Sea of Flowers

Xiaoyi did not understand. Seeing that Zhuang Zhuang had thrown down the grasshopper, he did the same. Feeling afraid, he ran to Xiaoguo’s side and hugged her while covering his face.

At this moment, footsteps sounded. The three of them held their breaths for a moment and looked nervously ahead. Xiaoguo was also prepared to escape with the kids in her arms.

Soon, Jiang Danhe appeared in front of the three of them with an anxious expression. “What’s wrong, Xiaoguo?!”

Li Shouji followed closely behind with a worried expression.

The three of them heaved a sigh of relief. Xiaoguo was even more relieved. Her heart had finally calmed down. So it was just the two of them.

“What’s wrong, Xiaoguo?”

Jiang Danhe was relieved to see that Xiaoguo was fine. He was scared to death when he heard Zhuang Zhuang’s screams.

“It’s fine.” Xiaoguo got the two children to stand up. Then, she dusted off the grass on her body and stood up.

Seeing that Jiang Danhe was still looking worried, Xiaoguo couldn’t help but laugh. She wasn’t laughing at him, but at herself. She was laughing at herself for being so silly. To think that she was frightened by the thought of a demoness in the deep forest.

The two of them were confused when they saw Xiaoguo’s smile. Why was she suddenly smiling?

“Sister-in-law, are you alright?”

Li Shouji asked with uncertainty.

“Why? Are you guys wishing for something to happen to me?”

No matter how many times Xiaoguo explained, the two men kept asking if she was alright. She was getting annoyed by their questioning. With the two kids watching, she couldn’t possibly admit that she was frightened by the demoness in the forest.

“No, no. It’s good that you’re fine.”

When Li Shouji heard this, he immediately laughed.

Just like that, the group continued walking towards the flower field.

Jiang Danhe kept looking at Xiaoguo strangely. She clearly looked startled just now. What had happened just now?

“What’s wrong?” Xiaoguo turned around and saw Jiang Danhe looking at her. She asked curiously.

However, Jiang Danhe shook his head and put away his thoughts to focus on playing with the kids. Very soon, they reached the flower field.

“Mother, can you smell it? What a wonderful scent…”

Zhuang Zhuang and Xiaoyi were walking at the front. When they detected the fragrance of the flowers, they told Xiaoguo and ran towards the source of the fragrance.

“Slow down,” Xiaoguo said hurriedly from behind. The two boys gave her a quick response and ran off without looking back.

“Don’t worry. It’s right ahead after the turn.”

Jiang Danhe was trying to reassure her. The ground here was flat, and there were no snakes, rats, or insects. Moreover, there were quite a number of people residing on the island. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

Despite hearing that, Xiaoguo was still a little worried. She couldn’t help but quicken her pace. Jiang Danhe had no choice but to follow her.

Only Li Shouji was left behind, sighing pitifully to himself.

The air was filled with the fragrance of flowers. Xiaoguo could detect at least seven or eight different types of floral fragrances. There were at least three or four other scents that she could not identify.

The closer she got, the stronger the fragrance became. Xiaoguo came to the turn and was stunned by the scene in front of her.

Jiang Danhe stopped walking and laughed when he saw Xiaoguo suddenly stop in her tracks. He looked in her direction and saw that the field was filled with colorful flowers in full bloom.

Hundreds of flowers were blooming in a myriad of colors. It was a dazzling sight. Xiaoguo was not in a hurry to identify any particular breeds of flowers. All she cared about at that moment was the scenery in front of her.

Such a beautiful and enchanting scene was deeply mesmerizing. Xiaoguo felt like her soul was floating in the air and rolling around in the flower fields, free and unfettered.

“What a beautiful flower field. Oh no, it should be called a sea of flowers instead.”

Xiaoguo couldn’t help but feel intoxicated. It didn’t feel quite right to call it a flower field. A sea of flowers was the perfect description.

When she was standing on the peak, the field looked pretty small. Now that she was seeing it in person, it looked quite astonishing.

