Of all things Lei Yirui expected to happen after yelling her ass off in the middle of the main hall, it wasn’t for Tang Xiaodan to invite her to dinner.

 

“Eh?” she intones quietly once he voices the offer, and he gives her a tiny smile.

 

“I’ve hardly been a courteous host. We’ll talk things over, properly, before a wonderful feast. Shen Tan cuisine is—”

 

“I'll be there.” Lei Yirui says gravely, nodding her head once. She is hungry, after all. Remembering that Wang Wei is behind her, she reaches around to drag him in front of her by his shoulders, shaking him back and forth a little bit. 

 

“He has to come too, though.” she says. Listen, Lei Yirui doesn’t do good in stressful situations on her own, okay!! Wang Wei probably doesn’t either, honestly, but then she has someone to freak out with! In front of her, the boy drops into a respectful bow so rapidly that she’s surprised his head doesn’t bounce off of the floor like a bouncy ball. 

 

“ I would— er, this lowly servant would be honored to be invited to such a meal, sir! Uh, Emperor… your highness, Tang, sir!” he exclaims. For a horrifying second, Lei Yirui and Tang Xiaodan exchange equally exasperated glances. Lei Yirui quickly fixes her own expression into a glare, and Tang Xiaodan only looks like he’s trying not to laugh. 

 

“Very well,” he says finally, waving dismissively. Lei Yirui jolts as a heavy hand is placed on her shoulder by a guard, and she reluctantly lets go of Wang Wei, who immediately moves to cower behind her. Lei Yirui frowns. What do you think she’s gonna do, kid?? 

 

“There’s a few hours until then, and I’m afraid I'll be rather occupied until then. Take them to her prepared room, understand?” he says to the guard, and Lei Yirui hears a grunt behind her, before she’s shoved forward and directed to leave through one of the doors behind where Tang Xiaodan’s throne is situated, and she burns in embarrassment as she has to walk past him. So… awkward…!

 

The room that Lei Yirui and Wang Wei are deposited in looks ridiculous. It’s likely because it’s in this building in particular, but god it looks like an ancient haunted house. The black tapestries hanging from the wall are covered in gory war scenes!! Lei Yirui’s  tapestries back home have shit like cranes and carps on them - so what is this?? Who wants to sleep in this gloomy environment? 

 

Anyways, Lei Yirui is surprised when they aren’t just locked in the room until it’s time for dinner. A few maids trickle in after they arrive, and Lei Yirui is swept off to be given a bath while Wang Wei is taken care of elsewhere.

 

Lei Yirui whines and complains about needing to be bathed by other people, but the maids don’t hear her out. She’s not trying to make their job harder, but this is so uncomfortable for her, please understand!! And if she knocks some oil over so the bubbles fill the water and cover her up, she’s completely justified. 

 

When Lei Yirui is brought back to her room all dry, Wang Wei is seated there, looking incredibly damp and wet-dog-like as he’s still being patted dry by the maids. She giggles at him, and he turns red and looks away from her. 

 

Lei Yirui is sat down in front of the vanity, compared to Wang Wei who’s seated haphazardly on a chest that’s been shoved in front of the bed. 

 

She stares at herself in the mirror, gazing at the still-irritated cut across her cheek. When she reaches up to try and poke at it, her hand is slapped away. She tries to pout, but the maids aren’t even looking at her, instead going through their supplies!!

 

“You said Jia Zhenzhen during your, uh, your rant earlier, didn’t you?” Wang Wei asks. Lei Yirui pauses, glancing at him through the mirror. Ah, he did seem shocked about that, didn’t he? 

 

“What, do you know h—him?” she asks. Wang Wei nods rapidly, whipping his head to look at her, which makes his wet hair nearly smack the maid drying him off in the face. Lei Yirui has no clue how he could know her. Could he be one of the people from Jia Zhenzhen’s home-town? Maybe he had escaped and came here, for some reason?? She takes another good look at his face, but she really doesn’t look like any actor at all.

 

Hm… actually, his eyes look a little familiar. And his nose, but she can’t really pinpoint where she’s seen them before. 

 

“Uh, no! No, just, er, just wondering who that could be. Haha.” he says. Lei Yirui cringes. God, could he be a worse liar?

