Chương 13: Fumes before the Fire (II)
After Sending the Empress Dowager off, Hui Lan could not help but heave a big sigh of relief. Her back that was as straight as a wall was completely gone and she slowly dragged her weary body back to her seat.
It had not been long since this body gave birth and also going through that heartbreak did not make it better. Sigh, she truly did not like all these sorrow feelings she had now. If they still stayed with her, how far would her soul gravitate towards the netherworlds...
As she brought herself to the seats of the pavilion, she slowly rested her body on the opposite side of the bench. With one of her arms, she placed it onto the edge of the bench and leisurely rested her chin on her arm. Her long silky hair elegantly followed the owner and swayed along her back.
She looked at the moonlike jade bracelet that was in her wrist and could not help but think of the Yue Lin. She wondered, how was the Ice Queen doing now...
Then underneath, there was the water gently flowing under her barefoot that was now exposed to thin air.
After fully making herself comfortable and slowly becoming lost in her thoughts, she began swinging her legs carefreely. High above the moon was still shining brightly. As always, her eyes were drawn to the bright beaming circle in the night sky.
...Haaaaa, if she could just stay like this for the entire time here, it would be wonderful.
However, the more she stared at the moon, another face appeared in front of the night moon. She quickly shook her head away to get that familiar face away.
...Ey, why was she thinking of that cold face Emperor ah?
Hui Lan looked up at the moon warily but was slightly relieved that she did not see anything but the moon.
However, deep inside, her heart was still beating like a burning drum.
...This won't do...she remembered her father and mother telling her their past about the infamous love potion. Aiya, what if she could put all the antidote in her room would she think less of the other person?
...In that case, it would probably not make her heart beat like it was having a heart attack anymore.
In the corner of the small lake in Kunning Palace, there stood a prominent figure in bright red robes. However, due to the big trees covering the moonlight, his bright red robes grew dim.
He stood upright with his hands held aloofly behind his back. Though his face was looking straight at the slightly wavy ripples of water, his ever cold eyes were looking at the figure resting leisurely in the pavilion.
...Truly an eye-opening to see anyone be so leisure in this confined palace walls.
"Ah-Won, keep a good check on her and report to Zhen." His voice was still the same indifferent deep voice as always.
"Yes, Bixie." The figure in black who stood behind the Emperor bowed in response to the order and vanished right after.
From the night sky, a small greyish object slowly flowed down onto his high bridge nose. Then more of the object fell down towards him. Looking at the objects falling the sky with his dark eyes, he then lifted his hand up in the sky. Soon, another small grey object fell onto his big hands.
...Ash?
Indeed it was the ash from the burning hall in Kunning Palace for the fire caught along with the wind and grew in size.
Emperor Yang Long took his eyes away from the small ash piece in his hand towards the lady dressed in red in the pavilion before crushing the ash in his hand silently.
Afterwards, the aloof Emperor of Xin Li brushed his sleeves and left, no longer to be seen.
It was as if he had never been there…
Meanwhile, only a few short minutes had passed where Hui Lan was and just as Hui Lan thought that she did not need to care if others would figure out she was not truly Empress Feng, a voice made her jump.
"Niang Niang!"
It was none other than Su Rong who had brought all of her father's people.
Hui Lan swiftly turned around to face 'her' beloved court lady with a dry smile, "Hi." was the only thing she could utter.
"Sorry, what was that?" Su Rong had been a few distances away, so she was unable to catch what Hui Lan had spoken.
Once again, Hui Lan smiled awkwardly, "Oh, nothing, I didn't say anything." As she saw more people coming towards her direction, she quickly readjusted her posture again and sat up tall and straight.
However, deep down she wondered how long she would keep up this act of hers.
"Ahem, so is everything alright?" Hui Lan took the initiative first.
On the other hand, Su Rong smiled brightly, "They are all here." Before a slightly worried look was revealed in her eyes, "However, I brought all of them so they can help with the fire if that is alright…"
Hui Lan did not think much and replied immediately, "The more people the better. Has everything been instructed?"
"Eh?" Su Rong found herself slightly dumbstruck by Hui Lan's unexpected response.
"What's wrong?" Hui Lan casually asked back.
"Oh, nothing. Uh, me and Su Jou have already told them what to do. They'll blend in with the small mass just fine since they have all been taught by Uncle Feng, but the only thing left is where will you sleep tonight, hm?" There was a slightly complicated look on Su Rong's face when she mentioned about a place to sleep over the night.
Regarding Su Rong's comment, Hui Lan had a contemplating look on.
