Avoiding another lie
Inside the library room, only the human crown prince and the mermaid princess remained.
The tall and sturdy man who had been dazedly gazing into the mermaid's enchanting eyes for quite some time suddenly seemed to be reminded of something and quickly took a step closer to the female, eradicating the distance between the two. His stare shifted from her eyes to her forearm as his palms reached out to gently grasp her delicate-looking wrist. His face grew more and more discontent as his orbs scrutinized the sore skin surrounding her carpal bones.
"Is it very painful?" He asked, examining her expression probingly.
"It isn't. If I were human though, I think that man would have broken some of my bones." Lin Mei replied earnestly. She was, however, a little disappointed that the bodyguard's brute strength hadn't been able to break the damned bracelet.
"This crown prince will make sure this won't happen again." Zhen Feng promised, his eyes moving upward to once again meet hers, as he attempted to convey the determination behind his words.
While his left hand continued to hold the mermaid's wrist, the other reached for a small blue porcelain bottle inside his sleeve. He used his teeth to open up the bottle and poured some of its contents on Ni Ni's forearm. The prince then softly massaged the liquid substance into her skin, taking special precautions to cover the area under the white jade bracelet he had placed on her. Zhen Feng continued with the procedure until the water content in the medicine evaporated and the surface of Ni Ni's skin felt dry.
The gentleness and care required to treat a female patient were foreign concepts to Zhen Feng since he had never taken care of a woman's injuries before, not even his mother's. But it felt strangely natural to care for the delicate-looking creature in front of him.
Lin Mei, on the other hand, was feeling once again flustered, and quickly retrieved her hand from his grasp as soon as she realized that the treatment was over.
Hoping to avoid further physical contact with the man, she attempted to redirect his attention to a different subject.
"How does Your Highness feel about the renovations I've done to the library?" She asked lightly, taking a few steps away from the prince to draw near one of the recently rehabilitated bookcases.
Zhen Feng pondered on her words for a moment and, as he understood the meaning, he retreated a few steps in order to have a fuller view of the library.
While he was still at the palace, he was reminded by Hu Cheng that the Zhao family would be visiting his estate in a few days. Remembering that the silly mermaid he had left behind could have an unexpected encounter with the family, he became somewhat anxious and decided to make all the necessary preparations in order to return one day earlier than scheduled.
When he arrived at his residence, he went straight to Cloudy courtyard but found her absent. An unusually shy Liu Ting informed him that Ni Ni had been spending her days and nights at the library, so he hurriedly changed his destination. Reaching the library, Zhen Feng at last spotted the person he had been searching for but she had been injured by the spoiled Zhao family's first daughter.
Between trying to manage his anger and ordering the obnoxious girl out of the room, he hadn't taken notice of all the changes in the area.
With newly found curiosity, Zhen Feng took a look around the room to find the windows free from the planks of wood that had previously been blocking the sunlight, the wooden floorings clear and polished, and the old ji chi mu1 bookcases clean and organized.
The sunlit and renovated library room brought back the memory of a beautiful woman resting by the window, reading one of the dozens of scrolls she had collected for over a decade. Lying languidly under the warm rays of the sun, the gentle female happily read out wondrous tales from across the lands to an attentive child sitting next to her. Sometimes, her mind would wander for a moment and she would stare out the window with hopeful eyes as if yearning for someone.
Recalling his childhood memories, Zhen Feng felt nostalgic but somewhat contented.
Lin Mei, who was peering at Zhen Feng's face to detect and analyze his micro-expressions, was excited to ascertain that the demon was pleased for once. Even if her attempt to escape had been ruined, at least she could find some comfort in knowing that all of her painstaking efforts these past few days hadn't been for naught.
The prince approached a bookshelf containing a few scrolls that looked unfamiliar and took one of them into his hands. On the first couple of bamboo strips, it could be read "The tale of the moon and the sea". Not recognizing this title, Zhen Feng asked:
"What are these?"
"These are just some old tales from the sea. My mother used to read them to me when I was a child. I wrote them from memory, so they might not be very accurate." Mei replied. "Is my human calligraphy alright?" She asked.
"Hn. Not bad." He replied with no expression, after examining the mermaid's handwriting. Following a few seconds of silence, he continued speaking with a straight face, his gaze never leaving the bamboo slips: "You've never talked about your mother."
The prince's words made the mermaid feel conflicted. She hesitated in her reply, not certain whether the man was seeking to gain more information on her identity or if he simply wanted to know more about her.
