Chapter 25

‘Peony’s Farewell’ was a dance that told the love story of a young Ayam Princess, known as Princess Peony, and a valiant Wen warrior in the early years of the conflict between the Wen and the Ayam. According to the legends, the young general was injured in battle and rescued by the Princess who had fallen in love with him at first glance due to his handsome appearance. The Princess nursed him in secret and the two people fell in love. Afterwards, the warrior had to leave to go back to his post and the next time the two people saw each other it was across a battlefield. The young warrior fought valiantly but in the end was speared down. The Princess ran across the battlefield to rescue him and in the end died alongside him. It was really a story which symbolized a cross-racial love and was beloved among both the Wen and the Ayam.

This time the Ayam Chieftain had sent word that the woman who would be portraying the Princess Peony was in fact a real Princess, his own thirteenth daughter. He had sent her here as part of the tribute and she had arrived a few weeks earlier to rehearse. Part of the reason was of course to show her off, so that she might find a good marriage prospect among the Wen noblemen. Thus he requested that the person accompanying her dance and playing the young warrior would be a nobleman, befitting her status.

Initially a Marquis’ son, renowned for his dancing skills, had been chosen for this task. It actually wasn’t hard to find somebody as pretty much all young noblewomen and noblemen had learnt this dance as part of their genteel education whilst growing up. Lin JunYi had gone over the Marquis’ son’s background carefully. He shouldn’t have any connection to Song Ming but… Lin JunYi narrowed his eyes. It looked like he’d underestimated Song Ming.

Lin JunYi had to make a decision quickly. In fact there were several young men here qualified to do the warrior's role but the problem was whether or not they’d do it well. At the moment he didn’t know enough about any of them to be sure they weren’t in the Sixth Prince’s faction and wouldn’t deliberately mess up the dance such as fall over or pretend to injure themselves on stage. Although it wasn’t fatal it would certainly lead to a souring of the ceremony.

Lin JunYi also just considered letting it happen. After all it wasn’t crucial to his mission that the ceremony go off without a hitch but… as he thought about Song Ming, he gritted his teeth. He really didn’t want to concede loss like this. It just wasn’t his style to give in to the male lead like that!

And then suddenly he thought of a way to hit two birds with one stone.

“729, can you use another 30 points to return my health to top form?”

“It’s done, host.”

Yes that’s right, Lin JunYi intended to do it himself. Of course the Ninth Prince also knew the dance and what’s more, Lin JunYi had supervised the Marquis’ son on several occasions during rehearsals and had even reviewed it recently. In addition, Lin JunYi himself was an excellent dancer.

When word got around that the Ninth Prince intended to personally dance the role of the young warrior, a ripple of excitement spread out. The Ayam delegation was of course overjoyed, this was really showing their Princess face!

But the Zhou nobles and ministers gathered didn’t have such positive thoughts, although they also looked forward to seeing a good show. After all, who didn’t know that the Ninth Prince was as beautiful as a demon? Seeing him dance would certainly be a feast for the eyes, and you could even stare openly without being accounted rude or perverted!

But there were some people among the crowd who gleefully anticipating watching him fail. Wasn’t the Ninth Prince ill and sickly? Would he really be able to pull off something as strenuous as the young warrior’s dance ‘Peony’s Farewell’? And plus, wasn’t the young warrior in the story someone that was noble and valiant, heroic and hot-blooded? Could someone famous for being a degenerate like the Ninth Prince manage to portray something like that?

The scent of melon seed eating spread through the crowd. And the Sixth Prince was in particular anticipating it. This was a result that was beyond his anticipation and, hidden behind his wine glass, he grinned darkly.

Lin JunYi immediately figured out why. When he put his arms into the young warrior’s costume, he immediately winced. The fabric of the clothing was full of unseen miniature barbs, scratching and digging into his skin. Even the black, upturned shoes had spikes in them.

“Host, are you okay!?” 729 immediately sensed his distress.

Lin JunYi gritted his teeth. Song Ming… you really asked for it this time! Even in his previous life he hadn’t particularly wanted to retaliate against the protagonist gong since it wasn’t crucial to his mission. But this time Lin JunYi recorded a large black mark next to Song Ming’s name. “I’m fine. Can I borrow a pain barrier with 10 points?”

