Chapter 75

Chapter 75

“Your Grace, why are you visiting this servant’s room instead of sleeping at such a late hour?”

Shengsheng stood on the bed and bowed to the man before her.

*My lady, I am begging you. Can we not meet like normal people? Must every visit look like a midnight rendezvous with a secret lover?*

A man stood at her bedside. Since he was traveling, he had abandoned his usual elaborate attire for plain black clothes. His long hair was tied with a ribbon. Against the darkness, his overly beautiful features gained a rare edge of severity.

Shengsheng regarded him with mixed feelings.

*Why are you dressed in black? Are you cosplaying Siran Ming?*

Fusheng did not know what “cosplaying” meant, but with Siran’s name attached, he suspected it was no compliment.

He leaned closer, extended one finger, and gently poked her forehead.

“How commendable. You became a mountain chief and still remembered me.”

Shengsheng caught his finger. Feeling its icy chill against her palm, she suddenly realized what she was doing and released it. Her eyes wandered.

“This servant… had no choice.”

She was devising an explanation when Fusheng nodded as though he understood.

“I see.”

Shengsheng stared.

She had prepared the tragic saga of her arduous struggle. Could he at least let her tell it?

“Since I came personally to collect you, come with me.”

He pretended to reach for her.

Terrified, Shengsheng wrapped herself around his arm and hung from it.

“Your Grace! This servant cannot leave yet!”

*If I leave, what will happen to my children?*

Fusheng leisurely extracted his arm. With great kindness, he also straightened the collar her vigorous movement had pulled open.

Clutching her collar, Shengsheng flushed.

*I’m a child. I’m a child. I’m a child. There is nothing there yet, so why am I panicking?*

Fusheng fell silent.

“His Majesty ordered us to return to Zhu Kingdom in several days. Zhiyu Jiang also asked me to give you a message.”

At Zhiyu’s name, Shengsheng paused. “What?”

Fusheng retreated several paces and smiled.

“She asked me to tell you that your bird has returned.”

Shengsheng’s vision blurred. By the time she blinked, Fusheng had vanished.

Xiaoyu and Pecky remained in Zhen. She wondered whether Zhiyu had caused trouble after Shengsheng flew away. The thought sharpened her urgency to return.

Then she looked at the gaping hole in the roof and wanted to weep.

Her already impoverished life had suffered another disaster.

The workshop had not appeared from thin air. She had paid for it with heap after heap of silver from the storehouse.

By her calculation, the day she returned to normal was close. Iron Head and Search a Thousand Miles would expire soon as well.

She would be leaving this place shortly.

Shengsheng intended to entrust Dafu Zhou Jewelry to Yong Wu and San Zhang.

Yong cared most about how the brothers would survive. San looked dishonest, but was actually timid. Under her tyrannical might–no, her authority–he should avoid trouble for the immediate future.

The thought eased her mind.

Her only remaining concern was–

What to do with Siran.

Given Xiao Ming’s personality, he would undoubtedly choose to follow her. But if Shengsheng was returning to Zhu, she absolutely could not bring him.
The problem gave Shengsheng a terrible headache. The night had already been eventful, and cold air poured through the broken roof. She tossed and turned until dawn with her eyes open.

As the sky began to pale, Shengsheng climbed up and opened the door, nearly colliding with someone’s leg.

Recognizing the hem of his robe, she tugged it. “When did you arrive?”

Siran looked down at her. “Are you leaving?”

*How did you know?*

Surprise flashed through Shengsheng, but she concealed it and asked calmly, “Why would you suddenly say that?”

Darkness crossed his eyes.

So it was true.

“The light in your room came on last night. Did someone enter?” His voice sounded aggrieved.

*How did you know that?*

Shengsheng was stunned. If it were not impossible, she would suspect the little menace had installed surveillance equipment in her room.

Siran’s mouth turned down. He nearly failed to suppress his anger.

Who was it?

The green-robed man from the foot of the mountain? Had Shengsheng met him?

“If Shengsheng wants to leave, will I only cause you trouble?”

His direct question surprised her.

When she did not answer, he continued, “I understand. Don’t worry, Shengsheng. I won’t cause you trouble.”

Then he walked away, his back steeped in loneliness.

Shengsheng felt inexplicably guilty.

She had apparently never told Xiao Ming anything about herself. When he said he had searched for her in his own timeline, she had felt not only surprised and uneasy, but a little heartbroken.

In an ancient world where travel was difficult, how hard was it to find someone when one knew only her name and kingdom?

He must have spent enormous time and effort, only to find nothing.

The thought left her dispirited.

Her damned charm had somehow ruined a perfectly good Xiao Ming.

* * *

Yong Wu was summoned to the crude shrine built several days earlier.

Truthfully, aside from the Chief, almost no one knew what it enshrined. Crossing the threshold, Yong felt as though he were about to receive some sacred inheritance.

He immediately saw his chief’s mighty–no, tiny–figure standing with her back to him, gazing up at the object worshiped in the center.

Incense smoke curled from the burner. Filled with anticipation, Yong raised his gaze.

Then–

He abruptly met a pair of eyes overflowing with compassion.

His knees weakened. He nearly dropped to the floor.

Their humble Mount Liang shrine enshrined a Bodhisattva…

Kite?

Once he saw clearly, Yong silently straightened his half-bent knees.

What immortal artist had painted a cheap kite so vividly?

Shengsheng had witnessed every movement.

Aha! She knew mistaking the thing for a true deity had not been her fault alone.

Yong asked shakily, “Chief, this is…?”

Shengsheng’s small face was solemn. At his question, she looked up at the kite with nostalgic eyes, as though recalling some distant history.

Yong swallowed.

Shengsheng clasped her hands behind her back and spoke with profound reverence.

“Remember this. It was the beginning of everything.”