Immediately the group left the academy, Fusheng hurriedly went to the principal's office.
"What can I do for you, Miss Fusheng?" Master Jiang asked helplessly already feeling a headache coming.
"I want to ask for permission to commence a closed door practice. You know I have a serious competition coming up in 6 months time, so I need to go into seclusion to hone my strength." Fusheng said with determination.
Master Jiang was stumped, the headache he was expecting did not come, instead he was confused "You said what?"
"I want to go into seclusion." She repeated.
Master Jiang nodded "and do you know what seclusion entails? How long do you wishe to be gone?"
Fusheng grumbled "Yes I know what seclusion is all about." She spoke up "I don't know how long it will take, I will come out when I feel it is enough."
Master Jiang stared at her with helplessness and just agreed with her request, so he could have some peace.
As she left, he quietly stared at her back, he knew exactly what Fusheng intended to do, infact he would have to be stupid if he did not know that she planned to escape the academy. He knew that when he rejected her plan to join in the mission, that she would not stop trying, he would have even been disappointed if she did not try again. He did not explicitly agree to her plans, but he did not also reject it. He just felt that he should not try to stop her from embarking on this journey, so he decided to turn a blind eye. He quietly planned how to enjoy a few days of peace and quiet.
***
Fusheng did not actually believe that she would get the permission from Master Jiang, she had a hunch that he knew her plans to escape, but did not plan to stop her, she couldn't exactly clear, she hurriedly went to the next phase of her plan. She went back to her room and together with Feilong she packed a few things that she might need for the journey.
"Feilong, do you think if we leave in the evening that we'll still be able to catch up with them?"
"Yes, why wouldn't we? As long as they did not teleport there, we will still be able to catch up." Feilong paused and gave her a once-over "How exactly do you plan to join them?"
Fusheng confessed "I actually don't know,but when we get there, I'll figure it out."
Feilong widened his eyes "So you haven't actually thought of how you're join them? Don't tell me you plan to say, I'm Fusheng and I escaped the academy to join you all, so please do not send me away."
Fusheng laughed out "I don't sound like that, and besides it's not like I don't have a plan, I will not go there with this disguise still on."
Feilong shook his head "I can't with you."
Fusheng rolled her eyes at him and did not say anything.
When it was finally time for her to move, she stepped out of her room, an walked steadily to the spot where she had jumped into the academy with Lingjun on the first day of school. Back then it was a bit difficult for her to accomplish that jump, but now with her growing martial strength and cultivation talent she jumped over it like it was nothing. Immediately she jumped over the wall, she bolted and disappeared into the thin air.
***
The group of students had been on the road ever since they left the capital, without stopping for a break. But just before dusk, they arrived in a little town outside of the capital. The leader Du Heng decided that the group should stop and rest in the small town and continue with the journey the next morning. He initially did not want to stop the group, but later took into consideration the First Prince and the noble ladies on the journey.
The leader of the group took them all to an inn and signed them in. They each got separate room, and because it was too early to go bed or to even have dinner, they all decided to stroll around the town, because most of them had never been to a business town before.
As this plan was being made, everyone unconsciously turned to look at the First Prince to hear from him.
The First Prince noticed their stares and nodded to show his agreement to the group plans. Since he joined their journey, he had not said a word to anyone, showing that he truly wasn't much of a talker.
Xueying on the other hand declined "I am not joining in the stroll, I am not feeling too well to walk around at the moment." after saying that, she bowed calmly to the First Prince and went back to her room.
A lot of the students understand Xueying's temperament, it was known all over the capital that she did not like mingling with people and often preferred to stay by herself, the only other person she could ever mingle with is Meng Fusheng and seeing that her best friend was not present made her actions understandable. But Meilan and some other half of people that had narrow minds with her, felt that Xueying was just acting nonchalant because she felt, that was above all of them. But if she really felt tired, or nonchalant, nobody knows and Xueying herself did not care about people's opinions as she headed back to her room.
