DDAM 30
Chu Huaiji had just arrived at the Minglu Hall and barely found his footing when several Xianzis swarmed around him.
“You’re finally here; we’ve been waiting ages for you.”
“How did you sleep last night, Huaiji?”
“Have you had breakfast? We saved some pastries for you.”
Chu Huaiji was caught off guard by this sudden immersion in a sea of blossoms. With the sound of their laughter filling his ears, one offering tea, another tugging at his sleeve, he found himself unsure of whom to answer first.
He leaned back, feeling that his shocked expression must look rather amusing. Just as he was about to speak, the immortal closest to him finally took pity on him; she held up a hand to the others.
“Alright, alright, stop teasing him.”
She winked at Chu Huaiji and explained with a soft smile,
“Don’t mind them, Xiao Huaiji. We’re being so enthusiastic because there’s a task today that we need your help with.”
Chu Huaiji was startled at first, but upon realizing the situation, he felt relieved.
“You all are so enthusiastic. I’m sure you aren’t assigning me some earth-shattering, grueling labor, right?”
“Of course not.”
They giggled, their laughter ringing like chiming bells. One of them nudged him toward the door,
“There’s food, drink, and fun. I guarantee you won’t lose out.”
Another nodded in agreement, then lowered her voice to add with a conspiratorial air,
“And what’s more, this is something only you can do.”
Chu Huaiji raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
He tilted his head to look at them, his eyes filled with curiosity. The Xianzi didn’t rush to explain; instead, she gave a knowing smile and changed the topic:
“Did you happen to see the Ninth Princess yesterday?”
Chu Huaiji shook his head.
“No.” He paused. “Does today’s assignment have something to do with her?”
“Smart,” the immortal’s eyes crinkled with approval. “Word came from the East Sea this morning that their Ninth Princess wishes to tour the Heavenly Court. She asked the Seventh Prince to select a few good-looking individuals to act as her guides.”
Another immortal chimed in:
“The criterion was, they couldn’t be uglier than Zhuochen Shangshen.”
Chu Huaiji’s ears perked up; he hadn’t expected to hear his father’s name mentioned here.
They continued, “In the entire Heavenly Court, who could possibly be better-looking than Zhuochen Shangshen? She isn’t really interested in touring the court; she might as well have come out and asked for Zhuochen Shangshen to keep her company.”
“She’s certainly dreaming big. Zhuochen Shangshen is a distinguished deity. He hardly has the time to entertain her…”
The group began to chatter back and forth, tossing around idioms like “everyone knows Sima Zhao’s intentions” and “the drunkard’s heart is not in the wine”–all speculating on the true motives behind the Ninth Princess’s request. Chu Huaiji listened, and slowly frowned.
“What sort of connection does this Ninth Princess have with Zhuochen Shangshen?”
One of the Xianzis gasped in surprise.
“You don’t know? Yesterday at the banquet, she publicly declared her desire to enter into a marriage alliance with Zhuochen Shangshen and even claimed that the gates of the East Sea would forever stand open for him.”
“Indeed,” another chimed in. “I heard Jiewu Shangshen was sitting right there the whole time, yet said not a word. That scene…”
Chu Huaiji listened with growing alarm; tension coiled around his body. So, while he had stepped away from the banquet, all of this had actually happened?!
No wonder his father’s expression had been so grim upon his return… and his dad must have been seething with anger because of that wretched Ninth Princess.
The lead Xianzi patted his shoulder and smiled.
“But that Ninth Princess never could have calculated that right here in our Minglu Hall, we actually have someone just as handsome as Zhuochen Shangshen.”
Another added immediately, “Exactly! If our Huaiji goes, she could search to the ends of the earth and still find no fault with him.”
Chu Huaiji glanced at them as he realized what these older sisters were getting at. He smiled and replied,
“No problem. Leave it to me.”
Trying to drive a wedge between my parents? Chu Huaiji thought to himself. Then let me go and properly cross swords with this Ninth Princess.
