Chapter 176
If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again
In the big and elegant room with ambient lighting and a lot of food and wine, Xing was sitting between Haru and Rijun with Shengli sitting opposite her and Seiren beside him in a long table. Seiren pulled out a jar and poured a cup of wine and passed it to Xing with a smirk. Xing wondered what that was about and the moment she smelled it, she knew this was the best red wine from the sky kingdom Lord Zhong had saved in his wine cellar. Xing noticed it being stored in top notch condition under tight security in Lord Zhong's cellar the previous time she and Seiren infiltrated the cellar.
"Did you steal it?", he asked him after gulping it in one mouthful. It is amazing, as expected!
"No silly, Father gave it for the celebration", Seiren pouted her another cup and Xing stood up and got the jar from his hands. It's a sin to share this wine with others.
"It's a crime to call the future Empress of the Wind Kingdom a silly", a familiar voice of a suave man with an unexpected combination of dominance and charm entered the room. His green eyes bore the arrogance of the Lu blood and the little birthmark on his face added to his beauty and his thin perfect lips had curved up in a mocking smirk.
"Your Majesty!", everyone stood up and greeted the Emperor followed by Zhong Huojin who just stood by the door.
"Empress? What was that about?", Haru enquired Shengli and Rijun and Seiren were surprised and wanted an explanation too.
"It's something we had to decide... For the sake of EVERYONE ", Shengli answered enunciation 'everyone' while glaring at the Emperor and he just shrugged it off. Although as an Emperor, he knew having her at the phoenix throne would greatly benefit the kingdom , as a brother he could not find it appropriate to let others believe his brother's wife as his'. It was his last attempt to get them to change their mind but turns out it is not working out.
Haru and Rijun looked at Xing for answers and she was just swallowing wine, cup after cup.
"Xing, I arranged a present for you", Shengli gave her a painting that looked... Elegant and old... Must be some great artist who had painted it!
"Ah, right! Me too", Rijun pushed a box to her that had a high quality ink stone with ink. He had a similar one to give their father too.
Xing was so touched that they had thoughtfully prepared gifts on her behalf for her father but somehow she didn't feel it is appropriate to give the gifts others prepared for her. Then she remembered how she didn't want expensive things for her birthday, just a letter from her father... I can do that!
Xing stood up and she was already feeling a bit tipsy by all the wine she drank and slightly sawyed when as usual it was Shengli who was far away from her who grabbed her first.
She looked for paper and the only paper in the room was the expensive artwork Shengli gave her and she spread it in a table nearby and there was a beautiful painting of the mountain and bamboos in it. Also on the side there seemed to be some poem written which was unreadable for Xing who was a little tipsy and the words looked like wriggling worms to her.
Whatever! I cannot write poems anyway!
She picked the ink stone her brother gave and ground the ink. She had sobered up a bit in this short time and thought hardly about what she could write and finally she decided.
She wrote in her beautifully bold and elegant handwriting with her strong strokes,
DADDY, I LOVE YOU A LOT!
She had read in her father's letter to her that he wishes her to call him daddy and so she wrote it on that expensive artwork to be memorialised , not knowing she had ruined that art that was worth more than the yearly income of hers and Shengli had found it after searching high and low, to be given as her betrothal gift since he had heard that Huang AoTian likes this artist.
Seiren winced seeing the great artwork getting ruined by her and looked at Shengli who had a pleased and gentle expression in his face as if he was glad that the wine he had personally brewed turned out to be perfect.
Seriously! I know he is rich but isn't this too much? Can't she write her words on another piece of paper? Must she write in this particular art?
Shengli saw Xing writing on the art highly concentrating with her eyes focused and her hands were holding the brush in an elegant manner and he could not help but admire the beauty of her thin slender fingers. Her lips were curved up and she had that a peaceful expression... How lovely! And all the things those beautiful fingers can do! His mind wandered for a while reminiscing what happened at the hot spring some days back and he took a deep breath to come back to reality.
How adorable!
Shengli didn't care about that art or his money. For him, as long as she had that happy expression on her face, anything is worth it!
Xing looked at the paper for a while and suddenly it felt like there was something missing. She saw the Emperor having colored paint as a gift for her father and she just went and grabbed it from his hands. She didn't forget her jar of wine too.
