Hu Chen and the other three had returned to the snake tribe’s place after their king left for the mortal realm. To suddenly be summoned by him made their alarm bells ring. Could it be that the gods had actually attacked again? Had their king been hurt again? They didn’t dare to dally and rushed over immediately, following the signs of the summoning up until the gate of the Yang’s house.
By that time, An Hei had leaped out of the magnolia tree and walked over to the entrance so that his conversation with the others would not disturb the three women inside.
"Your Majesty!" Hu Chen immediately rushed to his side, grabbed his shoulders, and looked him up and down to find whatever injury his king was suffering from.
An Hei raised his brows, unable to understand what was going on. He finally glanced at Xu Fu and the other two when he couldn’t get an intelligible response from Hu Chen.
The three people from the snake tribe came forward and gave a wry smile. Apparently, they had been thinking too much. Their king was obviously alright.
Xu Fu reached out and grabbed Hu Chen’s shoulder, pulling him back a few steps. "We apologize, Your Majesty. When we suddenly received your summons, we were thinking of the worst-case scenario so we rushed over here expecting you to have been attacked by the gods. It is good to see that you are well." She glanced at the house behind him, taking in how it wasn’t too well-maintained even though somebody seemed to have done their best. "May I ask why you summoned as here?"
An Hei sighed and motioned at the building himself. "This is the house of my bride’s family. As you can see, they have fallen on hard times since I gave my promise to her."
The four snake people widened their eyes and stared at the house as if they could materialize Ling Ling in front of it if they just focused enough. Up until now, they had thought that their king might have lied just to put their minds at ease but it seemed like there really was a fiancee.
Well, they probably shouldn’t have doubted it. If their king wanted to, he could have had a wife a long time ago. He just needed to ask and there would be a horde of women lining up to become his bride. It did make them wonder just who the lucky person was though.
Xu Fu was the one who managed to get back to the topic at hand first. "What do you want us to do, Your Majesty?" If his bride’s family had fallen on hard times, he would likely want to help her, right?
"Well, to turn things around, her mother has brought both her and her sister to the matchmaker to have them marry as soon as possible. I came too late to prevent that. Now, I need you to find out which matchmaker it is that they went to so that I can go there tomorrow and make sure that she will not be wedded to another man."
The four snake people exchanged glances, seeing the panic in each other’s eyes. There was actually a chance that their king’s bride would be taken from him? How could they let that happen?!
They hurriedly nodded. "Don’t worry, Your Majesty! We will surely accomplish it!"
An Hei slightly relaxed when he heard that. "Very well. Their family’s name is Yang and her father happened to be a general of this mortal kingdom. Her given name is Ling Ling. That should be enough to find the matchmaker in question." If it wasn’t, then he did not know what else he should do. This was the only thing he knew right now. Finding out anything more about Ling Ling would take time. Time that he didn’t have.
His four advisers weren’t too worried though. "We will see to it immediately and tell you the results of our investigation before the first ray of the sun."
An Hei was still worried but nodded nonetheless and then watched the four people hurry toward the capital city. He himself stayed in front of the gate. In case these four were not back in time, he could only hope to gain a clue from Ling Ling and her family. If all else failed, he would just step out and introduce himself. It might not be the most elegant way of going about this but with time being of the essence, he would not bother about this.
While An Hei continued to worry, his four advisers were madly dashing about the streets of Sandin, trying to find out where the houses of the matchmakers were, and which of them was the one their king’s bride had gone to.
Unfortunately, neither of these questions could be answered easily. They had not been in the mortal realm recently and with time flowing differently between their realms, the Kishin they knew had long ceased to exist. Now, they were in an unknown city with thousands of buildings that needed to be checked, and no clue as to where to start.
They checked them one by one at first but time trickled by and no results had been found. Reconvening in the middle of the road, all four of them furrowed their brows when they looked down the main street.
"This isn’t going to work." Hu Chen said out loud what all of them were thinking.
"If we had a whole week or maybe ten days, then maybe there would be a chance of accomplishing this. But just one night? And only with the four of us?" One of the others shook his head. "I’m afraid it’s impossible despite what we told His Majesty."
They hung their heads, feeling guilty. They definitely couldn’t let this go awry.
Xu Fu looked up at the houses next to them and narrowed her eyes. "You are right, Yuan Hao. It is impossible with only the four of us. But if we had some help …"
The others turned to look at her questioningly.
Xu Fu just smiled, pushed off the ground, and landed on the eave of one of the buildings. She looked up at the full moon that was hanging above their heads and took a small silver flute from her sleeve. She smiled and then put it to her lips, blowing gently. A faint melody sounded and soon, there was the rustling sound of leaves coming from afar, and then the slithering sound of scales brushing over sand and stone.
The others raised their brows when they realized what Xu Fu was doing. Yes, why hadn’t they thought of this? While it might not be possible to check every house in Sandin with just the four of them, it was a different matter altogether if they had helpers. And as luck would have it, the people of the snake tribe were able to command the animals that they were related to. It was just a matter of drawing them over which Xu Fu’s melody accomplished quite well.
Exchanging a look, the three of them started to command the snakes that were drawing over from all directions. Xuan Hao and Nong Bai soon left to search together with them while Hu Chen stayed to instruct the snakes that were arriving later.
