Legend of Fu Yao

Meng Fuyao grabbed onto her sleeve dramatically in return and wiped a few non-existent tears. “Chief, us women have it hard…”

A simple sentence seemingly unrelated yet harbored such deep meaning, the lass immediately thought of how difficult her life had been recently and immediately launched herself onto Meng Fuyao’s shoulder and began wailing.

“… I’ll give… I’ll give…” She said between sobs.

Meng Fuyao patted her and said gently, “It’s okay… It’s okay… We’ll save your big brother A-Yue and send you to your grandfather’s place… When your father can’t find you, his anger will cease…”

The girl against her shoulders was now sobbing uncontrollably as Meng Fuyao patted her. She slowly looked up toward the inner room. A long silhouette could be seen against the tightly shut screen, watching her and the little chief, his glassy eyes shining brightly.

Another few days went by, and the Emperor and Empress were soon preparing to go hunting. In the past, only the officials and imperial guards would follow them, but now that the Empress was participating as well, and that she had also “extended the invitation in a display of love and acceptance”, the six palaces would come along to “watch the Emperor in his glorious moment”. The ladies were all extremely delighted at being able to escape sewing and planting greens, and the chance to leave the palace. Hence, they were very excited about the event.

With the entire harem following her, Meng Fuyao headed towards the encampment. The ladies were separated from the men by a small hill. Magnificent red tents dotted the slopes as they swayed in the wind. Meng Fuyao stood on the slopes and stretched out her hands, exclaiming, “Two little white rabbits came out to pick mushrooms, the ground is littered with poisonous mushrooms, and now the pot awaits them…”

Lord Yuan Bao squatted in her sleeve, listening darkly to her macabre recitation. He really missed the years following his master, listening to classical music, appreciating famous flowers, playing around… Ah, it felt as if it were a different life…

Meng Fuyao was drunk in her own poetic talent when someone behind her laughed and said, “Great poem! Great poem!”

Meng Fuyao turned around to see the cross-dressing emperor holding an unknown beauty and immediately smiled. “Your Majesty is too kind, I cannot match up to you.”

Xuanyuan Min placed a hand on his forehead as Meng Fuyao eyed the beauty who had already arrived in front. “This is…?” She asked.

“The Consort of Virtue greets Her Grace the Empress.” The beauty halted her advance and bowed slightly. Her behavior was more regal than the Empress.

“Ah, the Consort of Virtue…” Meng Fuyao smiled brightly and asked, “Are you feeling better?”

“Thanks to Your Grace’s concern, I am much better now.”

‘My ass, you claimed you couldn’t even get out of bed yesterday, yet you can even come out to hunt today. Even dogs can’t recover as fast as you,’ Meng Fuyao thought vehemently.

However, the smile on her face did not falter as she replied, “Consort of Virtue, I was just talking about you with the Jade Consort. She wants to gift you a set of hand-embroidered riding attire, did she manage to catch you? Oh, could she have gone ahead to your tent already?”

The Consort of Virtue’s expression changed suddenly as she pressed a hand against her forehead. “I suddenly feel rather dizzy…” She said apologetically to Xuanyuan Min.

“Oh dear, my love must have caught a cold!” Xuanyuan Min immediately ordered the eunuchs around him to take her away. He turned and glanced at Meng Fuyao’s mischievous expression as she said, “I’ve helped you get rid of the people already, if you have anything to say to me, hurry up.”

“I’ll say, my queen, what is your name exactly?” Xuanyuan Min smiled and nudged Meng Fuyao’s sleeve. “You tell me you’re called Yao Fu, but how can such a vicious person have such a common name?”

“This was what you wanted to say to me?” Meng Fuyao glanced at him and prepared to leave. “What a waste of my time.”

“Ah, ah, don’t leave,” Xuanyuan Min sighed and leaned towards her ear, looking as if he were being cheeky as he whispered, “This isn’t the palace. Many people are looking at us, so you should be more intimate with me.”

Meng Fuyao’s eyebrow twitched slightly—of course, she knew that there were eyes on her and Xuanyuan Min, but those gazes were nothing but dog feces to her. However, she also sensed a different kind of gaze upon herself, one that seemed to become even more intense whenever Xuanyuan Min came near her.

“If you’ve something to say then say it quickly,” Meng Fuyao “smiled” and “lovingly” moved towards his ear and whispered, “I’ll spare the life of one concubine for every minute that you save.”

“I’ve really never heard of such a threat…” Xuanyuan Min coughed and lovingly grabbed her waist and whispered, “We have to bring forward our plan earlier. There’s been an increase in the number of suspicious people in the city recently. I’m not sure if Xuanyuan Cheng already suspects something, but, be careful.”

“Suspicious people in the capital, huh…” Meng Fuyao rolled her eyes and suddenly smiled. Her eyes shone with mirth, startling Xuanyuan Min, and he suddenly said, “My Empress, I feel like I have never seen your true face…”

“It’s better that you don’t know me!” Meng Fuyao flicked away Xuanyuan Min’s fingers and moved out of his grasp. Just then, she noticed a deer flash past in the forest. The deer was pure-white, a rarity among rarities.

