"Everyone get out of the room immediately. If it is spoken who is this person, then the punishment will be beheading. I'm not going to have any exceptions if anyone speaks of who was found here today. Get out." As the assassins filed out of the room, Master Guo looked concerned at the former student of his whom he never imagined that he would see again after deciding that there was nothing more that he could teach him. To have a star pupil returned to him in such a sorry state was beyond humiliating. "Ning Zhuo . . . Ning Zhuo? Can you hear me? What in the world is your royal highness doing here in the last place you should be? Why aren't you in the capital serving your royal father?"
There was an incessant poking at his head and Ning Zhuo sat straight up as he felt his head and immediatelly groaned. There was an enormous bronze bowl of water which was placed before his bed where reflected he could see th
"Father when picking a good housemaid, she should not be as beautiful as me. If she is going to be by my side and follow me, then she should be invisible to everyone other than the person whose hands she waits on. She must take good care of only me. If I get all of the good qualities in a maid, I am set for success. Then instead of her serving me, she is going to have eyes for my husband instead. Father we have to pick one who is average looking so all the attention will be on me when I enter the room." The small missus of the house strutted around the yard as all the prospective maids were standing in an odd formation around the courtyard.Yan Sha tried to stop herself from rolling her eyes as the young Missus Qian was even more spoiled than she had assumed she would be. In her time in the capital before, a lot of Princess Yan Ming's friends were like this. She had to play as if she cared so she would not be bullied by them.
"Ning Zhuo, it's strange that you survived after being handled by that cult." General Gongsun was seated on Ning Zhuo's pallet as the Taishou towns doctor was palpating Ning Zhuo's wrist.The doctor made a sound with his tongue in disgust as the shallow cuts all around Ning Zhuo's chest had just been bandaged properly by the physician. Ning Zhuo had regained consciousness quickly, but he had felt extremely weak. He burned with fever that only now with the medications from the physician were slowing down enough the pounding in his head for him to have a coherent conversation with anyone."Strange that he survived? It's a miracle. He was obviously thrown off a cliff due to your negligence. Where is the great general I hear about whom treats his men well? Here are you playing with the lives of your new recruits. I am only here due to my interest in who could survive the cesspit of those rebels.""Physician, I understa
The wedding caravan stopped suddenly and Yan Sha felt the sneaking suspicion creep on her back. She jumped out of the line as she wondered what could have stalled the wedding line. She knew that Missus Qian should be out in front shouting at the carriage driver, but there was no sound, as her brave mistress was nowhere to be seen. It was odd.Her feelings were confirmed as she could see up ahead her suspicions had come to light. Up in front as she saw the black masked bandits start to creep onto the young Qian's carriage, Yan Sha dropped the pot she was carrying and immediately sprinted into the woods. As others saw the same, they began to follow her example.As the ruckus started to mount, one of the bandits switched directions and started to hunt the stragglers instead of the main party. She gritted her teeth as she started to wonder why Qian would be targeted. These types of situatios were not unfarmiliar to her,
There was a loud splintering of wood as Master Guo threw a set of scrolls against the wall as he loudly grunted after slamming his hands against his desk. The shelves that the books were thrown against were also slanted and slowly fell downward into a heap. There was a flurry of activity as assassins rushed forward and bowed with a chorus of asking for punishment. Master Guo ignored all of these as he shouted for everyone to leave.As the room emptied, Yan Sha felt very very embarassed. She hadn't really done anything out of what Master Guo had instructed her to do, but there was a strange urgency as Master Guo seemed to be the final word that she couldn't believe would come from him--afraid.Yan Sha tried to say something, "Master Guo, I--""Both Wei and Caiwong are starting to amass soldiers at their borders. I have been keeping an eye on the situation for a while. The school will be dissolved. I'm coming out of
Ning Zhuo put his sword on the side of the cave as he looked at the red fabric that had been festooned around the four poster bed. He could see the slim girl with the red fabric on top of her head. She was obviously sniffling as he moved closer to her. Her body rebounded backwards towards where the bed met the cave behind it.Her voice was soft as she tried to speak through the sobs that were still racking her. "I thought I was going to be leaving with Master Guo. He told me I could serve as his maid as he advised the Wei generals towards peace."Ning Zhuo threw off the red robe with irritation as he had been incredibly hot through the simple ceremony. The ceremony had taken place inside the natural hotsprings which were nestled in the karsts that made up the caves of the cult's site of operation. His boots came off as he felt the heat continue to rise in him. Maybe it had something to do with all the wine that he had bee
Alone on the winding road to Wei rode a young martial gentleman and his lover. Yan Sha wrinkled her nose as she looked at the view of the mountains she had watched from her windows for months. It was refreshing to finally see it while riding in front of her protector."Why are you riding so slowly? This is still tribal lands? The civilized people are much in front of us. It could get dangerous if we are here too long.""Nuan, yes. Yes, everything you say is true, but how long have we been shrouded with responsibilities. I'm so close to my birthright and all the pieces being in play for my good. I'm hopeful for the first time in a long time." Ning Zhuo sighed deeply as his shoulders brushed against hers."It's almost too good to be true."The horse stopped as Ning Zhuo considered this. "What are you saying? You don't trust me?""I'm not saying that. I'd like to prepare for thing
Ning Zhuo sat and waited while Yan Sha was in the other room bathing. She had ended up using the bason as the bath water had to be thrown out with all the cloudy blood that had contaminated it. He felt oddly annoyed at himself that he had not let her go first. Ning Zhuo had been so delirious that he had forgotten that this was not one of his servants who was here for his comfort. This role had come easy for her as she was trained for such a task from his old mentor. It still made him feel uncomfortable although these were things which were not unfarmiliar to him.As Yan Sha finally got out from behind the screen, Ning Zhuo couldn't help the soft exhalation that escaped too loud of his mouth. The girl moved close to him and touched him with the irresistable tendernesss in her eyes. She spoke even more softly than she had before as she asked with concern. "Does it still hurt?"Ning Zhuo pulled her into his embrace. "I
Yan Sha awoke surprisingly refreshed. She rolled over and was surprised to see the bed empty. Immediately she panicked as she could see the unfurled blanket reaching to the open window. Yan sha woke up with a yelp and moved to the window. She poked her head out and feeling a little self conscious whispered loud as she dared, "Yu Zhuo? Yu Zhuo? I know you're a martial artist, but could you at least wait until your wounds are properly closed to move."As she turned, a shadow fell over her face. She screamed and fell backward as Yu Zhuo swung his body into the room. He was so quiet when he alighted on the bed that she couldn't quite speak. His black clothing was loosened to reveal the Wei clothing that they had been given by the hotel's madam the right before.Yan sha gulped as she realized the flower clutched in his teeth was probably for her. She couldn't believe that he had brought up her need to furfill