A few sparks were all that could be seen from the clashes between a sword and a spear, the wielders themselves could not be clearly observed due the speed of the movements. Only on several occasions, where their weapons collided and their strength were pitted against each other, then one could actually see the masters of those weapons.

Despite both using a real sword and a real spear to spar with each other, Ji SongLi's and Zhen BuFeng's faces were all smiles. There were some traces of sweat, but their breath were steady despite the myriad of moves they had exchanged earlier.

Finally, Ji SongLi side-stepped and withdrew his sword. 

That also prompted Zhen BuFeng to also withdraw his spear. He stared at the still-smiling younger man in front of him, then he himself broke into a grin, his eyes bright.

The two maids who were just standing at the side, waiting upon both young men with a basin of water and cooling tea, were dumbfounded. They hardly ever saw their Young Master showing any expression, let alone smiling that wide.

Both of the young maids looked at each other and couldn't help blushing. 

"If Young Master BuFeng would smile just more often, surely he'd be very popular."

"That's right, just like this other Young Master with the sword, who also look very dreamy... ."

Ji SongLi had been going to Zhen's estate any chance he got, mainly because Zhen BuFeng had been sending invitations, sometimes even personally, to Liu YangHuan's residence. Zhen BuFeng had been pestering Ji SongLi for friendly training sessions.

Who knew, a couple of 'friendly trainings' soon became full-on contests; Ji SongLi found himself having to face  Zhen BuFeng seriously, as the young vice-commander definitely was never going to go easy on him. Nonetheless, Ji SongLi enjoyed it. There were a lot of moves in Ji sword art, yet only a few could be used in military battles. But with Zhen BuFeng, he could utilize all of them. 

The both of them had mastered their own respective family arts, him with the sword, Zhen BuFeng with the spear.

Zhen buFeng walked to one of the maids, causing her to quickly lower her head, lest her Young Master would notice her abashed expression. 

He took one of the cooling towels that had already been dipped in water, wrung the water dry, and threw it at Ji SongLi. The latter caught it with his free hand and sat at one of the benches, then proceeded to wipe his face.

The other maid tactfully set the tea on the table and poured some into two cups. Then Zhen BuFeng waved his hand to dismiss the two maids.

He handed one of the cups to the younger man. It was a herbal mixture of some immature tea leaves and hawthorn berries, infused with a bit of honeysuckle. Zhen BuFeng himself had known the concoction since he was a small boy, taught to him by his own father who knew about the recipe from his late mother. 

Zhen BuFeng had grown in a family of men, having lost his birth mother when he was small. He was only two years old when his mother passed away, so he hardly had any impression about her as he did not even really remember her face. He also lost his blood sister when his mother passed away during her labor to give birth to her. When the small infant was out of her body, both mother and daughter were already breathless.

At that moment, his father and his grandfather, both were still very much active in military matters in those days, were away to defend their northern borders from some of the more unruly tribes there.

The only females he had contact with were the maids in the household, and distant relatives of his father and mother. His father was much too unsocialized and sombre. Zhen BuFeng himself could thank his old man for that trait to be passed on to him. There was no new Madame Zhen after his mother passed.

For his father, General Zhen, and his grandfather, Old General Xun, as long as they already had an heir, that would be enough. 

Having been acquainted with the Ji family since young, and to an extent watched Ji SongLi and Ji LanBai grew up, Zhen BuFeng sometimes wondered if he thought of the Ji siblings as an extension of his own family.

He had not had much interaction with Ji LanBai of course, but he genuinely was quite fond of Ji SongLi's companionship. The younger man was probably the closest to a blood brother that Zhen BuFeng never had. The other man who came close was Second Prince Zhang JunLi. Hence Zhen BuFeng had always paid attention to the younger man's growth; from his lack of interest in his own family sword art when they were younger, until Ji SongLi could spar with him as an equal now.

For Zhen BuFeng, there was no grief. He was just proud that Ji SongLi, as talented as he always knew the latter was, could be appreciated as one of the martial experts for their generation.        

"You are getting better," he smirked at the younger man who was gulping the tea in one go. 

"Well, years in the deserts alone with my sword-crazy father did that to me." SongLi chuckled. He walked towards the teapot and helped himself to another serving of the cooling tea.

"Three days after, just about mid-day, please come to Liu YangHuan's place." He leaned his weight against the wall, twirling the sword in his hand by its hilt. 

Zhen BuFeng couldn't help but to be amused at the little trick. He himself did the same thing with his spear when he was idle. Clearly for Ji SongLi as well, his sword had become an extension of his very self.

