6

.

Zhao Jiayi

-

I shuffled my feet uncomfortably, searching desperately for words to say.

"I wish for my eldest sister to get married, nothing more or less."

He hummed in confusion. "So, everything you have been doing to this point has been for Ai-Li? The dress in the meeting hall, the 'mediocre rampant' as your cousin puts it... Jiayi, you really are a selfless one."

Zhen-Ting stared at me and shook her head, I simply shrugged. "I'm only carrying out on what I promised...I ask General Wu-Ji not to say a word of this to anyone..." Wu-Ji raised three fingers to the sky. "I won't even breathe a word of it."

Just then a maid rushed out of the meeting hall to us, bowing to each person. "Master Zhao and your cousins ask for the General to come in." The General sighed contently, patting my back before winking once more and heading off...I would never get used to such an action.

As he left I turned to glare at Zhen-Ting, quickly approaching her so no one would hear. "You shouldn't have said anything...now that General Wu-Ji knows, what might happen now?" Zhen-Ting raised her shoulders, turning to pick at the full cherry blossoms behind her.

"Now, the selection process will be completely unbiased and no one will pay attention to your constant implications of how extravagant Ai-Li is..." My eyes widened. "Zhen-Ting, you-."

"Listen Jiayi...don't mistake this as me having some sort of grudge against eldest cousin. She is the kindest soul I've known since birth besides our mothers...but you have to stop this. You've gone to the farthest extent to try and get Ai-Li noticed when it is clear to me since the moment Li Xiao stepped in that he has no interest in her...Jiayi, if you want to continue pushing Ai-Li forward, go on and do it with all you can. But do it without denying yourself, and me...I will do the same for you."

How was I supposed to argue against this? I resigned myself and smiled widely at her, this was the cousin I had grown with from infancy; she had not changed at all.

"That...that was Li Wu-Ji?"

I had nearly forgotten that Yuhuan was still with us, turning to see her wide-eyed expression as she pointed in the direction the general had left. I simply nodded. "Yes...why?"

"Don't you know about him? He's the only half-blood royal in all the Li Family, he's practically a-."

I raised a brow as Zhen-Ting lunged out and clasped a hand over Yuhuan's mouth.

"It's not the time to be speaking gossip Ah-Huan, let's change the subject, shall we?"

-

Li Mei

-

It was more than obvious that I was not the only one dying of boredom.

The second daughter of the Zhao family had finally left and we were all mutual in our feelings of relief. I glanced at Second brother, smiling to myself at the fact that he seemed on the brink of throwing in the towel as well as throwing a fit.

I couldn't blame him, this Roaxi had a large talent as well as a mouth to go with it. "What will be next Master Zhao?" I glanced up at eldest brother as he asked the question, Master Zhao only sighed. The thought of his exasperation forced me to bite my lip from causing a scene, it seems that even he had his biases among his daughters.

"Next will be Lili...she is finally well enough to dance, and I simply cannot convince her to do otherwise." Jin nodded his approval. "Hao...strong will makes for strong purpose, let's see her." With a nod, Zhao Ren-Yi motioned for his eldest daughter to come forward, she did so with her zither, the instrument she had very well impressed us with the night before.

Lili stepped forward and bowed before glancing at her sister for her to begin. From the corner of my eye I could see him, Liang-Jie, adopted son of the Zhao family. Study as I would it seemed to be futile, he was too shut off from the outside world to allow me anyway of reading him, and this only me made my curiosity wax stronger.

I wanted to read him.

-

-

Tang Zhen-Ting

-

I seemed to be more nervous than Jiayi at the moment.

As she sat in the center, I simply stood at the corner and watched carefully, praying that all would go well, or better. Li Jin sat next to Uncle, staring on in amusement before he even said a word. "So, Miss Jiayi, what will you be doing for us today?" She smiled and bowed her head slightly, not responding as she picked up the reed beside her and began to write. They were not the only ones who looked on in confusion, I myself had not even the slightest idea as to what she was doing...a surprise, she had said.

Once she finished writing, Jing-er came forward and grabbed the paper handed to her, walking forward to the Prince and setting it before him. Uncle tried not to be obvious in his curiosity, leaning over slightly as to see what she had written.

"Gong Xia Yi...what does this mean?" The bright smile never left her face as she began to explain.

