Twenty-three year old Infantry Unit Captain (Xi Yunshan Province), Chi Li Shan, helped his little 'sister' down from the carriage that had stopped outside Huang Jin Quan (Circle of Gold), the largest jewellery store in Central City in the capital of Wen Kingdom, Zhong Xin Capital.
The kingdom of Wen was made up of four provinces, He Dong (East River), An Bei (Peaceful North), Xi Yunshan (West Cloud Mountain) and Nan Huagu (South Flower Valley). Zhong Xin Capital was the main capital and right in the middle of the four provinces, hence how it got its name (Zhong Xin means centre of or middle of). Each province had many villages and towns as well as a small city where visiting dignitaries and the Imperial family would reside when necessary. These small cities usually contained the name of or one or more features of the province:-
He Dong Province - Liang He (Two River) City; An Bei Province - Ningjing (Tranquility) City; Xi Yunshan Province - Liaoyun (Distant Cloud) City; Nan Huagu Province - Shuang Hua (Twin Flower) City.
Although Zhong Xin could be regarded as a province in its own right, it was renamed Zhong Xin Capital because it became the home of the ruling emperors since the establishment of Wen. Most of the noble and wealthy families had their main estates in Zhong Xin Capital. The Royal Academy however, was located in An Bei Province. An Bei was known as a spiritual place and had many monasteries and martial arts schools. Important religious ceremonies were held in this province and the Imperial family came once a year to pray to the gods and honour the ancestors.
After exchanging a look of understanding with his father, Li Shan closed the carriage door. Their father Chi Xue Qiao stayed inside the carriage as he was going straight to the tea house, Lotus Blossom Tea House, located further down Main street.
Meili Tian looked around in excitement, taking in the hustle and bustle of the street, unaware of the surreptitious looks and some outright stares.
Maybe it was rude or maybe it was just plain curiosity but many people had recognised the Chi family carriage and wondered if this was the famous Third Young Miss.
Meili Tian turned to Li Shan with wide eyes.
'Li Shan ge ge hurry up.'
Xue Mi smiled and along with two other maids, followed her young mistress into the jewellery store.
'Be careful Meili-ah.'
With a shake of his head and an indulgent smile, which had all the girls nearby swooning, he followed her into the store with his attendant. It was well known that the Chi family were not only extremely wealthy but the men were very handsome, competent and skilled; the women were extremely beautiful, graceful and accomplished.
Gui Wei looked around the busy Main Street of Central City. Tall, well built and handsome, the 18 year old stood out among the people on the street. It had been nearly two years since he had been there and he wondered how much the city had changed. Gui Wei had been at the Royal Academy since he was 12 but had been studying in the Royal Library with his personal tutor since he was 5 years old. His father always stressed the importance of knowing about the Kingdom and the world, being benevolent to and caring for the people and the management of the government since he was young. So he had always pushed himself to be the best and to excel in whatever was given or taught to him, whether it be martial arts, literature, the ancient teachings, archery or horseback riding. As Crown Prince and future emperor, the Empress especially, entertains no room for failure.
Gui Wei turned to look at his bodyguard, companion and friend, Hu Min.
'What should we do first?'
Hu Min smirked as he looked around before something caught his eye,
'Is that Count Zhongcheng's carriage?'
All the noble houses had painted accents on their carriages and the back and sides of each was painted with that family's representative flower or tree. No family had the same colour or pattern so they could be distinguished from one another. Count Zhongcheng, Chi Xue Qiao, had lavender accented carriages with lotus flowers on the backs and sides.
Dukes (gongs) were divided into two classes and had three ranks each, Imperial Duke (guo gong) and Commoner Duke (min gong) and had pale yellow (there was also the title of High Duke [gao gong] but it was mainly reserved for a princess' husband and they had a pale yellow edged white banner. Imperial Dukes (guo gongs) had a silver pattern edged pale yellow banner, as the majority were within the Imperial family and Commoner Dukes (min gongs) had a plain pale yellow colour. Marquis' (hou) had plain red colour and three ranks; Counts (bo) had plain blue colour and had three ranks; Viscounts (zi) had a dark plain green colour and three ranks; Baron (nan) had a light green colour and three ranks. Dukes, Marquis' and Counts were ranked above most Court Officials and Military Ranks where as Viscounts and Barons were on the same level as the Court Officials and Military Ranks.
Gui Wei looked in the direction Hu Min indicated and saw a carriage turn a corner further down the street.
'If it is then there is a possibility of running into him, however we are here incognito Hu Min, let us hope that doesn't happen today.'
'Then do you want to pass by the North Welfare Centre? I know you are hoping to see-'
'Yes!' Gui Wei cut off his friend in his eagerness. Two years ago they had sneaked out of Imperial City and gone into the capital to explore and have fun. They had accidentally stumbled upon a dispute outside one of the city's Welfare Centres. Gui Wei and Hu Min had helped out the young girl, middle aged woman and teen-aged boy being harassed and threatened.
Afterwards the trio thanked them and then the middle aged woman by the young girl's side, asked the owner of a nearby tavern, who had been reluctant to cater to them at first but after being shown something neither men caught sight of, immediately called over a server to serve the men a meal. The young girl said it was payment for their protection and assistance before leaving (Gui Wei and Hu Min had been wearing wupaos, clothing usually worn by travelling martial artists).
Though the young girl had been dressed in a simple lavender cotton yishang (2 piece clothing worn by servants), Gui Wei could tell by her movements that she was from a wealthy or at the very least, well off family. The young miss had been graceful, her pair of golden phoenix eyes had ensnared him. He had thought her too delicate, too ethereal to exist, an angel. He had never forgotten the smile she gave before she walked away.
His dreams and nearly every waking moment had been plagued with those eyes and the smile from those full lips. During the past two years, Gui Wei had attended every ceremony that the nobles, officials and wealthy had attended with their families in hopes of seeing her but never had. He had even wondered if she had been from another province or maybe a different kingdom. Hopefully today would be lucky.