***
The market outside was truly fascinating, the students were all excitedly looking through every stall. They all decided to go together in a group, to avoid a situation where one person gets lost. They browsed through the stalls, some girls buying pretty hair accessories and other trinkets, some buying snacks, some just admiring the night view, the First Prince just standing there with his imposing presence. The First Prince was particularly eye-catching with his mask and his tall stature, but he did not seem to care that he was the center of all attraction.
Meilan on the other hand was trying so hard, just so she could have some alone time with the First Prince, but all to no avail, she tried to walk slowly, tried to strike up random conversations, but nothing happened. She was so upset thinking of how easy it was for Fusheng to easily get the attention of the First Prince. But she calmed herself down and told herself that she had enough time to make the First Prince notice her and so she decided to just leave the First Prince for now.
As Meilan stopped bothering the First Prince, he let out a breath of relief, he was seriously regretting his decision to join them in the stroll. Everything was so boring without the little cat, he should have stayed back at the inn at least Meilan would not be sticking all over him.
As he was thinking of this, the group came to a stop at a stall selling little trinkets made of wood. The group was fascinated at the way the wood was carved and the intricate designs made on them. As a majority of them were noble children from the capital, they had never seen anything like it. The trader saw the awe on their faces and had a devious plan in his mind.
He immediately put on a bright smile on his face and greeted then enthusiastically "Greetings, welcome to my humble store, what would you like to pick? Anything you want, I have it."
A girl from the group in a pretty pink dress took out a wooden butterfly and asked for the price.
The trader smiled and took the butterfly "Wow, young lady you have such good taste. This butterfly was carved from a tree not grown in our Homeland, it was gotten from the foreign West. This butterfly was personally sought out by the imperial consort herself. This butterfly is really on of a kind."
The young lady in pink blushed at the flatter and asked softly "How much is the butterfly?"
The trader smiled again "Like I said, this butterfly is worth a lot, for even the imperial consort to want it. So the discount price because you could recognize a valuable trinket, I am selling it to you for 700 gold coins."
"Huh?" Everyone in the group was shocked and frowned.
The leader Du Heng took over "Mister, this is too much, it's too expensive. How about you reduce the price?"
The broad smile on the trader's face disappeared "What do you mean it is too expensive? This butterfly is very valuable, I am even giving it to you at a discount price and you're still complaining."
Du Heng frowned "This is very expensive, but since you are not going to reduce the price then we will no longer buy it. Thank you."
The trader shouted "What do you mean you're no longer going to buy it? Well since you insist on not buying the butterfly, then you must pay 300 gold coins for making me waste my strength explaining the butterfly to you."
At this point everyone realized that they were being robbed. They were all pampered children and had never experienced a difficult situation like this one, they did not have sharp mouths to counter the man and they could not use force as part of the mission was to learn to mingle amongst people. They all frowned, the girl that took the butterfly almost cried with regret. They tried to reason with the man, but the man refused and threatened to report them for theft. The girl brought out her money pouch to pay the old man to stop him for causing trouble for everyone especially the First Prince, just as she was about to bring out money from her pouch a calm voice interrupted.
"Don't you fear that the heavens will strike you, stinky old man."
Everyone turned in the direction of the voice, and they were all speechless. The owner of the voice was a young man, fair skinned, had bright doe eyes, naturally rosy lips, had a pale pink beauty mark at the side of his left eye, his face bordered by the line between extremely beautiful and extremely handsome.
He wore a flowing robe primarily in white, with gradient blue accents that gave him a soft and ethereal appearance. The robes had long wide sleeves that drape gracefully. A blue sash cinched the waist, displaying his thin waist, that looked like it could be easily broken. The sash was decorated with tassels, and he used a little crown to hold up his hair. He also held a blue folding fan, completing the look of a pampered young master of a noble family. He looked particularly calm and timid, but the next words from his mouth completely shattered that illusion and snapped everyone out of their daze.
