TLNote: The chapters The last princess are about Feng Xiao. This part is the prologue.
Special Chapter: The last princess (1)
Prologue
August, with the scorching sun, a caravan (a group of merchants) moved slowly at the foot of Dayu Mountain.
"Damn, it's so hot!" Song Xi, the leader of the team, wiped the sweat off his face, "If it continues to be hot like this, I'm fucking be shedding a layer of skin when we get to the Fish Gate." Song Xi's words didn’t make the people of the caravan laugh.
If it was under normal circumstances, when Song Xi spoke, there was always someone who goes along with him, but this time this delivery wasn’t the same. First, the weather was too hot and second, because of the arrival at Dayu Mountain. The bandit Xi Mei from Dayu Mountain was very ferocious, so everyone couldn’t be happy.
After seeing the demeanor of everyone, Song Xi beckoned Ah Nan over, "Ah Nan, that brat Ah Wei went to scout the road, why hasn't he returned yet?"
"I don’t know." Ah Nan was a newcomer who just came to the caravan. This time, just before departing, the boss elder Yu especially told Song Xi that Ah Nan was his (Lao Yu) distant relative's nephew and asked him (SX) to take special care of him on the road. Song Xi hated this kind of entering through the backdoor the most. He especially 'took care' of Ah Nan through the whole journey. The hard ones, the tired ones, he let Ah Nan do it all. If it wasn’t because Ah Nan was a newbie, Song Xi would also make him do things such as scouting the road.
However, Ah Nan was a good-tempered one and was good at his work. No matter what Song Xi made him do, he (Ah Nan) had done it carefully and properly. Song Xi couldn’t find any mistakes.
Moreover, this brat was lively. Where he went was where the joy was. Not long after he entered the caravan, he was able to blend in with the guys. In addition, on several occasions where they had encountered danger, Ah Nan took the lead and saved everyone. Therefore, in the caravan, Ah Nan's prestige was almost equal to Song Xi. It made Song Xi had a sense of crisis for the first time.
"Don’t know? Aren't you two close enough to wear the same pants? You don’t know?"
"Uncle Song, I don’t have that of a big waistband, and I'm not a demigod."
Ah Nan's words caused laughter in the surroundings. Even Song Xi who saw Ah Nan's serious expression afterwards, also laughed and scolded him, "Get lost…Don’t stand in front of me, seeing you make me feel irritated."
After Ah Nan left, Song Xi rubbed the sweat on his face and stared at the misty green hills not far away, and muttered, "Could it be that Ah Wei ran into the bandits?"
Nan Feng had been steady and stable in Ming Yue Cheng's hands. It could be regarded as a strong and prosperous nation. However, in such a country, there was an exception like Dayu Mountain.
Dayu Mountain was located in the north of Nan Feng, near the frontier fortress. Because the mountain was high and far away, the officials couldn’t care much about it. Five years ago, Dayu Mountain was occupied by a group of bandits. In less than two years, the name of the female leader of Dayu Mountain Xi Mei spread out, and it was now even more resounding throughout Nan Feng.
All caravans going out of the border must pass through Dayu Mountain. As long as they passed by, they must pay tribute to Xi Mei. Otherwise, they would be looted. In order to avoid being robbed, some caravans made a detour around Dayu Mountain. But after Xi Mei discovered it, she directly took people and outflanked them (caravans). In the end, they came to an even more tragic end and directly lost their lives.
The imperial army had also come over to encircle and suppress them several times. But because Dayu Mountain was big and deep, the army failed to do something significant to the bandits. After a few times, the imperial army had lost a lot of troops and horses. It gradually became unbothered. As a result, the bandits of Dayu Mountain also became notorious all over the world. Those caravans saw that even the imperial court couldn’t deal with Xi Mei. So they might as well pass through Dayu Mountain and honestly paid tribute to Xi Mei. This way, it was more peaceful.
Song Xi was on this road for several decades. Since the appearance of the bandits, he had also paid tribute to Xi Mei according to the rules, and every time it was safe and sound. This time, Song Xi sent Ah Wei to scout the road, was to see where the bandits were so that he could be prepared. But didn’t expect Ah Wei to be gone for half a day and still didn’t return. It was really anxious.
"Boss, are we going or are we still waiting?" Someone asked. Song Xi clenched his teeth, looked at the sky, and ordered. "Let's go ahead!"
The caravans entered in big groups the Dayu Mountain and still didn’t encounter bandits in the evening.
There was something odd about it. Song Xi felt that going this 'smoothly' was wrong. Did the bandits got drunk and went to sleep? Those were actually devils who killed people without blinking their eyes. He heard that many wanted criminals had fled to Dayu Mountain to become bandits. These people couldn’t be offended.
Just as Song Xi was racking his brains about the abnormalities of the bandits, a 'rustling' sound came from the nearby forest. Then a 'hand over the money, don’t kill' was heard, which scared Song Xi so much that he almost fell off the horse.
After looking again, a pink figure slowly appeared in front of everyone. That woman's black hair was hanging down on her left shoulder, the hair wrapped in pearls, gold and silver threads. There was a quail-egg-sized gem that hung in her earlobe, lengthening her white earlobe.
She was wearing a pink short dress with dark red knee pads on her legs, and a collar so low revealing the aqublue undergarment with the white flesh swaying with each step, letting people daydream.
"Tsk, tsk, boss Song, I haven't seen you for a few days, but you have already forgotten the rules of Dayu Mountain."
It turned out that the woman in front of them was the bandit Xi Mei that gave many a headache. Seeing that somebody came over, Song Xi quickly filled his face with a smile, "Miss Xi, you misunderstood! This time, I have sent Ah Wei over as soon as I arrived at the mountain. But after waiting for a long time, Ah Wei didn’t come back…And I'm in a hurry, so that's why…"
"I haven't seen any Ah Wei or Ah Mao that you mentioned. Brothers, have you all seen them?"
