" I remember the temple, this route I've travelled before, I recall the bridge as I cross it again. It seems the hills and rivers have been waiting, The flowers and willows all are selfless now. The fields....." The calm voice of a traveller was interrupted by a shriek.
" Stopp!! My ears bleed listening to that voice of yours!"
The singer's forehead creased to a frown, giving the interrupter, a bone-chilling glare. Shen Zhufu, " Shut up and cover your ears." he cleared his throat and glanced at the shy beauty behind him, who had not said a word through their journey, "At least, A-Xiang and A-Xiao love it, right?"
A soft coo was all he needs to continue.
" The field is sleek and vivid, thin mist shines, On soft sand, the sunlight's colour shows it's late."
After his song, he gave his audience a dramatic bow and received calm applause.
Shen Zhufu's heart swelled with uncontrolled joy: he had never been appraised before, and even if his appraiser were two people, he would have loved it as he did now.
Shen Zhufu, " Thank you," his cheeks flushed red with ecstasy, " you made me happy, you know." he pats both of their heads with a big smile.
Wei Xiang responded with a coo. And a certain person warm gaze wandered over his face.
" Ahem!"
" What?"
"...." Cao Chang's eyes searching gaze shifted from the person behind his Gongzi and to his face. He let out a very loud cough and shifted his gaze to the air. Cao Chang, " N-nothing.." and left them behind with his pace quickened.
Shen Zhufu, very annoyed by this, felt like spanking the life out of him but kept calm. Since a matured Gongzi would never waste his time on someone like him. Shen Zhufu, " Then?"
Cao Chang, " Y-you sang r-really well...Ahem."
Shen Zhufu was frozen in his spot speechless.
' At least, you could have said that looking at me...not with your back to me..thank you.'
A little smile crept up to his lips. Shen Zhufu, " Has the world end? You complimenting me?" he shouted after him as he leapt to his side and wrapped his hand around his shoulder.
Cao Chang flinched at the behaviour as his face turned pink. Cao Chang, " You!! Let go of me!!"
" Hahaha, why are you so cute?"
It was such a lively journey filled with unnecessary bickering of a peacock and his gongzi, a shy beauty who had been quiet all through with a happy baby in his arms.
" A-Xiao?"
Xiao MeiNan stopped in his tracks looking in an unknown direction with an unknown look.
" Xiao MeiNan?"
"..."
Instead of calling him for the third time since the first two tries were ignored, Shen Zhufu tap brought him back to reality. His eyebrows which were slightly knitted together softened.
" Xiao MeiNan, What's wrong?"
"...."
Shen Zhufu stared in the direction that made his shy beauty frown with a questioning look, " Is anything there, hm?"
"..."
"..."
' I know he won't say anything...Ahh!!'
" Gege!!"
' This damn peacock!!'
" I'm not missing, you bird brain!!"
Shen Zhufu's eyes twitch in anger for a certain person he wishes to spank badly. He went on tiptoe and ruffled the silky hair with a playful grin, " Who is a good boy." before running to the fuming peacock's side, he couldn't help to look in the direction again, not to find reasons but with contempt.
A few hours had passed, with boisterous bickering and songs.
They entered a small city, it was quiet, shen Zhufu could hear his breath, and gloomy with white decorations everywhere and joss paper all over the place, some flying with the night wind. No houses had their light on.
Shen Zhufu's heart sped up with uneasiness as his stomach twisted, " Let's look for an inn to stay for the night."
Shen Zhufu and his group went from house to house to see if anyone could accommodate them but ended up having the door shut on them.
Cao Chang's whole body quivered with rage. He barked, " What the hell!!" He looked at the door that was just shut on him a few minutes ago with contempt as if the door was nothing that he could break into several pieces. And he is capable of doing that.
Shen Zhufu placed a comforting hand on his shaky should because he knew he needed that not to do anything irrational. His voice comforting, " Let's ask around again."
He managed to drag Cao Chang from tearing the door into pieces by luck but the piercing glares never left the door.
" Right."
A person stood in front of them, walking slowly towards them. As the person got closer, a distant look was on his face, his eyes not blinking.
' There is someone.'
Shen Zhufu walked up to him since he was the only one on the street, so he might offer them help.
The man kept walking towards them till he was a mere distance from them. Shen Zhufu opened his mouth to talk but he was passed by the man who hadn't for once felt their presence, and kept walking with his eyes staring into oblivion.
Was it that he just ignored them because they don't deserve his time as he was in a hurry, he didn't see them at all?
Confusion was written on Shen Zhufu's face, staring at the hunched back of the man that walked past them.
' He wasn't hunched before?'
Shen Zhufu felt a cold chill run down his spine while watching the now-distorted form of the person gradually disappear into the dark.
Shen Zhufu, " Let's find a place to stay for the night." Even if we need to break in. There is nowhere he would stay for a second here.
Shen Zhufu, frantic, began knocking on the doors...No, banging on the door.
' Open this damn door.'
A warm heavy hand squeezed his shoulder and it was what he needed. Something warm on this chilly night to calm his uneasy heart.
With a single gentle knock from the shy beauty, a gruff voice yelled from behind the door. " Who is disturbing my night rest!"
' Was I supposed to do that?'
He looked at the shy beauty with admiration in his eyes. " Aww, my cutie is amazing." he gestures with his hand and it is understood. Xiao MeiNan bent to his height so he could easily pat his head.
The voice roared again with annoyance, " Who is there?"
Shen Zhufu, " Sorry..." He was cut short by a certain peacock.
" Open this door or..."
The voice barked back, " Or what?"
Cao Chang clenched his hands into a fist ready to do something stupid.
Shen Zhufu immediately spoke up or the house would be in pieces soon.
' And Mr. voice, you are so bold talking like that?'
