Legend Of Fuyao

The damp handkerchief slowly glided over his porcelain, velvet-like skin, wiping away the sweat and cooling down the overheating temperature. Shadow Blade gradually quietened down as he regained a bit of his consciousness. Suddenly, he grabbed Meng Fuyao's hand.

To avoid the awkwardness, the room was not lit up. Meng Fuyao was caught by surprise, thinking that he was going to bite her finger once more. But this time, Shadow Blade gently placed her hand on his heart and mumbled something. Meng Fuyao inched closer, trying to make out what he was mumbling but the moment she leaned in, the rich, fresh scent of a man rushed up to her nose. Her heart thumped as the smell engulfed her, and then she remembered that he was not properly clothed. She quickly stepped back.

Meng Fuyao leaned over with her hand being pressed down on his heart. She could feel the heartbeat on her palm; hurried and shallow, like a raging river rushing through the quiet night, eliciting a profound resonance with the vast with its indescribable serenity and restraint. Meng Fuyao's heart thumped, and for an instant, it was as though the heart rate had synced with the one beneath her palm—same feelings yet different troubles. In this cold winter night, the wind could not blow away the loneliness and fear carved deep down into one's heart.

Meng Fuyao pressed her lips together and reached to pry his hands away. But Shadow Blade suddenly let go of her hand, letting out a long sigh.

Meng Fuyao got a shock. She thought that he had woken up, but seeing his eyelashes flutter and the beads of sweat appearing on his forehead, she realized that he was still unconscious. Meng Fuyao sat in the dark, holding the wet handkerchief in her hands as she watched him, thinking what kind of dream would he be in to cause such a helpless and sorrowful sigh.

Early in the morning, she decided to channel inner energy to help treat his wounds. At this dangerous place, wasting precious inner energy was an extremely risky thing to do. Meng Fuyao did not have second thoughts about her decision, however. No matter how precious or how dangerous, it was not as important as health. Once Shadow Blade got better, wouldn't they be able to move around more freely? Furthermore, the conscientious Sir Meng couldn't stand watching him suffer.

When she placed her palm behind Shadow Blade and wanted to channel her inner energy over, he suddenly trembled and immediately rejected her energy after realizing what she was trying to do.

Meng Fuyao tried to channel thrice but was rejected thrice. Seeing that he refused to accept, she could only give up. After all, them being in such a state would not allow him to rest properly.

That night, she did not once shut her eyes. In the dim room, she quietly watched Shadow Blade as he took his every breath, listening to his quick, shallow breath gradually turn into something more calm and peaceful. Knowing that the hardest hurdle had passed, she could not help but let out a sigh of relief.

Three days later, Meng Fuyao's version of "Yu Wen Zi" was officially there.

On the third night, Xuanyuan Min had passed her the finished human mask. As Meng Fuyao changed into her new disguise, she looked at Xuanyuan Min with disdain. "What kind of speed is this, taking three days to make a mask. My bones are all slept flatten because of you."

Xuanyuan Min immediately reached out his hand. "Let me touch, let me touch." Meng Fuyao immediately trampled over that idea cruelly.

Shadow Blade slept in the little room beside Fragrant Jade House. Naturally, his identity was now that of Chun Mei, the maid of Yu Wen Zi. "Chun Mei's" height was too tall and hard to disguise. Hence, once "Yu Wen Zi" was rested, "Chun Mei" would fall sick as a result of being too tired out taking care of her lady. Meng Fuyao was worried that this would merely be a short term solution, but Shadow Blade insisted that if he were to rest for a couple more days, he could somewhat manage to shrink his bones and maintain it around an hour or so. So if there was a need for "Chun Mei" to make an appearance, he should be able to handle it.

There was once when Xuanyuan Min had visited Shadow Blade, and Meng Fuyao's dark eye circles caught his eye. With plenty of jealousy, his hand formed an "orchid finger 1 " as he teased, "You ȧduŀterous pair, have you been mȧkɨnġ ŀȯvė with one another all night? There was once I did all seven girls at once, and I didn't seem half as exhausted as you are!"

"Yes, yes, yes. You're the invincible hero that never falls, dealing with seven wolves at once." Meng Fuyao kicked him out of the room. "Please, you have already 'showed your love'. With any more love, I'll be drowning in it."

"That's great, the perfect time for me to see your skills!" Xuanyuan Min swung his sleeves around excitedly. In a coquetry manner, he whispered, "Since the very first time I met you, I felt that you are definitely gonna ace and shine at this game of imperial harem… My love, when would you punch me once more?"

"Right now!" Meng Fuyao stepped on him, and it was followed by the sounds of her punches.

Finally, after throwing out the happy cross-dressing emperor, Meng Fuyao opened the door that had been tightly shut for the past three days. With her hands on her back, she walked out in a "difficult yet proud" manner. With the aura of a well-loved lady that stood above the rest, she elegantly and pridefully strutted towards the sunlight, in the complicated gazes of those next door.

Sir Meng had finally taken her very first pretentious, confident step, pulling the curtains for her grandiose performance in the Xuanyuan's imperial harem.

"Isn't this Sister Zi? I've heard you haven't been feeling too well recently? Are you better now?" As expected, before Meng Fuyao even got out of her courtyard, another lady had "coincidentally passed by" and decided to stand around to send her regards with a smile. But that smile, stopping short at her cheeks, was clearly fake from whichever angle.

'This lady is impatient, not calm enough, third-rate acting—analysis completed.'

