Book 15: Chapter 32
Tianjin’s Closest Prince is the Colour of the Sky
After teaching him the three techniques just twice, Lord Zi was able to perform them with respectable power. He enjoyed it even though he was just shadow boxing. He was plenty qualified to be a successor.
He’s been calling me Shifu all this time… How about I use this edict on him?
Of course, I wasn’t going to hold back on using the edict for as long as possible as I needed it for protection.
“Lord Zi is glad you’re willing to teach him martial arts.”
General Manager Bai and I sat next to each other, unsure what to say since it had been a while, until Lord Zi’s training gave her a prompt to start a conversation.
“He would’ve called me ‘Shifu’ so many times for nothing otherwise, right?”
“When are you going to do something about your arrogance?”
I stroked my chin as if I had a beard. “That punch was too low. Don’t slack on details.”
General Manager Bai nearly raised her hand at me, while Lord Zi responded in earnest, making it impossible not to laugh.
“You seem to be in high spirits despite the capital being in uproar and you getting kidnapped. I guess everything worked out in the end?”
That was an easy topic to get me talking. It wasn’t as if we never saw each other in between, but we were busy ever since travelling to Jiangnan with His Majesty, so there was plenty to talk about. We were sitting at a small teahouse outside the imperial court, so I wasn’t worried about not being able to leave. Strangely, the two of them didn’t seem pressed for time, either. I could understand Lord Zi preferring to have fun outside the palace, not to mention how rich his family was, but General Manager Bai was a eunuch. Of course, she might’ve just returned to the capital and had no arrangements in place yet. It was common for servants to opt to wait outside the palace when they travelled with their master. It was odd in General Manager Bai’s case because she had a strong sense of duty and took pride in serving the imperial family. I just didn’t ask as I was enjoying my momentous story-telling session.
I exaggerated my peril in the underground palace ten folds and my highlights twenty folds. The enemies contributed thirty more times than they actually did. It got to a point where even I worried lightning would strike me down, yet General Manager Bai listened to me with a smile the entire time, never interrupting besides the few illogical things I said that prompted her to say, “You certainly know how to blow your own trumpet.” We finished several teapots, and Lord Zi learned another six techniques and had moved on to contemplating how to connect them.
One reason I told such a long story was because it’d been ages since we caught up, so I wanted to have a good catch up. The other reason was to avoid another silence between us. Conversation required two engaged individuals, but she was the type who seldom spoke about herself, always putting others first. If you were asking me, she definitely didn’t hate conversation. More than likely, she was lonely considering she didn’t have many friends in the imperial palace, and Lord Zi was still a child. She wouldn’t talk about herself if I didn’t tell her everything about myself first.
“You and Lord Zi are practically glued together. You left the capital together and returned together?”
Although General Manager Bai looked uncomfortable speaking about herself for a moment, she got over it and smiled. “Yes. We just returned to the palace not long ago, and we just had an audience with His Majesty and Brilliant Consort. I cannot be absent for too long considering the workload in the palace.”
It sounded to me as though General Manager Bai deliberately emphasised “in the palace”, but that made me wonder why she was staying outside the palace. I didn’t press her, nonetheless, since she didn’t sound willing to talk about it.
“If there was something important, would you dare to ask?”
“Why not? You just have to pick what to answer.”
General Manager Bai gave me a glare. Whenever she blinked her big eyes, she’d inadvertently come off as beautiful. Though Boss had a laid back and gruff personality, she had a sweet appearance. Princess Hongzhuang was the true heroine. Lass Yu only appeared tough thanks to her height. In reality, she was pure, but she was undeniably pretty. Young Shiyi was universally acclaimed as the epitome of perfection even in the eyes of the pickiest people. General Manager Bai was 30% naïve and 70% charming. Her hand-sized face and big eyes could bring men to their knees without her trying. She had an innate ability to make men want to protect her with her appearance alone. If we were talking about born charming, General Manager Bai took the crown. Had she not met with Brilliant Consort, she probably would’ve suffered as a woman.
“What?”𝘣𝘦𝘥𝑛𝘰𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝘯𝘦𝘵
“Nothing. Just researching. Where were we?”
General Manager Bai looked at me as if I was a weird before continuing, “I went home.”
“You have family in Luoyang?”
General Manager Bai laughed. “When did I ever say I have family in Luoyang? I never said I went to Luoyang, either. I went to Tianjin.”
Tianjin and Beiping were neighbours. It was a half-a-day journey to reach Tianjin from the capital. It was surprising since she had the accent of someone from the south, yet her family was located in the north.
“Wait, aren’t you…”
“Yes, I entered the imperial palace from childhood. My family perished in a famine during my childhood. I encountered Brilliant Consort Her Majesty while fleeing, and she took me in until now. However, my hometown is in Tianjin. I accompanied Lord Zi to Luoyang, so I made a trip back while I was there to visit Shifu, as well.”
I was under the assumption that General Manager Bai learnt her martial arts from the imperial palace rather than someone outside.
“My shifu taught me while visiting the capital but doesn’t reside in the capital.”
Smiling, I asked, “I still don’t know who you shifu is. Do you mind sharing the name of your great shifu?”
“He is great, but he doesn’t like outsiders who he is. He refers to himself as Daoist Yin so I’ve called him Shifu Yin. Hmm? What’s the matter? Why do you look unwell?”