Song of Silent Promise

7. The First Demon

Qin Zhe saw her poem and was silent for a few breaths.

Xu Yejing heard him sighing as he put down her poetry before he dipped his brush in ink and wrote on a paper,

[I was not when you were born, you were old when I was born.]

[Regretting this youth, forever chasing.]

[I was not when you were born, you were old when I was born.]

[Wishing to be together, forever dreaming.]

[You were old when I was born, I was not when you were born.]

[You are an unattainable flower; pinegrass scent, lofty self.]

[You were old when I was born, I was not when you were born.]

[I am a butterfly; fragrance of pinegrass I long to delve.]

Having read Qin Zhe's poems before, Xu Yejing felt this poem was much too simple. However, she could tell the poem was one straight from the heart.

The servants and maids stationed inside the room said nothing, merely standing there in case their Young Master and Xu Yejing needed them for something. The room fell into silence. She looked at Qin Zhe, then towards the closed door. She sighed inside.

"Perhaps, that is the very reason he's been acting mature... way too mature."

Obviously, she forgot she was merely a fourteen year old girl herself.

Qin Zhe let out a smile without mirth. His gaze was calm but there was solitude in his eyes, "Seeing your poem, I thought you may understand this crude poem of mine. It... can express what I feel. As a friend, I just wish to share it with you, nothing more."

Soon, the poetry writing became doodling session to ease the somber atmosphere.

Despite the silence eating away each passing minute, Xu Yejing was finally used to the tranquility. She had always known Qin Zhe was not an outspoken person, thus she really could not impose for more. She agreed to exchange poetry with him mainly because the uneasiness she felt for Fu Yan and Fu Chun was almost unbearable.

She looked at her drawing: a landscape of mountains and quaint structured pagodas dotted along inky peaks, pines growing throughout.

Fu Yan and Fu Chun had always told her stories about the Flaming Cauldron Sect's picturesque abode, which was the limit of what they were apparently allowed to tell her. Xu Yejing had poured the details she had heard onto brush and paper, feeling anticipation of the day she would leave Xinlu city.

Looking at Qin Zhe, she felt the initial excitement dim.

For Fu Chun, Qin Zhe was probably as insignificant as the tanghulu or baozi vendors.

A manservant called on Qin Zhe from outside, "Young Master, the First Prince, the Second Prince, and your cousins are waiting by the inner gate." From the less formal way the servant called the Imperial Princes and the Left Prime Minister's sons, he must be the main steward of Duke Qin.

Qin Zhe and Xu Yejing frowned. It was still about two hours away until the time limit set by Fu Chun. Xu Yejing had never met the princes and Qin Zhe's cousins before, and she highly doubted either Fu Yan or Fu Chun would allow her to be seen by them.

Xu Yejing had hardly gone out of the estate due to the restrictions imposed to her by the Flaming Cauldron Sect and her own family, however she had heard stories from Xu Biyao about the current famous young male generations.