The Magnolia Beauty

"The Prince had no room for compa.s.sion besides himself!"

The face of Qin Fuhua popped up in her mind, which made her frown. Everything that he had done up to his point, she felt like at times, Suyin was a p.a.w.n of his. It was pure coincidence that she may have accidentally intertwined her fate with him.

Suyin suddenly heard whispers nearby Junli"s room, causing her to slowly creep up at the corner of the wall.

"Young Master. But I finally found the item that I have been looking for." Jiayi said. Suyin could barely see the face of Jiayi. She was facing Junli outside of his room where no one could see them. Suyin happened to be near just to hear little whispers and tried to get close to the two to listen to their conversation.

"Stop it! I told you! I don"t believe in the nonsense!" Junli was angered that she had risked her life for a key. "No one knows where this place is at, or even if this place even exists!" He was baffled at the maid"s belief.

"Young Master, wait! But the key is in my possession!"

"And that will only bring you danger because other people are looking for the key also. You know that already." Junli escorted himself, upset that she would put herself in danger for him. "I"m going to go take a bath."

Suyin hurried back to sit down at the pavilion in the courtyard. Was this the item that Qin Fuhua wanted?!

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Junli had finished taking a bath after taking his medicine. He slowly strolled down with a beautiful light blue robe. The moon was lit just perfect to show Suyin"s figure and face in the darkness. Junli lifted his hands to excuse Jiayi who followed behind him. She calmly bowed and excused herself, leaving Junli"s courtyard.

Junli calmly approached next to her in the pavilion so he could take a closer look at the side of her face. Her eyes were blank-- as if she was staring off into the distance down at the ground.

"Miss Suyin?" Junli softly said, staring at her. There was no one around the two so he could call her that (or at least, freely).

Suyin felt troubled deep down inside but couldn"t brush off what Junli had mentioned about Qin Fuhua earlier.

"Miss Suyin." Junli raised his volume enough for her to at least hear him.

Suyin perked up and looked at him blankly.

"Oh. Yes?" Suyin finally replied, turning to him. He smiled at her, chuckling for a second.

"Are you alright?" Junli wanted to make sure Suyin was not feeling uncomfortable after he told her about his past and the incident with his uncle.

"Ah... yes." Suyin paused for a second. For a while, there was a long silence. They didn"t utter a single word until Suyin broke the stillness. She played with her hands, avoiding eye contact with Junli.

"Um... Thank you for telling me about yourself... and your uncle." She stopped, worried that she would believe he was the same as his uncle, "Don"t worry about your uncle! I know that you are not like him at all." She stated with a worried expression.

Junli stared off through the courtyard, looking at the silhouettes of the trees. It looked as if there were an endless amount of stars in the sky.

"Thank you for listening," Junli responded. He turned to her and smiled. "For someone who I just met, you are a pure, kind, and genuine person. I"ve never met someone like you before." He declared.

Suyin could only smile at him, unable to say anything. Knowing that she is the wife of "Tienzheng" in this town, it was important for her to not cross the line between friendship.

"I"m going to go inside and rest up." Junli excused himself, a bit embarra.s.sed with his confession. "Go get some sleep soon, okay?"

Suyin only nodded with her head. "Mn."

Junli slowly headed back to his bedroom, with Suyin staring at the back of Junli until he disappeared into his room.

Suyin noticed something at the corner of her eye-- Jiayi"s head bobbing up and down behind the bushes outside of the courtyard gate. Perfect! This was the perfect opportunity for her to follow the servant girl to see where she hid the key.

She carefully and quickly ran near the courtyard gate, standing behind the wall as she slowly peeked down the corridors in the main hall. Jiayi kept looking from the left and right hall, making sure that no one noticed her as she scurried down the hall.

Suyin chased after her cautiously and trailed behind her.

Jiayi quickly ran into a room, closing the door as quietly as she could so there would be no squeaking. Suyin followed behind through all of this, observing the servant maid in the bookroom where they had bookshelves filled with wooden and paper books in them.

