CHAPTER 10, DAYS OUT
*picture is the hogweed plant*
"Jing Nu, is General Li Zhang Ke dead?" Wei An Ge jumped to the conclusion after waiting in the training base the whole morning. Yet there was no sign of the general around since yesterday's accident.
"Ish, Crown Princess. We would be at the funeral if he is" Jing Nu persuade, collecting arrows.
"This can't be" she pulled Jing Nu to her by the arm. "Let's make beef lotus soup for him. Regain those punctured muscles"
Jing Nu nodded, smiling sneakily.
They headed to the imperial kitchen.
"Crown princess," the chefs bowed, "would you like us to make you anything?"
"Can I use the kitchen?" She asked. "Jing Nu is teaching me how to make lotus beef soup"
The male chef smiled, agreed. With an opened arm, he welcomed the crown princess into the kitchen, preparing the utensils and ingredients needed.
Inside a medium-sized bowl, she threw a bunch of garlic, ginger, oil, beef slices as well as lotuses. Jing Nu helped her prepare the very fragrant soup.
"Crown Princess," the Li Manor guards greeted.
She walked along the road and reached General Li Zhang Ke's room. The garden in the manor was mesmerizing with beautiful colors of various types of flowers. Indeed, the most beautiful manor in the Imperial City.
.
Before knocking,
"Li Zhang Ke, how are you a general? The crown princess can't even hit the bullseye" argued Wang Xuan, looking at the General, afraid.
"Xuan Er" he mumbled, still shutting his eyes down. His tone was breathy and husky. Sick, generally.
Wang Xuan nodded, smiling. She held his hand tighter.
"General and Wang Xuan are a couple?"Wei An Ge asked, whispering. "They're so cute"
Both of them were hiding beside a corner of the manor, having the perfect seat to watch the scene.
"Crown Princess let's return before they see us. We can eat the soup," Jing Nu recommended, pulling her away. She felt a slight awkwardness and guilt upon interfering with other people's business.
"Let's go"
"Crown Princess," the line of generals and ministers bowed, respect. "Are you here to visit Li Zhang Ke?"
"Damn it, Jing Nu" she turned, awkward. "Wei An Ge greets generals and ministers"
"Yeah, I prepared a beef lotus soup for the General. I felt guilty because the one that shot him was me." She passed the container of soup to the hand of Li Zhi Jian. "Wei An Ge apologized, I'll take my leave now"
Instantly she engaged her arms on Jing Nu and walked away, awkward and fast.
They watched the crown princess and Jing Nu leaving, startled. They immediately entered the room.
"Li Zhang Ke, how can you be shot by the crown princess?" General Wang Xuan interrupted, furrowing his dark eyebrow.
Li Zhang Ke tried standing to greet the general even when his lip was as pale as his skin.
"Good morning, generals" he greeted.
"I don't know how, I was asleep"
"True," Li Zhi Jian protected. "This was an accident"
"You guys haven't explained to me why were you all peeking at Li Zhang Ke last night. You could've met him directly like this"
"Xuan Er, it's not even your matter in the first place," her father replied, in an annoyed tone of voice.
"Generals, I've seen the Crown Princess left hands. The one in glove" Li Zhang Ke reported, bowing. He didn't want Wang Xuan to argue with her father. Hence, changing the topic to the hotter one.
Their eyes enlarged, shocked.
"How does it look like?"
"I didn't see it clearly but it was planted along her arms to her fingers" he held his head, dizzy.
"Are we really trusting him?" Minister Sun Lai Zhe doubted. "You saw how wicked he looked last time."
Li Zhi Jian furrowed in dissatisfaction.
"I think it's better to find the garden of poison first" General Wang Xuan admitted, nodding as he scanned the other's facial expressions.
They nodded as well, agreed.
"It's not garden of poison, it's garden of cure" Li Hua Rong entered, shouting. "It's not a garden, it's a moving painting"
"I managed to get one called Hogweed to prove it" she displayed a roll of painting.
She unrolled it and there it was the hogweed. Planted in a drawing of the vase. It was slightly moving as if there was a slight breeze in it. The white little flowers on the top mesmerized the spies.
"Elder Li, your grandchildren will make a very good spy for our Wei Zhuang." General Wang Kuan praised, laughing, impressed. "Xuan Er, you too"
Li Hua Rong and Wang Xuan jaws dropped. They were speechless.
"Wei Zhuang? You are Wei Zhuang spies?" Wang Xuan stood up, taking out her sword, defensive. "Father?"
"Calm down, my daughter" General Wang Kuan pushed down the sword smiling. "Li Zhang Ke is also one. We only have one motive."
"What is it?" Li Hua Rong inquired.
"Finding the Jade Ring"
---
"Jing Nu, don't you think something is weird?" The Crown Princess took a sip of the extra soup they made.
Both of them were sitting on a short table facing each other, sipping the fragrance soup.
Jing Nu shook her head, disagreeing.
"You see, how can there be no guards last night. At the IMPERIAL CASTLE?" She took another sip. "Why would General Li Zhang Ke get shoot by me? I didn't even hit the bullseye last night."
Jing Nu nodded.
"Is it possible that the generals are rebelling?" Her eyes enlarged, curious.
The situation turned serious.
"No way," they laughed it off.
---
"Good," The King praised.
The court was about to finish until
"I'll be leaving Hei An Guang tomorrow for three days to settle with the kingdom of Xin Jia" The King announced, smiling. " I hope that my present wouldn't affect our kingdom. I believed my generals and ministers can handle it for a while."
"May the King have a safe and sound journey and return to Hei An Guang well" they bowed with the crown princess.
