Legend of Fu Yao

Meng Fuyao turned around to face a hopeful Feng Wu, then looked at Zhangsun Wuji questioningly. Zhangsun Wuji merely smiled lightly and whispered into her ear, “Scoundrels will always fall under King Meng’s hand.”

Every time he whispered into her ear, his voice was always husky and slightly wavering, making goosebumps erupt all over Meng Fuyao and making her feel soft. She hurriedly moved aside and glared at him, then at Feng Wu again. Thinking about how his beloved wife was missing, all alone with nothing but the sorrow of losing his wife and having to sell cooked vegetables on a fishing boat and even offering them a huge feast just to request for their help, Meng Fuyao couldn’t help but think it was rather pitiable for a prince to end up in this state.

No, a better way to put it was, as a royal member of Xuanji, this was way too miserable…

After a while, Meng Fuyao muttered, “Since things have already turned out this way…” She turned around and said, “Your Highness, I will remember your words. I advise you not to remain here as a chef anymore, conceal your identity, and look for my subordinates and follow them back to the capital. If you’re lucky, you might meet Hua Yan, the Hua family still has at least some influence.”

She handed him a basket and said, “This is a mask after you’ve disguised yourself, head to the walls between Mianyong and Xian City and wait there, I’ll arrange for someone to take you back to the capital.”

Feng Wu hurriedly thanked her and pulled out a small bamboo tube. “Little Master Tang requested me to bring this to King Meng,” he said.

Meng Fuyao glanced at him with an unreadable expression and thought, ‘Utter nonsense.’ If she didn’t offer to help him, he wouldn’t give it to her, would he?

She received the tube but did not open it and said, “Where’s the third dish?”

Feng Wu was taken aback; he didn’t expect that up to this point, this woman did not forget to eat and remained so laidback. How did she achieve all those feats in the past?

Feng Wu could only begin preparing soup, earnestly filling the table with dishes in an attempt to appease the two before the table, as well as Lord Yuan Bao. Meng Fuyao and Lord Yuan Bao immediately launched themselves at the table and began devouring the food, but Zhangsun Wuji picked at each dish indifferently, then put down his chopsticks and sighed. “I still think that the first two dishes were the best…”

Meng Fuyao glared at him from the corner of her eye. ‘The food isn’t the best, rather the way of eating suits your taste the most, right?’

After eating, Meng Fuyao wiped her mouth and pointed at the final dish of assorted stir-fried vegetables. Laughing, she said, “This is akin to the royal members of Xuanji, a bundle stuck together, yet each having their distinguishable color. There’s only one way to tackle them.”

She lifted the plate and finished the dish with Lord Yuan Bao. Feng Wu still didn’t get what she meant and asked her, to which she promptly replied, “Stir-fry them in one wok!”

After finishing the food, she dragged Zhangsun Wuji and left. However, Feng Wu suddenly remembered something and ran after them. “How do you two intend to change your route?”

The two of them turned around and, smiling, replied in unison:

“Continue touring!”

“Why stop the fun?” Meng Fuyao lay down lazily on the boat and burped.

“Does Feng Wu really think that the other princes and princesses wouldn’t know just because he was selling vegetables on a boat? Once Feng Wu leaves, even though the Xuanji royal family is not too sure of our location, they will definitely know that he has spoken to us and think that we would change our route… Well, I refuse to change, I refuse to go another way!”

“Yes, yes, you refuse to go another way, the princes and princesses of Xuanji don’t know that our great King Meng is naturally born stubborn, refusing to budge until she hits a wall.”

Meng Fuyao tilted her head and smiled at the fellow faking his sleep. “Comrade, it seems as if you have some opinions against me?”

“I daren’t, I daren’t,” Zhangsun Wuji smiled faintly. “I’ve heard that all those who had opinions against you are all dead now.”

Meng Fuyao snorted and flattened herself on the deck. Staring at the fluffy clouds against the blue sky, and listening to the faint flow of water, she said, “Talking about life and death during such a great moment is truly doing a disservice to the scenery…”

“What did Little Master Tang say to you in that bamboo tube?”

“A very strange and suspicious statement, just four words,” Meng Fuyao replied.

“Lord Yama greets you.”

Zhangsun Wuji chuckled and said, “What kind of message is that.”

“I’m afraid it’s nothing good,” Meng Fuyao said. “I suspect that the person that the princes and princesses sent is very complex. Not only did they hope to kill us and instigate a three-nation war to seize the throne, but they would also replace the old emperor with a new one if need be. None of them have good intentions, and the two of us seem to have become the target of the entire nation of Xuanji, everyone’s taking turns to take a swing of their sword at us, ah… I’m tired just thinking about it.”

“Since we’ve already been swept into this and every step we take is dangerous, we might as well keep moving forward,” Zhangsun Wuji said mildly. “In the game of politics, retreating and hiding may not be useful sometimes.”

“I want to ask you one question.” Meng Fuyao moved over and leaned over Zhangsun Wuji. “When you said that your junior sister saved Lotus, were you speaking the truth or not?”

