Under the Bamboo Parasol

The next few days, the first snows had begun to fall, Qing Cheng's imperial capital was covered in a thin layer of snow. The snow was perfectly in its habitat, as the air was bitter, thus the snow that had been falling did not melt. Instead, they rested perfectly atop each other, and slowly piled up to a few inches within the first couple of hours.

It was a clear, yet beautifully chilling day. Every breath exhaled would turn into a cloud of frost, as people wore many layers to keep what little heat that was in their body. There weren't many people on the streets either, but there were guards stationed at the eastern gates.

A young guard stared into the distance that was obscured by the wind blowing snow. His eyes squinted furiously as though he was searching for something. Finally, he saw it, a glimpse of something moving.

"I think something is coming." He said to the person standing next to him.

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"It's too cold for anyone to be traveling out there." The person beside him said assuredly.

"But I really see something." The young guard said firmly.

"Okay, let me take a look." The person said as he squinted his eyes toward the white blanket of snow, and indeed, there seemed to be a shadow of a carriage moving in the distance. There only seemed to be one small carriage, so it didn't seem too important to alert everyone else.

"Is the gate is open?"

"Always."

"Good, when it arrives, we can take a look." The two men seemed to have found something worth wild to do as they carefully watched the figure slowly come towards the gate. On a normal day, this would have been considered boring, but now when the line between earth and sky were indistinguishable and everything in front was a blank color of white, this could be considered a method of passing time.

After what seemed like an eternity to the soldiers standing atop the gate watching, the carriage finally made its way to the entrance of the gate. The soldiers strangely felt as though they were being played, as the carriage took its time to get here.

They saw that driving the carriage was a young man dressed in white, his body blending in with the snow perfectly. If it were not the black carriage that he was leaning against, his body would be hard to spot in the distance among the snow.

There was something strange about this particular scene, the man seemed like a cold and distant. There were no signs of the cold having entered his body, his cheeks that should have been flushed from the cold showed no signs of redness. If not for the frost forming at each breath, they would have mistaken him for a statue.

It was as though a staring contest had ensued between the driver of the carriage and the soldiers guarding the gate.

"Sir, are you entering?" One of the soldiers could not stand the coldness gave a light cough and asked.

"Yes." The man who was on the carriage spoke a single word as he reached into his sleeves to take out his papers, handing them to the soldier who had spoken. They had observed how his fingers were not stiff, red nor swollen from the low temperatures, his actions were very natural as though it was just everyday occurrence.

"Name: Lin Qinghui, from the southern province of Hu Nan?" The soldier said with uncertainty. When he heard the south, he could not match it up with this man who seemed unafraid of the cold.

When Lin Qinghui heard the doubt in the man's voice, he showed no change in expression whatsoever. As though it happened all the time.

"You are a merchant?" The soldier asked.

"Yes."

The gaze landed on the black carriage that the young man was driving. There was a sense of the unknown when they approached this man, and if they could just look at what it contained, perhaps they would be able to unlock some of the mystery.

"What's on the carriage?"

"Goods." Lin Qinghui said with another word.

"We have to take a look." The soldier said solemnly.

When Lin Qinghui heard that his carriage was about to be searched, a slight frown showed on his lips before the expression disappeared altogether and he resumed his indifferent exterior. "Be my guest." He said inviting them on, but it seemed that he did not have the intention of moving from where he was sitting.

This made the atmosphere very awkward for the soldiers as they did not have the slightest idea of where to start. In the end, they could only go to the back and open a few boxes, which were lined with insulation that kept the medicinal herbs inside from spoiling.

There was nothing much suspicious about this carriage, so they just allowed it to enter the imperial city.