One: Meeting

The young fox princess Bai Fengjiu would often steal to the mortal realm to escape from reality and most importantly, her fate as the queen of the kingdom of Qingqiu. As usual, she would entrust the Bai family's estate to the care of their housekeeper Migu, a tree spirit, and instruct him to tell any of her family members who returned that she was away traveling. Of course, traveling was something common for the foxes, the same of which had been seen from the behaviour of her very own parents.

Not long ago, her aunt Bai Qian, had been presumed to go missing when the 'affair' between the Second Prince of the Sky Kingdom, Sangji, who was formerly her betrothed, and her personal attendant Shao Xin was exposed. When Sangji had chosen to marry Shao Xin rather than fulfil the engagement between him and Bai Qian, this incident had infuriated both the heavens and Qingqiu, and even caused a rage in the Four Seas and Eight Deserts. Sangji was later demoted to be a river immortal and Shao Xin considered a disgrace. Sadly, in spite of their punishment, Bai Qian had still been untrackable. Nobody knew where Bai Qian had gone or when she would come back. Fengjiu was determined that she would teach Shao Xin a lesson one day, after her aunt had come back. In the meantime, she continued to venture to the mortal realm to learn from the ways of the mortals, intrigued by their carefree and laid back lives.

Fengjiu loved everything about being in the mortal realm. She found life in the mortal realm lacked the solemnity of the immortal realm. Everything went by so slowly. As the saying goes, one day in the heavens was a year in the mortal realm. Fengjiu believed she was living in a dream where she didn't have to wake up anytime soon, without any care for how people would judge her for her actions. She was often reprimanded by her father and grandfather for her immaturity as the queen-to-be. Her actions had often landed her in trouble, especially when she had peeled off the feathers of her uncle's Jingwei bird in mischief as a young fox. Also, the elders had been so concerned about how she would fare as a queen and how she would eventually get married.

Marriage? Fengjiu laughed at the thought. She was still very young at this point of time, having not reached thirty thousand years of immortal age. She didn't fathom why immortals had to marry, particularly Bai Qian herself who was already a High Immortal and feared by immortals across the lands. Maybe one day, she would understand the whole point of marrying, but at this time, she felt that she was just too young and wasn't ready to introduce any change in her life. Before Bai Qian had gone missing, she had also arranged for a number of dates for Fengjiu, but Fengjiu had a way of handling all these 'guests'. The only problem was despite the number of failed dates she had, especially to the point that they had been scared stiff after encountering her, these suitors still kept coming, and wouldn't stop. She thought this was a good time for her to leave for the mortal realm, and make the most out of her 'vacation'. Perhaps, she might even learn something valuable out of it.

In the mortal realm, she went by the name Bai Xiaojiu. She had travelled from one world to the next, and this time she selected a different world, that was different from the others. She had spent a number of years in the mortal realm with different identities, trying to understand the ways of the mortals.

But she hadn't expected that this day would come. She was at the pedestrian crossing wanting to get to the other end of the street. She had been very cautious; only starting to cross when the man turned green, and had been treading slowly across the street to the other end. All of a sudden, a car came rushing towards her as she reached the middle of the crossing. The car had been driven at such a high speed that it had caused her to panic and freeze at that point.

In the mortal realm, it was common that immortal magic would often fizzle and backfire on the caster, causing more damage to her than the help it would be supposed to do. Due to that reason, Fengjiu hadn't thought of using magic to shield herself from the likely damage from being knocked down by the incoming car. Plus, she wasn't used to seeing such big vehicles in the immortal realm. It was all so new to her. In her moment of shock, she felt someone grab hold of her by her shoulders, and pull her out of the way, before they both landed in a heap on the ground, presumably somewhere safe.

His hands felt so warm on her shoulders, as she nestled in his arms. As much as she was eager to lift up her head to see was this kind person who had saved her, she had felt so comfortable that she wished that the moment would never end.

"I suppose that you're out of danger now," the man said. "Do you need help getting up?"

"I'm fine," she said, pulling herself up with little effort. The man stood up as well, and she turned to face him, but accidentally tripped over an improperly laid stone brick on the ground. The man caught her swiftly with an arm on her waist, and their eyes met.

He was dressed in an all-black executive suit along with matching pants and shoes, appearing to be someone of high importance or status in the mortal world. But what attracted her most about this man had been how his eyes sparkled with an ethereal glow. This man couldn't be from the mortal realm, could he be? Everything about him had been so beautiful. She felt as if her primordial spirit had been drained from her body, as she lost herself in the beauty of the man before her.

"Thank...you," she stammered, her cheeks flushing red from how close their bodies had been to each other. The man remained cold and emotionless to her constant stares.

"You should probably sit before you fall again," the man said, helping her to a bench at a nearby bus stop. She sat down quickly on the bench, pulling her long skirt over her knees.

She was speechless as she continued to stare at him, quickly scanning her mind for what she had learnt of all the things mortals did to start a conversation with the other sex. All her thoughts had been a turmoil as she searched for an answer within her mind.

"Miss, if you are okay right now, I should take my leave, " the man said, coldly.

"Wait, don't go!" Fengjiu said quickly.

"Why?" the man asked. "Is there anything else you need help with?"

She quickly dug her brain for an excuse. "Er.....my ankle hurts," she quickly lied.

"Oh, is it?" the man asked. "Okay, I'll bring you to the clinic then."

She pretended to try to stand up, and then drag her ankle on the ground, feigning pain in her ankle. The man proceeded to pull out a smartphone in a purple case, and unlocked it instantly with his thumbprint, before keying a few digits. The phone call connected on its second ring.

"Chong Lin, get the BMW over now. I'm at Bus Stop number 478009 of Blink Street, opposite the Emperor Station," he said.

"Roger that," the person on the other side of the phone answered, and the call disconnected.

She continued to stare at this stranger who she had just met. In the immortal realm, she was a princess of noble stature, and in the mortal realm, there was this man who did not seem to be a common mortal. She started to wonder if meeting this mortal man had been her fate. But of course, she didn't know what romance was, and how it could have started with a fateful encounter or a simple gesture.