 

Lei Yirui returns to silence and lets the maids do their work. Her hair is styled differently than usual, likely because these maids don’t know how it’s usually worn, and she’s given makeup. Lei Yirui is sort of surprised to see herself with makeup after not really wearing it for so long. She’s worn a little bit of lip and cheek color every now and then, but she’d mostly just subscribed to the more fresh and spring-like look that the OG went with!!

 

She watches them define her eyes with a dark powder, swipe a rich, creamy red paste across her lips, and paint a regal looking floral huadian design on her forehead.

 

When Lei Yirui is dressed, she’s a little in awe of the clothing. 

 

She’s changed into something that’s a little more Shen Tan in nature, which sort of just means that it’s black. 

 

It’s a regal looking dress, covered in thin, beautiful gold designs. The arms are loose, but that’s about it. The dress isn’t tight by any means, but compared to the summery and loose dresses that she usually wears, it’s almost modern in comparison. There are two slits that go all the way up to her pelvis in the front of the dress, and though she has a black underdress covering her legs beneath it, it still feels rather scandalous! Even the regal looking gold sash around her waist is rather tight — when Lei Yirui usually wore a tight sash, she had something flowy over it! 

 

It’s… fun looking, if she’s honest. It’s not her personal look, and it honestly looks a little more like something Meng Ai would wear, but it’s pretty. 

 

Wang Wei has been dressed in simple dull red and black robes, but his unruly hair is down and only half pulled up with a long ribbon, and it makes him look much better than his previous haphazard appearance. 

 

When the maids leave, Lei Yirui is still a little busy looking at herself. 

 

…. Gosh! She looks cool!! 

“Isn’t it pretty?” Lei Yirui asks, swishing the skirt around. Wang Wei frowns at her. 

 

“Aren’t you still angry?” he asks. 

 

“Huh? Of course I am!! But… it’s just fun to look at, isn’t it?” she says. Wang Wei gives her an uncertain shrug. Lei Yirui scoffs, crossing her arms. 

 

“Whatever. How long do you think we’ve got until dinner? I’m starving, and I want to get this stupid conversation over with.” she asks him. Wang Wei frowns for a moment, back to tracing his fingers through the grooves.

 

“Ah, well it’s still the early afternoon. So, uh, maybe around 3 shí?” 

 

Lei Yirui groans, and throws herself onto the bed. 6 hours!! 

 

Ignoring Wang Wei’s question of if she’s okay, Lei Yirui crosses her hands over her stomach and stubbornly closes her eyes. 

 

…

 

When it’s time for dinner, Lei Yirui is subjected to the most awkward trek to the room where this dinner is supposed to be held, and she whines when the maids fuss with the back of her hair on the way. She’s not a child!! She can reach her hair herself, thank you! 

 

When Lei Yirui and Wang Wei finally enter the room, Lei Yirui blanches. 

 

So… many… people!! She’s not usually super shy, but that’s too many strangers staring at her! Seated around a circular table and seated on expensive looking cushions, there’s an awe inspiring feast set out on the table. Usually she would be pretty distracted by that, but… gah! No one likes big crowds staring at them! Even the stoic silent guards in the main building were preferred - they wouldn’t bother to judge her! But these people… 

 

When Tang Xiaodan took over the palace in Limitless, he replaced the entire staff with “his sort” which meant they were all total assholes. Lei Yirui clears her throat behind her fist.

 

The only two open seats are beside Tang Xiaodan, and Lei Yirui shuffles over before lowering herself. Wang Wei follows, setting his cane down beside the cushion before sitting. He’s awfully shaky, and Lei Yirui gives him a reassuring pat on the back that doesn’t seem to do anything. 

 

“Well, hi.” Lei Yirui says, growing tired of the frustrating silence. Tang Xiaodan inclines his head gracefully, transparently grinning like the big bad wolf. 

 

“Hello.” he says through light laughter, which is followed by chittering laughs from the group around the table. 

 

“Stop acting so smug. You’re so fucking annoying.” Lei Yirui says, which warrants a few gasps. Good!! Be offended!! Stubbornly, Lei Yirui moves onto her knees to lean over the table, heaping food onto her plate. Wang Wei makes a strangled noise. 

 

“You’re not… uh, you’re not supposed to eat before the emperor.” he whispers. He’s apparently also incredibly bad at whispering, considering everyone at the table clearly heard it. Lei Yirui sits back in her seat, slowly raising a piece of meat to her mouth. Lei Yirui chews it slowly, narrowing her eyes at Tang Xiaodan. 

