'Run for your life!'
'Mob!'
'They've gone insane!!!'
Chu Yu's mind was in a mess to the point she could not understand why would her outing cause such a big chaos.
It was a Southern Dynasty capital. How could public safety be so terrible?!
In the midst of the chaos, pieces of thoughts flashed by Chu Yu's head quickly. They collided into each other and smashed into smaller pieces, drowning her with the panicked anxiety she was overwhelmed by. As she ran helter-skelter with the jumble of thoughts in her head, she had no idea when she let go off Yue Jiefei's hand before she could not even see where he was in the blink of an eye. Chu Yu did not dare to turn back to look for him, hence she could only continue running.
The rumbling footsteps behind her seemed to be banging on Chu Yu's tensed nerves. Her body was not strong enough after all, so she began to pant after a while of running. She could not help but slow down when she heard the crowd advancing closer behind her. She felt a surge of power that came out of nowhere which gave her the strength to run even faster until she was drained again.
This repeated that for a couple of times and finally, Chu Yu could not squeeze any more potent strength out of her body. She accepted that she would give in even if she would be trampled from the crowd as she made a turn. Suddenly, a person appeared before her eyes and said to her immediately, "Follow me."
The man led Chu Yu through the complicated intersecting alleys and soon, they managed to get away from the people in a short while. Chu Yu stopped running and wheezed intensely. Her mind went blank as all she could feel was sweat running down her body.
In reality, her mind was not exactly blank. While bearing the extreme load she had taken on her body, Chu Yu was recalling what she had done earlier. When she saw so many people surrounding her in an aggressive manner, her mind wandered off and she could not figure what was the best thing she could do. All she did was flee on instinct.
The man beside her seemed to say something which made Chu Yu snap back to reality a couple of seconds later. "Brother, what did you say?" Her voice was already rather low, so her panting from the intense run only hid her female characteristics.
The person who saved her had attractive features and wore sophisticated clothes. It was clear that he came from a rich family. He took a careful look at Chu Yu's delicate features at a close distance and exclaimed secretly to himself. He did not mind her not hearing what he said earlier and repeated himself, "My name's Pei Shu. I guess this is your first time being out in the public on your own?"
Chu Yu nodded and asked while feeling perplexed, "How do you know that?"
Pei Shu smiled. "I could tell from your reaction earlier. Actually, you don't have to be afraid. Those people have no ill intentions."
Chu Yu was still shaken from what happened earlier, so she said out loud instinctively, "How is that not having any ill intentions?"
The people had been throwing stuff at her. If that was not considered ill intentions, then what was considered ill-intended?
Pei Shu said, "You might not know this, but they were just expressing their admiration of a beautiful man. They were just excited. You triggered them when you started running, causing them to run even wilder."
Chu Yu opened her eyes wide as she was baffled by what she heard. "How is that possible?"
The people were behaving like groupies in the 21st century, but what did she have that was worth them chasing after?
Pei Shu added with a smile, "Don't find it strange. This has been the local culture here. Actually, if you handle the situation properly, no chaos would be created. Or maybe bring a couple more guards with you when you head out the next time. That would keep the admirers a distance away from you."
Noticing Chu Yu's luxurious dressing and elegant mannerisms, he figured she must come from an extraordinary family. He wanted to get closer to her, so he attempted to win her heart by exploiting his knowledge about the place.
After hearing Pei Shu's explanation, Chu Yu found out that it was a culture that was passed down during Pan An's time. People would throw flowers and fruits at him whenever they saw handsome men in the streets to express their admiration. Chu Yu felt her scalp go numb as she figured it must be hard for Pan An to manage to escape death while having so many fruits attacking him back then.
During ancient times, there was a handsome man called Wei Jie. Just like Pan An, he was very attractive. Exactly how attractive was he? If he were to stand among the crowd, he would be a pearl in the rubble. Back then, during his first visit to Nanjing, which was Jiankang at that time, the people came to the capital upon hearing about such a handsome man. The streets were packed with onlookers, and the handsome man, who was weak and always ill, was so overwhelmed that he died on the spot. However, judging by what happened to her today, Chu Yu suspected that Wei Jie might have been killed from the smashing of flowers and fruits.
It was a time when beauty was worshipped, especially handsome men.
In this era, appearance was not the only thing a handsome man would need. An agile and healthy body was required too.
After a while of astonishment, Chu Yu said with a smile while feeling relieved, "I've learned something today."
She thought to herself, 'So, I don't look like a beast, but it was the locals who behaved like beasts, pouncing at handsome men.' With that said, her disguise had worked pretty well.
After resting for a while, the duo walked through the remote streets and chatted along the way. Chu Yu maintained an opened heart, knowing that she was just an empty barrel. She was just listening most of the time and voiced her opinions whenever she heard something she knew. She looked elegant and mature when she kept quiet with a faint smile. She had unique insights which Pei Shu admired.
Most of the things Pei Shu articulated were poetry. Although Chu Yu did not know much about ancient poetry, that did not stop her from playing smart. After all, she had learned many bits and pieces of poems that had been written throughout a thousand of years under her sleeve. It gave her some impressive insights. Although she did not say much whenever she spoke, everything she said was on-point.
Pei Shu had the intention to get closer to Chu Yu while she wanted to know people outside the Imperial Residence, which was helpful for her to learn more about this world. The more they talked, the more they clicked. Although they had no idea what each other was thinking, they looked like friends of many years from the looks of it.
Time went by slowly as they chatted. Pei Shu recalled he had some errands to run, so he bade farewell to Chu Yu. He turned around after taking merely two steps away and smiled as he said, "I don't know your name despite chatting for so long."
Chu Yu smiled lightly. "My name's Yu Zi Chu."
Figuring Princess Shan Yin definitely had a rather bad reputation, she decided not to reveal her real name.
"Brother Zi Chu," Pei Shu smiled as he said, "I'm having a wine and poetry society gathering at Mountain Pingding in three days. I wonder if you'd like to come, Brother Zi Chu." Since Chu Yu had impressive opinions, he figured she must have exceptional poetry-writing abilities. Never did he realize that Chu Yu had the upper hand of traveling back in time whereby all she did was just take the predecessors' work directly.
He paused for a moment and said casually, "A prince'll be coming too."
Though he seemed causal, Chu Yu could tell there was a sense of bragging that he could not hide in his tone. He seemed to be saying, 'There'll be many celebrities coming, and it would be a shame if you don't come'.
Although she deceived Pei Shu, Chu Yu knew her own standards very well. Just when she was going to decline, she had a sudden change of thought. "Sure, I'll definitely be there."
She had an objective of her own to attend the event. At the same time, what Pei Shui said piqued her interest in the prince. She wondered who that extraordinary person would be.