The Emperor protested, "Hey, that's my gift!"
Xing just gave him a look as if he was a thief that provoked the Emperor and he grabbed her hand, "Give it back, Mingxia", he gritted his teeth. His elegant demeanor had been lost and he looked like a provoked child.
"I'm going to draw a magpie. Mother always made magpies for father" she said and pulled her hand out of his grasp. Shengli gave a glare at the Emperor and he gave back and stood in a corner pouting.
Why is that no one stops her?
Xing didn't mind anything and walked towards the art paper and began to paint using the brushes Seiren had brought As gift for her father.
Seiren was smart unlike the Emperor and gladly gave her his gift for her use. It's going to belong to her father's anyway!
Rijun was curious to know how his over-achieving sister painted and he came to her side to take a look at it. Looking at the serious expression of his sister, he expected a top- notch drawing... But...
"Ha ha ha", Rijun held his stomach and laughed seeing her drawing, "That doesn't even look like a bird... How is it a magpie..?"
That's right! Xing and anything artsy.... Not compatible!
"Shut up", she pushed him away and Haru came to take a look too. He knew of the artistic prowess of his friend and he was not surprised by the drawing that looked like a blob but how cheesy is her writing!
"Daddy,I love you a lot!", he read it aloud and he could not help but mock her.
"Look at that... Stupid Xing is now cheesy Xing! She calls her father, daddy!", he continued to laugh when Xing kicked him hard on his leg making him hop on one leg.
As Xing was 'handling' her friend, Rijun who saw her writing had an idea bloom inside his head and he wrote below her writing,
ME TOO, DADDY
He loves his father too and his father must know it!
The Emperor saw all those commotion rising in there and he used that chance and wrote
ME TOO
in the paper. He thinks of AoTian as his father, right?
Shengli was by the side admiring the lively Xing fighting with Haru and she had grabbed the handkerchief Haru had personally embroidered and tried to dirty it.
This is more like her!
Shengli was happy he brought her out of the Palace. Xing heard Rijun and the Emperor holding their laughter and looked at them pursing their lips with their eyes focused on the paper.
She followed their eyesight to see their writing on the paper and she went and rubbed Rijun's writing first with Haru's gift hand kerchief.
"Hey", Haru tried to pull the already dirtied kerchief from her hands but her hold was tight.
"How dare you rub my writing?", Rijun knocked hard on her head and Xing hit him back ensuing a hitting battle and no one was willing to give up as both wanted to be the one who gave the last blow.. Shengli pulled Xing and Rijun apart and Xing gave the final blow and Shengli stood between her and Rijun and so Rijun gave up and went back to his seat. Xing saw the Emperor secretly laughing and her anger level increased,
"Why are you laughing? Why did you write on my paper? Can't you afford your own paper? You've ruined my art", she gritted her teeth.
"It's not your paper. It is my brother's paper and your art sucks! ", he retorted back in a childish whining tone and stuck out his tongue infuriating Xing.
"How dare you..",
She pushed all his coloured ink on the floor and all of them splattered with some spilling on the Emperor's black silk robes making it look obviously dirty.
" How is this art?", she smirked looking at his clothes, " Now your clothes look like your personality... Dirty!"
"You are the dirty one... You.... You....", the Emperor could not find appropriate cuss word and stuttered.
While the Emperor and Xing were engaging in verbal battle, Haru used that chance to write his ME TOO on the paper. If he called Xing's mother, 'Mother', shouldn't her father his 'Father' too?
Xing who saw it in the corner of her eye tried to stop him but he ran around the table and got behind Shengli who had given up the idea to stop her.
She probably is drunk already!
Xing took another jar and emptied it in one breath and wiped her mouth in her sleeve,
"You thieves! How could you steal my art?", she pouted at the three of them who were giggling looking at each other not minding her as if she was speaking to thin air.
"Pfft... Art...", Haru said in a mocking tone making Xing's anger level rise further..
"Stupid Haru... Stupid brother... Stupid Kouki", she pouted and folded her arms with her eyes disappointed and a frown like visible clearly in her forehead..
Just then the door opened suddenly,
"What's with the commotion here? Are you guys little children? I could hear your shouts from the next street! ",
The bell like voice of Lord Zhong echoed inside the room making everyone tremble with fear with the exception of Xing!
