First World: Twin Jade Pendants

Having his old clothes confiscated, Qie Ranzhe was left with no choice but to pace through the boisterous market in his eye-catching outfit. As a striking young man dressed in aristocratic clothes, it was only natural that he would attract unnecessary attention where ever he went. Who could blame these amused onlookers when such a dazzling nobleman had graced them with his presence.

Whispers were going around with others trying to guess which prestigious family he hailed from. Some believed he was one of the visiting guild members who had recently come to town scouting for new recruits. None of them could recognize the ruffian leader who had wreaked havoc in the market once or twice.

He felt their curious gaze burrowing through his skin but Qie Ranzhe didn't seem to care with his mind adrift. Ever since he developed a close relationship with Lin Jingxie, the boy had taken it upon himself to provide for him and his boys which he was extremely grateful for. Qie Ranzhe knew he could never repay him for his kindness as he owned nothing of great importance.

He could only offer his life to Lin Jingxie pledging to be by his side and take care of him for the rest of their lives. This is why he had a burning desire to work hard and climb ranks in the guild so as to attain enough power to protect the love of his life. For now, he could only offer Lin Jingxie a hetian phoenix carved jade pendant hanging on two separate black string.

Qie Ranzhe had noticed Lin Jingxie seemed to have a thing for the flaming phoenix judging from the sword he gifted to him which his why he chose a phoenix carving. This pendant was special because it could be separated into two halves. The one half was for Lin Jingxie and he would keep the other half for himself that way Lin Jingxie would always remember him whenever he looked at that pendant while they're apart.

This piece of jewellery was too expensive for Qie Ranzhe so he asked Master Lin if he could work at one of his rice fields to earn some money for the pendant. Master Lin was initially horrified refusing to make him work saying whatever Qie Ranzhe needed he will get it for him. How could he make a prince work for him? Wasn't that courting death?

But Master Lin had no choice but to concede when he realised how stubborn Qie Ranzhe was. He agreed to it under one condition which was that Qie Ranzhe should never snitch on him in the future and only speak good things about him when he gets to the capital. Qie Ranzhe was just glad he agreed hastily promising while ignoring Master Lin's nonsense.

Ignoring all the stares and whispers, he finally reached the stall he was looking for. The highly skilled old man currently carving something that looked like a half-done fish raised his head when he heard Qie Ranzhe calling to him. He instantly recognized the voice but faced with a lavishly dressed nobleman he couldn't help but be confused. He squinted his cataract filled eyes to look closely at the somewhat familiar face. Unable to match the voice with the face he expected he finally said, "How may l help you kind sir?" while wiping the dust off his wrinkled shaky hands.

"I have a lot of carvings you might be interested in. Look at this one, how about this one?" he rambled on advertising his magnificent work.

Qie Ranzhe saw the old man running out of breath chattering non-stop and couldn't bear it any longer. He stopped him saying, "Old Tang, it's me Qie Ranzhe. l came to pick up the pendants," with his hands stretched out gesturing for him to calm down. He couldn't help but wonder if his change in appearance was that drastic that people couldn't even recognize him.

It took him ages to convince the old man with poor eyesight that he was Qie Ranzhe. Only then did the man present him the gorgeous jade pendants that almost brought Qie Ranzhe to tears. He grinned like a Cheshire cat while gently caressing the twin pendants with his thumb in satisfaction.

Seeing how happy the man was, Old Tang commended him saying, "Your girlfriend must be the luckiest woman in the world to have a man who loves her this much," in a shaky voice. The old man had enough experience with this sort of thing and could tell when a person was in love with just a glance. That radiant warm smile and dreamy eyes on Qie Ranzhe's face were no exception instantly revealing his true feelings.

Qie Ranzhe raised his had while carefully putting away the pendants saying, "No he is the luckiest man in the world," before placing the money on the table.

The old man almost had a heart attack hearing the word man and only came back to himself at the sound of money hitting the table. He opened the small bag and his eyes widened saying, "This....this is triple what l asked for. Let me take my portion then give the rest back to you."

He immediately started counting but was soon stopped by Qie Ranzhe's words. "Its all yours, this pendant is worth so much more to me but this all l have on me," said Qie Ranzhe and turned on his heel before walking away. The old man was left speechless with his trembling hands holding the small bag in disbelief.