Chapter 3

As it was getting dark outside, they had to visit the matchmaker tomorrow morning. Liu Wuyi then came to a small hotel with his son. It was the turn of spring and summer and the weather was a little muggy, so after dinner, the two of them walked into the courtyard of the hotel to enjoy the breeze. A few of their fellow guests were already sitting around the stone table under the flower shelf in the courtyard, chatting.

Liu Wuyi was quiet by nature, and he was especially sick of men gathering and chattering like a bunch of gossipy women. Therefore, he asked his son to get two bamboo stools out from the room and then he closed his eyes to rest, sitting by the wall of the yard. Obviously, Zixiu was quite different from his father. He rarely had the chance to see so many people, so he had a strong desire to join them. However, as he didn’t dare disobey his father and go talk to those people, he could only pick his ears.

“Hey guys, did you hear that the team escorting the princess of the Wen Kingdom has arrived in the Luan City?” A rough voice rang.

“Really?” A heat discussion immediately rose among those people.

“Why did they escort their princess here?” A discordant voice suddenly sounded, which was also the question on Zixiu’s mind.

“Dude, don’t tell me you don’t even know the Wen Kingdom form alliance with our country by marriage!” someone said in surprise.

“Intermarriage?” After pausing for a while, that man who seemed to be out of step with other people’s ideas continued, “So there will be no wars in the future between the two countries?”

“Shhh… Keep it down!” someone reminded him in a low voice.

“Why? I didn’t say anything wrong…” that person didn’t take his reminder seriously and he even mumbled a few more words. However, before Zixiu could hear what he was saying, his father grabbed him by the ear and dragged him into the room. It turned out that Zixiu had slipped into the crowd unconsciously.

“Go to bed early!”

“Dad, do you know about the intermarriage between the royalty of two countries?” Out of curiosity, Zixiu couldn’t help asking his father. However, Liu Wuyi only responded expressionlessly, “It’s none of your business. Don’t ask that much!”

“But Dad, after all, I’m also a civilian of the Nan Kingdom. How could I even know nothing about such a sensational event that our country is going to connect with the Wen Kingdom by marriage!”

“You already knew it, didn’t you?”

“Er…” Zixiu was rendered speechless. Even he himself didn’t know why he was so curious about the intermarriage. To be precise, he was curious about everything around him, just like a foreigner who had just arrived in a country he had never been to, full of curiosity about everything. “Weird! This is so weird!” after letting out a sigh, he immediately threw himself on the bed. He was tired out after a long day’s journey.

The room was quiet at midnight while the moonlight poured in through the window.

“Cuckoo!”

Zixiu trembled and snapped open his eyes when he suddenly heard a bird squawk. He found it difficult to fall asleep whenever he changed bedrooms, so he was still awake by now. However, as his slightest hint of drowsiness had gone with that damn bird’s noise, he tossed about on the bed and couldn’t fall asleep anymore. Finally, he decided to take a walk in the yard.

After sneaking out of the room, he found both the front door and the side door of the hotel were closed and the people in the yard had gone back to their rooms. He sat down on the stone stool and let out a sigh, facing the moon. “Liu Zixiu, are you bored? Yeah, I’m very bored…” he answered his own question. He had thought that he would have some fun in the town, but to his disappointment, the only night he stayed outside would pass like this. At the thought that he would go back to the mountain tomorrow, he couldn’t help feeling depressed and wondering how he had gotten through over a decade.

“Boohoo…”

When he was in a daze, Ziuxiu suddenly heard someone whimpering in the yard, which made his flesh creep. “Who’s weeping? Could it be… No way!” he managed to set his mind at ease and listened carefully, trying to identify the source of the cry. After a short while, he shifted his gaze to the earthen wall on the right side of the yard.