“A pain barrier with only 10 points will reduce only about 20% of the pain! I recommended you use all 40 of your remaining points, that will block about 80% of the pain!”

“No, I still need to keep 30 points aside to return to full health down the road.” Lin JunYi said. “10 points is fine, I can stay conscious with a 20% reduction.”

The spikes and barbs had been artfully woven into the fabric so that it couldn’t be seen. But Lin JunYi’s footsteps and movements didn’t falter in the slightest despite the agonizing pain. As he held out his arm to the Ayam Princess and she, blushing madly, passed him his prop sword, he was the very picture of elegance and health.

As the youth in the center of the room moved with fluid grace, each movement of his feet and arms spoke like a story. The tail of his robe whipped around along with his long dark hair, the tip of the sword weaving between them, deadly and precise. It was a dance that was both soft and hard, a perfect dichotomy of both a warrior and a lover, and Lin JunYi portrayed it perfectly.

Watching him everyone’s breath was stolen away. Every single person in the crowd’s expression became fixed. Passion yes, but more than that. Control. Each movement was nuanced and precise, all the way down to Lin JunYi’s facial expression.

Below the stage, Yu Xian sat frozen. He had been numbly holding onto a towel which he had been using to wipe his sweat from his previous fight but at some point during Lin JunYi’s dance it fell beside his feet without him even noticing it. He only woke up when wine spilled on his arm. He looked and saw one of his friends, another young warrior, was staring fixedly at the stage with his jaw practically on the table and his wine glass tipped over. A little distance away Namboyar was staring at the Ninth Prince with an openly lascivious glance. Yu Xian suddenly formed an irrational but overwhelming urge to dig out both his friend and the Ayam nobleman's eyes.

Who was it that said the Ninth Prince couldn’t go through with the dance? Who was it that said that he couldn’t portray the valiant heroism of the young warrior? Did they enjoy having their faces slapped!?

But then someone suddenly called out, “There’s blood on the stage!”

Yes that was right. Song Ming had instructed that deadly barbs be put into the clothing and shoes. The intention was to completely incapacitate any replacement dancer that Lin JunYi found and make them withdraw right at the beginning. After all, which pampered nobleman could withstand such pain for a cause that wasn’t their own?

He could never have thought that the Ninth Prince himself would wear it, and not only that he would actually go through with it!

Hence he never considered the spectacle that it would cause when blood was splattered all across the stage, not only coming from Lin JunYi’s shoes, but even running down his arms and legs.

The crowd was frozen. Was this part of the special effects!? No, but they could smell the scent of blood, it was real blood, the Ninth Prince’s blood! Then what was happening!? Was the Ninth Prince injured?!

Yu Xian leapt to his feet. He intended to rush onto the stage but at that point Lin JunYi aimed a sudden glare at him, freezing him in his place.

The dance became faster and more frenetic as the climax death scene approached and the blood flowed more and more. The Ninth Prince’s face became paler and paler. And then finally as he was stabbed in the chest, he spread his arms out elegantly as though embracing the world for the final time, and then finally fell backwards into Princess Peony’s arms. Blood pooled underneath his clothing and he closed his eyes, eyelashes trembling.

The Ayam Princess was shocked speechless but before she could react she was wrenched aside violently and a tall and handsome man grabbed the Ninth Prince from her arms.

“Ah-Yi, Ah-Yi!” The man’s voice was low and impassioned, full of fear and distress.

Lin JunYi’s eyes fluttered open slightly. Actually right now he really wasn’t acting. Although 729 had restored his body to health beforehand and so he wasn’t in danger of dying or anything, he really felt about to faint because of the pain. Plus everyone knew that the Ninth Prince was sickly and it would raise a lot of suspicions if he suddenly showed strength. Hence he didn’t fight the urge to pass out from the pain.

“The clothing and shoes…” He muttered as Yu Xian bent his ear close to mouth. Then, “Ah-Xian, I’ll be relying on you then.”

Then he closed his eyes and his vision went black.

*

Merry Christmas and sorry for the late update! Thank you to those who left comments :)