...Hm, as an Empress, there were no other places really suitable for her to sleep in. Moreover, none of the important figures of this palace has even mentioned anything about it.
...From the looks of this, it seems the Emperor did not really care. Meanwhile, Taihou probably wanted to see if she could solve this problem by herself.
...Tut tut.
Though it seemed like there were some complications, Hui Lan had already come to a conclusion, "Why think too much ah? See if there is any room that is untouched by the fire and we'll just sleep there tonight. As for tomorrow, we'll begin clearing the place, yawn...let's go see what is left." Without waiting for Su Rong to reply, Hui Lan had already set foot out of the pavilion and walked away carefreely.
Su Rong could not stop her friend in time and could only follow suit. Only then did she realize that all along her friend did not put any shoes on. Before Hui Lan had been walking slowly, but now when her pace grew, her skirt was slightly revealed, therefore revealing her bare feet.
"Eh? Niang Niang!" She quickly called out to the Empress.
Hui Lan turned around with sleepy eyes, "What is it again?"
"Niang Niang, why did you not put your shoes on!? The ground is cold, aiya, you will get sick!"
The one being told off looked down at her bare feet innocently, "En, it's cold but it won't kill me!" Then, she was off.
Su Rong, on the other hand, was left speechless.
However, her heartfelt slightly warm. Since entering this palace, this friend of hers had been losing this young and free side of hers. However, after going through a lot, she was still able to get up again.
...From now on, she will not let anyone bully her friend anymore.
Seeing Hui Lan getting further away, Su Rong quickly called out, "Niang Niang, wait for me."
"Hm, walk faster!" Was all that Hui Lan spoke without turning around.
.
.
.
In no time, Hui Lan finally reached her palace that was now all covered with burned wood. Hui Lan could only stand in front of her chambers and look around for a room that could be used.
It seemed the people that her father had given to this owner were truly thoughtful towards his daughter. The work was done so fast and they all blended in with the people that were here before.
...They would become helpful in the future…
In one corner of the Kunning palace, there was a small room that the fire had not reached. Having found the room she wanted, Hui Lan continued to walk ahead.
However, before she could even reach the unscathed room. A cool brush of breeze brushed passed her causing her veil to sway slightly. The moonlike jade bracelet that was on her wrist illuminated briefly before returning to its natural colour.
Hui Lan stopped in her tracks to look up in the sky and saw nothing else but the moon. However, just then there was a loud tweet tweet noise. Where the moon was full, a shadow covered most parts of it.
Just then, the shadow took a sharp turn and was now falling down to the ground rapidly.
Seeing the creature that was about to crash and fall to its death, Hui Lan immediately jumped a great height towards the creature.
Reaching closer to it, Hui Lan then quickly grasped the small creature in her arms. Together, the two then fell onto the ground. Luckily, they fell onto a soft patch of grass. However, even then it still felt rock hard.
Hui Lan fell on her side and could help but grunt in pain. Aiya, she had forgotten that this body was not like before, sigh…
On the other hand, the creature continued to make a small tweeting noise in her arms, "Your body is all but bones and you even try to help me, tut tut, truly not knowing your please!"
A small haughty voice grew in Hui Lan's head out of nowhere.
Her eyes quickly widened like an egg and asked out loud, "Who's there!?"
The creature in her arms closed one eye and looked at the human that was holding it with the other warily, "Can it be…"
"Can it be what?" Hui Lan threw out the question in the air. However, she still did not know the source of the voice. All she could do was look around directionlessly.
"AHHHHHHHhh ahhhhh ahhhh," The small creature in Hui Lan's arm grew restless and began flapping its wings horrendously.
Hui Lan's big eyes turned to look at the small creature in her arm, "It's you!?"
"If it's not me then who ah!?" The small creature replied fiercely.
"AHHHH." It was then Hui Lan's turn to exclaim in surprise, and as if having held an icicle in her arm, Hui Lan quickly threw the creature away from her and immediately stood up. She took a few steps away and left a distance between her and the small animal that was trying it's hard to get up on the ground.
"You mean human. Can't you be a little gentle?"
Hui Lan gasped once before thinking, "Isn't this guy just a small owl? Why can it talk?"
The small snowy owl flapped its wings slowly, "If you mean by 'talk' as in your human talk, I cannot. I'm just talking how I used to ah, you're the weird one, how do you even understand me." The small owl looked at Hui Lan with its big yellow eyes.
Hui Lan became speechless.
...Then, what does this mean?
It seems this guy can also read her thoughts as well...
