Authoress Notes:
This chapter is called Not so bad after all. After you read it, you'll know
why it's called this. By the way, now Shang Xiang, Jiang Wei and Xi Ling is
feeling quite the same. They also resent the same person called Cao Cao.
Well, I've made this chapter especially long. I hope you guys who reads
this likes it. Please READ and REVIEW.
Chapter 5 ~ Not so bad after all
' WHAT?!!', Shang Xiang cried out as loud as she could, ' HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME??!!'
' You know what we just said. Shang Xiang we do love you very much.but..there are things that we can't compromise.' The Tiger of Jiang Dong said very firmly to his only daughter. With that he and his two sons exited the tomboyish princess' room.
~Shang Xiang's POV~
I could hear a party going on downstairs. The Qiao sisters must be dancing, I can hear cheers for them. I just CAN'T believe this is happening to me! Everybody used to be scared of me! And the Qiao sisters were once my bestfriends! How could they betray me? Since they heard I was to marry that why-be-so-kind Liu Bei, they had deserted me. They kept away from me and whenever I was near, they moved away. Even dad, Ce and Quan had left my room without saying anything else this evening.
How can they do that to me? Here I am, crying my eyes out and there they are, laughing and cheering downstairs! How could they?!! No one seems to care.. I think it'll be better for me to die..
As I was thinking about that, I heard a soft knock at my door. I opened it and saw Lu Xun standing in the corridor with a bread in his hands.. He didn't seem very drunk or full, so I guess he wasn't at the party downstairs.
' Princess? Are you OK?' he asked, looking very concern when he saw the tears on my cheeks.
'Yeah.. I am.. Come on in.' I said while turning around and raising my sleeve to wipe away my tears.
' Well, here have a bread. You haven't been eating since this morning at breakfast.' The young strategist said while entering the room and offering the bread to me. He settled himself on my comfortable red-coloured sofa.
I took it from him and began eating it ferociously before muttering through a mouth full of bread, ' Thanks. I was starving.. No one seemed concern enough to bring me food except you.'
' Welcome. I didn't like the party below either. It's too noisy for me', Xun said.
' Oh, really? Or is it because you're too scared to meet Sun Ce's daughter?' I teased him, my cheerful personality returning slowly.
' Huh? You can seem so harmless and yet so ferocious.' Xun said defensively,' Just because I accidently poured milk on her shirt doesn't mean she'll kill me. After all, she is a very nice girl'
'Oh.. So she's a nice girl and I'm not?' I spoke without thinking. I wish I could take that back the moment it left my lips. I just couldn't help it. I'm so frustated at how everyone abandoned me at my worst state.
Lu Xun seemed uneasy and he shifted in the sofa ' No. I..I didn't..mean..'
' Oh, I'm so sorry, Xun. I don't know. why I'm being so..difficult..' I cut him off. Tears threatened to leave my eyes again. I felt so awful and sad. Just because I'm sad, doesn't mean I have to make other people sad too.
' It's okay. You have the right to feel that way. I would too if I'm forced to marry a woman I don't love in a month. Only to be told I have to marry her in two weeks because of something that had happened. I also came here to tell you that I'd be accompanying you to Lord Liu Bei's territory. Have you packed everything you want to bring with you?' Lu Xun said kindly.
I raised my head and looked into his lovely, warm dark brown eyes and said, ' Lu Xun, you know you're a nice guy..very nice guy. I treated you as a friend. I ..'
'What do you want to know?' he cut me off this time.
' I just want to know whether there is any means of escape.'
' Well, I don't want to give you false hopes and see you getting into trouble too. The answer is.. no. I don't think so, unless..'
'Unless what?' I said impatiently and hopefully.
'Unless Lord Sun Jian wants to let you escape.'
I sank back in my chair after popping the last crumb of the bread into my mouth. When he said that, it means that there is no hope at all. My head drooped and a few strands of my short hair covered my tear-streaked face.
' If marriage is unavoidable, why not lay back and enjoy it? Anyway, Lord Liu Bei is a very honorable man. I'm sure he'll treat you right and you'll fall in love with him soon enough.' Xun gave me a quote and some hope.
' I hope so.' I said, raising my head eventually after deciding that I need to be alone ' I think you'd better get going. I think my father would really like to have you downstairs.'
