The Little Consort's
Eps. 73: Weird Place
The end of spring in Dongling Kingdom had already entered its final stage. The flowers, the leaves, the trees have begun to molt and fall. In the afternoon, the sun sank at the end of Houchi Lake, reflecting a golden light within the surging water ripples. In such a peaceful situation, Li Anlan stood on the bridge of Lake Houchi while enjoying the twilight that came beautifully. The woman was wearing an orange hanfu decorated with flower embroidery on her stomach and chest. About half a meter back, his head was decorated with simple golden hairpins.
Every fresh air that entered his lungs felt very fresh. Li Anlan viewed twilight as the best condition in a day every month. Dusk, for Li Anlan was the best time to pamper yourself by enjoying the peace created from every atmosphere.
The tiredness after a few days of accompanying Long Ji Man in the Royal Examination paid off as he enjoyed the twilight over Lake Houchi. The results of the test will be announced a week later. This time, he did not need to bother to check, because the entire answer key had been handed over to the concerned officer. There would be no tone of the officer who dared to cheat correcting the answer or siding with one of the participants, because Li Anlan asked permission from Long Ji Man for the examination to be carried out at
Hongwu Palace, under the direct supervision of the king.
From a distance, he saw Xiao Biqi coming at him from the direction of Hongwu Palace. Li Anlan changed his position until he could see Xiao Biqi clearly from the front. As soon as the eunuch arrived, a bow of body and salute was thrown from his mouth.
“Mistress, Your Majesty has asked you to come to Hongwu Palace now,” please Xiao Biqi.
“What's up?”
“Your Majesty didn't tell me about the purpose. Come, Mistress.”
Xiao Biqi invited Li Anlan to walk first. The dusk sank and the night was coming soon. This desolate palace became increasingly quiet at night. The guards changed shifts, and the part-time servants returned home to their respective residences. Other than Li Anlan, the other women in the Dongling Kingdom palace had already been silent inside their respective palaces.
Long Ji Man seemed to be sitting in his chair.
The state documents he examined had all been removed. Tonight, his task ends with documents from the county at the border reporting congratulations on the King's marriage to Long Da Yin, which ends with the burning of the documents by Long Ji Man. The man was still angry that his new concubine had added drunken powder to their wedding wine.
Long Ji Man's originally flat facial sharpness changed as the woman walked in. His arrival was like the arrival of someone who had been unaware of him later on. The figure of Li Anlan the Grand Empress had haunted Long Ji Man's night slowly to make the man often have trouble falling asleep, thinking about various things related to Li Anlan. Women are like water, can change to adjust the container and not easily guessed. From the beginning, he had already made Long Ji Man not stop guessing.
“Your Highness, what's up?” ask the woman while sitting in the guest chair.
“Tomorrow we will exit the palace.”
I don't know, when Li Anlan heard the word ‘out palace’, it no longer feels the same as before. Maybe this is the effect of his heavy work lately, until everything related to the word ‘ out palace’ becomes not fun and no longer attracts the attention of Li Anlan. How not, once out of the palace, he immediately did heavy duty, was kidnapped, and did heavy duty again. There is absolutely no fun in it.
“Where are we headed?”
“You will know.”
Li Anlan knew she could not resist this man's wishes. Tonight, his aura felt very different, as if Long Ji Man was an Arjuna whom Li Anlan knew through the Indian literature he had read in the school library. It was like seeing a real king, who was truly rich in dignity and good looks.
Although Long Ji Man's age was above his age, but the man could not be categorized as old. He still had the face of a young man. That is what makes him look more mature. The appearance of the perfect reminded Li Anlan on the figure of one of his lecturers on campus, who had a high level of nasism and always looked perfect like a pulic figure. Long Ji Man when young was probably much more handsome than this.
“Good.”
