The Story of a Stroppy Princess

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On the fourth day after Hua Yueling came back to Mansion of Prime Minister; she got the information from Ping’er that Fourth Prince had just returned home from Ministry of Penalty, and she decided to pay a visit at once.

She had planned to learn martial arts from her younger brother Hua Yujin, but he had been sent by Ministry of Penalty to Sifang Town, which was located in the west of the capital city, to look for evidence for certain government case. She hadn’t even got the chance to see him after she was back home. And she heard from Ping’er that ever since she brought shame to the family, her brother refused to call her sister any more, avoiding her in every occasion.

“Ling’er, what brings you here?” After the servant reported the unexpected visitor, Fourth Prince, with a genial and graceful smile on his handsome face, went to greet her in person.

“Brother Yixuan, I’m here to ask for your help.” She wore a white peach blossom dress and a phoenix hairpin on her head, gentle, dignified and elegant.

In recent days, she also heard the rumors that Nangong Lieye was not fantastic in bed and that she was a wanton. And it was too presumptuous of her to take such a private matter as the reason to divorce her husband. It was really a shame. However, she simply didn’t care unless those rumors were thrown right to her face, or she wouldn’t let herself be a bit affected.

“Well, Ling’er, what is the matter? Come in, and let’s talk about it.” Seeing she was still in high spirit and wasn’t influenced by the rumors at all, Nangong Yixuan was quite impressed by her composure. In contrast, Nangong Lieye, as if trying to prove himself potent, hid in Manyue Chamber drinking and sleeping with beauties all day. He became a laughing stock who was ashamed of seeing others.

“Ok.” Hua Yueling was thinking about the same thing. Though familiar with nearly every aspect about Nangong Yixuan, she’d never been to his mansion. Hearing that he fed a lot of hawks, a common messenger in ancient times, she was really curious about it.

The Mansion of Fourth Prince was a little bit smaller than that of Prime Minister and was not as luxurious as the Mansion of Prince Chennan, yet all plants here were growing exuberantly and thickly, which looked quite beautiful and attractive.

“Ling’er, take a seat, please.” Nangong Yixuan pointed at the white jade bower by the lotus pond, and told a servant to make a cup of tea.

“Great.” Hua Yueling looked up at him. Her face in smile, bright as the spring sun and clear as the autumn moon, took Nangong Yixuan by surprise for a moment.

“You look great today. How are you?” He felt slightly embarrassed and looked away. After divorcing her husband, she became more glamorous and elegant than before, magically attracting everyone she met.

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“I ate and slept very well for the last four days. Of course I look good. But, I’m here today to learn martial arts from you.” Hua Yueling said directly.

“Learn from me? Are you sure?” Nangong Yixuan pointed to himself in surprise.

“Yes. You are the best constable in the capital city. If you’re not good at martial arts, how can you catch a criminal?” The corners of her mouth were raised and her charming eyes blinked as she replied.

“Who said that? Your brother is better than me.” Nangong Yixuan shook his head with a smile.

“My brother is just dedicated to his duty. My father told me that you’re much better than him. Hey, please don’t say no. I was bullied this time for I was too weak to fight against others. So I have to build up my body; I’ll never let men bully me again.” She pouted deliberately as she finished.

“Ling’er, isn’t it too late for you to learn martial arts?” Nangong Yixuan felt puzzled, and a bit speechless.

“Of course not. As the saying goes, ‘If you work at it hard enough, you can grind an iron rod into a needle’; I will try my best to learn it. And I’m not trying to be the best martial artist. I’m just hoping that one day I can defeat hooligans through Kungfu!” Hua Yueling knew that it was too late to learn martial arts, but she needed to know the skills the masters used. She believed that she could find some way to better defend herself by virtue of the rigorous training she had been through in her last life.

As Nangong Yixuan looked speechlessly at her serious face, there came the screeches of a hawk in the sky. He changed his countenance and rushed out of the pavilion. Then, she saw a huge brown hawk standing on his shoulder.

Nangong Yixuan took out the tiny wooden tube on the hawk’s claw and opened a piece of waxed paper inside with his eyebrows wrinkled. Seeing that he read it for so long a time after tossing it this way then that, Hua Yueling asked curiously, “Brother Yixuan, can’t you read the words?”

Nangong Yixuan solemnly put the paper in his arms. He went back to the pavilion and said to her, “Ling’er, I’m afraid I don’t have the time to teach you martial arts. There’s a big case for me to deal with.”

“Huh? What? What case is it? Would you like to tell me? Maybe I can help you.” She asked curiously.

“This is the news from Kingdom of Dayue to Kingdom of Lanyue, and your father might have mentioned it, too. During the past six months, our spies who had been sent to Kingdom of Lanyue died one by one. There must be spies of Kingdom of Lanyue lurking in our Kingdom. I have to dig them out, or more people will die.” Nangong Yixuan made no secret of this news. In fact, she knew about it because she had stayed with Nangong Lieye during the past whole year. However, her attention was all on Third Prince, so she didn’t care about the news.

Featured by cruelty and brutality, Kingdom of Lanyue was the western neighbor of the Kingdom of Dayue. It had invaded Kingdom of Dayue many times in the past ten years and was defeated by General Xiren of the Kingdom of Dayue. One year ago, it was defeated again and retreated hundreds of miles behind Mount Xiheng. Then, the two kingdoms were at peace.

Nangong Tianyu, the Emperor of Kingdom of Dayue, wanted to annex Kingdom of Lanyue. However, the terrain of Mount Xiheng was strategically situated and difficult to access. So the emperor, though much irritated, had to wait for his spies in the Kingdom of Lanyue to subvert their internal authorities and work in collusion. But the news in this half year was their spies were killed one by one, which indicated that spies of Kingdom of Lanyue must have find their way into Kingdom of Dayue. The task of finding these spies out was thus entrusted to Ministry of Penalty.

“I got it, so what information did you get?” She was an excellent female criminal police officer who had sharp sense to cases.

“The information was intercepted by my men from a hawk leaving for Kingdom of Lanyue, but I could not understand the words written by these spies. I need Grand Preceptor’s help. Three hawks have been intercepted in the past month with messages written in the same weird characters that I cannot understand.” Nangong Yixuan heaved a sigh.

“Oh? Can’t even Grand Preceptor read it?” She was curious.

Nangong Yixuan looked at her, much bothered. He shook his head, saying, “Grand Preceptor is studying them.”

“Brother Yixuan, may I have a look?” Hua Yueling walked straight to him.

“Hmm,” he felt a little hesitant. He did not believe that she could understand the characters that even Grand Preceptor could not read.

“Brother Yixuan, you won’t be so mean to me, will you? Just a quick glance. I am really curious about it.” She coquettishly pulled his arm.

Nangong Yixuan blushed and quickly brushed away Hua Yueling’s hands before he took out the paper from his arms.

She smiled, not a bit vexed, and laughed when she saw the nail-shaped words on the paper.

“Ling’er, what are you laughing at? Do you know these words?” asked Nangong Yixuan in a hurry. Though he was puzzled, her shining eyes somehow gave him a glimmer of hope.

“Of course. I know them.” Hua Yueling handed the paper back to him with folded arms, and looked at him confidently.

.

“Really? Excellent! What does it say?” He almost cried with joy. The most nerve-wracking problem was solved by sheer luck after he had trying so hard without any clue!

“Brother Yixuan, as long as you promise to teach me Kungfu, I will tell you what it says!” She raised her beautiful eyebrows and a wicked smile appeared on the corner of her mouth. She knew that she won this time.