c7 (2/2)

Liu Dan stared at Yun Ge and Meng Jue’s arm around Yun Ge tightened. Yun Ge immediately said “Just like Meng Jue said, I coincidentally saw him enter a brothel and wanted to know what he was doing here so followed him in. I didn’t get close or hear any conversation, and right when I was about to leave, a woman mistook me for one of the girls here and pushed me in here.”

“Your highness, Meng Jue has decided to follow your highness. She is my woman, and I use my life to guarantee that she will not reveal anything.”

“My arrival in Chang An cannot be discovered. If little brother Meng likes her looks, after everything is done, I will search the world over for a woman who looks like her and give her to you.”

An royal duke wanting to kill someone, even explaining so much to Meng Jue is thinking highly of him. Meng Jue said nothing but his arm around Yun Ge didn’t loosen. Liu Dan furrowed his brows and stared at Meng Jue, who didn’t back down. The silence in the room turned into intense pressure.

She can’t die like this! Yun Ge tried to look for something in her waist but Meng Jue appeared to know what she was thinking and his arm became tighter around her, locking her arms in place.

Liu Dan looked at the tip of the sword on Meng Jue’s neck. His hands clenched behind his back. He thought of his ambitions, the fact that his territory was not rich with arable land, the fact that Meng Jue’s businesses littered the desert region, his wealth would be an a.s.set, and then his hands relaxed.

Liu Dan ordered his guards to stand down, pointing at Meng Jue as an elder would a wayward son “Little brother Meng, when I first saw your das.h.i.+ng form, I figured you as a lady killer. Just like I suspected, and already I’ve run into two girls. How much female debt do you have outstanding?”

Yun Ge looked in shock at Meng Jue, who just smiled ruefully. Yun Ge realized she was still in Meng Jue’s arms and immediately struggled free and stood far away from him. To a bystander, it looked like a woman miffed with her man.

Meng Jue smiled at Liu Dan and bowed “Your highness is upset at my deception, so this is how you get back at me?” Liu Dan laughed “Are you pleased with the effectiveness of my subordinates………?” (in offing the Ouhou fiancée). Meng Jue cut him off “I will remember this favor from your highness. I must be off now, and I will come send you off when you leave Chang An in a few days.”

Liu Dan looked at Yun Ge and then at Meng Jue “Then I won’t be a third wheel any longer, you can both leave!”

Yun Ge and Meng Jue walked out of the brothel and didn’t say a word to each other. In the darkness, they walked further and further apart. Meng Jue walked behind Yun Ge and looked at her figure, his eyes full of complicated emotions. Yun Ge walking ahead was filled with such jumbled confusion she wasn’t even paying attention to her surroundings.

Why was an Infante doing hiding in a Chang An brothel? Why was he so close to Meng Jue he would refer to him as a brother? How could Meng Jue save her from an Infante’s sword? He said he was just a businessman, so was he concealing something from her on purpose or he couldn’t say? He saved her at the risk of his own life….why?

All these whys swirled around Yun Ge’s mind when suddenly a carriage rumbled past. Yun Ge didn’t notice and kept walking forward. By the time she heard Meng Jue’s cry and raised her head, two horses were on top of her. Yun Ge tried to avoid it but couldn’t in time so all she could do was close her eyes.

The horses whined pitifully while Yun Ge felt her body being picked up and then tumbling a few times. So dying doesn’t hurt that much after all.

“Yun Ge! Yun Ge? You’re not dead. The Heavens won’t let a little devil like you die that easily.” Yun Ge opened her eyes and all she saw was Liu Bing Yi’s face with his usual lazy and warm smile. His demeanor was actually a tad like her daddy at that moment.

In a short period of time, she just experienced two brushes with death, and her emotions were a roller coaster of up and down. She inexplicably entered a brothel, and even got kissed.

Yun Ge get felt all this bottled up frustration, and it was like she was seeing one of her loved ones in front of her, so she embraced Liu Bing Yi and started wailing “Big brother, someone was mean to me!”

Yun Ge’s usual behavior was very ladylike, but now that she’s crying, her image was nowhere to be found. She looked like a child who had been mistreated, sobbing with tears and snot coming down.

The moment Meng Jue saw Liu Bing Yi rush out and grab Yun Ge, he stopped his already moving forward body that was intending to save Yun Ge. He stood in the darkness on the side of the street silently watching Yun Ge embrace Liu Bing Yi and cry her heart out.