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
In the big and elegant room with ambient lighting and a lot of food and wine, Xing was sitting between Haru and Rijun with Shengli sitting opposite her and Seiren beside him in a long table. Seiren pulled out a jar and poured a cup of wine and passed it to Xing with a smirk. Xing wondered what that was about and the moment she smelled it, she knew this was the best red wine from the sky kingdom Lord Zhong had saved in his wine cellar. Xing noticed it being stored in top notch condition under tight security in Lord Zhong's cellar the previous time she and Seiren infiltrated the cellar.
"Did you steal it?", he asked him after gulping it in one mouthful. It is amazing, as expected!
"No silly, Father gave it for the celebration", Seiren pouted her another cup and Xing stood up and got the jar from his hands. It's a sin to share this wine with others.
"It's a crime to call the future Empress of the Wind Kingdom a silly", a familiar voice of a suave man with an unexpected combination of dominance and charm entered the room. His green eyes bore the arrogance of the Lu blood and the little birthmark on his face added to his beauty and his thin perfect lips had curved up in a mocking smirk.
"Your Majesty!", everyone stood up and greeted the Emperor followed by Zhong Huojin who just stood by the door.
"Empress? What was that about?", Haru enquired Shengli and Rijun and Seiren were surprised and wanted an explanation too.
"It's something we had to decide... For the sake of EVERYONE ", Shengli answered enunciation 'everyone' while glaring at the Emperor and he just shrugged it off. Although as an Emperor, he knew having her at the phoenix throne would greatly benefit the kingdom , as a brother he could not find it appropriate to let others believe his brother's wife as his'. It was his last attempt to get them to change their mind but turns out it is not working out.
Haru and Rijun looked at Xing for answers and she was just swallowing wine, cup after cup.
"Xing, I arranged a present for you", Shengli gave her a painting that looked... Elegant and old... Must be some great artist who had painted it!
"Ah, right! Me too", Rijun pushed a box to her that had a high quality ink stone with ink. He had a similar one to give their father too.
Xing was so touched that they had thoughtfully prepared gifts on her behalf for her father but somehow she didn't feel it is appropriate to give the gifts others prepared for her. Then she remembered how she didn't want expensive things for her birthday, just a letter from her father... I can do that!
Xing stood up and she was already feeling a bit tipsy by all the wine she drank and slightly sawyed when as usual it was Shengli who was far away from her who grabbed her first.
She looked for paper and the only paper in the room was the expensive artwork Shengli gave her and she spread it in a table nearby and there was a beautiful painting of the mountain and bamboos in it. Also on the side there seemed to be some poem written which was unreadable for Xing who was a little tipsy and the words looked like wriggling worms to her.
Whatever! I cannot write poems anyway!
She picked the ink stone her brother gave and ground the ink. She had sobered up a bit in this short time and thought hardly about what she could write and finally she decided.
She wrote in her beautifully bold and elegant handwriting with her strong strokes,
DADDY, I LOVE YOU A LOT!
She had read in her father's letter to her that he wishes her to call him daddy and so she wrote it on that expensive artwork to be memorialised , not knowing she had ruined that art that was worth more than the yearly income of hers and Shengli had found it after searching high and low, to be given as her betrothal gift since he had heard that Huang AoTian likes this artist.
Seiren winced seeing the great artwork getting ruined by her and looked at Shengli who had a pleased and gentle expression in his face as if he was glad that the wine he had personally brewed turned out to be perfect.
Seriously! I know he is rich but isn't this too much? Can't she write her words on another piece of paper? Must she write in this particular art?
Shengli saw Xing writing on the art highly concentrating with her eyes focused and her hands were holding the brush in an elegant manner and he could not help but admire the beauty of her thin slender fingers. Her lips were curved up and she had that a peaceful expression... How lovely! And all the things those beautiful fingers can do! His mind wandered for a while reminiscing what happened at the hot spring some days back and he took a deep breath to come back to reality.
How adorable!
Shengli didn't care about that art or his money. For him, as long as she had that happy expression on her face, anything is worth it!
Xing looked at the paper for a while and suddenly it felt like there was something missing. She saw the Emperor having colored paint as a gift for her father and she just went and grabbed it from his hands. She didn't forget her jar of wine too.
