Slash-slash-slash - there was a light sound of shredding followed by the falling strips of cloth from Yue Jiefei"s pants. Remembering Chu Yu by his side, Yue Jiefei"s face turned ghastly at the sudden thought of an unwelcome future.
It was as though he could faintly make out the words "male concubine" in the distance flashing brilliantly in gold and waving a hand at him.
His body was not for sale, really!
Another two blows from a dazed Hua Cuo, and two pieces of fabric were cut off from Yue Jiefei"s pants, leaving behind a cool sensation on his bare legs. The words "male concubine" seemed to loom ever closer.
The fight was just getting entertaining when a sympathizing sigh could be heard from the crowd. To Chu Yu"s notice, besides the guards, several palace maids had sneaked in on the action as well. They covered their eyes with their hands, but stole admiring glances through the cracks of their fingers.
Yue Jiefei"s and Hua Cuo"s movements were swiftly becoming a blur of light and shadow. Feeling worried, Chu Yu turned to Rong Zhi. "Do you have any way of stopping them?" Letting the fight continue was not likely to have a good outcome. Anything could happen in a swordfight. What if someone was hurt by accident?
The words had just left her mouth when she realized she had asked the wrong person. Rong Zhi did not know martial arts. If he had, he wouldn"t have been beaten so badly by Yue Jiefei that time. Who was he to stop these two skilled swordsmen before them?
Rong Zhi lifted a hand to wipe his brow. His eyes were filled with carefree amus.e.m.e.nt as he replied. "No need to worry, princess. Hua Cuo won"t harm Yue Jiefei. He"ll merely pluck off all his clothes. It"ll be over once he"s done throwing his drunken fit."
Chu Yu scrutinized the two sparring figures in the distance. "Is Hua Cuo really drunk or pretending to be?"
Thrown off by her unexpected question, Rong Zhi almost answered without thinking but stopped, the words catching in his throat. An imperceptible expression appeared on his face. Glancing at Chu Yu with a vague smile, he slowly continued what he had paused halfway. "Really drunk."
Hua Cuo was indeed, drunk. Given his sword skills, if he were sober, he would have sc.r.a.pped off a layer of Yue Jiefei"s skin by now besides his clothes.
The duo had hated each other at first sight since two years ago. If it weren"t for Rong Zhi"s interference on several occasions, they would have battled to the death countless times.
Named Three Thousand Blossoms, Hua Cuo"s sword style was originally a thing of elegant beauty, not made for ma.s.sacre. However, driven by vengeance in his youth and a penchant for violence, Hua Cuo had stripped away much of his learned sword style, keeping the bare essentials and adding on fatal techniques, even swopping his sword for a longer, narrower blade. Hence, although the current Hua Cuo excelled in deadly technique, he fell short of mastering the school of swordsmanship.
His revenge may have been fulfilled, but he could never recover the original Thousand Blossoms.
Only when he was drunk, when he was free of all burden and frustrations, could the beauty of Thousand Blossoms be reflected again in his sword… Naturally, with his inhibitions thrown caution to the wind once drunk, his demeanor would be greatly lacking. Not even Rong Zhi knew how he had developed such a habit of stripping off people"s clothes.
Chu Yu glanced at Rong Zhi with a smile. "What if I insist on separating them?"
Rong Zhi smiled in reply. "Since it is the princess"s wish, I shall give it a shot." He tested the taped splint on his arm, ensured its st.u.r.diness, and slowly ambled up to the crowd. At the sight of his approach, the crowd immediately gave way. It mattered not that he was rumored to have fallen out of favour with the princess, with Huang Yuan and the other two new additions being his replacement. Under his past influence, not a person dared to spurn him.
Once Rong Zhi was near enough to feel the slashing gust of swordplay, he remained standing for a moment. Picking up a branch that had been severed by G.o.d knows who, he tossed it in the direction of the dueling figures without a care in the world.
Entering vicinity of the flashing swords, the branch was reduced to pieces within seconds on the floor. Surprisingly, the fighting duo stopped when they noticed the fallen branch.
Although not deep, the faint wound on Hua Cuo"s shoulder stung a fair bit, causing his dazed eyes to rouse from their drunken stupor. He stared confusedly at Yue Jiefei and jolted aloud in alarm. "Yue Jiefei, what do you think you"re doing half-naked in front of me?" Having rebuked him, he looked down, only to be shocked by the sight of his own state of undress. His complexion immediately made a turn for the worse. "What kind of dirty things are you planning?! I"m warning you, don"t you ever come within three feet of me! Else, I"ll sic my sword on you!"
Hearing this, Yue Jiefei became roiling with fury. "Are you awake now? You tore my clothes, have you no shame but to blame me for it? Go ask anyone here if you don"t believe me, who is it that stripped whose clothes?!"
Hua Cuo"s face was full of disbelief. "Bulls.h.i.t! Even if I were to tear anyone"s clothes, it wouldn"t be yours! Are your muscles that good looking? You think you"re some kind of glorious male beauty now?"
Yue Jiefei raged back in anger. "Are you calling yourself a male beauty then? You think I"d care for the looks of you?"
The duo entered a shouting match, each nitpicking the other"s flaws – whose muscular lines weren"t elegant enough, whose shoulders were too broad and whose bone structure too stiff. Moments later, they were b.u.t.ting heads and shoulders, piling insult upon insult on the other, calling out on all things from sagging skin to mole placements. Gradually, their squabble ascended into a full-blown swordfight, with neither caring about their lack of clothes.
Rong Zhi helplessly shrugged his shoulders and shook his head at Chu Yu. His eyes seemed to say, "I"ve tried, what more can we do now?"
Chu Yu rolled her eyes at him. "Wait it out." There was no use trying anything, except to let them fight.
She was about to fetch a guard to walk her back, when a figure standing shielded by the guards caught her attention. He was clad in a grey robe and shuffling around at a loss while staring at her.
It was an unfamiliar face. Recollecting her memories, Chu Yu recognized him as the man she had rescued from Liu Ziye"s guillotine under the farce of a male concubine, Shen Shenzhi. These past few days, as a reward for his honest and good behavior, Shen Shenzhi had been allowed privilege to freely roam the West Courtyard.
Chu Yu gazed at Shen Shenzhi and nodded at him. "Come with me." She motioned for the guards to let him pa.s.s.
With Chu Yu leading the way and Shen Shenzhi at the back, they made their way into the East Courtyard where her bedchamber resided. The guards halted once they were outside her bedchamber door.
Opening the door with one hand, Chu Yu peered back into Shen Shenzhi"s uneasy expression. She smiled. "What is it? Are you frightened? If you are, you may leave now." Chu Yu of course knew what it looked like, bringing Shen Shenzhi back to her bedchamber. But it was precisely this mistaken impression that made for such a good cover.
She entered the room without delay and, after hesitating a moment, Shen Shenzhi followed in.
Chu Yu studied Shen Shenzhi"s face, which was a state of perplexed wariness. She sighed deeply in her heart. If not for the lack of time, she would not have risked something like this. Without waiting for Shen Shenzhi to calm down, she remarked coolly. "Did you know, that you are already dead?"
Shen Shenzhi started at this, but Chu Yu merely reached towards a tabletop for a rolled up silk cloth. She tossed it at Shen Shenzhi. "See to it yourself."
That day, a silent vanishing occurred within the Princess"s Palace. Gone were a bundle of silk wrapped coins, a carriage, and lastly - a person.
Afterword:
Omae wa mou shindeiru!!! ok ok I"ll stop with the bad jokes XD couldn"t help it…
Sorry for the delay, as compensation, you can expect double chapters next week!