Sure enough, the young Emperor held a rose, surveying her, her eyes as deep as a lake.
Is this the scholar she had fought to protect? Her appearance is indeed as beautiful as the rumors say.
"Your essay was very good," the young Emperor's soft voice sounded above her head.
"Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty. This humble subject is overwhelmed," Qiu Shuzhi bowed even lower, her long hair falling like a waterfall from her shoulders.
Yue Shen stared at her straight back, though of low rank, she had a proud bone, instantly generating goodwill.
"No need to be overwhelmed, this is what you deserve."
The phrase 'what you deserve' was unclear whether it was meant for Qin Shu and Jiang Si to hear, or for the officials below.
"Come forward, I will pin the flower for you," Yue Shen's soft, tender voice said.
Qiu Shuzhi lifted her skirt and ascended the steps, her pure white dress hem slowly spreading out. She knelt before Yue Shen, the natural cold fragrance of her body wafting to Yue Shen's nose with the spring breeze.
Unlike any heavy fragrance of perfume, the vague yet faint aroma made her unable to resist staring at Qiu Shuzhi's loosely bound hair bun and sniffing a few more times.
Long hair like spilled ink, what a dazzling sight it would be if adorned with a brilliant rose? Yue Shen thought.
She pinched the flower, preparing to pin it in her hair, when suddenly a shrill voice pierced the sky.
"The Empress Dowager arrives—"
The officials knelt in a sea of black, even Qin Shu, who had been casual when kneeling to the Emperor, became solemn. Only the young Emperor Yue Shen's eyes flashed with a hint of disgust.
The current Empress Dowager Qin Qing, the legitimate son of the Qin family, was the late Emperor's successor consort. The late Emperor had passed away not long after marrying him, so this Empress Dowager was still not yet thirty years old.
Despite his young age, he held extreme power, and together with the Qin family, had marginalized the Emperor, ruling from behind a curtain. The officials might disrespect the Emperor, but they dared not disrespect Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
Qin Qing's procession entered the Apricot Garden grandly, even more imposing and majestic than the Emperor's procession, clearly in a position of superiority.
Qiu Shuzhi knelt by the seat, only seeing a swath of dark ink-colored gold-embroidered robes sweep past her eyes.
Qin Qing glanced at the rose in Yue Shen's hand.
"This must be the Third-Place Lady, raise your head and let me have a look!" A deep male voice flowed like steady water.
"Yes!" Qiu Shuzhi slowly raised her head.
Before her stood a man in dark gold-embroidered robes, his long hair bound by a jade crown, his face handsome and profound, his slender, gentle eyes carrying a faint hint of a smile.
Qiu Shuzhi saw a flash of amazement in his eyes.
However, what attracted Qiu Shuzhi's gaze the most was the man standing behind Qin Qing.
He wore an official robe embroidered with four-clawed pythons, his chest adorned with a fierce beast resembling a dragon, baring its teeth and claws, chillingly bone-deep. A jade belt cinched his waist, and under the gold-woven black gauze cap was his skin, pale to the point of being almost bloodless. His features were cold and exquisitely beautiful, thick eyelashes casting shadows under his eyes, like a deity looking down on all beings from a snow-capped mountain.
From beginning to end, he kept his eyes lowered and didn't utter a word, nor did he look at Qiu Shuzhi even once. The hand gripping the embroidered spring sword had visible blue veins, exuding a coldness and danger that kept people at a thousand miles' distance.
"Father Dowager, the flower-pinning ceremony is not yet complete, please allow your daughter to finish bestowing the flower first," Yue Shen said.
Qin Qing looked at the rose in her hand and slowly said, "The flower-pinning ceremony should be completed, but this rose is inappropriate." "What's inappropriate about it?" Yue Shen frowned imperceptibly.
The flowers bestowed on the top three had been passed down from the previous Emperor, and all previous third-place winners had been given roses. Qin Qing's words were clearly meant to undermine her imperial authority.
Qin Qing lightly pointed at the pale, misty apricot blossoms in the distance: "Apricot blossoms are the flowers of passing the examination, they would be most suitable pinned in Lady Qiu's hair. What do you think, Guanyi?" The snow-mountain-like beauty moved his eyelids, his cold eyes looking towards Qiu Shuzhi, but quickly averting when he noticed Qiu Shuzhi was also looking at him, as if he had seen something terrifying. His hand gripping the embroidered spring sword turned white: "It's up to Father Dowager to decide." Qiu Shuzhi's eyes flickered, was she really that frightening?
With these words, before the Emperor could agree, an official below the throne had already broken off a beautifully blooming apricot branch and obsequiously offered it up.