10

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Li Wuji

It was quieter than usual at the manor, just the way I loved it.

But then, like all the misfortune events in my life, she just happened to stroll by, sporting an innocent look on her face when both she and I fully knew that she had been searching for me.

My relaxed expression was marred immediately.

"Wow, Ah-Ji, should you be happy to see your cousin?" Dao-er's delighted smile made me want to vomit; instead I held it back and bowed mockingly. "Ah, Dao gongzhu, how nice it is to see our crown princess come and visit me. To what do I owe this honor?"

Crown Princess...both she and I knew that she was anything but. The smile on her face dissipated, and I held back my own. I couldn't show my happiness, not just yet.

Not when she still had more to throw at me.

"You should be wise enough not to mock me orphan." Wuji smirked. "Mock you? Now why would I do that when such an esteemed daughter-in-law of my uncle Wansui had come to visit me? We're related aren't we, so why the need for hostility?"

Princess Dao exhaled slowly before walking to the nearby willow tree and inspecting it. "Ah-Ji, how was it like to accompany your cousin to qi zhao liang? Helping him find a wife must have been satisfying, right?"

I knew better to answer, she had more coming. "When will you find yourself a wife Ah-Ji? I'm sure that a word spoken to Wansui will have you sent somewhere in no time. Li Xiao had his father do this for him, what about you?"

I leaned forward and grinned rather darkly. "How about you, my dear cousin? Would you do me that honor? Or maybe, I should ask Lady Xue, she is the crown princess after all and I am sure Wansui will heed-."

I never had the chance to finish, not when she rushed up the pavilion and struck the side of my face with her palm, her blood painted nails scratching my skin and drawing some liquid of the same color. My tongue darted out to lick some of it off as I glanced up at her breathless state.

Her eyes were wild. "You're mocking me again Li Wuji, you really don't want to do that."

I rubbed my unscathed cheek and pretended to think for a moment, subtly scratching the stubble that grew messily. "And why wouldn't I...would you get Cong-er on me? Send a few soldiers to teach me a lesson? Tell your father-in-law that you are being mocked by his nephew? What would you do Ah-Dao?"

"Address me properly!"

I could help it, I chuckled. "But of course, what would you do to me, would-be-crown-princess but just a dejected Princess Dao?"

Another slap on the same cheek, this time leaving a gash. I only huffed, turning to look her in the eye with a wildness of my own...if not more.

She underestimated me, they all did. "Careful gongzhu, you may hurt your precious hand like that. Too much hitting gets it callused."

She bent down to my level, her hufu wrinkling slightly as she did. "Thank you for the warning cousin, now I have one of my own. Learn to filter that mouth of yours...it'll soon have people wondering whether only one and not two of your parents were such dirt-poor class workers. Wouldn't want others to question your legitimacy, right?"

The gnash stung and the blood trickling down my cheek burned slightly, but the words? I had grown too numb to them. So I smiled thankfully. "Don't worry about mine gongzhu...yours is the one under attack, I'll be fine. Being only half-royalty lets me stay one the sidelines and blend in easily...you on the other hand, daughter of a chief in the court and wife to Li Cong, not getting that position you so wanted as future Empress...everyone expected you to have it right? But...since you don't, aren't you in more danger than me about legitimacy? With Li Cong being the eldest and all, shouldn't you be the one to wear the phoenix crown next?"

She was near losing her composure, the little that she had left at least. Her fists tightened to at the sides of her hufu and the rouge on her cheeks blended in with the color rising on her face. "Stop talking!"

The screech in her voice nearly made me laugh, but I ignored it.

It was my turn.

"But to see that Lady Xue, the very woman you competed neck to neck with, make it up to the line where you should've been...now what in the world is that? Most likely made you regret the marriage, right? Oh, wait, didn't Li Ying ask for your hand as well? Yet you rejected him, thinking that Li Cong would get you to the thrown...tsk tsk, always go with your first gut instinct my lady, that's my last warning to you...wait, no this is. Since you aren't the crown princess and all...that just makes you an in-law to the Li family. I on the other hand, am a Li by blood and the general of the great T'ang army...I am higher in position, and power to you."

I rose from the stool and walked over to her, smiling briefly at one of her maids who appeared. Leaning over to her ear, some of my blood got onto her skin, and I grinned before whispering. "Don't make me use it against you."

With that I descended from the pavilion and began to make my exit, only pausing as something else entered my mind.

She was still frozen in her spot and trembling with rage as I turned to face her briefly. "And thank you for your earlier concern, but I have already found myself a wife. I'm sure you'll like her well."

And I left.

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Yang Yuhuan

The streets of Chang'An were nowhere near as crowded as those of Luoyang. But maybe that was just for today.

