The Cry of the Phoenix Which Reached the Ninth Heaven-Volume 3 Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Squabbling Urchins
"Dage, take good care of the princess for these next couple days. Make sure no problems occur." As everyone looked on in disbelief, King Loulan nodded slightly as an unreadable light flashed through his eyes. After giving Dage a few last exhorts, he turned and left.
"Imperial Father!" Kubu Zheer turned around to catch up with him, but Dage stopped her.
"Princess, look, it's that bad guy." Dage's remark immediately made Kubu Zheer turn around and look in the direction Dage was pointing to find that Chu Moxin was standing there with black lines all over his face. Enemies on a narrow road described Chu Moxin's current feeling precisely.
"Why are you here?" Kubu Zheer clearly had a very bad impression of Chu Moxin. At this time, Huangfu Junxiu's face was filled with regret. If he had known about this earlier, he wouldn't have allowed the little prince to go to some gambling house. From the looks of things now, those three thousand iron mines were completely out of reach. With things like this, all they could do was wait and see if the crown prince could pull off some miracle.
"So what if I'm here? I am here! I…" Chu Moxin looked towards Kubu Zheer as he shouted back in an overbearing manner, but in the next instant, he felt a cool sensation come from his body. When he looked down, he saw that he was already soaked. The sight of Chu Moxin's cheeks puffed up from anger made everyone burst out laughing.
"You little shrew! This prince is going make you pay!" Chu Moxin's dignity had taken a huge hit from falling into Kubu Zheer's trap twice in a row.
"Prince, you can't!" When Huangfu Junxiu saw that Chu Moxin was about to charge up, he immediately pulled him to a stop to dissuade him.
"It's great that you're here! This princess was wondering how to pass the time these next ten days. Now that you're here… it won't be boring anymore!" Kubu Zheer skipped over to Chu Moxin. Her large spirited eyes narrowed slightly as her peach-colored lips slowly hooked in a meaningful arc as she walked past him. Once Kubu Zheer left, Dage walked to Chu Moxin.
"Little boy, you're about to be in for it!" Dage glanced at Chu Moxin with a sympathetic expression before speeding up to catch up with her master.
"They… They actually dare to threaten this prince! Huangfu Junxiu, let go! Let go of me!" Chu Moxin angrily flailed and kicked in the direction Kubu Zheer left in while bellowing.
Everyone else in the guest house were frozen in shock. Kubu Zheer's expression from just now definitely defeated the purpose of that pure fairy-like appearance of hers. Everyone sighed. Truly, there was only a single step between a celestial and a demon.
"Did this prince see that right?" Ye Junqing reflexively rubbed at his eyes as he asked in this confusion.
"It looks like things are going to be tough for the little prince these next ten days." Yao Mowan sighed in pity as she looked towards Chu Moxin who was soaked.
As Yao Mowan predicted, that night, Kubu Zheer proposed for everyone to have dinner together. In the main hall of the guest house, delicacies filled the entire table. Ye Junqing, Yao Mowan, Feng Yihan, and Chu Moxin were already there and seated. The only one that was missing was Kubu Zheer.
"Yihan has a premonition that this dinner may be difficult to digest." Feng Yihan glanced over at the side at Chu Moxin who was fidgeting in his seat with a faint smile. He had no intention of marrying Kubu Zheer, so he also had no intention of trying to curry favor with her. The only reason he stayed behind was because he wanted to know the final outcome.
"Little prince, since this is the way things are, we should simply accept it. It's only a meal, you couldn't be scared, right?"
"This prince? Scared of her? What a joke!" After Yao Mowan said this, Chu Moxin immediately decided against leaving and sat back down firmly. Huangfu Junxiu, who was standing behind him, looked towards Yao Mowan gratefully. He was praying with all his might that nothing else would happen before the crown prince arrived.
Right at this time, Kubu Zheer made her grand entrance. She was currently in simple and nimble Central Plain male attire. She was dressed in a water-blue changpao and her black hair was tied up high with a strip of white silk. With her slender brows, phoenix eyes, jasper nose, cherry lips, and a fan in one hand, she gave off the elegant demeanor of a easy-going young man as she walked.
