Runaway Flounderers

7. Blades to Kiss, Not to Cut!

"Your Highness' martial arts has always been unbeatable" Gao Chong complimented Wen Kexing as soon as he returned to his seat. The Emperor had a visibly proud expression on his face. Dealing with compliments always gave Wen Kexing a headache. He raised his eyebrows and said with a smirk, "Ofcourse, I Know". That really rendered the minister of warfare speechless. But he wasn't surprised. Having watched Wen Kexing grow up, he was used to his slap-your-face-with-my-words way of talking.

On the stage, the third round was happening. Since Wen Kexing had eliminated the lousy ones already, this round proceeded quite fast. Shenshen finally realized that his partiality had come to the prince's notice and thus obediently switched to behaving impartially.

When it was Zhou Zishu's turn, the minister who had been in a loss for words seemed to have found something to say, "Your Highness, do you know this guy? That flexible sword he has is quite famous. I think he is from the Four Seasons Manor"

"Four Seasons Manor? So he is from the Outer World?", the regions that don't fall under the jurisdiction of either of the five kingdoms where generally called the Outer World. The boundaries of these kingdoms weren't side to side, or else there definitely wouldn't have been an ounce of peace. Yet all the kingdoms wished to broaden their horizon and hence end up clashing here and there.

"Yes, I heard they are quite a big sect and have eighty one men in their bloodline and more sworn brothers. Huh I wonder which one this guy is" hearing Gao Chong's idle chatter, Wen Kexing decided to make him sit far away from the word fountain Yu Quifeng in the next court assembly.

Wen Kexing took four scrolls from his side and dumped them into Gao Chong's hands. "These four will be promoted to the General rank. If Shenshen has any contradictions, ask him to speak to me", not giving Gao Chong a chance to reply, Wen Kexing got up, bowed to his father and left the stage.

First of all he rushed to the royal cafeteria to grab some stuffed buns and went back to his chamber while munching it on the way. As soon as he entered his room, his bed looked too seductive to let him do anything else and to top it off, his tiredness and laziness acted like a powerful drug. He only had the energy to remove his crown and toss out his outer clothes before crashing on the bed.

Who knows how long he had slept, When Wen Kexing woke up it was about to be twilight. The moment he sat up, he felt as if the nerves in his brain were playing tug-of-war. Unable to shake off the headache, he decided to go to the infirmary.

"Wen-er, what's wrong? Your complexion seems too pale. Do you want me to get you some medicine before you go?" It was aunt Luo, who lives in a small house in the same courtyard as Wen Kexing. She had been with Wen Kexing for as long as he could remember. She used to be his babysitter when he was young, then she taught him literature for a few years, now that he had grown up, the emperor had made her the minister of Women and Child development on recognizing her well versed knowledge.

Still, Wen Kexing had refused to let anyone else inside his room and so aunt Luo stayed in the same courtyard as him to help him with cleaning his room and other stuffs. After Aunt Luo got promoted, she changed her dressing style from that of a simple maid to bright coloured ones with gold antiques. He told his aunt who looked worried, "It's okay, aunt Luo i'm just having a headache from disrupted sleep cycle, I'll go for a walk and get some relaxing soup from the infirmary."

Wen Kexing already felt half well the moment he stepped into the infirmary. The familiar medicinal scent was very soothing and it was also warmer inside. The royal infirmary looked plain, it focused less on decoration and more on providing sufficient aid. There were a lot of beds and tables and shelves filled with herbs, needles, band-aids etc. The queen holds the highest authority of health and medicine in the whole kingdom. So, she was also considered the head of this infirmary. As one could excel in medicine only by practice, she'd frequently come here in disguise to treat patients.