"Ah, you mentioned that to me once," Zhen BuFeng replied still with a slight smile, "He-laoshi, Sun-laoshi, Bai-mei and YuLan will do their first performance in Da Lang, right?"

Ji SongLi nodded, "Old Master Liu and Old Master Wu will be there as well. I think we also extended the scarce invitations to a few Ministers. And of course the Princes."

"Well, I know I will be with the three Princes in the Imperial Court for the morning," Zhen BuFeng pondered, "You are lucky, SongLi. It's only been a few days since you arrived so His Majesty the Emperor has not summoned you yet for court."

Ji SongLi grinned at Zhen BuFeng's slight crestfallen expression. He could just imagine how boring the imperial formal court sessions must be for the always boiling-blood of this man. He laughed, "Just come whenever you are finished. Even if you don't get to hear our formal performance, we will do a private one for you and the Princes."

*** *** ***

Just slightly outside Zhen residence, there were two wooden carriages passing slowly on the street. One of the carriage had a symbol of the Imperial Family, but instead of dragons that would usually embellish carriages for Imperial male members, this one was engraved with several phoenixes.

Each wooden carriage was not too big, in fact it was a carriage only fit for a person. Each carriage was carried by two burly men; they were clearly slaves, although their well-made servant attire gave away the fact that their noble masters' identities. Behind the two carriages, a procession of four maids walked and was also flanked by uniformed guards.

The commoners on the street who took notice of the phoenix insignia quickly stepped aside of the way and knelt on the sideways. 

It did not matter whether or not the person inside could see them kneeling, but that phoenix engraving was not for show.

The person inside the phoenix engraved carriage was a second-ranked Imperial Princess, named Zhang XiuYa, currently fifteen years old. There was no first-rank Princess at the moment, but given time, there was no doubt that the title would belong to this Princess.

 

 

Emperor Zhang himself did not have any daughter of that age. In fact, for an Emperor, he was pretty subdued in extending his harem. The only sons note-worthy were the Crown Prince Zhan KongJing, Second Prince Zhang JunLi, and Third Prince Zhang GuoFu. None of the other Imperial Princes or Princesses that were of younger age ever made themselves public. Not only the Emperor would not allow it, the Empress would also not allow it. However, although these insignificant Imperial Children would never gain power due to their lack of connections and exposure to the political world, their life would always be comfortable, albeit dictated.

The Princess inside the carriage was the only daughter from the late sister of Emperor Zhang, who died during childbirth.

Unfortunately, during that era, childbirth was definitely not without challenges. Being a woman was already not easy, let alone become a mother and to live contentedly as one. It was also normal for girls to marry early, and thus subjected their not-fully-developed bodies to the strain of pregnancy and childbirth.

Her unfortunate fate for having lost her mother even before she could properly open her eyes, and lost her father to an illness, was substituted by the Emperor's grace and affection. Emperor Zhang personally named her, and had given favor to her, even above his own daughters from his concubines.

In fact, the three Princes had also interacted quite often with this younger cousin of theirs, although their separate gender limited the nature of their interactions.

Currently Princess Zhang XiuYa was happily chatting with the person inside the other carriage through slightly open curtain. The person inside the other carriage was none other than the daughter of the Minister of Finance, Chao MeiHua.

Being of similar age and because Minister Chao was quite high in his standing in the court, Chao MeiHua had the privilege to be the Princess' friend since they were small.

"Eh?" Princess XiuYa exclaimed, having noticed their carriage almost passing through the Zhen residence, "MeiHua, we are passing the Zhen residence."

"Ah, Princess is right. It won't be long until we reached the Palace then," Chao MeiHua nodded, after noticing the familiar street through her thin curtain.

The Princess sighed, "MeiHua, I know Imperial Uncle has never given me any trouble. But Imperial Aunt,Her Majesty the Empress, has lately been showing me some paintings of single noble sons... ." She lamented, "I think she wants me to pick a Prince Consort soon."

The following maids and the servants who were carrying their carriages just pretended to be deaf. 

Chao MeiHua stayed silent at this. In fact, it had been the same for her. She was actually almost a year older than the Princess, so her father had been pretty eager to set her up with any outstanding young man.

But thinking back about Sun-laoshi... . Chao MeiHua could only sigh. 

For the besotted Chao MeiHua, which other man could be more handsome, more elegant, more mature? She still remembered that she got hopelessly drunk in his voice in Lian house when she heard him sang... . Though the fact that Sun Chen was a person of no background probably had previously escaped her mind. Minister Chao would not ever allow him to be her husband, regardless how outstanding he was.

