Tears Of Kai Yuan

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Chang An Capital, Shensi Province

Tang Dynasty

Year 733: Last of Spring

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Zhao Jiayi - 赵嘉怡

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多谢, 表妹。

"Duo xie biaomei. I needed this badly."

Zhen Ting grimaced, picking up a fresh date from the merchant stand and inspecting it curiously before setting it back in the basket as we continued to walk down the streets of Chang An. "If Zhao shushu yells at us, I'm blaming you."

"Why would he? Fuqin has always been fine with us venturing out."

My words earned me a glare. "Biaojie, he's fine with us going out dressed as who we are. Not disguised as street beggars...and away from home even worse. I can't believe I agreed to do this with you, I was supposed to be guarding the new imports from the West, not this." I chuckled lightly, grabbing onto Zhen Ting's and bringing her close. "Xiexie Ah Ting, you know I owe you."

"Yes you do."

And so, we continued, strolling around and keeping in check every dirty glare and snide remark from the folk we managed to brush past or bump into.

"Eh... Buhao yisi, duibuqi ah." I kept my gaze down as the middle-aged man stared down at me in contempt, reaching forward to brush the dirt I had gotten on his shoe. A groan escaped me as he kicked me to the ground. "Filthy beggar, can't you see where you're going?"

"I'm sorry sir."

The man huffed loudly, lifting his hand to strike. I simply turned my hand to prepare for the blow, shaking my head as Zhen Ting prepared to step forward and defend me.

She rolled her eyes and stood afar. "Get out of my way."

I nodded, quickly getting up and bowing again and again as I backed away.

"Wait." Deng yi xia

I froze, still not looking up as he approached carefully. "You...you're not from here."

He lifted his wrinkled hands and grabbed my chin roughly. 

"Quite pretty too." Ye hen piaoliang ah.

I fought the urge to gag at that and sighed, letting him continue his inspection as if I were a horse. "Listen...you'd be great as a Jinu."

I wanted to slap him right then and there, resorting instead to pushing his hand away and bowing respectfully. "No thank you...I'd rather beg on the street."

"Ni-!"

"Is there a problem?" I frowned as a new character came onto the scene, craning my head to the side to see who it was.

Fact number one-He was handsome.

Fact number two-He was definitely from the royal family.

His clothes had too much silk, too many designs for him not to be. Not to mention the plaque hanging from his belt, the surname Li engraved upon it. And his hairpin....no, he was most definitely a royal.

The old man's eyes widened as he recognized who spoke to him, falling to his knees and nearly doing kow tow on the street before rising. "Huixia...there's no problem here, I was simply leaving."

"Then you might want to do so a bit quicker."

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Li Xiao - 李晓