Legend of Fu Yao

Meng Fuyao lost herself in that dream, that person’s embrace, in the scent and body temperature that only belonged to him. That night, she dreamt of the most beautiful dream she ever had.

A dream like that.

As the daylight shone into that side of the bed, the warmth eventually cooled down, and the scent eventually dispersed.

Meng Fuyao did not get up but closed her eyes and lay on her stomach. It was as though as the warmth was still there, the scent still lingered; that scent was certainly odd. She always felt that it was a warm scent, yet today, as she smelled it on her blanket, there was a cold scent of snow. Or was it because the person that could bring her warmth had left?

The truth was that the previous night, she wasn’t drunk at all.

Meng Fuyao knew that he was eventually going to leave and merely did not want to face it.

In her entire life, she had always been escaping with all her might, yet, ironically, she was terrified of separation—especially after such a lively reunion, the separation seemed all the more forlorn, like the fireworks in the sky that would eventually fade into nothingness. She would be left alone to pick up the empty dishes as the once warm and liveliness days slipped through her fingers.

But there were some things that one could not run away from in spite of fear. If she didn’t get used to separation now, in the future, she would be even more lonely.

To hope that the sharp knife of time would cut away the scars burned one’s heart.

Meng Fuyao got up and sat on the bed. On the bed, there was an impression left from him hugging her the entire time. She reached over in an attempt to smooth the bedsheets, but eventually, she stopped herself.

In the frivolous, fluttering sunlight, she sat there quietly for a moment. Then, she got up to wash up. Today was the day where an official position would be conferred upon her. After lazing around for so many days, it was time for her to show some respect to the new emperor and turn up in court.

After breakfast, she called Tie Cheng over and ordered him to bring a portion of guards with him to her fief ¹ in Changhan. Yao Xun had already brought the generous gifts Zhan Beiye granted to Changhan, but Tie Cheng refused the order and simply replied, “Where you are will be where I am.”

Meng Fuyao could only say, “Then you can stay home for today to arrange for someone to take care of Princess Ya. She has yet to wake up from her slumber after drinking last night, and Sir Zong is not around. Who knows where he is… I haven’t hired a butler here, and now even Yao Xun is not around. You don’t have to follow me to court.”

Tie Cheng thought about it and finally agreed. Meng Fuyao donned on her court robe and posed in front of the bronze mirror for a substantial amount of time before getting on to the sedan-chair and head to court. She was now very famous, and once she stepped out of the house, she would be recognized and surrounded. As such, she had especially customized a pair of black crystal sunglasses for herself, feeling like a big celebrity from her previous life.

The spring night was awfully short, while the days were painfully long. The King of Han rarely made an appearance in morning court, and when she finally made an appearance in the resting quarters for the high officials, officials, regardless of ranking, all got to their knees. Some of the newly appointed officials that did not recognize her quietly tugged on another to ask of her identity and then came to the realization. ‘Oh, she is that General Meng that publicly announced on the city walls of her desire to be a traitor.’

Meng Fuyao sat in a corner, keeping a low profile as she sipped her tea, dealing with the never-ending people surging over to pay respects.

“Wishing your highness good health…”

“With pleasure, with pleasure, I’m already dying from an illness.”

“May it be auspicious for your highness…”

“With pleasure, with pleasure, the weather today is not bad.”

“Your Highness.”

“With pleasure, with-”

Meng Fuyao looked up upon hearing a familiar voice.

“His Majesty would like you to make a trip to his temporary residence, there is something he would like to discuss with you.”

Meng Fuyao stared suspiciously at Little Seven. ‘What is it that Zhan Beiye cannot speak of in court or in the palace but have to specially go to his residence to talk?’ But under the watchful gaze of the crowd, she could not question his order and could only nod her head.

Little Seven bowed and walked out with a poker face. Meng Fuyao watched his back as he left. Although she felt it was a little odd, but considering that this fellow never lied, she felt relieved; Afterall, this was probably some tricks Zhan Beiye came up with.

