Phoenix: Rules Of The Harem
Chapter 28: The Gifted Lonely Girl

A clear morning with white clouds and warm sunshine, Ling Mei and Yu Han walked around the market with Yu Shen and Mo Xi behind them. Currently Ling Mei was accompanying Yu Han shopping at the request of the Grand Concubine, the young man came to her and said that he wanted to buy some items with Ling Mei by his side. There are so many things to do in a crowded market, many people look busy buying items as needed or even as they wish. Ling Mei looked at Yu Han who was focused on picking some fruits, the young man looked very serious when comparing which fruit was better for him to buy. Turning her gaze around, Ling Mei felt that there was not a single thing that was of interest to her.

"My wife, do you like peaches?" Yu Han asked Ling Mei while holding two peaches in his hand.

Ling Mei nodded with a flat expression. "Mn, like."

"That's great, I was thinking of buying a bag of peaches and eating them along with you as well as Main Companion Wei at the residence later." Yu Han looked at Ling Mei with a radiant face, his eyes glaring like bright starlight.

Ling Mei placed her hands behind her back while looking towards the other seller. "Get everything you want, you're free to do it."

Seeing the small attention Ling Mei gave her, Yu Han smiled sweetly with a faint tinge of redness on both of her cheeks. Thank you, Your Majesty."

Sensing a troubling sense of boredom, Ling Mei slowly walked slightly away from where Yu Han and his servants were. Luckily, not a single spy from Crown Princess Shao Mu Lan was in sight, naturally it was because Ling Mei had killed all of them. Even with all the things going on, Shao Mu Lan would think that it was the deed of Imperial Grand General Hong Chang Yi. Moreover, with Great General Hong's quite influential abilities, Mu Lan would not be easy to touch her grandmother just like that. For an old woman who had fought for most of her life, Great General Hong Chang Yi was too strong to be put away in a hurry. Moreover, the Grand Empress who secretly helped him, all of those things were enough to make it easier for Ling Mei to move outside her residence without having to always disguise and hide.

Exploring the market casually, Ling Mei arrived at a narrow street that was not as crowded as the one where Yu Han was currently. It looked empty with a few abandoned merchant stalls and small, enclosed houses, as it felt not attractive enough, Ling Mei thought of returning to where Yu Han was shopping and returning home to the manor after her main concubine was done with her activities.

"Give me all your money!"

"No! I don't want to! Go all of you!"

From the back, in a place that didn't seem so far from where it was, Ling Mei stopped her steps when she heard the loud voices of some people who seemed to be a group of street thieves with victims who wanted them to snatch away their money. After all, it was none of his business, it was not a good thing if he were to interfere into something not so important like this. Ling Mei thought of leaving and pretended not to hear anything, only, just a few steps she walked, Ling Mei stopped again and turned to run towards the direction of the sound that sounded.

"Damn it!" Ling Mei cursed loudly, both her hands clenched tightly. Somehow he couldn't let anything unfair happen in front of him.

Shao Ling Mei was the Fourth Princess of Shao Empire who would not hesitate to kill her enemy, she was a person who had no mercy towards the person trying to take her down. From the start Ling Mei was not a good person, who would just shut up and take it for granted as she attempted to be obliterated by many people because of her status. He had lost a very precious person to him, half his soul that had left him eight years ago. But, why couldn't he be a truly cruel and violent person like his first brother?

However, when she reached that place, Ling Mei was precisely startled by the unusual sight. From a distance, though, he stood glued with his eyes wide open as he saw a little girl fighting three grown women who Ling Mei believed to be street thieves trying to snatch away the little girl's money. Seeing that, Ling Mei changed her mind, she thought to temporarily remain where she stood and observed their fight in silence from a distance. At first, the little girl fought the three with her bare hands before then she managed to make one of the adult women drop her sword, which she had not lost, then the young girl used the fallen sword as her weapon against them, in Ling Mei's vision, it was quite a good thing.

"He's quite talented .. there's potential." Ling Mei muttered so softly, her gaze kept on the little girl.

Unfortunately, not long after, the little girl got a difficult condition because she had to fight three adult women at once. He was on the edge when those street thieves surrounded him without any gaps. Seeing him, Ling Mei knew that she would not be able to let him. Ling Mei sighed, assuming that it might be a small piece of kindness still left inside her. The little girl did attack quite recklessly, but that didn't mean it was bad. Immediately Ling Mei jumped towards the street thieves using qinggong and fended off the sword of one of the women who almost slashed the neck of the little girl with a dagger that had her hands on.