To save Yun Ge, Liu Bing Yi had no choice but to kill the two horses. The lady inside the carriage was all shook up, plus she loved her horses, so she was furious. But looking out, she saw the culprit crying like the world had fallen down. And the other horse killer wasn’t on his knees begging forgiveness, and was instead comforting the crying girl in his arms.

The lady was furious, and forget about maintaining her image. She grabbed the whip from the driver and swung it towards Yun Ge and Liu Bing Yi “Rudely running in front of the carriage, then killing the horses. Rather than beg forgiveness, you insolent…..”

Liu Bing Yi grabbed the descending whip and looked at the lady. The lady saw his eyes fix on her and felt a chill go down her spine. The rest of her curse words disappeared before she could say it.

The maid stumbled down from the carriage “You dare kill my lady’s horses, prepare to die! Even the princess is polite when she sees my lady.” She saw Liu Bing Yi holding the horse whip “And you dare pull my lady’s whip?”

Liu Bing Yi smiled at the maid, who was so stunned by Liu Bing Yi’s fearless and bold behavior “You…..you’re done for! Done for! Madam will kill you. Will kill your entire family. Ah Xun, you go home and get more help. I’ll protect my lady here. See if you dare again……….”

The lady said in a cold voice “Let go!” Liu Bing Yi released the whip and bowed “My little sister was at fault this time, but seeing my lady careening wildly through the streets is also not blameless. In my urgency I killed your horses, that is my fault. I will repay my lady for the horses, so please do accept my apologies.”

The lady coldly huffed “Can you afford it? These two horses are the Blood Sweat Horses given by the Emperor. Even killing your entire family you can’t afford to pay for them.”

The maid sauntered over “A Blood Sweat Horse! The old Emperor couldn’t even buy one with limitless gold. It later took over twenty thousand men to bring one back. Who do you think you are? You likely have never heard of a Blood Sweat Horse. It’s not a horse from your backyard…..”

Liu Bing Yi was very polite and conciliatory, but the lady was very rude, so Yun Ge lost her temper “It’s just two Blood Sweat Horses? And it’s not even the best. The best breed of Blood Sweat Horse is the five colored mare from the Da Fan kingdom bred with the wild horses on the Gong s.h.i.+ Cheng Mountain. I heard the Da Fan kingdom sent a thousand Blood Sweat Horses to the Han dynasty back in the day as an offering. These two have been bred down through generations and the bloodline is no longer pure. What’s so impressive about them? Who says one can’t afford to pay for them?”

The lady was furious and swing her whip towards Yun Ge “You insolent whelp! How did such a bold creature like you be in Chang An?”

Liu Bing Yi wanted to s.h.i.+eld Yun Ge but she didn’t move and instead grabbed the whip “Why do I need to be afraid. The accident was half the fault of both of us. But this lady starts trying to whip people. Even if the Han Emperor was in front of me right now, I’ll still be as insolent.”

The lady, since she was born until now, people have only done as she wished. This is the first time she’s received such treatment. She tried to wrench the whip back even as she tried to hit Yun Ge with her hand “I am going to hit you today, what are you going to do about it? Even if the Han Emperor is right here I’m going to hit you, who can stop me?”

Yun Ge may have c.r.a.ppy martial arts but it’s enough to deal with this girl. A few moves and she’s subdued her. The maid could see things are not going so well and indicated for the driver to go back and get help. The driver could only stutter “This girl………. Do you know that this lady is Huo……Huo……”

Liu Bing Yi immediately knew who it must be and his face changed expressions. He quickly said “Yun Ge, let go!” Yun Ge heard it and gave a sly smile before immediately letting go. The lady was pulling with all her might on the whip, so when Yun Ge let go, she went flying back and landed on her rump. The whip flew back and struck her hard on her arm.

Yun Ge started laughing loudly. Liu Bing Yi looked worried while Yun Ge stuck her tongue out “You told me to let go.” The lady was embarra.s.sed, and angry, and frustrated. Liu Bing Yi tried to help her up but she pushed his hand away. Tears were pooling in her eyes but she forced it back. She stared at Yun Ge without saying a word.

Liu Bing Yi sighed. Making this enemy is not a good thing, and can’t be resolved easily. Right as he was thinking of what to do next, Meng Jue suddenly appeared. He walked out of the darkness and gradually into the light of the moon.

He walked up to the lady and crouched down “Cheng Jun, it’s quite late. Why are you here? Let me take you home.” Huo Cheng Jun’s tears finally came falling down and she leaned on Meng Jue while wailing “That insolent chit……killed my horses, and…..”

