Wu Jian found himself sandwiched between Zhou Lihua and Hou Jingshu. It had only been a few minutes since he had returned. The vivacious heiress of the Zhou Clan had only just released his lips. He was certain she was acting this lasciviously because he and Hou Jingshu were intimate. This was most definitely revenge on the princess for sleeping with him all the time while she was forced to retain her chastity.

It seemed to have its intended effect. Hou Jingshu was glaring at Zhou Lihua while clinging to his left arm.

“I want to hear why it took you so long to return,” Zhou Lihua said.

“Right. How much do you two know about what happened?” asked Wu Jian.

“We only know the rumors,” said Hou Jingshu, gripping his arm tighter. “Is it true that you fought the Hell Ape?”

He gave her a tight smile. “It’s true.”

While Hou Jingshu worked her mouth like she was struggling to figure out what she should say, Zhou Lihua giggled as she leaned into him and drew circles on his chest. The feel of her nails tracing lines through his clothes caused him to shiver. Just a little.

“That’s my Jian. I always knew you were going to become strong one day, but I never expected you’d be able to defeat a magical beast that powerful at your cultivation. Did you know? Even Yu Chenguang wasn’t able to deal with him.”

“I’d heard something like that, yes,” he admitted.

Hou Jingshu finally regained her voice. “You shouldn’t praise him, Lihua. Jian, I’m not going to say anything against what you did since it already happened and I can’t change the past, but you need to understand how reckless that was. You won this time. However, you could have easily gotten yourself killed. I know you can fight cultivators with a higher cultivation than you, but please, be more careful from now on. I don’t want to lose you.”

Wu Jian wished he had three arms so he could rub Hou Jingshu’s head. He didn’t, and unfortunately, both arms were already taken. That being the case, he leaned over until his forehead rested against hers.

“I am sorry. I don’t mean to make you worry. I promise that if I ever find myself in a situation I can’t win, I’ll retreat. However, I also can’t promise that I won’t do anything reckless. You know I need to get stronger and why. I have to give this my all. Cultivators who never take any risks never gain true strength, and I cannot afford to be like that. I need to keep pushing forward.”

Hou Jingshu’s expression told him everything he needed to know. She didn’t approve. He understood how she felt since he knew that, were their positions reversed, he would be the one saying this to her. That probably made him a hypocrite. However, that was also how he knew she wouldn’t stop him.

She took a deep breath, held it, then released it.

“I know I can’t stop you, so I guess that means I need to keep getting stronger so I can watch your back.”

“I would appreciate that. And in return, I’ll watch your back.”

The young princess smiled. “Guess that means we’ll be companions in battle.”

He gave a sagely nod. “Both battle in the streets and in the sheets.”

“Did you really have to say that?!” demanded a blushing Hou Jingshu. Her face was so red he thought he might be able to fry eggs on it. So cute.

“Tch,” a sound caused him and Hou Jingshu to turn around.

“Did you just click your tongue?” asked Wu Jian.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Zhou Lihua murmured as she gripped his arm tight enough that her nails dug into his skin. “Now, then, I think this conversation has run its course. Why don’t we have dinner and discuss other topics? Jingshu has something important to tell you anyway.”

“Yeah… okay…”

Women can be scary sometimes.

They changed locations from the couch to the dining room. Wu Jian wore his mask as a group of maids set about putting out the food. His eyes widened and drool leaked from between his lips as he saw what they had brought out.

“Hotpot!”

Zhou Lihua smirked. “Heh. Yes. It’s your favorite meal.”

“Consider this a celebration for becoming an Inner Court Disciple,” said Hou Jingshu.

Hotpots were indeed Wu Jian’s favorite food. He loved being able to mix and match all the different kinds of meat and veggies into a variety of broths. His preference was for spicy broths like the sichuan hot pot or junyun chilli hot pot, but he also enjoyed cleansing his palate with milder flavors like simple meat or mushroom based hot pots. One of the reasons this was his favorite dish was because of how much variety there was. You could never get bored with hotpot.

“We’ve also got stinky tofu,” Zhou Lihua added with a smile as she showed him the plate of white tofu blocks.

Wu Jian made a face at his least favorite food, and yet, he still grabbed several and inserted them into the broth. He went with the meat broth since he didn’t want the tofu ruining the flavor of his high-quality meat. He also added several vegetables like bean sprouts, cabbage, bok choy, lotus root, and tongho. It was his hope that the flavor of these veggies would lessen the harsh flavor and smell of the stinky tofu.

Mei would kill me if she saw this…

Dinner wasn’t quiet, but it wasn’t loud either. Everyone focused on eating instead of conversing. Wu Jian ate his meat first. Of course, he added even more meat to the sichuan broth before putting some of the stinky tofu on his plate. It was only after he liberally dipped the tofu in a type of ponzu sauce that he put the tofu into his mouth.

He grimaced.

“That’s quite the face,” Zhou Lihua said with a smile.

“It’s just as bad as I remember,” he muttered bitterly before putting another block in his mouth. The texture, flavor, and scent of the stinky tofus was absolutely awful, and yet he continued to eat it. Bite after bite.

Zhou Lihua and Hou Jingshu shook their heads as they watched on. They didn’t ask him why ate this even though he hated it. Some questions had obvious answers.

***

The food was eventually finished. Maidservants came by to clean the table and serve desserts and tea. The desserts consisted of steamed custard buns and sesame seed dessert balls.

Steamed custard buns sometimes went by the name nai wong bao. They were delicious buns made using a thick and fluffy dough, which was filled with an aromatic custard. He had no idea how they were made. However, they were delicious.

