Legend of Fu Yao

“Which one?”

“Can’t tell, based on the age it’s probably the ninth or twelfth prince. He probably came to receive you.”

“Oh.” Meng Fuyao smiled and waved at the boy, waiting on her horse. However, the boy did not stop, swiftly bypassing Meng Fuyao and Zhangsun Wuji along with his guards. When he crossed them, he glanced at them for a fleeting moment before turning back.

Meng Fuyao stared after him, shocked. She looked down and herself, then at Zhangsun Wuji, and pointed at her nose and asked, “Which part of me doesn’t look like a lord?”

Zhangsun Wuji lifted his reins casually and remarked, “The world only sees the outside, not the inside, how tragic.”

Both of them were dressed casually in robes often worn by the nobles of the Five Regions Continent. In fact, it was considered to be slightly simpler and casual. Although Zhangsun Wuji’s silver robes were extremely elegant and expensive, they were rather lowkey, and the common folk wouldn’t be able to discern. Much less so for Meng Fuyao who didn’t care about the material at all—in her previous life, she was used to being thrifty.

When the Xuanji prince passed by them, it seemed as if he suddenly thought of something and stopped abruptly, and snapped his whip on Meng Fuyao’s horse with a loud crack.

Startled by the sudden strike, Meng Fuyao’s horse lost control and tried to throw her off its back. However, Meng Fuyao tightened her grip and with a cold snort pressed the horse back to the ground, rage flashing through her eyes.

She lowered her head and checked the horse’s body; a heavy whip mark was swelling on its side, and her anger rose several notches. Meng Fuyao had always loved horses, and the one she had chosen was a one-of-a-kind famous steed, and she herself couldn’t bear to whip it, yet today, it was unreasonably given a whip by this bastard!

She turned around and glared icily at the boy. The Xuanji prince seemed to be unaware of her hostility, and his eyes brightened when he noticed the horse she was sitting on.

“You’ve got good eyes!” He praised as his eyes roamed around Meng Fuyao’s horse. “What a good horse! One of the best horses around!” he exclaimed and glanced at Zhangsun Wuji’s horse. “Good! This one’s good too!” he exclaimed again, turning to meet Meng Fuyao’s glare. “How are you guys fit to ride such horses?” he asked.

This person’s speech and actions were fast, and before Meng Fuyao and Zhangsun Wuji could react, he had already finished a full monologue.

Waving her hand at an enraged Tie Cheng, Meng Fuyao laughed and said, “Is it perhaps that Your Highness thinks that I’m not fit to ride this horse, and only you are worthy enough to ride it?”

“That’s right!” The Xuanji prince replied frankly and continued, “But then again, I don’t need it, I’m going to give it away. I don’t have to snatch it from you either, Little Four—”

A guard stepped forward.

“Reward!” The boy flicked his hand grandly. The guard immediately pulled out a silk money pouch covered in purple cloud embroidery and threw it at Meng Fuyao’s feet.

“Did you see that? The Twelfth Prince is rewarding you heavily, aren’t you going to show your gratitude?”

Meng Fuyao nearly stumbled off her horse before quickly regaining her composure and smiled. “Oh, it’s the twelfth prince, pardon my lack of respect, your humble servant should give his horse to you, but I would like to ask Your Highness one question,” she said.

“Ask!” The Twelfth Prince waved a hand.

“I have deep feelings for this horse, but if Your Highness likes this horse then I can only part with it, I just want to know, who will be the new owner of the horse?”

“I’m giving it to Crown Prince Wuji and King Meng of Dahan,” The Twelfth Prince did not seem to notice anything unusual and replied straightforwardly. “I’m here to receive them, I heard that they are traveling together. The royalty of the Five Regions Continent are all skilled in fighting, and good horses are hard to come by. I’m sure that Crown Prince Wuji and King Meng will definitely be pleased when they see these two horses.”

He looked extremely pleased, chuckling to himself. Meng Fuyao smiled and offered her horse to him, even good-naturedly throwing a piece of advice. “The carriages belonging to the two of them is probably about a mile away from here, when Your Highness heads down the path, you should be able to see it.”

“You two are not bad after all, it looks like your abilities are not to be underestimated either.” The Twelfth Prince glanced at them again. “If you enter the capital in the future, you can find my eleventh brother or me!”

“Thank you for your praise, Your Highness,” Meng Fuyao bowed and moved aside humbly. “Please go ahead, please go ahead—”

The Twelfth Prince stuck his nose upward arrogantly and with a crack of his whip, he galloped ahead. However, the guests that he was supposed to receive had their horses taken by him, and they also ate a huge portion of his dust…

Tie Cheng got off his horse and moved aside. “Master, why did you stop me? This rascal deserves a beating!” he blurted angrily.

“Indeed, he deserves a beating,” Meng Fuyao chuckled and said, “Therefore, what fun is there in you beating him up alone? Why not let Ji Yu and the other 3,000 soldiers beat him up!”

Tie Cheng’s mouth curved slightly, imagining the scene when the Twelfth Prince bumped into Ji Yu and the royal army while bringing along Zhangsun Wuji and Meng Fuyao’s horses; the moment they recognized that the horses belonged to Meng Fuyao, they would definitely take action first, talk later.

This was called true insidiousness…

Meng Fuyao turned to Zhangsun Wuji, smiling as she asked, “How will your hidden guards react?”

Zhangsun Wuji replied mildly, “I’ve already placed a marker on my horse, my hidden guards will probably break all of his subordinates’ legs, no matter who they are.”

