Chapter 15 | Ink East

Your Highness

On the second day of Du Hao’s return, an announcement was made to cancel the welcome reception that was originally planned for the Crown Prince’s victory. The reason being the Crown Prince thought it was a waste of manpower and resources. As a result, he suggested to the Emperor to use the expenses saved for the reception to reward the army and the soldiers instead.

Du Hao’s suggestion received the Emperor’s full support. In addition, it won the praises of all the government officials. Among the common people, he had obtained a very high level of respect. In no time, the Crown Prince’s name had been spread across to the country’s young and old. Everyone prided themselves for having such a noble Crown Prince. The Emperor couldn’t stop glorifying his son, and decided to assign his son to investigate the intruder’s whereabouts.

As Du Hao was occupied with the investigation, Lin Shan was still in the Palace being bored out of her mind.

Originally, the Crown Prince’s arrival was supposed to be exciting. Lin Shan was looking forward to the welcoming feast. But now, it was cancelled. Damn that Crown Prince. The moment he came back, he went to investigate on the intruder. Now everyone in the Palace were complaining about how they could not see his gorgeous face. It was driving Lin Shan nuts.

Stop being so pathetic, will you? It’s just the Crown Prince. You guys look like you would pounce on him like a dog with a bone! For a couple of days, Lin Shan was extremely irritated… until she didn’t even care anymore. She changed into a garment and decided to go bug someone.

That unlucky person, obviously, was Lian Feng.

Honestly, you can’t blame Lin Shan. Ever since she had entered the Palace, the faces and names she could actually recognize were fewer than ten. From the ten, some of them weren’t on good terms with her. For instance, Du Ming Yue. These days, she would glare at her daily and then coldly make a “hummph” sound. After that, she would completely disregard her existence.

As for Du Jing, ever since what happened at the Leaning Vermilion House, he hated her guts. Apparently after Du Ming Yue found out they were out together, she went crazy on Du Jing. According to some, that day Du Ming Yue seized a couple of Du Jing’s servants and questioned them individually. As a result, all of Du Jing’s servants were terrified whenever they came across the Prince Consort. They would flee as if they had seen a ghost. As well, Du Jing had completely decided to break off all ties with her. Whenever they bumped into each other in the Palace, he wouldn’t even glance her way; which showed how arrogant he was.

Lin Shan wasn’t angry though. She didn’t want to interact with those people anyway. Even if they gave me attention, I would rather not be there. But honestly, life here was too dull! Lin Shan slammed the table. Out of everyone in the Palace, Lian Feng was the only person she had similar things to talk with. Then again, he usually didn’t talk.

As Lin Shan made her way to Lian Feng’s, she could hear movement from faraway. It sounded as if someone was practicing martial arts. Out of nowhere, she recalled how she saw the unmasked Lian Feng the other day. Hence, she became extremely nosy and wanted to spy on him. She wanted to see what he was up to.

Therefore, Lin Shan tiptoed and sneaked towards his residence, and peeked in from the courtyard door. Lian Feng was practicing his movement and style. It truly was like how the television depicted. No no no no! Definitely much more powerful and cooler than the TV -Lian Feng’s left hand held onto the blade as he striked out forcefully. The cutting edge of the blade created friction with the air, causing a zheng zheng sound! Lin Shan was mesmerized. On one hand, she was admiring Lian Feng’s polished skill. On the other, she was sad that Lian Feng wasn’t using the golden sabre.

Damn it, I wanted to see whether the handle of the golden sabre was gold too……

As she was deep in thought, she accidentally stepped on a branch, which caused a very noticeable sound. Lian Feng could hear it from his trained ears and suddenly aimed his blade straight towards the courtyard door!

Lin Shan was aghast. One second she was mesmerized, the next, a blade was heading straight towards her. She let out a sharp yelp and fell forward as her foot lost balance.

Lin Shan’s yell revealed who she was and Lian Feng quickly pulled his blade back as he caught her by the waist. She was extremely light, and her waist was so tiny. Lian Feng only used one hand but barely felt a thing. The Prince Consort was the opposite of those sturdy Imperial bodyguards. In fact, his whole body felt so soft and his skin was so white. He looked so delicate….Lian Feng couldn’t believe this was a man…

Once again, Lian Feng had slipped into a state of confusion. But the voice within his embrace brought him back to reality.

“Ow, I’m in pain!!”