Finally, Li Anlan agreed to Long Ji Man's invitation. The woman was about to return to her palace, but Long Ji Man held her back. The man said that he wanted to discuss something with himself. I don't know what the man wanted to talk about, but Li Anlan felt that the topic of the conversation would not be pleasant. So, the woman refused to stay and left Hongwu Palace.
Early in the morning the next day, Xiao Biqi had already come to take Li Anlan away. Just as he was about to prepare, Long Ji Man came over unannounced. While sitting sweetly on the guest chair of Xingyue Palace, she had Li Anlan bring along some strange equipment of hers without telling her the reason. Li Anlan simply complied, because asking would yield nothing.
The sweet King and Royal Empress passed through the back gate of Hongwu Palace, then climbed onto the horseback. When Long Ji Man asked him to ride with her, Li Anlan refused. Horses are one of the animals he most wants to conquer. Usually, if not the original master, this animal will rebel when ridden. However, in modern times, he recalls that he once raced in a field with a high-class jockey who he knew on the hiking trail. So, Li Anlan decided to try and retest his riding skills that he had not trained for a long time.
The direction they were heading towards was the east side of the palace. The road is quite narrow and overgrown with wild grass. This is not a road to the city center, but a road to a forbidden place that is very foreign and very rarely touched by people. The small road is getting longer uphill, then some parts of the next there are flat land overgrown with wisteria trees hundreds of years old.
In addition to wisteria hundreds of years, around it there are also a variety of plants with strange shapes, aromas, and colors, such as only growing here. Some of the animals he encountered while on the trip also had never seen before. This land was like the second fairyland to Li Anlan after Dongling Kingdom. Strange yet makes the heart feel comfortable and calm.
“Any. Why is this thing broken again?” irked Li Anlan while putting the two modern objects into a backpack pocket.
“What's up?” long Ji Man asked as he realized the woman behind him stopped the horse's pace and grumbled.
“My compass is off again.”
“What is the use of that thing?”
“To show directions.”
The woman decided to continue the journey. He let Long Ji Man lead him in front so that he could follow in his footsteps in the right way. This time, he could not get lost again.
After two hours of riding, the two arrived at a land filled with shady trees. In the middle of the field there is a building of wood that looks old but still maintained. The fences are made of logs cut into small squares. Around the house there are various types of colorful flowers that smell distinctive and taste very sweet like honey.
Long Ji Man tied his horse's control rope to a tree, then helped Li Anlan down. Li Anlan's horse also he tied the rope of his control in the tree next to him, so that the two horses did not escape. Then, Long Ji Man brought Li Anlan to enter the building. The road to tread is made of small stones neatly arranged.
“Your Majesty, where are we?” Li Anlan couldn't hold back the target. Since then he had been interested in the building in the middle of this wilderness.
“Didn't you always want to climb Feiyun Mountain?”
Li Anlan's eyes widened.
“So, this is?”
“True. This is the protected forest of Mount Feiyun.”
“Has fast the road is a bit foreign.”
“The plants and animals you see along the way are the core of this forest.”
“Wah, so what I saw earlier was an endemic animal?”
It was unexpected, Long Ji Man took him to a place protected by state law and should not be entered by people because it included a protected forest area! Li Anlan had actually entered into an in-situ conservation area in the ancient land!
This man is unpredictable. It used to be so against Li Anlan and forbade this woman from entering Feiyun Mountain even though Li Anlan had already asked for permission many times even half forcefully. Now, he alone brought her into this forbidden forest without any prior notice. How could a man be so unstable?
“Why has His Majesty brought me here?”
Before replying, Long Ji Man looked at the woman's eyes first. There was a different impression from that look. Soft but foreign.
“I always felt you were not from this world.”
Now, Li Anlan was glued to where she stood. Did Long Ji Man already know that he was an explorer from another world?
...***...
...Halooo Author's! Today Author up is just one yes, because the weekend is always busy with the same activities. Yesterday too, the Author happened to be a little unwell again on the way out of town, so if you see HP or laptop like dizziness. So, doain hope everything is finished. Stay tuned, see you in the next episode! ...