"You! How dare it bother us! Don't you know who we are?!" a woman said loudly while gritting her teeth, she looked very upset.

"So, I don't think that's important. I was just passing by and wanted to help this kid." Ling Mei looked at them with cold eyes.

Unlike the street thieves who looked at Ling Mei annoyed, the little girl who was about to become a victim looked at Ling Mei with sparkling eyes. Ling Mei became to look like a good hero in her eyes, besides Ling Mei had a cold and sharp aura, it made the young girl feel admired.

Looking at the girl who was never moving from her place and leaving, Ling Mei sighed. "Little girl, you better back off. I'll take care of this for you."

"W-uh! Yes, I understand." the young girl nodded quickly before then she rewinded her body to a safer place.

Calmly, Ling Mei pointed her dagger forward. "Hmph, go!"

The three street thieves were seen to have been burned with emotion, their faces displeased with darkening gazes. Then, one of them shouted, "Wait what else? Attack her!"

.

.

On the other hand, Yu Han and and the other two male servants, Yu Shen and Mo Xi looked puzzled at not finding Shao Ling Mei near them. With a panicked and worried face, Yu Han ran around looking for his wife who disappeared somewhere. Looking at his master's concubine who had become so panicked, Yu Shen calmly stopped Yu Han and spoke to the young man.

"Master, you can calm down now. This is a common thing when His Majesty comes out of the residence, nor do you need to worry, His Majesty has above average strength than anyone else. We can look for it slowly."

Yu Han was silent for a while, but after that he sighed. "I know that .. but, I still feel worried if it's him. Your Majesty is a precious person to me, I don't want anything bad to happen to him."

Hearing him, Yu Shen smiled. It was a good thing to see his master loved so many people like this, the young maid felt relieved in her heart. "I'm sure Your Majesty isn't far from here, you can look for him calmly."

"I understand." Yu Han nodded, his face looking much calmer than before. Even so, in his heart, the young man who was the concubine of Fourth Princess Shao Ling Mei still felt great worry.

Until in the end, they are on a narrow road that is not as crowded as the center of the market. At first, the three thought of returning because the place was quite quiet and did not show

"Concubine Shi, we'd better wait here for a while. Your Majesty will definitely defeat them, so you don't need to panic so much." Yu Shen stood still quietly, he spoke softly and half whispered to Yu Han who was known to be Ling Mei's main concubine.

Following Yu Shen's words, Yu Han stood in his place without a sound. Even so, some small movements seen on Yu Han showed that the young man looked like he was worrying about something. Even though Yu Han knew firsthand the martial power of Shao Ling Mei when the young lady was training with Imperial General Hong and had once dueled with Imperial General Shi who was her mother, Yu Han remained uncomfortable seeing Ling Mei being surrounded by a few people. In one final blow, it was seen Ling Mei kicking a woman who was one of those street thieves violently, it was a good and rare thing since Ling Mei did not directly kill him. The Fourth Princess of Shao Empire let out a long sigh, feeling thirsty after a small fight with those annoying little mice.

"Little girl, are you nice?" Ling Mei casually walked over to the young girl she had just helped, her countenance looking cold with no expression.

The girl smiled widely, then she bowed respectfully. "All thanks to Madam, I feel fine. Thank you for helping me, Young Madam."

Ling Mei simply nodded, The Fourth Star of Shao Empire was walking towards Yu Han who was waiting for him anxiously. When Ling Mei reached in front of Yu Han, the young man quickly hugged the Fourth Princess tightly.

"Your Majesty! Why did you suddenly just leave without telling us?! Do you know how worried I am when you disappear from my sight?!"

"I know, it's my fault." Yu Han's nagging made Ling Mei admit her mistake quickly, her one hand she took with her to rub Yu Han's slightly quivering back.

Yu Han nodded in satisfaction, half his face he buried on Ling Mei's shoulder and he sighed in relief, Yu Han muttered in a slightly muffled voice. "It's good if you understand, Your Majesty. You can't do that next time! I'm glad to see you ba— Your Majesty! Behind you!"

With one hand carrying a dagger, Ling Mei resisted the attack of one of the street thieves intending to stab her from behind. The calm turned into tension, unexpectedly before, the street thieves had apparently intended to take revenge on Ling Mei for having been defeated before.

