Chapter 55: Otherworldly Transcendence

By the time Chu Yu noticed Tian Rujing’s presence, they were only about twenty feet apart. Even though she could not see his face clearly, she could clearly recognize the approaching character based on his suit of purple attire and his light walking gait as if his feet were not touching the ground.

In the solemn yet splendid palace, the young man’s silhouette seemed to be traveling in an isolated space that was unpolluted by the dust of the mortal world.

‘Tian Rujing…’ Chu Yu pursed her lips in disdain as she despised psychics.

Born in an age of information explosion and materialism, she found it very difficult for her to be devoted to any particular religion that required her to worship blindly. Even though the act of her being brought to this era was utterly unexplainable, according to history, the alchemists in this period served the emperor with alchemical elixirs made of heavy metals. These elixirs had not only failed to grant immortality, but the emperor also became more short-lived as a result.

The person before Chu Yu’s eyes was even worse. He attained a magnanimous attitude as if he did not belong to the mortal world. If he were truly aloof from politics and material pursuits, why would he occupy a minister’s position and enjoy the luxuries along with the position? This alone was enough to make Chu Yu despise Tian Rujing secretly a thousand times.

Judging by Tian Rujing’s mannerisms, Chu Yu figured that he must be helping some maiden in the palace to drive out evil spirits. He was led by two young maids about the age of fifteen to sixteen. One of them appeared to be slightly anxious perhaps because it was her first time leading the great Celestial Master. She was startled when she saw Chu Yu walking directly toward her, so she stumbled two steps backward when she stepped onto Tian Rujing’s shoe with her heel.

Realizing that she had stepped onto something, the young maid’s face and lips turned as pale as snow in fear. She knelt down anxiously and begged for the great Celestial Master’s forgiveness.

At present, Chu Yu was already approaching them. She slowed down her steps to observe the situation from the side. She would be able to step in and stop Tian Rujing if he wished to punish the young maid.

Tian Rujing flicked his sleeves to the side before bending over to help the trembling young servant to stand up. He spoke in a calm voice, “Don’t stop. Please continue walking.”

Chu Yu stopped walking and blurted out a soft ‘huh’ in slight astonishment. It was different from what she had imagined. Neither did Tian Rujing punish the young maid strictly, nor did he console her gently to express his generosity. His expression was so calm that it felt like he was isolated from the mortal world. It felt as if no one had stepped on another person’s foot and nothing had happened at all.

This surprised Chu Yu a little.

Sensing Chu Yu’s curious and inquisitive gaze, Tian Rujing behaved in the same manner as he did in the past. The corners of his lips curved up ever so slightly to flash a smile at her. Soon, he passed her.

They had had two encounters that involved them passing each other so far. During the first time, Chu Yu’s impression of Tian Rujing went from superb to worst. In the second encounter, her impression of him changed for the better without her noticing it due to an accident caused by the young maid.

Chu Yu could tell that Tian Rujing did not feign his actions intentionally for her. His otherworldly transcendent behavior felt so natural. On the other hand, his act of smiling and nodding to greet her was actually purely out of etiquette. It was almost close to being a perfunctory act. However, it was precisely this perfunctory act that lowered Chu Yu’s bad impression of him.

However, Tian Rujing had only managed to distract her state of mind for just a short moment. A moment later, she shifted her thoughts back to the problem that she was originally pondering. She reached a dead end trying to rack her brains about how to transform Liu Ziye.

Chu Yu believed that Liu Ziye’s teachers did not lack knocking sense and reason into him when he was still a crown prince. It seemed like verbal education was ineffective on Liu Ziye judging by his current character. What should she do then?

Then, she got into her carriage that began to sway a little. Suddenly, she called out to the person in charge of driving the carriage hastily, “Please stop for a moment.”

She deliberated for a moment as she sat in the carriage. Then, she leaned her body sideways to the edge of the carriage. A few boxes were sitting in a corner. She opened the second box nearest to her, revealing the male attire folded neatly inside.

…

“Princess,” Yue Jiefei called softly as he followed behind Chu Yu.

Chu Yu turned around and gave his forehead a hard knock with the fan in her hand. She said with a smile, “Call me Prince.” She had prepared two clean sets of male and female attire in her carriage in case of unexpected needs. Besides that, she had also made a special request to Rong Zhi for the disguise concoction given to her from the other day so that she could use it conveniently when she needed to cross-dress.

Chu Yu dressed up as she did a few days ago during the poetry recital. She was already capable of tying her hair in a bun skillfully after a few practices.

“Sure, Prince,” Yue Jiefei corrected himself with a frown on his face. However, he could not refrain himself from reminding Chu Yu as a dutiful bodyguard, “Prince, why don’t you allow me to take along a few other bodyguards? The assassin case previously has yet to be resolved. I truly can’t rest knowing that the assassin is still lurking out there.”

Chu Yu teased, “Are you not confident in your sword skills such that you feel incapable of protecting me?”

It was absolutely impossible for Yue Jiefei to admit that his sword skills were weak. As a result, he shut his mouth and followed Chu Yu obediently.

Speaking of which, it seemed like Chu Yu was not destined to cross-dress and disguise herself for an outing. During the first outing, she was chased until she had to run away because of her overly handsome features. She encountered an assassin during her second outing when she attended the poetry recital. However, if she were given a choice to choose between staying in the Princess’s Imperial Residence obediently or travel back and forth from the palace, she would always choose to encounter an accident.

Chu Yu found that she was most joyous when she could cast aside the burdensome display of being a princess. Even after suffering from two setbacks in the past, her desire for freedom could not be suppressed.

Asking for directions from a passerby, she strolled along the street to head to Xinlan Marketplace. She learned from Pei Shu during the previous poetry recital that this place sold recommendable rouge and powder. However, the shop was not only selling cosmetic products but also all sorts of spices. Soon, Chu Yu located Xinlan Marketplace. She stood in front of the half-opened door and picked up the fine and elegant scent of rouge and powder wafting out from behind the door.

Chu Yu crossed the threshold and stepped into the shop. Her gaze skimmed through the shop back and forth. She found that there were more than just women in the shop. There were also young handsome men choosing rouge and spices as well.

She secretly exclaimed about the love of beauty trends at present to herself. Chu Yu walked to a spot that looked like a counter at once and said to the man standing behind the counter doing some accounts, “Who has a good knowledge of spices here? I’d like to seek his guidance.”

The man behind the counter looked up and revealed his lean face. He sized Chu Yu up for a moment as if he was scanning whether her wallet was fat enough. Then, he yelled out at the door leading to the cellar. It sounded as if he was calling out someone’s name. At the sound of his shout, he drew the attention of the rest of the people in the shop.

Chu Yu heard an astonished voice. “Brother Zichu?”

Chu Yu realized that the name sounded quite familiar in her heart, and so did the voice. She turned her head to the side to take a glance and saw Pei Shu with an astonished expression. She remembered that she had used the alias of ‘Yu Zichu’ when she introduced herself to Pei Shu previously.

“Brother Zichu, are you here to buy rouge as well?” Pei Shu walked over in delight. He looked to the left and right and hesitated for a moment before saying in a low voice, “Why isn’t Yu Ziyuan around?”

Chu Yu gestured her hand out at Pei Shu to ask him to hold on for a moment because the person the cashier called had arrived. She retrieved a silk pouch from her sleeve and passed it over to the person. Then, she said sweetly, “Sorry for the trouble. Please help me to take a look at what are the ingredients used for the spices in this pouch.”