The delegation from the East Sea had been arranged to stay temporarily in a vacant palace in the Upper Heavens known as the Taiju Palace. Two guards from the merfolk stood at the entrance, clad in silvery-white armor with fine scales adorning their cheeks; upon seeing Chu Huaiji approach, they raised their hands to bar his path.
“Who goes there?”
Chu Huaiji presented his credentials.
“Chu Huaiji of the Minglu Hall. I have been ordered to escort the princess on a tour of the Heavenly Court; I would appreciate it if you two could facilitate this.”
The guards sized him up from head to toe. After a moment, one spoke in a lukewarm tone,
“Her Highness is still resting. You had best go wait in the side hall.”
Chu Huaiji remained outwardly calm, though he rolled his eyes inwardly. If she was still resting, why summon him so early? She was an imperious and willful sort.
He followed the guiding maidservants toward the side hall for a few paces, but a thought crossed his mind. He recalled a small garden near the Taiju Palace, he had glimpsed it from afar once; it was lush with greenery and seemed like a pleasant place to relax.
Unsure how long the wait would be, he simply stopped, smiled courteously at the two maids, and slipped two spirit stones from his sleeve to them.
He also produced a message talisman.
“I’m going to wander nearby for a bit, I won’t go far. If the princess wakes up…”
The two maids exchanged glances; they clutched the stones and hesitated for a moment, but they ultimately agreed.
He followed a winding path deeper inside, flanked by lush trees and flowers, with several weeping crabapple trees in full bloom. After strolling for a while, he rounded a bend and the view suddenly opened up: a small clearing, embraced on three sides by flowering trees, with a swing set standing right in the center.
His interest was instantly piqued, and he slowed his pace. Back when he was little, he used to pester his dad to push him on the swing. His dad would run out of strength after just a few pushes, yet unable to refuse the boy’s persistence, his father would step out to wrap one arm around his exhausted partner while using the other to send the swing soaring high.
Chu Huaiji sat down on the swing; with a tap of his toes, it began to sway gently. He mused that he might bring his father and dad here sometime. After all, both were Shangshens now; pushing a swing for a day and a night would be a trivial matter for them.
Or perhaps he could yield the spot to his dad, and he and his father could take turns pushing. That would be a perfect excuse to break the ice.
As the swing reached its peak and began to descend, a languid voice suddenly came from behind him:
“Where’d this brat come from?”
Startled, he tapped his toes to halt the swing and turned around. A tall man was standing in the shade of the flowering tree, leaning against the trunk. The sunlight filtering through the foliage cast a dappled pattern of light and shadow across his face.
The man possessed vivid features and deep-set eyes; his lips were pale, which gave him an exotic air. Objectively speaking, he was beautiful. Chu Huaiji was stunned. Before he could speak, the stranger seemed to pause upon seeing his face. His gaze lingered on Chu Huaiji’s features longer than necessary before he murmured,
“Not bad-looking.”
The next instant, however, the man’s tone turned abruptly cool and indifferent, as if that earlier compliment had been nothing more than a passing remark:
“This is my spot. Get off.”
Chu Huaiji felt a twinge of regret; it was a pity the fellow was so ill-mannered, such a waste of face. He didn’t move; instead, he leaned against the swing and raised his eyes to look at the stranger.
“Are you the Heavenly Emperor?”
“Wha–” The man frowned. “How do I resemble that old geezer?”
“If you aren’t him, then this spot doesn’t belong to you,” Chu Huaiji said unhurriedly. “This is the Nine Heavens, under the rule of the Heavenly Emperor. Every blade of grass and tree here is public property of the Heavenly Realm; since when is it open for private appropriation?”
The man was taken aback by these words; he hadn’t expected such a blunt retort from a young-looking immortal. His gaze lingered on Chu Huaiji’s face for a moment; he didn’t get angry, though. Instead, he shifted his posture to lean against the tree trunk.
“Do you know who I am to dare speak to me like that?”
