an ancient chinese story

12

Till the day of the selection, among the 50 candidates only 20 had been selected again through more tests. the final choice was to be made by feng leng himself, after all the candidates had showed their talents. but all 20 werent the best of the bunch. some had reached to the top 10 because of their family's influence. but still some were the best of best. with in those great candidates, the one that was expected to be the best was yu yan. with her undefeated beauty , talents in all four arts and her powerful background she was unrivalled. 

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the ceremony was to begin in the afternoon, in the west palace. all the preparations were done. the whole west palace was adorned beautifully and lavishly. normally, ceremonies like the selection could have been done in the general's residence, which wasnt small even when compared to the palace. but the present emperor always loved grand events and celebrations. he would always create reasons to celebrate and sometimes everyone would be amazed at the simplest reasons he would make up to celebrate.

obviously, not everyone liked this lavish habit of the emperor but as the emperor was a great ruler, even better than the previous emperors , they could only follow along every whim of his majesty.and on top of that, as it was his childhood friend and the great general for whom the event was, the event was even bigger than many expected.

the whole event began with performances by great dancers and performer troupes. and later on, the candidates would begin showing their talents one by one. yu yan was looking around the candidate's room, and now she was sure that she would be the winner as she deemed herself as the best amongst themselves. all the candidates were ready to go out.

when a voice shout out, " STOP the event!!!!"......

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jing yi  had gotten up and helped feng leng be ready for the day. as today was a 'banquet' in the palace, feng leng had said that it would take longer that day.  all this days, feng leng had tried to refrain himself from falling for jing yi. because he didnt have the courage to pursue what he had with jing yi.  he was afraid not for himself but for jign yi as well. maybe because things with love never did end well.

feng leng hadnt told jing yi about the event. he found it to be unnecessary for him to know and also ordered every servant from mentioning about it within the residence. he knew that jing yi would be heart broken if he ever found out about it. feng leng wasnt an airhead like jing yi, after that night feng leng had seen that jing yi had become more conscious of him. feng leng regretted his actions again because he thought that jing yi had become scared of him and was conscious because of fear. but as time went on, he noticed that jing yi was blushing more than before, and also his secretive glances at him.  feng leng found this things to be adorable and also that the fact of jing yi loving him blew him away. he couldnt describe the happiness. but the thought of pursuing this love made fengleng  shiver from the thought of the worst future. 

feng leng regretted how he was. he also didnt like how he was, but he couldnt be blamed for all of it. his past  kept him from loving jing yi the way he wanted to.

 jing yi wasnt aware that feng leng too had the same feelings for him. jign yi never found out about the reasons for feng leng's hugs and the soft kisses on his forehead. and only regarded that night as a mistake as claimed by feng leng.  

jing yi too wasnt fond of the feelings he had for feng leng. he never thought that he would come to love feng leng. the touch of feng leng from that night still caused jing yi to feel the faint sensations. he couldnt deny that he wanted more. he was even desperate for it but he knew that there was no future for them. feng leng probably didnt like jign yi and even if he did, his love for feng leng was never going to be enough. he knew that once feng leng found out about his true identity, his reality that he wanted to disappear, feng leng wont see him the same anymore. feng leng would come to hate him and that would be the worst. 

he would rather prefer to stay by feng leng's side and serve him all his life. so he had already decided to never disclose his feelings.

so, feng leng left for the 'banquet' after he had given jing yi a hug as he always did but this time feng leng lightly kissed jing yi's eyes which seemed to have become red and a bit swollen from crying. the gesture wasnt any advancement to anything sexual but just a gesture of love and care which feng leng could only show in such way. and maybe an silent apology for having never told jing yi about the selection of concubines. but the reasons weighed more than his guilt.

after feng leng left, jing yi was going to tend to the garden. he needed to water the plants. and just as he had finished watering them, a sudden force came to his neck and he fell unconscious right then and there not knowing the future that held for him.