Chapter 887: Snow Falls Without Sound

All sounds fell utterly silent.

The wind's voice was absorbed by the snow, the distant sound of cars was absorbed by the snow, even the sound of his own footsteps was absorbed by the snow.

The whole world seemed to have been stuffed into a giant, soft mass of cotton; no sound could get out, no sound could get in. Only the soft rustle of falling snow, extremely light, extremely fine, like countless silkworms munching mulberry leaves at once, or like some ancient language murmuring in a low voice. Uesugi Muneyuki sat in the tea room, looking up at the sky.

The sky was a grayish-white, no clouds, no sun, just that kind of even, layerless light, as if filtered through frosted glass. The light fell on the snow, and the snow reflected the light back; between heaven and earth it was bright as if something had lit it from within.

He stayed in this light for a while; the white breath he exhaled quickly dissipated into the air, as if it had never existed.

Green pines stood proudly erect, facing frost and snow without breaking.

Those trees stood in the snow like a barrier of deep green; thick snow piled on the pine needles, trunks straight as arrows thrusting at the sky, like so many drawn swords.

Uesugi Muneyuki looked at those green pines and suddenly recalled the Uesugi family crest — one or two bamboo-and-sparrow feathers, encircled by a bamboo ring.

Bamboo, too, does not wither in winter, same as pine; both are things that can endure wind and snow.

Yukimatsu. Yukimatsu.

His childhood name was Yukimatsumaru.

As the saying goes: heavy snow presses the green pine, the green pine cannot be pressed down.

The silhouette of the distant Hakkoda Mountains was shrouded in clouds and mist. Uesugi Muneyuki took a cup of hot chocolate from Senior Mai; Asuka brought out a baked apple pie from the cupboard: "Ta-da~ Uesugi Asuka special! Muneyuki only!"

"Then where's mine?" Senior Mai took off her coat and draped it over the back of the chair beside her, revealing an oatmeal-colored cashmere sweater with a V-neck that just showed her collarbones.

A head of smooth hair fell loose, ends slightly curled, one side tucked behind her ear, revealing a tiny pearl stud on her earlobe; lower half, a pair of dark gray wool wide-leg trousers, hems just covering the instep, revealing the tips of black ankle boots.

The short boots were suede, heel-less, but the curve of the boot opening was tailored extremely well, setting off the slimmest part of her ankle as especially delicate. The small slice of leg visible between trouser hem and boot top was wrapped in thick black tights; the tints of the tights carried a hint of gray, catching a soft matte sheen under the lights.

She flipped the menu to the last page, then flipped back, looked up at Uesugi Muneyuki, and the corner of her mouth twitched faintly.

Idiot~

Uesugi Muneyuki read her lip movements, tugged the corner of his mouth: Mai-sama, you're bullying me again!

Bullying Junior is a senior's duty and delight! Senior Mai smiled radiantly, bright and lovely; she lifted her foot and lightly rubbed her boot tip against Uesugi Muneyuki's trouser leg: "Alright alright, just a joke, Uesugi, isn't this exactly your thing?"

"I like watching others, not watching myself get knifed." Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't help saying: "And Senior, do you have a grudge against Zwilling? Every time I see a Zwilling now I have a trauma."

"Hahahaha" Senior Mai covered her mouth and laughed, collapsing to one side: "I think it's Junior who has the grudge against Zwilling; a whole bunch of your solved cases involved Zwilling kitchen knives, and that previous one"

"Hehehehe" Asuka covered her mouth and snickered beside him, sitting opposite.

She wore a creamy-white turtleneck sweater, over it a light gray wool cardigan, buttons undone, hanging loose. Lower half, a dark blue pleated miniskirt, hem three fingers above the knee, revealing a stretch of thigh.

On her feet, a pair of black leather ankle boots, shafts just hugging the ankles, white laces tied in a butterfly bow. The segment between boot top and skirt hem was wrapped in thick black tights, same color as Senior Mai's black tights, but the fabric of Asuka's tights was thicker, almost no reflection under the lights, matte black, making her legs look even slimmer, straighter, like two carefully polished black chopsticks extending from under the skirt.