Chu Huaiji countered with a question of his own:
“And do you know who I am? To dare speak to me like that?”
The man seemed amused.
“Then tell me. Who are you?”
Chu Huaiji thought to himself that if this man was some powerful figure, he shouldn’t cause trouble for his fathers. His gaze shifted, wasn’t there a ready-made shield right at hand?
He smiled and tilted his chin up slightly.
“I am one of the Ninth Princess’s people.”
After all, he had come today to serve as a guide for the Ninth Princess; for the duration of the day, how could he not be considered one of her people? The man was taken aback for a moment, then; as if he had heard something highly amusing, an enigmatic smile appeared on his face.
“You are one of the Ninth Princess’s people?”
Chu Huaiji nodded with a serious expression.
“Our princess is an honored guest of the Nine Heavens, and she is known for being protective of her own; she certainly wouldn’t let me suffer any mistreatment. It would be best for Your Excellency to show a little courtesy.”
The man’s gaze lingered on Chu Huaiji’s face as if he were turning the words over in his mind. Finally, he let out a soft chuckle.
“You’re an interesting one… What is your name?”
Chu Huaiji gave him a sidelong glance.
“Before asking for another’s name, shouldn’t you state your own first?”
The man seemed amused by Chu Huaiji’s unyielding demeanor; the corners of his mouth quirked up, and after a moment, he spoke slowly:
“My name is… Li Jiao.”
Chu Huaiji turned the name over in his mind and nodded calmly.
“Chu Huaiji.”
After stating his name, he rose from the swing and brushed the stray leaves from his hem.
“I’ll leave the swing to you. The princess should be waking up soon, so I’ll take my leave.”
Without waiting for a reply, he turned, passed through the moon gate, and walked back toward Taiju Palace along the path he had come.
However, just as he reached the entrance of Taiju Hall, a guard blocked his way. He spoke in a flat, indifferent tone:
“The princess says she doesn’t wish to go out today. You may return to where you came from.”
Chu Huaiji paused in his tracks.
“…She doesn’t wish to go out?”
The guard’s expression remained impassive.
“Those were the princess’s exact words.”
…He had waited through most of the morning, basked in the sun in the garden for hours, and even argued over a swing with some stranger, only to be met with a simple “I don’t wish to go out” upon his return?
Chu Huaiji was seething with frustration but couldn’t vent it; he had no choice but to grit his teeth and say, “…Fine.”
It was just as well if she didn’t come; it saved him the trouble. Besides, he had already seen just how mercurial the princess’s temper could be.
She still harbors designs on my father? Chu Huaiji thought scornfully. Pah! As if my father would ever take a fancy to her.
He returned to Minglu Hall in a sullen mood. After hearing the full story, several Xianzis chimed in to comfort him; their chatter lifted his spirits considerably, and he even helped them handle some official business.
As the sun shifted westward, the time came to finish work for the day. Just as Chu Huaiji stepped down from the platform, he saw a streak of light fly in from nearby and land right in front of him. It was a folding fan.
Upon recognizing it as Li Zhuochen’s fan, Chu Huaiji’s eyes lit up. He hurried after it, jogging out of the courtyard and rounding a cloud-path, and as expected, there stood a tall figure leaning against a corridor pillar, waiting for him.
Li Zhuochen held the fan, which he had retrieved at some point, in his hand. Upon seeing the young man run toward him, he tilted his chin up and smiled.
“What’s the rush?”
Before Chu Huaiji could answer, he had already lunged forward:
“Father! Did you come to pick me up after work?”
Li Zhuochen was pushed back slightly by the impact but didn’t dodge; instead, he caught him and ruffled his hair.
“You’re not a child anymore.”
As he spoke, Li Zhuochen chuckled and tilted his chin toward a certain direction.
“Look who else is here.”
Chu Huaiji followed his gaze. Just a few paces away, a handsome, elegant figure was bathed in the soft golden glow of the sunlight.
Jun Jiewu was standing there.
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