Stealing the Wrong Bride

8

It's been a few weeks since Zhu An became Tain Na's apprentice and he's learned a lot. Tain Na was even surprised at how fast Zhu An was able to pick things up.

"Do you want to try growing a sheen flower? It's one of the hardest plants to grow and takes a lot of hard work, but it's very potent. ...If you can grow it successfully, I will show you how to turn it into medicine. What do you say?" Tain Na asked as she carefully observed the many stalks of buds that Zhu An had successfully grown.

Zhu An of course nodded his head and hurried to retrieve his planting tools.

...

The sheen flower is a tiny flower that shines very brightly and is an essential element for treating internal injuries. However, it is one of the hardest plants to grow and the time period it takes to grow depends on how well it is taken care of and where it is planted.

So, taking that into consideration, instead of taking Zhu An to the usual herbs section inside of Luse Garden, Tain Na planned to lead Zhu An to Taiyang garden, a guarded and barriered imperial planting ground.

The space inside of Taiyang garden is of much higher quality than any other garden, and all the high grade and potent herbs are planted inside of there. Thus, only a handful of gods and goddess are allowed access into the garden. Thankfully, for Tain Na, since both are grandfather and father were and is the head of the divine doctors, her family was awarded a small plot of space inside of Taiyang garden by a previous great Emperor, to experiment.

As Tian Na finished describing the garden, Zhu An became even more excited. He was very interested in seeing how different Taiyang garden is from Luse garden and what variety of herbs was planted there. However, as Tain Na and Zhu An approached the exit of Luse Garden, a guard promptly stopped Zhu An.

"What are you doing?" Tain Na slightly furrowed her brows at the stoic guard.

"The human may not leave Luse Garden." The stoic guard replied with a cold glance aimed at Zhu An.

Zhu An bit his bottom lip and looked anxiously at Tain Na for a few seconds, then back to the intimidating glare of the guard before casting his head down dispiritingly.

Given how the guards had treated him every time they had found him wondering away from the garden warehouse, Zhu An felt it was silly of him to have even thought of stepping out of Luse garden. He should have known better and couldn't help but sigh with a sad expression.

"I..it's okay. I..I don't have to go." Zhu An softly stuttered out

The guard released an annoyed breath of air and then stepped back into his position. Tain Na tilted her head slightly backward and then tsk at the guard, "From what I heard, all his great majesty stated was that Zhu An is not allowed to go back to the mortal realm. Hmn... I must have misheard something huh? Tell me, did his great highness changed his decree to imprisoning Zhu An inside of Luse garden? Or are you just that great at deciphering what is great Majesty's real intentions are?"

As the guard frown and shot Tain Na an icy glare, Tain Na's lip curved into a small smile. "No?... Hmmm. Then did his great highness grant you permission to give orders in his place?"

The guard winced upon hearing those words and quickly stated in a clear and precise way, "This guard would not dare! Its just-"

Before the guard could finish, Tain Na's small smile changed into a full smile as she quickly added, "Good then. It is a crime to think that one can give orders in place of his greatness and interpret his greatness' orders better than his greatness."

Being faced with the threat of trying to put words into the great emperor's mouth and using the great emperor's name to create orders, the guard gritted his teeth, quickly silence himself, and reluctantly stepped aside for them to pass.

The scene caused Zhu An to widen his eyes in surprised, and it wasn't until Tain Na tugged at his sleeve that he was able to shake off the shock.

---

"Are you sure you won't be in trouble for helping me? I don't want you to get in trouble." Zhu An nervously asked Tain Na as they made their way to Taiyang garden.

With a big smile still on her face, Tain Na calmly assured him, "Everything I said was true. His majesty never stated that you may never leave Luse garden, all he said was that you are not allow to return back to the human realm."

After thinking about it for a minute, Zhu An finally nodded his head and agreed with what Tain Na said.

However, just as a small happy smile begin to appear on his face, a few loud snickers stopped him in his track.

"Isn't this the filthy human who dared to covet and steal his great highness, the crown prince's royal insignia?!"

"His great majesty is too kind... tsk.tsk this human should have been skin alive for this crime and then throw into the dark void."

"How dare such a lowly being covet something so grand. Shameless!"

Glancing from the group of glaring and snickering gods and goddesses to a frighten Zhu An, Tain Na frowned. "Heh... gods and goddesses these days are so brave. I, myself, would never have the courage to openly question his greatness's decision. I forget... hmmmm... what was the punishment for bad mouthing the Great Emperor again?!"

Upon hearing Tain na's words, the group of gods and goddess immediately turned their attention from Zhu An to Tain Na.

"Hmph. Type B rank 1. Hah!" one of the goddesses snorted

"I have just learnt that Type B goddesses are deaf. When did we ever insult his great highness. Shamelessness."

"Shouldn't we teach this stupid Type B goddess alesson." A god coldly chimed in.