"NO…." The men at the side waved their swords and shouted fiercely. It scared the people of the caravans so much that they dismounted their horses, and lowered their heads for fear of annoying the bandits and make them taking their lives.
Compared with these people, Ah Nan who was still on the horse, stood out particularly. Xi Mei soon noticed him.
Ah Nan was sitting upright on the horse and was holding the reins with a straight back. He looked at Xi Mei without squinting. There wasn’t the slightest timidity in his eyes, which aroused Xi Mei's interest.
Xi Mei swayed the colorful horsewhip in her hand, swinging her hips and walked to the horse. She raised her pretty face and looked at Ah Nan.
This face of the oval type didn’t have the fairness of women in the boudoir. Instead, because of the long-term exposure to the sun, it was dyed with a healthy red. On the oval face, there was a flamboyant pair of long, shapely eyebrows with thick dark colors. Under the eyebrows, there was an indescribable charm in the eyes. On the left face of Xi Mei, there was a thin scar that continued from the tip of the eyebrow to the corner of the lip.
At this moment, Xi Mei was looking at Ah Nan with strong interest. In the eyes of Xi Mei, Ah Nan was a tall man with wide shoulders, a thin waist, narrow hips and a superb body. Compared with the good figure, Ah Nan's face was rather ordinary. Not handsome, but charming, and very young, at most sixteen or seventeen years old.
"This brother, first time going out?" Xi Mei jumped up and sat down in Ah Nan's arms. Her hands reached into Ah Nan's clothes and squeezed a few times. Hard muscles, great body! Xi Mei burst into laughter.
"Yes, Miss Xi, please take good care of me." Ah Nan with a straight face gripped the hand of Xi Mei to not let her go any deeper.
Ah Nan's voice had a special kind of magnetism. Listening to it, made Xi Mei's heart tremble. She wasn’t a little girl who had no experience. But Ah Nan's clean body air made her feel good and happy. After looking into the eyes of Ah Nan, this feeling in Xi Mei's heart was more obvious. This man was full of magic, people couldn’t help but want to explore.
Xi Mei moved sideways to expose the white flesh on her chest to Ah Nan. She put her hands around his neck and rubbed gently her chest against Ah Nan's strong chest. "How old are you, brother? Is there a wife in the family?"
"There isn't." Ah Nan shook his head and leaned backwards, trying to create more distance between Xi Mei and him.
After Song Xi, who was in front of the team, heard Xi Mei's questions, his forehead was covered in cold sweat. What did this woman want to do? Could it be that she took a fancy to Ah Nan and wanted to make Ah Nan her bandit den's husband? The slutiness of Xi Mei was as notorious as her ruthless and spicy attitude. A man with a bit of good-looks would be kept by her. Although Ah Nan wasn’t outstanding in appearance, he had entered the eyes of Xi Mei, which was a troublesome matter. If Xi Mei really wanted to keep Ah Nan, how was he going to explain to the boss (elder Yu)?
"Don't have a wife?" Xi Mei hooked her hands and stroked Ah Nan's chin. The black stubble was still soft, proving that this man wasn’t mature and still unripe.
Xi Mei stared at Ah Nan's eyes. She looked at the shadow inside, and her voice softened up. "Then do you have someone to marry?"
"There isn't."
Ah Nan's answer made Xi Mei very happy. She laughed heartily and showed two rows of white teeth and pink gum flesh. Just when everyone thought that Xi Mei was going to snatch him directly, Xi Mei got down and came to Song Xi. The horsewhip hooked around Song Xi's neck and brought him into her arms. "Song Xi, you broke my rules today. As a rule, you have to leave all the goods."
Song Xi didn’t dare to look at that spring bosom and quickly dodged to the side to make a bow with his hands to Xi Mei. "Miss Xi, I really sent Ah Wei out. That brat must be hiding somewhere playing. If the goods are confiscated, even ten heads of mine won't be enough to compensate! Miss Xi, be generous. We can pay more for the toll."
Seeing Song Xi like this, Xi Mei smiled and didn’t answer. Her eyes looked straight at Ah Nan. As it happened, Ah Nan was also looking at her. Xi Mei felt that there was a fire burning inside, making her fidget. She whipped her whip and pointed to Ah Nan, and said to Song Xi, "The toll is tenfold and he has to stay."
At the first part of the sentence, Song Xi was relieved. Tenfold, then tenfold was fine. As long as the goods weren't confiscated. However, why was the latter sentence so wrong!?"
"What are you doing by keeping Ah Nan? He's clumsy, he can't do anything well, and he's still a novice. Do you want to change to somebody else…"
"No! I just fancy him! This lady just like beautiful young boys!"
The stubbornness of Xi Mei was well known. The things she had set on wouldn’t be changed. But leaving Ah Nan, Song Xi couldn’t do it. Although he didn’t like this young man who entered the caravan through the backdoor, Ah Nan wasn’t bad. For the success of the caravan, he needed to leave Ah Nan in the bandit's nest. But in the event if something happened to Ah Nan, not only it wasn’t easy to tell the boss (elder Yu), Song Xi himself would also feel very apologetic.
"Miss Xi, we can pay more for the toll, but Ah Nan really can't stay. I promised the boss to protect him. This is hard to comply."
"Hehe, then there's nothing to say!" Xi Mei laughed and clapped. The bandits flocked over and surrounded the caravan. "Since boss Song refused, I can only let you all stay! Brothers, take them all to the Chao Tian village!"
Immediately, the bandits came forward and shoved the crowds. They (bandits) bound their (caravan) hands one by one with hemp rope, and their eyes were wrapped in black cloth.
"Walk!"