Withered Flowers

Third Pov:

"I'm going to find my sweet YuHan," ZiNuo mumbled as he walked past a bunch of servants that were holding baskets of fruits. His eyes wandered around his surroundings but landed on a servant, who seemed to be doing something spurious. He headed in her direction. He stopped her right when she was about to leave. "Hello, there, little lady," ZiNuo greeted.

"Greetings to you, Mo gongzi."She bowed. She stared at the ground avoiding all possible eye contact with ZiNuo.

"Do you know that it's bad to not look at someone's eyes when they talk to you?"

"Sorry," she stuttered and lifted her head, looking into ZiNuo's eyes.

"No worries, little lady. But I do have a question for you. What were you doing here a second ago?"

"Uh, I was trying to tend the flowers. The festival is coming up, and these flowers are important to the festival."

"Are you sure that you weren't using illusion magic?"The girl's eyes widened as if she got caught or of guilt.

"I would never do that!" she rebutted.

"How about you tell me the real reason behind why you are using your magic to hide something."The girl trembled in fear.

"Fine." She waved her hand around, undoing the spell. ZiNuo's eyes widened. Surrounding them were dead flowers.

"Why are you hiding something this bad?"His eyes landed on hers, waiting for a response to come out of the girl's mouth.

"Lately, the flowers have been dying for no reason. At first, I tried to hide a few of the brown-colored flowers and even asked the other ladies in charge of the other flower sections. They told me that normal flowers may turn a bit brown sometimes, so I didn't think it was that serious."

"Well, it seems like you're walking on thin ice now."

"I don't know what to do anymore."She got onto her knees and started to cry.

"I'll get YuHan over here and investigate the situation."

"You can't get Bai gongzi here. He's going to murder me."She grabbed onto his leg before he could take a step away from her.

"Do you want help or not? I'm not an expert in a situation like this. YuHan would be the best fit to help you."

"If you insist, but please, do not tell Master Su about it. I would be banished from the Sect. I don't have anywhere else to stay." Tears continued to fall from the girl's eyes.

"I promise you that I would not tell the Master, and I will make sure that YuHan won't have a single word slipping out from his mouth," ZiNuo smiled. "Why not also tell you a secret I have? So you could feel safe for the time being." ZiNuo walked closer to the girl and whispered something to her, leaving her flush red.

"Thank you, Mo gongzi. I feel much better," she smiled. Little did they know someone from far away was staring at them. Without context, ZiNuo and the girl's actions seem intimate at that moment.

"Did you make the poor girl cry?" someone asked as their footsteps could be heard, coming closer to the two. ZiNuo turned around to see YuHan standing there. His expression was quite intimidating.

"I didn't make her cry, and what's up with that look on your face? Who made Xiao Han mad?''ZiNuo jokes, stepping back, getting closer to the girl. YuHan stared into ZiNuo's eyes, confused about what he meant. At this very moment, any normal person would have assumed that YuHan was mad at ZiNuo for talking to a girl, and getting inches closer with her didn't make it any better.

"I will take my leave now, Mo gongzi," the girl said quickly before walking away as fast as possible.

"Now look, you scared the poor girl away," ZiNuo sighed. "At this rate, how are you going to treat your future wife? Are you also going to scare her away?"

"Stop joking around."

"I know, I know, you love it when I cut the bullshit, and start talking about something useful. Whoever marries you is going to go through a ton. One word to describe it would be boring."

"You think so?" YuHan leaned in. Their faces were so close that they could hear one another's breathing. ZiNuo's heart jumped, and his eyes widened.

"Don't come any closer," he pushed YuHan away. ZiNuo's hand rested on his heart, feeling the beat of his heart increasing every second. ZiNuo looked at YuHan, who looked flustered. His ears were red, realizing what he just did. "When did you start becoming so bold?"

"It's my fault. I did it on impulse. Sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable." Ever since YiHan entered into your life, that was what YuHan wanted to say. "What were you talking to the girl about?"YuHan diverted the conversation. YuHan wanted to know why she was so flustered after ZiNuo whispered something to her.

"It's a secret between her and me. Don't worry about it too much. Anyways, more important news. Do you see all the dead flowers around us?"

YuHan looked around to see the pond that surrounded them with beautiful flowers was now filled with withered flowers. "What happened?"

"Well, I don't know what happened. But, for now, we need to cover this up. So we can find the source behind all of this."

YuHan sighed. Why is he always getting me into unnecessary trouble, he thought. "Where do we start then?"YuHan asked.

"There's a faint scent left by the culprit. It should bring us somewhere."

ZiNuo and YuHan followed the scent out of the Sect. They arrived at a very busy place. Men going in and coming out drunk. Women using their handkerchiefs, trying their best to draw attention from the men on the street. ZiNuo looked at YuHan. YuHan's eyebrows furrowed.

"I did not sign up to come here," YuHan sighed.

"Don't be scared! I always come here when I'm bored."

"Wait, what? What do you mean by that?"YuHan's eyes widened.

"Don't worry about that. I always come to these places to drink wine. The ladies are quite nice."

"You're not expecting me to come in there with you, right?"

"You want to find out or not?"