Lovely Blossoms

Fen Hua stared at Lady Meirong, her heart beat rapidly. The smile on the woman's face caused nausea to roll within her stomach.

'How could she sit there with such joy knowing full well what she would be doing to me?' Fen Hua's mind was racing. Her memory flicked back to Lord Heshing, the way his double chin was riddled with sweat. She thought of his pudgy hands covered in grease touching her. The very thought of it made her was to scream.

'How dare she! Who does she think she is? What about this father of mine? Could he really be willing to send his own flesh and blood off to some foul smelling pig?' She quickly wiped away a stray tear that had fallen without her permission. She didn't want this woman to see her weakness.

"Yes how lucky Sister," Hualing said in a sweet voice. "To think that you will have one of the wealthiest men in the territory keeping you warm at night." She looked away just as the smile emerged, and fanned herself to hide it. There was no hiding the wicked delight in her eyes however.

"And what would happen if I said no?" Fen Hua asked. Her voice was cold steel, a feeling of electricity somehow settling within the room. Like the sound of a hum or vibration.

First Lady Meirong felt the odd vibration, but none of the others had. She was initially startled by it, becoming unsettled for a moment. After a moment however she shook it off deciding it was nothing to worry about. If she had been 'gifted' surly they would have known at her birth. And the very thought of a female even having a 'gift' was so rare that she could only laugh at herself for thinking such a thing.

"If you were to say no, then of course we would make you go. Who do you think you are that you can disobey the orders of this household?" She slammed her hand against the table beside her. The sound sent chills down all of the servants.

Each one bowing their heads hoping not to be noticed by her while she was angry. It was a well established rule within the household that when she was angry it was best to avoid her at all costs. It wasn't uncommon for her to sell maids off in the neutral territory, usually after having them beat so bad they were barley human looking.

"And my father has agreed to this?" Fen Hua asked standing up.

Lady Meirong smirked at Fen Hua. "What father? Has he ever been a father to you?"

Fen Hua swallowed a lump in her throat, a feeling of bitterness sweeping inside of her. Why would those words still hurt her? It was as if she was saying them about her own father, Li Shen's father. The worthless nobody that had abandoned her and left her there to die.

A set of footsteps approached before Fen Hua was able to speak. A frail older woman was being walked in holding the arm of an older maid. She had a slight frame as if the wind could lift her and take her away. Her hair was white and soft, her eyes a deep brown full of wisdom and worries, and lost loves, and the pains of death.

Lady Meirong let out an audible sound of disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e at the sight of her. She knew the old lady wouldn't be able to hear her anyways. She forced herself to put on the fake smile she always wore around her mother in law.

"Mother what are you doing out here in this weather?" She asked soothingly. She stood up and walked over to Elder Ruolan. She gave the maid that had helped her into the room a hard glare, the maid instantly knew to release Elder Ruolan. Lady Meirong took her place, wrapping her hand over her arm and helping her to sit down.

"I heard someone shouting," she said in her shaky voice.

Lady Meirong glared at the maid that had brought her. She knew all to well that there was no way she would have been able to hear anything. She was as good as deaf most days. Someone would have had to tell her and bring her here to meddle.

Elder Ruolan looked around the room. Though here eyes were covered in cataracts, and everything was blurry she was still able to see Fen Hua, but had no idea it was her. There was something about her that stood out to her. Something she had only seen one time before. She squinted her eyes trying to recall where she had felt such a feeling. As much as she tried she was unable to place it. She looked unhappy that she seemed to loose another little part of herself with every day that passed.

"It was nothing mother. I have arranged a marriage, and the silly child thought to disagree with it."

Elder Ruolan didn't even consider that Fen Hua could be the 'Silly Child' she was thinking of. In her mind Fen Hua was sickly, perhaps to the point of death. Despite what the young maid Jingfei had told her, she had yet to see any health improvement yet. Then there were the constant negative reports straight from her Daughter In Law. Reports of Fen Hua being a reclusive child that wanted nothing to do with the family, including her.

She thought back to the few times that she had attempted to visit. She had asked Lady Meirong to join her, hoping that the two together would be able to bring Fen Hua around. Before they would even enter the gates of her quarters, Lady Meirong's maid would bow in front of them, telling them that Fourth Miss wasn't willing to see them.

Elder Ruolan turned her hazy eyes towards Lady Meirong and what she knew to be her Second granddaughter Hualing.

"What kind of child would disobey the orders of the elders? How dare such wilfulness in my home. If you don't want to marry then you can be whipped until you do!" These words were not really to be taken seriously. Though she said them in a harsh way it was more for show then anything. She was the grandmother of this home, and that was her granddaughter, whom she thought highly of. She also knew that her Daughter in Law would not pick a bad husband for her.

Fen Hua heard those words and her heart sank. There had been this slight glimmer of hope that someone would put a stop to such disgusting ideas. To hear her grandmother, a woman that as far as she knew had never even tried to see her, scold her so coldly, burned the tiny speck of hope that was there into solid ash.