Night falls and Qian Lan was unable to keep her eyes open any longer. For the past few hours the water god never moved away from his desk. Every time Qian Lan tried leaving the room, she would only be dragged back by guards.
Finally giving in she lays herself flat onto the water gods bed and tosses and turns. Before long Qian Lan had already started to drift off into a deep sleep without realizing it. The water god who was working from his desk chuckles at the sight of seeing Qian Lan spread out like a blanket on his bed.
"How unladylike."
Jiang stretches his arms and legs as he yawns. Quickly rolling up his work, he shoves everything back into his desk as he walks towards his bed. With only one bed in the bedroom, he had no choice but to lay next to Qian Lan. The water god kneels on top of his bed and grabs Qian Lan to move her closer to the wall. Once Qian Lan was out of his space, he finally lays down and covers them in a large cotton silk blanket.
Like many other nights, the water god always struggled to sleep. Still haunted by his past, he often had to relied on medicine to calm his nerves. Just as he was about to fall asleep something heavy lands on top of his abdomen.
"Ugh!"
Quickly opening his eyes, he realizes Qian Lan had moved and had wrapped her leg around him.
"This…woman. Does she not have any decency?!"
With Qian Lan's legs exposed, the water god couldn't help but blush as he quickly removes her leg off him and shoves it back under the blanket.
The water god continues to stare into Qian Lan's sleeping face before dozing off himself. Hours passed and soon the sun was slowly peeking in through the window screen. Qian Lan groans as she stretches her limbs. To her surprise she realized she was sleeping on the water gods left arm.
"Gasp!"
She quickly sits up and moves away from the water god. Quickly patting herself down, she sighs in relief to find all her clothing still in place. Doing her best to not wake up the water god, she slowly crawls out of the bed and heads for the door. Without even looking back once, she quickly opens a side of the door and exits the bedroom.
Qian Lan quickly makes a run for her room in terror. To her surprise the head maid was about to head over to her room with clothing for her. The head maid spots Qian Lan running and quickly walks over to calm her.
"Lady Qian Lan, what's wrong?"
"Oh my god. I spent the night in the same room as a man. I can never get married now."
"Uh...my lady you're already married though?"
"Look, the water god doesn't count."
"You said you spent the night with my lord? Did something happen?"
"I don't know, I was dead asleep first. Next thing I knew he was sleeping next to me."
"That's odd. My lord never sleeps on his bed much less let someone else sleep on that bed."
Qian Lan was confused by what the head maid was saying. The head maid quickly opens Qian Lan's bedroom door and ushers her in.
"What's wrong head maid?"
"Take a seat, my lady."
Qian Lan walks over to her brown round table in the center of her room as the head maid poured her a cup of tea.
"Normally, my lord needs an herbal medicine to help him sleep. But he didn't call for anyone to bring him any last night."
"Why does he need that?"
"I told you before, my lord is still mourning and suffering from his past. He relives his past every night and it scares him to sleep. But for some reason I guess he slept just fine last night if he didn't ask for the medicine."
"Well…. I had no idea."
"Don't worry about it, my lady."
The head maid moves to the wooden bath and was about to draw a bath for Qian Lan. Out of the blue, Qian Lan grabs onto the maids hand and changes her tone.
"Hey head maid, who's Julong?"
"Gasp! We don't speak of that name here."
"He's a Kirin, isn't he? Why is he locked away?
The head maid goes quiet as she was in shock at what Qian Lan had discovered.
"Don't tell me you saw him?"
"I did."
"Aiyah."
The head maid sighs and frowns in disappointment before seating herself across from Qian Lan.
"Julong belongs to my lord. The reason he's locked up is because he helped the first lady escape two hundred years ago."
"Why…. why would he help her? What did he do exactly?"
"He flew her to the heaven's kings human portal. Normally a human would die going back to the human world that way, but the first lady had the water gods eye and so she was protected with a barrier as she dropped to the human world. When my lord learned of this, he nearly killed Julong. Out of pity the fire god stopped him."
"I…. I see…. I guess I have to pay Julong another visit."
"My lady, are you crazy?"
"Maybe, but I need to know more of the past. There was a lot of details that were missing from the stories I've heard."
Qian Lan quickly undresses from her robe and walks over to her bath. Quickly soaking in she motions for the head maid to help her get ready. Qian Lan quickly dresses in whatever she could find and left her drenched hair down. With no time for makeup, Qian Lan motions for the maid to lead.
"Sigh, I can't believe you're really making me do this."
Qian Lan orders the head maid to bring her back to the secret room that led to the underground cave. Once the two women were at the entrance, Qian Lan motioned for the head maid to leave her be.
"I'll go alone from here."
"What? I can't let you go alone, my lady."
"I'll be fine, you're dismissed."
Qian Lan makes her way downstairs as she remembered from the day before. Once she reached the end of the hall, she walks into the large room and see's Julong still chained up and asleep. Qian Lan sighs and walks closer to Julong and places her hand above his nose.
"Julong, I've come to visit again."
The Kirin who was sleeping, slowly opened his eyes and noticed Qian Lan.
"Why if it isn't the new lady. What bring you down here again?"
"I thought you might be lonely and have come to keep you company. I enjoyed your stories yesterday."
"My lady, you shouldn't be here. What if master finds out? You'll be in trouble again."
"It's fine! I'm not doing anything bad. I just have a few questions for you."
Julong shrinks to his smaller size and stares at Qian Lan.
"What do you want to know?"
"I…. I want to know why you helped the first lady escape two hundred years ago. That is the reason why you're chained up now isn't it?"
Julong goes quiet and closes his eye as he tries to remember why he did it in the first place. After five minutes of silence. he finally opened his eyes.
"Ah Ha! I remember now. I helped her because she told me my lord ordered it. She had one of my lords eyes, so I believed her."
"If that's the case then why don't you tell Jiang that?"
"Even if I told the truth it wouldn't change the fact that I still flew her over to the heaven king's palace."
"I mean…. if you put it that way. But having you chained up for two hundred years…. it's too cruel!"
Meanwhile, the water god finally wakes up from his sleep. Quickly turning to the wall, he realizes Qian Lan was gone.
"Head maid!"
Jiang quickly summons the head maid and questions her on Qian Lan's disappearance.
"You called, my lord?"
"Where is she?"
The head maid breaks into a sweat as she could feel the water god staring down at her.
"She…. she's with Julong, my lord."
Without a moment to lose, the water god teleports himself to the dungeon with a snap of his finger. There he sees Qian Lan sitting across from Julong.
Qian Lan quickly realizes the water god's presence and stands up.
"Wha....what're you doing here?"
"Did I not warn you yesterday? Do I need to go to extreme lengths for you to understand how serious I am?!"
"Wait! I just needed to ask him a few questions! Julong did nothing!"
"Move!"
"No!"
The water god had casted a large spell and was ready to blast Julong away. Worried that Julong may be killed from the impact, Qian Lan quickly runs to hug and hold onto Julong.
"My lady, I will be alright. Please leave and move to masters side."
"No! Julong is innocent! If you'd just listen Jiang!"
Qian Lan closes her eyes and braces for impact. To her surprise, nothing happened. Quickly opening one of her eyes, she sees the water god standing a few feet away with sadness in his eyes. The water god sighs and whispers in a soft voice.
"I know…..."