'I will take my leave then, my lady. Take care. Don't worry, just be happy. Everything will sort itself out'; Xun replied with a smile and left my room.
I didn't cry anymore after he left. Maybe Lu Xun was right. Why not lay back and enjoy the time I have here and the time I have there. I think I should start packing too. I reached under my bed and pulled out my travelling bag. For a start, I opened my cupboard and start pulling out clothes from the cupboard.
' I must go to the market tomorrow to get some clothes.' I thought as I suddenly noticed that I had no lady-like clothes to present myself to my future husband. Actually, this is not so bad after all. Luckily I'm not going to marry some mad and stupid people like Cao Cao. Thanks to him, I need to marry Liu Bei for the alliance. If I can I'll definitely chop his head!
~Somewhere in a forest~
Bo Yue awoke with a start when he was suddenly jerked off a horse. He landed on the grassy floor landing with his knees. The pain was so unbearable that he let out a howl from his very dry lips.
' Hey, if you don't want to be killed or fed to the tigers, you'd better shut up!' A woman, whom Bo Yue thinks is a general, hurled the threat at him.
Bo Yue knows better than anyone to shut up, since he recalled being hit on the head by the retreating troops. It means that this lady here must still be furious at the defeat and will be willing to do anything she wants with him.
She is lovely, fair, has waist-length hair that is tied into a ponytail and wields a pair of pink maces as weapons, Bo Yue muses at the now-turning- away-to-receive message young lady.
' Lady Diao Chan, Lord Cao is furious at our defeat at Shu. He wants us to camp a mile away from here. We are also to guard the hostage until further instructions.' A scout reported to the lovely lady.
' What do you mean HE'S FURIOUS??!!!' Diao Chan boomed at the scout, 'Sima Yi had already warned him that we would not be victorious due to the lack of troops and yet he urged us! Now it's our fault we lost?! So possible..'
' I'm sorry, Lady Diao. I'm only the messenger.' The scout quickly muttered and hid himself among the remaining soldiers.
' Get up and start moving before I lose my patience with you, too, little Rat!' Diao Chan now turned her anger to Bo Yue and tugged at the rope that was fastened around Bo Yue's neck after he was jerked off the horse.
Jiang Wei quickly complied with her instructions for he does not want to be the next victim of this lovely lady. He suddenly noticed that being held captive by a lovely lady is not so bad after all. Luckily he didn't get Cao Cao himself. It's his stupid fault I'm here.
~In Shu~
Xi Ling lay asleep in her bed. Now she was alone in her tent. Zilong had left her tent since early in the morning. The opening of the tent allowed some sunshine to enter Ling's tent and shine on her fair face. She looks so peaceful and innocent when she's sound asleep.
Suddenly, the lovely eyes of the maiden flutter open in a lazy style. Ling tried to recall what had happened the night before. She remembered lying on Zilong chest and then being put on her own bed by Zilong. Ling recalled asking him to stay with her for the night and he had slept alongside her. This wasn't allowed in those days but Xi Ling was too in love to care. After all, I'm still a virgin, she thought to herself.
' It's not like anyone except us would know.' She muttered into the silence,' But why isn't he here, right now? Why did he have to go?. Maybe he's scared. Can't blame him, if I were him, I wouldn't want to get into trouble too.'
She got up and changed. When she exited her tent, she noticed that there were no generals around. So, she asked a soldier why. He told her that they were having a meeting at the Strategy Room. She headed for the room, wondering whether to enter or not. If they wanted her there, they would have told her. Then she remembered that she had exited the tent so abruptly. If so, why didn't Zilong tell her or wake her up?
' Oh, bother! Just enter it and see what they do.' Ling muttered under her breath as she entered the tent and announced her arrival.
Everybody greeted her, except Zilong. It turned out that they didn't want her to be stressed at her brother's absence and had wanted her to sleep longer. They were trying to arrange a plan but they didn't know where Bo Yue is right now. And as Cao Cao hadn't sent a messenger asking for ransom yet, there really isn't much they could do right now.
Zilong didn't even give her a glance throughout the whole meeting. Ling felt so hurt but she figured out that he was just shy because of what happened last night. Little did she know, what was going on inside Zilong's turbulent head.
~ Zilong POV~
'Concentrate, Zilong!' a voice from the back of my head advised me again. This had been the twelfth time it told me this.
