Chapter 137 - Merchant Festival

Lei Xing sat in the carriage stewing, she was really annoyed by all this. She could not believe anything that Tung Mei said. 

{...She must be in cahoots with the stupid bracelet -_-)...I know you can hear me, what the hell is your problem?!...}

{...*...}

Lei Xing received no response and sighed in irritation. The Emperor had been observing her bad mood all evening and now that they were alone, he finally asked, "What is it?"

Lei Xing glanced at him, but before she could respond he frowned and added, "Did that Tung girl do something to you?" From his observation, her bad mood began after talking with Tung Mei. He wanted to say something, but he kept his words to himself in consideration of Lei Yong. Although, he thought that if she really did something to Lei Xing then she would need to be dealt with.

"No, it's nothing..." Lei Xing responded. She could not explain what the issue was and in the end, the cause of the problem was the stubborn bracelet and not Tung Mei herself. And it was honestly her fault for picking up the bracelet and terrorizing it in the first place.

Lei Xing looked at the Emperor's disbelieving expression and said to reassure him, "It's fine...It's really nothing. I'm just thinking of what to gift Xiao Ting. Her coming of age ceremony is in a few days and I haven't prepared anything...I wanted to give her something meaningful." Lei Xing said with a smile.

The Emperor narrowed his eyes and then nodded, "In that case, it's alright then..." The Emperor looked at her for a while and then pulled her to his chest and par her head, "You can get some rest now."

Lei Xing knit her brows, remembering her earlier embarrassment and mumbled, "I'm not sleepy."

The Emperor smiled and stroked her hair and did not say anything. He was not convinced by Lei Xing's explanation.

{...It seems I will have to investigate this girl too, just in case. Especially if she is to be with Yong...It is only natural that I look into her...}

The carriage stopped and Lei Xing got down to see they had arrived at a bustling street. It looked like a regular market, but seemed to have a more festive atmosphere, with street performers here and there, she could even see one standing on stilts in the distance. She turned to the Emperor with a raised eyebrow.  at the Emperor and asked, "Why are we here?"

The Emperor explained, "It's called the merchant's festival...Apparently, merchants from all over the country come over with all sorts of things. It's a showcase of sorts with performers too..." The Emperor paused then knit his brows, unsure how to continue. He had only ever heard about it, and had never been himself so he was not exactly sure, "...Anyway, since we were already out, I thought we should go...You'll definitely find something good for your sister. " The Emperor finished.

Lei Xing looked at his expression, he looked a little excited so she raised an eyebrow and asked, "Another new experience?"

The Emperor blinked, cleared his throat and said, "It'll be interesting." Then he grabbed her hand and walked into the crowd.

Lei Xing sighed.

{...I guess it's Emperor's day out today, might as well go all out I guess...}

They passed by someone who was doing a fire performance and Lei Xing stopped and pulled the Emperor back and watched transfixed. Performances like these had always interested her. She wanted to go a bit closer to get a better view as people gathered, but the Emperor pulled her back. He could not risk her getting hurt. Lei Xing frowned at him but quickly refocused on the performance and jumped a bit when he blew fire in their direction. 

The Emperor looked at Lei Xing eagerly watching the performer and knit his eyebrows, "I can do that too."

Lei Xing without thinking or even looking at him responded, "I'd rather you didn't."

The Emperor frowned at her, somewhat annoyed by the fact that she was not interested in him performing and was actually happily staring at another man, right in his presence too. This was not why he brought her here. Lei Xing randomly glanced at the Emperor and found him glaring at her, she blinked and asked, "What?"

The Emperor looked away and said, "Nothing."

Lei Xing raised an eyebrow and then thought of what could be wrong all of a sudden, then she remembered what she said and blinked.

{...You're kidding me, right? You can't seriously be pouting about that? Are you? No way -_-)...}

Lei Xing sighed and then put on a smile and humored him, "I only said that because I didn't want to chance your beautiful face getting hurt." The Emperor raised an eyebrow at her and she quickly corrected, "Handsome face."

