The carriage was stumbling forward, and the sun was already down. Wu Xiuying opened his eyes, the sheet was on him, and he pushed it away, peeking outside, their carriage was moving at the end of the caravan's line.
'Princess Xing Huan, you better not bother me, I don't want to take you away.'
He firmly sat and picked a book, and began to read it. It was a poem book, he used to read it over and over but he couldn't understand it. However, he was forcing himself to learn the language of this romantic long poem.
What was the point of being in love with someone? What could necessarily happen? Two people were supposed to handle each other for a long time while they could use that time for exploring and becoming more powerful!
"…It is a beat that shakes the stars,
It will make the wind dance with my soul,
It will make the rain revive the plants, flawless,
The beauty of this affection brings meaning to my loneliness,
Tickling my soul, the dance of two cranes,
I am dancing with her when the full moon shimmers,
Stars dancing in her eyes, when the sky is the arena of our love story,
…"
He repeated the written words, his lips curved up, 'if my mother sees this, that I am wasting time on such vain words, she would put a dagger in my heart on her own.'
Saying that while his eyes were exploring the words, he recalled the moment the princess was watching the last rays of sunset. The mild breeze pulled her hair back and her dress was dancing behind her.
The scent of fresh damp soil was caressing his nerves, he was standing in the shadows when she peeked in their direction. Then she was showing the eunuch the carves she had knifed, there was a faint smile on her face, was love like that? Making someone smile and turn eyes teary? Nevertheless, she loves her mother. It is close to madness, her mother was dead, he couldn't find a border between love and madness, she was crazy, perhaps it was about the shade of them, one was black, one was white. Or one was bloody red and one was gloomy dark blue.
For a moment he closed his eyes, he had heard of the princess being famous for her dancing, what would she look like if she ever danced in front of him?
'Ah, what am I thinking about?' he shook his head, what a distraction! He should have burned this book, tossing it to the wall of the wagon, he cursed, "All a bunch of nonsense. Love doesn't exist, they will always be heartbroken, no one can be loyal, they always cheat on each other, then what the heck is love?"
He mumbled and at the same time Chaoxiang's voice came inside, "Are you alright, sister?"
"Yes, just ignore me."
He picked up the box of the food and opened it; it was given to him by the princess. Picking the chopsticks, he pouted for a moment, 'It is not poisonous, is it?'
He shrugged it off, why should they poison Li Shu after that sacrifice? They weren't insane. Picking a roll of his Dim Sun dish. It was delicious, he had missed the taste of such foods.
'They can take my heart with these foods.'
Finishing his dish, he picked a pen and began to write down the shreds of evidence he had collected from the thieves, he would give them to the princess if the situation drove urgent. However, he should find them before anyone else.
As he sensed the air around the princess wasn't congenial. It was filled with so many egotist hyenas. He doubted if this girl could survive these people. With a single demur to their desires, they would kill her.
The next day, when the sun was cleaning the cold that the night left, the carriage stopped and Li Shu got out.
"How long will we stop by?"
"Until we feed the horses and they get some rest."
Chaoxiang stated and went to tend to the horses. Li Shu walked toward the princess, holding her sword tightly when she saw those buzzing royals around her.
"Why are you taking this low-born with us, cousin?" asked Xing Liling, her eyes were slaying Li Shu.
"She is my daily maiden." The princess replied sternly.
"Your maiden is beautiful, your highness." Xing Deli stated, smiling shyly at Li Shu who now was standing near the princess. Wholly behaving, unlike his sister.
This one seemed a bit nicer than those two, he treated the princess way better.
"She must bear the punishment for what she did, after all." Xing Bolin stated, approaching Li Shu, he bent down on her.
Li Shu hardly controlled herself not to hit him in the middle, his nasty stares were beyond her tolerance.
"I'll bear as many lashes as I am offered to." Li Shu noted bravely.
He chuckled, 'it is my honor to do it when you are naked under me.' Wrapping his meaningful dirty mouth, he straightened his shoulder.
"I will bear what the consequences of my sister's mistakes are." Chaoxiang chimed in.
"Oh, what a sacrifice, I'm impressed."
Xing Huan clenched her fist, how dare her brother to be for behaving like this in front of her. She had no qualm that he would report this to the ladyship, but the princess wouldn't watch, Xing Bolin had dropped her to the verge of life while hunting to get a hog!
"Li Shu come with me." The princess took the girl with her and when they were far enough stated, "Try not to pick a quarrel with my brother, he would kill you to make me suffer."
"Will you suffer if something happens to me?"
The princess sighed, "you are my people, should I remind you this?"
They kept walking in silence until the horses had their short retreatment.
…
Days later...
The lights splashed on the walls of the carriage. He was now near the great walls of Yu, the capital of Mei kingdom, the powerful one among the seven reigns. His enemies. Soon he would meet the King who couldn't wait to see his land eroded.
"Show me everything, princess. I won't let you marry those fools; you'll be my tool to torment your father."
He smirked. He would avenge the war that this land caused and many villages of Di kingdom were burned in the fire of greed.
The gates moved away, the night was fresh and the princess had returned after a week of riding.