Phoenix: Rules Of The Harem
Chapter 26: The Second Meeting, He Likes Me

Some time passed since Huan Ran had returned to Xia's residence, Ling Mei decided to go back disguised as a man and wander around in the center of the city. This time unaccompanied by Wu Jin, Ling Mei surrounded the center of Xiaoyang city. For the sake of dodging Shao Mu Lan's reconnaissance, for a while she was unable to come out with her original appearance. His current destination was the Yuanle Pavilion, the largest and most famous gambling house and informant agent in the entire empire. However, what became the general secret of the Yuanle Pavilion was that there was a mercenary guild that was feared by many. The Yuanle Charge Killer Guild had a chairman as well as the owner of the mysterious Yuanle Pavilion, it could be said that not a single person had ever met him.

The Yuanle Charge Killer Guild was a high-ranking mercenary, the Yuanle Guild service users were upper or middle-class nobles who needed their help to obliterate the life of a person or even a group of people. However, that was not what Ling Mei's main goal was. Inside the Yuanle Pavilion was a woman who was one of his shadow guards whom he assigned to pretend to work inside the pavilion in order to obtain an important dossier that had been sent from the city Taihua. Feeling that it was quite risky, then Ling Mei decided to take it herself out of Lin Yin's hands, one of his first-rate shadow guards was inside the Yuanle Pavilion which was filled with women gambling.

Ling Mei came up with the appearance of such a beautiful young master, naturally it invited many young misses to look at her as she entered the main room of Yuanle Pavilion. To that end, he would pretend to enter as a young master meeting his lover who was a worker from the Yuanle Pavilion. It was just that it was quite difficult to get to where her shadow guard was, some young miss even had the chance to stop him and tease him making Ling Mei snort in disgust in her heart.

"Well! Whoa! What made a young master come to Yuanle Pavilion?" several young misses suddenly stood right in front of Ling Mei and closed her path.

'Shit! It's much worse than I thought!And where is Lin Yin?! Why hasn't he shown up yet? I need his help right now!' Ling Mei snorted inwardly, slightly condemning the state of the Yuanle Pavilion which was somehow much more crowded today. His gaze he circulated around, trying to find Lin Yin among the women who were busy gambling and betting.

"Sorry Young Miss, but I have to go."

"Eh! Uh! Going where? I'm not letting you go!" a young miss said loudly, she approached Ling Mei and held onto the chin of the Fourth Princess of the Empire while smiling obliquely. "You are so beautiful! Better keep us playing, hm? How's it?"

'It's disgusting! If they touch me more than this, I'll make sure I kill them just like I killed those hit men!' Ling Mei was speechless as she swallowed the annoyance in her heart, she could not resist as she did not want to look flashy and noticed by many people.

"Are you going to keep quiet like that? Comehere! Come with us!" the other young lady wrapped her arms around Ling Mei's shoulders making the Fourth Star of the Empire secretly clench her hands full of anger.

Enough already! Ling Mei could not accept this disgusting thing for much longer! Highlight his eyes looked cold, Ling Mei violently released the arms of the young miss that were coiled around her shoulders. "I'm not—"

"What are you guys doing?" a young girl coming with her flat face made the young ladies shocked when they saw her.

"Great Miss Xia!" one of them exclaimed loudly, not expecting to meet the eldest daughter of the venerable Xia family at the gambling establishment.

"What are you doing with my people?" Xia Hui Fang ignored them and again asked with a sharp look in his eyes.

One of them, who looked the most powerful asked in a nervous-sounding tone. "O-your people?"

"Yes, that young master you guys are bothering is my man! If you understand, do you still dare to do this?"

All of them retreated with fear, all the nobles in the capital of Xiaoyang no one did not know how powerful the Xia Nobles family was. The Xia family was one of the five most influential and honorable noble families in the Shao Empire. It could be said that the Xia family had an equally powerful influence with the noble Gu family, the Noble Hong family, the Noble Mo family and the Noble Shi family. Moreover, with the great Miss Xia family's skill rumored to be very skilled in making poison, they knew enough themselves not to disturb the sleeping lion.