The Emperor protested, "Hey, that's my gift!"
Xing just gave him a look as if he was a thief that provoked the Emperor and he grabbed her hand, "Give it back, Mingxia", he gritted his teeth. His elegant demeanor had been lost and he looked like a provoked child.
"I'm going to draw a magpie. Mother always made magpies for father" she said and pulled her hand out of his grasp. Shengli gave a glare at the Emperor and he gave back and stood in a corner pouting.
Why is that no one stops her?
Xing didn't mind anything and walked towards the art paper and began to paint using the brushes Seiren had brought As gift for her father.
Seiren was smart unlike the Emperor and gladly gave her his gift for her use. It's going to belong to her father's anyway!
Rijun was curious to know how his over-achieving sister painted and he came to her side to take a look at it. Looking at the serious expression of his sister, he expected a top- notch drawing... But...
"Ha ha ha", Rijun held his stomach and laughed seeing her drawing, "That doesn't even look like a bird... How is it a magpie..?"
That's right! Xing and anything artsy.... Not compatible!
"Shut up", she pushed him away and Haru came to take a look too. He knew of the artistic prowess of his friend and he was not surprised by the drawing that looked like a blob but how cheesy is her writing!
"Daddy,I love you a lot!", he read it aloud and he could not help but mock her.
"Look at that... Stupid Xing is now cheesy Xing! She calls her father, daddy!", he continued to laugh when Xing kicked him hard on his leg making him hop on one leg.
As Xing was 'handling' her friend, Rijun who saw her writing had an idea bloom inside his head and he wrote below her writing,
ME TOO, DADDY
He loves his father too and his father must know it!
The Emperor saw all those commotion rising in there and he used that chance and wrote
ME TOO
in the paper. He thinks of AoTian as his father, right?
Shengli was by the side admiring the lively Xing fighting with Haru and she had grabbed the handkerchief Haru had personally embroidered and tried to dirty it.
This is more like her!
Shengli was happy he brought her out of the Palace. Xing heard Rijun and the Emperor holding their laughter and looked at them pursing their lips with their eyes focused on the paper.
She followed their eyesight to see their writing on the paper and she went and rubbed Rijun's writing first with Haru's gift hand kerchief.
"Hey", Haru tried to pull the already dirtied kerchief from her hands but her hold was tight.
"How dare you rub my writing?", Rijun knocked hard on her head and Xing hit him back ensuing a hitting battle and no one was willing to give up as both wanted to be the one who gave the last blow.. Shengli pulled Xing and Rijun apart and Xing gave the final blow and Shengli stood between her and Rijun and so Rijun gave up and went back to his seat. Xing saw the Emperor secretly laughing and her anger level increased,
"Why are you laughing? Why did you write on my paper? Can't you afford your own paper? You've ruined my art", she gritted her teeth.
"It's not your paper. It is my brother's paper and your art sucks! ", he retorted back in a childish whining tone and stuck out his tongue infuriating Xing.
"How dare you..",
She pushed all his coloured ink on the floor and all of them splattered with some spilling on the Emperor's black silk robes making it look obviously dirty.
" How is this art?", she smirked looking at his clothes, " Now your clothes look like your personality... Dirty!"
"You are the dirty one... You.... You....", the Emperor could not find appropriate cuss word and stuttered.
While the Emperor and Xing were engaging in verbal battle, Haru used that chance to write his ME TOO on the paper. If he called Xing's mother, 'Mother', shouldn't her father his 'Father' too?
Xing who saw it in the corner of her eye tried to stop him but he ran around the table and got behind Shengli who had given up the idea to stop her.
She probably is drunk already!
Xing took another jar and emptied it in one breath and wiped her mouth in her sleeve,
"You thieves! How could you steal my art?", she pouted at the three of them who were giggling looking at each other not minding her as if she was speaking to thin air.
"Pfft... Art...", Haru said in a mocking tone making Xing's anger level rise further..
"Stupid Haru... Stupid brother... Stupid Kouki", she pouted and folded her arms with her eyes disappointed and a frown like visible clearly in her forehead..
