The Rise of Phoenixes

Translator: Aristophaneso

Chunyu Meng was also fine with the punishment, and cheerfully squeezed his way over to Feng Zhiwei’ He tapped on the man who had grabbed Zhiwei and called out, “Let go, let go. Listen to the headmaster’s ruling!”

All kinds of expressions decorated the faces of the people involved as they were escorted to a quiet room in the back courtyard. Strangely enough, no one paid any mind to the arch-villain Gu Nanyi, and it was as if everyone had forgotten his existence.

But Gu Nanyi did not forget himself, and when he saw Feng Zhiwei being taken away, he immediately floated after. Zhiwei turned to look at the brothel-visiting uncle with some admiration – with a single glance, he had understood that Gu Nanyi could only be defeated with strategy, and not with force! What a god among men!

The courtyard they were brought to was specifically used for locking students for punishment. A ten square meter room was separated into 8 small cells, each only containing a bed and a small table. Each window was small and mounted high on the wall.

Feng Zhiwei counted and thought that they had just the right number for one person a room.

Her guard pushed her into a small cell, and Zhiwei only heard a single sentence as the door was shut behind her. “Reflect on your faults! Seven days!”

Seven days.

Feng Zhiwei turned and saw Xin Ziyan standing nearby, his hands clasped behind his back. A smile covered his face, but did not reach his eyes.

Fine, seven days... Feng Zhiwei smiled. After the seven days of imprisonment, perhaps some things would have already passed.

The little room was very quiet, and Feng Zhiwei crossed her legs and closed her eyes to meditate. This was a good opportunity to study the Kong Fu in the notebook. Overtime she practiced circulating her Qi according to the method in the notebook, she felt incredibly comfortable.

Even if she might not be able to learn the Kong Fu skills, this training was still able to rid her of that weird burning stream in her body. With the great rivers and mountains, and the magnificent heaven and earth, how could she be willing to say goodbye at the age of twenty?

Suddenly, she heard a tap on the roof and lifted her eyes. Gu Nanyi sat on the high window above her, his reserved pillow in one hand, and Feng Zhiwei’s blanket in the other.

The sky had darkened, and moonlight shone down from the sky. The scene of this man sitting under the moonlight, peaceful and pure, with the shimmering light glimmering across his veil was ruined somewhat by the pillow under his arm.

When Gu Nanyi saw that Feng Zhiwei had noticed him, he floated to the cell floor, and with an incredibly practiced and natural movement, lay down on the bed to sleep.

Feng Zhiwei sighed, and very gently tried to persuade him. “Young Master, can you sleep in the cell next door? It is still very close by.”

Gu Nanyi threw Feng Zhiwei’s blanket onto the small table in response.

Alright... the young master wanted her to sleep on the table.

Feng Zhiwei lifted her mournful gaze and sighed at the moon, and then began the sad motions of climbing the table. Just as she had lifted a leg onto the table, she heard that thing call out. “That was very tasty, bring me some more.”

Feng Zhiwei turned —”What?”

She watched as Young Master Gu tenderly touched his lips with an expression of yearning.

The moonlight shone unimpeded through the window above, and in the frosted white light, that man’s veil was half exposed, and the light fell directly on his soft lips and danced gently over his jade smooth skin. His slender, white fingers gently touched the red of his lips, and the dark red snow lotus blooming in a vast field of snow was more beautiful than the most precious of a teenage girl’s dreams.

After a night of rain listening to the patter against the attic roof, tomorrow the flowers will open, and bloom in his dimples.

Feng Zhiwei felt her heart skip a beat.

The most enchanting temptation in the world is the unknowing temptation, because in its candid innocence, it is a window into the heart.

Gu Nanyi had no idea how beautiful and enchanting he was in this moment, and only thought back to that feeling he had not long ago, and tried to remember that strong and exciting taste that he had never known before in his calm and peaceful life.

“I don’t have wine right now...” Feng Zhiwei finally forced out after a long moment, and she could not help but remember how this man had “drank” the wine that day, and an unwilling blush flushed across her face.

Some anger followed the blush — why wasn’t he blushing as well? Did he think that he had drunk from a piece of wood!

“Drink.” This guy never cared about what she said, and only thought about what he wanted.

“No wine!” Feng Zhiwei said roughly.

“I have!”

Feng Zhiwei jumped as a voice called out from the corner of a wall. She looked below the bed and found Chunyu Meng peering through a hole. He announced triumphantly, “I have all kinds of alcohol in here! Do you want Nü Er Hong1 or Da Mo Yi Bei Zui2?”

Feng Zhiwei was speechless — obviously, Chunyu Meng had been locked up so many times that he had even dug secret caches and stored away good wine.

A bottle of wine was passed over, and just as Feng Zhiwei was reaching out to take it, a hand extended forward and snatched it away.

And then Feng Zhiwei watched in stunned silence as this Young Master Gu lifted his veil, poured a few drops out, applied it to the corner of his mouth, and then gently licked...

“...”

Feng Zhiwei was suffering a mental breakdown.

Did this brat come here to drive me insane?

Her face flushed and then paled and then flushed again as she sat there watching this guy slowly savoring the wine one drop at a time, applying it to his lips and licking it up as if this was the only way to truly savor the flavor. His beautiful, pale face was half veiled by his curtained hat, and the image, straight from some poet’s fantasy, with the natural charm and allure of his gestures and all the half spoken promises of his lips, shattered Feng Zhiwei’s calm and resolve.

Finally, Feng Zhiwei could not bear it any longer, and she pounced forward, fearlessly stealing the bottle from this Young Master Gu and preempted any response by yelling, “This is how you drink wine!”

Then as she threw her head back and tossed down half the bottle of wine, she silently bemoaned her fate. Drink! Drink until I die! What days are ahead...

Gu Nanyi made a sound of acknowledgement, happy to finally learn the proper way to drink wine. He’d been starting to grow impatient, and after “drinking” for so long, he had not felt that special flavor from that time those nights ago.

He sat and lifted his head, thinking back on that taste. He vaguely remembered someone telling him once that he could only ever drink small amounts of alcohol, but that was not a problem. What did the worries of others have to do with him?

These twenty one years on earth had shown him many strange and varied things, but everything had been peaceful and quiet as the night. He yearned for this new flavor, so different from anything he’d ever had.

He gestured and retrieved the bottle, and copying Feng Zhiwei, tossed back his head and drank.

The bottle was empty, and the rich smell of wine hung thickly in the cool room air. The smell of Nymphoides floating on a clear stream wafted gently, and the combination of the man’s scent and the thick musk of wine was intoxicating.

Feng Zhiwei shook her head and tried to clear away the dizziness. She was surprised with tipsiness, and usually considered herself a heavyweight that could drink far more than this. She had always drunk slowly before, but even then, her mind would grow clearer the more she drank. What was the matter with her today?