Merchants and all sort of people made was for the procession going down the street towards the Daming palace, each with curious of pitied expressions on their faces as they gossiped and whispered amongst themselves about just what was transpiring, what I had now become a part of.

The whispers hadn't escaped me. "Losing their future," one said. "The Emperor certainly doesn't need that many women," scoffed another.

"I pity the parents of these girls as much as I pity them. Sometimes beauty is a curse."

I nearly cackled at that.

And I hated it as well.

I would have loved to believe that many envied the title as the "Emperor's woman", but I would be fooling myself. Such a fairy-tale was simply that...a fairy-tale. No one envied my position, no one wanted it, and all too soon, little girls realized that their dream of becoming that was actually a nightmare.

A nightmare come true for me.

I was fifth in the like of girls dressed in white, face shielded by a linen covered doulì. I was also nearly a head taller than the rest, which drew most of the blasted stares to myself.

Making my way to the palace as a maid was no different than buying a pass straight to hell, though at this moment, I may have contemplated the latter. A maiden woman was a step below a concubine, and that was one step below a wife, and lastly the phoenix crown itself.

One was never truly safe until she reached that pinnacle position, not that I could even dream of reaching it. Not even the concubine Wu was endowed that honor, whatever honor it was. It seemed as though the blessed Emperor still could not get over his late Empress Wang.

The thought of that poor woman made my blood run cold. I had been mistaken, there was no safety for me anymore...not even if, if I were to become the Empress of even as powerful as the Lady Huifei. The world I was about to enter was no better than death itself, and a cruel one at that.

"These are the new maidens...here is the pass."

I stole a curious glace upward as the elderly eunuch who had brought us away from our families lifted up a carved jade pass to the soldier's face, my hand subconsciously tightening around my own gifted jade piece, the one I had snuck away with me.

Jiayi had given it to me, downcast emotion hidden behind a reassuring smile as she hugged me and brushed a stray hair backwards. "Don't forget us," she had said, "At least Ai-Li will be seeing you soon enough."

Was Ai-Li married to the General now? Or was someone else?

My thoughts were cut off as the large double doors to the right of the palace opened. They had already told us that the middle doors were reserved for the Emperor alone and important guests on rare important occasions...I frowned.

This was it, the end of my freedom. Now I would no longer be able to run through the grass with my bare feet, no longer be able to perform the lotus dance in the Luoyang meadows or visit the Zhao family on any occasion.

One last curse, I whispered on last one to my Uncle Yang Xuanjiao for sending me here. And with that, I made my way inside.

Zhao Jiayi

I was not hungry, in fact my stomach churned with such anxiety I felt as if I would faint at any moment...

The General was returning to qi zhao liang tomorrow.

This could not be happening to me.

My promise was broken, every attempt I had made during his previous visit had been in vain...Eldest sister would not be the one to be married...I would. And I dreaded the fact.

But I could not stop myself from feeling...happy.

Yes, happy.

Since that day in Chang'An, since the moment I had spoken so boldly to him.

And now.

I was happy, and guilt gnawed at me from the fact.

The soft knocking on my chamber doors startled me slightly, I straightened my posture before walking towards the doors to open them. Second sister Lili was the one to look back at me as the sunlight flooded into the room, dizi in hand. "May I come in mei-mei?" I couldn't hide my confusion and pushed the door further open. "Of course Jie-jie."

She stepped inside silently and I closed the door behind her, nearly engulfing us once more into darkness had it not been for the open window. Sister Lili sat on a stool and sighed, my eyes were quickly drawn to her lightly bandaged foot as she did.

"Are you feeling well now?" She nodded with a smile. "I am...enough to be able to dance for the Imperial family was I not?" The mention of it made my face heat up and I frowned...the reason of her visit was obvious.

It had been two days since the matchmaker's visit to the manor and I had only once left my room due to Zhen-Ting's coaxing. But none of her begging would convince me to confront my siblings and father face to face...especially Ai-Li. For certain it was now obvious to them all that I was avoiding her.

"You want me to speak to her?" Lili chuckled softly and leaned against the table beside her. "I did not say much for you to realize this...but yes, I do." I opened my mouth to respond yet closed it quickly again. As soft as Second Sister was, she had stubbornness to match it by scale, and all of us knew better than to prod. So she continued.

"When did Jie-jie ever say that she wanted to marry the Huixia?" I bowed my head and studied my feet carefully. "Never."

"When you vowed to make her the Huixia's wife...did she say that she would hold you by your word...or did she even seem satisfied with the proposition?" My lack of response was enough of an answer...

.

Wuji is a scary guy under the covers...isn't he?

And for Yuhuan, we'll be seeing a lot more of her from now on.

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