That day when Xing got lost and ended up in the Sima Tribe, a group of young men were casually chatting in a certain famous restaurant owned by the Zhong second young master. Those group of young men included a certain "Son of Heaven" who had gained sympathy points with a certain old general and got permission for a day out in the city once a month, a certain Prince who was missing his lover by his side, together with his aspiring page and the brother of the said lover who follows his friend everywhere.Seiren who had found out about Shengli"s weakness to wine sneaked wine into his tea and made a new c.o.c.ktail that smelled like tea making Shengli drunk. So the other curious young men made Shengli rest in a corner and while they were moving him, found a thick stack of papers and proceeded to read it violating the privacy of one of the powerful man of their kingdom who was currently weak due to alcohol.
Rijun who had the blind courage that Shengli won"t kill his lover"s sister opened the stack of papers to see it was actually a "letter" written by his sister and not some booklet or his accounts.
Rijun read the letter loud for other people to hear amidst the protest of Lin Mubai as he had scanned to see the letter to be more of a report than a letter from a lover.
"Why is my sister this stupid?", he thought, "How can she keep her man if she writes what she did from morning to night in the format of a report submitted to a superior? I"m no expert in these things but isn"t this boring and not romantic? Who needs to know how beautiful her niece is? She had written about that baby for a page... An entire page! Who cares she likes her niece better than her nephew?And a pond? What was that about? The trees? Her dinner.. Seriously.. She wrote him what she ate..? Not even a single "I miss you" or "Take care of your health" like normal letters!"
Rijun felt a bit worried for his sister," Oh, sister! You"ve by luck found yourself the perfect man for you who can even cook for you and you are this careless? ". He felt sorry for Shengli too not knowing he"ll be killed by Shengli for reading her letter to him.
That"s when Seiren who is a self-proclaimed expert in all things women, decrypted her letter that was filled with esoteric facts privy to only the both of them.
"Your sister prefers a girl to a boy baby, that tree she mentioned... They must have done something known only to them on that tree... Dinner... This is what he usually ordered for her! The flowers aren"t fragrant here, the air is dense here, Xu mama"s skills in making milk haven"t improved, I don"t have the mood to practice my sword here... These are all the things she misses about him",he went on explaining each sentence she wrote that cryptically said that she misses him and wants him by her side.
The Emperor was surprised by the knowledge Seiren possessed in these matters, "Zhong Seiren, your women must be blessed to have a husband like you!", he said.
"Correction, your Majesty! My woman! Our father had changed our family rules for us Zhong sons to have only one wife and no concubines or bed servants"
"More people following the Huang family tradition?",the Emperor was surprised but Seiren seemed to be pleased considering his reputation as the frivolous playboy - self-proclaimed.
"I can see your brother accepting this. But will you be fine with one woman?", Rijun asked surprised. Lin Mubai who never understood those n.o.bles became more confused why those rich n.o.bles want to refuse themselves from having more women. More women, more happiness, right?
" Ha! ", Seiren sneered," Why wouldn"t I be? The number one playboy - your sister, is ending up with a man! I can be happy with a single woman", he said in a condescending tone.
Rijun shook his head, he has to bring up Mingxia to this!
Seiren said his piece and went to Shengli who was still drunk and checked him and Lin Mubai tried to stop him, "Don"t you want to know how your brother writes your sister-in-law?", he asked raising his eyebrows."No", he replied firmly.
Now this invoked the curiosity of the Emperor and he "commanded" his brother to be searched while Lin Mubai was petrified. It is confirmed he"ll be a corpse by tomorrow.
Seiren searched Shengli to find a couple of papers neatly folded in his chest pockets and opened it to read while everyone"s eyes were on him. He read only a couple of lines and a rare blush creeped on his face and he looked like a bashful maiden, "Hmm, this is not what I"d have expected from a Prince! ", he covered his mouth, coughed and cleared his throat folding the letter back, "This letter is extremely personal and I bet it was not for public viewing" he sighed making even Lin Mubai intrigued.
What is in that letter?
"No private letter is for public viewing, you weren"t against reading Mingxia"s letter. Now I command you to read the letter", the Emperor really wanted to know how his aloof brother would write to his lover. Also what is in that letter that made even Seiren flushed?
"No way!", he refused and the Emperor tried to get the letter and the commotion woke Shengli up.
He saw the letter in Seiren"s hand and his eyes reddened with rage, "Seiren, give it back!", he roared.
"I bet you didn"t write this to send it to her, did you?", Seiren smirked fearless in front of the angry wolf.
"I"ll kill you!", Shengli shouted and he swayed trying to stand up.
"So that"s how it is", Seiren gave a victorious grin, "I"ll help her receive this letter".
"Give it back, you nasty imbecile! I will end you! Beware!", Shengli started screaming and Seiren had an enlightened smile. He cannot get a chance like this to get back at this lonely wolf, or that fake man ever again.
While these commotion was going on a falcon with a letter tied on its feet landed near Lin Mubai and he read the note and screamed,
"Big brother Wolf, sister-in-law is lost and seemed to head in the direction of the Sima Tribe. Our people are scouting the area and Lord Huang is going towards the Sima Tribe"
"What?", Shengli grabbed the note and he immediately became sober.
