224 Untitled (1/2)
Since when was there a jar under the heavens that Meng Fuyao couldn't lift?
Meng Fuyao was angered. With a huff, she tugged forcefully. The jar was pulled towards her, but the contents inside the jar spilled onto her chest as well.
An intoxicating, rich, and sweet aroma filled the air, prolonging Meng Fuyao's anticipation and excitement.
A thought suddenly struck Meng Fuyao. Her instincts were telling her to kick the jar since her action of pulling was too vicious, and the entire eight-treasures rack had begun to sway. There were many bottles on it, and if they were to fall off, it would be an earth-shattering disaster. Hence, she quickly reached out with one hand to stabilize the rack and caught the falling bottles with the other. A leg also shot up close to her head as it caught a certain bottle, but the tip of her foot toppled the pepper bottle onto her nose…
When both a person's hands and feet are occupied, one's body was basically at the mercy of others.
And this ”other” person's face was lit up in laughter as he sat upside down atop Meng Fuyao's head, feeling extremely pleased with temporarily having control over Meng Fuyao's body. He watched as the bottles smashed to the ground, then stuck his pinky out and began to sing slowly, ”Long live… How do you like this concubine's 'Sitting Atop a Lotus' style?”
Meng Fuyao's left hand was holding onto the rack, her right hand holding bottles, her left leg supporting cans and her right leg kicking the pepper bottle. Huffing angrily, she shot back, ”I don't like it at all! I prefer the 'Old Man Pushing The Cart' style!”
”Oh, is that a new style?” The man clapped his hands together and pointed innocently at Meng Fuyao's chest, drawing circles around them as he asked, ”What kind of position is that?”
Meng Fuyao viciously flung the bottles in her hand and on her leg towards the man's head and roared, ”This style!”
'Damnit, how dare you slap my chest, I'm still a growing adolescent girl and finally managed to get to a size 34B. If you flatten it into a 32A, how am I supposed to live on?'
The bottles smashed towards the man, and he flicked his sleeve and received the bottles easily. He did all this while still sitting atop Meng Fuyao. Then, he promptly placed the vegetable cans and vinegar bottles onto Meng Fuyao's chest and asked, ”How does the old man push the cart?”
Meng Fuyao was enraged.
It was truly a case of ”I give you an inch, you take a yard”.
'I didn't dare to cause a ruckus here, but you're getting from bad to worse. Nevermind, since I've been discovered by you, I'll catch you and make you my slave!”
She gave an ear-splitting smile and reached out to grab the man's throat, and then said threateningly, ”You have two choices. Either follow me or be killed. Choose yourself.”
The corner of the man's lips twitched. Meng Fuyao loosened her grip, and he said, ”Why are they all dead ends?”
Meng Fuyao's eyes flashed. Setting him down properly, she said less rudely, ”Fine, don't play anymore. Fancy seeing you twice in a single night. This castle is too small. Tell me, what do you want.”
Laughing, Xuanyuan Min looked at her and said, ”What do you want? Do you think Xuanyuan Cheng is a pig? He knows that you haven't escaped, and he also knows that you're looking for food and medicine. He's already stationed troops in the doctor's manor and all the kitchens. Since this kitchen is the farthest from the Sixth West Palace and it's the lowest ranked kitchen, it had just been forgotten by the imperial troops' commander. Once he remembers, you still wouldn't be able to escape.”
He laughed again and added, ”Our Regent King is a kind man, the assassins we caught yesterday did not shed a single drop of blood; they were sent straight into a pot to boil.” He pointed towards the direction of the bamboo forest from earlier. ”Do you smell that? The smell is quite special, right? Why not keep it boiling every day, one a day, a different location each time. By tomorrow it would probably reach the cold palace.” He eyed Meng Fuyao and said, ”You'll definitely be fresh and tender when you're boiled…”
Meng Fuyao was speechless. She finally understood what the sour smell from earlier was and couldn't help but scrounge her noise and frown. She knew that given Xuanyuan Cheng's paranoia and wariness, he would definitely search the imperial palace one more time. Yet, before Shadow Blade had recovered from his wounds, she had no way of facing him directly. It looked like trying to protect two humans, and one hamster from the heavily armed imperial army and Xuanyuan Cheng was going to be a problem.
Meng Fuyao had been thinking for a long time and felt frustrated. ”Then what are you doing hanging around here? Fool around and sing?” She snapped, glaring unkindly at Xuanyuan Min. She wasn't worried about him being Xuanyuan Cheng's agent—why would he spend so much energy? When she and Shadow Blade appeared the previous night, all he had to do was shout.
”Life is like a show, what's wrong with singing?” Xuanyuan Min smiled and looked at her, running a dark-purple painted fingernail across her cheek. ”I'm still short of an empress…” he added.
Meng Fuyao leaped up and retorted, ”I'm still short of a princess!” With that, she kicked him away and headed outside.
Xuanyuan Min was sprawled on the ground as he watched her leave. Suddenly, he flicked his finger, and a little bead flew towards Meng Fuyao's back. She quickly turned around to catch it with a hand, only to hear him say, ”When you have a change of heart, come meet me at the back garden of the Fragrant Jade House.”
'Change your grandma into a bear,' thought Meng Fuyao as she roughly stuffed the candle bead into her sleeve and weaved past the guards, returning to the cold palace. First, she checked carefully that the strand of hair she had used to mark the door was still in its original place. Only then did she flip over the wall.
Once she entered the dark room, Meng Fuyao's eyes scanned the surroundings and located the previously arranged close stools. To her shock, the arrangement of the close stools had been changed. She immediately unsheathed Destiny Rebellion and treaded carefully towards the close stools, searching for any sound of breathing in the surrounding. She glanced at an empty space among the close stools from the corner of her eye—sure enough, there was nobody.
Meng Fuyao's heart began to beat swiftly—where had Shadow Blade gone? Had he encountered some guards? Was he caught by Xuanyuan Min? Shit, if she had known she wouldn't have left him earlier… She thought of the sour smell and involuntarily shuddered.