บท 73: Heavenly Jade pavilion

Lory was enjoying the moment when she heard a loud gong as flower petals fell from the sky. People pointed to the sky in amazement. Lory lifted the curtains and look outside out of curiosity but the crowd was too thick for her to see anything. Zhao Li Xin stood up too as he worried she would fall in the river.

"What's going on?" The flower petals were still falling from the sky. Lory grabbed a petal and she sniffed it. It was a rose petal. She felt sad that the flowers were being used in such a manner. The person must have plucked many roses to make the flowers rain like they were.

"It's a cheap trick from the Heavenly Jade Pavilion," Zhao Li Xin was annoyed. The day was filled with disturbance.

"What kinda sect is that?" Lory was curious.

"The conceited kinda sect…" Zhao Li Xin said with indifference.

"Oh…" Lory nodded as her eyes glinted with mischief. "Let's see what they are up to!"

Zhao Li Xin stifled, "You want to?"

Lory nodded like a woodpecker. Zhao Li Xin placed a gold tail on the table, lifted Lory like a princess, and leaped out of the boat. Lory was already used to him carrying her and wasn't surprised by his actions. She held Zhao Li Xin's neck in comfort until they smoothly landed on the side of the canal.

Zhao Li Xin put her down carefully and held Lory's hand tightly. He had a hunch she would run into the crowd by herself out of curiosity. He couldn't risk her getting lost. If Lory knew Zhao Li Xin's thoughts, she would have been offended. A dog could find it ways home and so could she especially since she used to travel around the country.

It was a good thing Lory didn't know what he was thinking. She was busy blushing like she usually did when he held her hand. Apart from worry, Zhao Li Xin also liked holding her hand. He wanted to keep her close to him and didn't wish to let her out of his sight. He was strangely reassured every time she was close to him. It would take him a while to know that feeling was called possessiveness.

A parade of people in white uniforms threw flowers and copper coins on the street as adults and children pushed each other to collect the money. They didn't realize they were unknowingly kneeling on the ground as they did this.

Lory could now easily see what was happening. The line-up consisted of dozens of people wearing white lavish robes. The women wore white hanfu with a pink belt and a flower hairpin adorning their high bun hairstyle. The women who threw the flowers and copper coin from their bamboo baskets were all young and beautiful. The white-robed men carried their swords in their hands which made them look heroic and gallant. There was a big palanquin carried by eight strong muscular men at the center of the parade.

The plaquing was covered with white gauze curtains but people could see a silhouette of a beautiful woman inside the palanquin.

The man leading the big entourage with a white horse was handsome. His white robes were covered with white fur and wore a small golden crown on his head. The handsome young man looked high and mighty. Men looked at him with awe and envy, while the women threw him shy and coquettish smiles.

Lory thought the man was like a peacock showing off its feathers to other birds. Comparing the man's looks to Zhao Li Xin was like comparing glass to diamond. They both sparkled but they didn't have the same value.

"Who is that pea…man?" Lory almost said peacock.

"Huang Zi Feng. He is Heavenly Jade Pavilion's young master," Zhao Li Xin responded in a monotonous voice.

"And the woman inside the palanquin?"

"She's Huang...Ni…Ni… Huang Zi Feng's younger sister," Zhao Li Xin didn't remember the woman's name.

"Huang Ni Ni?" Lory didn't think someone would give such a ridiculous name to their beloved daughter. "Li Xin, are you sure about this?"

Zhao Li Xin glanced at the small woman gazing at him with her big beautiful and clear eyes. His heart always raced whenever she stared at him like that and when she called his name with her soft pink lips. Something stirred deep within him. It took everything to take his eyes off her. Zhao Li Xin took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Yes…" He gave a careless response.

Lory still didn't believe him but she didn't ask farther as it wasn't important. She pondered, "Why are they here? Is this about the sleeping princess again?"

"Yes, it is. But I wonder why people like them, who aren't in need of titles or fiefdom, would be interested. Why would they help the Liangzu Kingdom?" Zhao Li Xin sneered in suspicion. The Heavenly Jade Pavilion were righteous and an honorable sect on the surface, but he knew they had accumulated crimes behind their façade. Their sins would even shock the devil himself.

"They aren't good people, are they?" Lory could see the malice inside Huang Zi Feng's eyes. It was faint but she could still see it.

"Stay away from them and don't leave the Xinjing Manor unless it is urgent," Zhao Li Xin held her shoulders protectively. He furrowed his eyebrows. He could sense something sinister was happening inside the Liangzu Kingdom.

