Chapter 173 - A Goat-rageous rejection and disaster!????

  The prince sighed and massaged his temples. “The Goat cn head who is the titur guardian of the Great Western Mountain range sent word that there will be an important ritual held there during the time you pn to visit, and they don’t want to be disturbed.”

  Schor Wu said, “The strange thing is that the flight pn you sent doesn’t even go near the Great Western Mountain range.”

  “It doesn’t? Can I see it on a map?” I thought about it and realized it was probably the usual System shenanigans. The System map was not the same as the map of the world. “My bloodline inheritance is old, and pce names change a lot. Maybe I don’t need to go to the Goat cn’s territory at all.”

  “I have a map in the cssroom,” said Schor Wu.

  We trooped over to the second courtyard. Schor Wu had decorated the walls of the cssroom with some lovely calligraphy scrolls and paintings depicting seascapes and mythological scenes as well as one rge map.

  She unrolled the flight pn map I had given her and compared it to the wall map.

  “This location you marked is here.” She put a finger on the map on a spot. “The Great Western Mountain range is here, north of where you want to go.”

  “Well, that’s okay then. It doesn’t matter if the Goat cn doesn’t want me in their territory since we’re going to a different site,” I said.

  Prince Baiyu examined the world map and said, “But the area you want to fly to doesn’t have a mountain in it.”

  I put a finger on my chin. “Maybe my ancestors named it the ‘Great Western Mountain’ ironically, the way people will call a giant tiger ‘Little Fang.’ Or something like that.”

  Schor Wu shook her head at my joke. “If you say so.”

  “There shouldn't be a problem since the location you want isn’t cimed by any cn,” said Prince Baiyu.

  After some more discussion, we left it at that and I asked them if they wanted to join me at my workroom while I cut some fruit and other food ingredients.

  “Is it true you can burn food by cutting them?” asked Schor Wu.

  “You’ll see,” I said.

  Yinuo was waiting for me. She had already covered the worktable with a clean white tablecloth, and there was an empty trashcan beside it. She recited the food ingredients Deming wanted me to send. “Oranges, pineapples, melons, mangoes, and he would like truffles if you have any.”

  “Aye, aye ma’am!” I saluted her before sitting down on the bench.

  Schor Wu and Prince Baiyu remained standing to observe the process.

  First, I took out a truffle grater and two ptes. Second, I filled one pte with truffles. Third, I used the grater on a truffle. Fourth, the truffle turned into a charcoal-like burned truffle.

  “Incredible. This is truly a rare talent,” said Schor Wu.

  I could almost imagine her pushing up her gsses, even though she didn’t wear any.

  “I think it’s a form of qi overload,” said Prince Baiyu. He took the piece of burnt food and examined it. “Your qi control might be cking.”

  “Practice makes perfect,” I said. “I’ll try again.”

  Though it was annoying that I burned eight out of ten truffles, I did eventually grate enough to give to Deming. Yinuo dumped the failures in the wastebasket before bringing the pte to the kitchen, and Schor Wu tactfully made her exit, leaving me alone with Prince Baiyu.

  “Alone at st,” he murmured as he sat down beside me.

  He took my hand and kissed my knuckles before twining our fingers together.

  “I’m gd,” I said.

  “You look so beautiful today that I can hardly keep my eyes off you.”

  “Look who’s talking. Tell me, how many hearts have you broken?”

  “Zero.”

  “Lies.”

  “It’s true. People don’t like me much.”

  “Don’t they say you have perfect conformation? Cn members must find you extremely attractive.”

  “No. Perfect conformation is… Imagine a circle. One is a perfect circle; the other is not.”

  I thought about it. “Surely people prefer the perfect circle?”

  “That’s debatable. Perfection can be less attractive than something interestingly fwed,” he said with a wry smile. “A perfect circle is precise, symmetrical, predictable. But a shape that deviates ever so slightly from the ideal… I believe that is where true beauty lies.”

  “Hey! Didn’t you say I’m beautiful to you? Then are you saying I’m fwed?” I smirked at his consternation. “Would you care to enumerate my no doubt numerous physical imperfections?”

  He was speechless for a moment, but recovered quickly and said, “No! You didn’t let me finish my talk. I was going to say that perfection is boring except when it’s you.”

