what she liked were swords, spears, and halberds, not this kind of floral cake, but it seemed inappropriate to throw it back. She told herself that it was just the way of the world, so she reluctantly put the plum blossom cake in her mouth.
It was really delicious, no wonder it was hard to buy.
After Xie Jichuan and Ren Yao ate, Ming Huashang looked at their satisfied expressions and was happier than eating it herself. She looked at Ming Huazhang, her eyes sparkling, full of expectation. Ming Huazhang couldn’t refuse, so he could only take a piece as a gesture.
Ming Huashang became more and more happy, and ordered Zhaocai repeatedly, “Zhaocai, take out the pine flower tea we brought, the pine flower is fresh and complements the fragrance of plum blossoms.”
When Ming Huazhang heard this, he didn’t know what to say: “You even bring your own tea when you go out?”
Ming Huashang was about to proudly proclaim the many benefits of her homemade pine flower tea when suddenly there was the sound of disorderly footsteps outside, and then someone knocked on the door, “Something bad happened, the malicious ghost returned to claim a life, and another person died!”
Ming Huazhang and Ming Huashang and the group of four hurried to the place where the incident happened. Ren Yao gasped, pointed ahead, and said in horror, “Look, what is that!”
It was cold and snowy, the greenery had withered, and only bare tree trunks were left. At first glance, the color of the scene was very monotonous. But at this moment, a patch of bright red pierced through the dreary winter. A woman in red hung from the tallest tree. Her face was already covered in white frost, her body was bound into a strange shape using thorns and swung along the movements of the wind. The most frightening thing was the two bloody black holes on her face.
Her eyes were also cruelly gouged out.
Ming Huashang suddenly focused her eyes, carefully identified the woman’s appearance, and then looked nervously at Ming Huazhang, “Second elder brother, this is…”
Ming Huazhang also recognized that she was Taiping Gongzhu’s personal maid, and they met once when they went to pay their respects yesterday.
The crowd gathered around the edge of the woods, noisy and emotionally agitated. People died one after another within two days. Many people couldn’t take it anymore and clamored to go down the mountain.
Ming Huazhang ignored those yelling people and walked around the crowd. Ming Huashang was startled and instinctively grabbed his sleeve.
Ming Huazhang shook his head slightly to her, indicating that it was okay, and then strode towards the corpse. The noisy crowd just now fell silent, and everyone looked towards Ming Huazhang as if they had seen a ghost.
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