Meeting Prime Minister

Winter Jewel

The room she was in was clean and organize. Not a speck of dust could be seen.

However, there were only three things inside the room: a carefully painted painting of a woman, a pillowless and blanketless king-size bed with only a satin blue covering, and a table without seats. 

Before she could ask anything, she was left alone. 

Time quickly passed in the silent room and her thoughts slowly went back to the memories.

"Chu Feng."

As if she knew she was going to be called out, Han Qin Xi spoke up but before she could continue, Chu Feng interrupted her. 

"Han Qin Xi, I've been thinking and wondering so much with every brain cell I have. Even if I force myself to, I can never understand why you love him so much. Isn't that because I am incapable of loving someone?"

Chu Feng continued, "Do you know what's very clear to me though? It's that you can love someone with everything you have. I'm also very sure now that you've lived at least more than one lifetime."

"C-" Han Qin Xi tried to speak only to find herself unable to.

Chu Feng knitted her brows in deep thought. "What I can't wrap my head around is why I am so familiar with these memories of yours. It feels as if they are mine but not mine. Is it because I am in your body?"

"Chu-" 

"What's also strange is that nothing is going along with the story's plot, and I mean nothing at all. I expected changes to the plot but didn't expect for everything to shift: He Delun's and Grandfather Han's early deaths, the unmarried main couple, the setting, and the out-of-character characters. And this wish of yours--"

"Chu Feng! Listen to me," unable to bear Chu Feng's rant, Han Qin Xi finally yelled, demanding attention. However, words didn't come out from her mouth.

Chu Feng breathed in, about to ask what Han Qin Xi wanted. Just then, a man entered her sight.

"Lord Wang?" Chu Feng questioned in a monotone and unsurprised voice. At this point, she was entirely exhausted from everything. The sudden rush of memories was the final blow for her. 

"I want you to find a flower for me or be eaten," he said.

"A flower? Eaten?" she asked.

He handed her a drawing of a rain drop like flower that had snow-white petals with reddish-pink blush in the center. 

He explained, "This is the winter jewel. I've been searching for it but could not find it. I know you're a descendant of the flower maidens. You can choose to locate the flower or grow one."

Studying the drawing and the description, Chu Feng said, "The winter jewel is a flower that only grows in flower maidens who are born in the winter, like its name. You couldn't find it because there isn't any other flower maidens left." 

Right after she said it, Li Yu Yan's face appeared in her mind. She quickly added, "It also cannot be grown. The written description of the flower says it all."

Thinking that this was the first time Chu Feng ever saw a winter jewel, the Lord grimly smiled, "I've assigned you the task of finding the winter jewel. You cannot leave unless you find it and you'll be eaten. I heard flower maidens are quite nutritious and helpful with cultivating. You have a year's time. While you stay here, you'll be our guest."

Then, he left.

In her mind, she already knew where the flower was as the story went in great detail about the winter jewel. The protagonist and female lead of the story, Li Yu Yan, is a flower maiden who was born during the winter. The flower birthmark on her body is of a winter jewel. 

If she had told him and Li Yu Yan, the protagonist, loses her life, would this world come to an end?

Would it even matter if this world ends now?

At least her suffering would end.

Realizing her dangerous and selfish thoughts, Chu Feng could not but help herself laugh. This was the degree this place has made her fall to. If one day she turned out to be the villain of this world, maybe she wouldn't even be surprised. If not for the ones she held dear, her sanity wouldn't last. 

A drop of water slipped from her phoenix eyes, making its way down her porcelain face and dripped onto the floor. No matter how hard she tried to stay away from these "leads", she always ended up near them. Maybe if she didn't care so much about them in the first place then they wouldn't come. But who is to say that they wouldn't?

In the end, everything has come down to this. 

"So this is it. I've been too focused on avoiding death and kept running away. Let's forget about death and take on this path."

Chu Feng wiped her tears, eyes clear and resolute. She fixed her image to be more presentable and headed out the door, following the Lord's steps.