I can't go on with this meeting. It'd better end soon. Why did Ling have to come? The main focus of my eyes was on the table and everywhere else except on Xi Ling. I couldn't bear to look at her, after what has happened last night. She still doesn't know about Yue Lei. God. If this doesn't sort itself out, I'll really go crazy. Even now with Bo Yue missing, I have no bestfriend and having to avoid his sister is a harder task than being alone.
'Zilong? Are you listening? Are you on Earth?' Kong Ming's voice brought Zilong back to reality.
' Oh yeah. I was just thinking about.. Bo Yue. What did you want to know about?' I lied so that no one would know.
' Aww. I'm sorry I forgot about you. Xi Ling got to sleep later but you didn't. I don't really know how depressing it is to not see your bestfriend again, right after he returned from his job. Anyway, I asked you whether Bo Yue had brought another weapon with him when he was at battle, like a small dagger?' Zhuge Liang spoke softly and with compassion.
'I..umm.. don't know. He was the one who woke me up and rushed out first to defend while I took my spear and tied my hair up.' I answered while trying to recall what had happened the last night. So many things did happen last night and yesterday.
' Well, okay. Everybody is dismissed now.' Liu Bei eventually said that magic word I had longed for.
I was very happy when he said that, but not for long before he added, ' I guess Ling is new around here. Why don't you show her around? I think she must want to know about her brother when she hadn't seen him for such a long time.'
If I had heart problems, I would have suffered a heart attack. What else could I say, if not, ' Sure, my lord. My pleasure.'
~Xi Ling's POV~
Zilong is acting odd.. very odd. At first, he ignores me and now he treats me as though I'm a part of his body. When actually, he should. Oh bother.. I think I'll go crazy if I think about that anymore. I should learn how to take things one by one.
After lunch, he showed me the scenery around the tent. In one part where it was quite isolated, laid the most beautiful view ever. On the rocky hill where we were standing, we could see the beautiful flowers blooming in spring. We even saw birds of all sorts and colour flutter by and singing more beautifully than any living human could have sung. I was amazed and at peace with nature.
All my troubles, fears of Bo Yue's safety and my doubts about Zilong seemed so far away when I was standing here. The gentle breeze played with my long, black hair as I closed my eyes, trying to get into the mood of nature. It was something I'd never experienced before. Everytime I was out of my former home, all the other children would tease me so badly that I dared not exit my home.
We stood there for about fifteen minutes before Zilong suggested, ' I think we'd better get back now. They'll be wondering where we are.'
'Alright.' I said and turned around ready for the journey back to the encampment. Then, something unexpected happened. I didn't see the rock behind of me and I tripped over it, losing my balance and almost falling. But I didn't fall, because Zilong came in time and managed to catch me. We were in a very intimate position, with my body, half-tilting and his muscular hands behind my neck and below my backside. He looked at me for awhile before lowering his puffy pink lips to mine.
We kissed for about 2 minutes, then he pulled away and said, ' I think we'd better get going, now.'
He straightened me up and held my hands. Then we started walking back. I felt so happy at that very moment. Nothing could have ruined it. Not even if Cao Cao had attacked our encampment.
Life is not that bad after all. Zilong must have his own reasons not to look at me during the meeting and I guess I can live without knowing. Now I have no doubts about Zilong but I still have the fears of Bo Yue's safety. It's that Cao Cao's entire stupid fault. If he hadn't ask his generals to capture Bo Yue, Bo Yue would have been so happy for her. But at least, there's something rather than nothing.
~Authoress' Notes~
So how am I doing with my first fanfic? I hope it is 'not so bad after all'! But what would happen in the next chapter? Diao Chan gets even more furious, is that a good thing or a bad thing for Jiang Wei? As for Zilong, he'll be in GREAT trouble when Yue Lei returns from her mission. Shang Xiang however now gets ready to meet Liu Bei. I wonder what will Liu Bei do to meet her.. ALL IN THE NEXT CHAPTER or the NEXT CHAPTERS TO COME!! Check it out! Please READ and REVIEW!!
~Answering Reviews~
DarkmoonFlute288: Thanks for the very boosting review. I will try my best to make my awful fanfic. Please bear with me for awhile.