"Okay…" Lory was also suspicious about the sleeping beauty situation. Her stomach broke the seriousness when it grumbled. Lory smiled awkwardly, "I'm hungry…"

"Let's hurry so that you can eat!" Zhao Li Xin remembered Lory failed to eat because of the Crown Prince, and she had yet to eat since morning. He blamed himself for not noticing this sooner. Someone once told him normal people could get a stomachache if they didn't eat regularly. This could turn into gastric ulcers if ignored. The worrywart lord was even more anxious.

"Young Master!" A lovely coquettish voice called when they were about to leave.

Lory had a bad feeling when the woman called out. She glanced at Zhao Li Xin, as she was sure it was because of him. Walking with him was worse than walking with a famous superstar.

Zhao Li Xin was confused by Lory's blaming look.

One of the women carrying the flower baskets approached them. She smiled sweetly at Zhao Li Xin and ignored Lory, "Young Master, our young miss wants to talk with you."

"I don't want to…" Zhao Li Xin replied bluntly. His priority was to take his little woman to the nearest restaurant as soon as possible. Lory's stomach grumbled again and she smiled awkwardly. There was nothing she could do about it as she was hungry. Zhao Li Xin became more frantic, scared Lory would get sick.

The young woman was stunned by Zhao Li Xin's quick reply, but she recovered quickly and smiled again, "Our Young Miss is Huang Ni Yang. She really wants to exchange a couple of words with young master…"

"Shut up! I don't have time for you!" Zhao Li Xin shouted impatiently. "Mong Ki, Mong Yi!"

The Mong brothers appeared out of nowhere and bowed at Zhao Li Xin, "Milord!"

"Don't let her disturb me!" Zhao Li Xin glared at the woman who still shocked by his outburst.

"Yes, Milord!" The brothers acted as a barrier while Zhao Li Xin carried Lory to the nearest restaurant which was coincidentally a branch of the Phoenix Hall restaurant. The restaurant was opened in the Liangzu Kingdom two years ago and had become the most luxurious and expensive restaurant in the kingdom.

The blocked woman was upset. A smug look touched her face, "You! Do you know who my young miss is? She is the young miss of Heavenly Jade Pavilion!"

Mong Ki sneered and was as blunt as his lord, "We know and we don't care…"

"Miss, our lord is on a date with his future wife so please don't bother him. Our lord is very temperamental," Mong Yi was kind enough to tell her but the woman didn't believe Mong Yi. To her, it was a great honor for a man to gain her young miss' attention. No one had the right to be rude enough to refuse her mistress's invitation.

The Heavenly Jade Pavilion parade kept moving and the woman had no choice but to leave in a huff. She worried her young miss would blame her. It was rare for her young miss to lay her eyes on a man but the man dared to ignore her miss. The man was courting death.

Mong Ki and Mong Yi could only sigh as they watched the angry woman walked away.

"It seems like we're going to clash with the Heavenly Jade Pavilion," Mong Yi crossed his arms in front of his chest as he guessed what would happen next.

"So what? It's not our first time eradicating a sect, is it? What is special about a sect like the Heavenly Jade Pavilion…" Mong Ki chuckled. His words were filled with disdain as he hated hypocritical sects like them.

"I will tell Mong Liu to tell Master Bei and Master Jiang about this," Mong Yi said.

"Wait! Send a message to our spies inside the Heavenly Jade Pavilion. Ask them to watch Huang Ni Yang. We both know how dangerous a woman's scorn is," Mong Ki said. The brothers both had a lot of experience when it came to Zhao Li Xin's crazy admires. They were only two kinds of women in Zhao Li Xin's life. The women who were crazy about him and those who feared him.

Mong Ki had yet to understand why women would obsess over his lord. He admitted his lord had a heaven-defying face and had monstrous talent, but his lord was also cold, cruel, and vicious. He didn't care if you were a man or woman if you dared to stand in his way, he would cut off your heads as one would with grass. He would do all this without batting his eyelids.

Mong Ki had lost count of the number of people who had died by his lord's hand because they were stupid enough to try and subdue, use, seduce or try to kill him.

The more people Zhao Li Xin killed, the less human he became. His lord was close to losing the last shred of his conscience when Miss Luo appeared into his lord life. The things that had died within Zhao Li Xin were slowly revived. He could see a piece of how his lord looked when he was twelve. Mong Ki was both relieved and grateful for Miss Luo. It was why he swore to himself to never let anyone come between his Lord and Miss Luo.