Chapter 8: Meeting the Crown Prince |
Once the gates were closed the three were alone in the courtyard, however everyone present knew they weren’t really alone. The prince spoke as he took a seat on the stone bench, “You’re a difficult person to meet Young Master.”
“I am not as hard to meet as Your Highness,” was Xíng Yún’s reply.
Shěn Lí left for the kitchen to look for something to eat. She had been a military officer in the Demon realm for hundreds of years, and in all that time she met many officials and civil servants. The ones that annoyed her most were those who failed to recognize other people’s time. She didn’t appreciate the crown prince’s attitude and wasn’t interested in listening him mouth off.
“I hear that Young Master can communicate with the spirit world and foresee the future. This prince is very interested and is curious. Can Young Master divine using a trigram?”
“No.” Xíng Yún flat out refused. His decisive answer disappointed the prince and his face sank. Xíng Yún didn’t notice though and continued, “It’s not that I can’t, it’s just that I don’t like to. Divining is not a cheap and causal thing to do. If this is your wish, then please find someone else.”
“Oh.” The prince sneered. “So Young Master has a price tag. If you can read the affairs of my heart, then this prince will give you prestige and wealth. Once I ascend the throne, you can hold the prestige and not even need to perform the functions of the office.”
Xíng Yún still shook his head. “Not interested.”
“Young Master must not know how to appreciate favors, preferring vinegar over honey.” The prince gave the courtyard a cursory glance. “It would be an easy task for me to flatten this courtyard.”
Xíng Yún was confused by the prince’s words for a moment, however he soon understood. After taking a sip of his tea he smiled and spoke. “Your Highness came all this way to learn when your ascension will happen. It is not that I am unwilling, however the lifespan of the emperor is fated by Heaven and not something that should be calculated. Also, Your Highness is mistaken if you think you can crush this courtyard so easily. Although if you tried to flatten it by sitting on it . . . that’s a possibility.”
Shěn Lí heard the ruckus and turned to look only to hear Xíng Yún’s cry of pain. An intense anger welled up in her heart making her want to do someone bodily harm. Two guards stepped forward to block her path and pulled out their swords as they sneered at her. She aimed a fierce kick at one of the guards, knocking him into the one behind Xíng Yún. This caused the two to collapse sideways into each other. Another guard moved to take the place of the fallen, brandishing his sword in front. It was easy for Shěn Lí to reach over and grab the blade and grip it lightly between her finger and thumb. A cold shiver ran down the guard’s spine as he watched the blade crumble like paper in her bare hand.
Once done with the sword, she dropped it to the ground. Then ignoring the astonished guard, she flashed over to the well, scooped up a handful of water and flicked it at the crown prince. Although it was only water, the speed she used caused it to fly with the sharpness of an arrow. It was so strong that it knocked the crown prince off balance and forced him to quickly sit back down on the bench to regain his equilibrium.
“Ah! Ow!” The prince’s head was drenched causing his hair to plaster wetly to his forehead. Only a few seconds had passed from when the prince initially poured the boiled water on Xíng Yún to when Shěn Lí soaked the prince with water. No other guards in the courtyard approached her. It was as though they were all afraid.
She walked over, picked the crown prince up by the collar and looked him directly in the eyes. “Leave and live or stay and die? Choose.” Her eyes glowed terrifyingly red with the intensity of her emotions.
“You . . . you have big guts evildoer!” The prince tried to sound calm but it was obvious from his quivering body and trembling voice that he was quite frightened. Seeing her eyes turn a deeper shade of red at his words he immediately shouted, “Leave! I’ll Leave!”
Shěn Lí dragged him by the collar to the courtyard door, opened it, and tossed him out. Those outside caught him while the guards drew their swords and pointed them at Shěn Lí.
After getting his bearings the prince shouted, “It seems you want to die here!” He climbed into the sedan chair and spoke to the bearers ordering them to bring him back. “As for the rest of you, stay here and destroy this place!”
The guards promptly attacked, but Shěn Lí easily defended. This battle went on for some time in the dark night but eventually everything settled down and the courtyard returned to its former peacefulness. Shěn Lí closed the courtyard door satisfied. Her satisfaction left when she saw Xíng Yún standing in his wet clothes obviously shivering in the cold. Sighing she said, “Are you stupid? Normally you’re so unpredictable and haughty, how could you let them bully you so easily?”
Xíng Yún smiled gently. “I’m not as powerful you seem to think I am.” He - like any other mortal being - was not immune to injury and death. There really was no way for him to avoid the situation with the tea earlier.
Shěn Lí’s heart choked at the sight of his pale lips and the red burn mark on his face. She didn’t know what to say. It was true . . . he was an ordinary person, so of course he would be burned by hot liquids. At the time he was restrained from behind with a sword at his neck, so moving would have been dangerous. Although Xíng Yún must have known he would be injured by the water, he didn’t have the power to avoid it. Despite knowing all this, he still remained completely calm and unruffled.