At this time, the golden clock chimed, and the officials entered the palace hall in an orderly manner. The tall dome that greeted everyone as they entered reflected the brilliant prestige of the emperor. They did not even dare to let out a soft cough. In the middle of the palace hall was a golden table and on it were golden files and a gold seal. Meng Fuyao stood in the middle, mindlessly counting the tiles on the floor as she waited. Her mind wandered as she did a random estimate of the weight of the gold seal sitting on the table when suddenly, an announcement by the eunuch interrupted her thought process. “The Emperor has arrived-”

The officials immediately got on their knees once again. It was at this point Meng Fuyao realized an important issue… she had to bow down to this damn Zhan Beiye!

At this point, everyone in the palace hall was on their knees except for Meng Fuyao. The longer she stood there, the more she stuck out like a sore thumb. Meng Fuyao rubbed her nose and decided to slowly kneel down. Suddenly, she heard Zhan Beiye’s low voice, asking, “I’ve heard that recently official Meng’s knees have been affected by the cold, are you fully healed?”

“Ah, Your Majesty.” Meng Fuyao smiled and immediately rubbed her knees. “Ay, my old knees…”

The hundred of officials looked at the “old knees” of this 18-year-old in contempt. Meng Fuyao remained unfazed as Zhan Beiye’s dark eyes swept past her face. “I shall pardon you from kneeling then.”

“Thank you for your understanding!” Meng Fuyao replied cheerily. It turned out that comrade Zhan Beiye could be quite obedient at times and perhaps, she could be a bit more gracious and forgive him a little.

The golden clock chimed once again. She stood still in front of the golden table. According to the old rules of Tiansha, the Prince could only confer upon two envoys: one from the first rank, another from the second rank. Today, Meng Fuyao had been granted envoys of both the first rank. It was an unprecedented favor from the emperor once again. The officials began to chatter amongst themselves. With a glare from Zhan Beiye, the chattering immediately died down.

Even though the emperor had ascended his throne not long ago, the officials were aware of Zhan Beiye’s actions and character. Though the new emperor was a generous and kind-hearted man, he was by no means lenient. His actions were swift, decisive, and resolute, giving strict punishment where it was due, and vice versa. His way of doing things extended to the way he dealt with politics, and in a mere matter of days, he had managed to undo the entangled mass of a court, restructuring it completely. Even though the various issues that plagued the country could be understood even without knowing the full picture, the crowd could not understand how a free and lazy Prince could learn such commendable policies. That being said, the new emperor had managed to build his authority in such a short period of time was now an ironclad fact. The power of this leader, though in its embryo stages, had undoubtedly been built and with a glance of his, he could garner people’s admiration and respect.

The two old officials finished reading the decree and with one holding the gold decree, the other holding the gold seal, the two made their way to Meng Fuyao under the lead of Little Seven. Other than the prince, the rest of the people were not allowed to touch the gold decree or seal and so, it was placed on a tray as the two carried it over. At this point, Meng Fuyao was frustrated and impatient from listening to the decree and just wanted it to be over. She quickly reached out her hand to receive the items with a smile, glad that it was finally over.

She was inattentive to what she was receiving and the thought that there would be anything wrong with it never once passed her mind. After all, what could possibly go wrong with a decree personally written by Zhan Beiye, given in court, right under the eyes of Zhan Beiye. Unfortunately, she did not notice the slight smirk on Little Seven’s mouth.

To confer upon the title of a Prince was a grand and solemn ceremony. However, this time round, the rituals were simplified. Zhan Beiye knew that with Meng Fuyao’s impatient personality, she would definitely be annoyed with the trifle and fussy etiquettes. Even though he really wanted to see her in close proximity for a while longer, he could only end the ceremony quickly under her pressuring “hurry up and end this, I need to pee” gaze.