Jiayi pulled one of the books out of the bookshelf. It was a crimson red book that had a print of a b.u.t.terfly on it.

Suyin tried to take a better look but due to her rash actions, a book from one of the bookshelves fell to the ground,

*THUD*

Suyin"s eyes grew bigger with a surprised expression. Why was she being so clumsy at an important moment like this right now?! Suyin picked up the book to put back on the bookshelf, not realizing that Jiayi was standing in front of her.

Jiayi crossed her arms, a bit angry at Suyin as she smiled. "J-Jiayi! What are you doing here?" Suyin tried to change the topic to try to distract her from thinking she was following her.

"I could ask the same thing. What are you doing here, young sir?" Jiayi interrogated Suyin.

Ah right. Suyin had forgotten that she was dressed in a pair of male clothing as a medicine man. She grabbed a random book on her hand, quickly defending her actions.

"I.... was already in here when you barged in and scared me!" Suyin had opened the book already by the time Jiayi saw her. Suyin closed the book, glancing at the faded Chinese characters that were written in front of the cover:

"GENERAL OF THE QIN"

"I was researching on young master Junli"s history to see if there was any medical history on his father." Suyin blurted out, trying to add rocks to the mountain*.

(*Meaning Suyin had to make it up at the spot. [Adding rocks to the mountain] meant that a person believes that rocks come from pieces of the mountain itself, so a person adding rocks to the mountain would make it appear to look like it resided there, but in reality, those rocks did not belong there and it was all made up.)

Jiayi frowned at Suyin, holding the book close to her chest. "Mister Shu is very dedicated to helping my master." She calmly said. She glanced at the crimson book and then looked at Suyin. "Did you... see anything?" Her head was lowered, questioning the suspicious Suyin who immediately shook her head.

"You were the one who scared me instead, coming in so quietly like that." Suyin nervously laughed, lying in front of the young maiden. "But a beautiful book like that, I have not seen before. Does it have a special meaning to the young maid?" Suyin fixed her voice, hoping to gain some answers from her.

"No. Um..." Her face began to turn a little red, her eyes were darted down on the ground with a small smile on her face. "Young Master taught me how to read... so this is all I know how to read. It"s a collection of poetry." Jiayi replied, placing the book down on a small, rectangular table next to her.

Ah! So that was what it was. From the face of the maiden"s shy expressions, Suyin knew that the "Young Master Junli" was more than just a Master to her. Suyin nodded her with a mischievous smile.

"I... uh... gotta go now!" Jiayi rushed out, a bit embarra.s.sed.

Suyin chuckled a bit, turning around before her eyes stared at the crimson book, laying on the table. What was so special about it?

Just as Suyin walked towards the book, Jiayi came back in.

"I forgot something." She quickly stated, glancing around until she saw the book. She recklessly grabbed the book because she was fl.u.s.tered with Suyin"s expressions as she dropped the book under the table. She bent down to get the book and ran out of the room.

"Guess I shouldn"t have been too nosy about her business." Suyin shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head. Just as she looked at the table filled with piles of different scrolls and novels, a small little silver item caught Suyin"s eyes.

"Hm?" She tilted her head, looking under the table. When Jiayi dropped the book under the table, the key fell and laid on the floor. Suyin reached under the table to grab it to take a better look.

A beautiful rose-shaped-like key about the size of a finger glistened under the lamp. What was this key hiding under the table? Did Jiayi drop this?

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[ Qin Fuhua ]

Qin Fuhua carefully watched the man"s gaze. Jianhong delightfully took the small teacup of tea and gulped it down as he slouched back behind the chair.

Qin Fuhua knew that the man was a selfish b.a.s.t.a.r.d who was only smart enough to save himself. Qin Fuhua"s lips curved into a small smile, looking at Jianhong.

"Brother. Do you dare to do something like this? We are sworn siblings after all since that one day." Qin Fuhua replied. "You know that I am nothing but a mere scholar who does not know how to fight, but utilizing my wife to be useful is something I should do."

