20 Imperial Summons

As Li Yu Rong came upon the easternmost courtyard, his lips hooked up. The eunuch was in complete disarray. The hairs from his bun had fallen out of place, his robes were skewed, his lips were coated in a strange color, and his face was filled with both exhaustion and anger.

"Liang Xing, Liang Hua, that's enough. Come here." He called.

Li Yu Rong had barely finished speaking before the young pair of twins raced forward to clutch at his dark blue robes, "Master Rong, Master Rong!" They cried out happily as the tails behind them waged in excitement.

"Enough, enough." He said sternly while trying to hide the smile blossoming on his mouth at their antics. Then he handed over the sweet red bean buns he had grabbed from the kitchen before making his way here. "Take these and play elsewhere."

They took the buns with cupped fits and thanks as they scampered off to play. Turning back to give his attention to the eunuch, who had hastily fixed his appearance, he said lazily. "Ah, Eunuch Cheng, had I known it was the emperor's favored I wouldn't have kept you waiting so long."

Hui Se Ying that followed at his master's back held in a snort of amusement. No, rather, had his master known it was Eunuch Cheng... the wait would have been twice as long. This Eunuch who had been his master's brother emperor's childhood playmate was a difficult character to deal with due to his arrogance that encompassed the skies.

Eunuch Cheng scoffed in disdain over the remark. "Even in the homes of commoners, I would have received a better reception. I don't know how you could let such things run rampant-"

"Eunuch Cheng," Li Yu Rong interrupted, his voice tight as his expression sank. "You know what kind of place this is and nothing here is hidden. Foxes are tricksters by nature and have a soft spot for fools. It was your own bad luck to entertain their harmless antics."

Harmless!? The Eunuch thought as he nearly spat blood. Those little monsters gave him tea with a hand-full of dirt mixed in to accompany snacks that had worms backed in. They gave him a cloth to wipe his mouth that transformed into a toad as soon as it brushed his lips. The slimy creature slipped down his robe all the way into his inner garments. Just remembering the cold wet feeling against his flesh caused him to shudder involuntarily.

How could such horrific deeds be harmless!?

Before he could even open his mouth to argue this fact, Li Yu Rong moved the talk to the matter at hand. "I doubt that Eunuch Cheng had come all this way to play with the cute foxes of my Palace of the Four Gates?"

Forced to let the matter drop Eunuch Cheng vowed to have his revenge at a later date. How could he let even the slightest humiliation pass? Thus, for now, he could only reach into his robes to pull out the imperial decree. Unrolling it, he read the contents.

"As decreed by his highness, Emperor Liu Hui Huang -may he live a thousand years- Li Yu Rong and his pet must attend the coming banquet to celebrate the Heir Apparent's birth. You may bring a single servant along to serve. Please accept the decree." Eunuch Cheng rolled it back up and held it aloft.

Li Yu Rong's eyes narrowed at both the word "pet" being spat with distaste and then at the mention of a single servant along with the emphasis of "you." Men and women would be separated at first to mingle before being allowed to join together for a meal. Did their thinking of Asya being a demon exempt her from the basic curtsies of having a female attendant?

Still, he nodded for Hui Se Ying to accept the decree, to which he cupped his fist, inclined his head, and accepted wordlessly.

Eunuch Cheng then added after the decree was taken from him. "The emperor has heard quite a bit about the red demon you've taken in as a pet and is quite looking forward to meeting it. Do be sure to leave for the capital soon, as the banquette will be held a fortnight from now at wu-shi."

Turning on his heel to leave as if Eunuch Cheng did not speak a word, Li Yu Rong said to the subordinate beside him. "Escort Eunuch Cheng out, no need to be courteous."

Since Hui Se Ying had never liked this guy, -for he usually tried to bully and insult his master- he thus interpreted the words to mean as he wished. So, with little effort, he threw the eunuch over his shoulder and quite literally tossed him out the gates dusting off his hands with a feeling of accomplishment. With a jaunty kick to his step, Hui Se Ying happily went on to return to his master's side.

After leaving, Li Yu Rong's thought's churned over the preparations that needed to be made. Ordinarily, he prepared little and often arrived well after the appointed time so that he could quickly turn around and return. This time, however, he had a little present prepared that should serve as a warning to the mastermind behind this whole affair. At the very least, it could prevent them from acting again long enough to obtain greater information toward their intent.

Having just commandeered the hidden facilities in the mountains he had very little intelligence to make any conjectures toward their aims. However, just from the fact that they were experimenting on spirit beasts did not bode toward anything auspicious.

From having seen the horrific state of the creatures being kept there, it brought an uneasy feeling to eat away at his chest. For whatever purpose they needed Aysa, the idea that she could end up like the spirit beasts left him feeling stifled.

Turning away such unpleasant thoughts that he could never allow to come to pass, he drew to a pause as he neared the pond, halfway to his room. Li Yu Rong found himself eyeing the female water sprites that were happily chatting among themselves as they flitted about the water's surface. He had heard it said that sprites were able to make clothing that took one's breath away.

Recalling Hui Se Ying's advice and remembering it being said somewhere that women love beautiful things, he decided to have some clothes commissioned for Asya to wear along the trip to the capital and then along to the palace.

"Hui Se Ying." He called once he felt the man's presence return to his side.

"Master?"

"Once you've finished preparing the carriage for our departure this evening and sent word to Lu Se Ying, have the sprites prepare some clothing suitable for a long journey and for entering the place. Ones that a girl would enjoy. Also, see if they can make some lovely accessories to go along with them, as well." He added after a moment.

"As you wish, master." Hui Se Ying vanished in a flash to complete the tasks given to him. Albeit, with the matter of the letter to Lu Se Ying, he made sure to taunt the other man with the last line reading:

"By the way, I told master how to chase women."

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A/N:

Wu-Shi: Should be about noon (if I understood the wiki page right)

Ah, I can't believe that this story has actually climbed up to the top ten in the rankings! When I first started ISAW I never thought that I would get this far... so to celebrate I'll post an extra chapter this weekend, sometime Saturday night or Sunday morning.