 

… Oh, wow. That is good. 

 

Lei Yirui pushes another into her mouth, completely forgetting about everything else going on as she continues eating. She vaguely registers Tang Xiaodan chuckling and beginning to eat, before everyone else at the table joins him, but she could care less. 

 

“Lei Yirui,” Tang Xiaodan begins a few minutes later, and the quiet muttering of the other diners settles down so they can focus on whatever bullshit he's about to spew. “The Lei family is of notable wealth, standing, and notoriety. That also means your lineage is easy to trace, and it was found that your family and bloodline is from no other region of note. I also doubt that you would be the one directed to carry out any plans when your brother is naturally of a higher position than you.” he says. 

 

“Aiya, you’re such a conspiracy theorist,” Lei Yirui says, moving some sort of vegetable thing she doesn’t really like from her plate to Wang Wei’s, who’s barely eaten in his nervousness. “How much time did you spend looking up all of this information, anyways?? Spend that time going outside! Enjoy the sun… the grass… read a book, maybe.” she says. With a little bit of horror, she realizes that she sounds like her mother, who would never stop nagging her about doing more than just watching dramas and reading fanblogs. 

 

“You still refuse to give me a straight answer.” Tang Xiaodan says. 

 

“You didn’t even ask me a question!! You’re just throwing your speculations at me!! Oh, yes, Tang Xiaodan, you’ve caught me! My family is secretly from… uh, Kingdom Evil down south. We’re going to set the entire kingdom on fire and take it over. It'll be horrible.” she says, pretending she doesn’t see Tang Xiaodan rolling his eyes and instead jabs her chopsticks violently into some rice and shoves it in her mouth.

 

“So unruly…” a woman mumbles to another man, and Lei Yirui snaps her head over. 

 

“Fuck your mother!” she spits and the woman drops her soup spoon in shock. Wang Wei looks like he’s going to start crying— poor thing. Oh well, he—

“Don’t be rude to Lei Yirui!!” he starts. Lei Yirui slowly turns to give him a 'stop it' look. Gah, too much like her mother!! “She’s… she’s not to be messed with!! She’s a warrior spy lady! She told me herself.” he says, nodding resolutely. Tang Xiaodan gives him an interested look, and Lei Yirui groans, reaching over to cover Wang Wei’s ears with her hands. 

 

“He came up with that on his own, I just didn’t deny it!! He’s like, 3. I didn’t want to disappoint him.” she says, shooting a pleading look towards Tang Xiaodan.

“I can still hear you!!” Wang Wei cries. “And I’m 15!” 

 

“Hm? Why is this helpless little baby crying??” Lei Yirui hisses, squeezing her hands a little tighter over his ears.

 

“And where would you get such an idea in the first place?” Tang Xiaodan questions, looking wildly curious. 

 

…. God, he’s infuriating. Lei Yirui is over this. Over it, you hear?? 

 

Lei Yirui dabs gently at her mouth with a napkin, before rising from her seat, balling her hand into a fist, and swinging it with all of her might at Tang Xiaodan’s face, hard enough to hear a satisfying crack from his nose, and feel a much less satisfying one from her own fist. 

 

!!

 

Wait, no! Finally getting to punch this dude in the face isn’t as cool-looking if she breaks her knuckles in the process!! Also, OW!

 

“Lei Yirui!!” Wang Wei yelps, hands flailing around uselessly as he tries to figure out what to do.

 

“Ow! Fuck, fuck, shit!! OW!! Oh my god, Jesus Christ, that hurts!!” she wails, completely failing to notice the commotion from the others at the table or the  delighted look Tang Xiaodan is giving her, even as he cradles his bleeding, broken nose in his hand on the floor, because she’s suddenly being dragged away by some guard. 

 

Whatever!! Worth it!!

 

Agh— there’s another throb of pain in her hand. Maybe not worth it. She takes it back!!

 

…

 

The capital city of Shen Tan Kingdom is about a three day ride on horseback from the palace. 

 

Jia Zhenzhen has enough supplies with her for the trip there and back, along with about three days extra in case something comes up. Jia Zhenzhen is able to head to her hometown, Leng He, just to pass through and pick up a few things.

 

When she arrives, it’s already a little chillier there than the last time she had been around. Looking around makes her heart hurt a bit, especially when she slows down on the path to stare at the honorary markers of where the residents who had died in the attack had been buried. Shutting her eyes tightly and turning her head away from them, Lei Yirui continues on. 

