Overestimating One's Ability

Zhao Xing woke up the next day with a bad headache just like she had before, she also felt nauseous. She looked around, she was in the Crown Prince's mansion.

'How come?' She wondered.

"Grand tutor, you're awake." Lan'er came in and saw her mistress and smiled.

Zhao Xing, recalled the dream she had last night. It was like something was bugging her, constantly reminding her of the journey the Crown Prince was about to make. She thought she would be back to her world when she woke up, who would have thought she'd still be here.

Was it so she could tell the Crown Prince about the vision?

She tried to remember what had happened the day before. She didn't remember coming back from the palace, what happened?

"How…didn't I go out with the Crown prince yesterday?" She asked.

Lan'er laughed sneakily, "Grand Tutor don't you remember? The Master carried you back to your room."

'He did what?'

"Ha?" Her eyes widened. "The…Aiya, never mind, where is he now?" She wasn't feeling so good in addition to that she had a dream yesterday related to the Crown Prince, she really had to see him.

Seeing her mistress serious expression Lan'er thought something was wrong and quickly answered. "The Crown Prince has been summoned to the palace. Grand Tutor is anything the matter?"

Summoned to the palace? Didn't the Emperor cancel morning court to extend the celebration? "Lan'er, Xiao Chen…is he with the Crown Prince?"

"Xiao Chen…He's always with the Master…?" Lan'er wondered what the problem was for her mistress to be this anxious.

Zhao Xing thought for a moment, would the crown prince leave today? That would be unlikely, right?

She turned to Lan'er once again, "Lan'er, you know about some gossip in town could you tell me exactly what happened with the drought in the south?"

"Ah..? This…"

"Come on tell me if you know something, I'm just a bit curious, just tell me where it's located." Zhao Xing tried to encourage her to speak, just in case it was one of the things she wasn't supposed to talk about.

"Grand Tutor, it's not that, this servant doesn't really know exactly where the drought happened, all this servant knows is that it happens quite often. They have been trying to find a way to solve this problem for a long time…but to no avail, I only heard that the area was far from any main source of water, when summer came their only source of water would be dried up."

'This…can't this problem easily be solved?'

By the time she got dressed, she already felt much better, she took two big buns she held in a plate from the breakfast Nuo Nuo brought her, and headed to the Crown Prince's study by herself. Almost half of the books of the mansion were concentrated in this place, well, according to the prince himself. During the time she was sick the Crown Price had allowed her access to the study, so the guards didn't stop her when they saw her.

Seeing all the shelves she would have to go through, she sighed as she took a big bite of her bun. 'This won't be easy.'

She then put her bun back on the plate she had placed on the table, dusted her hand on her dress and commenced her search, she tried checking records concerning the southern part of the country. To tell the truth she didn't know much about this country in itself, not to talk about its topography. But who would have known that she'd spend the morning searching an actually find no map, no history books no records of any type, the only books here were filled with stuff she didn't understand, either talking about war, ruling and other things that only made her head hurt.

'What is this?' Had she been tricked? The Crown Prince clearly said almost half of the mansion's books were here.

Then it dawned on her. If all this half was useless to her, then the other half would be full of the useful stuff. But the question was, where were they?

She sighed and started arranging the books she'd scattered around the table. 'That guy didn't trust me, eh? Actually made me think he was being nice by allowing me access into his library.'

While she was still arranging she heard a rustling sound that made her look back. She was just about to ask who it was that made the sound.

"Found anything?"

Zhao Xing could literally feel blood draining from her face. She had only seen the man's robe since she was sitting down. He had scared her!

"Zhang Zhengyang, would it kill you to make some noise with your feet when you enter? At least announce that you're back." As she said so she looked outside trying to see if the guards were on duty. Why didn't she hear then greeting the Crown Prince?

She, then looked up at the prince, with pursed lips, she carried a book and hit his waist with it. "You told me you had so many books, how come I haven't found what I'm looking for?"

The Crown Prince smiled mischievously, "I remember saying there were only half of the books, I don't remember telling you you'd find whatever you wanted."

Zhao Xing nodded, she should've known. This guy was really something. She waved her hand, the most important thing was that he was here. "Sit." She commanded, stretching forth her hand towards the sit opposite her.

Zhang Zhengyang raised a brow but still sat down. "What does Grand Tutor have to tell me today?"

"Nothing much, you're back early." She said.

"I was only summoned to have a discussion nothing much really." He replied with a smile. "Does Grand Tutor not want me back this early?" He leaned in with his hand supporting his chin.

Zhao Xing rolled her eyes, why was this guy acting in such a disgusting manner. "Stop, that's gross." She said and waved her hand, and got down to business. "Zhang Zhengyang take me with you, when you leave to deliver disaster relief."

The Crown Prince expression became serious, "No." He refused.

"How can you say so? The road will be dangerous, I have to be there, it's either I'm going with you, or you're not going at all." She folded her hands resolutely.

The Crown Prince didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Zhao Xing, how would taking you along with me, help me in anyway, would it make the journey less dangerous?"

Zhao Xing also thought of this, but she believed if she could see the future, she might help him evade certain dangers. "I'm coming with you anyway, make space for me in the carriage."

Zhang Zhengyang remembered yesterday, when that official had mentioned him leaving for the south, and also the time General Yang mentioned that the journey wasn't going to be a simple one. He also knew this himself. But from what he remembered, he had been the only one present when General Yang had talked about it. Zhao Xing had already entered the carriage. Now she was so anxious to go with him…

"Zhao Xing did you see something?"

Zhao Xing wasn't planning on hiding it from him either, so she nodded. "It wasn't anything good. So you have to take me with you, perhaps I could be of help." She didn't know why she got this ability, but it might just be for times like these.

"All the more reason you should stay here, don't worry about me, it's not like I would be going alone, apart from the guards there are also secrets guards following, they'll protect me."

'Who's worried about you?'

"Then…how am I supposed to know if the vision I saw would come true?"

Zhang Zhengyang smiled when he saw her eyes full of worry. "Is Grand Tutor worried about me?"

"Zhang Zhengyang can you be a little bit more serious?" She stood up and hit the table feeling a bit irritated.

"Why did you summon me? Didn't you say I'm here so I can help you? If I just stay at the mansion and do nothing what is my use, huh? You want to go like this, don't you have ambitions in life? Or do you just want to throw away your life like this?" She talked and her voice got hoarse, but she refused herself from crying. She took deep breaths and paused. Memories from the time she was ill came back to her.

All this time there had been a blank in her mind, that time she thought she was unconscious for real, and didn't care whether or not she had recollection of what had happened, but now everything came back as she spoke.

The Crown Prince saw how irritable she had become, he became more serious.

"Zhang Zhengyang, if you want to go and die, you can do that once I've accomplished my mission, and return back to my world, but right now, I will surely go with you. Say what you like I won't be listening." With that she hurriedly left.

Zhang Zhengyang had a stunned look on his face, he had never seen her like that before, and the discussion got out of control before he realized it. He suddenly wondered what she had seen to make her this scared. Was he overestimating himself? Was the journey actually a deadly one? Couldn't he control it? If it was man power he was sure he had more than his brother.