  I chuckled and hugged him. “Thank you, but I’m fine with being fwed!”

  We were still ughing over it when Yinuo returned.

  “Back to work,” I said. “This is all preparation for the upcoming royal visit. I hope your parents like the food.”

  “I’m sure they will,” said Prince Baiyu. “They’re not particurly picky.”

  The Lady of the West was pregnant, which meant that she regurly ate food. Her husband was likewise exempt from the custom of refraining from enjoying meals since he had to provide for her, and he could hardly be expected to cook or serve food to her if he wasn’t allowed to eat.

  Therefore, Deming and his assistants had to whip up several meals fit for royalty.

  “We all want to make a good impression on them. Right, Yinuo?” I said to my maid.

  “Yes, my dy,” she said.

  Soon Fengying arrived with lists of more stuff we needed, along with a few bills.

  Thus, we had a busy but pleasant day, and I totally forgot about the Goat cn’s refusal until the next day when the farm was rocked by another strong earthquake.

  Not only did the earth violently convulse several times, but the sky lit up with an ominous red glow in the south. It must be the start of the descent of the Demon Monarch.

  The entire household was armed by these events, and Shuye, Schor Wu, and Prince Baiyu came to see me to discuss it.

  I met them in the formal reception room.

  “Tell me, Violet, when I told you that the Goat cn had refused your request, did you feel angry about it?” asked Schor Wu.

  “Angry? No,” I said. “Actually, I forgot all about it until you mentioned it just now.”

  The three of them exchanged meaningful looks. Shuye and Schor Wu seemed to be waiting for the prince to say something, but he remained silent.

  Eventually, Shuye, who seemed somewhat uncomfortable, cleared his throat and said, “We ask because this morning the Goat cn’s territory was struck by heavenly lightning one hundred and eight times.”

  That was terrible news, but I failed to see what that had to do with me. “What? Are they okay?”

  “They’re… not fine. They’re physically unhurt, but their zidan was badly shaken,” said Shuye.

  “Ouch,” I said. Though zidan was merely an abstract concept to humans like me, I knew that cn members valued it above everything else.

  Schor Wu raised her eyes and hands to the sky. “I pray they recover soon.”

  Shuye solemnly nodded his agreement and continued expining. “That’s not the only thing that happened. During the lightning storm, the Great Western Mountain was teleported south of its original location.”

  “Excuse me? Teleported? A whole mountain range?” I could hardly believe my ears. This world had magic, but this sounded crazy.

  Schor Wu unrolled the flight pn I had given her and traced a line with a finger. “This is where the Great Western Mountain is located now.”

  We could all see that my flight pn ended right in the middle of the mountain range’s new location.

  I ughed nervously. “What a weird coincidence!”

  Shuye raised an eyebrow. “Yes… a coincidence.”

  Did the System do that?! It seemed a bit extreme. More likely, it was the Demon Monarch who was messing around with the local topography.

  “Wait a minute, why did you ask me if I’m angry at the Goat cn? You can’t possibly think I had something to do with this?” I said to the three of them.

  Prince Baiyu shrugged. His face was expressionless when he said, “I’m sure it's a coincidence, as you said. Since the Goat cn’s zidan was rendered ineffective by the upheaval, they don’t currently have the right to refuse visits. We can proceed as pnned.”

  I noticed that he was now speaking more formally. He must be in prince mode.

  “Okay, but please let me be clear. I don’t know what happened, and I didn’t have anything to do with it,” I said.

  Shuye sighed and shook his head. “Of course.”

  I pouted. “What do people think happened?”

  “No one knows,” said Schor Wu. “But that hasn't stopped people from specuting.”

  “What do they say?” I asked, intrigued.

  “The rumor mill has been working overtime.” Schor Wu counted off the rumors on the fingers of one hand. “The Goat cn is hiding an ancient secret teleportation weapon and it misfired. Or the magic circle they prepared for the ritual was struck by lightning and overloaded, causing more lightning and the teleportation. Or the local god is punishing them for some sin. Or the Azure Dragon cn did it.”

  “That st rumor is silly,” said Prince Baiyu. “The Azure Dragon cn’s teleportation magic is blue, not red.”

  “Gosh,” I said.

  I hardly knew what to say as they discussed various outrageous theories.

  But it definitely wasn’t my fault!

  LinMeili