"You must really lack no shame huh, lying to their faces in broad moonlight. What butterfly from the foreign West? Old man aren't you scared that you are closer to your grace?"
The old man snapped out of his daze and snapped "Who do you think you are talking to?"
The Young Man looked about and retorted "Is there another stinky old man that is cheating people around?"
"You… fine you say I am a cheat, is there any proof to back it up."
At this point, a number of people were already drawn in by the noise and watched the drama, some voicing their opinions.
"Yes, you can't just point at someone and call them frauds"
"Show us your evidence."
"Who even let this little boy in the market?"
The young man observed the reaction of the people, and just when everyone thought he would not say anything,
"I called you a cheat without mincing words, naturally I have my proof to back up my claims."
He continued "You said this wood is gotten from a tree in the foreign West, May I know the name of the tree?"
The trader was stumped "…uh?"
"Also you said it was sought after by the imperial consort, may I ask how the imperial consort found you and found this butterfly, that she became interested in it."
The trader was completely speechless and had nothing to retort.
The Young Man came forward and took the wooden butterfly from the girl,
"This wood is not even of good quality, not to mention coming from foreign lands."
At this point, public opinion was already changing against the trader,
"The boy is right, how exactly did he meet the imperial consort?"
"Now the boy mentions, something feels off about the trader."
"Tsk, this trader is so unbelievable."
The young man turned to the trader and flashed a bright smile, displaying his white teeth, which was a contrast with his rosy lips, the crowd was once again blown away by the smile. The young man shrugged "Even if you wanted to make some extra profit, you could have been low-key about it, but charging 700 coins, for a cheap knock off is just too much, you greedy old man."
The trader not able to stand the shame from the public and the scorn from the young man, hurriedly sent everyone away and attempted to give the girl, the butterfly for free, but she refused. Seeing the shame, the trader closed his shop and left in a hurry.
The group of students who just watched as the young man before them completely changed the situation with just a few words were dumbstruck. Du Heng walked up to the young man and bowed to show appreciation.
"Gongzi, thank you for your help. If you did not intervene we would not have known what to do."
The young man smiled calmly, shedding every sign of his earlier frivolous attitude, maintaining the image of elegance. "You do not need to thank me, that is just what I was supposed to do. You just need to be more careful when dealing with these traders."
"But still, accept my thanks. Gongzi I have a question, how did you realize that the butterfly trinket was a cheap knock off?"
"Oh that" he smiled "I was not actually sure that it was fake,I just felt it was not too original and also the price was too expensive for a simple stall." He ended with a shrug.
The group of students who were already looking at the young man with admiration for his brave act earlier, were even more smitten by him with hus confession.
The girl that initially wanted the butterfly, hesitated, but took a deep breath and walked up to him,
"Gongzi thank you for stepping in earlier, I was flustered and did not know what to do, but then you showed up."
"Oh like I said there's no need for thanks, just don't always be in a hurry to bring out your money pouch, you almost made that man rich."
The girl giggled softly and asked, "Gongzi, if you don't mind, what is your name? Are you from around here?"
"I am Xie Lan. I am not from around here, I am actually passing through I just decided to lodge for the night here. I am actually on my way to the Fu province."
The girl was surprised and hurriedly added without thinking "Really!! We're also on our way to the Fu province, why not journey with us?" She seemed to have remembered something and said in a small panicky voice "uh.. um.. you you could…"
A brief silence descended on the group, most of them wanted Xie Gongzi to come along with them, but they remembered the power was not with them or even Du Heng, but it all depended on the First Prince.
Du Heng stammered in a low voice, that did not go unnoticed by Xie Lan "Your… Your highness, what… what do you think?"
Xie Lan frowned a little and looked up at the person that was being referred to and as he did, he paused for a split second and regained his normal expression.
The micro expressions on his face, were not unnoticed by the First Prince, his eyes behind the mask flashed with a hint of unknown emotion before saying "Let him join us in the journey." And left
Xie Lan forced the smile on his face and said "Thank you, it was boring traveling on my own anyway."