Sweet Home in Exile

Fu Dishi kept a straight face as he knelt and touch his forehead to the floor of the Great Throne Hall. The cold temperature of the jade floor was starting to numb the skin of his hands and forehead as he waited for the Emperor's decree. It did not matter if his face was hidden from the other nobles, Dishi knew better than to give a hint of displeasure over the current situation.

The Emperor had shown his displeasure over the youngest prince's actions just yesterday when the third prince attempted to show some brotherly solidarity. The qi of the Emperor erupted as the third prince tried to beg clemency for the seventh prince . Everyone in court had fallen to their knees including the Empress. Some were forced to their bellies such as the servants and the weaker nobles.

The rage of the Emperor was so great that it lasted for the rest of the day. Nothing could pacify the rage until the Emperor himself finally calmed down. It took the entire palace half a day for them to recover from the burden of suffering the rage of the most powerful being in Heaven.

Now he was currently waiting on the order to be dismissed as the Head Eunuch finish with the written decree.

"...exile from the Capitol for the next three centuries. Lord Fu Dishi will remain with his highness in exile with one attendant at the Night Jade Manor."

This caused several nobles to gasp to in horror and Dishi could not help but mentally flinch at that. Everyone knew the Night Jade Manor was nothing more than a ruin. Being there was almost as bad as being at the Cold Palace. An exile such as this proved the Emperor's fury over the youngest prince's actions. Dishi would be lucky if he could manage to get out of this with his head attached.

"There shall be no attempt to communicate with the Capitol or any other members of the nobility. Exile shall be enforce by sundown today. Accept this decree."

Keeping his head down, Dishi raised his arms above his head.

"This servant accepts the Imperial decree." He stated calmly and felt the Head Eunuch gently placed the decree upon the offered hands. However despite his calm manner, Dishi only felt bitterness at the short amount of time he had to prepare for three hundred years of exile. The only good thing about this is that he would be spared from dealing with his family.

The Fu Family was an old declining noble family whom failed to see they were no longer as powerful in court as they were several centuries ago. The Emperor had long ago found them to be utterly useless however he allow them enough face for being one of the older noble families. Dishi happens to be a younger son of the fourth branch.

Due to the lack of funds and power, Dishi went to the military despite having only the basics of martial arts. He understood quickly that he had to make his own fortune and being in the military was the easiest option compare to living off his family, being a scholar, or hoping to be married to a rich noble lady. There were too many sons in the Fu Family and most of them were greedy for power and money.

Luckily, Dishi had very high talent in marital arts and caught the attention of a general who took the young man under his wing. The general was pleased with Dishi's humble and practical manner which in turn caused a great amount of jealously among the troops. The problem with Dishi was the fact that he was skilled and powerful enough to gain a promotion, however the troops had long ago refused to respect him.

The only solution available was to send Dishi to the Royal Imperial Guards. And barely a month had pass before he found himself involve with rescuing the seventh prince. In a single day, Fu Dishi was awarded the title of Lord and sent to exile for the next three centuries.

It made him the biggest joke in all of Heaven. He was a Lord in name and being exile meant any rewards or properties would be given back to the Imperial Family.

"Court dismiss."

With the Emperor's voice booming out the command, Dishi slowly raised his head to see the Emperor leading the Empress from the throne and heard many nobles whispering and moving slowly out of the throne room. Taking a slow breath, he rose and smoothed out the creases on his robes before he quickly walked towards his living quarters. Dishi caught sight of his grandfather who studiously ignore him as the old Duke lead the younger generation out.

He was on his own and there was nothing he could do.

***

Chi looked over her work before releasing a deep sigh of relief.

Despite the few large setbacks in her plans, Chi had managed to complete a new home within her set timeline. The estate was composed of wood and stone which gave the home a natural Zen feeling with the trees surrounding it. The bottom half of the walls were mortared with rocks that were cut crudely and cemented with a concoction of tree sap, powered spirit beast bone, and sand. The rest of the walls were made of planks of dark stained wood that showed off a beautiful grain pattern.

She thanks the great black hole of YouTube for being the platform for many do-it-yourself videos.

Large glass windows reflected the world with an effect that was similar to a mirror and Chi was happy with them since the windows took the longest to make. The amount of qi it took to transform spirit crystals into glass was a delicate balance. The numerous failed attempts made her heart break at wasting precious materials.

The exterior of the estate was a mix of grays, blacks, dark amber and browns. Its appearance appeared to meld with the trees that surrounded it. The interior however was a mix of golden varnish wood, ivory, smooth warm jade marble, and crystal. The kitchen, something that Chi had claimed for her own, was created in a style that reminded her of Italy, with sand yellow walls, smooth umber wooden floor, white wooden counters with ivory marble tops, deep steel sink, and a huge stone oven. In addition, there were two types of stove tops. One was the traditional Chinese open fire stove top and the other was the modern glass stove top that was large enough for six large pans to be cooking at the same time.

