Chapter Seven.

Consort Chen tried every possible way to convince Zhang Leihan to take the Guardian Foo Dog jade pendant to Yan Yu as a token of their first meeting. Zhang Leihan knew nothing about building relations with others. Consort Chen had this brainwashing skill that she used to get people to do whatever she asked them to do by duping them into viewing life from her perspective .Most victims of her brainwashing ,be it other noble ladies had already been wrapped around her finger. Zhang Leihan was yet to be another victim of her brainwashing.

"Han'er I'm your mother. I can do nothing to harm you. Why are you so cold to me ?"Consort Chen asked putting on a sad facial expression.

"Mother,I know you want me to go to the Garden of Whispering Shadows but I'm still afraid,"Zhang Leihan spoke honestly.

"Han'er ,what do you do when you want something from someone?"

"What else? Ask them for it."

"What if it's someone you are not familiar with?"

"Introduce myself and ask for it directly."

"What if it's something precious to them and they can't easily give you?"

"Mother what's the point of asking all these questions?"

Consort Chen asked such questions to lead Zhang Leihan on to join dots and reach the intended conclusion as Consort Chen wanted.

"You have to gain their trust first. Trust is very important between people."

"And how do I gain their trust?"Zhang Leihan asked suddenly becoming interested.

"By showing your sincerity towards them."

"And how do I show my sincerity to them?"

"By being good to them and helping them in times of need."

At that point ,Consort Chen was sure she had completely brainwashed her son. As expected Zhang Leihan went to visit Yan Yu with the company of his bodyguard. He was still afraid of the terrifying aura of the place but he still gathered up enough courage to go there. When he reached there ,the main door was wide open with Yan Yu seated in the main room crafting paper models. Zhang Leihan stood at the doorstep for a while not sure whether he should step inside. He had never been so nervous before. Most of the time he was busy acting cool and other kids were always the ones who approached him first especially at the Imperial Academy.

When Yan Yu sensed the presence of an extra person,he looked up and his eyes immediately met Zhang Leihan's.Since it was early evening ,it was a little windy and the sun was setting. Zhang Leihan's body was a little frail so he was wearing black robes with a black ankle length velvet cloak with an ornate clasp at the neckline. He had a beautiful face but slightly less than Yan Yu's. His face had a cold expression giving off the 'do not touch me' aura. Yan Yu approached him carefully his concentration on the velvet cloak Zhang Leihan was wearing. He wanted to feel the texture of the velvet. Just by looking at it,Yan Yu could feel its softness. He longed to touch it so he extended his hand slowly to touch it,not sure how Zhang Leihan would react. Yan Yu himself was still wearing the robes he wore during the day of the negotiation. He had not carried any extra robes. Though Xu Lili and other palace maids renovated his place,they didn't bring him a new set of clothes.

"Presumptuous!"Zhang Leihan's bodyguard slapped Yan Yu's hand away. He knew Zhang Leihan hated his clothes being touched by others the most.

"Fuhua, it's fine,"Zhang Leihan didn't want his bodyguard to make a big deal out of it. Fuhua was only fourteen years old and he was already good at martial arts. Zhang Leihan had personally chosen him as his bodyguard because he didn't talk much since Zhang Leihan disliked the chatterbox kind of people.

Yan Yu continued to explore him and even dared to look into those cold eyes that depicted how mean spirited Zhang Leihan was.

"Who are you?"Yan Yu asked aggressively,"You look sickly. Are you afraid of the cold?"

Since he liked being cool Zhang Leihan disliked others pointing out his weaknesses. He didn't expect on their first meeting things would turn out like this. Yan Yu had hurt his pride.

"And who are you? Living in a haunted house alone,"Zhang Leihan questioned back aggressively.

"What haunted house? I've been staying here since I came here."

"During full moon you will see shadows whispering to each other outside."

"I love watching shadow puppetry so I might as well enjoy watching the shadows whispering to each other,"Yan Yu replied completely unaffected by Zhang Leihan's mere scary stories.

"The shadows will snatch away your quilt,"Zhang Leihan added trying to sound more scary by demonstrating using sound effects himself.

"Xu-Jie brought me an extra quilt so I have two quilts and I don't mind sharing one with the shadows."

"They will snatch away both of them."

"I'm not that afraid of the cold so I can sleep."

Zhang Leihan was getting annoyed. His plan to teach Yan Yu a lesson by scaring him failed to work. Fuhua whispered something to him,"Your Highness,Her Highness told you to be nice to him."

"But he isn't being nice to me."

"Your Highness you don't know, people from Zhenyan State are never afraid of ghosts."

"Then I will find another way to scare him,"Zhang Leihan declared.

Zhang Leihan decided to leave without revealing his purpose for visiting Yan Yu but Fuhua spoiled his plan,"Little Highness,His Highness has something he would like to give you."

Zhang Leihan glared back at Fuhua.

"Place it on your window it can ward off spirits incase the shadows appear,"Zhang Leihan handed over the Guardian Foo Dog jade pendant to Yan Yu while avoiding eye contact.