The Emperor's Concubine

Chapter 8

Entering the room, Lixing Ji landed his eyes on Fortune who was lying on the bed in pain.
"What's going on here?" He asked moving towards her and the maids quickly got on their knees.
"Nothing much! Just got a cramp that's all!" Fortune answered so nonchalantly.
"Cramp?" Lixing Ji said sitting by her and she nodded. "Why would you get a cramp?"
"Its nothing, really." She tried to smile but the pain wouldn't permit her.
"It doesn't look like nothing." He glanced towards the trembling maids and asked "Did you forget to give her food?" His face looked so stern that they didn't even dare to look.
"A... Apologies, your highness. These servants deserve punishment!" Rei said still trembling.
"Yes, punish us for neglecting the needs of mistress." Lynne added.
"What are you saying? Why are you saying that?" Fortune scolded them and turned to look at Lixing Ji "Don't listen to them, okay? Am the one who delayed their work." She said "Since I don't know much, I wasted the time asking questions so, it wasn't their fault at all."
Lixing Ji glared at the maids and Fortune noticed it. She thuged at his sleeve.
"What's with that you expression? I said it was because of me, okay?" She insisted but he still didn't utter a word. "Fine! If you want to punish them so badly, then punish me instead. And I mean if you really want to punish anyone, cause I hat punishment so let's just go with forgiveness" she somehow managed to smile but the smile was so ridiculous that Lixing Ji could do nothing but laugh.
"You have a great sense of humor for someone who's in pain." He said giving way to a cool smile.
"Hey, don't mock me!" Fortune frowned and looked away.
In a moment, the cooks brought her food. Lixing Ji gestured the maids out.
"You're still so sill, little girl." He said setting the food before her.
"Hey, I told you not to call me that!" She snapped and then clutched her stomach tightly. Lixing Ji noticed this and smirked.
"You better eat something if you want to fight with me." He said
"Haha! Just you wait, when I get my strength back, I'll see to it that I stick you royalty to your face." She bragged and got stuck. She stretched her hands to pick up the chopsticks but couldn't get through. The cramps held her down and so she gave up.
"What's the matter?" Lixing Ji asked seeing her like that.
"No big deal. I can't eat on my own so I won't eat." She said
"Then what about your cramps?"
"I won't just go out. Besides, there's no school, no chores, no worries."
Lixing Ji knew he couldn't leave her like that. He had put it upon himself to take care of her while she was still under his care, what would he do about her. After a moment of thinking, he sighed wearily and picked up the chopsticks.
Seeing this, Fortune quickly reacted.
"Hey, hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?" She said "When I said I wasn't eating, I didn't say you could eat it."
"Am not!" He stretched the food he had picked up towards her mouth.
"What are you doing now?" She glared at him and moved her eh s to the food in front of her.
"I don't want to do this either but, its the only way to get rid of your cramps. I can't have you lying on my bed every now and then."
"You make some sense!" Fortune nodded.
'Some?'
"Bit I don't agree. The only male who has ever fed me is my grandpa. Other than him, no one else." She shook her head and then a thought hit her "Come to think about it, I don't really relate to boys so often. You my friend, are indeed a lucky boy. You're the first boy I actually talk to without adding a few insults hehe." She snickered but Lixing Ji stared at her indifferently.
"And how am I do lucky to gain your attention?" He asked without interest.
"Well, huh... You're the first person I saw after entering this world, so I cherish that." She said with a little trace of red on her cheeks. She didn't look at his eyes and didn't know exactly what he thought.
Just like that, Lixing Ji stuffed the in her mouth.
"You're as silly as you look, do you know?" He watched her as she battled with the food in her mouth. "Whatever reason you have for calling me lucky is up to you. All I know now is that you're under my care, and I will do all I can to protect you." He said with a stiff expression and as she swallowed, she said;
"You're a real psycho for saying that."
"But am still the emperor!" He claimed and kept feeding her.
'What is wrong with me? Just now when he said the thing about protecting me, I felt a little bit happy. Is that normal?' Fortune got post in her thought that she didn't know when the food got finished.
"I want to know something." Lixing Ji said jolting Fortune from her thoughts.
"Hm?"
"You knew the person who released those birds right?" He asked
"What about it?" She asked in response
"Why didn't you report her?" Fortune raised her head and sheered. Such a question wasn't worth answering but, she had to answer but not quite.
"That's the way I do things. My stuffs aren't messy." She answered but Lixing Ji was confused. "I won't explain, all you need to know is that I didn't want to." She simply said and he nodded.
"I wont ask you about that anymore but, I still want to know about how you controlled the birds." He requested.
On hearing that, Fortune giggled and placed a finger across her lips.
"Its a secret!" She winked.
Lixing Ji stared at her. There we're so many things that he didn't know about her and it felt like such a girl was interesting.
"There are a lot of things I know, I know almost everything so if you ever need an adviser, am available.
"Really? " he stared at her with doubt.
"Are you doubting me?"
"I don't see why I shouldn't." He shrugged his shoulders.
"I'll show you!" She got her bed from you he corner and took out her phone "Luckily, I always take pictures of the moments all through my life, hmph!" She switched on her phone and was glad that the battery worked but there was no reception at all.
'What is she planning to do now?' He thought.
"Take a look at this." She shoved the phone in his face then drew it back immediately.
"What is that?" He asked starting at the phone.
"Its a cellphone but you wouldn't know about it even if I explained, so just listen up." She pointed at the screen and said. "This was when I was 14. I climbed a mountain with my grandpa and his friends."
"You climbed a mountain?" He looked in disbelief
"Its right here on the screen. It was scary at the beginning but as tine passed, I was able to overcome the fear and climbed it bravely." She swiped the screen and showed it to him. "Here was when I was practicing archery."
"You're good at archery?" He looked on astonished.
"Yes of course! She looked up proudly "This was me in a hire racing competition." She swiped the screen "Oh, and this was my first day at Ju jitsu practice."
Lixing Ji looked carefully and noticed her swollen cheeks.
"What happened to your face?" He asked.
"Oh! I got beat up so badly because I failed yo obey the rules and follow instructions." She said nonchalantly.
"Hm, serves you right!" He mumbled
"Nothing! Carry on!" She shot him a glare and continued
"This was when I entered music class. I learnt how to play almost all the instruments there."
"Then I'll be looking forward yo you playing the zither."
"Please, where I come from, there are hardly zithers available and so I don't know how."
"Its easy!" He said
"Well, now that I think about it, a zither might be like a guitar and I don't have to stress myself in such a situation." She smiled. "So in that case, am looking forward to it."
Lixing Ji could do nothing but stare at her and wonder how she was so optimistic. Just a moment ago, she was in pain and now she looks like nothing had happened to her at all. He shook his head and asked;
"Is there anything you don't know how to do?"
On hearing such a question, her expression darkened and she looked down.
"There is one thing." She raised her head. "I never learnt how to swim."
"How come you don't know how to swim? Did you forget about that in your Los of life activities?" He asked but she only shook her head.
Sure enough, there were things that Fortune didn't want to remember and at such age she shouldn't even worry of the past but, how can she forget? How can she forget about the cause of her parents death? Although, she couldn't remember a thing because she was still too young. No memories of them had reduced the humiliating feeling she had all through the year. Seeing a complete family had something's made her jealous and sad. Forgetting and acting cool was the best antidote but, such an antidote didn't work for so long.
Lixing Ji was a bit confused. This was the first time seeing her with a swollen face since she arrived.
"I... I actually didn't learn how to swim because... my parents died at sea!"