Chongfei Manual [I]

Chapter 1

During the month of March, it was raining incessantly in the capital city Sheng. The continuous drizzle had kept up for two weeks.

The maidservant Jin Lu awoke from an afternoon nap and looked all around the room, only to discover that the fourth miss had disappeared. Her drowsiness immediately vanished.

  Just now, the fourth miss had still been sleeping on the southern window arhat bed. How could a person disappear like that? She stood up in a hurry, took an oil-paper umbrella to go outside, and prepared to call Jin Ci and Jin Ge to search together. After taking one step through the threshold, she saw a five or six year old girl sitting under the glazed tiles. 

The little girl was wearing a lush green short jacket embroidered with gold and a flowery skirt below. This tiny person had a delicate profile, with thick long eyelashes. Her pink lips were pursed. She resembled a porcelain doll. Her hair was gathered in a bun, wrapped by a red silk ribbon with two hollow gold bells below it. As she heard voices, her head turned and the tinkling of bells sounded along with her movement.

Her eyes were beautiful, like a ray of sunlight breaking through the clouds to fall on a clear lake, glittering and bright.

Jin Lu sighed with relief when she saw the little girl was alright. Even her tone was relaxed, "Miss, why did you come out? It's raining, you may catch a cold if you're not careful!"

Wei Luo didn't speak, but looked at her in silence, then quietly turned her head.

She kept staring at the rain outside. Regardless of what Jin Lu said, there was no response.

This made Jin Lu a little worried. Since the fourth miss had gotten a fever yesterday morning, she hadn't been herself. Before that, she was a lively little miss who loved to laugh, her glib mouth worked non-stop. How was it that for these two days she had fallen silent so suddenly?

Did her brain burn up?

The thought just flashed through, when Jin Lu darkly spat out. What nonsense! The fourth miss had always been the most clever.

But what was it today?

She could not figure it out, but didn't try to persuade her further. She took out a cloak with cherry-colored brocade from the house, and put it on Wei Luo, while muttering casually: "It's been raining for more than ten days, who knows how long it will last."

Every March, the capital would be under endless rain, also making the rooms very damp and uncomfortable. Jin Lu only spoke casually and didn't expect Wei Luo to answer. After all, she was a six year old child, what would she know? She probably thought the rain was fun, therefore wanted to run outside.

But Wei Luo was actually listening. She showed a faint smile, revealing her snow white teeth, and finally said: "Tomorrow, the rain will stop."

She smiled, and two shallow dimples showed up on her cheeks. Coupled with a pair of bright black eyes, her appearance was sweet and naïve, making people unable to look away.

But today that smile looked somewhat wrong. In what way, Jin Lu was unable to say. In short, it was different from before. Before, when the fourth miss smiled, it would be more eye-catching than the wild rose in the courtyard. The old master liked her smiling face the most, because it could infect people and improve their mood. But not today. Although she was smiling, it seemed filled with resentment, a ruthless glint in the eyes, the whole body shrouded in a gloomy aura.

Could a small child know what hatered was?

"How does Miss know?" Jin Lu was startled. She was just about to take a closer look, but the girl stopped smiling, turning her head to continue staring at the rain outside.