Sesame seed balls were one of the more popular desserts in the Shang Kingdom. They were known for their distinctive nutty flavor. Each one consisted of crispy fried dough shaped into a ball and stuffed with a sweet sesame filling. These could be found at almost every street vendor that sold desserts, though the stuff they were served now tasted leagues better than the stuff served at vendors.

Served alongside the desserts was green tea. The bitterness of the tea served as a palate cleanser to the sweets.

“I believe it’s time we get down to business,” Zhou Lihua looked at Hou Jingshu as though urging her to speak.

“Right.” The Shang Kingdom’s only princess was halfway toward stuffing a sesame seed ball into her mouth. She sighed, put the ball back on her plate, and smiled bitterly. “I guess it is time we talk about something important.”

“Is it the upcoming tournament?” asked Wu Jian.

“It is.”

Nodding as a pleased smile appeared on her face, she once more reached for the sesame ball, stuffed it in her mouth, and chewed. Wu Jian and Zhou Lihua shared a helpless smile as their companion swallowed her food and washed it down with some tea. Hou Jingshu soon noticed their looks and blushed to the roots of her hair, though she tried to dismiss her embarrassment by coughing into her hand.

“Ahem. There are two important tournaments coming up. The first one is the Shang Kingdom National Tournament. It hasn’t been announced yet, but thanks to your performance during the Inner Court Disciple test, the head elder has decided to make you a Core Disciple so you can compete in the tournament.”

“Makes sense,” Wu Jian murmured.

Zhou Lihua agreed. “The head elder would be a fool not to do this.”

Hou Jingshu grabbed a steamed custard bun and began eating it. Not even the importance of their conversation could diminish her sweet tooth. She only continued talking after she had devoured one.

“This year’s tournament is going to be difficult since the cultivators who make it into the top 5 will go on to compete in the Thirteen Kingdom’s Tournament. We have to make sure that at least one of us gets into the top 5,” she said.

Slowly nodding, Wu Jian added, “But you want to take first place, right?”

She grinned. “Yes. I want to place first. I would love it if I personally could take first place, but that might not be possible with you also participating. I wouldn’t mind taking second so long as you took first. Of course, don’t think I’m going to make it easy for you. I disgraced myself and lost early in the last tournament we took part in. That won’t happen this time.”

“You’ve grown much stronger. I’m sure there’s not a cultivator in the Shang Kingdom who can beat you.” Wu Jian paused. “Aside from myself.”

“Those are some big words,” Hou Jingshu said. “Let’s hope you can back them up.”

A tense sense of competitiveness rose between the two. Wu Jian was the type who loved pushing his limits, and Hou Jingshu had admired cultivators ever since she was little. They were both sore losers as well. Neither of them wanted to let the other person defeat them.

Zhou Lihua spoke into this stifling silence. “I will also be going with you.”

“You will?” Wu Jian let the tension dissipate as he turned to the Zhou Clan heiress.

“Yes.” She puffed out her chest. “I will be going as the Shang Kingdom Imperial Academy’s personal alchemist.”

“I asked her to come with us,” Hou Jingshu admitted. “They have alchemists at the tournament, but I trust her more than I trust anyone else. I’m sure you also don’t want to rely on any other alchemist.”

“You got that right,” Wu Jian confessed.

“I still have to get permission to leave, but Hou Jingshu has already drafted a letter to Zhou Chaoxian. That’s actually why I came over today.”

“To get the letter?”

“Yes.”

Zhou Lihua summoned a scroll from her storage ring and waved it in front of Wu Jian. That explained why she was here, though it didn’t explain why they were sparring when he arrived. Well, Zhou Lihua did focus mostly on alchemy now. Maybe she wanted to stretch her limbs because she was feeling rusty? He supposed it didn’t matter.

“When do we leave?” he asked. Wu Jian had completely lost track of time, so he couldn’t even remember when the tournament was supposed to take place.

“We’ll leave four days from now,” Hou Jingshu said.

Wu Jian popped a sesame seed ball into his mouth. The sweetness of the sesame filling presented a lovely contrast to the crispiness of the fried dough. Whoever had cooked this decided to also use a glaze over the dough, so it was not only crispy, it had a nice kick of sugar too.

“Oh.” He suddenly remembered something. “I met your second brother in Mencho.”

Hou Jingshu blinked once, twice, thrice. “Why didn’t you mention that until just now?”

“I… forgot.”

“How do you forget that?!”

“Well, he wasn’t really worth remembering.”

Zhou Lihua snorted into her hand. “The second prince of a kingdom isn’t worth remembering, is he? Someone must need to be quite extraordinary for you to remember him.”

“They need to be at least as memorable as you two,” Wu Jian said with a wink. The two ladies rolled their eyes.

“So, what did you think about my brother?” asked Hou Jingshu.

“Well… I definitely don’t think he was the one who poisoned your father,” Wu Jian said after a moment’s thoughts. “He’s not… subtle enough to do something like that.”

“You mean he’s an idiot.” Hou Jingshu placed a hand on her temples and rubbed them. “That man has battle for brains. He’s the biggest meathead I know. I doubt the idea of poisoning our father to usurp his position didn’t even occur to him.”

Wu Jian wiped away the sweat trickling down his forehead. “You accuse me of forgetting him, but you’re pretty harsh, too, you know?”

“That’s because he and I are like water and oil.” Hou Jingshu shrugged. “Hou Chāo and I share the same mother, and he blames me for her death. He would bully me quite often when we were younger. I remember, Hou Gun was always the one to stop him and comfort me.” She closed her eyes and pursed her lips. “… I wonder what went wrong. Why have things become like this?”

Wu Jian glanced at Zhou Lihua, who nodded. They stood up at the same time. After coming up behind Hou Jingshu, they leaned down and drew the young woman in a hug. She didn’t resist. Leaning into the pair as they wrapped their arms around her, she allowed herself to be comforted.