Forgotten Legend of the Bloodied Flower

Long Qian Xing stopped in his tracks and looked towards Nan Hua. He smiled faintly. "I thought that you're going to stay with Nan Luo all the time."

"Young Master allows me to move separately."

If Nan Hua kept on staying close to Nan Luo, she was sure that Nan Luo would grow crazy because of the immense amount of attention given to him. It would be better for her to hide in this area of the garden.

"I see." Long Qian Xing nodded in understanding then walked to the nearby lake. He silently lit up the lantern and watched as it moved on the surface before being engulfed in flame. His hand was clasped together in prayer.

Nan Hua watched from the side, not disturbing him at all. Lantern could be used for two different things. One was to celebrate the arrival of the new year. But at the same time, lantern could also be used to give tribute to the death. It's believed that the lantern would be able to guide their way in the underworld so that they would not get lost.

There were no one close to Long Qian Xing who died, so Nan Hua thought that he did it for his soldiers. A lot of his soldiers had died in order to defend Fei Yang Kingdom against the Joint Army this time.

The war was intense.

But people didn't pay attention to the loss and mostly to the fact that they won. A lot of people had to pay with their lives and those who remembered them would mostly be their family members or their leader.

Long Qian Xing finished and looked at Nan Hua. He noticed her gaze was looking at him calmly. For some reason, that gaze felt so familiar to him. He chuckled. "I'm giving my offerings for my men because I'll never be able to reach this stage without their help."

Nan Hua nodded.

Becoming a general was a path filled with sacrifices. Going to war, there would always be casualties. It was because of those people persevering that their leader could grow up through ranks and lead even more people.

A sound of footsteps stopped their conversation. Song Chuan and Lin Yuan walked out of the corner. They smiled when they saw Long Qian Xing but stopped in their tracks when they noticed Nan Hua standing not far from him.

"Nan, this is Song Chuan and Lin Yuan." Long Qian Xing pointed at the two of them. "Song Chuan, Lin Yuan, this is Adjutant Nan."

Lin Yuan was speechless. "Young Master Long… can you not use my real name in this place?"

Long Qian Xing arched his eyebrows. "If you don't want me to call you with your real name, you better stay away from me."

Lin Yuan was silent.

How could he stay away from Long Qian Xing when one of the reasons he came to participate in this party was to see him? He felt that the live as a merchant around Long Qian Xing was so difficult.

On the other hand, Song Chuan was also interested in Nan. He was an official, so naturally he was present during the reward ceremony. Looking at the young kid from a distance away, he was awed and astounded that someone so young and small could actually wound a famous River General.

He wanted to meet with Nan so badly.

Naturally, he was not the first one and would not be the last one either.

Nan Hua looked at the two of them and cupped her fist. "Nan greets Official Song and Merchant Lin."

"Do you know me?" Lin Yuan was a bit surprised.

"Merchant Lin has been making a name among the nobles. There are some stories circulating," Nan Hua answered calmly.

Hearing that, Lin Yuan nodded his head in appreciation. There were indeed some rumors regarding him lately because he had been doing some business in the Capital City. And with the help that Long Qian Xing gave to him, he had managed to struck some very profitable deal.

Lin Yuan then looked at Nan Hua curiously. "I didn't expect you to know so much."

Nan Hua didn't answer and only looked back at him.

Song Chuan coughed. "In this party, he goes by the name Official Lin. It's a fake identity that he borrowed this time."

This time…

It seemed that Lin Yuan had several identities he used in order to sneak into the nobles' party and so on. After all, with his status as an ordinary merchant, there was no way he would be granted the access. Of course, Nan Hua would not point out this matter right in front of their faces.*

Lin Yuan glared at Song Chuan. Did he had to tell others about this matter as well.

Song Chuan only showed an innocent expression to Lin Yuan as if he didn't understand what was going on.

Long Qian Xing chuckled. "Forgive them for acting so childishly, Nan. I'm sure that they're just feeling too comfortable."

The two stopped talking.

Even though they could see Long Qian Xing was smiling, they felt chills on their back. They realized that they were getting too comfortable around Nan. It was not their plan, but when they saw how Long Qian Xing interacted with the young kid, they just instinctively followed.

….

<Sora Corner: Social structure

The social structure is heavily based on Confucianism. Confucianism care more about the overall condition of the situation more than the individual. In their structure, scholars at the top; peasant farmers in the middle; and artisans and merchants at the bottom. There was also some strict relationship that's managed. (I won't discuss this in detail because it can be extremely long… and I can't guarantee that I'll adhere to all points in the story >.<)

Also, based on Confucianism, women's role is to just stay at home and manage household. This is why women in this era mostly didn't have any career and only stay at home to manage their house.