Little Merman part 2

Part two :

The sound of buzzing noise hit Lu Cang's sense of hearing as soon as he regained consciousness.

Last night, after drinking the potion, the unbearable pain of extreme transforming had caused him to faint on the shore of the lake. His naked body was laying prone on the shore until this morning. When a passers-by accidentally saw him and thought he was dead the passers-by screamed and attracted many people to come and see. Their murmurring noise had caused Lu Cang to come to his consciousness.

His head was still in a daze, his eyes were still a bit blurred, but it was the noise that was torturing him. It was actually too loud for him who had a very sensitive sense of hearing due to living in the depth of the sea for all his life, he couldn't help but cover his ears to obstruct the too loud noise.

For Lu Cang who was used to live in the depth of the sea, it was only natural if his senses were much more sensitive than normal human. His eyes could see better and farther, his instinct was sharper thus his reflex was much better, less to say about his sense of hearing, he could even hear the softest of whisper from far away.

"Oh. He is awaken. What a relief. I thought he was killed by some bandit mountain and his dead body was thrown into the lake......"

"But why is he naked?"

"Someone, quick, get something to cover his body."

Very slowly, Lu Cang tried to lift his head to look at his surrounding. When the crowd saw his face, all of them gasped in unison. Lu Cang's extraordinary handsomeness was still carrying his merman mysterious charm. All the people who caught sight of his face was as if forgotten to breathe and looked at him with their jaws dropped.

While looking at the curious faces which were surrounding him, Lu Cang was a little bit afraid. In all his life, he had never straightforwardly faced these many humans at once, in such close range. He usually only watched them from a distance. After getting himself used to the human's presence, he eventually could feel that now he had the same form as the human. A pair of legs instead of tail. However, being a sea creature all his life, he was unaware that his state of nakedness was causing quite a lot of bloody noses around.

Trying to get up, once again Lu Cang had to cover his ears from the noise, the female spectators were all shrieking excitedly while covering their eyes. An old man quickly covered his honey colored body from the sight with a layer of grey cloth. Lu Cang was rather uncomfortable with the grey cloth as the fabric was too rough for his sensitive and soft skin but he didn't complain.

"Young man, what happened to you? Why are you in this condition, laying naked by the shore? Were you robbed? "

By this time, Lu Cang had completely regained his consciousness. He threw his line of vision to his surrounding again. His glittering big eyes were shining in such fascinating way, not only the females, even the males must admit his unnatural charm in this certain moment. Most of them silently cursed the old man for giving this fascinating man to cover his breathtaking figure.

"How long will it take if I want to go to Capital?" There was no time to waste, Lu Cang must quickly go to the Capital, his time was only a year if not less. Without any regard to the peculiar looks the people gave him, the first words he uttered were to ask for direction to the Capital.

His voice was extremely pleasant to the ears, although his demanding tone could be said as rude, yet, nobody felt offended by his straightforward manner of speaking. In fact they were enchanted.

"Capital is a good ten days travelling by land." The old man who gave him the quilt answered him with a brimming smile on his wrinkle old face. "Where are you from? Why do you want to go to the Capital?"

"Who want to go to the Capital? You? " From the crowd, a man with a big build stepped out and bluntly asked Lu Cang, saved Lu Cang from the need to answer the kind old man's question.

Lu Cang was still sitting on the ground, he still wasn't used to his newly gained feet. He felt the two limps were still too weak to stand. While still holding on to the quilt, he lifted his head to look at the bulky and seemingly crude looking man and nodded his head.

"Then you are lucky. I am also heading to the Capital. You can come with me as long as you pay a fee... To cover for the travelling cost, of course." That crude man quickly added when he sensed the dark aura coming from the crowd.

The crowd gave the grinning man their disapproval eyes. How could this rough man take advantage of someone who seemed to have lost everything. Moreover, they still wanted to feast their eyes on this mysterious man's charming face who seemed to appear from an unworldly realm. It would be such a shame to loose sight of him in such short time.

But Lu Cang was unfazed by the stranger's ethics. He dug the soil under his body and took out an old box. The box was not too big, but also not too small, and though it looked old, it was actually made of the best wood in this world. ---Before parting, Ding Peng had given him a box of pearls, saying although the pearls were mere playthings for them, but in human realm, the pearls would be highly valuable treasures.

Taking out a pearl from the box, he nonchalantly gave it to the man. "Is this enough?"

Once again the crowd gasped in unison upon the sight of the pearl.

