Qi-yan ruffled his buzz cut; it was quite taboo for men to have their hair cut so short because cutting off hair was considered to be cutting of part of the body, something that your parents had given to you and thus could not be treated so lightly. But despite that, he had a long pony tail running down his back which made it less atrocious to people who saw him. Mind you, he was very good at his job and the not very many people get to see him - always coming and going without a trace. Hair-cuts were allowed but it was only once every few years or so and the men usually wore it out or tied it up in a pony-tail. He paced around the room, it was his bad habit and listened intently to what you had to say.

You told the group about the demeanours of each of the Princes: the eldest was oblivious and caring, the second was aloof and day-dreamed, the third was stern and indifferent, whilst the fourth was cryptic and strange, the fifth was ordered and reserved whilst the youngest was impressionable and rather liked to sulk too much. You told them about how the Colour Selection nights worked and your encounter with the government official, Lord Jin. The audience nodded and murmured to themselves if he was able to be trusted. You talked about the positioning of each building and the set out of the palace and that you were yet to approach the in-palace monastery where the ‘retired’ Emperor stayed. It was near the further end of the palace, in a corner, in the opposing side – away from the city. You also told them about a building you knew, which was said to house the Queen and the Royal Consorts – the Prince’s respective mothers, but you were yet to venture that far.

“Have you gotten a chance to spy on what the court is up to?” Qi-yan spoke to himself, but posed the direction at you. He was looking at his finger-nails, his eyebrows furrowed.

“No, I apologise. I am yet to catch up on that. But I did hear Lord Jin mention something about trade expansion.”

Unlike his usual self in lecturing you on being too slow and not getting the job done, he just nodded and pursed his lips, thinking hard.

“Now that you’ve settled and know your way around, I want you to listen in on the court – get yourself closer to one of the Princes and pry out what they’re planning on doing. I’m sure there’s a link.” He scoffed, “The old geezer officials running the government will never in a million years let a female let alone a member of the harem into their sessions so seduction is the only way.”

Some of the members sitting in the rows laughed as you grimaced at the thought of being once again, objectified as a ual object. You didn’t want to go through another round of debate so you just sat down and let the other members share their findings. Apparently, things were much more interesting outside the palace walls.

One of the elder members, he posed as a farmer in the agricultural areas of the city said that soldiers were often seen patrolling the grounds and even the military actions were becoming suspicious. Another lady who owned an inn commented that she had strange foreigners from the West and that they were increasing in number. It wasn’t that she was afraid of them as many civilians had the wrong idea about foreigners being snobbish and down-right monsters, it was just that their sudden flux into the country was a strange phenomenon that no one could properly explain.

An hour had passed and the members became restless. Meetings never usually took this long, it was always kept short and sharp so that minimal time was spent on optimising the information. Qi-yan dismissed you all and each person leaved at different intervals so as to keep a low profile. It would be just as strange if the twenty or so members in the room just got up and left at the same time. Some jumped out windows, whilst others slid out the stairwells and scaled the rooves. He kept you till the last second, “There must be a link,” he said, resolved.

“I’ll find out for you.” Swearing to do your job better.

He looked around the empty room and sighed, it was the first time you’d seen him tired as he was always arrogant and proud – who knew how much energy you needed for that.

“Arrange to meet me if you have any new info, otherwise, I don’t want to hear it.” He was serious for once, and he fumbled around in his pockets before drawing out a dagger, “And you forgot these.” He threw the sheathed blades at you and you caught them with ease. Looking at it, it was the ones you’d used before entering the harem and a smile broke onto your lips. In the harem trials, you couldn’t take in anything with you because obviously they would strip you and interrogate so you always felt vulnerable because you usually kept a weapon (or in this case two) on you at all times for protection. They were short, but sharp and you unsheathed one to admire the Lotus embossment on the blade after such a long time without it, they fit perfectly back in your palms, one dagger for each hand. With his words said, Qi-yan’s concentrated features disappeared in a blur in front of you and he left without a trace, not even without a goodbye. Well, it was usually like this, at least you got your prized possessions back. You tucked them into the chest opening of your robes and prepared to leave the room.