He nodded, smiling asking everyone to get back on their knees.
"Crown Princess," he called
"Here," Wei An Ge reported, looking down.
"From tomorrow on, you will get out of the castle." He replied,
"Am I getting kicked out?" She zoned out, shocked by his statement.
The ministers and generals of the court were speechless. They started exchanging looks with each other that the court was getting noisy.
"You'll be interacting with our glorious people" he smiled, waiting for a response. "As long as you keep your identity hidden as well as your left hand, to be precise"
"Noted, Your Majesty" she bowed lower, smiling under her hoodie out of excitement.
---
"Here's the money, crown princess" Jing Nu placed inside her outfit pocket, fast. "And your arrow, your bow, a dagger in case-"
It was the next day where Wei An Ge can get out of the cold palace for two days. She still has to return before His Majesty goes to Xin Jia.
"Jing Nu, I'm talking to our people not killing them" she held Jing Nu's shoulder. "It's fine, am I that weak?"
Jing Nu nodded, pouting.
"Huh," she let go, walking out to the entrance door of the Imperial castle. "See you in two days!"
She sat on her beloved silver horse, and start marching with a large smile painted on her face.
But then,
The young general stopped the horse. It was Li Zhang Ke. Wang Xuan knew of his actions that day and was viewing from the roof secretly and meant to stay unnoticed.
"General? You're alright now?" The crown princess was surprised, she went down of the horse and start patting his forehead. "You're quite hot, General"
Wang Xuan's jaw dropped in jealousy. She misunderstood the meaning but then took it seriously.
"You shouldn't come, no" she got back on her horse. " You just recovered, you should stay at Li Manor, drinking lotus beef soup Wang Xuan's making"
she pointed at Wang Xuan's position on the roof with her eyes, smiling sneakily.
"Go!" She whipped the horse, riding it along the road to the Central City.
The General was left surprised by Wang Xuan's presence. He had to lose his grip on Wei An Ge.
Awkward, Wang Xuan waved to him, smiling with all of her cheeks pulled upwards. She jumped off the roof, avoiding further eye contact.
An hour of riding later, Wei An Ge noticed how tired her silver horse was. She started walking together with the horse, continuing their journey. They arrived at Central City. The busiest market of the entire kingdom.
"DUMPLINGS!"
"MASKS!"
"FRESH FRUITS"
Sellers shouted, full of joy. The Central City was filled with people buying and selling as well as random art performances.
"Young lady, would you like to buy this fruit?" An old messy looking man approached her, handing her a bunch of purple grapes.
His face was covered with dirt and his smile revealed his lost teeth.
"Grapes?" She mumbled.
"I don't even know, would you like some?" He shrugged his shoulder, smiling as he walked away and offered other passersby his grapes, leaving her.
Wei An Ge laughed, glancing at the silver horse.
"That was funny, come on" she encouraged.
"Let's get you some fruits to eat,"
---
"It was a waste," General Wang Kuan complaint, smacking the table. "When the crown princess is out of the castle, her power will increase. Ours too. There was no point eating this strange hogweed soup, Elder Li"
Li Zhi Jian had just finished making the soup for the spies to regain their power. After a long boil, the white flowers turned brown and added with another type of spies, neither of the visual nor the taste looks good.
"Aiya, it doesn't taste that bad Generals" Li Zhi Jian slid everyone a cup of the soup.
"Li Zhang Ke, you should find a way to help us see the crown princess hand under the glove" General Rong Zhe advised. "Shouldn't you be accompanying her right now?"
"Let her be, General Wang. I'll get back to the Crown Princess tomorrow. She's not that dumb anyway" Li Zhang Ke finished his drink in the cup. "Grandfather, it's so bitter"
His eyes were squinted in bitterness.
"We will attack her together tomorrow. Remember, don't hurt the crown princess. We just confirmed her as the Jade Ring" Minister Sun Lai Zhe informed after finished drinking from his cup.
"Bottoms up!"
--
"Wolfie, do I look good like this?" Gan Xin viewed his figure reflected by the mirror.
His hair was tied cleanly which is not his normal style. During those years at the cottage, Gan Xin's long hair was let go to fall until his back was decorated with a few small braids.
"You looked like a bun, Gan Xin" Wolfie replied, laughing.
"Wolfie!" Gan Xin chased her as she ran around the room.
"Gan Xin, people are looking to meet you" a guard knocked on the door.
"The emperor?"
The guard shook his head, false
"The queen?"
"No"
"The-"
"It's the people from the campsite"
"What?!" He was shocked.
Are they going to kick him out of Wei Zhuang again for poisoning them again. Or is it that the poison wasn't working that people are being faster?, he thought himself as he followed the guard to the Gan's Manor entrance door.
"We thank Gan Xin for saving us" a bunch of Wei Zhuang people appeared in front of the Gan Manor, bowing. "We owe the Gan family"
The manor's guards were standing straight with poker and emotionless face while waiting for Gan Xin to arrive.
"Everyone, please return home" Gan Xin advised, catching his breath.
"Hi, Gan Xin!" Some random ladies waved, smiling.
"Ladies, please have a rest at your home" he bowed, smiling.
"Thank you, young boy, for saving me. My daughter wanted to transfer her power to me. That could have caused death, right?" An old granny pinched his cheeks. They turned red.
The people finally returned to their house after being escorted by Gan Xin himself.
In his mind, he felt guilty that they were dying slowly even though the foxglove poison has been neutralized.
"It will be alright, Gan Xin," Wolfie said, rubbing her head at his leg.
Gan Xin sighed,
"Let's go, Wolfie" He threw Wolfie on his shoulder, patting her back as he smiled.