"No! Nah! Nah! We dare not! We will leave, please Big Miss Xia enjoy your time casually!"

The young ladies quickly left from before Ling Mei and Hui Fang. For them it was better to dodge quickly than to disturb the calmness of one of the most powerful noble families in the Shao Empire. Seeing all that, Ling Mei fell silent without looking towards Hui Fang. Secretly the corner of Hui Fang's lips was pulled upwards, the young master's response that was in front of him made him smile involuntarily.

"Aren't there any thanks for me, Young Master?" Hui Fang looked at the young master who turned his head towards him while raising one eyebrow.

In her heart Ling Mei snorted in annoyance, why should she meet Xia Hui Fang at a time like this? There should be no second meeting for them! Not with his appearance disguised as a man!

"Since Miss Xia has helped me, I must thank you. Thank you for the help, Big Miss Xia."

"ah! But, what is Young Master doing here?" Hui Fang asked with a curious look.

"Hmph! It seems Miss Xia is eager to find out about other people's affairs! Of course, I'm here to see my lover!"

"Love? Didn't Young Master tell me that you haven't had enough age for marriage yet?"

Ling Mei snorted softly, then looked at Hui Fang flatly. "Then? Even if I don't have enough age for marriage, does the imperial law forbid me to have a lover?"

"That's true. Then tell me your name?" Hui Fang nodded, then asked back with a smile on his charming face.

"No... ah! That's her! Yin Jiejie!"

Ling Mei stared happily at Lin Yin who was standing quite far away from her where she was standing, lucky when she called out Lin Yin's name, Lin Yin, the young girl quickly turned her head towards him and walked up to him with a smile on her face. Inwardly Ling Mei thanked him for the appearance of the girl that he thought was enough to help him escape from Hui Fang. Seeing that the young master was about to leave, Hui Fang quickly blocked the beautiful young master's wrist and pulled the young master's body closer towards him making the young master who had stolen his heart turn towards him with a look of a face annoyed.

"Take me off!"

"Your name, Young Master? After that I'll let you go."

Ling Mei furrowed her brows in annoyance, she completely refrained from hitting Hui Fang who was grasping his wrist tightly enough. Closing her eyes for a moment, Ling Mei decided to open her mouth and said, "Ling Chen. Is that enough?"

"Ling Chen? Beautiful name like the owner."

Hearing that, Ling Mei's gaze dimmed with a faint sad glint. Then he whispered softly, "Yes. What a beautiful name..."

"No. I told you my name, now let me go!" Ling Mei quickly jerked her hand and went away from Hui Fang hurriedly, leaving behind a fixated Hui Fang while looking at her.

Hui Fang fell silent as he looked fixedly at the back of the young master he knew named Ling Chen who started to disappear from his sight before deciding to leave where he stood. However, just one step Hui Fang walked, his steps quickly came to a halt when he felt he had stepped on something. Hui Fang looked down, staring down right at his feet. The young lady saw a dark blue tassel decoration with a black jade pendant lying just like that on the floor. Grabbing it slowly, Hui Fang grasped the jade pendant tightly with a small smile on his face.

.

.

In contrast to Hui Fang, Ling Mei who had been standing beside Lin Yin quickly dragged the young girl away from the crowd. His face looked cold with a hint of emotion gleaming in his eyes, it seemed like the Empire's Fourth Star was still irritated by Hui Fang who he thought was too intrusive.

"Your Majesty, are you okay?" with half a whisper, Lin Yin asked Ling Mei who still looked turbid.

Ling Mei stared intently at Lin Yin, "Do you think I will still be fine as the young ladies try to tease me?"

Lin Yin grimaced in fear, his master's aura when enraged was truly terrifying. "That's .. You're right, forgive me Your Majesty. More than that, I've got the file you want."