Where did his confidence even come from, Shěn Lí wondered. She sighed and sat down on the stone bench. She sat silently for a long time lost in thought. Finally she asked, “Today . . . what I did . . . will it make more trouble for you?” Although she felt refreshed after exercising and beating up the guards, now that things had calmed down, she realized she may have created some problems.
“I was the one that dug the hole for myself, you just made it bigger.”
Shěn Lí was curious and so asked, “What did you say to him anyway?”
“Roughly speaking, he asked me to be his person. I didn’t want to serve under him so I said no. We went back and forth a few times. He got angry and threatened to destroy my courtyard. I didn’t really know what to do so I just smiled and told him that maybe if he used his body he could flatten the courtyard, but otherwise it wouldn’t be possible. Apparently, this really annoyed him and that’s probably when you saw him pour the water on me.” Xíng Yún shook his head helplessly, “I guess it’s a big taboo to talk about a person’s body.”
It’s not taboo, you just have a smart mouth . . .
Xíng Yún’s smile faded. “That man is cruel and arrogant, wishing his own father an early death. Leaving the country in the hands of such is person . . . I’m afraid the people will not have it easy.” He gazed at the stars for a long time. “The world will suffer under this new emperor.”
“I thought you didn’t like to divine the future.”
“This isn’t about divination, it’s about the fate of the nation. I can’t just stand still and not do anything.” Xíng Yún got up and went to the kitchen. His voice came from far away, “I see the quality of his character. As for the future . . . I can make it slowly develop in the direction I want.”
What the hell?! Shěn Lí grumbled to herself. She couldn’t figure out if Xíng Yún was really weak or really strong.
“Shěn Lí draw some water for me. I want to make an ointment. The mark will leave a scar if I don’t tend to it soon.”
“Ordering people around as though you’re their master! Why should I help you?” His tone rubbed her the wrong way. This guy was too overbearing. This was his business. Even the affair with the crown prince, that was all him. Why should she butt in? What she needed to be concerned about was when to leave! Suddenly two coughs in quick succession came from the kitchen. Shěn Lí’s angry expression faded somewhat at the sound. She went to the well and drew some water with a pail, brought it over and told him to go and lie down. Then she tried to edge him away from the stove saying, “I’ll take care of it.”
Xíng Yún heard, but refused to move. He watched as she pulled the medicine pot down and turned to ask him, “So how do I prepare it?”
Xíng Yún smiled, “Here I’ll do it.”
Shěn Lí could only back up to the side and watch quietly. It was a rare moment of tranquility between them - normally their bickering was nonstop. After seeing that the medicine was coming along just fine, Shěn Lí opened her mouth and asked, “What would you have done if I wasn’t here today? Obviously you can’t fight. For that matter, you can’t even fake them out by pretending to know how to fight.”
“If you weren’t here I would not have been so brazen.” He continued stirring the medicine. “But, you were here.” He spoke as though her presence was a given. It surprised her. He continued, “You’re so crazy that next to you I look easy-going. You have an impressive spirit. It makes you very beautiful.”
Beautiful . . .. Beautiful? What man had ever complimented her like this? She’d get so vicious when she became angry that even the devil would be hapless in front of her. Who would ever dare praise her like this?! She looked at Xíng Yún’s smiling face. The mark from earlier didn’t lessen the impact of his appearance at all. Her heart was definitely affected!
“ . . .hand me a piece of cloth for the pot. It’s too hot to handle directly.” Apparently Xíng Yún had been speaking for some time. Shěn Lí heard the words, but they made no sense in her confused state. She noticed he had stopped talking and was now looking expectantly at her and the pot. She turned away from his stare and reached for it. Before he could stop her, she had already gripped the handle and poured the entire contents into an empty bowl.
She only noticed a burning sensation spread on the palm of her hand after she placed the pot back on the stove. “OK it’s been poured.”
Xíng Yún watched as she hid her hand behind her back like a child. “Honestly, you’re a girl but you still try to act like such a tough guy.” He gently pulled her wrist from behind her back and examined her hand carefully in the light. If she had been a regular mortal her hand would have been scorched, but since it was Shěn Lí, there was only a bit of redness and swelling. “Stop acting like a man. Make sure you put some ointment on once I’m done.”
Shěn Lí’s wrist felt strange in his hand. It flustered her greatly. Not knowing what to do, she settled on a topic of conversation. “So yesterday I compared you to the bald donkey. Then to piss me off you pretended to eat all the bacon. After that you suffered two injuries from the crown prince. Aren’t you angry? Do you feel that I’m making you suffer and am bullying you?”
“How do you know I’m not angry?” Xíng Yún crushed the leftover bits of medicine with his other hand as he spoke. “There are just more urgent things to take care of right now, like clearing out scumbags by deposing a certain someone.”
Shěn Lí glanced at him. “You? Take care of the prince? The crown prince?”
Xíng Yún smiled shallowly. “I may not be able to do it, but I can sure try. Shěn Lí, tomorrow accompany me outside.”
“Wait. What? Why do I have to go with you?”
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