Jianhong let out a roar of laugher, pointing at Qin Fuhua three times with his index finger as he shook his head. "Haha. See? This is why you are such a good brother. You are very knowledgable and know what needs to be done." The man had a proud face, feeling as it was correct to trust Qin Fuhua (who he knows as Tienzheng).

With the pressure that Jianhong was giving to Fuhua earlier, the man wanted to test him to see whether or not he would be fl.u.s.tered. It was a play to see whether or not Qin Fuhua could be trusted.

"Would my brother like another wine" Jianhong asked.

Qin Fuhua smiled and refused.

"Older brother. If I take another one, I do not think we will accomplish our plan for tonight. I already am at the tip of my drunkness." Tienzheng commented.

"Ah. The sun has served its purpose for today. Now that the moon is out, it is time for you to do your duty." Jianhong commanded, flicking off some leftover steam bun bits that rested on his beard.

"Then I shall take my leave." Qin Fuhua nodded, heading out of the room. As he got out of the brothel, two guards in commoner clothing followed behind him, obvious yet discreet. The first thing that the Prince had noticed was the sword sheath buckled on their left hips inside of their robe.

Qin Fuhua stumbled, grumbling to himself like a madman as he acted as if he was drunk. The Prince tumbled over an older looking merchant at a stand.

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing to my stand?!" The man yelled at Qin Fuhua. The Prince could only grumble and look up at the man. He then got up and fixed himself to act as if he was drunk.

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[Han Suyin]

Was this the key that Qin Fuhua was looking for? Or was it just decoration for one of the manor"s rooms? If so, why would Jiayi hide it in the book? There were so many questions that she wanted to ask herself, but how would she even know the answer without finding the Prince?

Suyin carefully placed it in her sleeves inside her robe and stood up. "I guess it is time to pay a visit to confirm that this is it." Suyin was outisde of Junli pavilion. In order for her to sneak out past Junli and Jiayi, it would make sense that she would have to continue to use the ladder to get faster access to Junli"s place for her (plus Junli told the guards to excuse her rashness if she does use the ladder for this purpose, so no one could stop or hurt her anyway).

Suyin was still dressed up as a medicine man. Her hair tied up and her clothes carefully tucked in like a male, she lifted the sleeves of her robe and used the ladder to head out to find the Prince. Seconds before lifting up the ladder.....

*SWOOP*

The sound of an arrow shooting in front of Suyin"s face scared the living out of her as she immediately fell back down on her b.u.t.t. Suyin faced at the direction where the arrow came from but could see nothing but the moonlight and the darkness.

Where did it come from?

Suyin could at least tell that whoever shot the arrow intentionally did that on purpose. The arrow pierced right into the tree bark with a small white folded paper stuck in between the wooden arrow.

"A note?" It took a couple of attempts for her to take out the arrow with the letter stuck onto it since she wasn"t strong herself. After successfully pulling out the note, she made sure that no one was around the pavilion and sat behind the tree to read the letter.

"Suyin.

Please meet me at the place where the lights floated above the sky

Tienzheng"

The first thing Suyin could think of was: Is this a trap?

She wasn"t stupid enough to fall for anyone"s trap, let along reading a letter like this. Anyone could have written it. A stench of orange fragrance diffused from the paper to Suyin"s nose, causing her to freeze for a second.

"No. It had to be him."

It was interesting that Han Suyin had a gut feeling that Qin Fuhua had written this letter. After all, the paper smelled like him. Back in the ancient days, many of the n.o.bles would offer money to merchants to handmake their paper for them and buy it off. Paper was very valuable during this time. Specifically, for special missions like this, Qin Fuhua had his papermaking person make his very discreet. Enough for his own men to know that he was the one writing it.

What was needed for them to confirm that it was the Prince"s paper was to shine it under the light to see a special marking of a phoenix under a candle.

Only his very close and most trusted men only knew this. But what was even more interesting was that Han Suyin could catch the one thing that no one could--- the scent of the man himself. It was interesting that the pair could recognize each other this way.

Throwing the paper in her robe now, she hurried off to find the Prince where the lights floated in the sky: the center of the district of Liaoping.

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