This pearl was a sight to behold. Under the sunlight, it shone beautifully, radiating seven shades of enchanting color.

Such a rare pearl. Of course the crude man would be grinning from ear to ear to receive such a handsome payment.

"More than enough, Big Brother. I will take you to the Capital. Leave everything to me. Call me Cao Xin." The man professed his name as Cao Xin very quickly changed his attitude towards Lu Cang. He addressed Lu Cang as Big Brother right away. Without wasting much time, he ran to his carriage which he left by the lake side. He took out a set of fine material clothing and gave it to Lu Cang. To the crowd dismay, he stood with his back in front of Lu Cang as a screen to allow Lu Cang to dress himself in private.

As the carriage left with a gush of dust, the crowd all sighed in lament.

------

The journey to the Capital was smooth sailing. Having Cao Xin as his travelling companion was actually rather useful even if at first Lu Cang was extremely uncomfortable with Cao Xin as his company. ---with Cao Xin's talkative nature, he gave a lot of useful information regarding the human's realm to Lu Cang.

This Cao Xin, not only had a rather crude appearance, his voice was loud and extremely annoying, he talked nonstop to the point where Lu Cang almost kicked him out of the carriage had he not remembered that he had to rely on this man to bring him to the Capital.

But Lu Cang was a very adaptable creature. After two to three days, he eventually got used to Cao Xin's loudness. Especially after he found out that this loud man, despite his crude looking face, was actually a very soft hearted person. Once, they encountered an injured deer during their journey, Cao Xin was crying loudly while he treated the poor deer's wound. It was such a refreshing sight to see a man with a face of a tiger but having the heart of a kitten. Humans never ceased to amaze him.

"Big Brother, why do you want to go to the Capital?" A little bit ashamed for talking only about himself while Lu Cang only listened to him silently, Cao Xin felt the need to casually throw Lu Cang a question or two once in a while.

"To meet an acquaintance." There was a melancholy tone in Lu Cang's voice, but how could this insensitive Cao Xin realize this, instead, he nodded his head and continued to talk about himself.

"Oh. I see. As for me, I want to visit this said to be the best brothel in the world. The Tonghua House. Rumour has it that their girls are even more beautiful than the celestial beings. I have been curious to see them since the first time I heard about them. After saving up for a long time, I finally have enough money to go to the Capital to see them myself." Seeing that Lu Cang didn't even show the slightest interest or ask him about this fantastic place, Cao Xin felt that he should perhaps change topic. Something unpleasant must have happened in the past to cause his new Big Brother's lack of interest.

"Big Brother, who is your acquaintance?" Glancing to his side, the handsome man already pursed his lips tightly, didn't have the tiniest intention to answer him.

Since the first day of their journey, Cao Xin had been used to Lu Cang's silence. It was only one question answered although Cao Xin had asked him a thousand questions. Yet, his attitude didn't discourage Cao Xin even the slightest bit. There was a pleasant air surrounding this mysteriously charming man beside him, and for Cao Xin, simply having someone to listen to his random rumbling was already more than enough.

With this kind of circumstances, Cao Xin doing most of the monologue while Lu Cang was as if not listening but actually listening, ten days had passed. Before their eyes, the high walls of the Capital were towering proudly.

"Big Brother. We have arrived. That is Tong'an, the Capital. The bustle and the rush indeed three folds more than Hangzhou since people from all over the world would gather in this place to sell or buy things." The pride in Cao Xin's voice was as if he was the one who built Tong'an. Lu Cang slightly shot him a sideway glance and saw that he was grinning from ear to ear.

Even from this far distance, Lu Cang already could hear the buzzing noise from behind the walls. He needed to find a way to block this noise, otherwise, he might go crazy from the excessive sound. Also, he needed to see Jing as soon as possible. He needed to find a way to retrieve his Bead from Jing.

"Brother Cao, if I may know, how to find the Imperial Family in the Capital?"

Unexpectedly, Cao Xin laughed so hard upon hearing this question.

"Big Brother, seeing the celestial flowers of Tonghua House is ten thousand times easier than seeing even the shadow of the Imperial Family. Not only they live inside the Forbidden City with the lofty walls surrounding them, the security is extremely tight, even a mosquito wouldn't make it in without being notice." Cao Xin exaggeratedly replied.

"One even said, the chance of you seeing a ghost is much higher than the chance for you to see member of the Imperial Family." Cao Xin continued with his ridiculous metaphor when he saw Lu Cang was looking at him with such doubtful eyes.