Being sneaky like this was taking a toll on you but you knew you were obligated to complete your task. Too tired to jump out the window like other fellow members, you waited a while before leaving the room, the blaze of red you were greeted with outside in the halls made your mind lose focus. Walking slowly down the stairs you put on the pretense that you had cossetted in some alcohol and spoiled yourself in the company that you had come to receive. You pretended to fumble with your robe a little and tottered in your walk – that way you’d fit in to the bumbling drunkards who so often visited this place.

You had no qualms leaving the building. You slipped silently out one of the outer corridors that was open for customers to have some fresh air. You slunk deep into the night, through alleyways and small, dank paths where the rats scurried. You finally found yourself on the otherside, it was no longer the red light district where a row of respectable businesses stood. It must’ve been a long winding path you had taken to reach such a destination, it was further away than you’d expected.

Based on the area, you tried to find your way home. Even though no one in the harem was expecting your return till early hours of the morning, you still didn’t like the idea of being out so late. It was easy because the Imperial Palace could be seen standing in any part of the city since it was at the city’s centre. You saw the small peak of the palace’s roof far into the distance and began to follow in that direction. However, you were suddenly stopped by a coincidental commotion.

“Impudent Sir! I refuse to relinquish any of my belongings. I’ve told you, I don’t have any money on me, or valuables for that matter. I’m a scholar, not a merchant.”

The familiar voice trailed to your ears and you noticed a bunch of well-dressed men standing out the front of a restaurant. An unruly mob stood before them, every one of them brawny and dirty. They clearly were not from the high end of society to afford a proper sword and so brandished strange weapons, ranging from machetes, num-chucks to maces – all looking very threatening. There was a body that was unidentifiable to you at your distance that lay between the two unequal parties and on either side of the ‘academics’ were 2 imperial guards, but dressed less obviously.

You hesitated walking closer, but curiosity got the better of you and hid behind a corner store and watched. It was Chen; he wasn’t wearing his fancy imperial robes but it was clear he was wealthy which only worsened the situation.

“Liar, I don’t believe you. Why then, would you have body-guards? And what’s that ring on your finger. If you don’t strip - and give me your possessions then the only thing you’ll be giving up tonight is your life.” The most muscular man who was clearly the leader was two heads taller than Chen and when he spoke, his voice was deep and rough; he chuckled at the end of his sentence as it taking lives was just a joke to him. His following laughed to appeased them and you noticed Chen’s visible discomfort. He had 3 men behind him but they were all lanky, without muscle and couldn’t be of any use, they stood with dignity but you could tell that it was a lost battle. The guards looked as if they shook in their skins, clearly no match for the opponent, already outnumbered with the gang having roughly 8 or 9 people. It was difficult to count because they were all standing so close to each other.

You cursed, it was bad timing. You wished you had never decided to check the situation out because then you’d feel responsible for what was going to happen. You then looked around the place, the corner store was shut, its doors closed and impervious, but you noticed hanging up on the side of the door was a roll of unlit firecrackers. Shops usually always had firecrackers hanging at the store front to bring good business and luckily for you, this particular one had not been lit. A cheek grin grew on your face as you took it down and looked around for something to strike a flame. Then remembering your new found belongings, you pulled out your daggers and striked them quickly against. Sure enough a spark formed and you tried again, this time aiming for the little piece of string that would let off the explosion.

“I am not giving you anything.” Chen stood tall and firm. He puffed up his shoulders and held his head high. Tonight was only supposed to be a nice dinner with his colleagues and the co-ordinators of the civil service exams so that they could better prepare and discuss the logistics for this year. He wasn’t even in the disreputable part of the city and yet he was hassled somehow into this situation. He knew a thing or two about combat, all the Princes did as they were taught at a young age to prepare them for these predicaments. Being a member of royalty meant that you had to face these challenges but Chen failed to admit that his fighting skills were just a bit rusty.

“Well then, boys.” The gang leader snickered to his comrades then looked to Chen, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” His lips pulled back into a snarl, but before he could lunge a voice yelled, “Catch this!” You threw the lit firecracker at them and waited smugly for the desired effect.