"Yu Han, stay away from me! I will finish it as soon as possible." Ling Mei ordered quickly before then Ling Mei turned to face the street thieves.

Now without a speck of forgiveness, Ling Mei thrust her dagger into the chest of one of the women. In her gaze there was only a cold and sharp look, Ling Mei deepened her stab without even blinking a second, letting the dying woman start to lose her breath with a real merciless expression. The other two street thieves turned into full of fear seeing Ling Mei killing their friend, but they were unable to retreat for now. Then, with as little courage as they had left, they advanced simultaneously from the opposite direction, making Ling Mei press her feet against the ground before then soaring herself into the air with qinggong. The Fourth Princess quickly took off her hairpin and threw it towards one of the women who attacked her and spun around while she drew her dagger towards the one remaining street thief.

When another one had died from being pierced by the hair pin that Ling Mei had laid before, The Empire's Fourth Star managed to slash the neck of the last street thief until the blood splash of the street thief hit Ling Mei's clean face and clothes. When all of that happened, Yu Han had seen it. How horrible and dangerous his wife, Fourth Princess Shao Ling Mei was. In contrast to all the rumors that had always circulated up to this point, Ling Mei was the dark side hidden among the pile of harmless looking cotton. Yu Han's gaze was fixated with an indecipherable glare of his eyes, in his view, Ling Mei looked completely different, her aura looking harsh and full of sharp dominance.

When everything was done Ling Mei fell silent with a cold face, without turning around she said to Yu Shen, "Yu Shen, clean up all their corpses and burn them without a trace. I don't want any trace of anything my brothers can find."

Yu Shen lowered his head respectfully, then said obediently, "As you command, Your Majesty."

"Back to the residence, Consort Shi." this time Ling Mei's speech sounded without any warmth that felt made Yu Han feel a sense of uneasiness in his heart.

However, when Ling Mei, Yu Han and Mo Xi stepped away, the awkwardness felt as if Ling Mei was stopping her steps. As Ling Mei had guessed before, when she looked back, she saw the young girl she had helped earlier instead walking after her. It was seen when Ling Mei stopped, the girl also stopped. The Fourth Princess Shao furrowed her brows in astonishment, feeling strange with the young girl, shouldn't she also go home by herself?

"Little girl, why are you following me?" asked Ling Mei flatly.

"Mrs! Madam! Please take me with you!" the young girl drew closer to Ling Mei, she knelt down with a finger holding the tip of the Fourth Star of the Empire's clothes.

Ling Mei looked down at the little girl with a slightly surprised look on her face. "What?"

"Mrs, please take me and my sister with you! I can do any job for you! Please let me follow you!"

Ling Mei sighed, feeling puzzled by what had happened, even Yu Han was surprised to see this. But after that, Yu Han smiled gently and said warmly, "Little Miss, where is your home? And where are your parents?"

The young girl turned her head, looking at Yu Han hesitantly. "That's .. not far from this place, sir. Also, my parents died a few years ago, sir."

"What's your name? And where's your sister now?" Ling Mei bowed her body, intending to help the little girl to stand up from where she was kneeling.

The girl smiled, the twinkle in both her eyes was clearly visible. "I'm Fan Lin Hua, Madam. My sister is a man, therefore she stays at home for some things and takes care of the house when I work."

Seeing him, Ling Mei sighed, but her gaze began to soften. From his hanfunya arm, he took out a white waist token with an engraving inscribed with 'Four Stars' in traditional mandarin script and gave it to Lin Hua. It was a token specially created for the people who had been given permission by Ling Mei to be able to freely enter and exit inside the Fourth Princess Manor.

"After this, come with your sister to Fourth Princess Manor Shao Ling Mei and show this token to the guard who is in front of the gate, for next someone will lead you inside."

The girl rounded her eyes, her face looking shocked in disbelief. "You are..."

"It would be better if you kept this a secret, little girl. I'm leaving, I'm sure you're the one who can keep your mouth shut in this case because I'm not that good. See you soon, little girl."

At the end of his speech, Ling Mek turned around and walked away from Lin Hua with Yu Han beside him, as well as Mo Xi who was behind them. Leaving the young girl who was smiling towards Ling Mei with such a happy face and such a warm look.

When Ling Mei had been in the distance, Lin Hua whispered small almost without a voice in a sincere tone. "Your Fourth Princess, thank you for helping me. I will repay you with all the loyalty I have."