Lian Feng snapped back into reality and saw that Lin Shan had lifted her arm up. Her palm was wrapped with white bandages, but revealed spots of blood. It turned out that Lin Shan had been disobedient and hadn’t abstain from spicy food. As a result, her injuries were healing very slowly. Now, her wound has opened up again since she had carelessly rubbed against a branch.

Lian Feng grabbed her arm and took a look. Once he confirmed the open cut, he said: “Come in my room. I will give you some medication.”

Lian Feng was definitely the leader of the Imperial guard. He had all sort of medication. Aside from the bottle Lin Shan used on him before, there were still so many different kinds. Last time, she didn’t even notice.

Out of a bunch of bottles, Lian Feng chose one and threw it to Lin Shan.

“Why aren’t we using that one instead?” Lin Shan pointed to the bottle she used on Lian Feng last time.

“That one is too powerful. It will sting more.”

“Ohhh.” Lin Shan nodded. After catching the bottle with her good hand, she lifted her injured hand and opened the bottle cork with her mouth; she was about to apply it on herself by pouring it on her wound.

“Wait!” Fortunately, Lian Feng warned her. It appeared that he wanted to say something. Lian Feng noticed how Lin Shan had one injured hand raised, and the other holding the bottle. She definitely couldn’t apply the medication on herself. Thus, he took the bottle from her hand and said: “Sit down. I’ll help you.”

Lin Shan didn’t bother to object, as her hand was stinging too much. She tightly pressed her teeth together and obediently allowed Lian Feng to apply the medication on her. Seeing how serious his facial expressions were, it must be the first time he has helped someone other than himself to apply on medication. It looked as if he was trying to be extremely careful. From Lin Shan’s angle, although he had half a mask* on, she could still see his firm lips and thick eyelashes.

Are you kidding me? This guy’s eyelashes look too damn good. Definitely a 360 degrees of hotness. Lin Shan deeply sighed on the inside. All of a sudden, her palm felt a throbbing pain.

“Ahh! It hurts so much! I’m going to die from the pain!”

She hollered and tried to pull back her arm, but Lian Feng prevented her from doing so: “Stop moving!”

“But it’s too painful! I don’t want to apply on medicine! No more!” Lin Shan winced. She honestly couldn’t handle the pain. Suddenly, she recalled Lian Feng mentioning how the other bottle was even more painful. She couldn’t help be remember the slight tremble on Lian Feng’s back when she was applying the medication on him previously. At that time, he must have been in tremendous amounts of pain!

Due to Lian Feng’s forceful attitude, he managed to finish applying the medication on Lin Shan’s palm. However, by the time Lin Shan pulled her hand back, her eyes were all red and her nose was sniffing.

“If I knew it was so painful, I wouldn’t have applied medication. I’m going to die from the pain…”

Lian Feng had never seen a man react in such a way over something like this. He wanted to lecture Lin Shan, but seeing his watery eyes, he felt bad. Thus, he felt awkward because he didn’t know what to say.

As Lin Shan whined about the pain and blamed Lian Feng for being too rough, she continued chattering like no tomorrow. After awhile, her hand didn’t appear to hurt as much anymore. It was then she realized that she was the only one doing all the talking. Hence, she looked up at Lian Feng, and was puzzled.

“Why are you watching me?”

From the looks of it, Lian Feng had been fixedly staring at her for quite awhile. But the moment Lin Shan spoke, Lian Feng instantly pulled his sight away from her.

“Nothing….” Since he wore a mask, no one could see his expression. Suddenly, he stood up and said: “Prince Consort, it is getting late. You’re injured. Please return to rest.”

“But I just came!” Lin Shan refuted.

“Please leave, Prince Consort.”

“I….”

“Please!”

Lian Feng’s attitude was firm, and Lin Shan wasn’t able to refuse. However, she was confused and frustrated. He just helped me apply on medication, but now he’s kicking me out? Why did his face turn so fast? Yet, she couldn’t find an excuse to stay. After thinking for a moment, she glared at Lian Feng: “Fine! I’ll leave! You think you’re all that! Humph!” Lin Shan stormed out and slammed the door behind her.

As Lian Feng watched the door closed, beneath the mask his eyes revealed a turbulence of emotions.

*I’m assuming the mask covers half his face horizontally, and not vertically like Phantom of the Opera. lol

Previous Chapter Next Chapter