First Challenges Pt. 2

Should I be mean to Queen Bee or acknowledge her presence?

Glancing at Lianfeng, he was really shifting about restlessly.

By princely right, I could force them to prostrate to me. Lianfeng knew that.

The two other girls were wavering, as though deciding if they should, while the Queen Bee had her arms akimbo like a freaking princess.

"Quick, Wenyi ... bow to the prince," he suggested in a hush tone to the Queen Bee.

Aaah, Wenyi is her name.

"Hmphhh," Wenyi folded her arms.

A great temptation has risen in me to make things difficult. Damnit, I don't know this world well. Lianfeng is showing promise to be a useful and reliable source of information. F**king up this connection over a b*tch was not worth it.

"Lianfeng, it is okay since they are your friends."

I'll be the better man… I mean, boy.

"See, the prince said it is okay. But Liaaaaanfeeeeeeeeenggggg...," Wenyi whined like a sharp drill, as she grabbed him by his arm, sidling up.

My eardrums nearly died.

If only I had a gag, she would be gagged, bound and tied for that cringe worthy screech. I rolled my eyes as the two other girls slowly shuffled to my side. Why me?

"Third prince." They knelt beside me. So they knew better.

"Um... no need to kneel... I already said it is ok." I forced my best smile.

The one nearest to me had the most ridiculous flower hair pin on her head. She introduced herself politely, "My name is Yao Mingyan."

"Mine is Chen Xiu." The other did the same. At least, no ugly hair style. Just a simple bun and braid.

"Isn't she cold?" I motioned my head towards Wenyi, who was forcefully dragging Lianfeng away. All of us had nice thick cloaks, but she was dressed to seduce. More skin revealed in near freezing weather on a windy mountaintop. The two giggled softly. Maybe they didn't like her much.

"Well, she is just interested in Lianfeng. Her family has been persuading his dad to agree to the betrothal. Lianfeng has been avoiding her. Good on him."

Confirmation achieved - they didn't like her at all.

Teenage politics with a betrothal trap to an arranged marriage. Something most countries on Earth had done away with. Why not to Cangtian?

"Why not to Cangtian?" Mingyan prodded Chen Xiu, mirroring my thoughts. "He is the successor, not Lianfeng."

"Wenyi is the only daughter of Merchant Xu. So Lianfeng can take over. That's the plan. If she marries Cangtian, his sect takes over," Chen Xiu explained. "Cangtian likes her, but she also knows he is a player."

All this scheming at this age, were teenagers in ancient China on Earth the same? Definitely not in 21st century Earth. I only remembered worrying about passing examinations to enter the university at their age in my previous life. Not about who marries who to inherit the family business.

Or maybe my previous life was not in the elite circles of the ridiculously rich and outrageously powerful.

"But it is really cold. Do you want to start a fire since both of them are busy talking over there?" Mingyan asked me.

Shit. I can't start a fire with twigs. No famous flame sticks too.

"Wait...let me practice!" Chen Xiu interrupted.

She snapped her fingers, and a fire lighted on some twigs.

Just a wave, and a nice small fire started. Lianfeng only looked back for a bit to check on me. His face looked like he was really in pain.

The type of pain where you can't do anything about, like the calf spasms of the night.

Both girls started chatting cheerfully to me. Small talk about my day, what we were doing on the mountain etc etc. Yup. No matter how much they didn't like Wenyi, they were still going to keep themselves out of trouble with her.

The fire grew warmer and bigger. All three of us pulled down our hoods.

Then silence.

Wenyi, Chen Xiu and Mingyan were all staring at me.

Now, in most movie shows where someone ugly suddenly turns into a drop dead gorgeous thing which everyone desired to be near, this would be heaven. In Chinese and Japanese anime, a harem results and the male hero spreads his wild oats.

Not for me.

This is HELL.

My previous life went through the painful teenage years as a girl before. I am not dealing with other teenage girls again. Whether being their target of a crush or hatred - Nope nope not going near them.

Even in Chinese real history, beautiful men often die young, if old, horribly. Weijie was watched to death - died of a mystery illness; Prince Lanling died by poison, courtesy of the emperor; Han Zigao persecuted to death in his late twenties; and Pan An survived youth but was executed along with the family.

Two assassination attempts were already made on Ji Feng. I am trying to avoid a third especially if it involves vicious gossiping hormonal teenage girls. They could turn into stalkers or ice pick wielding psychos. I was a victim of hormones myself.

Zaixing really gave me the luck of a draw.

"Heh, is something on my face?" I pointed to my face.

"Um...no," Chen Xiu blushed.

"Ehh...." Another blush.

TELL ME THAT THIS ISN'T HAPPENING. HELP, HJÄLP!

"Lianfeng, is the star shower starting soon?" I quickly got up away from them.

Shit. Royal blood came with good genes. Too good to be true.

Lianfeng quickly struggled out of Wenyi's grip around his arm as she continued gawking like a moron, mouth agape. Taking me aside, whilst pretending to discuss calculations with me, his hand was trembling along with the device.

"Shall we get out of here?"

"Good, you are thinking what I am thinking. Let's run in that direction." Lianfeng subtly tilted his head to the deep woods.

"Run? They have flying swords? Can't you use the golden dragon? Fly us out?"

"Takes too long. Running is faster. And I can set up the formation to hide us during that time faster than their swords can take off."

He had his escape planned already.

Too nice to reject a girl right in the face, but horrible enough to do a runner under her nose in front of her friends. Not sure which is worse.

"Just use the carriage," Xuanjing, one of my bodyguards, whispered. Damnit, I forgot. The two bodyguards could easily follow unseen. "We can stop them from entering. Stating that you two are recalled suddenly for official business. If you want, the carriage can appear."

Along with the carriage. Ji Feng's father was indeed very protective.

No one could step into the carriage without royal permission.

And it could stop three angry teenage girls from spilling out their insides to any teenage guy with the hots for them.

Wenyi did look like the b*tchy type who would sweetly play a guy like Cangtian into beating up Lianfeng.

"Use it then. .... Wait, were you listening in?"

A chuckle and a reply, "Xuanyi and I were once teenage boys ourselves... easy to figure out that you both want to do a runner. Don't even need to eavesdrop."

Damn busybody bodyguards. At least, they are useful.