18 Storytelling beside the Bonfire (1/2)
Chapter 18: Storytelling beside the Bonfire
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
A chubby and lovely boy raised his head out of the arms of Lee Yu, the princess. He took a curious look to the side, and then buried his head again into Lee Yu's arms like the way Sangsang was sitting beside Lin Que. His face rubbed randomly against the princess, leaving snot all over her clothes.
Lee Yu, however, fumbled out her handkerchief to wipe his snot away somewhat clumsily, without any disagreeable look. She then turned back to Ning Que and indifferently, she said, ”How about serving me after arriving in Chang'an? I can promise you a good prospect.”
In his heart, Ning Que had already figured out the status of that little boy as a member of the Tribe of Savages, but yet he never expected that the princess favored her step-son so deeply. Moreover, he experienced a subtle change in his attitude towards Her Highness when he saw her wiping snot for the little boy. As expected, he was slow to reply with his mind occupied on these thoughts. He paused for a while before answering, ”Your Highness, I have to take the academy entrance exam after arriving in Chang'an.”
Different people perceived in different ways which, hence, produced different understandings. Those words could be regarded as Ning Que's regret over his inability to serve the princess, or his tactful turndown with a bit of self-confidence: 'Your Highness doesn't need to bother with my future. I could earn my own prospect so long as I am admitted to the Academy'.
”Are you sure you can successfully take the academy entrance exam, or even pass it without any hitch?” Lee Yu said dryly with a cold look, ”Although our Tang Empire want officials with talents, the word 'want' is not the one you normally understand. If men with talents could all find chances to make full use of their abilities, like what you have thought, then scholar Liu from the previous dynasty would not have wasted his life so resentfully in brothels.”
Ning Que looked at her comely face and earnestly responded, ”I know what you mean, so I beg Your Highness to wipe away those unnecessary obstacles for me. I don't want to lose the opportunity to enter the Academy just because of my poverty.”
Lee Yu also looked at him, yet with undisguised suspiciousness. She kept in silence for a long while, wondering what had made this youthful soldier refuse her invitation in such a calm and direct manner.
After all, she was the emperor's favorite princess, and highly respected by the whole nation. Therefore, it was already a huge luck for Ning Que, a humble soldier, to keep such a close distance with her. If it were other soldiers in the border town, despite their qualification of taking the academy entry exam, nobody would escape from being moved to tears of gratitude and kneeling down to worship her in response to her invitation.
Then she broke this long silence and said nonchalantly, ”I promise I will, because that's what I owe you.”
After uttering those words, she henceforth lost her interest to chat with Ning Que. She merely held the little boy tightly, staring blankly at the bonfire, with tears gradually moistening her eyes. At the moment, Lyu Qingchen was still in meditation with legs crossed beside the bonfire to recover his energy, while those bodyguards at the other side had already sunk into a sound asleep. Night came deep over the forest, with several chirps by birds that were occasionally stirred by the twinkling stars.
Surprisingly, Ning Que caught the sight of her watery eyes and following her vision, he saw that she was looking across the bonfire at the scene of the piles of corpses of bodyguards and grassland barbarians.
Thinking of her wiping snot for the little boy and witnessing her lamenting over the death of her bodyguards, Ning Que's impression of this princess has somewhat changed. Silently he figured, ”Even if she was an idiot, she was a humane kind of idiot.”