On the painted boat.
Wen Li followed the maid who ca to fetch her to change clothes.
She looked helplessly at the girl leading the way ahead, whose figure accentuated by the modest dress still drew admiration, even from another woman.
A... Half-Demon?
Wen Li now understood why Zhu Pingniang would specifically use transmission to find soone as a maid, realizing that her ntor had deliberately found a girl of Half-Demon heritage to et her.
Indeed, she was sowhat intrigued now; she hadn’t expected her ntor to have a Half-Demon maid... Perhaps due to the Half-Demon’s ntality, the maid didn’t question her ragged and tattered attire, rely giving her an outer garnt before proceeding ahead.
Without further thought, Wen Li followed the maid toward the room where the clothes were kept.
"..." The maid, or rather, Ah Qing who was called by Zhu Pingniang to take Wen Li to change clothes, tilted her head.
Inside the room, it was Zhu Tongjun and Li Zhibai?
——
On Muyu Peak, when two girls grow close to a certain extent, what kind of relationship would they have?
Since when Zhu Pingniang was still Zhu Tongjun, she had pondered such questions.
The relationship between her and Ah Bai... What exactly was it?
Were they close friends, or sisters, or perhaps a senior and junior?
Zhu Pingniang did not know.
In the past, she was not eager to define her relationship with Li Zhibai, but now, as these uncontainable desires surged within her, finding a balance in their relationship beca a vital task.
She was no longer willing to live in such a daze.
However, defining the relationship between two people is not sothing she could do alone, so... she needed to inquire with Li Zhibai.
So she asked.
"Ah Bai." Zhu Pingniang felt Li Zhibai’s hand brushing by her lip corner and softly spoke: "Tell ... what do you think our relationship truly is?"
"...Hmm?" Li Zhibai hadn’t expected such a question and instinctively began to respond.
"No rush." Zhu Pingniang interrupted Li Zhibai, taking a deep breath seriously: "Think it through more clearly before you answer."
She hoped Li Zhibai would take their relationship more seriously.
"..." Li Zhibai slightly furrowed her brow, pausing the hand that held her makeup brush.
She was actually trying to recall the details of applying makeup, so she hadn’t focused on anything else.
But now, it seed like Tong Jun was asking sothing trivial to her ears but evidently significant to Tong Jun?
"Is this a very important matter?" Li Zhibai looked at her.
"I suppose so." Zhu Pingniang turned her face away.
It wasn’t actually that important, it’s just... after discovering her improper thoughts towards Li Zhibai were exposed, she simply wanted to know... how she viewed her now.
Zhu Pingniang’s fingers pinched together and then struggled to separate a small gap, as she softly said, "Just being a bit serious... is enough."
"I understand." Li Zhibai paused her actions, fulfilling Zhu Pingniang’s wish, and began to seriously ponder the question that had, for her, only one answer.
"..."
Inside the room, fragrance perated, while outside the window, the sound of rain was getting heavier. Seeing Li Zhibai beco serious, Zhu Pingniang felt in an exceptionally good state, as if she had never felt this carefree since birth; she closed her eyes, listening intently.
Beside her ears, the accumulated water flowed without noise, there was only the gentle sound of the wind and the delightful trickling, perhaps... because she could hear the mixed sounds of the wind and water, with her breath closely intertwined.
The rain tapped against the boat’s deck, flowing down like a weaving loom.
What is the aning of beauty...?
In recent days, Zhu Pingniang would accidentally recall the word "beauty."
Perhaps paying attention to this word is because, at the Flower Moon Building, seeing the girls leisurely sitting in the pavilion together sipping tea had inspired her.
Maybe on a rainy day, watching overworked Miss Lu co over to massage her shoulders.
Or perhaps seeing Xu Chang’an and Yun Qian together, being slightly envious of the love they display, naturally gave rise to this pursuit of ’beauty’.
One cannot deny that the stimulus Xu Chang’an and Yun Qian provided was significant in making Zhu Pingniang as proactive as she is now.
Ultimately, Zhu Pingniang was able to find what she desired, to clearly recognize what beauty ans to her—naturally, it was Li Zhibai.
People inherently hope to pursue beauty, so her pursuit of Ah Bai is indeed the Supre Principle of Heaven and Earth, isn’t it?
Thus, Zhu Pingniang couldn’t help but wonder... what does ’beauty’ an for Ah Bai?
The answer was simple.
"Barefoot in the grass, sumr breezes, whispers in the fall, warmth by the winter stove."
Such simple things were precisely what Li Zhibai had once told her, what she yearned for in life.
To say it more elegantly, what Li Zhibai liked was indeed ’nature’.
Natural Daoist Laws.
She liked these the most.
Yet even so, it couldn’t hide the fact that she truly liked very ordinary things; the beauty Li Zhibai enjoyed was nothing more than spring flowers and autumn moons, sumr breezes and winter snow.
In the past, Zhu Pingniang couldn’t understand how these everyday elents related to beauty.
But now, having stayed in the Flower Moon Building for long enough, surrounded by girls like autumn cicadas, Zhu Pingniang suddenly understood.
In this world, besides the tranquility of spring flowers and autumn moons, the alternation of seasons, there is also an aspiration for life.
The so-called idle matters of girls, for the girls at the Flower Moon Building who have endured hardships, are more like human shadows in the world, obsessions, and wishes.
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