"Give me!"

Lin Yin quickly took the file from behind his hanfunya and gave it to Ling Mei. "As you command, Your Majesty."

"Then, the person who brought this file before?" Ling Mei looked at the file that was in her hands with a cold gaze, this was important evidence to trap Shao Mu Lan in the future.

"I killed him as you said before and I make sure no one sees me."

Ling Mei nodded in satisfaction, she was quite happy with the work of her shadow guard. "Hiao. Since I've got it, I'll go after this."

"I will control you, Your Majesty."

Ling Mei shook her head while putting the file into her hanfunya before then she tidied up her appearance for a while. "No, that's not necessary. I'm going back to the manor myself, it's not a hard thing for me."

"Lin Yin understood. As you wish, Your Majesty." Lin Yin bowed his body, saluting the precious Fourth Star of Shao Empire.

Leaving the area of the Yuanle Pavilion gambling house, Ling Mei walked through a deserted road that was not far from the Yuanle Pavilion. He had to be careful that the scouts whom Mu Lan had assigned to watch over him were unable to recognize him. However, it was only a few steps walking in that place that someone Ling Mei knew was standing right in front of her while smiling broadly.

"We meet again, Young Master Ling!"

'Shit! I never thought he would be here!' Ling Mei turned her face away, something like this turned out to be quite exhausting for her. With a slightly irritated tone, Ling Mei asked Hui Fang. "What does Big Miss Xia want from me? This young man was just from an ordinary little family."

Seeing that Hui Fang smiled, he brought his body closer to the young man who was in front of him. "Young Master Ling, are you really unable to consider the offer from me?"

"What offer?" without staring at Hui Fang, Ling Mei said as if she did not know. This Big Miss Xia is sometimes really dangerous, right now Hui Fang looks like Physician Xia Lu Si in his eyes.

Hui Fang further tightened his body at Ling Mei, making the Empire's Fourth Star disguised as a man regress his body involuntarily.

"Please don't pretend you don't remember! At our first meeting, I offered you a marriage proposal."

Secretly Ling Mei felt a little panicked, the girl! He really did not understand what a boundary was! To keep her pride, Ling Mei looked Hui Fang in the eyes and exclaimed coldly. "Miss Xia, you better keep your distance!"

"Keep some distance from what?" Hui Fang smirked and further advanced his body until he was completely in front of Ling Mei's body at a very close distance, he said, even the daughter of the Imperial Physician Chief boldly touched Ling Mei's cheek and rubbed it slowly. "Aren't you and your boyfriend this close?"

"Miss Xia, I warned you!" Ling Mei had been within the limits of her anger, her back had now stuck to the deserted road wall due to Hui Fang's actions.

The Fourth Princess of Shao Empire felt that Hui Fang had lost her mind, Ling Mei was not really a man and this made her feel angry that someone who was actually the same as her was trying to tease her. It was indeed true that Hui Fang did not know that the Young Master Ling he knew was actually a woman in disguise, but still this was infuriating for Ling Mei.

"Young Master Ling, I like you. I don't even mind waiting for you to enter the marriage age." whispered Hui Fang beside Ling Mei's ear.

"What empty mouth are you talking about Big Miss Xia? I'm not interested in marrying you!" Ling Mei refused quickly, with Hui Fang's hand on her cheek violently.

Hui Fang snorted amusedly, a single smile rising on his handsome face. "You are completely different, Young Master Ling. That's why I'm interested in you."

"Whatever! Whatever it is, please don't bother me anymore, Big Miss Xia!" Ling Mei turned her face away from Hui Fang's gaze and without saying anything more, that Fourth Star of Shao Empire walked away from the dangerous Grand Miss of the Xia family.

It's insane! In any case, he should not get involved more deeply with Xia Hui Fang or else it would be difficult! Many things were now beyond Ling Mei's control now, the situation became increasingly difficult over time. As had been expected earlier, this would be a long journey for the Fourth Princess.