"Wangye...There had been a merchant from the Silla kingdom who once visited us, and one day both I and my eldest sister decided it only appropriate for us to take him to see the sights of Luoyang. As we walked along the street he saw a man, an old man, hunched over with a bundle of firewood strapped to his back. Both Sister and I were familiar with him and so we waved. He waved back to us before sitting down and beginning his work."

This time General Li Xiao spoke up, I could not tell if it was out of impatience or curiosity. "And what work was that?" I already knew the answer, the man she spoke of was a friend of our family. "Shoemaking...he was a worker. And as the merchant saw this, his posture straightened, his body tensed, and his nose scrunched up in disgust...why? Because the man was lower than he was, he would be at the bottom of the classes at Silla."

Uncle's questioning gaze caught my attention, as he glanced over to me, I simple shrugged with a grin. Li Xiao continued his questioning. "What happened afterwards?"

"General...we continued walking, but as we did so, one of the man's grand-children, the youngest, a dirt covered, wide-smiling little boy, ran across the street in front of us. He accidently bumped into the merchant...now the merchant was furious, so angry that his face turned blood red and his eyes seemed to disappear, grabbing the boy by his collar and demanding that he kneel and beg for forgiveness. And when others looked on at him disapprovingly at the injustice, he simply claimed that there was no justice to be found here in Great T'ang."

Gong Xia Yi...

Worker below justice.

As the pieces came together in my mind I glanced at Jiayi in silent amazement, knowing full well what she was about to do. Now even Uncle seemed to be entranced.

"What happened after this?"

Jiayi's smile got smaller. "The boy was forced to the ground and made to crawl between the merchant's legs, yet he didn't seem to care. The same smile on his face as he had dashed across the street was the same he still had when bowing before the blasted merchant and walking off. With that, the merchant simply declared that in Silla the poor boy would have been beat with the same amount of lashes as a common criminal...that was justice. Yet little did he know that the boy's status is Silla was the same as his status here in Great T'ang. He was as low of ranking as the boy he forced to crawl between his legs."

A silence settled in the room after she finished the story, the Imperial family appeared lost in thought, each of them staring at Jiayi, some with smiles, and others with dumb-founded expressions. Jiayi chuckled to herself, yet there was no humor in what she said next.

"A kingdom of Gong Xia Yi comes to pay tribute to the Great T'ang, T'ang sends them back and laughs, 'I am not a Gong Xia Yi, we value workers above the rest'. Then T'ang turns around and beats it merchant...because of course, it is justice to raise the worker, not justice to aid the man who buys and sells the work."

I was startled by Prince Li Jin's laughter, he stood up and began to clap, descending from his place to where Jiayi sat.

-

Li Xiao

-

There she was.

It was almost as though I could see her in the streets of Luoyang once again, dirt on her face and dancing eyes as she dared ask me the question. Wu-Ji nudged my side, whispering that he had been right the entire time as though I hadn't know that myself.

This woman, this Zhao Jiayi just reprimanded the set classes of T'ang and seemed unfazed by even the least bit of fear when she had done it before the Emperor's own blood.

That say on the street had been one when she did not know my identity and I had not known hers. But here, in Qi Zhao Manor, she was a merchant's daughter and I the blessed Emperor's nephew.

Jiayi didn't seem to care.

A smirk made its way to my lips.

"Do you mean to say that the Great T'ang is being hypocritical?"

I stared at Elder brother Jin as he asked the question, clearly testing to see just how silver-tongue this Jiayi was. She simply shook her head. "I wouldn't dare say such things Prince. A hypocrite is one who sees a sin and scorns while carrying the same knife as the man he just looked down on. No, the Great T'ang sees the knife, reproaches the man, and walks off carrying a spear by his side instead."

I wanted her.

There was no doubt at that moment that it would be her.

Brother Jin turned to face Master Zhao, clearly impressed, and he was not the only one. "You never told me that you had a daughter with such a silver tongue Master Zhao."

The aging man laughed soundly, unable to hide the amount of pride he had in his daughter. "Your flattery is too much Prince Jin."

No it wasn't, that's exactly what he wanted to hear.

I blocked the rest of the conversation from my mind then, not bothering to hide the fact that I was outright staring at the middle daughter until she caught my gaze. All amusement disappeared on her face as she bowed her head once more, and I could only frown at the fact?

Did she resent me for being the Emperor's nephew?