Wang Ai left the physician's manor shortly after receiving treatment. His partner Guanting, followed right behind him
"She was cute, wasn't she?"
"Yes and she was also engaged," Guanting said. He grabbed onto Wang Ai's shoulder lightly with his right hand. "We have more important things to focus on"
"Right, right" Wang Ai muttered as he rolled his eyes. "How are the azure dragon members doing?"
"Waiting for your instruction."
"Ugh. Why can't they do anything on their own?" Wang Ai cried.
"Because you're their leader! This whole martial arts sect was your idea!"
"I know, '' Wang Ai said as they headed back to the cottage they were staying in. "But I didn't come to the capital just to run a martial arts sect."
"Just let it go. You will never be able to get the revenge you want without bringing your whole family down with you. Isn't it better to lead a quiet life, helping people?"
Wang Ai glared at him. Guanting became quiet.
"I'll never be able to lead a quiet life as long as my enemies are alive. I must see them pay for what they did."
"If your enemy was just a regular person, that would be no problem. Even if your enemy was a court official, it would be difficult to kill him and remain undetected but it is still possible. But your enemy is the emperor! With your martial arts skills, you could kill him without too much difficulty, but it will be impossible to escape! You will endanger three generations of your family!
"I know. That's why I have to wait until the right opportunity comes. Even if I have to die, I will clear my father's innocent name and put the emperor on his deathbed. My revenge comes first before everything, even this sect. "
Wang Ai sighed as he looked at the sun for a moment. The light became too bright, he closed his eyes and looked away. "Tell the members of the azure dragon that I will be late."
__________________________________________________________
"Zhao Qiangwei! This is very bad!" Chen said as he started pacing back and forth around the room. "If he would've recognized you we would be in trouble"
"I doubt someone like him has seen royalty before. Isn't he a commoner?" Qiangwei asked.
"Still we have to be careful. We could get into a lot of trouble if the royal family knew you were here."
"But I'm dressed like a poor peasant. I don't think anyone will suspect that I was from a noble family."
"The way you look doesn't matter. The way you behave is more important." Chen sighed, looked at her carefully and said "You are very gentle and well mannered. Lower class girls aren't this refined. Anyone with sense would notice something is off."
"She's too attractive. We have to make her look uglier." Physician Liu came in and interrupted their conversation. He kept his eyes focused on Chen. "Put some freckles on her face or something, so that she's not so eye-catching. The more plain she is, the less people will notice her."
"Shifu!" Qiangwei and Chen exclaimed at the same time when Physician Liu entered the room. They both bowed for respect and looked up at him. Qiangwei could sense Physician Liu was upset. He refused to look at her.
"I would not have even taken you in as an apprentice if it wasn't for your father" he hissed. "If you want to continue being trained here, you have to be careful with the patients. Didn't I tell you just to make the herbal concoctions? Why were you applying medicine directly on the patient?
Qiangwei hesitated before answering "I thought it would be okay since he was asleep, at first."
"But it wasn't okay, now was it? If he was a minister he would have immediately recognized you as the princess. We were fortunate that he was just a commoner new to town."
"I don't mean to be harsh," Physician Liu said. "I just want you to realize that you must be very careful. If you get caught"- Physician Liu finally looked into her eyes and paused for a second "the consequences will be unimaginable. You know how the emperor can be."
"Plus, you're the imperial grandson's fiance. It's extremely inappropriate for you to be out in public right now" Yaowei said as he also entered the room. He must've heard the conversation from the hallway.
Oh great, Qiangwei thought. Now all the disciples are here to see my humiliation. Yaowei will not go easy on me.
"He's right," Physician Liu said. "You still have your identity to think of, so you must always be prudent. You're the emperor's only biological grandchild, he views you as precious. If anything were to happen to you all of us and our families would be killed."
"I don't even understand why she has to be your apprentice anyway" Yaowei mumbled under his breath. He tried to be quiet but Qiangwei heard him.
"Because I love medicine and would like to know more about how it works. I enjoy healing people. Is that a bad thing?"
"What's the use of learning how to heal people when you're eventually going to be the empress anyway?" Yaowei snapped. "It's a useless skill you won't need."
Qiangwei sat down and looked out the window calmly, ignoring Yaowei's insults. She realized that no matter how hard she tried to forget about it, her fate was always present before her, intruding into her life by any means possible. She wished that she was free to choose her own path in life, but that was not an option. She was destined to become the Imperial Grandson's Consort soon, and there was no escaping it.
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