Fighter of the Realms: Hehehehe... Yes, Zhao Yun is engaged to Yue Lei and ahem.. Can't tell if he's loyal or not. People are unpredictable,right? So, stay tuned in to the story. Till next time. Ja ne.
Chapter 5 ~ Not so bad after all
' WHAT?!!', Shang Xiang cried out as loud as she could, ' HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME??!!'
' You know what we just said. Shang Xiang we do love you very much.but..there are things that we can't compromise.' The Tiger of Jiang Dong said very firmly to his only daughter. With that he and his two sons exited the tomboyish princess' room.
~Shang Xiang's POV~
I could hear a party going on downstairs. The Qiao sisters must be dancing, I can hear cheers for them. I just CAN'T believe this is happening to me! Everybody used to be scared of me! And the Qiao sisters were once my bestfriends! How could they betray me? Since they heard I was to marry that why-be-so-kind Liu Bei, they had deserted me. They kept away from me and whenever I was near, they moved away. Even dad, Ce and Quan had left my room without saying anything else this evening.
How can they do that to me? Here I am, crying my eyes out and there they are, laughing and cheering downstairs! How could they?!! No one seems to care.. I think it'll be better for me to die..
As I was thinking about that, I heard a soft knock at my door. I opened it and saw Lu Xun standing in the corridor with a bread in his hands.. He didn't seem very drunk or full, so I guess he wasn't at the party downstairs.
' Princess? Are you OK?' he asked, looking very concern when he saw the tears on my cheeks.
'Yeah.. I am.. Come on in.' I said while turning around and raising my sleeve to wipe away my tears.
' Well, here have a bread. You haven't been eating since this morning at breakfast.' The young strategist said while entering the room and offering the bread to me. He settled himself on my comfortable red-coloured sofa.
I took it from him and began eating it ferociously before muttering through a mouth full of bread, ' Thanks. I was starving.. No one seemed concern enough to bring me food except you.'
' Welcome. I didn't like the party below either. It's too noisy for me', Xun said.
' Oh, really? Or is it because you're too scared to meet Sun Ce's daughter?' I teased him, my cheerful personality returning slowly.
' Huh? You can seem so harmless and yet so ferocious.' Xun said defensively,' Just because I accidently poured milk on her shirt doesn't mean she'll kill me. After all, she is a very nice girl'
'Oh.. So she's a nice girl and I'm not?' I spoke without thinking. I wish I could take that back the moment it left my lips. I just couldn't help it. I'm so frustated at how everyone abandoned me at my worst state.
Lu Xun seemed uneasy and he shifted in the sofa ' No. I..I didn't..mean..'
' Oh, I'm so sorry, Xun. I don't know. why I'm being so..difficult..' I cut him off. Tears threatened to leave my eyes again. I felt so awful and sad. Just because I'm sad, doesn't mean I have to make other people sad too.
' It's okay. You have the right to feel that way. I would too if I'm forced to marry a woman I don't love in a month. Only to be told I have to marry her in two weeks because of something that had happened. I also came here to tell you that I'd be accompanying you to Lord Liu Bei's territory. Have you packed everything you want to bring with you?' Lu Xun said kindly.
I raised my head and looked into his lovely, warm dark brown eyes and said, ' Lu Xun, you know you're a nice guy..very nice guy. I treated you as a friend. I ..'
'What do you want to know?' he cut me off this time.
' I just want to know whether there is any means of escape.'
' Well, I don't want to give you false hopes and see you getting into trouble too. The answer is.. no. I don't think so, unless..'
'Unless what?' I said impatiently and hopefully.
'Unless Lord Sun Jian wants to let you escape.'
I sank back in my chair after popping the last crumb of the bread into my mouth. When he said that, it means that there is no hope at all. My head drooped and a few strands of my short hair covered my tear-streaked face.
' If marriage is unavoidable, why not lay back and enjoy it? Anyway, Lord Liu Bei is a very honorable man. I'm sure he'll treat you right and you'll fall in love with him soon enough.' Xun gave me a quote and some hope.
' I hope so.' I said, raising my head eventually after deciding that I need to be alone ' I think you'd better get going. I think my father would really like to have you downstairs.'
'I will take my leave then, my lady. Take care. Don't worry, just be happy. Everything will sort itself out'; Xun replied with a smile and left my room.
