Ch.2 The God of War

Under the light drizzle, the city was empty, save for some people walking down the silent streets. Until the neighs of horses broke the peace as two people speeded towards the Capital gates, galloping without a care for the passer-by who would need to dodge the puddles of dirty water their horses were running through, realise its fruitlessness and turn to curse, only to have the words stop dead in their mouths.

Those two people in steel armours…! And more importantly! The one who was leading…! With his mouth crooked into a dashing smirk, his eyes glinting with arrogance and his whole being carrying a smugness hardly anyone could rival…

Despite his charming appearance, he was the only person in the entire Capital whom no one would carelessly approach. After all, carrying that look of insanity and with the countless bloodcurdling rumours surrounding him, who else could he be, other than…

The General who would slice down even woman and children if he were to deem them unpleasant to his eyes…

'It’s the Mad Dog, Wu Zhe Yan!'

Putting aside curses, the passer-by had to swallow down even the slightest gasps of surprise in fear of catching the Mad Dog’s attention. Just in case he decided to turn around and cut their throats, they hurriedly scrambled out of his way.

In the midst of that quiet chaos, a midnight blue paper umbrella was held unwaveringly by a male in a simple, tight black robe. This was a stunningly beautiful umbrella, one with a painting of a swallow diving into a river after the reflection of a falling moon.

When the two horses raced by, he did not flinch at all and instead, casually dropped the umbrella to his right and protected himself and the lady beside him from the muddy water that jumped up.

The lady beside him was donning a bamboo hat with a long white veil covering her face. Before a single drop of rainwater could land on her, the man beside her had already lifted the umbrella again and held it up for her.

"You will dirty the umbrella." He could just see the small unsatisfied frown on his mistress' face as muddy water rolled down.

"It is better than getting you dirty," long used to his mistress' sharp tongue, he kept a stoic face as he replied. Then he added, "I’ll let Xiao Liu wash it when we get back."

Shen Tian Ping took the uninterested 'Mn' from his mistress as her silent agreement.

They soon arrived outside a small empty open-tavern and Shen Tian Ping could clearly see his mistress' steps hastening as she went for her usual seat.

"Granny! 2 jars of Thousand Petals." She has already called out before even taking a seat.

Shen Tian Ping silently closed the umbrella and took the seat opposite her.

"Is even the weather unable to hinder your appearance here?" They heard a grumble as a plump woman walked out carrying 2 jars of newly brewed wine and a tea set.

"With the way you treat your customers, you should be glad you still have this loyal one." She retorted as her hand reached up to take off her bamboo hat. The face that was finally unveiled was truly a sight to behold. There wasn’t a hint of the docility that would usually appear on a lady’s face. Instead, the eyes hiding behind lowered eyelids, which felt like they could see and bore through even a person’s deepest thought, had a sort of deadly beauty to them.

Her black hair was straight and smooth, and if viewed from the back, it can easily give others the wrong illusion that a meek lady was standing in front. It was untied and even without any kind of hair ornaments, or perhaps, exactly because she did not bother, that there was a careless elegance she gave off which made people only daring enough to appreciate from a safe distance.

And like her appearances, her personality was straightforward too. Too straightforward in fact, that those who had been on the receiving end of that sharp tongue knew to keep their mouth shut.

However, those, like the granny of the wine tavern, who knew her well enough, understood the harmless intention behind that poisonous tongue and thus have learned to not be easily intimidated by her words.

"What customer? With your tab alone, I could have very well bought myself a husband by now." The old shopkeeper rolled her eyes before personally pouring a cup of tea for Shen Tian Ping. "And tea for the young man, right?"

"Yes, thank you." Shen Tian Ping nodded politely and took over the cup.

Luo Yue poured a cup of Thousand Petals for herself and savoured its strong scent. Her eyes swept over her cup and landed softly on the two people.

"Granny. Your favouritism is showing," she said dryly.

"Compared to a little demoness like you, Sir Tian Ping is basically an angel. I still have no idea why he’s following a mistress like you who only knows to drink all day."

"You obviously haven’t seen him on the battlefield. Besides, you need to work on your manners, granny. This 'little demoness'-" she downed the cup of wine and licked her lips- "is still one of the 3 Great Heroes."

"Blah! Have you seen a Hero as poor as yourself?" The granny shook her head in disbelief. She frowned when she saw the young lady pour another cup straightaway. "And stop drinking so much."

"I’ve only had 2 cups since this morning." Shen Tian Ping watched his mistress blink innocently without exposing her.

