Imperial Gardens.
"Young Lady Dan, I loved your lavender-centric arrangement earlier. It's so elegant," Courtier Le gushed, walking in step with a lithe, sharp-chinned girl.
"Why, thank you," Courtier Dan said, reflecting a courteous smile. "Please call me Dan Shu. I found your chrysanthemum arrangement eye-catching as well."
"Then you must call me Le Ling. And you're too kind, Sister Dan Shu—it was just a little something I came up with."
Pleasant smiles were exchanged, but inwardly, they were both thinking:
'If you weren't the Deputy Minister of Ceremonies' daughter, I wouldn't be here.'
'Hah! I am kind—complimenting that disaster of a chrysanthemum explosion.'
"Sister Dan Shu, would you like to admire the camellias over there?" Le Ling pointed at a cluster of bright red flower bushes.
Dan Shu accepted her extended hand. "Let's, Sister Le Ling."
A cluster of courtiers were already standing around the camelia bushes, exchanging flower arrangement and poetic insights. When Dan Shu and Le Ling approached, they were warmly welcomed.
Rustle...
However, the light break took a turn when someone pointed at the base of a bush.
"Did anyone see that?" she voiced, frowning.
"See what?" her companion asked.
"It was black and long, like a shadow of—"
Ssss...
The paranoid courtier's breath hitched. "Did you hear that?"
"It was probably the wind," someone else suggested.
"Don't joke, there's no wind..."
Ssss!
A serpentine head popped out of the bush, blinking slitted, citrine eyes while twitching a red, forked tongue.
Sssssss...
"Snake!" Le Ling screeched.
"What?! Where!"
"I see it! I see it!"
"Aah! Save me!"
"Run!"
Suddenly, a new figure burst into the circle of panic.
"Where's the snake?" Zi Hua urged. Sweat beaded on her forehead from running over, but her breath was steady and her tone calm.
"There! Over there!"
She prodded the bush with a long, sturdy stick. When the curious snake slithered up and coiled around the branch, her other hand flew out, striking at its seventh inch!
"Aah!"
The courtiers shrieked.
"Courtier Yang!"
"What are you doing?!"
"Be careful!"
Mindful of their warnings, Zi Hua pinched the snake behind its head firmly, forcing its jaw open and raising it to eye level. After peering inside, she loosed a breath in relief.
"It's not venomous!" she announced optimistically. "See?"
She tried to show them the snake's tiny fangs and lack of venom gland, but all of them shuffled backwards and shook their heads fervently.
"We believe you, Courtier Yang—just get rid of it!"
"Now, please!"
"Yes, yes, hurry!"
Zi Hua nodded. "Alright."
The she tossed the snake over her head.
The snake's reptilian pupils dilated as it soared in the air and through tree branches.
Sssss!
'This is a vile act of betrayal, human!'
But the snake could not plea innocence.
The snake became the first of its kind to fly—
"Rong Rong, would you like to admire the camellias next? I hear they're in bloom..."
—and the snake landed in a passer-by's hair.
Plop!
Ding Meng Meng froze. "R-Rong Rong? I-is there s-something... on my head?"
There was weight on her head.
There was weight on her head.
What was it?!!!
Qiu Rong stared at her, eyes bulging—but there was no mistaking the horror within. "S-sss..."
"What did you say?"
Ssssss...
"Snaaaaake!!!" Qiu Rong yelled, shoving Ding Meng Meng away. Then, she turned tail and ran.
"Ow!" When Ding Meng Meng fell down, so did the snake on her head.
The girl and the snake shared a long, mutually dubious silence.
Ssss...?
The snake hissed innocently.
Ding Meng Meng's reply pierced the heavens.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH—!"
Far away, Zi Hua, who was being showered with praises, grimaced.
Did the snake scare someone else? How unlucky.
***
Phoenix Palace.
"Your Highness, these are the top three flower arrangements from today's lesson."
In a dimly lit room with phoenix motifs on its pillars and ceilings, Madam Xiu bowed as meekly as a kitten. If the courtiers were present now, they might gasp at this unfamiliarly docile madam, but such was the imperial palace's strict hierarchy—before the true masters, servants were nobody.
A dark, regal shadow spilled over the dais, ending near Madam Xiu's subservient one. The empress, mistress of the rear palace and mother of Li Empire's citizens, spoke, her low voice tinged with insouciance.
"What do you think, Madam Lan?"
Madam Lan, Empress Zhao's wet nurse and nanny, briefly inspected the three vases. When she reached the third, a Rolwagen vase filled with twigs and bare stems, disgust flashed over her face, and she glared at the perpetrator.
Madam Xiu flinched at the silent accusation, but Madam Lan had already returned to the empress's side.
"They are mostly good arrangements, Your Highness, though none hold a candle to what the other consorts have presented before."
"Hmm." The empress emitted a soft sound, somewhere between a scoff and a chuckle.
She waved at the servants still bowing below her dais. "You may all leave. Madam Xiu, report back to me if any courtier's behaviour stands out."
Madam Xiu exhaled. "Yes, Your Highness. This servant takes her leave."
After the Blossom Palace servants left, Empress Zhao stood up and glided over to the three vases arranged on a side table. Her ebony robe dragged behind as she touched a peony with the tip of a golden nail guard before moving onto the next, and the next... as though forcefully tipping the chins of bashful maidens.
"Who arranged this?" she asked.
"Answering Your Highness, it was the younger sister of Noble Consort Meng, Courtier Meng Fan," Madam Lan bowed.
Empress Zhao's eyes narrowed. What motive did Meng Ran have, instructing her sister to present the queen of flowers to the empress herself?
And that pretentious vase she had chosen—it snatched the splendour of the peonies, vying for attention which did not belong to cold, lifeless jade.
Empress Zhao clicked her tongue.
"Tasteless."
Moving on.
"These carnations are the handiwork of Courtier Qiu Rong, the empress dowager's niece," Madam Lan introduced.
The empress's lips curled.
Red carnations? How filial of Courtier Qiu.
At first glance, it lacked the pomp of Meng Fan's arrangement; under further inspection, its charm was undeniably amplified, with each angle presenting a subtly different scenery and its creator's attention to detail.
But few superiors had the patience nor desire to decipher a girl's secret messages among a plethora of repetitive petals.
Empress Zhao straightened and swept her sleeve.
"Tedious."
The last arrangement was a tall vase containing nothing but bare twigs and flowerless stems.
"And what is this supposed to be?" The empress frowned. 'A joke?'
"According to Madam Xiu, Courtier Yang Zi Hua's dandelion and twig arrangement was unique and meaningful, hence placed third," Madam Lan explained. "However, the dandelion seeds had flown away in the wind, leaving behind this."
Empress Zhao stilled. 'Yang? She must be the one.'
She huffed, looking away.
"Worthless."
"Madam Xiu said Courtier Yang was inspired by 'freedom'."
"Wild thoughts for a wild girl."
Madam Lan swallowed. To reply was above her station.
Luckily, the empress did not expect one. "Without substance, who would admire a mere vessel of beauty for long?" she muttered, tracing the cold vase absentmindedly.
"Indeed, Your Highness," Madam Lan agreed sagely. "Flowers that will wilt are the least of your worries."
Empress Zhao nodded, apathy returning to her eyes once more. At the end of the day, none of the courtiers were her problem.
Yet.
"You are right, Nanny." She gestured at the flower arrangements brusquely. "Take them away."
"Gladly, Your Highness."