Chapter 13 

The thick clouds causes Jun Xiu's vision to be extremely confusing. He rushed to the Mongolian palace’s West Wing of Honour and looked around for a plum flower tree desperately. He sighed and looked at the letter again, mumbling something to himself. He looked around for the sight of a maiden and pouted. 

“She’s just playing with me.” He muttered, as he sat down disappointedly on the rock. He felt slightly frustrated and devastated that Tai Yan didn’t come to see him as she promised. 

“Waiting for someone?” Someone asked softly, causing Jun Xiu to looked up and searched for the source of the voice. Slowly, he saw a eunuch standing in front of him. He sighed again, and nodded. 

“Shi.” He smiled, trying as hard as he could to be polite to the eunuch, despite of his painful and broken heart. 

“I’m Tai Yan.” She said, causing Jun Xiu to looked at her bewilderedly. 

“Huh?” 

“I’m Tai Yan Gongzhu.” She smiled, making him looked at her intently. Yes, this person is too pretty to be a eunuch. He smiled slightly, trying to looked through the slight darkness and see Tai Yan's face properly but he failed. What he saw was just some slight feature that’s smiling at him. 

“Why are you in that?” 

“Oh, this? I borrowed this. In Mongolia, Gongzhu who are betrothed aren't allowed to walked around at dusk since it’s improper.” She smiled. 

“It’s not safe here so followed me.” She said in a whispering tone, and dragged the poor Jun Xiu away somewhere else. Jun Xiu's round-shaped face started to turned red at the touched of her delicate hand. He felt so weird and overwhelmed at the same time. He looked at her intently as they arrived at a weird looking pagoda that has a lot of dancing candles in it. Tai Yan smiled and blushed at his gaze. 

“Here should be safe enough.” She smiled sweetly at him, causing him to feel breathless all over. 

“I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble. Are you sure it’s perfectly safe for you to sneak out like this?” Jun Xiu asked, breaking the ice between them. 

“Of course it’s not safe but I think it’s a great idea to see and get to know each other before we get involved in this arrangement matter any deeper.” Tai Yan said, looking at Jun Xiu intently and blushed slightly as he smiled at her approvingly and gradually, he started to moved closer to her. 

“Tai Yan Gongzhu, about the personal question that I asked you in the letter.” He said, while Tai Yan turned pale slightly. 

“Are you taking your words back?” She asked, smiling bitterly. 

“It’s ok. I understand.” Tai Yan said solemnly, and backed away from him slightly, still smiling. Jun Xiu was aghast with her words as he started to go all panicky and quickly moved closer to her and grabbed her hands, much to Tai Yan's surprises. His sudden movements causes her to freeze and stared into his eyes immediately. She was wordless and was instantly mortified. She didn’t react to his moves but stood there and looked at him questioningly. 

“I’m not taking back my words. I just wanted to asked you the answer.” He said firmly, and at the same time, seriously and worriedly. His heart was starting to beat like a drum out of anxiety. If he didn’t know any better, he could have accused his heart for betraying this lovely moment. 

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Tai Yan blushed furiously and looked down on the floor, in effort to get rid of her thoughts of wanting to get to know him even more. 

“You don’t?” 

“No, I don’t.” She denied, while he smiled slightly. 

“Of course, there’s no harm in repeating the words orally. Tai Yan Gongzhu, would you do me the outmost honour in matrimonial...?” 

“Shhh. I was just joking. My ability in communicating in Mandarin isn't that bad. I know what you were talking about, you don’t have to say it again.” She said, and pulled her hands away from his abruptly, feeling slightly embarrassed with his words and again, Jun Xiu looked at her intently. 

“You do?” He asked, blushing slightly. 

“Of course, I do. Why do you think I risked my life to come here in disguises anyway? I’m here to give you the answer and the confirmation.” Tai Yan said, gathering enough courage to turned around and looked at him in the eye.

“So, what are your words?” 

“Although I forcefully disagree on the arrangement that’s made between our countries, I agree to your personal question sincerely.” She said, looking at him deep in the eyes, indicating what she wanted to tell him. Jun Xiu smiled happily to himself and nodded. 

“You looked very beautiful.” Yun Hao said, blushing while Zhu Xian laughed bewilderedly and took her leave before she breath out her sister’s secret. Again, Yun Hao looked at Mei Ying's ear intently in the dark. He frowned slightly and then smiled at her. 

“Should I take that as a compliment or an insult?” Mei Ying asked cheekily, causing him to blushed as she reached out for his hand and held it on purposes. He shivered slightly and blushed again. 

“Of course, it’s a compliment.” He said. 

“Really?” Mei Ying laughed, tilting her head aside, causing the pearl earring that she wore to move, highlighting her beauty and her joyful expression even more. 

Yun Hao caught the glimpses of the ornament on her when they were walking to the brothel and smiled to himself. Perhaps he was right about everything after all. Besides, only a real girl would pierced her ear. No man in the societies that he knew pierced ears before. Perhaps that’s the biggest mistake that Mei Ying ever made in her disguises as a boy. Her ear and she wore earrings when she's dressed up as a girl tonight. Yun Hao smiled secretly and held her hands tighter, teasing her mercilessly. 

“You looked too beautiful that it hurts me to send you to a brothel.” He said solemnly, and started to regret that he suggested the things in the first place. 

“What are you talking about, Yun Hao? No joke. I’m a boy, for goodness sake. I will be fine.” She said, without realizing that he knew everything already. 

“Oh, I forgot.” He said, laughing slightly. 

“Come on, let’s go to that stall.” He said, and placed his arms around her waist perfectly. His movements causes Mei Ying to blushed furiously as she felt this lovely sensation being sent to her nerves. It was making everything go haywire but in a marvelous way. Mei Ying wondered whether she’s falling for Yun Hao. 

“But you said...” 

“The brothel?” 

“Shi. I thought you said that we are late?”  Mei Ying asked, but Yun Hao nodded. 

“The brothel can wait. Now, let’s see what they have here.” Yun Hao smiled and looked at her, without letting go of her waist when he looked at some jewelry that the stall offered.