Seeing the human become quiet, the small owl looked up in the sky for any signs of his parent or just someone. However, no other shadows were to be seen, except for one human that was on the rooftop of this weird place.
"Hey, you." The owl tweeted towards Hui Lan.
Hearing the voice in her head, Hui Lan turned her focus to the small owl again, "Me?" She pointed at herself.
"Yes, you."
"What?"
"Who's that human on the rooftop? And why is he looking at me?" The snowy owl's young proud voice rang in Hui lan's head once again.
Hui Lan turned to look at where the small owl was looking at before. Unlike before when she was used to the dark, she now had to squint her eyes to see in the dark. Just like what the small creature had said, there was a person up on the rooftop.
On the other hand, having met eyes with Hui Lan, the person came out of the dark and quickly nodded to Hui Lan, before returning back to where he was.
Hui Lan smiled at the darkness before turning back to answer the small fella's question through her thoughts, "Oh, that's my friend, Su Jou."
"What's your friend doing all the way up there?" The snowy owl asked back.
"It's a secret. A small kid like you shouldn't need to worry about it." Hui Lan knelt down and rubbed the owl's head while speaking to it through her mind causing it to flap its wings everywhere.
The small owl even began to tweet loudly underneath Hui Lan's hand. On the other hand, Hui Lan could not help but smile and spoke out loud, "Ey, be good."
"Niang Niang!"
"Ah!" screeched the small owl, "That almost gave me a heart attack!"
Hui Lan could not help but giggle and spoke with a teasing voice, "Kekeke, so you're a small scaredy cat as well, hm?"
"What are you talking about, I'm not a cat!"
"Niang Niang, are you alright? You almost gave me a heart attack!"
Hui Lan slowly got up from where she was standing and gave a small grin towards the little owl on the ground, "Seems like you're not the only one having a heart attack tonight, Xiao Mao." Hui Lan spoke in her mind.
"Xiao Mao!!!" Underneath Hui Lan and Su Rong, the small owl began screeching non-stop. This human dare call him a cat!! (Mao=cat)
"I'm fine Su Rong." Hui Lan quickly replied back to her friend.
"How on earth did you jump that high, hm? Also, what is this thing doing here? So feisty?"
Hui Lan nodded, "Hm, yeah truly feisty indeed." She knelt down to Xiao Mao's height and looked at him casually, "Or shall I call you Xiao Meng?" (Meng=feice)
The small owl looked at Hui Lan with pleading eyes, "Don't you have any better ideas?"
"I've made up my min...ah" As Hui Lan was about to get up, she had to quickly held onto her shoulders.
"Aya, Niang Niang shall I call the Royal Physician?"
"No no, I don't want to meet anyone tonight." She quickly brushed Su Rong's idea off before replying to the small owl through her thoughts, "Your name will be Xiao Mao. I've always wanted a cat, so I'll treat you as one." She smiled at the snowy owl before turning around and heading towards her destination, "Let's go Su Rong, I'm getting cold."
Su Rong looked at the small snowy owl that was on the ground. It looked like it was slightly injured as well. However, the two could only look at each other dryly.
"Niang Niang, what about this owl?" Su Rong asked helplessly.
To that, Hui Lan who had walked a few steps ahead turned around. She looked from Su Rong to the small owl and smiled at the two helpless people. She then looked at Xiao Mao with a smile on her face while speaking to it through her mind, "You're welcome to stay with me until you've recovered, only if you want to. If not, fly your own way away., I won't stop you" With that, she cooly brushed off and left not looking back any longer.
Hui Lan did not forget to tell Su Rong to follow her, "Let it make its own decision. We should go to sleep!"
Su Rong looked at the small owl again and smiled dryly before following Hui Lan.
From what others saw was the owl tweeting to Hui Lan, meanwhile, Hui Lan held a full long conversation with the little guy.
'Xiao Mao' looked up at the big night sky and could feel how vast and big it was and could not help but shudder.
...Maybe, it was best to find a shelter for tonight. Tomorrow, I could fly back. Hm, that's what I'll do!
Having decided, Xiao Mao trotted his way to the Human lady.
"Eyy, Human! Wait for me!"
Hui Lan, on the other hand, paused slightly before continuing her way in with a small smile. Such a cutie pie, at least this palace will not be too boring.
Well, there was also something else left to do, huhu.
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cha_cha Hi guys! After everything going on, the virus can be anywhere, so hope you take care and look after yourselves! Hope this chapter brought some joy to you <3<3<3<3<3
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