Meng Jue helped Huo Cheng Jun up “She is indeed an insolent chit, and I’ll chastise her later. You can berate her later if you want. Let me take you home first. But you two actually know each other, how come you didn’t recognize each other?”

Huo Cheng Jun and Yun Ge stared at each other. Yun Ge stared and then realized that this lady was the other person who bought one of the hidden judging rooms for the cooking compet.i.tion.

Yun Ge’s make up from the brothel was cheap quality and it was all smeared from her crying earlier. Her face was streaked with black and red just like a tabby cat. It was hard to make out her features. And last time Huo Cheng Jun was dressed like a man whereas now she was back to being a girl. It was clear why neither recognized each other.

Since they met, Meng Jue has always been distant but cordial to Huo Cheng Jun. This is the first time he’s spoken with some warmth towards her. Huo Cheng Jun was still seething inside, but with the man she liked coaxing and cajoling her to let it go, his voice tender towards her, so her anger gradually dissipated and she allowed Meng Jue to take her back home.

Liu Bing Yi watched them leave and let out a sigh of relief. Yun Ge looked upset and just lowered her head and walked off without saying a word.

Liu Bing Yi walked with her for some time and saw that she still looked upset so he said “That girl is Huo Cheng Jun. She’s the most adored daughter of Huo Guang and his wife. You should have heard about Madam Huo’s behavior. The brother of a high official offended Madam Huo’s brother and rotted away in jail. Even the lower officials in Chang An are polite to servants from the Huo Estate. What the maid said is true, even the princess is polite to Huo Cheng Jun. In Chang An, Huo Cheng Jun and Shang Guan Lan (daughter of Shang Guan Jie) are more princess-like than even the real princesses. If Meng Jue didn’t resolve things back there, we’d be in deep trouble.”

Yun Ge calmed down some. She’s not afraid of princess or no princess, most she can do is leave Chang An and head back to the desert. But she was worried about people connected to her suffering – Xu Ping Jun, Liu dage, Qi Li Xiang…..

Yun Ge mumbled “It was my fault for being so rash. But even if he is friends with Huo Cheng Jun, he shouldn’t have said that she can berate me all she wants later. If she’s his friend, aren’t we his friends, too?”

Liu Bing Yi smiled “You’re angry about that? What Meng Jue said was purely for Huo Cheng Jun’s benefit. He’s making it seem like he’s really close to you, almost like a parent would talk about their child misbehaving.” Yun Ge thought about it and then laughed “Big brother, I’m sorry for almost causing a big disaster.”

Liu Bing Yi looked at Yun Ge and then started laughing “I can’t endure it any longer. With the colors on your face, you can open a dye shop.” Yun Ge rubbed her face and looked at her hand, it was red and black “It’s all the fault of the old biddy. She smeared all this on me.”

Liu Bing Yi thought about what Yun Ge had been crying about earlier and asked “You said someone was mean to you. Who was mean to you?” Yun Ge thought about it. A sneaky Infante! And…..and…..Meng Jue! She thought about what happened in the brothel and her face started burning up.

“Yun Ge, what are you thinking about? Why aren’t you saying anything?” “I…..I’m not thinking of anything. It’s no big deal. I just…..I just wanted to cry.”

Liu Bing Yi laughed and kept asking “Yun Ge, big brother I am just a hooligan in Chang An. I can’t help you with much, but I can listen to your woes.” Yun Ge shook her head “I know, big brother, but you’re not just a hooligan……you’re the most powerful hooligan! And you don’t just have an ear, you also have a pair of hands to save me, and I can cry on your…..”

Yun Ge looked at the front of his robe which was smeared with her make up and she suddenly felt shy. Because she was being candid with him, not using any dismissive or even pitying tone of voice, she was able to joke with him and even feel a bit proud of him.

He didn’t care about strangers pity, it was those who cared about him that he didn’t want their pity. In the dark night, this smiling face all smeared with make up couldn’t be considered cute in the slightest, but when Liu Bing Yi looked at her it made him feel warm inside.

He reached out and ruffled Yun Ge’s hair, making it fluffy and poofy. In a few seconds, Yun Ge really was turned into a tabby cat. Yun Ge touched her hair with some joy and annoyance.

She was feeling joy that Liu Bing Yi was like her Second Brother, enjoying turning her into a ugly little thing. The annoyance came from knowing that she actually like being teased by Liu Bing Yi, and it made her feel comforted.

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