That man turned around and shook his folding fan at me: “Little girl, didn’t your sister tell you not to cause trouble in the streets long ago? If I hadn’t caught you today, I’m afraid I’d have no way to answer her again.”
After speaking, he smiled apologetically at the shop owner: “This is my little sister-in-law. She’s still young and not very bright, please forgive her.”
This man wore jade-colored robes with loose sashes, his hair flowing over his shoulders, with slanted bangs hanging to his shoulders, complementing his bright eyes and sparse brows. Holding a folding fan, he had a somewhat feminine air. However, his bearing was dignified and his manner extraordinary, without revealing the slightest trace of dandy airs.
Looking at his speech and behavior, he was an adult. Adults would let their hair down, and with black hair, he must be a foreign visitor. These days, there were more and more foreign visitors to our great Suozhao, though I wondered whether he was human or a demon.
However, no matter what he was, he intended to save me, so I quickly cooperated: “Brother-in-law? I don’t recognize you!”
Hearing this, the man gave the shop owner a “see?” look, took out a piece of amber from his waist, and handed it to the owner: “This should be enough.”
The shop owner held up the amber and looked at it against the light, seeing it was semi-transparent vermillion red, glowing radiantly like divine beast tears, with mountain and sea patterns and a pearl shell inside.
After repeated inspection, he confirmed it wasn’t a fake, quickly tucked it into his bosom with a look of never returning it even unto death: “Enough, enough, you can go now.”
That man led me away from the shop, then suddenly turned around, cupped his hands toward me, and smiled slightly: “This humble one is Lord Kaixuan, greetings to the Little Princess.”
I smiled too: “You believe I’m the Little Princess?”
“Two hundred years ago, I had the honor of drinking with your esteemed father. The Little Princess bears resemblance to King Yan Hua like a tiger guard to a court gentleman.”
“I see.” Having lived so long, he probably wasn’t human. I blinked and said, “Why can’t I see your demon form?”
Lord Kaixuan smiled: “This humble one is not a demon. Naturally, the Little Princess cannot see a demon form.”
“Then what are you?” This question seemed somewhat impolite, so I added, “With such a long lifespan, you’re naturally not a mortal.”
“This humble one was once mortal, so could be considered half-mortal. Besides, long-lived people do exist. Rather, Little Princess, leaving the palace alone at night, requires caution. Seeing you have no amber on you, please take some with you.” He pulled out several pieces of amber and handed them to me.
“So, amber is money?” I held it up, examining it from all angles for a while.
“In Suozhao, it indeed is money. Look at this one.” Lord Kaixuan took out a blackish amber, oval-shaped, about the size of a fingernail. “See, this is weng amber, with nothing inside, this size is worth one drum.”
This was truly educational. It turned out amber was ranked by value from low to high in four main types: weng amber, blood amber, flower amber, and yi amber. The patterns inside included shells, flowers and grass, stone and wood, mountains, seas, and beast eyes to distinguish denominations. The amber Lord Kaixuan had given the shop owner was blood amber with shells and mountain-sea patterns, worth four hundred drums. Most amber was made by the Treasury Department using magic to condense tree resin, except for yi amber, the “leader of all ambers,” formed from yi bird eyes, which ordinary families had never even seen.
Actually, when Father King discussed politics with officials, I had heard him instruct the Treasury Department about making amber, but at the time I thought amber was like ordinary jade jewelry, never imagining this thing was the legendary money. I studied the amber for a while, originally wanting to ask more questions, when a voice sounded behind me: “Luowei.”
I shrank my neck and timidly turned around: “Brother…”
I expected a torrent of scolding, but unexpectedly Fu Chenzhi let out a great sigh of relief, propping one hand against the wall, breathing slightly heavily: “Finally found you. I thought you’d been taken away by bad people again…”
His reaction reminded me of childhood events. But I firmly refused to apologize, because he hadn’t been gentle at all just now. I said, “Being taken away by bad people would be better than staying to be scolded by you.”
He smiled bitterly: “I know, I won’t scold you anymore. Stay close to me and don’t run around alone.”
Finally defeating my brother once, my heart was indescribably pleased. He reached over to pull me, but touched the fur ball in my arms. The tiger cub stuck out its head and warily pushed away his hand. Fu Chenzhi said, “Where did you get this little tiger?”
“I bought it from the tiger cub shop.” I petted its head. “I’ve decided to take it back to the palace and raise it.”
“This tiger has wings, probably not an ordinary wild beast. I think we should consider this carefully.”
“No, I’ve already decided to take it back. Since I decided to buy it, I must take responsibility. Isn’t that right, Xuanyue?”
