Chapter 4: This is How to Tame a kite
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Wu Yang lifted his face, smelling the breath of the cold night air as he raced his way through the shadows of the night, blades of darkness left in his wake, two circles of blackness viewing the world around him, as he sought something to cloth himself in. Afterall, it was only so long you wanted to run around completely butt-naked in the middle of the night.
Seeing no basic garments left hanging out this late at night, he continued his rapid pace, almost corporeal, as he disappeared and reappeared, progressing on his route through the shadows of the city. Once again, the world felt like his stage again, as if any movement he made was in the palm of his hand, every wave of his sword, his own.
Obviously, he knew there was no such thing as true freedom. It all had to do with your mindset in any given situation. But that didn't stop his face from almost grinning in delight at the bite of cold night air and silent plotting of a quiet night.
Along his path an extremely ostentatious building came into view, and flying up the side, stepping in the shadows of the undersides of windows, he finally found what he was looking for.
Shiny and brilliant blue, it was a bit ostentatious for anyone, much less Wu Yang. However, you weren't picky about clothes at midnight, especially when they were in your size. Plus it would take too long to reach the market square, much less poke around people's houses, searching through their closets, or knocking someone out and undressing them. The plan was to get out of this city as fast as possible, he could always change clothing sets later.
So he settled on the large balcony and began to take down the clothes drying in the crisp night air, and wrapping them around himself, when suddenly from behind him, he heard light footsteps. He didn't have time to escape, especially when the cloth was still stuck to the line, when the man who'd just been inside, came out to check on his clothes, only to see see a naked perv in the process of stealing them off the line.
The beautiful man who'd just revealed himself leaned back in wonder, "I've had a lot of strange fans over the years, but this, this definitely trumps all of them."
Wu Yang immediately panicked, "So, I can explain..."
5 minutes later found him sitting guiltily across from the beautiful man, Hao Jingzhi, who was staring him up and down in disapproval. Okay, so maybe his explanation wasn't all that great...
Hao Jingzhi lifted the lid off his jade glass of tea, to sip the contents within, before placing it back on and setting it down. He was wondering what to make of this beautiful invader. "I cant find it in myself to really believe your story my dear 'Yu Wang', but it's true that you've destroyed one of my favorite sets of cloth in the attempt to make away in it," he looked up at Wu Yang, "How are you thinking of paying me back?" Looking Wu Yang up and down, it was obvious that this man had nothing on him. (Wu Yang had thrown his swords behind a crate the moment he'd heard someone approaching)
Hao Jingzhi, as the highest ranking male courtesan in the Taohua brothel, was very much taking note of Wu Yang's fine looks, when he suddenly remembered an occurrence that had recently seriously inconvenienced him. He smiled, it was so nice to find such precious and easy prey. "Well, if you don't have the money, how about paying back by working here, I've just recently been short of a manservant, do you have any skills to speak of?"
Besides killing? Wu Yang tried to think of some.
"I'm good at brewing and serving tea...ah, I can also play a little guqin?"
Hao Jingzhi squinted at him with his pretty eyes, his long eyelashes unmoving, making Wu Yang nervous for some inexplicable reason. Hao Jingzhi smiled.
"Sounds good! What do you think about working here tonight, to see what you can do?"
Wu Yang thought about it. It was true that he was rather lacking in any basic seduction skills, and although he rarely needed them, it was true that in his last assassination it had worked rather trimmingly. Although he had been raped far more times than he could think of, this wasn't because he was trying to look good, and perhaps he'd have a better way of looking unattractive, if he knew how to make himself more attractive in the first place.
"Isn't it late?" Wu Yang glanced outside in confusion, he could've sworn it was past midnight.
Hao Jingzhi seemed to find this funny. He laughed in delight leaning forward, to grip Wu Yang's chin. "Why my little fairy Wang, over here, this time is when the party really just gets started!"
20 minutes later and the 'Tea Beauty, Fairy Hua Yuwang' had already been announced to the main hall, for a special invite of tea tasting.
"Alright, I've got two of my regulars coming up, let's put your tea making to the test tonight, what have you got for me, little fairy Yuwang?"
Wu Yang sighed, ignoring the title Hao Jingzhi had honored him with. "I'll need a pot, hot water, and some tea leaves."
So the night settled as two men came in, one thin and short, the other tall and large, like a monkey and a bear, and so began a great discussion, as the guests, dubbed Xiong and Hou by Hao Jingzhi, enjoyed good wine and tea, as they listened to a calm duet of bamboo flute and guqin, making sure to kiss Huo Jingzhi a couple times and play with him, as Wu Yang was dubbed 'off limits' due to inexperience.
***
Meanwhile, down below, two men sat at a table, enjoying fine wine and pretty ladies, as they listened intently to all the conversations going on around them.