"d.a.m.n you Zedong! Why did you bring her there?" he mumbled and hurried to leave.
Rijun got ready to leave but was met with the glare of Shengli, "Do not tell your father! Zedong will handle it better!"
"What?", Seiren asked casually, " Should I ask my father for the army?", he asked sarcastically to Shengli.
"Not now, may be tomorrow", Shengli answered seriously and got out of the room.
Seiren was flabbergasted, "Is this guy serious? She"s probably with those people wining and dining and playing with their women. And why would she need an army to rescue her when she herself is stronger than a thousand men?", he asked confused. Are they even talking about the same person?
But Seiren was met with the angry glare of Rijun and the Emperor who then explained the situation between her and the Sima Tribe but Seiren still was not moved,
" The Chief of the tribe knows Lord Táng. Batukhan and I had chatted in the past in the Heavenly Flowers Palace. He is a rational man, he won"t hurt her!", he said but his reasoning did not make those two less worried.
Shengli prepared to leave for the South and left the city that night along with Lin Mubai.
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Meanwhile, the one who was actually wining and dining with the Chief in the night was happy to see her Uncle entering the tent.
Horsey did a good job! Xing was happy.
Zedong looked at Xing who was sitting there all calm and regal while he looked disoriented from all the stress and the sudden travel. The horse met him halfway and he followed it here when the people asked him to meet the Chief and only heavens know how worried he was for the past hours and there she is... all cool and collected.
Thank heavens she is safe!
Zedong sighed and gave a deep bow to the Chief and only then Xing realised he is the king here and she didn"t even bow to him.
Well! No use crying over spilt milk!
They were talking in the Tribal language and Xing understood nothing but realised they were talking business and ended up sleeping on the bed curled up. A little while later, she realised her uncle covering with a blanket and she went back to sleep.
Zedong wanted to hit her hard in the head for worrying everyone but could not bring himself to it seeing her sleeping like a pampered little cat.
He then sent information to everyone that he got her and she was unharmed. Shengli received the message, wrote a letter to bring her back to the capital immediately and stayed in a village on her way of return.
In the tent,
" She has no interest in negotiating for you, right?", Zedong asked Batukhan.
"This one", Batukhan pointed at Xing, "Back in the Heavenly Flowers Palace, She walked up to a man talking bad about a woman, pulled his tongue out and pierced a chopstick in it... No hesitation! No one asked her for help and no one would have blamed her if she left without helping! She cannot keep away from helping others and also she is mandated by the heavens to do so! ", Batukhan gave a cryptic smile making Zedong feel a chill. He had nothing to say against it. She really is fated to be...
The next day Xing left with her uncle and her uncle took her back to the Manor in Dajing and she spent a couple of days there.
Those two daughter-in-laws loved Xing and asked her to call them big sis and the three of them were drinking the evening tea when a servant gave her a letter.
Xing saw the Zhong seal and without minding those two, opened the letter to have a big surprise. It was the handwriting of Shengli, his original one he uses currently only to write her.
Okay! Why is this letter has the Zhong seal?
Xing read the letter and she... Could not say anything... She felt her face got burning red and her breathing got erratic and her heart beat went out of control and she felt like she was burning... Yep ! Burning in the pa.s.sion of the words in the letter.
Well, what did he write in the letter? It was his thoughts.. Thoughts about what he wanted to do with her.. In bed.. On their wedding night.. From lifting the veil to the next morning, he haven"t missed a single detail. And to top it off, it was really artistic and eloquent, not like the books she used to read before, a lot more articulate and poetic even.
Seeing her blus.h.i.+ng red reading the letter, those cousin-in-laws got curious and they naturally s.n.a.t.c.hed the letters from her hands and began to read. Xing who had read the letter could not even move as she felt weak in the knees.
Dangerous! Really dangerous! This man could actually kill me! Xing thought. How did it end up with the Zhong? It should be Seiren right? Only he"d do such lowly thing! Did he read it? He"d be dead if he did though! How can I face anyone again? This rascal Prince! How could he write such things? I feel like I"ve lost the right to be a bride!
While Xing was worrying, those two women were reading the letter with interest and pa.s.sing comments among themselves and giggling making Xing want to dig a hole and disappear from the face of earth!
"How articulate! He haven"t used a description more than once!"
"Look at this! This actually works"
"I"ve done this and this too... Mmmm! "
"Little cousin, seems like he haven"t seen you in a while!", Anran giggled focusing on Her chest, "I don"t see any scarcity there!" and Xing instinctively covered her chest.
"Do not let this man go!", Yaoyao said, "These type of men are Treasures and not to be lost!", she was serious.
Xing gave an awkward laugh, "Treasure, my foot! He is a pervert and these women are perverts too" .
Who said only men are perverts? Everyone is a pervert. It"s just that women are better at hiding it!
Xing who was used to read certain types of books was not that moved when she read books that said, he did this to her or she did that to him. But when Shengli wrote I will do this and that to you... She cannot help but feel shy!
This man is teaching me many things that even I didn"t realise about myself! Xing sighed and hid her face for an entire day until she left the Manor. Those two always looked at her with proud look as they believed that she had chosen the right man for her.