XH 91 - Curse of a lady cross-dressing
"An Jing, lead us to the Moonlight Lake Pavilion."
Long Lian was already bored with sightseeing. They had asked around about the fireworks, only to be told that the best fireworks were already lit up last night. Tonight's would not be as impressive as yesterday's. It was still an hour until evening and there was already nothing exciting left to see.
They managed to buy a round paper lantern with a cute rabbit drawn on it for Xiao Hua, which was paid by An Jing, their banker of the trip. It was one of the very few stores that sell white paper lantern as it was not the lantern festival. Most lanterns that were sold were red, festive ones with blessing words written on them.
Xiao Hua wanted a lantern not because she likes it but it was due to curiosity in comparing the work between the modern and the historical era. The edge of the fragile paper lantern was stuck together with glue and used bamboo sticks as frames. She does not dare to hold it tight for fear she ends up crumbling the paper.
There were many times during her second life as Xiao Hua did she admired technology. There were still paper lanterns being sold, but most would buy plastic lantern with light bulb replacing candle as a fire prevention method and it last longer. That was what Le XiaoTing had brought for the devil twins after seeing the bonfire they created using paper lanterns and candles. It does not help when the little devil's parents do not stop them, claiming they were still children and burning lanterns were just harmless fun!
Of course, they do not care as the bonfire was in front of Le XiaoTing's house instead of theirs! She was the one that cleaned up for them at the end of the night!
"My lord, you would be unable to enter the Moonlight Lake Pavilion." An Jing knew that if her master found out that Xiao Hua was the one that wanted to gain entry, he might disregard the rule and bring Xiao Hua in.
Unfortunately, she also knew that her master was having a secret meeting inside that Pavilion and it would be best not to disturb him.
Long Lian had known that the pavilion's new owner was her third brother and wanted to use that opportunity to visit it. An Jing's subtle shake of her head told her that it was not the right time to visit.
"There was a tea house beside the pavilion," An Jing suggested when Long Lian turned gloomy.
"Master had frequently visited to drink his favorite tea and has yet to leave a negative complained about it."
"Lead us there." Long Lian has gotten a little interested. She trusted her third brother's taste when it comes to food and drink.
Fortunately, the tea house was not packed as most nobles had stayed at home to exchange New Year greetings and the commoners hardly visited the best tea house in Guilin with outrageous high pricing.
An Jing secured them a table with a nice view of the Moonlight Lake Pavilion, which was just opposite the tea house.
"Tieguanyin," Long Lian ordered when a waiter came over to serve them.
"Coming right up," the waiter said pleasantly and moved to prepare their order when someone intercepted the waiter.
"One pot of Oolong tea for this table," a rough, manly voice ordered.
Frowning, Long Lian turned to the table where the voice came from, which was just right beside theirs. Her frown eased as she stared at one of the men in recognition. "Duke Heng?"
Duke Heng had recognized the princess with a terrible attempt of disguise. He greeted the princess politely as if it was not out of ordinary to see a princess sneaking out of the palace at all. "Greetings, my lord." He could identify An Jing, the Third Prince's head of the inner maid, with them so it was most likely that the Third Prince knew about the princess' adventure.
Xiao Hua's eyes widen in interest upon hearing the name 'Duke Heng' from Long Lian's lips. It was the second male lead!
Dressed in a simple dark green robe, he appeared as a gentleman that does not care about the luxury goods in life! He was also the heroine's oldest supporting male lead, right in his mid-thirties!
He aged rather well indeed! (*/▽＼*)
An Jing discreetly coughed beside Xiao Hua, interrupting her passionate stare at Duke Heng. It was impolite to stare at a person, much less of different gender with that kind of scrutiny! Fortunately, the Third Prince was not around or Xiao Hua would certainly be punished.
The ruffian looking man beside Duke Heng leered at Long Lian. "Oh? Who is this? Your new lover, Heng Zhen Gan?"
"Don't be foolish," Duke Heng said coldly and slide his folding fan close with an angry snap.
"Then who are these crossdressers?" Hearing Long Lian's surprised gasp, the hooligan sneered. "That thing you called 'disguise' is terrible. Your maid is much better at it."
The hooligan nodded at Tang Mei, who blushed at the compliment but she quickly stood up to defend her mistress. "Today our young master does not bother to disguise himself so of course an amateur like you easily see right through it!"
Long Lian's mouth twitched at the blatant lie but since her maid was fighting for her face, she just smiled arrogantly at the wild man.
"I suppose." Tian Liang guzzled wine from the bottle he managed to sneak away from Moonlight Lake pavilion. "Or else you won't risk choosing the girly tea."
Long Lian gasped in outrage at the hooligan for insulting her favorite tea. "Tieguanyin is the best tea!"
"That's the best tea for a girl," Tian Liang drawled as he stared at Long Lian mockingly. "Little girl like you should go back home and play, or else real men will teach you a lesson."
"Tian Liang, don't provoke her," Duke Heng said warningly but it came rather too late.