With this, the snakes were soon spread over the whole of Sandin, entering each house after the other to check whether it was one where people just lived or another type. Whenever they found one of the latter, a snake would curl up in front of the door, marking it four the advisers of the snake king.
In this manner, the houses of the matchmakers were soon found. Xu Fu stopped to play the flute and the majority of the snakes returned where they had come from while the four people entered the houses that were still marked by the animals staying behind.
Most of the houses were actually stores but now that they didn’t have to check every building, it wasn’t a problem at all to sort through some wrong ones. In less than half an hour, they had found out which were the actual matchmakers. As it turned out, there were about two dozen of them.
Glancing at the sky that had grown darker as the night progressed, it seemed that they didn’t have much time anymore. They exchanged a look and then hurriedly split up, each of them searching a few of the houses.
Once again, it was not easy to fulfill this task. How to make sure that their king’s bride had actually gone there? If they didn’t coincidentally stumble over her name in there, it would be hard to tell. Thankfully, the matchmakers usually kept some documents around. There were several that had a small book where they noted down all the families that had come to see them together with the amount of dowry the women’s families were able to give and the status and wealth of the men’s families. One of the matchmakers was even adding some symbols to the names to indicate whether she liked them or not.
The people of the snake tribe shuddered when they found out and couldn’t help but worry for their king’s bride. If she wasn’t well-liked, who knew if that matchmaker wouldn’t make trouble? Ah, but a moment later, they already reconsidered. After all, how could that be? The woman their king had chosen had to be great all around. Most likely, the matchmaker would be happy with her.
Finally, it was once again Xu Fu who found the clue: While the matchmaker she was searching didn’t have a book she could leaf through, there was a stack of portraits with a letter accompanying each that had the name and a few interesting tidbits of information about the girl in question. One of them had precisely this general’s daughter 'Yang Ling Ling' portrayed.
Xu Fu stared at the painting for a while before she glanced over her shoulder and whistled, drawing the other three people over.
"Did you find a clue?" Hu Chen rushed over to her side and then ogled the portrait. "Is that her?"
"A painting?" The other two also came running to Xu Fu’s side.
Four people crowded around the scroll, all staring at the girl.
The one who finally spoke up was Hu Chen. "She’s cute."
The other two nodded before Xu Fu rolled up the scroll. She turned to the three men and smiled.
"She’s indeed cute. No wonder our king likes her. Anyway, we’ll have to put this back and then go and inform His Majesty. He is probably anxious already."
Once again, the others nodded. By now, the night was almost over. They had to hurry back if they wanted to keep their promise.
Xu Fu put the scroll back where she had found it and the four of them left the matchmaker’s house and Sandin, returning to the general’s manor down the road.
At this point in time, An Hei was already anxious beyond compare. He hadn’t thought much when he promised Ling Ling to marry her but he was a man of his words. Just the thought that maybe he would not be able to honor his promise was driving him crazy.
It didn’t help that Ling Ling seemed to have grown into the type of person he liked. She was good-looking for sure but he especially liked how she had held onto his thoughts for all these years as well. The fact that she was willing to sacrifice her chances of finding another suitor in case he never turned up just so her sister could have the life she wanted, impressed him as well. Ling Ling was beautiful, loyal, and considerate. What more could he ask for in a wife?
When his four advisers arrived, they found him pacing up and down in front of the gate. Hu Chen couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw that. Who had said their king was indifferent to marriage? Look at how anxious he was!
With some bad thoughts in his mind, Hu Chen rushed forward and looked at An Hei with sparkling eyes. "Your Majesty, we found out! And your bride is actually so beautiful! When will we see her in real?"
An Hei stopped in his tracks and raised his brows at Hu Chen. "What are you talking about?"
"I am asking about when you will introduce your bride to us."
Xu Fu sighed when she saw their king’s bewildered gaze. She went forward, grabbed Hu Chen by the shoulder once again, and pulled him back. "His Majesty hasn’t even talked about the wedding yet. What are you getting greedy for?" She pushed him away and then inclined her head toward An Hei. "We found the matchmaker. She is surnamed Lin and her house is on the street next to the main street. I would suggest taking Yuan Hao and Nong Bai with you to lead you there."
Hu Chen furrowed his brows next to her. "Why not me?"
"You’re just going to ruin it." Xu Fu had no compassion for him. Anyway, there were more important things. Turning back to An Hei, she continued where she had left off. "Hu Chen and I can stay close by the house to see if something happens here and then come to inform you."
An Hei nodded. "Yes, that is a good idea. Although …" He furrowed his brows and then shook his head. "Hu Chen, you stay here to keep an eye on things. Xu Fu, I need you to go inquire about what will be needed for a wedding in the mortal realm. Ling Ling does not know who or what I am. For the time being, I want to keep it that way. And in any case, she should have the wedding she deserves. Nothing is allowed to go wrong."
Xu Fu nodded. "Then I will go and start inquiring immediately." She bowed and then left.
An Hei raised his face to the sky. "Well, it seems we should leave as well. The sun will go up soon and we shouldn’t leave any chance for somebody else to develop an interest in her before I was able to speak to the matchmaker. Furthermore … we need to take a look at the humans to make sure we don’t give any clues away." He looked at his robe, not quite sure if it could be taken for one from the mortal realm.
The other two men nodded and then led the way to matchmaker Lin’s house, leaving only Hu Chen behind at the estate of the Yangs.
