The King, The Prince, and The Warrior

Chapter 21

"Wukong" a familiar voice said making the copper simian stop, he turns around to see Macaque wearing the most beautiful hanfu he had ever seen, half of his hair tied up in a high bun while the other half was left out, his favorite hair stick in his hair, wearing a purple winter cloak, soft red lipstick, a perfect shade of pink blush, and light purple eyeshadow. The moment Wukong saw Macaque and his brain stopped working his face bright shade of red as steam practically came out of his ears and his tail was wagging "Wukong, is everything alright?" Macaque asked tilting his head, Wukong's mouth opened and closed like a fish as he stares at this beautiful person in front of him

Macaque then noticed the large bouquet in the copper simians arms "are those for me?" Macaque asked, Wukong instantly snapped out of his daze and looked at the bouquet then back to Macaque "y-y-yeah, these are for you" Wukong said holding the bouquet out to the prince. Macaque stared at the bouquet and took it "they're lovely, thank you" Macaque said smiling sniffing the flowers "y-y-you're welcome" Wukong said with a sheepish smile, Macaque chuckled "so shall we get going" Macaque said smiling "y-yes right, yes let's go" Wukong said holding his arm out, Macaque took it and the two went to the village

The village was filled with life as they celebrated the Lantern Festival, lanterns hung on every door and strings, the smell of different delicious food hung in the air as well as children's laughter, Lion and dragon dancers filled the streets, and fireworks and firecrackers were sold and selling everywhere. Wukong was an awe at the festival since this was his first time going to one "wow, it's so big" Wukong said, Macaque couldn't help but chuckle. He then watch as both children and adults light firecrackers and they explode with loud pops, Macaque was thankful for the dampening spell Wukong placed onto his ears "so what would you like to do?" Wukong asked looking back at Macaque, the prince thought for a moment until he looks up and saw a jianzi flying right towards him, but thankfully Wukong caught it in time "got it" Wukong said

Then a group of kids came running towards the two "we're sorry, we didn't mean to kick it at you!" The little boy said bowing along with the rest of the kids "it's alright, you all were just playing" Macaque said with a gentle smile, Wukong looks at the jianzi in his hand "what's this?" Wukong asked looking at the jianzi "it's a jianzi, people play with it by kicking it to each other with their heels, my siblings play with it in the summer" Macaque said explaining it to the copper simian. Wukong looks at the jianzi and back to the kids "can I join?" Wukong asked the kids look up at the copper simian "you do?" The little boy asked slowly sitting up straight "sure, if you can keep up" Wukong said dropping the jianzi and kicking it to the little boy who caught it "sure sir" the little boy said smiling "watch this" Wukong said to Macaque walking up to the group of kids and they began playing kicking the jianzi to one another

Macaque chuckled as Wukong began to pose and use his tail to kick the jianzi to the kids. After a while Wukong finished up the game and went back to Macaque and continued to enjoy the rest of the festival, right now they were watching the dragon dancer performance watching as they move around with the beat of the music, Wukongs and Macaques eyes sparkled as they watched and when it end everyone clapped at the amazing performance, then Macaque was challenged to a game of chess, Wukong watched in awe as the prince easily beats his opponents with ease. Later the two were sitting down eating food like hairy crab, yuanxiao, dumplings, and peaches "mmm, you weren't kidding when you said Mrs. Chunhua makes the best hairy crabs, these are delicious!" Wukong said with a mouthful of crab "so how are you liking the festival?" Wukong asked cracking the shell of the pincher with his strength "it's amazing, it's so lively than I could remember" Macaque said grabbing a dumpling with his chopsticks and eats it "I'm glad you're enjoying it" Wukong said smiling

"To be honest, this is kind of my first time actually going to a festival" Wukong said pulling out a piece of meat from the crabs leg and popped it into his mouth "I can tell" Macaque said chuckling, when they finished eating they saw people walking towards the square or the river carrying lanterns "I think they're about to release the lanterns" Macaque said looking at the lanterns "come on I know a good spot where we can watch" Wukong said and leads the tanned simian to the area. Soon they found a perfect spot under a tree next to the river "so are you excited about this?" Wukong asked taking a bite of a moon cake "I'm very excited, I can't wait to see the many lanterns released" Macaque said smiling at the copper simian "y-yeah, me too" Wukong said blushing, they sat there under the tree when Macaque noticed something in the reflection of the water