I didn't cry anymore after he left. Maybe Lu Xun was right. Why not lay back and enjoy the time I have here and the time I have there. I think I should start packing too. I reached under my bed and pulled out my travelling bag. For a start, I opened my cupboard and start pulling out clothes from the cupboard.
' I must go to the market tomorrow to get some clothes.' I thought as I suddenly noticed that I had no lady-like clothes to present myself to my future husband. Actually, this is not so bad after all. Luckily I'm not going to marry some mad and stupid people like Cao Cao. Thanks to him, I need to marry Liu Bei for the alliance. If I can I'll definitely chop his head!
~Somewhere in a forest~
Bo Yue awoke with a start when he was suddenly jerked off a horse. He landed on the grassy floor landing with his knees. The pain was so unbearable that he let out a howl from his very dry lips.
' Hey, if you don't want to be killed or fed to the tigers, you'd better shut up!' A woman, whom Bo Yue thinks is a general, hurled the threat at him.
Bo Yue knows better than anyone to shut up, since he recalled being hit on the head by the retreating troops. It means that this lady here must still be furious at the defeat and will be willing to do anything she wants with him.
She is lovely, fair, has waist-length hair that is tied into a ponytail and wields a pair of pink maces as weapons, Bo Yue muses at the now-turning- away-to-receive message young lady.
' Lady Diao Chan, Lord Cao is furious at our defeat at Shu. He wants us to camp a mile away from here. We are also to guard the hostage until further instructions.' A scout reported to the lovely lady.
' What do you mean HE'S FURIOUS??!!!' Diao Chan boomed at the scout, 'Sima Yi had already warned him that we would not be victorious due to the lack of troops and yet he urged us! Now it's our fault we lost?! So possible..'
' I'm sorry, Lady Diao. I'm only the messenger.' The scout quickly muttered and hid himself among the remaining soldiers.
' Get up and start moving before I lose my patience with you, too, little Rat!' Diao Chan now turned her anger to Bo Yue and tugged at the rope that was fastened around Bo Yue's neck after he was jerked off the horse.
Jiang Wei quickly complied with her instructions for he does not want to be the next victim of this lovely lady. He suddenly noticed that being held captive by a lovely lady is not so bad after all. Luckily he didn't get Cao Cao himself. It's his stupid fault I'm here.
~In Shu~
Xi Ling lay asleep in her bed. Now she was alone in her tent. Zilong had left her tent since early in the morning. The opening of the tent allowed some sunshine to enter Ling's tent and shine on her fair face. She looks so peaceful and innocent when she's sound asleep.
Suddenly, the lovely eyes of the maiden flutter open in a lazy style. Ling tried to recall what had happened the night before. She remembered lying on Zilong chest and then being put on her own bed by Zilong. Ling recalled asking him to stay with her for the night and he had slept alongside her. This wasn't allowed in those days but Xi Ling was too in love to care. After all, I'm still a virgin, she thought to herself.
' It's not like anyone except us would know.' She muttered into the silence,' But why isn't he here, right now? Why did he have to go?. Maybe he's scared. Can't blame him, if I were him, I wouldn't want to get into trouble too.'
She got up and changed. When she exited her tent, she noticed that there were no generals around. So, she asked a soldier why. He told her that they were having a meeting at the Strategy Room. She headed for the room, wondering whether to enter or not. If they wanted her there, they would have told her. Then she remembered that she had exited the tent so abruptly. If so, why didn't Zilong tell her or wake her up?
' Oh, bother! Just enter it and see what they do.' Ling muttered under her breath as she entered the tent and announced her arrival.
Everybody greeted her, except Zilong. It turned out that they didn't want her to be stressed at her brother's absence and had wanted her to sleep longer. They were trying to arrange a plan but they didn't know where Bo Yue is right now. And as Cao Cao hadn't sent a messenger asking for ransom yet, there really isn't much they could do right now.
Zilong didn't even give her a glance throughout the whole meeting. Ling felt so hurt but she figured out that he was just shy because of what happened last night. Little did she know, what was going on inside Zilong's turbulent head.
~ Zilong POV~
'Concentrate, Zilong!' a voice from the back of my head advised me again. This had been the twelfth time it told me this.