There was also a freezer and a refrigerator that only exists because of runes and seals. In fact, Chi use multiple runes and seals to make the estate function like the modern smart homes in her world. Runes were used to help make the wood, stone, and other materials water proof, mold proof, fire proof, termite proof, and prevents insects from entering the the buildings.

The seals were used to create a plumbing and sewage system, heating and cooling system, a rather complicated lighting system, and Chi's greatest accomplishment - an entertainment system. She thanked the Magical Library and the fact that she was now a spirit which allowed Chi to finally understand how programming works. The little prince will now be able to finish watching that animated trilogy from that time they had first met.

Although Chi was a spirit now, it does not mean that she was going to adopt to being a peon in a world similar to Ancient China. She was a spoiled modern millennial in her previous life and she was going to continue to live like a spoiled modern millennial in her afterlife. Even if she was technically the mental age of a super to the power of infinity old granny.

All in all, this new home of exile was almost literately her dream home.

The only problem was that it was still too big for her tastes.

Despite the making a home that was equivalent to half a mansion similar to the old estates in England, there was too much land left over to deal with. The front gate was half a kilometer from the front door, the lake at the back was easily the size of Central Park, and most of the land appeared to be created for farming were some of the annoyances Chi felt in maintaining the property.

Even when she was a PA for Lillian, Chi did not have to deal with maintaining an estate. Lillian's home only needed a cleaning service, pool service, security, and lawn service - which could easily be handled by calling a number. Plus, Chi only had to deal with rent; all amenities were dealt with by the people working for her apartment complex.

Although Chi had added seals that would instantly clean floors, walls, counters, tables, chairs, and other objects; a place like this needs staff to deal with laundry, making sure the lawn and gardens were maintained, taking account on supplies, and other numerous tasks that runes and seals could not do. It would require for her to actually hire people to create the staff, however Chi doubts that there would be anyone available who would want to work for a prince who was exiled.

It was while she had been making up the floors for the second level that an idea came to her. If she could not hire anyone, Chi could simply make them. Even better, it would allow her to get rid of the excess materials from her brief stint of being a spirit beast serial killer. A few spells regarding puppets and golems popped into her vision and for a few moments she thought about making the objects in the house work as staff like Disney's version of 'Beauty and the Beast'. That idea was quickly dashed as she thought about how much time and energy it would take to create a spell that would pull it off.

Thus, Chi decided to start small by making three toy-like penguin golems. The trio averaged about a meter tall and half a meter wide. They were narrow at the top and wide at the bottom with big round coal eyes, wide orange beaks and webbed feet, and long fins that were great for slapping. She gave each of them a spirit core that was condensed to the size of a baseball, made their outer skin from the fur of a sleek short haired ox like spirit beast, their bones from the flexible skeleton of a raven like beast, and their muscles were a mixture of bamboo fiber, wool like material from a spirit ram beast, and wild cotton.

If one could ignore the sharp beak, the three penguin golems looked like the large stuff animals prizes from carnival booths.

All of this was created by her qi as it cut out portions, polished the bones, fluff the stuffing, and meld the parts together to create each golem. She started to add runes and seals to make them long lasting and to program their duties however Chi got distracted as another idea for the estate came to mind and she started multi-task. It was at this time that Chi thought up the entertainment system and poured most of her concentration into it. She still kept about twenty percent of her qi to keep on working with the golems.

What Chi failed to realized that as a beginner in qi, she should have saved the multitasking when her level of control was at a master's. In her carelessness, the three cute golems became a trio of powerful smart ass punks.

Due to the unsteady control of her qi, the three penguin golems became connected to her Internet cheat and they ended up with more than what she wanted them to be programmed with. For some reason they ended up taking a mixture of personalities that came from Chi's favorite American sitcoms. Even worse, the little shits could talk. Despite how animated movies portray penguins to be cute and funny with the ability to melt the hearts of children; these penguin golems were crude, rude, and filled with more attitude than their little bodies should have.

They talked constantly, called her Old Granny, and purposely screwed up every order she gave them until Chi was finally fed up and told them to go wild anywhere but here.

Despite her three screw ups, Chi still thought her idea of cute animal servants was a pretty good one. After completing the estate, she took the time to create another animal golem. This golem was in the shape of a long body bipedal jade green dragon. The dragon golem looked like those super meng dragons with the big soft muzzle, cute tiny eyes, a white fluffy mane, a big long tail, and soft polished horns. She even made a cute outfit for the dragon golem that consists of a black and silver changshan that originally came from a brocade curtain.