Zhangsun Wuji opened his eyes and smiled slightly at the forehead in front of him. Pulling Meng Fuyao onto his chest, he said, “One kiss and I’ll tell you.”

“You never forget to take advantage at any time, you lecherous wolf!” Meng Fuyao cursed. She scrambled around to get up, but the boat suddenly swayed, and she fell down again into Zhangsun Wuji’s welcoming bosom. Zhangsun Wuji flicked his finger, and a gold leaf fell silently beside the boat lady’s feet.

The boat lady ecstatically picked it up and beamed; this was a good deal!

Zhangsun Wuji gently kissed Meng Fuyao’s forehead, not intending to go any further. Letting go of her contentedly, he said, “Tai Yan was deliberately trying to anger me. I’ve already asked around when I went back previously, although she was there, she didn’t save Lotus.”

“Then, she’s dead?”

“That’s when the problem arises,” Zhangsun Wuji said. “At that time, Tai Yan didn’t know the truth and only saw Lotus getting “robbed,” hence, she tried to save her. After sealing the memory of the fake robber, she turned around, and Lotus was gone.”

“Gone?” Meng Fuyao was shocked. “How can a fully grown human being disappear right under Tai Yan’s eyes?”

“Tai Yan was enraged at the time as well, so after finding out the truth, she came to look for me.” Zhangsun Wuji’s eyebrows tightened together slightly as he gave an exasperated laugh.

“Sigh…” Meng Fuyao sighed deeply, not saying anything else.

Suddenly, she felt her body shake, and she sat up immediately, turning around only to see the boat shaking and beginning to sink.

Someone had created a hole in the hull of the boat underwater.

The boat lady rushed over frantically, slapping her oars against her thighs and wailing, “How cruel are the water ghouls! Didn’t I already pay you?”

Meng Fuyao initially thought that the perpetrator was after the two of them and was pondering over the ability of these people to find them so quickly. However, after hearing the boat lady, she dragged Zhangsun Wuji towards the canopy of the boat and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Do you two know how to swim? Hurry up and leave, now’s not the time to be talking!” The boat lady threw aside the oars tearfully and tied all the money on the boat to her waist.

Meng Fuyao sighed and said, “This is the inescapable fate of falling into the water…”

She turned around to see numerous boats coming towards them, all of them black boats with red flags, and the people on the boats were all brandishing sabers and sounding their drums.

The sound of the drums traveled far over the surface of the water, and Meng Fuyao shouted, “Let’s head to that boat together, the early spring weather is cold, and it’s not a joking matter to catch a chill.”

“We can’t go there, we can’t go there!” The boat lady turned to look at the boat, and her expression looked as if she had seen a ghost as she stuttered, “Those are the Lishui Gang, they raise their flags to kill the water god, no wonder my boat was destroyed. If I’d known earlier, I wouldn’t have come out… Don’t go there, this is their most important ceremony of welcoming spring, they’ll use you as an offering!”

After finishing her speech, the boat was left with just the tip, and the boat lady launched herself into the water. Meng Fuyao, Zhangsun Wuji, and Tie Cheng stood atop the floating canopy as she reached out and picked up a piece of rope, then threw it towards the large boat.

The long rope flew in a straight line and secured itself firmly on the side of the boat. Meng Fuyao was about to pull herself against it when the flash of a saber could be seen on the boat, and the rope was cut.

Meng Fuyao’s eyebrow twitched as she retracted the rope and kicked the side of the canopy and tread onto the water, flying as she swung the rope towards them with tremendous force!

Bam!

The wet rope ripped across the still water like a steel whip, creating a wall of water in its trail as it landed heavily on the boat!

Kacha—

A loud cracking noise could be heard as the wood was struck with this ferocious whip. The boat buckled, and a huge hole appeared on the deck as it began to sink.

The men on the boat shouted alarmedly, desperately calling for help, and there was a flurry of activity on the boat. “Get to the other boat!” Someone’s shout could be heard faintly.

“We’ve already begun the ceremony, we can’t stop it midway!”

“Push him off!”

Whoosh!

Meng Fuyao heard the sound of running water as if something heavy had been pushed off.

From her angle, she wasn’t able to see what they had pushed off, neither did she try to save it. She stood on the canopy of the boat, smiling coldly as she watched the boat slowly collect water and begin to sink, then at the people on board frantically sliding into another boat. She waited for another moment, her eyebrows knitting together.

She heard a splash beside her as Tie Cheng jumped into the water and started swimming towards the thing that was pushed off earlier.

Meng Fuyao turned to look at Zhangsun Wuji and said, “This child, always so rash.”

The two of them looked at each other and smiled. The first three people could see that the offering was a human, and after the boat was split apart, Meng Fuyao was wary of traps; hence, she waited for a moment. However, the person did not resurface, so it seemed like this was real.

She watched as Tie Cheng saved the person and began swimming towards the second boat, then together with Zhangsun Wuji, she flew to the second boat. This time, nobody tried to stop her; a single whip could destroy the entire boat, this person was not to be trifled with.