Shen Zhufu shook his head in sympathy for the bold voice inside...If only he knew who he was dealing with?? with a gentle voice, hoping to calm Mr.bold voice and let them in, " We apologise if we are disturbing your rest, we are travellers who happened to be tired and needed a place to rest for the night." He had to hope that sounded right and reasonable to the now quiet Mr. bold voice.
The unlocking of the door made Shen Zhufu almost leap for joy but as a matured gongzi, he had to keep his cool with a little smile on his lips.
A head poked outside hiding the rest of his body behind the door. He cautiously eyed them and the surrounding before letting out a sigh of relief.
' Is anything behind us?'
Mr.bold voice spoke in a cautious gentle voice, " enter." He stepped aside and opened the door wildly for them. Once they are in, he immediately bolts the door breathing fast with his hands on his chest.
' What's wrong with Mr.bold voice?'
Even if Shen Zhufu finds his behaviour weird but being a matured gongzi, at least, he should thank him for offering shelter.
Shen Zhufu, " Thank you."
Mr. bold voice who was recovering from the panic attack as if he was expecting to see something else, if not them, ignored the gratitude and glared at them with accusing fingers to them, " How long have you been out there?"
"...."
Shen Zhufu was speechless as he doesn't know the answer to that and he was gritting with anger because he was ignored.
Cao Chang stood in front of their helper and gripped him by his neck, lifting him off the ground, one squeezes their helper would be dead, " Why didn't you open the door for us? Did you know for how long we were out? Why are you asking?" their helper struggles were futile in the tight grip. I
' Oh peacock, is this how to be grateful?'
Shen Zhufu felt his face drained from his face as he looked at the man that sheltered them, struggling like a chicken fighting for his life. The shy beauty whose gentle arms held a sleeping baby shook his head, probably feeling the same way Shen Zhufu felt.
Shen Zhufu, " Cao Chang, after catching a big fish, what will you do to the trap that helped catch the fish? "
" But...but.."
" Leave him this instant!"
Cao Chang squeezed the neck a little like it was nothing before hesitantly letting go, stumping his feet like a scolded puppy, complimenting it was a small pout. Glaring at the trembling man whose heart was in his stomach for the second time tonight, for the last time, before grudgingly slipping beside his gongzi and murmuring something under his breath.
" What did you just say?"
" N-Nothing"
" Good."
Shen Zhufu towards the man whose life was fragile like a chicken a moment ago, giving him a helping hand. A part of him was happy and grateful to peacock for teaching Mr.bold voice a lesson not to be overconfident." I apologise on behalf of my brother."
The man looked at him and took his hand, " Mn." and walked off coming out with blankets, " would you like to eat."
Shen Zhufu's eyes went wide as the person, not a while ago, was thinking of himself as tall and great and was now lifting the tray to their eyebrows.
He beckons to their calls like a servant, trembling with his head down and previously proud shoulders drooped low.
' I guess he's just a hat-wearing macaque.'
At least he was the one that sheltered them, he deserved respect accustomed to that.
" Mr?"
" Just call me Pu Xian."
" Alright, Pu Xian, I will apologise on behalf of my brother and also wants to say thank you."
Pu Xian's lips trembled as his eyes widened in fear staring at the person sitting beside the nice gongzi.
Poor Pu Xian thinks he had committed a grievous crime in his previous life to have offended these two scary men; One almost strangled the life out of him and the other, is a person whose heart is not discernible from looking just at the face. And so much he loves his life as he is in deep water and fierce fire, he has to swallow his pride with a huge gulp and stoop low to be a chicken to marry a chicken and live with its ways with a brave face.
' And I don't want to be outside either!'
" It is my pleasure."
The rest of the dinner was silent, even the ever-so-bickering baby was quiet as if he knows when to and not to, and Pu Xian kept serving them, even if they didn't ask for it.
' Right!'
Pu Xian was on his way to find a corner to rest for the night since his whole house, especially his bedroom has been occupied by his guests, remembered something important he forgot to tell them since he was so busy with keeping his life.
He went to find the one with the most smiles and he would not strangle the life out of him.
" Gongzi, can I come in?"
A voice replied behind the curtain used as a door to his bedroom telling him to come in.
Pu Xian went in but stood at the entrance. The man with an eerie aura was there.
' Buddha, what did I do?'
He felt his legs grow limp from the stare he was getting from the man who looks like he would kill him if he did not leave in an instant, but he had to inform the man completely ignorant of what is happening.
' Pu Xian, look away!!'
" Ahem! Gongzi, don't go out till daybreak...even if you hear any weird sounds."
'That being said, I should leave immediately before he kills me.'
" Wait."
' So you want me dead?'
Pu Xian inhaled a large dose of air as he turned to face the one that beckoned to him with a forceful smile, carefully avoiding those icy stares.
" What is it?"
Shen Zhufu beckoned to him, " Come." Patting the space between him and the man.
' Gongzi doesn't care for me! Does he want me dead so bad? Those stares!! Is he ignorant of that?'
" Haha, gongzi shouldn't worry...I'm so comfortable standing...I love standing."
Shen Zhufu gave him a quizzical stare and shrugged, " Your choice then. I remembered seeing a strange man outside..." he cut off by a hysterical Pu Xian
" Do you talk to him??"
Shen Zhufu shrugged his shoulders as if it was nothing to bother with.
" Why? What's wrong with it?" He just wanted to ask the old man a simple question but he was ignored by him. Was it a crime?
" Nothing! Just don't go outside tonight." with that he left the room piquing a certain person's curiosity more.
' What was that? Well, it's up to me to find out...Hehehe.'
With mischief building up inside him, he gripped Xiao MeiNan's hands into his shaky own " A-Xiao~"
"...."
With that dubious smirk on his face, Xiao MeiNan knew.