Chapter 5: First Encounter with Shen Fu

“Yo, Mr. Baige, why are you so careless?” Shen Fu said gleefully, holding his shoulders.

Chu Baige was lost in thought about how strong Ruyi’s martial arts were. Hearing her voice, he stood up and asked, “Why are you here?”

Shen Fu replied playfully, “I should be asking you that! No one in the world knows that I, Shen Shuangdao, and the Miss Ruyi are confidants. And you, an old man, are out here in the middle of the night instead of staying home to look at Ruyi’s window?”

Chu Baige felt a bit downcast and asked, “Is this Miss Ruyi’s boudoir?”

Shen Fu responded, “It should be.”

Chu Baige pressed, “Where is the Miss Ruyi?”

Shen Fu replied, “It’s not a coincidence that you came; she just left when I opened the window.”

Chu Baige’s face suddenly fell. “Ah—”

Shen Fu said, “Ah what? If you want to see her, you can go to the lobby. Anyway, she is having a literary meeting at the moment, and everyone who participates can see her.”

“I…”

He hadn’t come to meet the Miss Ruyi; he had obviously come to look for Shen Fu. Seeing Shen Fu squinting at him with suspicion, Chu Baige immediately sat down at the table and poured himself a glass of water, treating himself as if he were at home.

The water was very cold, and he shivered as he drank it. “Hiss, this water is so refreshing!”

Shen Fu looked at him suspiciously. “It was still hot when I drank it just now.”

“In this weather, how long have you just eaten? The buns in the bun shop were still hot when they were brought out this morning. If you try them now, you’re guaranteed to find a bite of ice.”

“This is not the capital. How can it be so exaggerated?” Shen Fu couldn’t argue with Chu Baige and forgot the suspicion that had just flashed in her mind. Maybe she really remembered it wrong; she was just too thirsty to recall whether the water was hot or cold.

Chu Baige looked at Shen Fu with an unfortunate expression. “You don’t know how much I’ve gone through to meet the Miss Ruyi today.”

Shen Fu found it strange. The painting boat of Ruyi Tower was not a big place, and it shouldn’t be difficult for someone with Chu Baige’s lightness of foot to get here. Yet he had arrived long after she did.

“It’s really maddening! You said I’m a scholar who doesn’t steal or rob, earning a living by selling calligraphy and painting. I don’t know who I’ve provoked, but just when I ran to the painting boat, a man in black suddenly jumped out and started beating me!” Chu Baige gritted his teeth. “Pity me, a scholar with no power to bind a chicken. If it hadn’t been for some legwork, he almost ruined this handsome face.”

Shen Fu teased, “Could it be that one of your enemies has long had it in for you? I didn’t expect you to encounter them on the Qinhuai River, thinking it was a good day to beat up a scholar, not to fight for nothing?”

“Go, go, go!” Chu Baige said. “Where do I have any enemies? I am loved by everyone! When flowers bloom, everyone must respectfully call me Mr. Baige.” He prolonged his tone, showing a suspicious expression at Shen Fu. “Wait, I won’t suffer for you, will I?”

“I, Shen Shuangdao, am upright. Where would the enemies come from?” Shen Fu didn’t believe his nonsense. “Go to the front lobby if you want to see Ruyi. It’s nothing to stay in a girl’s boudoir.”

With that, she turned and jumped out of the window.

Chu Baige had come to Ruyi Lou for fun too, but he didn’t have to meet the Miss Ruyi. Seeing that Shen Fu was gone, he hurriedly threw down the teacup and chased after her. “Wait for me!”

Both of them were agile and jumped off the bow with ease. They tapped their toes lightly on the water, and their bodies floated out a long distance like duckweed.

Seeing that Shen Fu was about to leave the Qinhuai River, Chu Baige hurriedly called out, “Shen Fu, where are you going?”

Shen Fu rolled her eyes. “I’m going to the mansion of the prefect of Jinling to borrow some change. Do you want to come?”

Chu Baige asked, “Why did you get the idea of the Jinling prefect? He is a good official with a good reputation.”

Shen Fu inquired, “Where did you hear of this good name?”

Chu Baige replied, “Naturally from the elders. My father once praised him vigorously, saying that if everyone in this world were as clean and capable as the Jinling prefect, he would certainly be able to return the people to a clean government.”

“The news I heard is exactly the opposite of what you said.”

“What did you hear?”

Although Chu Baige disliked the Chu family, he was very convinced of his father and didn’t think he would lie to him.

Shen Fu said, “I heard people say that he—”

“Is corrupt and engages in bribery, colluding inside and out, seeking glory and betraying the country!”

After speaking, her tone was filled with an awe-inspiring murderous aura!

…

“Your Highness, it’s late at night. Please go to sleep.”

Holding a qin like a shadow, Baoqin quietly walked out of the darkness, approached her master, and reminded her softly.

Zhao Qin, who was immersed in official duties, raised her head and looked at the burning candle, noticing that most of it had already melted.

She squeezed her eyebrows, put down the pen in her hand, took the tea that Baoqin handed over, sipped it, and then asked, “What news has come?”

Baoqin knew who she was asking about.

