Chapter 140 — The Princess Who Left

CHAPTER 140

The Princess Who Left

The last group of first-round candidates entered while the stands were beginning to empty for dinner.

Shi Feng stayed because the next platform faced the shaded steps where he sat. He had no urgent reason to return to the inn, and the woman in pale blue robes carried an unusual short sword.

A crescent-shaped guard covered the backs of her fingers. The sword wasn't flashy, but the grip suited close turns.

“Moon Lake Sect, Sima Lan,” Zhou Ke announced.

Sima Yu stopped walking.

Shi Feng noticed because the prince's servants nearly collided with him. The gold sleeve lifted, then lowered without giving the command waiting behind it.

On the platform, Sima Lan bowed to her opponent. She was beautiful in a cool, composed way, with dark eyes and a small mark beside her left brow. Her late Foundation Establishment qi remained close to her body.

Shi Feng had heard the name before. Great Liang's younger princess, the court's second beauty, and a topic people lowered their voices to discuss.

Nobody had mentioned Moon Lake robes.

Her opponent attacked with a long staff. Sima Lan gave up the centre, letting its reach carry him forward. She moved twice around his left side, measuring how quickly he could shorten his grip.

On the third turn, her sword guard caught the staff just above his hand.

She pulled down and stepped behind his heel. The staff hit the stone, and the opponent's knee followed it. Her sword rested beside his neck before he could rise.

The surrender was immediate.

Sima Lan withdrew her blade and offered the man room to stand. She neither helped him up nor turned toward the crowd for applause.

Sima Yu's face had gone pale.

Shi Feng left through the eastern passage after the result was recorded. The corridor split around a storage court, and he stopped beside the open water jar to rinse the dust from his hands.

Sima Yu's voice came from the covered walkway beyond it.

“You should have sent word,” Sima Yu said.

“Moon Lake submitted its list on time,” Sima Lan replied. “The officials found no difficulty reading it.”

Shi Feng could see them through the square opening above the jar. He didn't step closer. Sima Yu had dismissed his servants to the far gate, but he had chosen a public corridor for a family conversation.

“You know which word I mean,” Sima Yu said.

Sima Lan adjusted the cord at her wrist. A small Moon Lake seal hung there, worn enough to show it had travelled with her for some time.

“The court used to read my letters before I did,” Sima Lan said. “I thought it would manage.”

“Those arrangements concerned more than you,” Sima Yu replied.

“They always do,” Sima Lan said. “Someone signs a household paper, and the rest of us are meant to call it our wish.”

Sima Yu glanced toward the gate. One servant immediately looked away.

“Father will want an explanation,” Sima Yu said.

“Then he can ask for one,” Sima Lan replied.

Her voice wasn't loud. That made the prince's effort to lower his own more noticeable.

“You left without permission,” Sima Yu said.

“I left,” Sima Lan replied. “The other part is something we disagree about.”

Shi Feng dried his hands and picked up his bag. He knew enough now to understand that the reunion wasn't going to improve either person's afternoon.

Before he reached the turn, Sima Lan looked through the opening and met his eyes.

She had known he was there.

“Brother's fellow representative,” Sima Lan said. “Shi Feng, isn't it?”

“Yes,” Shi Feng replied.

Sima Yu turned sharply. For a moment, the polite expression he used in public didn't return.

“An unfortunate place for a private conversation,” Shi Feng said.

Sima Lan looked at the open walkway, then back at her brother.

“So it seems,” Sima Lan replied.

Sima Yu straightened his sleeves.

“My sister has been away from home,” Sima Yu said. “There are matters to settle.”

“Then settle them,” Shi Feng replied.

He continued toward the exit. He wasn't interested in becoming a tool in a royal family's argument simply because the prince disliked being watched.

Sima Lan walked with him for several steps before Sima Yu could speak again.

“Did you enjoy the first round?” Sima Lan asked.

“It was brief,” Shi Feng said.

“I heard,” Sima Lan replied. “White Crane's seats were quieter afterward.”

She said nothing about the old cripple or the marriage. That restraint seemed deliberate. Shi Feng couldn't decide whether it was good manners or careful study, and didn't need to decide immediately.

At the gate, Sima Lan stopped beneath the Moon Lake banner.

“Perhaps we'll meet on a platform,” Sima Lan said.

“Perhaps,” Shi Feng replied.

She gave him a small nod and returned toward the independent sect court. Sima Yu followed until a Moon Lake elder came to meet her, then stopped.

The elder spoke quietly to Sima Lan and guided her inside. Nobody invited the Crown Prince to join them.

Shi Feng walked into the street.

Behind him, a servant hurried to bring Sima Yu's carriage nearer the gate. The prince entered it without looking toward the Moon Lake banner again.

Duan Yichen found Shi Feng at a stall selling skewered fish. He ordered three and ate the first before the seller had finished wrapping the others.

“You know Sima Lan?” Duan Yichen asked.

“I know who she is,” Shi Feng said.

“Half the people under the awning are pretending they always knew she'd enter,” Duan Yichen said. “The other half want to know which court official failed to stop her.”

“Moon Lake had a legitimate place,” Shi Feng replied.

“That's less entertaining,” Duan Yichen said.

Shi Feng accepted the skewer the seller handed him. The fish was hot, salted heavily and cooked through. For a few moments, that was all the attention it needed.

Duan Yichen finished the second skewer and looked down the street.

“My family would've followed me if I'd vanished like that,” Duan Yichen said. “Mostly to ask who was going to carry the winter grain accounts.”

“Can you count grain?” Shi Feng asked.

“Better than my cousins,” Duan Yichen replied. “That's the problem.”

Shi Feng laughed. He liked hearing a complaint that didn't conceal a threat.

The evening bells began. Officials would post the next draw tomorrow after checking injuries and completing the first-round records. Until then, every surviving candidate had a night to decide how impressive the others had looked.

Shi Feng returned to the inn with no interest in adding to the stories about Sima Lan.

She had won her place fairly. Her brother's expression suggested that the rest of her story belonged to a less orderly contest.