At this moment, Zhuang Zhuang and Xiaoyi had just appeared. The two boys were running around mischievously. Although they were tossing and turning, they did not damage a single flower. They were carefully avoiding and looking out for the blooms.

The few of them met in the flower field and admired the beautiful scenery. Even Li Shouji couldn’t help but feel intoxicated. He said regretfully, “If only I could jump in and roll around.”

“If you’re not worried about the gardener coming to get you for ruining the flowers, feel free to roll around.”

Jiang Danhe said, immediately dashing his hopes. Xiaoguo and the others laughed when they heard this.

Li Shouji shrugged and smiled without saying anything.

Xiaoguo looked around and realized that there were no other buildings apart from a large bungalow in the area. Apart from the few of them, there was no one else around.

“Why is there no one here? Why didn’t anyone from the ministers’ families come to visit the flower field?”

“Didn’t those madams and young ladies love to admire flowers? Why didn’t they come?”

Before Jiang Danhe could speak, Li Shouji explained to her, “They don’t dare to come here. Those nobles wouldn’t dare to come here.”

The disdain in his voice was obvious, but Xiaoguo didn’t understand. “Where is this place? Why are they afraid to come? Is this a place exclusive to the emperor?”

“There are no carriages or sedan chairs on the island. They definitely wouldn’t walk this far to see the flowers. Moreover, the families of the major criminals live here. This is taboo to them, so they would never come to this place.”

Jiang Danhe explained to her from the side. Then, he pointed to the lone-standing house and said, “That’s where they live.”

“The family members of the major criminals?”

Xiaoguo looked at him in confusion. She didn’t understand how criminals could be categorized into major or minor groups.

Jiang Danhe nodded and said softly, “The families of criminals are also divided into ranks. Those who have committed minor crimes are assigned to clean the houses where we are staying. Those who have committed moderate crimes are assigned to maintain the trees and greenery on the island. Those who have committed serious crimes are assigned to plant the flowers, vegetables, and crops on the island.”

“Oh…”

Xiaoguo understood now. So that was the reason. Those officials did not have any guards with them, so they were afraid that the servants here would hurt them. This turned out to be a convenience for them. They had this large sea of flowers all to themselves.

Xiaoguo and Jiang Danhe walked around the field. After they had enough fun, she asked curiously.

“Why haven’t I seen the servants that you were talking about?”

Jiang Danhe handed the flowers in his hand to Xiaoguo.

After Xiaoguo took it, he smiled and explained, “Because of the emperor’s arrival, all guilty officials are to stay away.”

“I see…” Xiaoguo shook her head and smiled. She knew it. It was odd that no one was around. “Hey, that’s not right. Yesterday, you said that the people who welcomed us were the family members of the criminals. That means they have met the emperor.”

Jiang Danhe said it himself yesterday. She did not remember wrongly.

Looking at the other party’s serious expression, Jiang Danhe was finding it hard to keep a straight face. He thought that she was very cute. “Those were indeed the family members of the convicted officials, but they are also the island’s stewards. They were fulfilling their duties and someone had to do the work.”

At this point, he paused for a moment. There was a change in his expression for a moment, but it happened so quickly that no one noticed it. Even Xiaoguo, who was closest to him, did not notice the slight and fleeting change.

Xiaoguo nodded doubtfully, indicating for him to continue.

Jiang Danhe came back to his senses very quickly. He retracted his gaze and continued, “However, the selection process of the stewards is very strict. The candidate has to be capable and the committed offenses have to be minor. This person should also be single in order to be eligible for the position.”

Jiang Danhe held on to Xiaoguo tightly and led her towards him. Then, he continued, “There are very few eligible candidates. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s extremely difficult. However, there are many guilty officials. After much searching, we managed to pick out more than ten people.”

Feeling Jiang Danhe drag her towards him, Xiaoguo was feeling a little puzzled, but she was immediately fascinated by the number he mentioned. If it was difficult, how did they manage to pick out more than ten people? “How many criminals are there?”

Jiang Danhe sighed deeply and said seriously.

“… There will never be a last one.”