Then she began the programming.

It was easy to decide how this dragon golem would become. Chi made it after every known competent man that she knew both in reality and in fiction. It was to become a cultured, powerful, reliable, talented, witty, and most important - powerful baby sitter for not only the prince, but also for the three little shits she made. Also its voice was created to be soothing, aristocratic, and witty like a good British Regency period protagonist.

"Grandmother."

Chi turned to see her dragon golem with an armful of wild vegetables. There were young bamboo sprouts, wild spring onion like vegetables, wild mushrooms, and some dark leafy greens. It looked to be enough to make a meat stir fry for three people. Hopefully, the Emperor will deliver plenty of rice when the young prince comes.

"Good job, Gao Feng. Put them in the kitchen sink and go find those idiots. Our new boss should be coming soon. I want everyone here to meet him." she ordered before patting the dragon golem on the head. Such a nice soft fur was too irresistible to not pet.

"Yes, Grandmother. Should I employ force if needed?" Gao Feng asked in a tone that implied that it was only humoring her. Apparently her feelings regarding those three penguin golems had been transferred to the dragon golem.

"Knock them out and drag them back."

***

In the dense forest, three little odd bird-like beasts waddled in a straight line while singing as loud as they could. Once in a while, their little bodies wriggle vigorously in place before they continue their waddle down a path that was unknown even to themselves. Their appearance gave an air of being free from all worries and fear.

Normally, such silly little creatures would have been attacked and destroyed by the many strong predators that roam in the woods, however the powerful aura radiating from the trio had caused many to flee in fear. Those that were bold ended up beaten and they only escaped because the three silly beasts laughed and rolled around in their victory instead of applying the final blow. Also, they were unable to chase after their escaping prey because they have yet to figure out how to run properly with their almost nonexistent legs.

"Aiyah! Brothers! It ran away again!"

This was cried out in dismay by the shortest of the little beasts. Its voice was the highest among the three and it was the chattiest among them. It was also the fastest talker. If one were to compare the little beast to an actual Earth animal, it would be a hyper active puppy.

"Don't bother with those weaklings, little brother. We have better things to do than chase after cowards."

This was stated by a taller bird beast who was currently on its stomach. It gave out an aura of laziness that reminds one of a well fed fox. The voice was almost as high as the shorter bird beast but it had a more mellow undertone to it. If anything, it was the type who could be brilliant but chose not to be.

"Hmmm."

The last bird beast was the tallest however this was not obvious from the way it slouched. It was like it was imitating the style of a big strong man who is good at being a man however fails at being sensitive to those around them. The type who faces a crying child and wonders if giving a beer will help them. Out of the the three bird beasts, its voice did not match the cute exterior - it was deep, grave, and when it tries to hit the higher notes, it sounded like it was in pain.

These three little bird beasts are the penguin golems created by Chi. However these golems were not named by their master, but had the audacity to name themselves. The first penguin golem had called itself Prince. The second one called itself King. The last called itself Frank. Luckily, these names were pronounced in English, a language that Chi used in her first life, and not the language used in the Heaven Realm which was pretty much Ancient Chinese. If they were, Chi would have to deal with many angry nobles and possible royalty over them.

"Should we head back? Do you think Old Granny found our surprise yet? What do you think our new master is like? Can we go and meet them?" Prince chatted as it bounce in place. It was eager to start something and wanted its brothers to follow it.

King looked like it wanted to protest until the last question pop out and caught its interest. Rolling side to side for a moment, the penguin golem finally rolled on its back before King bounced back to its feet.

"Good idea little brother! Let us go and greet our new master! Old Granny would be pleased if we provide a welcome party."

This idea pleased Prince who truly believed that their Old Granny would be happy with their plans. If Chi had known that the three little shits were going to find the seventh prince, she would have rolled her eyes and believe that there was no way they would be able to find him. Mostly because the trio had never even met the prince; so how could they find him?

"Over there." Frank boomed while pointing at a direction to its right. While most people would asked for more details, the other two golems turned and cocked their little heads. In a second, faint sounds of yelling and metal clanging were heard from the wind. All three golems perked up in excitement.

"Fight! A fight! Let's go brothers! We should go see the fight!"

"Maybe there will be some treasures we can present to our new master." King mused as they waddled as fast as they could towards the sounds.

"Fight." growled Frank with a bird like smirk.

All thoughts of greeting their new master were washed away clean at the prospect of a fight. If Chi knew of this, she could have sighed and wondered why she simply did not plagiarized from DreamWorks.