"Kubu Zheer apologizes for having made everyone wait!" Kubu Zheer twirled her fan, then caught it and tucked it in her jade belt before walking to her seat. She glanced at the table filled with delicacies, then her expression darkened.
"There's meat but no wine? How pointless! Dage, have them carry up ten jars of top quality Daughter's Red!" instructed Kubu Zheer loudly. Dage was naturally dressed like her master, in Central Plains male attire. When she heard her master's command, not only did she not try to dissuade her master, she even asked if ten jars would be too little.
At the side, Yao Mowan's lips parted slightly as she looked at those two in shock. Was this for real? If she could choose, she would rather have the sunshine princess be truly foolish like in the rumors. Perhaps that way she would be easier to deal with.
As the rest of the people looked at the twenty jars of Daughter's Red in front of them, their moods sank slightly.
"Zheer knows that it is the custom in the Central Plain to bond over alcohol. Zheer is truly honored to have the chance to meet all of you today, so Zheer won't be too talkative and will toast three bowls first as an expression of sincerity!" As Kubu Zheer was speaking, Dage already had the servants open a wine jar and she placed a large porcelain bowl in front of Kubu Zheer to fill it up.
Kubu Zheer then downed three bowls without even batting an eyelid. Ye Junqing couldn't help but sigh in admiration. He had always believed his alcohol tolerance to be quite high, but in front of Kubu Zheer, he had to concede defeat.
"Why aren't you guys drinking? It couldn't be that you guys want to back out?" Kubu Zheer slammed down the porcelain bowl as she looked towards them with her brows lifted.
"You're the one that said you'll toast three bowls first, so what does that have to do with us?" Chu Moxin gave a cold humph as he retorted this irascibly.
"Of course it has something to do with you guys. This princess has drank three bowls in toast, so now it's your turn to drink three bowls in accompaniment! You couldn't be scared to drink, right? If you're scared, state it early! This princess has never been the type to make things hard for people, especially for little kids!" Kubu Zheer glanced at Chu Moxin as she lifted her brows provocatively.
"Who's a little kid!? Who's scared!? Isn't it just three bowls! This prince will keep you company to the end!" How could Chu Moxin possibly hold up to this kind of provocation? He immediately gulped down three bowls. Ye Junqing and Feng Yihan shared a glance, then they drank three bowls as well. Due to the fact that there were servants standing behind them, they couldn't really force the wine back out immediately.
"Mowan has never been good with alcohol and will have to ask for your forgiveness, Princess." Yao Mowan knew that her alcohol tolerance couldn't compare to Kubu Zheer's, so she got up and said this politely.
"Zheer knows Big Sister. Since Big Sister doesn't like to drink, then don't worry about it." As Kubu Zheer looked towards Yao Mowan, a smiling expression appeared in her eyes. Yao Mowan could see it very clearly. That smile was as bright and beautiful as a flower and extremely sincere.
"Many thanks for your understanding, Princess." Yao Mowan knew to stop while she was ahead. It seemed like the other three were going to be in for it today.
"Drinking like this is pretty boring. Why don't we play the finger-guessing game? Dage, fill the bowls!" Kubu Zheer suddenly got up and stomped on the chair with one leg as she pushed up her sleeves.
"Fine! Who's scared of who?" Having downed three bowls of alcohol, Chu Moxin was now in high spirits and he immediately agreed. Ye Junqing and Feng Yihan really wanted to maintain their noblemen grace, but they were forced by Kubu Zheer to participate. Yao Mowan was the only exception, so she was the only one that remained clear-headed in the room.
Yao Mowan couldn't help but sigh as she took this scene of chaos. She inwardly celebrated the fact that her behavior at the Four Seas Gambling House had been outstanding enough. Otherwise, she didn't dare to imagine her fate.
In just two hours, there were only five jars left of the original twenty jars of Daughter's Red. Ye Junqing and Feng Yihan had originally wanted to force out the wine while using the latrine, but every time they stepped out of the room, Kubu Zheer would send two servants to follow them so they didn't have any chances to do so.
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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
[Chiyomira's Corner]
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