 

When she rides into town, she’s immediately met by He Huan, the boy who’d sent her the letter about her brother.

 

“You look awfully official.” he says warily, glancing over Jia Zhenzhen’s uniform. She huffs, awkwardly reaching up to fix the tight collar. 

 

“Well, it’s durable.” she says, slipping off of Ren Wenqian’s horse and leading it over to where it can be tied down for a moment. 

 

“Come to stay for a bit?” he asks hopefully, and Jia Zhenzhen shakes her head, softly stroking the horse’s side for a moment, before turning to walk towards the apothecary. 

 

“No. I’m heading somewhere. I just want to pick up a few things, and I only really trust this place. My letter hasn’t arrived to you yet, has it?” 

 

He Huan looks disappointed, but not really surprised. 

“No, what happened?” 

 

“Nothing happened, which is the problem. You all should leave town. Go somewhere safe.” she says. A frantic expression crosses He Huan’s face, and Jia Zhenzhen avoids looking at him by walking into the apothecary, returning the owner's greeting with a slightly distracted grunt. 

 

“They’re— the soldiers will come back, won't they?” he asks. Jia Zhenzhen bites her lip, brows furrowing in guilt as she leans over the counter to look over rows and rows of labels. The owner turns to look at them worriedly at his question, and Jia Zhenzhen sighs. 

 

“I hope not. The war might be a bigger priority, but… you never know. We’ll likely be teetering on this uncertainty until Tang Xiaodan is out of power. Hopefully, that won’t be for much longer.” she says determinedly, pointing at the few salves and pastes she thinks she’ll need. Energy, endurance… healing. She’ll definitely have to fight more than she’s used to, if she intends to do something as ridiculous as breaking into a palace. And she’ll definitely get hurt. 

 

Jia Zhenzhen briefly imagines Lei Yirui bandaging her wounds and completely fails to fight off a pleased flush.

 

“...Where exactly are you going?” He Huan asks apprehensively, like he knows the answer. Jia Zhenzhen glances at him over her shoulder, and doesn’t answer. He makes an alarmed sound, before it breaks off into nervous laughter.

 

“You’re crazy. Brave, but crazy. Do you really think you can do it? By yourself?” He asks. Jia Zhenzhen reaches into her pocket for a bag of coins to pay the now slightly troubled looking apothecary owner as he gives her what she requested. 

 

“We’ll find out.” she says, shrugging her shoulders. She inclines her head briefly to the owner, before turning on her heel to head off. He Huan trots after her. 

“Are you a dog?” she asks sharply, and He Huan laughs. 

 

“Very funny. But… this is awfully reckless, isn’t it? You’ve never been the self sacrificial type.” he says. Jia Zhenzhen pauses briefly, before walking a little faster. She feels her face turn pink. She is going out of her way for Lei Yirui… of course, Tang Xiaodan being done with and out of the way solves plenty of her problems, but she’s not sure she would’ve done something like this if not for the other girl. 

 

He Huan notices her expression, because of course he does. 

 

“No— really? Wow. It’s like a fairytale! Who is he? That scholar you mentioned? The prince??” he asks. Jia Zhenzhen is both relieved to see a bit of his nosy personality coming out beyond the nervousness, but also annoyed that he’s bothering her about who she cares for this way. Also, the suggestion that she would possibly go to these lengths for Lei Shunyuan or Zheng Xiaosi is offensive enough that she’s considering throwing him down the street and through a few buildings. 

 

“Shut up, and maybe you’ll be conscious enough to meet her when I bring her back.” Jia Zhenzhen grumbles, shooting him a dangerous glare. He Huan looks amused, but he does warily glance at Jia Zhenzhen’s sword as she unties the horse and mounts it. 

 

“Right. Not a word,” he says, holding a finger over his lips. He gives the horse a strong pat. “Well, I’ll tell everyone that you said hi.” he says. Jia Zhenzhen narrows her eyes at him, too. 

 

“And you’ll try and get them out?” she adds. He Huan blushes, like he entirely forgot about that part. Jia Zhenzhen rolls her eyes, before tugging on the reins and cuing for the horse to begin heading forward. 

 

“Be safe!!” He Huan calls as Jia Zhenzhen’s heads off. Jia Zhenzhen scoffs, but fights back a fond smile anyways.