She cupped a cup of hot chocolate in both hands; steam from the rim blurred her face, but when she saw Uesugi Muneyuki eating her apple pie, her eyes lit up; she set down the cup, squeezed his hand, a small gesture, but enough for him to feel it.

"Muneyuki, Mai-sama, what do you want to eat? I'll go make it? Mai-sama has already booked this tea room, the owner's not here, the back kitchen has whatever you want to whip up." Asuka felt it was time to show her true skill.

"I want some Iberian ham and Hokkaido eggs, a big piece of top-grade Snowflake Frost Thick-cut Beef Steak no less than 300g, plus all the side dishes drenched in thick sauce." Uesugi Muneyuki glanced at the menu.

"That's going to cost a pretty penny, sir." Senior Mai rolled her eyes.

"I know, and a large cup of chilled Daiginjo Sake." Uesugi Muneyuki said with a half-smile.

You fake my Otherworld Energy, I'll fake your money!

"Sure thing." Asuka stood up and bounced off to the back kitchen.

Asuka had just left when Miyawaki Sakura came running from the direction of the entrance; the doorbell ding-donged several times as she bumped into it.

Today's Little Sakura wore a creamy-white down jacket, zipper pulled all the way up, a scarf wrapped around several times, burying the lower half of her face, only revealing a pair of clear, lovely big eyes.

Under the down jacket, a light pink knitted miniskirt, hem to the knees, revealing calves wrapped in white tights; today she wasn't wearing Asuka's matte thick black tights, nor Senior Mai's gray-tinted thin black tights; she had specially chosen a pair of white polka-dot tights, with a touch of creamy pearl luster, glowing softly like pearl powder under the lights.

A pair of Báisī Yùzú stepped in light brown short boots, a ring of white fluff at the boot cuffs, setting off her calves as even slimmer and straighter.

She ran up to the table, pulled down the scarf, revealing a face flushed red by the cold wind. Nose tip red, cheeks red, like the sweetest, sweetest, sweetest little strawberry just emerged from the snow in Zhijiang.

"Sorry sorry, I'm late!" Little Sakura said while taking off the down jacket, movements hurried; the sleeve got stuck, Uesugi Muneyuki stood up and gave it a tug, freeing her arm from the sleeve. She sat down beside Senior Mai, picked up the menu on the table and held it in front of her face, only eyes showing; voice came from behind the menu: "A drama finally finished filming, finally free."

Senior Mai looked at her amused: "Sakura, looks like that long take took you quite a while."

"Can't help it, Sakura isn't a professional actress, not a child actor!" Miyawaki Sakura put down the menu, propped her chin with both hands, eyes shining: "But it's finally over; from today on the whole day is ours!"

The three sat down to chat; ever since losing her virginity, Little Sakura had started getting cheeky with Uesugi Muneyuki too; she deliberately teased him a bit, and even drank a big sip of Uesugi Muneyuki's Blue Mountain Special Blend Coffee, with a "What's it to you if this Sakura drinks a sip of your coffee?" face.

Ugh, another sweet, cute, clinging girl turned into a spoiled little demon!

Uesugi Muneyuki was speechless, tears streaming a thousand lines.

No help for it, this is Japan, this is the Sakura Girl; listen to Miyawaki Wei say it like this~

Asuka was still busy in the back kitchen; the three sat down and had a hot drink to enjoy first, but because Senior Mai is the Supreme Emperor of the Soul Agency, Uesugi Muneyuki is the Supreme Emperor of the Metropolitan Police Department, and Little Sakura is the Crown Prince of YKC48.

As long as the Crown Prince doesn't ascend the throne for a day, she's forever the Crown Prince; so even though Little Sakura is now practically a second-tier actress thanks to Hand of God, with exploding popularity on various shows and events, and 48 has given her a private dormitory and exclusive agent, she still can't escape management influence; management has been deliberately shaping her and Matsui Jurina's official-push and fan-push CP showdown, but now Little Sakura's heart isn't in idols at all. She's already figured out a future path — YouTuber livestreaming games, outdoor chats + various TV drama appearances + continuing to ride Uesugi Shiro's popularity to attend variety shows.