However, that consideration did not seem to be needed because the old woman easily saw through her. She only sighed, "you used to listen to 'him' at least when 'he' was still alive."

The pale hand that was just about to pour its third cup of Thousand Petals paused. The granny noticed and was starting to scold herself for unintentionally mentioning the wrong thing when Luo Yue’s lips gently turned up.

"You’ve grown old, granny. It was never me who listened to him but he-" she lifted one arrogant finger and pointed it to herself with a cheeky grin- "who listened to me."

The old shopkeeper found that there were perhaps some truths to her words, thought again, and then shook her head.

"That might have been true but despite your complaints, you’ve always followed him well. Just like that umbrella." She spotted the closed umbrella sitting by Shen Tian Ping’s side. "Just because he was worried that you would catch a cold, you’ve been keeping that umbrella for years now."

"Even though you loved playing in the rain," Shen Tian Ping added as he took a small sip of tea. There was something breath-taking about this image of the usual cold and expressionless male that the old granny was wondering how she could fix a 'coincidental' meeting between him and her granddaughter.

Luo Yue did not refute for once, probably because when it comes to 'him', she could only concede.

Instead, she glanced at the umbrella, lazy eyes knitting into a frown as she quickly poured another cup of wine into her mouth. "He had bad taste. He could have gifted me something that wasn’t about a suicidal swallow."

The granny recalled the painting of the swallow diving into the river after the falling moon and smiled, "what bad taste? Perhaps the little swallow only wanted to bathe in the moonlight. Isn’t it romantic that it would go that far just to stay with the falling moon?"

…

Luo Yue has perfectly…

No idea what she had just said.

'How did she manage to twist it so perfectly?'

Romance?

Hah. Has the old woman finally gone senile? What romance?

She could not see an ounce of romance in this.

They say that how a person sees a thing shows how he’s lived.

Has she stayed on the battlefield for far too long that she has become unable to see anything besides the abyss of death?

From the corners of her eyes, -despite his neutral expression- Shen Tian Ping’s slightly tilted eyebrows did not manage to escape from her eyes.

It seemed like he did not understand as well.

Not taking the fact that Shen Tian Ping was also someone who had spent most of his life fighting and killing as her personal guard into consideration, she let out a silent sigh of relief in her heart.

Then 2 to 1, the majority has won. It was clear that she was the normal one. It was the old granny who was being ridiculous.

Thus, after some well-rewarded self-inspections, Luo Yue turned back to the old granny and gave her a look of absolute disdain. "Have you gone blind, granny?"

"…" the old woman’s entire face grew purple as she held it in, turned heels, and left. However, not before shaking her hands and bursting out, "you’re not getting a single drop of wine until you clear your tab!"

?!

The hand that was holding onto the small cup of wine froze for the second time that day as she looked at the old woman’s back in disbelief. She could only resign to fate as the shopkeeper so resolutely disappeared into the tavern without sparing them another glance.

"Say, Tian Ping," she turned back, and Shen Tian Ping easily recognised the pitiful look on her face that she would always pull out whenever she had a favour to ask from 'that person'. "Do you have money on you?"

A pity Tian Ping has seen enough to remain that calm face. "Xiao Liu said that we’re running out of money, so he hasn’t given me my allowance this month."

"…why did I let Xiao Liu be in charge of this again?" she groaned bitterly.

"Because he is good at his job."

~~

"Oh, it just came into my mind." The shopkeeper came out holding something in her hands. "An attractive guy came and left a letter for you."

"A letter for me?"

"He said to give it to the lady who loves wine the most. I assumed that’s you. His face was covered by his bamboo hat, and he came riding in a fine-looking black horse." Her lips lifted into a sly smile as she handed her the letter. "You're already in your late twenties, aren't you? It’s about time you stop drinking and get yourself married. So? Do you recognise him? Is he your secret suitor?"

"Or an assassin," Luo Yue muttered under her breath before taking another sip. "How did you know he was attractive if you didn’t see his face?"

"Don’t you know there’s this aura to handsome men? And his body…" she sighed in admiration as she recalled the scene.

"Know your age, granny." And so, the God of War, Luo Yue, successfully managed to tick off a person more than twice her age once again.

Thinking that she would end up digging her own grave –both figurative and literally- if she continued staying, the old shopkeeper threw her another glare, turned, and left the two people alone again.

Luo Yue’s long fingers swiftly tore open the letter.

In it, only 4 words were written neatly on a small slip of paper.

{ The East Has Moved }