Ten Miles Of Peach Blossoms

Chapter 3

I rounded the corner that Ye Hua and his son had disappeared down, and glanced in both directions. From the north I saw a woman striding toward me who, judging by her clothes and her makeup, did not seem to know there was a party at all.

Squinting in her direction, I saw that fate really was up to no good today.

Despite being heavily pregnant, this woman still managed to look light-footed and spritely. I took out my broken-cloud fan and held it in my palm, wondering if a wave from left to right might send her flying back to the Northern Sea. But seeing her pregnant belly, my heart softened and I put it away again.

She walked over and slumped to her knees right in front of me. I moved to the side, not wishing to receive her praise. Looking perplexed, she followed after me on her knees, and I was reluctantly forced to stop. She looked at me and burst into tears. She did not look very different than she had when I last saw her fifty thousand years ago, although her face had become plumper.

I wondered whether the preferred form for female immortals these days was delicate willows or buxom beauties. All the male immortals had seemed extremely taken with lithe-figured Princess Green Sleeves just now, which led me to believe that hers might be the favored figure.

When confronted with people I was not too fond of, I had this quirk of blurting out things I knew they would not wish to hear. I gave myself a little pinch as a reminder to, whatever happened, not mention her weight. We had not seen each other for tens of thousands of years, and although I had my issues with her, she was a member of the older generation, and since she had observed etiquette so thoroughly, it would be improper of me to respond with an unkind comment.

She was still looking at me through moist, twinkly eyes, staring so intently that a cold shudder moved up my spine. She lifted her hand to wipe away her tears and choked out, "Your Highness."

In the end I could not stop myself. "Shao Xin, how have you gotten so fat?"

She stared at me in horror. Two red circles sprung to her cheeks, and her right hand moved to her bulging belly, and she gave it a vulnerable stroke.

"I . . . I . . . I . . . ," she stammered before it dawned on her that my words had been a form of greeting rather than a question she needed to answer. She rushed to prostrate herself again, raising her clasped hands in deference. "I was . . . I was in the garden just now when that wild wind blew me to the ground. As soon as I felt that seawater undercurrent, I thought that maybe . . . maybe it was the broken-cloud fan and Your Highness. I hurried over to have a look, and sure, sure, sure enough . . ."

She looked like she was on the verge of tears once more. I was not sure why she was crying, and while seeing her upset like this did not exactly please me, I could not honestly say that it displeased me either.

It would have been perfectly justified for me to storm off under the circumstances, but Shao Xin's pathetic appearance softened my heart. I saw a stone bench to the side and sat down on it with a sigh.

"It has been years since I have left Qingqiu, and I really did not expect to run into an old acquaintance quite so quickly. You must have known I wouldn't wish to meet with you, yet you have gone out of your way to kneel down in my path. You clearly have something you wish to ask for. We used to be mistress and servant, and when you married, I never gave you a dowry, which is something I now have a chance to amend. I will grant you one wish. Tell me then, what is it you want?"

She stared at me in shock. "I knew that you would be angry, Your Highness, bu . . . but why can't you even look at me?"

Before I had a chance to respond, she walked two steps closer on her knees. "You had never met Sang Ji, Your Highness, and you told me you didn't think you'd like him," she jabbered. "You and Sang Ji wouldn't have had a happy marriage. Sang Ji liked me and I liked him. You may have missed on marrying Sang Ji, Your Highness, but you will marry a better man. Prince Ye Hua is a hundred times if not a thousand times the man Sang Ji is. And he is the future Sky Emperor. But if I were to lose Sang Ji . . . I would h-h-have nothing. He's all I've got. I know that you are a wise and magnanimous immortal, Your Highness, and I think the reason you are angry with me is because I left Qingqiu without asking permission or saying good-bye, rather than because I married Sang Ji. Your Highness, Your Highness, have you not always said you wished for me to live a decent and dignified life?"