The Emperor raised his head, glanced at her and tried to prevent himself from breaking out into a smile, thinking that he should not indulge her too much otherwise she won't learn. Lei Xing looked at his expression and covertly rolled her eyes.

{...Dude, you shouldn't be this easy -_-)...}

"I'm bored, let's go." Lei Xing eventually said to the Emperor's delight and they continued along. Lei Xing stopped at several stalls to peruse through the items. She found them surprisingly very interesting and not at all what she was expecting. There was a stall that had colorful gemstone rocks. Lei Xing picked at a lot of them and scrutinized them. The Emperor asked if she wanted them and her expression became very conflicted. 

{...They're not very useful, but fun...Plus, I could always have them refined I guess, but still...}

After thinking about it for a bit, Lei Xing agreed to buy a few and made sure to choose the biggest and best-looking ones. She was very meticulous in her choice and was taking her time, but the Emperor was not bothered and was enjoying learning about what she liked. It seems she had a curious eye. 

She was not interested in jewels, but was interested in their unrefined forms.

She was not interested in jade jewelry, but was interested in jade statues.

She did stop to look at some jewelry pieces, but rather than the jewelry itself, she was interested in the detailed craftsmanship of it. 

She even looked at sword sheaths the same way, so he made a mental note to show her his swords. They had been passed down for generations and had a lot of history, he could tell she would like it very much. 

She was particularly interested in a double-bladed sword. She said she was always curious about it and eagerly listened to the vendor's tale of its owner, who ended up dying by one side of his blade while taking the enemy down with him. She wanted to pick it up to try it out, but the Emperor quickly stopped her before she could have the opportunity to accidentally hurt herself. 

While she enjoyed looking, she did not seem to want to buy anything, but he was. He realized she was thinking too much about everything. It was a unique adventure for them so of course, taking souvenirs to remember this day was necessary. So, if she particularly liked something, he signaled to the servants behind them to buy it once they moved on. Except for that double-edged sword, he could not give that to her. 

"Ohh, is this a real wolf's tooth? Or a tiger's?" She asked as she picked up a tooth necklace and scrutinized it. The vendor quickly responded that it was a wolf's tooth and went on to tell the story of the wolf, who terrorized a village for ten years before being brought down.

The Emperor watched her scrutinizing it and asked, "You like it?"

"En, it's cool." Lei Xing responded with a smile. She wanted to buy it but then the Emperor declined and \ pulled her away. Lei Xing frowned, a bit annoyed, he had been asking her to buy things all day but now she finally wanted to on her own, he refused?

The Emperor saw her disgruntled expression and smiled and told her, "I have a better one. I killed it myself six years ago, barehanded too...Well, maybe not. I used a rock amongst other things. But it's much better than that one there. You'll like it."

Now that he thought about it, he had collected random things over the years that she would like. He did not actively collect them but when they were presented to him, he offhandedly accepted them and did not think much about it. Like the wolf's teeth. The men presented the two sharpest teeth and its pelt to him as his trophies. He never cared about them before, but now he was very happy he kept them. 

Lei Xing knit her brows in thought for a bit and then asked, "Six years ago, so you were fourteen?"

The Emperor knit his eyebrows, wondering why that mattered but responded, "I think so." He looked at Lei Xing and then frowned. This was not the reaction he was expecting, she did not look at all happy or excited like she was when looking at the vendor's tooth. 

{...I guess she must have really wanted that one, but mine is truly better...}

The Emperor sighed and was just about to turn around to go buy the tooth for her, when Lei Xing suddenly said, "Can I ask you something?... You don't have to answer if you don't want to...I'm just a bit curious."

The Emperor stopped and went, "Of course."

Lei Xing nodded, then knit her brows, seemingly thinking of the best way to approach. Seeing her hesitation, the Emperor knit his brows, feeling a bit on apprehensive. 

{...She wouldn't ask to leave again, will she?... After all this time, I thought we had made progress...she wouldn't...}