"Maybe I should just pick vice-commander Zhen BuFeng instead." Princess XiuYa stared at the currently closed gates of Zhen residence, "At least he is easy on the eyes."

There were only a couple of occasions that Princess Zhang XiuYa had ever looked at Zhen BuFeng, and either that was only from afar, or just to exchange polite pleasantries when they coincidentally met. 

All occasions were always with her older Imperial Cousins around; because of course, Zhen BuFeng was closely acquainted with the Royal Princes.

As soon as she thought about that, her face sank a little. "Becoming a military man's wife. Won't that be too grieving? Who knows how often we will see each other."

For young women their age, it was easy to daydream about happy marriage with a handsome young man; hand being held by their husband everyday, ever loving. Their husband would paint their eyebrows, comb their hair, and whisper sweet nothings into their ears every day.

Just like on cue, the gate of the residence was opened, and from it, two straight tall figures walked out.

One clad in black robe, his face expressionless like usual. This was Zhen BuFeng.

The other was in dark grey robe; the young man's face was more gentle. He possessed lean yet sturdy build, his posture straight an unyielding despite his youthful face. From his conduct and demeanor, one could easily deduct he was the same type as Zhen BuFeng, a martial artist. If that was not enough clue, his right palm was currently casually wrapped around his sword hilt, hung on his waist belt.

A servant brought a horse to the front of residence, and Ji SongLi swiftly jumped onto its back. He looked down at Zhen BuFeng and laughed with familiarity, "Remember BuFeng, right after you are finished. Just drag the Princes along even if they feel tired!" 

"I know. Though I doubt I need to do anything." Zhen BuFeng let out a low chuckle, "The three Princes will not miss Bai-mei and YuLan's performance for the world. Don't worry, SongLi!"

Princess Zhang XiuYa and Chao MeiHua blinked their eyes in disbelief, their eyes peeking through the curtains of their carriage. Since when the 'stone-wall face' Zhen BuFeng ever smile, let alone laugh?

Ji SongLi;s laugh also resonated after his friend, before willing his horse to turn around. Only then he noticed the two men-carried carriages and the unusual procession behind it, as well as the phoenix engraving.

He might not had been in Da Lang for a long period of time, but Ji SongLi knew the phoenix symbol could only be used by the female Imperial family members. Therefore he bowed his head in salutation towards the carriage; it was the normal way of showing respect by a military member.

Zhen BuFeng also saluted in similar manner towards the Princess, before turning his back and walked inside the residence, finally closing the gate.

The Princess was dumbfounded. It was one thing to not gain normal respect from Zhen BuFeng; normally she was used to men kneeling on command. However, vice-commander Zhen was always not normal anyway. She had never seen him being interested in women; the slightest expression of joy she could see from him was when he was talking about martial arts with her Imperial Cousins.

And just now, she clearly saw him smiling and laughing with a young man, someone she had never seen before.

"The young man is actually quite good looking... ." She shook her head, willing herself out of her slight daydream, "No, that's not the point! But his attitude!! he only bowed slightly at me. Does he not know who I am!"

"MeiHua, who was that?" Zhang XiuYa asked, eyes glancing back at the disappearing figure slowly treading his horse. The young man did not even bother to look back at her carriage.

"Even these commoners are still kneeling even after my carriage passed!" Zhang Xiuya was displeased with the comparison. Indeed, some people were still kneeling by the sideways.

"MeiHua also does not know." MeiHua pondered, "But vice-commander Zhen called him 'SongLi'"

"'Song Li'", the Princess knitted her willowy eyebrows slightly, then her eyes brightened, "Ah~! I remember Older Cousin GuoFu's fiancee is from the Ji Tiger clan, and that the young heir's name is Ji SongLi!" She was pleased with herself for remembering that small detail.

As for Chao MeiHua, upon remembering about the Ji Family and Ji LanBai, she was also reminded of Sun Chen's ruthless rejection. Her fists were clenched, turning her jade white hands gradually flushed red. 

She was also reminded about an invitation that her father had received a few days back, also extending the invitation towards her brother and herself. 

The Ji family had set temporary base in Da Lang and wished to show hospitality to the extinguished families in Da Lang. 

Even the Ji's current residence was already unusual. After all, no one had ever thought the eccentric Old Scholar, Master Liu YangHuan, would ever give his personal estate for other clan's use.