"So I just don't get it, why are there so many cuckold plots in this genre?" Little Sakura complained.

"What genre? Wuxia? Xianxia?" Uesugi Muneyuki looked curiously at Little Sakura's stack of role offers.

"Early wuxia wasn't just a pile of cuckold plots?" Senior Mai drank her hot chocolate calmly, remarking offhandedly.

"That's because early wuxia was actually extremely formulaic." Uesugi Muneyuki said offhandedly.

Yes, early wuxia was actually extremely formulaic; broadly speaking, it's just the protagonist joining a sect to level up and fight monsters, or the protagonist is a sect's senior disciple who has business down the mountain, encounters the heroine and a series of Edo grudges and romances on the way down, then mid-story the rhythm starts rising toward family and country, there'll be sending intel to Di Qing, to the Yue Family Army, to Zhu Yuanzhang, to Li Dingguo, etc., and finally after the construction of family and country and martial arts mastery, sublimating into a great hero.

But this template everyone can see — the length is very short; ten or twenty thousand characters and it's done.

So to expand the plot, increase content, and pad the length, early wuxia added cuckold elements, because this can greatly extend the story length, add various subplots, and give the protagonists a reason they must act and must put down what they're doing.

It's the same principle as in American comics where almost every superhero who dates gets cuckolded; this thing is used to pad length, create suspense, plant hooks, manipulate reader emotions; but in the movie universe, because length is tight and stories often can't be finished, everyone very tacitly stopped doing it.

And actually by the time of Jin Yong and Gu Long it was already new-school wuxia; Jin Yong early on still had traces of traditional wuxia and did quite a few family-country and cuckold plots; mid-career, in his pen the court and historical background began to virtualize, focusing on story plot.

Gu Long virtualized even more completely; Gu Long's Edo casually exterminates clans and massacres cities, the court might as well not exist or is just one of the larger faction forces; and Gu Long likes nesting boxes — meaning behind the Edo there's always a Super Sect Controlling Everything, and behind that super sect there's faintly yet another.

"Just like many major Japanese writers mid-career must have incest plots in their works." Senior Mai complained: "They can't write without it?"

"No help for it, everyone likes this stuff; you don't understand wuxia, do you still not understand Japanese people?" Uesugi Muneyuki sneered: "Everyone likes this stuff, not me saying it, Freud said it, please watch VCR 'The Interpretation of Dreams'!"

"Hahahaha" Little Sakura laughed till she bent over; she didn't understand but it felt impressive!

This is what I want! This is this Sakura's lifelong goal!

Enter the upper-class community's small circle, form a three-person group with Uesugi Shiro! Form our own Inner Circle Council! Learn more little secrets! Understand more inside information!

A few people chatted, Uesugi Muneyuki leaned against the chair back, looking at the heavy snow outside the window, the snow was still falling, denser than before, the water mist on the window glass growing thicker and thicker, the scenery outside becoming more and more blurred, only the black shadows of green pines faintly visible on the white curtain.

After a waiting period, Asuka brought up four portions of thick-cut snowflake frost beef set meals, Uesugi Muneyuki and the four people began dining.

Waiting until everyone had eaten about enough, Uesugi Muneyuki clapped his hands, everyone very tacitly stopped their knives and forks.

"Debrief." He said: "Two tasks."

The three women all went quiet.

Asuka put down the hot chocolate, Miyawaki Sakura no longer propped her chin, Mai Xuejie closed the menu and set it aside.

They looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

"First matter, Little Sakura." Uesugi Muneyuki turned his gaze toward Miyawaki Sakura: "How is the sakura seal sensation? Acceptable?"

"........." Little Sakura's face instantly reddened, she nodded slightly under Mai Xuejie's half-smile and Asuka's burning gaze, lifted her clothes, revealing the brilliant pink sakura seal pattern on her lower abdomen: "Acceptable..."

"First, let us confirm, what is your inner world capability."

"My capability is..."