Rising Phoenix

Feng Zhiwei casually stood on the shore, looking out calmly. The location was remote, and it was early in the morning. With an event happening in the front yard, no one would have the time to come to this place. Fifth Aunt was, in truth, insane to pass through here—she was truly courting for death.

When the wet woman struggled to the shore and her trembling fingers were about to touch the shore, Feng Zhiwei gently swept her broom and brushed the finger away.

This sweep is for mother.

That year when her mother had brought Zhiwei and her younger brother to the Qiu Family Mansion, the three of them had knelt before the mansion’s front door for three days and three nights. On the fourth day, the door had opened, and a servant girl splashed out a basin of dirty water. That servant girl was Fifth Aunt’s.

That snowy day was even colder than today, and Feng Zhiwei had knelt behind her mom watching as the dirty water froze. After that, her mother had a fever for three days and three nights and almost lost her life.

…. Fifth Aunt struggled back again, stirring up ripples and waves. Her movements were slower as she reached out her fingers to grab a rock on shore.

Feng Zhiwei swept her broom another time, pushing Fifth Aunt away.

This sweep is for me.

Manager Liu was a distant relative of Fifth Aunt and had his eyes on Feng Zhiwei for a long time. At first, he had asked Zhiwei to marry him after the death of his first wife, and when her mother rejected him, he had asked that she marry his retarded son. The shameless manager planned to share a woman with his son. In order to stop him, Zhiwei’s mother even had to ask for her brother’s help. A few days earlier, Manager Liu had blocked Feng Zhiwei in a remote room. If she had not been ready with a pair of scissors, she would either be the wife of this father and son pair, or be kicked out of the Qiu Mansion for losing her virginity.

… Fifth Aunt swam over for the third time. This woman’s character still had some fierceness and cruelty, and this time, she didn’t reach for a stone but directly grabbed the broom, holding it against her body and pulling as hard as she could.

“Putong!”

Unprepared for this, Feng Zhiwei was pulled directly into the lake!

The bone piercing cold covered her as she sank into the lake. Zhiwei shuddered, and her only thought was that she would be frozen solid. However, the initial coldness passed quickly. A warm stream hidden in her body since birth bubbled forth and spread throughout her body, and after combining with the coldness from the water, all she felt was comfortable warmth that flowed through her veins and meridians. The feeling was luxuriating and felt just like a delicious warm bath.

Feng Zhiwei was dumbfounded as she touched her chest unconsciously. She had a strange disease since birth and had always felt an unbearable heat as if her body was burning. On the flip side, she loved the cold. Doctors had said she couldn’t live past twenty, and so in other people’s eyes, she was just a dying girl.

“The disease … is getting worse? I don’t even feel cold in a winter lake.”

Suddenly, her scalp was tightened; the woman by her side was grabbing her hair. Feng Zhiwei turned to the half-dead face and the malicious smile plastered upon it. Her fingers were like vine tangled in her hair, attempting to take Zhiwei down with her to sink in the lake.

Feng Zhiwei tilted her head and smiled.

“Cha.”

A white light flashed against the lake from her scissors, and a tangle of black hair fell away into the water and floated away.

Fifth Aunt had nothing to hold on to and had used up all her strength. Her head floated for a moment above the surface of the water and then sank quietly.

Feng Zhiwei stepped on her head and pushed her deeper into the water—since Fifth Aunt was doomed already, there was no harm in dying a little quicker.

With that push, Feng Zhiwei’s body rose a little, and she turned to gather her wet hair. The cold water finally chased away the unbearable heat, and she felt so light and clear-minded. The water was so comfortable that she didn’t even want to leave.

And so she stayed in the water planning how to deal with this “accident”—how to clean up the shore, how to explain to her mother how she had lost some of her hair, and how she had gotten all her clothes wet.

None of this was a problem for her, and after a while, she got ready to leave and reached for a stone. At that moment, her body stiffened as she saw a reflection in the water from the corner of her eye.

A slender shadow with a long fluttering cuff was reflected on the mirror-like water surface.

Feng Zhiwei stared at the shadow.

His robes were pale moon-white trimmed with dark silver veins, peeking out from under a snowy fur coat wrapped around his broad shoulders. Under his Jadeite Crown, the soft, precious fur was only outshone by his looks. It was as if all the beauty of the earthly world had come down together on one man’s face, stunning the mountains and rivers in ten thousand leagues.

His eyebrows curved up slightly at the corners, delicate like beautiful feathers, and the curve of his lips were splendid like the work of god. All these wondrous features, however, paled when the pair of eyes turned around and then the only thing left in the world was that dark ink-jade flash in his eyes.

The young winter wind carried a few specks of snow, passing through the plum trees on the shore, and the light breeze shook the branches of the trees and the snow-like plum blossoms. These plum blossoms fell like snow, swept and carried past the jade lake and scattering into small pieces against the floating lapel of his robes. In the pale and dreary winter, everything was suddenlybeautiful.

Immortal Saint in the mountains,

Master under the shade of trees.

The hand of a masterful painter,

And impossible to capture with a hundred thousand words.

The robed man was tall and slender like a jade tree on the shore, and from his posture, he seemed to be leaning forward slightly, examining Zhiwei.

Feng Zhiwei hid downward a little before turning and raising her head.

She looked into that pair of cold black eyes.

Those eyes were so beautiful—when they moved, the light in them flashed and was almost too bright; and when they stared, they were like a dark, tranquil abyss. From that barrier of white and black, a pure-steel light blue shone forth like a beautiful brocade revealed layer by layer. Gorgeous and noble, and yet also possessing a dark and heavy coldness. Anyone could drown in those eyes.

Feng Zhiwei held her hands together in front of her breasts as she looked up at those seemingly gentle eyes filled with ardent passion and the mistiness of a stroll in the night and romantic love. She wondered to herself whether all people on earth would lose themselves in his stunning appearance, and all of them would miss the terrifying coldness hidden in his eyes.

“Excuse me, can you move over a little.” She gestured with her head, hinting for the man to step aside.

The man didn’t move and instead remained slightly bent over while staring at her. Feng Zhiwei stood in the shallows, a delicate and pretty face hidden behind her hair. Her thin and wet eyebrows were like dark feathers, and her pair of misty eyes seemed to be covered with gauze as they gazed.

Truly a gentle and harmless looking girl.

Truly a face… that amazed him.

In the moving ripples, Feng Zhiwei bent slightly, her hands blocking in front of her chest. She did not feel awkward because of her wet clothes and did not panic because someone had seen her commit murder. She stood in the water calmly, looking into the man’s smiling and piercing eyes.

Before this man’s crystal clear eyes, any attempt at disguise was just inviting humiliation.