I can't go on with this meeting. It'd better end soon. Why did Ling have to come? The main focus of my eyes was on the table and everywhere else except on Xi Ling. I couldn't bear to look at her, after what has happened last night. She still doesn't know about Yue Lei. God. If this doesn't sort itself out, I'll really go crazy. Even now with Bo Yue missing, I have no bestfriend and having to avoid his sister is a harder task than being alone.
'Zilong? Are you listening? Are you on Earth?' Kong Ming's voice brought Zilong back to reality.
' Oh yeah. I was just thinking about.. Bo Yue. What did you want to know about?' I lied so that no one would know.
' Aww. I'm sorry I forgot about you. Xi Ling got to sleep later but you didn't. I don't really know how depressing it is to not see your bestfriend again, right after he returned from his job. Anyway, I asked you whether Bo Yue had brought another weapon with him when he was at battle, like a small dagger?' Zhuge Liang spoke softly and with compassion.
'I..umm.. don't know. He was the one who woke me up and rushed out first to defend while I took my spear and tied my hair up.' I answered while trying to recall what had happened the last night. So many things did happen last night and yesterday.
' Well, okay. Everybody is dismissed now.' Liu Bei eventually said that magic word I had longed for.
I was very happy when he said that, but not for long before he added, ' I guess Ling is new around here. Why don't you show her around? I think she must want to know about her brother when she hadn't seen him for such a long time.'
If I had heart problems, I would have suffered a heart attack. What else could I say, if not, ' Sure, my lord. My pleasure.'
~Xi Ling's POV~
Zilong is acting odd.. very odd. At first, he ignores me and now he treats me as though I'm a part of his body. When actually, he should. Oh bother.. I think I'll go crazy if I think about that anymore. I should learn how to take things one by one.
After lunch, he showed me the scenery around the tent. In one part where it was quite isolated, laid the most beautiful view ever. On the rocky hill where we were standing, we could see the beautiful flowers blooming in spring. We even saw birds of all sorts and colour flutter by and singing more beautifully than any living human could have sung. I was amazed and at peace with nature.
All my troubles, fears of Bo Yue's safety and my doubts about Zilong seemed so far away when I was standing here. The gentle breeze played with my long, black hair as I closed my eyes, trying to get into the mood of nature. It was something I'd never experienced before. Everytime I was out of my former home, all the other children would tease me so badly that I dared not exit my home.
We stood there for about fifteen minutes before Zilong suggested, ' I think we'd better get back now. They'll be wondering where we are.'
'Alright.' I said and turned around ready for the journey back to the encampment. Then, something unexpected happened. I didn't see the rock behind of me and I tripped over it, losing my balance and almost falling. But I didn't fall, because Zilong came in time and managed to catch me. We were in a very intimate position, with my body, half-tilting and his muscular hands behind my neck and below my backside. He looked at me for awhile before lowering his puffy pink lips to mine.
We kissed for about 2 minutes, then he pulled away and said, ' I think we'd better get going, now.'
He straightened me up and held my hands. Then we started walking back. I felt so happy at that very moment. Nothing could have ruined it. Not even if Cao Cao had attacked our encampment.
Life is not that bad after all. Zilong must have his own reasons not to look at me during the meeting and I guess I can live without knowing. Now I have no doubts about Zilong but I still have the fears of Bo Yue's safety. It's that Cao Cao's entire stupid fault. If he hadn't ask his generals to capture Bo Yue, Bo Yue would have been so happy for her. But at least, there's something rather than nothing.
~Authoress' Notes~
So how am I doing with my first fanfic? I hope it is 'not so bad after all'! But what would happen in the next chapter? Diao Chan gets even more furious, is that a good thing or a bad thing for Jiang Wei? As for Zilong, he'll be in GREAT trouble when Yue Lei returns from her mission. Shang Xiang however now gets ready to meet Liu Bei. I wonder what will Liu Bei do to meet her.. ALL IN THE NEXT CHAPTER or the NEXT CHAPTERS TO COME!! Check it out! Please READ and REVIEW!!
~Answering Reviews~
DarkmoonFlute288: Thanks for the very boosting review. I will try my best to make my awful fanfic. Please bear with me for awhile.
Fighter of the Realms: Hehehehe... Yes, Zhao Yun is engaged to Yue Lei and ahem.. Can't tell if he's loyal or not. People are unpredictable,right? So, stay tuned in to the story. Till next time. Ja ne.