Just then the door opened suddenly,
"What's with the commotion here? Are you guys little children? I could hear your shouts from the next street! ",
The bell like voice of Lord Zhong echoed inside the room making everyone tremble with fear with the exception of Xing!
In the big and elegant room with ambient lighting and a lot of food and wine, Xing was sitting between Haru and Rijun with Shengli sitting opposite her and Seiren beside him in a long table. Seiren pulled out a jar and poured a cup of wine and passed it to Xing with a smirk. Xing wondered what that was about and the moment she smelled it, she knew this was the best red wine from the sky kingdom Lord Zhong had saved in his wine cellar. Xing noticed it being stored in top notch condition under tight security in Lord Zhong's cellar the previous time she and Seiren infiltrated the cellar. "Did you steal it?", he asked him after gulping it in one mouthful. It is amazing, as expected! "No silly, Father gave it for the celebration", Seiren pouted her another cup and Xing stood up and got the jar from his hands. It's a sin to share this wine with others. "It's a crime to call the future Empress of the Wind Kingdom a silly", a familiar voice of a suave man with an unexpected combination of dominance and charm entered the room. His green eyes bore the arrogance of the Lu blood and the little birthmark on his face added to his beauty and his thin perfect lips had curved up in a mocking smirk. "Your Majesty!", everyone stood up and greeted the Emperor followed by Zhong Huojin who just stood by the door. "Empress? What was that about?", Haru enquired Shengli and Rijun and Seiren were surprised and wanted an explanation too. "It's something we had to decide... For the sake of EVERYONE ", Shengli answered enunciation 'everyone' while glaring at the Emperor and he just shrugged it off. Although as an Emperor, he knew having her at the phoenix throne would greatly benefit the kingdom , as a brother he could not find it appropriate to let others believe his brother's wife as his'. It was his last attempt to get them to change their mind but turns out it is not working out. Haru and Rijun looked at Xing for answers and she was just swallowing wine, cup after cup. "Xing, I arranged a present for you", Shengli gave her a painting that looked... Elegant and old... Must be some great artist who had painted it! "Ah, right! Me too", Rijun pushed a box to her that had a high quality ink stone with ink. He had a similar one to give their father too. Xing was so touched that they had thoughtfully prepared gifts on her behalf for her father but somehow she didn't feel it is appropriate to give the gifts others prepared for her. Then she remembered how she didn't want expensive things for her birthday, just a letter from her father... I can do that! Xing stood up and she was already feeling a bit tipsy by all the wine she drank and slightly sawyed when as usual it was Shengli who was far away from her who grabbed her first. She looked for paper and the only paper in the room was the expensive artwork Shengli gave her and she spread it in a table nearby and there was a beautiful painting of the mountain and bamboos in it. Also on the side there seemed to be some poem written which was unreadable for Xing who was a little tipsy and the words looked like wriggling worms to her. Whatever! I cannot write poems anyway! She picked the ink stone her brother gave and ground the ink. She had sobered up a bit in this short time and thought hardly about what she could write and finally she decided. She wrote in her beautifully bold and elegant handwriting with her strong strokes, DADDY, I LOVE YOU A LOT! She had read in her father's letter to her that he wishes her to call him daddy and so she wrote it on that expensive artwork to be memorialised , not knowing she had ruined that art that was worth more than the yearly income of hers and Shengli had found it after searching high and low, to be given as her betrothal gift since he had heard that Huang AoTian likes this artist. Seiren winced seeing the great artwork getting ruined by her and looked at Shengli who had a pleased and gentle expression in his face as if he was glad that the wine he had personally brewed turned out to be perfect. Seriously! I know he is rich but isn't this too much? Can't she write her words on another piece of paper? Must she write in this particular art? Shengli saw Xing writing on the art highly concentrating with her eyes focused and her hands were holding the brush in an elegant manner and he could not help but admire the beauty of her thin slender fingers. Her lips were curved up and she had that a peaceful expression... How lovely! And all the things those beautiful fingers can do! His mind wandered for a while reminiscing what happened at the hot spring some days back and he took a deep breath to come back to reality. How adorable! Shengli didn't care about that art or his money. For him, as long as she had that happy expression on her face, anything