“Don’t casually name animals, once named you can’t abandon them…” Fu Chenzhi paused here. “Wait, you didn’t bring money today, how could you buy this tiger cub?”
“Ah, just now there was someone who helped me…” I pointed behind me, wanting to introduce Lord Kaixuan to Fu Chenzhi, but Lord Kaixuan’s figure was already gone from behind me. Looking toward the dark alleys and crowds, I couldn’t find him either. I murmured, “Strange, he was just here.”
Fu Chenzhi seemed to completely ignore my words: “Tell the truth. Which shop did you steal the tiger from? I’ll go pay for it.”
I twitched the corner of my mouth and clenched my fists: “On your last night in Suozhao, must you fight me to the death to be happy?”
In the end, this matter was left unresolved. After that, we took Xuanyue to a teahouse to rest, writing the repentance letter while eating a late-night snack. Fu Chenzhi had beautiful handwriting, but could also imitate mine perfectly, so this so-called “us copying the repentance letter” was just him writing while I ate and watched.
Two half-grown children and a winged tiger appearing in such a place, the three of us received quite a lot of attention.
I had to admit, when my royal brother was serious, he was truly handsome, especially when he seriously helped me take the blame.
Dishes were served one after another. Seeing him so focused, I picked up some sour plum pastry with chopsticks and brought it to his mouth. He turned his head away and refused to eat. So I ate the sour plum pastry myself. After a while, my favorite Su Lian cake arrived. I picked up a piece for Fu Chenzhi, but he had the same reaction. So Xuanyue and I swept away all the Su Lian cakes.
Next came crystal bamboo shoot dumplings, acacia soup, and Niushou Mountain mandarin duck soup, but he wouldn’t eat any of them.
Indeed, my royal brother was still like a child, having no particular preferences in food. Whenever everyone had hearty appetites enjoying delicacies, he always looked cold and indifferent, eating until seven-tenths full, then putting down his chopsticks, unlike other children who wolfed down food. This made many young ladies’ hearts flutter secretly, and made Father King give him a thumbs up: “This child has few desires and hides his talents; he will surely achieve great things.”
Finally, seeing that we had ordered many dishes, the proprietor gave us a complimentary plate of pulled goat milk sweet dates.
This was what I liked least to eat, because it truly lived up to its name, wrapped in layer upon layer of syrup, goat milk, and sweet dates, with goat milk, syrup, and candy at the center of the sweet dates. It could be called Suozhao’s sweetest pastry. How sweet were these pulled goat milk sweet dates? Ordinary people’s expressions after eating them were often more contorted than after eating lemons. Therefore, they were beloved by two or three-year-old children.
I glanced sideways at Xuanyue, thinking it was also a milk baby, and picked up a piece to stuff in its mouth. Who knew, it opened its small mouth, didn’t even chew once, and pushed it out with its tongue, shaking the fur on its head in disorder, looking very tormented.
Seeing fierce light in its bright, big eyes, I couldn’t help but sigh that my taste was really fine—even Xuanyue despised it. Then an evil thought flashed by. I picked up a piece of pulled goat milk sweet date and brought it to Fu Chenzhi’s mouth.
That sickeningly sweet smell floated in the air, and I could almost see my royal brother pinching his nose in agony. I wanted to laugh out loud. Who knew Fu Chenzhi would tilt his head slightly, eat it, and even savor it with relish. Savoring it was one thing, but that face that never showed emotion revealed a trace of what could be called happiness.
I stared at him, dumbfounded—could this be the truth behind Fu Chenzhi’s lack of appetite?
To confirm what I was seeing, I secretly stuffed another pulled goat milk sweet date to him. He seemed not to notice what he was eating, and while chewing his mouth corners even lifted slightly, writing even more seriously.
Now even Xuanyue raised its little head, staring dumbfounded showing a mouthful of tiger teeth, with an expression of admiration. But he was extremely focused, and only when a whole plate of dates was finished did he realize there was no more food, turning his head to look at me in confusion.
“There’s… there’s no more…” I was so surprised I was somewhat tongue-tied. “If you want more, I can order some for you…”
“What did you give me to eat?”
After I honestly reported the pastry’s name, the air seemed to freeze for a moment. Fu Chenzhi looked embarrassed: “Actually, the taste was ordinary, your brother was just a bit hungry.”
This “your brother” sounded both distant and incredibly intimate. Whenever Fu Chenzhi said the opposite of what he meant, he would call himself “your brother.”
For example, when I called him to secretly sneak out of Suozhao to play as children, he said: “Your brother thinks this idea is good, your brother will come find you later.” Then he brought Mother Queen.