Chapter 53: Jing City (2)

"Mi-" the Vice-Manager stopped in the middle of his address and looked over questioningly at Rong Jian standing behind Shen Tianyu.

Shen Tianyu casually waved her hand. "It's fine."

The Vice-Manager straightened up before he salute her with a bow. "Miss, it's an honor to have you visit us in Jing City. What business do you have here? I, Song Chen, will help to the utmost of my abilities."

"Nothing much. I'm just travelling. Since I was here in Jing City, I thought I'd stay here during my stay." Shen Tianyu replied.

"Of course. This way." Song Chen gestured to them and led the way.

The three followed behind him. On the third floor, they were each assigned a room. As usual, Shen Tianyu got the Birds of Paradise room, Luo Shue got the Daisy room, and Rong Jian got the Carnation room. After being shown to their rooms, Shen Tianyu brought up meeting the manager and the three followed Song Chen's lead down to the Office. The set-up for the Lavender Palace in Jing City was virtually the same as the one in Nangzhou's capital city.

When Rong Jian commented on that, Song Chen explained. "The... Palace Master decided it that way so things wouldn't get complicated and partially because it would take up time and energy to redesign every new branch of Lavender Palace, which would push back opening dates."

'In other words, he was too lazy.' Rong Jian silently commented.

When they arrived in front of the office, Song Chen knocked and announced Shen Tianyu's arrival. The Manager inside let them in and they seated themselves. Song Chen stood next to the table the Manager sat at. Rong Jian sate beside Shen Tianyu , while Luo Shue sat opposite them.

"Yo, it's been a while. How's business doing?" Shen Tianyu asked.

"Quite well. Miss, this man is...?" The Manager asked.

"This is Rong Jian. He's..." Shen Tianyu paused, not knowing what she should call him.

"I'm her fiancee!" Rong Jian interjected.

Shen Tianyu blushed. "You idiot! Don't just announce it so easily like that! Such an embarrassment!"

"How can it be an embarrassment to be this Young Master's fiancee!" Rong Jian puffed up his chest.

"You have such a thick face, how come I didn't know this?" Shen Tianyu tugged on his ear.

"Aiyah, wifey, don't tug on my ear like that! You're going to rip it off! I'm sorry!" Rong Jian apologized and was let go.

Shen Tianyu cleared her throat. "The man sitting over there at the desk is Long Zichen, the Manager of the Lavender Palace in Jing City. The one standing next to him is Song Chen, the Vice-Manager. Even though they're like this, they're actually close friends." She gestured at the strict air where the two were.

"Miss, let's not talk about that." Long Zichen spoke up for the first time. He was also an elegant man, but unlike Song Chen, had a strict air about him and a stiff face. If one were to call Song Chen the son from a scholar family, Long Zichen would be a Minister in the Ministry of Defense that fought his way there from nothing, if not the Head Minister himself.

"Eh? Why not? It's not false, is it?" She then turned to Rong Jian since Luo Shuie already knows all this. "Even though he has a stiff face, he's a good leader, you know. He listens to everyone's opinions before making a decision."

"Miss, all the Managers do that." Long Zichen interjected again.

"But you were the one to set the first precedent." Shen Tianyu replied. She then got up and stretched. "Well, now that we've said our 'hello', we'll retire. I'll come out to play a song this evening."

Rong Jian and Luo Shue followed her leave and left.

...

The next day, the three decided to come out again around noon to look around the city.

"As expected, Wifey is the best. The standing ovation was so loud, you could hear it all the way from the Imperial Palace!" Rong Jian praised Shen Tianyu's performance last night.

"You exaggerate, it wasn't that good. I'm sure there are many much better than me." She replied.

She chatted with rong Jian as they walked down the main street. Luo Shue was somewhere else, she had asked an attendant at Lavender Palace to guide her to the Medicine Hall just before they went out. Now it was just the two of them, as if Luo Shue let them go by themselves on a date. Though, as long as Shen Tianyu didn't think about the fact that they were now engaged, she would be able to act normally even if it was just the two of them.

The two saw a carriage coming from afar and proceeded to walk to the side with the rest of the crowd, to let the carriage through.

"Xiao Qing! Where are you going?!" They heard a woman yell from the other side of the street. It was a middle-aged woman yelling anxiously at a little boy running across the empty street. By this point, the carriage was barreling along the middle of the street. The sides of the carriage were decorated with three-clawed dragons and off-red phoenixes, a royal carriage. More precisely, the carriage of one of the relatives of the direct Imperial line. They were more like cousins to the princes and such.

In all the continents, the traditions of the Imperial Family were the same. Only the Emperor was permitted to use the five-clawed golden dragon. And only the Empress could use the full-colored Fenghuang (1), or phoenix, with it's red body and seven-colored tail feathers. The princes were only permitted to use four-clawed dragons and the princesses used a fully red Fenghuang with red tail feathers. Extended family members, like brothers to the rulers or cousins could only use the three-clawed dragon for the males and off-red Fenghuang for the females. High officials that were permitted to use the dragon symbol, such as capable prime ministers and generals, could only use a two-clawed dragon.

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Wen_Yue

I'm putting up the new cover tomorrow for the New Year's in case you were wondering.

1: Fenghuang= Chinese version of the phoenix. Was originally male & female but merged somewhere down the historical line. Some European called it a phoenix when he saw it so the English translation has become "Phoenix". In reality, it's considered a different creature but because it was originally so obscure, it has been more or less fully assimilated into the English "Phoenix".

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