One had a large brim straw hat, with a spiky grey mustache, the other was a man with a pronounced forehead and large eyes, with a scar trailing across his chin.
"Hua...Tea." Commented the man with the large hat. "It can't just be coincidence."
"You mean to say..." The other man whispered from across the table, his hand covering half his mouth to augment the whisper in the loud clamor of the brothel.
"Yes, I think we've finally found who we're looking for." He quickly picked up himself, without forgetting to grab his long black staff. "Quick, there is no time to waste, we must report this immediately to the sect master, so we can dispatch the first rate disciples to the scene as fast as possible."
***
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the city..
"He must have left town already." Growled Luo Chongrong, gazing into the darkness, as if if he stared hard enough, it would be forced to reveal Wu Yang's whereabouts. Finally, he took off again, sending out more forces to spread throughout all the hillsides and valleys in search of even a hint of Wu Yang's shadow. "How dare you run away, Wu Yang, I thought you knew better by now. When I catch you, you'll know for real what it means to disobey me and live in confinement!"
***
Meanwhile, in a city far away, in a palace-like fortress on the top of a high mountain, a man with eyes red as blood, and hair, grey and sharp, much like that of a porcupine quills, commanded left and right for the various lesser disciples of the sect to go out in search of any clues as to the name 'yu wang', before sitting down for a very delayed dinner.
"I'll find you," growled Bo Longwei into his hand, "And when I do, I'll make sure to reach inside that juicy hole of yours and pull your intestines out, so far I can wrap them around your neck and choke you with your own feces!"
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that, what did you say again, dear?"
"Ah! Oh, um, nothing, mom." Yes, it's probably better to just focus on dinner for now, he'll leave catching that little pesky fly for later....
***
Finally the guests left, and just Hao Jingzhi and Wu Yang were left.
"Join me in drinking some wine!" Cried Hao Jingzhi, half drunk.
"I don't drink." Replied Wu Yang, humored by the colorful show in front of him. There was just something about sitting with a drunken beauty, that brought a shadow of a smile to his lips. More than that even, it was just so nice to not have to worry about the future or drink and eat things he didn't like. There was nothing forcing him to pretend he liked wine, no Luo Chongrong constantly inflicting pain, causing him to fight against losing his mind.
"Nonsense!" Hao Jingzhi suddenly tripped on Wu Yang's feet, in the middle of his dancing, falling flat onto him. Pushing the robe away, he began to drool unabashedly on Wu Yang's now bared chest, "Everyone here drinks!" He snuggled his head closer, buring his face in Wu Yang's bosom. "So warm, I like little fairy," he looked up at Wu Yang's pretty face, coquettishly, his own face completely flushed. "Where did little fairy fly down from?"
Looking down at the beauty sprawled across his chest, Wu Yang couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Without thinking, he suddenly began to spill the shpeal. I'm on the run, my family and friends have died long ago. I have no place to call home and no place to take refuge. Anyone who's with me will be put in danger. But don't worry, I won't pull you and your place into my mess, I'll be off before the night's up and eras..." Rubbing the drunken man's head gently, he looked down to notice the little beauty was now looking up at him with a devious smile plastered all over his face, his once glazed over eyes now completely clear.
There was no doubt about it, he'd been duped.
Hao Jingzhi immediately began to laugh hysterically at his expression, slapping his hand hard onto Wu Yang's chest, to bring himself to his feet, in one fluid moment, completely sober. "This young master just got you good~" He walked over to the doorway, and shouted so loud, the entire brothel could probably hear it,
"Mother Wang! Prepare me standard size male servant attire and bring it up here!"
"Who're you to tell me what to do!" Came a sharp cry back, but you could hear her already commanding someone to go fetch it.
Hao Jingzhi turned back to Wu Yang, to lean against the door frame, one leg raised, lazily resting against it, his thin arms crossed over his chest. He bent his head down, turning it to the side, letting his hair fall down one side of his face. It made a nice picture, after all, this man had lots of experience making himself into nice pictures. The lazy and carefree, but beautiful man made a tasteful mix.
"Don't worry, this place was built on the backs of degenerates and fugitives, I'm sure adding one more to our collection won't be a problem." He came forward to point at Wu Yang, still on the ground, his finger rudely stabbing at his forehead. "From now on, you, Yu Wang, are my manservant, until I say otherwise!"
Wu Yang smirked up at him. "Seems a bit one-sided," he reached up to take the hand pointed at him, holding it to pull his body off the ground. "But I'll take it gladly, and you'll be hard pressed to find a reason to fire me."
He had his pride as a marital artist after all. But not moments after he finished speaking, when a hard bottle of black dye was thrown at his face.
"Dye your hair and get out of my robe, I'll see you down stairs for my bath." With that, Hao Jingzhi left out the door, to help close down the brothel for the night.