Xiao Yu was slurping her noodles and nearly choked when he caught her bluff. She didn't think that he would and thus she told him the bit about ghost. She had to make herself not swallow because if she did she would choke bad. She pushed the noddles to the side of her cheeks making it puff out on the side that she shoved it too. She placed her hand over her lips for precaution and let the chuckle pass as she slowly chewed and swallow. "Touche, Milo." She smiled and then took a big gulp of water. "Your right about the Emperor hanging himself but if you will imagine how lonely and desperate he must have been. How would you feel like if you were the one to end it all for your ancestors? But let's be honest the Ming Empire was deteriorating but the time he took the throne. I personally blame the failure of taizi Zhu Yixun; he had one job to do and yet he went on his tirade." She shook her head. "Sometimes when the father is great the son fucks up."<br/><br/>---------------------------------------------<br/><br/><br/>"Wuqing, you sure you want to go?" Zhuge Zheng Wo asked her for the third time, He was worried about her. Wuqing was normally reserved and quiet but since they returned from the wild goose chase in Nanjing, she'd been irate and irritated. he could feel her pushing against himself and always on edge. Yet when he asked her what was wrong, she always told him nothing. He knew her disposition well. She had been a happy child when her family was alive but the girl that he found and rescued had withdrawn into herself. He knew that she suffered silently and often did not like to open up to anyone.<br/><br/><br/>"If I don't go, he will come here in pomp and circumstance and i don't want the whole city gossiping as to why Taizai is parading through the city to Shen Hou Fu."<br/><br/><br/>"Do you think he would do that?" He knew that Taizi would but he was trying to calm her down. He could feel her anger rising from within her and the cloud of darkness closing in. Wuqing was extremely scary when she slipped into her dark moods.<br/><br/><br/>"I do and shushu, you have done so much for me." She sighed and as she did her mood change to a calmer one. "I will go because I have to go. There's no reason to bring trouble where it isn't needed."<br/><br/><br/>"Do you dislike Taizi so much?"<br/><br/><br/>"No. He just makes me uncomfortable." She wasn't lying either. Taizi made her extremely uncomfortable, sometimes he made her have to put up her walls around him. She could always read his thoughts and they were not always proper.<br/><br/><br/>Zhuge Zheng Wo nodded. He could not read her mind like she could his. He did not need to tell her that he would lie to protect her if she absolutely did not want to go, but he was a patriot to the crown and he raised her to be one as well. Sometimes it was hard to remember that Wuqing was after all a woman and not a man. She knew how to thrust herself into their world seamlessly. In the end though, she was still the little girl that he rescued, but he knew that he would not be able to hide her from the world for very long. Had she been the same little girl who used to run down the halls to hug her father, he would have married her off long ago, but she had forsaken that life as if it were a bad dream, a lie of things that were promised and never delivered.<br/><br/><br/>She understood that shushu loved her like she was his own daughter. She always felt like she was the unofficial child of Jiu Niang, the Emperor's qingmeimei (younger sister of the same father and mother). She knew about how Jui Niang had fallen in love with Zhuge Zheng Wo when they were young like herself. The Emperor refused to grant them marriage as Zhuge Zheng Wo was but a bodyguard and unfit to marry royalty. The princess followed Zhuge Zheng Wo out from the palace and swore never to return until they were wedded. That was before Wuqing was born and now Jiu Niang was a owner of an dance hall where men came to drink and watch women perform. Wuqing owed them a lot, so much that she could not afford to be selfish and ignore Taizi's request. she took of without saying a word to him. He would understand, he always did. He was her father now and she was an obedient daughter who would never shame him.<br/><br/><br/>"So you're leaving without me?" Lengxie called out as he jogged over to her.<br/><br/><br/>"As if I could ever out run you."<br/><br/><br/>Lengxie shook his head at her but they were laughing. It wasn't uncommon for her to be snarky towards him. he didn't mind. He grown up with her and knew her pretty well. She'd been unhappy about the whole thing for a while and he knew he was powerless to stop it from happening so all he could do was accompany her and make sure she was alright. The both of them were received well upon entering the palace but he noticed that Taizi was not in the least amused to see him tagging along with Wuqing meimei.<br/><br/><br/>"Wo zhen hai pa ma, Wuqing?" (Am I that scary, Wuqing?) He looked right at her.<br/><br/><br/>"Taizi, ni shou shenme?" (Taizi, waht are you saying?) She knew what he meant. He was not pleased that she had not come alone.<br/><br/><br/>"I didn't invite Lengxie ying xiong (He calls him a hero but it's meant as an insult) yet he is here."<br/><br/><br/>"I only pushed my sister here. I can leave."<br/><br/><br/>"Why leave if you cam as the help?" He laughed. "Wuqing, you're brother is funny but not very smart. "<br/><br/><br/>"Lengxie gege, is a man of few words and actions, Taizi. Forgive us."<br/><br/><br/>"Us. I don't have to forgive you mei'er (my beauty) but him, eh I don't know."<br/><br/><br/>She could read his mind: Why did he have to come along? i wanted time with Wuqing!<br/><br/><br/>"Wuqing meimei, tell shushu that Taizi wanted my head and I gave it." Lengxie did not like his attitude towards them at all.<br/><br/><br/>"What nonsense are you speaking off. I would not dare to harm one hair on your head of great wolf prince."<br/><br/><br/>Wuqing bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from talking. She hated that Taizi used Lengxie's past against him. he was prince too, a lesser prince of nomadic tribes but one none the less. The way Zhu Yixun was throwing around status disgusted her. It told her a lot about how he viewed the world. Lengxie never asked for his tribe to be attacked and exterminated.<br/><br/><br/>"Taizi, was there something you needed to talk to me about?" She asked diverting the topic.<br/><br/><br/>"I simply wanted to invite you to dine with me but now my mood is spoiled... you haven't found the pearl yet." He directed the question at Wuqing.<br/><br/><br/>"No we went to Nanjing and it was a wild goose chase." She glanced at Lengxie. "We will find it, Your Majesty. We always find what we need to fine. Please give us a bit more time."