Once the ceremony was over, Meng Fuyao, who was supposed to stay in court, took her leave of absence citing her “old knees” as a reason. She quickly exited the palace hall and made a turn.

Little Seven followed closely behind and called up to her, saying, “Prince, His Majesty would like you to wait for him in his residence after court. He has something to discuss.”

Meng Fuyao threw him a glance. “What matter? Is it a must to go to his residence? I’ll wait here for him.”

Little Seven dug out a piece of paper from his pocket, took a look, and shoved it back. In a monotonous voice, he recited, “His Majesty said, the palace is inconvenient.”

Meng Fuyao looked at him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. She grabbed his sleeve and asked, “A miraculous plan in this pouch?”

Little Seven swiftly avoided and took out another piece of paper. With a poker face, he read, “His Majesty said if you want to know the miraculous plan in the pouch, wait for him in his residence.”

The finger in his sleeve secretly crushed the piece of paper – the paper was actually blank! There was absolutely nothing in it. Whatever he had said, his intentional actions of reading the paper in an unnatural manner was all a plan taught to him his majesty’s secret intelligence group—aimed to deal with smart, careful yet curious people.

Meng Fuyao was indeed amused by this. “He certainly is learning how to play tricks, sure, I will go,” she said laughingly.

She left the palace and got onto the horse, following Little Seven to Zhan Beiye’s temporary residence on Mt Yu Bei. The residence was relatively small, with a total of five palaces. Little Seven brought Meng Fuyao to the innermost palace and stopped right outside the steps of Hua Yin Palace.

Meng Fuyao noticed the cute table set right outside Hua Yin Palace with four delicate, snow-white jade stools. She could not help walk towards the stool and say, “What a beautiful stool. I shan’t be going into that stuffy palace. Instead, I’ll sit here, sip my tea, and enjoy the breeze.” Right after saying that, she sat right down.

Bang!

A hole appeared on the floor as the stool fell right into the hole. Having full trust for Zhan Beiye’s subordinates, she fell in with the stool.

Immediately, the table flipped over, and with a ‘bang’, the exit to the hole was now sealed, and Meng Fuyao could no longer see the light of the day.

Meng Fuyao was in a shock. She turned around and realized that this was an underground, closed stone room and quickly tried to smash open the wall. As she moved, the gold decree dropped out of her sleeve and landed the floor. As the decree cracked open, smoke filled the room.

Meng Fuyao quickly held her breath. Unfortunately, the room was small, and the smoke had spread quickly; hence, she inhaled some.

Dizziness hit her as she immediately sat down to readjust her internal energy. Amid her foggy consciousness, she could hear Little Seven’s manic laughter from above.

“Haha, Your Majesty, haven’t I succeeded in locking her up? Now, I will beat her up for you!”

‘Zhan Beiye?’

‘He set me up?’

Meng Fuyao held her giddy head as she thought, ‘Zhan Beiye set me up? He wants to beat me?

‘That fellow was looking at me with such honest eyes in court, but he was actually scheming to attack me?’

The clogs of Meng Fuyao’s brain spun. One moment she felt that this emperor Zhan was not as terrible to this point, she did understand his personality; but the next moment, she felt that he could have possibly orchestrated this. After all, he did forcefully kiss her in public.

Little Seven above was walking heavily, as though he was stepping on some traps. Immediately, ropes flew out from the stone wall behind Meng Fuyao as they interlinked themselves. Then, the ropes were pulled back in an attempt to tie Meng Fuyao to the wall.

Meng Fuyao swiftly flew up and slipped between the ropes. As the ropes tightened, she grabbed the chair that fell with her and shoved it in the trap.

Meng Fuyao looked at the stool tied tightly to the wall. The rope that linked to the surface of the floor vibrated slightly.

Little Seven, who was unable to see what was happening underground, could only determine it by observing the rope. Seeing movement, he naturally thought it was Meng Fuyao and excitedly exclaimed, “Haha, I finally got that vicious b*tch. Time to beat you up!”