Nightfall

The Flower Blooms on the Shore Astride

One of the largest upheaval in the Great Tang of the year Tianqi was happening right in the Palace of Counsel. Within each administrative office, minor officials were making frightened guesses about what will happen to their superiors. Meanwhile, the lad in the Imperial study looked around him excitedly. Chao Xiaoshu who was standing at the edge of the Leaving Sea in the Imperial gardens looked like the matter did not concern him at all. He smiled at the colorful fish jumping around, breaking the surface of the water and over the dragon gates before landing into the lake happily. They waved their tails around, sighing occasionally.

Ten years ago, he had been a young scholar who had entered the city to gain entrance into the Academy only to be brought into the Chang’an Jianghu world by the Emperor. Ten years later, he could kill without so much as waving his sword, becoming a force to be reckoned with on the streets of Chang’an. He reminisced and planned for the future as he stood by the edge of the lake. He did not feel that the path to officialdom was in anyway alluring to him. He only wanted to return to those days when all he was focused on was cultivation.

The jangling of bracelets penetrated through the silence at the lake. The young princess with clean features walked towards him slowly with her two personal maids. Lee Yu’s eyes landed on his pale green robes that looked almost white from one too many washes. She blinked in surprise before bending in a half bow smilingly. In a gentle voice, she said, “How do you do, Uncle.”

Lee Yu was the much adored fourth princess of Tang. She was greatly respected and doted on. She would only greet the prince blandly and would only call him by his title prefixed with Uncle. Why would she greet this man so intimately?

“This commoner dares not.”

Chao Xiaoshu angled his body away, allowing her to walk past him. While he claimed that he did not dare, his body language did not seem so. He was only being on guard and held her at a distance politely.

Lee Yu’s hands which have been at her hips froze slightly upon witnessing Chao Xiaoshu’s reaction. The palace maid and nanny behind her watched with trepidation. Without waiting for them to react, Lee Yu said smilingly. “Father used to take me out to play. We’ve met several times at the gambling den. It is just that they’ve slipped my memory since I was so young then. You’ve carried me around before, why are you being so formal now?”

“Your Highness, your words make me fearful. What great deeds have I done to claim a position senior to yours?”

Chao Xiaoshu replied with a slight upward tilt to his mouth. The light reflected off the lake and onto his handsome face, illuminating it. There was no hint that he was being deliberately humble, but only the expression of a subject who kept to the rules. There was a line between the royalty and commoners that he would not cross.

Chao Xiaoshu rebuffed Lee Yu’s attempts at being friendly in the most neutral manner. The atmosphere at the lake became unbearably tense. Lee Yu looked at the middle-aged man quietly and thought of the anger displayed by her father since yesterday and his attempts to protect and court this man. She was very certain that this man held a very important position in her father’s heart. She waved a hand to stop the maids at her side, and continued, “I brought some barbarian bodyguards with me from the grassland. I heard that there was someone named Chen looking for information about them. Is he your man?”

Chao Xiaoshu was quiet for a moment before replying, “His name is Chen VII, he is my man.”

Lee Yu smiled upon hearing that. She turned her gaze towards the lake that looked like a sea, watching the lotus leaves that were being nudged around by the moving fish. She asked, “Is the lad useful?”