Mei understood that for reasons concerning her own self-preservation, her identity was not that of Lin Mei, the mermaid princess, but of Ni Ni, the minister's daughter.
She could still recall that Ni Ni's mother had been suffering from a chronic illness for many years but was still alive, unlike her own. Lin Mei's mother, Queen Shen Ai, had passed away when she was only ten years of age.
However, as much as she knew it would be best for her to conceal everything regarding her origins, Mei still felt hesitant in doing so.
Zhen Feng, a man of few words, had previously shared some of the treasured memories of his mother with Mei and even told her the story behind the library. Mei didn't want to reciprocate his honesty with blatant lies.
After deliberating for a moment, she chose not to lie while also not revealing the entire truth.
"I haven't seen mother in many, many years. She and I used to be very close. Father says I used to stick to her like a limpet attaches to a rock." Mei laughed softly with hints of sorrow in her eyes. "She read me stories, told me about the human world, showed me the treasures of the ocean, and taught me various skills including speaking, reading, and writing in human language." Mei continued to smile as she remembered her blissful childhood.
Zhen Feng finally interrupted his assessment of Ni Ni's calligraphy to look at the mermaid. For a few seconds, he caught sight of a very docile grin.
"I used to be so strongly bonded to Mother that even my father was jealous." She quietly chuckled, reminiscing about the tantrums her elder sister and father used to throw, begging the mother and daughter to spend more time with each of them separately. Mei had stubbornly and decisively refused every time, immediately clinging onto her mother's waist to be sure no one would take her away.
"Why were you separated then?" Zhen Feng asked curiously.
"Hmm…" Mei wavered before responding: "Mother suddenly got very sick and I could no longer stay by her side." As she articulated the sentence, her smile progressively vanished leaving a mournful expression in its place.
When he noticed the change in her countenance, Zhen Feng's heart felt as if it had been pricked by a fine and sharp needle.
"For a long time, I was unable to connect with other people and chose to be mostly by myself." Mei's younger self indeed was so full of grief after her mother's death that she didn't speak for over a year and spent all of her time avoiding other people. "Eventually I realized that, like many other beings, mermaids require other meaningful relationships to live a full and joyful life." She concluded.
"Those words sound like something that someone taught you rather than something you learned of your own accord." Zhen Feng interjected wanting to uncover the real thoughts and sentiments inside the mermaid's heart.
Taken aback, Lin Mei raised her eyes to stare at the human in amusement. His assessment was absolutely accurate.
"You are entirely correct." She remarked as the corners of her lips were lifted into a slight smile. "It was indeed my mother who told me these words." Lin Mei's mother had left her a letter with those exact words, hoping that her child would recover from her death. As Shen Ai had expected, her daughter found the letter one year following her passing.
"You don't need anyone else in order to survive so long as you have the ability to rely on yourself." Zhen Feng affirmed calmly but resolutely. This one statement had been the pillar that had supported his entire existence for a long time. But even if he had just said it aloud, he still found himself wishing that Ni Ni would think differently.
"That depends on the kind of life you wish to live. To survive is different than to truly live." In the farewell letter, her mother had also written a few sentences that ultimately convinced Mei to wait for the person whom she could rely on for the rest of her life. Young Mei had put her mother's words in her heart and decided to dutifully wait for that person.
Mei's mother had never been wrong when it came to predictions about the future but Lin Mei had started to doubt her a little when she first met Zhen Feng.
"And what is the kind of life that you wish to live?" The man inquired, an unfamiliar anxiety creeping into his heart.
"I've been waiting for the one person that I can rely on for the rest of my life." Mei repeated her mother's words, staring straight into Zhen Feng's eyes.
Realizing the implications in her words, he became speechless and the two were suddenly enveloped by silence, again finding themselves immersed in each other's gazes.
Unexpectedly, Lin Mei felt the urge to draw closer to the demon who had so abruptly run out of words. She approached the man and observed his face closer. Despite exhibiting his typical unreadable expression, Zhen Feng looked like he was deep in thought.
Mei wanted to investigate further so she took another step toward him. As she was walking, she dropped something on the floor.
The light sound of the silk map hitting the wooden tiles awoke the ever-guarded Zhen Feng from his thoughts. He paced forward to pick up the fabric from the ground but when he understood what it was his face became rigid. He seized Ni Ni's left wrist with just enough strength to keep her from moving.
"What is this map doing in your possession?"
1 Ji chi mu - Phoenix tail or chicken wing wood, an expensive type of hardwood used for furniture.