Meng Fuyao fell silent… It seemed like whoever offended the Zhangsun family was the truly unfortunate…

The money pouch was still on the ground, and Meng Fuyao scooped it up with the tip of her foot and caught it, jangling it in her hand. Laughing, she threw it to Tie Cheng and said, “Take it to buy some snacks.”

Tie Cheng slapped the money pouch away and retorted, “No need!”

Meng Fuyao laughed and shrugged. “Why are you not clever at all, why don’t you want it? You should happily spend other people’s money,” she said, picking up the money pouch and checked the contents. Laughing coldly, she said, “Is this enough money to buy your Snow Shadow and my Moon Chaser? Pei!” She spat angrily. However, when she saw the unique royal purple cloud embroidery on the pouch, her eyes lit up, and she tucked it into her robes.

Tie Cheng offered his horse for Zhangsun Wuji and Meng Fuyao to ride it together. However, they ended up getting into an argument as to who would sit in front and who would sit behind.

“I want to measure your waist and see if you’ve gotten fatter,” Meng Fuyao insisted on sitting behind.

“I want to measure your shoulders and see if you’ve gotten thinner again,” Zhangsun Wuji too, insisted on sitting behind.

Standing by the side, Tie Cheng looked up at the sky… Even this was worth fighting over?!

Finally, Zhangsun Wuji said, “Then let us both not ride the horse.”

“Fine.” Meng Fuyao thought that this was a good solution.

“My turn to carry you.”

Meng Fuyao got on the horse obediently and said, “I feel that not riding a horse when there is one is called being stupid.”

“Wise and honest words!” His Highness, the Crown Prince, agreed enthusiastically. He had won this round.

The two on the horse had fallen silent after bickering earlier. Meng Fuyao did not say anything, letting her eyes wander around her. Zhangsun Wuji shifted lazily and clearly intentionally rested his chin on Meng Fuyao’s shoulder. After a while, he switched shoulders and continued resting. Annoyed by his constant switching and the noise and itch from him moving his head around, she cursed, “Can’t you be quieter?”

“No.” His Highness the Crown Prince immediately denied and said softly, “If I’m too quiet, you’ll forget my existence, so I’ve decided to always disturb you and make you constantly bothered by me.”

Meng Fuyao’s neck turned slightly pink; she wasn’t used to direct words of affection. However, the person behind her was a pro at saying these kinds of words, and they were getting more and more blatant and obvious; hence, she rubbed her neck and retorted, “Why would I be bothered? You’re really narcissistic, can’t you see that I’ve already broken out in goosebumps?”

“Is that so?” Zhangsun Wuji smiled slightly and shrugged. “Why do I feel as if someone is blushing?”

‘Mushy… Mushy…’

Meng Fuyao rolled her eyes and looked up at the sky. She could easily parry a battle of words, but she was a total amateur when it came to a battle of feelings.

“Actually…” Zhangsun Wuji’s faint fragrance lingered beside her ear as he murmured silkily, “Making you have goosebumps is better than you not reacting at all.”

He gently blew into Meng Fuyao’s ear and looked at the little bamboo sticks lodged in her earlobes; the earrings that he had given her had been removed.

“Where are the earrings that I’ve given you? Why aren’t you wearing them?” he asked, smiling.

Meng Fuyao rolled her eyes at him again and said nastily, “Please, do you really think your gift was really made of jade and wouldn’t spoil?”

Zhangsun Wuji smiled and said, “As long as there is heart, anything will not spoil.”

Meng Fuyao fell silent and shifted her body forwards. “We’re here,” she muttered.

Indeed, they had arrived. It was a short distance to begin with, but Zhangsun Wuji had managed to seize the opportunity to make his advances.

Meng Fuyao had painstakingly built tall walls around herself, yet the Crown Prince slowly but easily climbed over them.

When they arrived at the city gates, the three people plus one horse were covered from head to toe in dust and dirt and looked extremely pitiful. The door guard watched them from his high chair as they entered the guardhouse and placed a hand in front of him.

“Gate pass!” he demanded.

Meng Fuyao raised her eyebrows and looked at Zhangsun Wuji, then said slowly, “We don’t have one…”

“Don’t have one?” The door guard waved his hand and said, “If you don’t have a gate pass, we can’t let you in. Move aside and get lost, there are important guests arriving later, don’t block the road.”

The guardhouse was not small and was filled with officials in red robes and purple belts lazily gazing at passersby as they drank their tea. They were chatting among themselves and looked as if they were waiting for someone. The door guard pushed the two aside and hurried up to a young man sitting among the officials and bowed. “Your Highness, it is boisterous here, please head upstairs to have some peace.”

“It is more or less time, I shall wait here,” The young man’s tone was extremely affectionate as he smiled and said, “Father has ordered me to lead the officials in welcoming the esteemed guests from afar. The Twelfth Prince has already gone ahead to receive them, they should be arriving soon.”

Meng Fuyao saw that he was in his twenties, and he was dressed in simple pale golden robes with faint brown cloud patterns on the sleeves. The color scheme matched his personality, warm and comforting, and although his appearance was not extremely outstanding, the aura around him was impressive and based on his status and tone, he was probably a prince, just that, she didn’t know which one.

The door guard placed a hand on his hip, and shoved Meng Fuyao with the other. “Why are you still standing around here!” he barked rudely.

However, the prince smiled and chastised, “If they don’t have a gate pass then let them leave, why do you need to be so rude, making Xuanji look as if we don’t know how to behave any better.”

Meng Fuyao glanced at the prince, and thinking that his character was really not so bad, she decided not to tease him anymore and smiled. “Actually, I mentioned that I don’t have a gate pass, because…”

She waved a hand, and Tie Cheng walked forward, his face solemn as he slapped a gold invitation tablet on the table.