The two groups looked around and then all of a sudden, a string of firecrackers were going off in their faces. The academics, Chen’s acquaintances who noticed the distraction took the chance to flee and Chen staggered backwards to be caught by his guards whilst the mob was caught in the smoke and explosions. But it was only a small set of firecrackers and not all of the members were caught in the detonations. “Get them!” The leader’s voice boomed and the guards selflessly contended to fight off the extra men. You ran up to Chen whose legs had liquefied and he looked up to you in wonder. “Hey, look, we’ve gotta go. Go, go!” Dragging him up by the arm, he followed you up like a loose puppet. He looked back and noticed some of the men running behind you and he snapped back into reality, sprinting now with you in the chase.

You turned corners and alleys and corners again, but couldn’t shake them off. There was about three, the leader and two of his minions who were relentless in pursuit. If you didn’t have Chen with you, it would’ve just been easy to climb the walls but it wasn’t possible with him so you could only keep running. Until finally, you reached a dead end.

The leader laughed menacingly behind you, “trapped now huh, pathetic.”

The two of you stood your stances wearily.  “What are you going to do?” He whispered to you, not even bothering to ask who you were because there simply was no time for questions that didn’t concern with getting out of the situation.

“Fight.” You looked to him, “got a better idea?”

He shook his head, hands balled into fists, well, he didn’t have a weapon on him. You looked to him and rolled your eyes, chucking him one of your daggers. “Use it wisely,” you crowed, before lunging at your opponent. He blinked twice before he caught the blade and unsheathed it, following suit.

It was a little unfair because it was three against two, and one of them was unwittingly, a woman. But what they didn’t have that a woman did, was agility and speed. You could slink flexibly in and out of combat, stabbing him here and cutting him there and they were slow but hit with brute force. The heavy mace that the leader carried knocked out one of his own and he grew angrier, roaring in discontent. Nonetheless, it was easy in the end because you realised he had to lift up his arms before he could bring down the mace and in doing so, he’d leave the front part of his torso unprotected. You weren’t a member of the Crimson Lotus for no good reason, you know how to protect yourself and strategise in battle, even if you were only a woman. Thus, as he raised his mace to bring it down on you, you swiftly slit his neck and down his chest. The brawny man’s eyes widened and he looked at you in shock. You stood there proudly, grinning at him, and he tottered back, unable to balance the weight of the mace to land on his back, lifeless.  In the end, you managed to taken down the leader who helped you out and took out one of his own minions, whilst Chen managed to finish off the remaining one, huffing and puffing, completely breathless.

He looked to you, completely exhausted, God knew how long it had been since he had done any rigorous fighting since his childhood training. He wiped down the bloodied dagger on one of the body’s clothing and picked up the sheath from the floor, putting the blade back in its protection. He then threw the weapon at you and looked at you in the moonlight, eyes widening just like your opponent did before he fell back. You wondered why he looked at you so bewildered but then a gust of wind, blew your hair around your face.

The bun that the maid had tied your hair up in and tucked it neatly into a male cap had fallen off in the fight and you realised Chen had every reason to be shocked; it was late at night and he just fought off some gangsters with a girl who carried weapons on her and cross-dressed for fun? He stood there and his shock then became recognition.

He pointed a finger, his mouth agape, “You!”

You thought about running for it but you were tired and couldn’t be bothered. You’d eventually have to face him anyway in the courts which would be worse, so you played it innocent. You looked around dumbly and pointed a finger to yourself.

“Who, me?”

~

this one was a longer one, just for you, my lovely readers!

And just so you know what you're dealing with, in terms of what I pictured them to look like:

This is what men of the time would look like, with long hair:

(DISCLAIMER: ALL THE CREDIT TO RIGHTFUL OWNERS. NONE OF THE PICTURES ARE MINE. I JUST FOUND THEM OFF THE INTERNET)

The officials:

LOL all the guys are so gorgeous. I don't want to impede your imaginations but that's wht they would approximately look like. Just imagine EXO-M like that. If you can't then, just enjoy in the pretty pics then!

End with a nice pic of Chen!