"Your Royal Highness! I dare not to!" Bai Shuyin immediately resumed a kowtow position. If she had known how talented she was in acting, she would have registered herself in auditions and played a role in the entertainment industry.
However, before her knees hit the ground, a hand snatched her around her elbow, putting a stop to her action.
"Please." Wu Jiangfeng began. "Benwang is just kidding, there's no need to be scared," He said, voice much deeper for a young man at the age of 20. "And… There's no need… to be so formal with me… please."
Bai Shuyin blinked and chewed her lips, trying to formulate a proper response.
Wu Jiangfeng acted perfectly like what the trash author illustrated. Aside from the physical beauty he possessed, he was known to be chivalrous, benevolent, and gallant. He was a magnanimous youngster, he knew how to use his words. He was not only clever, but also righteous, brave, and generous.
It was not a wonder why the Emperor and the people in the Imperial Palace favored him a lot, from the highest ranking such as prime minister, to the lowest maid in the Kingdom. That included the people of Southern Wu Kingdom as well.
"Then…" Bai Shuyin wet her lips. "Yin'er thanks Young Master Wu for his generosity." Once that sentence left her lips, Bai Shuyin casted a side glance at the guard standing so stiff like he had been prostated in place to see his reaction.
Seeing as how indifferent he was, Bai Shuyin knew that this was a normal occurrence when performing his duty. "Please forgive Yin'er from speaking out without permission. But, shouldn't Young Master Wu be searching for your own as well?"
"What does Xiao Bai mean by that?" Wu Jiangfeng asked as he leaned in to pull Bai Shuyin up. "And, why does Xiao Bai think I should do that?"
Beating around the bush wasn't what Bai Shuyin was used to. And the moment she was granted the access to cross boundaries and lowered the formalities, Bai Shuyin shot. "Isn't Young Master Wu's purpose in visiting this humble place is to meet the Ninth Princess of our kingdom in the first place?"
"The Ninth Princess?" Wu Jiangfeng inquired with a stiff smile on his face, but the hand still wrapped around Bai Shuyin's elbow tightened a little bit so that she cast a side glance at it. "Ah, yes I do, but I believe that is none of Xiao Bai's concern at all."
Those vibrant yet gentle eyes seemed to harden that Bai Shuyin visibly felt chills running down her spine.
What was wrong? What was going on here? Wu Jiangfeng's demeanor drastically went cold with the mere mention of their Ninth Princess. It was true that both the Southern Wu Kingdom and Northern Li Kingdom signed a peace treaty.
Bai Shuyin didn't understand the hostility shown by Wu Jiangfeng. Based on that trashy novel, Wu Jiangfeng once showed an interest in the female lead, Li Fantong, but the roots of love were severely plucked off by the villain, namely Wang Heiyue before they started to sprout.
"Please… forgive Yin'er… for speaking so directly." Bai Shuyin said as she bowed her head, but this time she didn't sink into another kowtow, much to Wu Jiangfeng's pleasure.
"Don't think about it, Xiao Bai." The corner of his lips lifted more naturally than before. "It's not like the choices are in my hands, won't be until I become the Emperor."
Bai Shuyin felt a twinge of pity squeezing inside her heart.
"I don't even want the title of Emperor, the burden is just too much," Wu Jiangfeng said. "Screening nature under the roof of clouds, what a preposterous delusion. In the end, I will forever be lodged in this hollow aviary where springs and autumns unheedingly pass."
'What… What the hell are you talking about?' Really, Bai Shuyin really wanted to sympathize along with him, she really wanted to! But please, speak like any normal person would! Those poems and literature he just sprouted sounded so gibberish and was really starting to crush her one and only surviving brain cell.
Her brain really couldn't process what he meant at all.
Bai Shuyin was so close to shedding tears, what should she say?! Her hand moved without her consent as she reached for Wu Jiangfeng's. Her small one hovered over his larger and warm hand before landing hesitantly. "Hey, Wu Jiangfeng."
"There must be a reason why you are chosen to be the descendant of the Vermillion Bird. It doesn't matter where you are because it is your destiny to spread your wings and soar high in the sky, no matter what the obstacles."
There was a moment of silence before Wu Jiangfeng blinked and smiled, unable to hide the warm energy that he exerted from his very being. "Is Xiao Bai so comfortable that you can speak that frankly to me? Maybe I shouldn't turn blind eye to it."
Wu Jiangfeng threatened playfully that he pinched Bai Shuyin's cheeks who finally snapped out of her trance. "...!"
Bai Shuyin's eyes went wide, her mouth hanging open in shock. She herself still couldn't believe she had called out the Crown Prince's name!
Apologizes were hanging on the tip of her tongue, but Wu Jiangfeng had already left her side to pay for her clothes and let the guard carry them.
"Let's go."
With Bai Shuyin still standing stiff and awkward, Wu Jiangfeng once again took her hand in his, leading them out of the store. The grip on her hand was gentle yet firm, like he was reluctant to let go.
Just as Bai Shuyin blushed when thinking about it, a luxurious carriage stopped right in front of them. The carriage door opened and a familiar looking face stepped out.
Bai Shuyin's temple hurt and her eyebrow twitched. What was this coincidence? Was this what the so-called fate that happens continuously and illogically in novels and dramas?
Fate that made you want to bang your head to the nearest wall until your head cracked open and spat a mouthful of blood while doing it? Bai Shuyin thought even after spitting a mouthful, she would still be choking on her blood.
There had to be a limit to how ridiculous fate could extend!
Of all the stores there were in NiuNu City, how could Li Fantong choose the same place they were in?! And at the same time?!
When another familiar face stepped down the carriage a second later after Li Fantong, Bai Shuyin's eyes almost bulged out of the sockets.
'Is that…?'
'Isn't that…?!'
'Steamed-bun?!'
***
Wang Heiyue: "What's with that uncool nickname?"
Bai Shuyin: "That's called building up tension, something like an anti-climax, y'know."