She definitely wanted to hunt that white deer!

The sound of the hunting horn spread through the air as everyone around gave chase. Meng Fuyao’s interest was piqued as well, and she found a white horse and chuckled, “I want!”

She hoisted herself onto the white horse and tied up her hair, then immediately shot away like an arrow, disappearing from Xuanyuan Min’s sight in a flash.

Xuanyuan Min watched as her white-clothed figure disappeared into the forest and ordered his guards to follow her. He hugged his shoulders and grabbed his heart as he mumbled, “If there were really a day where she could be my real empress and tell me ‘I want…”, how wonderful would that be…”

Behind him, Shadow Blade appeared noiselessly and replied coldly, “You’re looking for death!”

Cracking her horsewhip, Meng Fuyao hurriedly increased her speed. Due to her superb horse riding skills, she soon left the guards in the dust.

Like the wintry wind, she flew by, kicking up columns of snow behind her. Her hair was blown into a mess, and she removed the hair tie and let her hair fly behind her in a black mess. Meng Fuyao laughed out loud, welcoming the chilly wind as she galloped towards the mountains. She was truly feeling amazing!

These few months she had been stuck in the palace playing the harem game, and although she was a natural at it, she felt bored after a while. Moreover, she disliked the four walls of the palace, and even more, she hated having to smile constantly but secretly hate the group of women. There were many ways one could live, why did she have to pretend?

Thinking about it, trapping this eagle that was her in a cage was truly a cruel thing to do!

The eagle was finally set free, and with a glint of her eyes, she searched for the white deer. Ah, if she caught it, she would skin it and make a pair of beautiful sleeves with it.

As for who she was giving it to? Not telling.

From the corner of her eye, something snow-white flashed past. The deer was like a bolt of lightning flashing through the forest, its body beautiful and slender. Meng Fuyao could even see the faint red antlers on its head which resembled a bayberry branch.

Meng Fuyao immediately raised her arms.

She retrieved a bow! She retrieved an arrow! Took aim! Shot!

Whoosh!

An arrow pierced through the air. Due to its power and speed, even the air around it seemed to bend as it went deep into the forest towards the eyes of the white deer!

Only the eyes were punctuated, no part of the flesh was injured.

Swoosh!

From behind the forest, another arrow was fired from an unknown location. The arrow had viciously knocked away her own arrow and miraculously changed direction in midair… right through the eyes of the white deer.

Meng Fuyao was outraged.

Daylight robbery?

The deer was heavily injured, yet it did not die, and with a sharp cry, it sprinted away, its speed several times faster than before.

From the other direction, the sound of movement in the leaves could be heard. That person seemed to give chase as well. Meng Fuyao felt the competitive streak in her awaken as she too, gave chase.

Deep into the forest, the deer was like a streak of white light while the two behind it, one black and one white, flew after it like the wind. In the denseness of the forest, Meng Fuyao could make out that the person in front rode a black horse, yet she wasn’t able to recognize the person on the horse.

The two of them chased the deer, deeper and farther into the forest until they reached a small mountain.

The white deer sprinted to the top of the mountain and finally, out of energy and life, crumpled to the ground, dead.

In front, the horse suddenly stopped as the rider bent down with a swish of his flowing robes and picked up the white deer carcass.

The green mountain was set against the blood red sky, slivers of clouds dotting the sky here and there. The dusk glow fell against his straight back, his features were delicate and handsome. His robes were regal and awe-inspiring like a celestial descended from the heavens.

Meng Fuyao stared suspiciously at the figure and tightened her grip on the rope.

That person turned around and smiled slightly.

He gazed at her from afar, his regal figure glowing slightly in the dusk atop the lush green mountains.

Meng Fuyao immediately felt pinpricks on her body—she started to fidget unconsciously…

That person came closer and smiled at her habit of fidgeting whenever she felt uncomfortable. He raised the white deer in his hand and said, “Only the Empress has the honor of capturing the deer of this land.” With both hands, he offered the deer to Meng Fuyao.

Meng Fuyao immediately recovered from her stupor and remembered that the person in front of her had poison and probably came to seek revenge. If she didn’t want to be forcibly extracted and sent into another country, she should retreat as fast as possible.

“Anyone can hunt the deer of this land.” Meng Fuyao smiled wryly and started to move back. “I’ll have to trouble you with skinning the deer, I’ll go find some firewood.”

With a twist of her feet, she immediately turned to flee, but the person opposite her raised a hand and a series of branches cracking resounded through the air as numerous broken branches fell behind her into a huge pile, blocking her exit.

“The firewood is here, there’s no need for Your Grace to trouble yourself.” The person smiled exquisitely and waved around. “Please take your pick.”

Meng Fuyao mumbled, “These firewood are thick like pigs’ waists and as huge as elephants. They can be used as firewood in the palace, it would be a pity to use them to roast a deer.”