is worth it! Xing looked at the paper for a while and suddenly it felt like there was something missing. She saw the Emperor having colored paint as a gift for her father and she just went and grabbed it from his hands. She didn't forget her jar of wine too. The Emperor protested, "Hey, that's my gift!" Xing just gave him a look as if he was a thief that provoked the Emperor and he grabbed her hand, "Give it back, Mingxia", he gritted his teeth. His elegant demeanor had been lost and he looked like a provoked child. "I'm going to draw a magpie. Mother always made magpies for father" she said and pulled her hand out of his grasp. Shengli gave a glare at the Emperor and he gave back and stood in a corner pouting. Why is that no one stops her? Xing didn't mind anything and walked towards the art paper and began to paint using the brushes Seiren had brought As gift for her father. Seiren was smart unlike the Emperor and gladly gave her his gift for her use. It's going to belong to her father's anyway! Rijun was curious to know how his over-achieving sister painted and he came to her side to take a look at it. Looking at the serious expression of his sister, he expected a top- notch drawing... But... "Ha ha ha", Rijun held his stomach and laughed seeing her drawing, "That doesn't even look like a bird... How is it a magpie..?" That's right! Xing and anything artsy.... Not compatible! "Shut up", she pushed him away and Haru came to take a look too. He knew of the artistic prowess of his friend and he was not surprised by the drawing that looked like a blob but how cheesy is her writing! "Daddy,I love you a lot!", he read it aloud and he could not help but mock her. "Look at that... Stupid Xing is now cheesy Xing! She calls her father, daddy!", he continued to laugh when Xing kicked him hard on his leg making him hop on one leg. As Xing was 'handling' her friend, Rijun who saw her writing had an idea bloom inside his head and he wrote below her writing, ME TOO, DADDY He loves his father too and his father must know it! The Emperor saw all those commotion rising in there and he used that chance and wrote ME TOO in the paper. He thinks of AoTian as his father, right? Shengli was by the side admiring the lively Xing fighting with Haru and she had grabbed the handkerchief Haru had personally embroidered and tried to dirty it. This is more like her! Shengli was happy he brought her out of the Palace. Xing heard Rijun and the Emperor holding their laughter and looked at them pursing their lips with their eyes focused on the paper. She followed their eyesight to see their writing on the paper and she went and rubbed Rijun's writing first with Haru's gift hand kerchief. "Hey", Haru tried to pull the already dirtied kerchief from her hands but her hold was tight. "How dare you rub my writing?", Rijun knocked hard on her head and Xing hit him back ensuing a hitting battle and no one was willing to give up as both wanted to be the one who gave the last blow.. Shengli pulled Xing and Rijun apart and Xing gave the final blow and Shengli stood between her and Rijun and so Rijun gave up and went back to his seat. Xing saw the Emperor secretly laughing and her anger level increased, "Why are you laughing? Why did you write on my paper? Can't you afford your own paper? You've ruined my art", she gritted her teeth. "It's not your paper. It is my brother's paper and your art sucks! ", he retorted back in a childish whining tone and stuck out his tongue infuriating Xing. "How dare you..", She pushed all his coloured ink on the floor and all of them splattered with some spilling on the Emperor's black silk robes making it look obviously dirty. " How is this art?", she smirked looking at his clothes, " Now your clothes look like your personality... Dirty!" "You are the dirty one... You.... You....", the Emperor could not find appropriate cuss word and stuttered. While the Emperor and Xing were engaging in verbal battle, Haru used that chance to write his ME TOO on the paper. If he called Xing's mother, 'Mother', shouldn't her father his 'Father' too? Xing who saw it in the corner of her eye tried to stop him but he ran around the table and got behind Shengli who had given up the idea to stop her. She probably is drunk already! Xing took another jar and emptied it in one breath and wiped her mouth in her sleeve, "You thieves! How could you steal my art?", she pouted at the three of them who were giggling looking at each other not minding her as if she was speaking to thin air. "Pfft... Art...", Haru said in a mocking tone making Xing's anger level rise further.. "Stupid Haru... Stupid brother... Stupid Kouki", she pouted and folded her arms with her eyes disappointed and a frown like visible clearly in her forehead.. Just then the door opened suddenly, "What's with the commotion here? Are you guys little children? I could hear your shouts from the next street! ", The bell like voice of Lord Zhong echoed inside the room making everyone tremble with fear with the exception of Xing!