"Aiya… thank you for asking. I am finally much better." With a slight frown, Meng Fuyao held onto her back and sighed loudly. "Ah… he seriously tired me out…"

The last sentence was lightly spoken but managed to turn that lady's face black. With a scoff, she side-glanced at Meng Fuyao and gave a word of "friendly advice". "Sister Zi is certainly frivolous. One could only fear that though the flower may bloom beautifully yet there is no one to admire, only there to deflower. If you are unfortunately not chosen, with this body that is no longer pure, I wonder who you could marry?"

"Sister Hua is right." Meng Fuyao gasped, as though as she had just been enlightened. After much contemplation, she clapped her hands and continued, "If there's isn't any other way out, I'll marry your father then! In the capital, he is well known for his promiscuity. Married to 10 of them and all 10 of them are well satisfied. I'll be the 11th one and Sister Hua you would have to call me 'mother'."

"You! Shameless!" Lady Hua's face turned ashen as she flung her sleeves and left.

Meng Fuyao waved her hand lazily. 'What a lack of fighting abilities, how boring.'

But someone behind laughed gently. "I usually don't get to see Sister Zi and certainly didn't know that you had such a way with your words."

Meng Fuyao turned back. Below the wisteria was a lady dressed simply, facing her with a perfect smile—the edges of her lips were curled up perfectly to 30 degrees, revealing just nice half a row of pearly white teeth. From the angle to the curvature, everything was flawless.

This lady remained calm as she observed and made sense of the situation. She held her composure and smiled at logic times.

'Her acting abilities are definitely above average—analysis complete.'

"Sister Xue, you are very polite. I have always been the type to speak the human language to humans and spew rubbish… to trash." Meng Fuyao smiled humbly. "I am not as good as Sister Xue's royal blood; everyone's role model."

"No matter how great of a role model I am, I will never be able to hold a candle to Sister Zi's glory, being admired by the emperor." She looked closely at Meng Fuyao's face, making her way closer with mincing, light footsteps. And then, with a wave of a hand, she ordered her maid to give a basket.

"These are all herbs and food to nourish one's body. Sister, your face looks a little pale, please remember to cherish your precious body."

Meng Fuyao glanced at that basket. Without taking it over, she smiled. "Thank you for your kindness, Sister. Little An—"

Little An was an eunuch that was transferred over to serve Meng Fuyao under the orders of Xuanyuan Min. Apparently, this Little An had come from an impoverished background and entered the palace at a tender age. A very careful person, though often tired. He silently bowed.

"Sister Xue, your basket is certainly pretty, definitely from the hands of a renowned artisan. I feel bad enough accepting these gifts, how could I still take away your loved basket? Little An, go to my room and take my rattan basket that His Majesty has bestowed to me and also bring the Pearl Powder that His Majesty also bestowed me for Sister Xue," added Meng Fuyao.

"How could I…" Jian Xue's smile froze, though she somehow still managed to maintain her elegance. She took over the basket and left quickly after giving her thanks. In Meng Fuyao's eyes, however, Jian Xue had merely fled in panic after her plan was exposed. Meng Fuyao stretched lazily.

'Seriously, let's just say that her acting abilities were well-above average, but her schemes were too simple. I don't even have to use my brains, just based on the plots from 'War and Beauty' and 'Beyond the Realm of Conscience' 2 , I could probably kill off a batch of them. Well, the things weren't poisoned, but there were poison needles embedded into the basket. If anything were to happen, she could just destroy the basket while no one was paying attention, and there would be no evidence left behind after the deed. Not a bad plan, but the acting was… a little lacking. Once the basket was handed over, her gaze changed.

'A lot of room for improvement!'

Meng Fuyao strolled back. Looking at the pleasant weather with the sun high up in the sky, she decided to ask Little An to fetch some pastries and settle down in the courtyard to contemplate. 'Could it be the things I've gone through and the people I've met were a little too amazing? Now, this imperial harem game is merely a child's play.' And then, she thought about how Zhan Beiye was now piled up with work as a new emperor… recalling Zhan Beiye, she suddenly felt that something was wrong. After seriously thinking about it for half a day, she suddenly realized that she had gone off in a hurry and seemed to not have informed him?

That heartless Meng Fuyao thought about it for a while and then decided, 'Serves him right, who asked him to order someone to beat me up?'

And then she thought about Wuji's invisible guards. Till today, there was no news from them. Xuanyuan border was certainly hard to trespass, and these couple of years, they had merely given a handful of Clearance Medal to a few countries. Those invisible guards were certainly pitiful. Even though they were elites when it came to ȧssassinating, protecting and searching, with her lawless entrance to the various different countries, the invisible guards were not able to keep up with her antics either. If Zhangsun Wuji were to know that she had once again shaken off the invisible guards… her buŧŧ would probably take the brunt of it.

'Ah…' Thinking of this fellow, she couldn't help but sigh. Using the sesame biscuit, she drew a big circle on the stone table, and then a small circle, and then an even smaller circle, and then a huge firework.

BOOM—

Don't ask her what she was doing, she didn't know either. Haven't you heard of the word doodling?

The sesame on the biscuit had now all fallen down, and Meng Fuyao wet her finger with a little bit of water to pick up the sesames to eat…

'Hm… I'll eat my troubles away…'

Once she finished the sesame on the table, she grabbed another biscuit. Suddenly, she felt that something was wrong. 'There were initially four biscuits, why are there only two left?'

Something dropped down on her head. Meng Fuyao quickly picked it up—a sesame seed. A hand gesture that originated from Peking opera, where the hand resembles the petals of an orchid flower—considered a sign of grace and femininity. Both War and Beauty and Beyond the Realm of Conscience are popular Hong Kong historical dramas centered around the schemes in the imperial harem.