She whispered, “Back to Your Highness, Miss Shen has already arrived in Jinling, and Mr. Baige, Chu Baige, is her companion. She is staying at Liang’s restaurant tonight and ate the eight-treasure duck, the signature dish of the restaurant.” She hesitated, unsure whether to continue.

“What else? Let’s hear it all.”

Holding the qin, Zhao Qin looked down gently and whispered, “A message just came in from a carrier pigeon, saying that Miss Shen had gone to Ruyi Tower and met Miss Ruyi. The two spent about a cup of tea in the room.”

“Miss Ruyi…” Zhao Qin’s eyelashes trembled slightly, making it hard to see her expression. Baoqin only heard her chuckle, her tone cold. “Her confidants are everywhere…”

Holding the qin, Baoqin dared not speak, standing like a puppet.

Regarding the matters between Shen Fu and Zhao Qin, she was naturally curious. Especially since she had been with the princess for four or five years, it was the first time she had seen anyone care so much about her.

She couldn’t forget the hoarse voice of her Highness when she knocked on the door that day. She couldn’t forget the hickey she saw on Zhao Qin’s neck when she served her in the bath that day.

You see, although Zhao Qin has been rumored to be extremely unbearable by the outside world, as her personal maid, Baoqin knew her very well. She understood how serious her master’s cleanliness was. Everyone else who touched her risked losing a hand, let alone being close to her body.

She didn’t dare to ask or even speculate; she could only bury this astonishing discovery deep in her heart.

After receiving news of Shen Fu from Baoqin, Zhao Qin’s mood became inexplicably irritable. She walked out of the study, into the courtyard, and looked up at the sky.

The stars tonight were beautiful, twinkling under the night sky.

Inexplicably, she thought of when she first saw Shen Fu.

When she first encountered Shen Fu, she was only ten years old. At that time, she was not the eldest princess but merely the queen’s daughter, a dispensable princess.

Her father was seriously ill, and she was sent to Shenxian Mountain, aptly named as a place to pray for the first emperor.

Sending a girl who grew up in a palace of fine clothes and jade food to the Shenxian Mountain, where she would sleep and live in the breeze, was something only her mother, the queen, would do for the sake of a virtuous name.

She didn’t care whether Zhao Qin could accept such a sudden change or adapt to such a life, as long as she won the praise of the world and the love of the emperor. Sacrificing a daughter—what was it?

Before Zhao Qin, countless daughters had sacrificed for the Zhao Kingdom.

In comparison, Zhao Qin was considered the lucky one among the Zhao princesses. Although her life was a bit harder, she was not like her sisters, who were either married off to old men older than their fathers, or were married to a grassland where people were said to eat raw meat and drink blood, or given as gifts to certain tribes in the deep mountains, regardless of whether the other party took the princess as a wife or as a source of food.

As long as it was for the peace of the Zhao Kingdom, these royal women had to be sent to various places like gifts.

And there was nothing wrong with Shenxian Mountain.

Although there were no servants to attend to her, she lived with the Taoist priests of Shenxian Temple, practicing self-cultivation and self-sufficiency, with occasional supplies from the royal family. Aside from material conditions, life was actually easier than in the palace.

At least she didn’t have to worry about being dragged by her mother in the middle of the night to soak in cold water, just to attract the emperor, who was lingering with other favored concubines. She didn’t have to be careful when eating, fearing that hidden poison was concealed in her delicacies.

She could pursue her own interests and learn everything she could touch.

The Taoist Master was very tolerant of her; she didn’t have to act like a princess.

The only downside was that she was lonely.

It was a kind of loneliness that no one could understand.

In the palace, she didn’t have time to be alone because she was surrounded by predatory jackals. She couldn’t even live freely, let alone indulge in sentimentality. But in the mountains, when she was alone, this loneliness was a thousand times worse.

Under this starry sky, the world was so vast, yet she felt utterly alone.

Zhao Qin always felt that Shen Fu was a gift from heaven.

She had gone up the mountain at the age of six and spent three years on Shenxian Mountain.

Initially, the Taoist priests valued her safety very much. Later, they saw her outstanding talent. After learning martial arts, she made rapid progress. Normal men were no match for her. Even the beasts in the mountains couldn’t catch her; she would run freely, just remembering not to miss mealtime.

Zhao Qin didn’t like staying in the view; she always felt it wasn’t her home.

She found a small cave in Shenxian Mountain and established her secret base.

Then, one afternoon, when she rushed to the cave, she saw Shen Fu appearing before her as if she had fallen from the sky.

The little girl was only four years old.

She was wearing a prison shirt, with marks from branches all over her body, and a conspicuous strangulation mark on her wrist.

She looked chubby, her arms and legs like lotus roots—white and tender. Her round face was dirty, but it couldn’t hide the brightness of her black and white eyes.

As if destined, when Zhao Qin saw her for the first time, a word came out of her heart—

This person is mine.

—

Author’s Note: Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or contributed nutrient solutions from 2020-02-22 21:17:12 to 2020-02-23 20:50:20.

Thanks to the little angel who contributed nutrient solutions: no beauty, 1 bottle.

Thank you very much for your support; I will continue to work hard!