Long Lian's anger had already reached the red meter and she slammed her palm onto the table, scaring away the waiter that arrived just in time with both their teapots.
"You lowly man! Who allowed this man to enter this noble tea house? One look at you is enough to know you are just a servant! What does a servant know about tea?"
Inside her mind, Xiao Hua was groaning loudly while outside, she just facepalmed. Looks like the curse of a lady cross-dressing as a guy works just fine! There was already a guy that mess with Long Lian and she responded! With her palms still covering her face, she moved her fingers until one of her eyes could look at the hooligan.
Does that mean this is Long Lian's future husband? (*/▽＼*)
That thug does not look bad. He was more to the wild, bad boy kind of guy that was experienced with adult activities. He looks like the typical bad boy with a dash of cowboy traits in Harlequin romance books.
Just look at that body! His clothes could not hide his board shoulders, muscular arms, and thick thighs! Oh yum~
An Jing coughed again, this time louder as she stared at Xiao Hua with disapproval.
Xiao Hua quickly gathered her fingers together to hide her view before huddled down and pouted behind her palms. A good-looking man with a fine body like that thug should be admired! If Le XiaoTing was with her girlfriend, they would waste no time to go gaga over that piece of fine man!
"A servant?" The hooligan growled and slammed the wine bottle onto the table. "Do I look like a servant to you?"
"Duke Heng, this servant of yours is rather impertinence! Are you going to ignore it?" Long Lian snapped.
"My lord, this barbaric man is not my servant," Duke Heng explained, ignoring Tian Liang's venomous glare. "He's an important guest that was assigned to me for sightseeing. Please excuse his ignorance of Guilin's culture. His rough, unsophisticated words are his country's norm."
"Insulting Tieguanyin and this lord are no longer just about the ignorance of culture!" Long Lian stared at Duke Heng frostily. "Unless Duke Heng also thinks of Tieguanyin the same way as well?"
"I do not share the same view as him, my lord." Women are such illogical creatures. (눈_눈)
"Then what do you think of Oolong tea?" Tian Liang asked.
Duke Heng started to regret volunteering as Tian Liang's tour guide. He replied neutrally. "It's a good tea."
However, someone was not pleased with his answer. "Which is better, Duke Heng?" Long Lian asked in a rather demanding tone.
"My lord, both tea has its own good points. Choosing one would be asking if chicken or pork tastes nicer."
"Then let's have a contest. Heng can be the judge," Tian Liang suggested with a wicked grin.
"Did you not heard what I've said?" Duke Heng asked coldly.
"I did, but I'm a man that hates to lose. And this little princess would not accept her loss just like that. So why not compete?"
"How rude! The victor is yet to be decided!"
"See? That little princess agrees to compete, so don't back out Heng."
"And how are you going to compete? Both tea have different taste, so are you going to compete in tea brewing method and presentation?" Duke Heng's voice was thick of sarcasm and his eyes grew colder every second. "Then you will lose Tian Liang. The young lord is much more pleasing to look at than your ugly mug face."
Long Lian gawked at Duke Heng. She had never seen this side of him, as he was always politely indifferent whenever she met him, albeit they only exchange words lesser than five times.
"Compete on the taste, of course." Tian Liang rolled his eyes as if Duke Heng was being stupid. "We will be the one that brews the tea. The little princess will brew Tieguanyin and I will brew Oolong tea. I will not ask and assume you have tasted them before, judging from your old age..." Tian Liang dodged the incoming swing of the folded fan and continued in an uncaring manner, "So you will base on your memory to judge its taste with our brew."
"I can just announce the young lord to be the winner because you had offended me."
"And break the little princess' heart?"
Long Lian shot Tian Liang a deathly glare despite she agreed with his words. "Duke Heng, please be the judge of our tea. However, this lord does not know how to brew tea, so I will have to ask my little brother to compete in my stead."
Xiao Hua was watching the drama unfolding with rapture when she was suddenly pulled into the fray. "Eh? Me? But won't it be better to choose Sister Jing or Tang Mei?"
"Ho~ how can I do that? Asking a servant to compete for me would be cheating, isn't it? After all, this barbaric man is Duke Heng's guest and not a servant. We need to keep things fair, little brother."
Xiao Hua: '...' I'm a servant too. Isn't that cheating? (￣～￣;)
"Oh, your little sister? You are so tiny. Are you sure you want to compete with me? You will end up running away halfway, crying back to your mother's embrace, little brat."
Xiao Hua froze, before lifting her tiny head to look at Tian Liang, giving him a smile that was formed on her tiny lips, before delicately speaking from her tiny mouth. "My mom teaches me to do one thing when a big bad guy bullies me, that is, to kick between his legs. I heard it's very painful."
Duke Heng: Huh, so the Third Prince's little maid is a tiny chili.
Tian Liang: ... What a vicious brat.
An Jing and Tang Mei: '...'
Long Lian: Go Xiao Hua go! ＼(≧▽≦)／