"AH!" Suddenly, out of the blue, Cao Xin made a loud surprised shout. Seemingly he was reminded of something. Lu Cang couldn't help but cringed at the sudden loudness near his ears. "Big Brother, if you want to enter the Forbidden City, then you are in luck. I heard that this year, the Emperor is unusually being generous as to select new guards and soldiers from commoners. Anyone can sign up and if they pass the test, who knows, maybe they can become part of the inner Palace Guards. They can then see the Imperial Family as often. If you have the ability, why don't you try to sign up for the position? Who knows, you might be lucky enough to be chosen!" Of course, to be an Inner Palace Guard was not something that could be achieved by mere luck. Cao Xin was telling that in a manner of joking. He didn't know that Lu Cang would take his words seriously. Lu Cang's eyes were glistening upon hearing this valuable information.

Seemed like Lu Cang was truly blessed by Heaven. It was such a rare opportunity, of course, he would happily try his luck again.

"Take me to the selection arena." For now, he must first get into the Forbidden City before anything. Cao Xin was taken aback by Lu Cang's determination and he didn't have the heart to tell his Big Brother the truth. He cursed himself inwardly and prayed to the Heaven above that Lu Cang would succeed in his quest.

Before parting, he gave Cao Xin another two of the pearls as his gratitude. Cao Xin literally moved to tears when he received the pearls. With these pearls, he undoubtedly would be able to sell them for a huge amount of money and he could use the money to comfortably live in the Capital. He was truly blessed to have met this Big Brother of his.

After having Cao Xin took care of all the paper work needed for the registration and said all the unnecessary farewells, at the present, Lu Cang was standing in the middle of Qing Wu Arena. Amidst the sea of tough looking men who harbored the same wishes in their hearts as Lu Cang, to be the Imperial Official, though their intentions and Lu Cang's intention were totally different. Even so, they must compete against each other in order for them to be able to enter the Forbidden City.

As the Crown Prince, Jing certainly would reside inside the Forbidden City. And if Lu Cang wanted to see him, getting into the Forbidden City would increase his chance.

The requirement to be soldiers or guards was not at all as hard as Lu Cang had imagined it. Relying on his top notch reflexes, even if he knew nothing regarding fighting, Lu Cang could easily cope with the other experienced fighters. And after some times, he even could copy their movements and learned how to use his inner strength. With this newly developed ability, passing the test was a breeze for him.

In the end, there were about five hundreds fighters that passed the final round. They were all lined up for the final selection from the Great General himself, General Mu Yue.

From the five hundreds, only a hundred would be selected. Lu Cang could only wish the Goddess of Fortune would keep favoring him and let him be selected to be a guard in the Forbidden City for only Heaven knew what kind of selection method would be used by the fierce General.

He was kneeling and eanestly praying that he didn't realize that the crowd had all stood up in attention. Only when he heard a soft chuckle in the crowd that he finally realize his situation. He quickly stood up and didn't dare to lift his crimson face at all. All along only looking at his own feet. Ninety six fighters had been selected. There were only four spots left. The chance was getting slimmer for Lu Cang to be selected, especially after his just now clumsy blunder. ---He could feel the cold stare from the General even from far away. He stood his grounds and tried not to quiver.

Right at the moment when General Mu was standing in front of him, scrutinizing him, Lu Cang was lowering his head to pray when the General suddenly seemed to be called by someone.

"General Mu, how is the selection going?"

A familiar bright and pleasant voice fell to Lu Cang's sense of hearing. This was the very voice he heard a year ago. Jing's voice.

Before he knew it, he had lifted his head to look at the man in white, approaching in light and elegant steps to the place where he and General Mu Yue were standing rooted.

"Jing!" He was extremely delighted to see Jing. Didn't expect to see Jing this soon, out of surprise, he called out in the softest of his voice, hardly audible, but for Mu Yue and the approaching Jing, it was crystal clear that he was calling out to Jing's name.

"INSOLENT!" Following Mu Yue's loud furious shout, a loud slapping sound raised and filled the air. Everyone quickly lowered their head, didn't dare to look directly at the furious General. From the corner of their eyes, they could see the crouching on the ground Lu Cang upon that ruthless slap. Lu Cang was totally shocked by the sudden and violent attack, he didn't know what he had done wrong to deserve it.

The stinging pain from the slap was so severe that blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth, but it couldn't be compared to the excruciating pain in his heart at this moment when he lifted his eyes. ---Jing was coldly looking at him. There was no warm nor compassion in his stiff and stern cold eyes.

Out of boredom, Jing came out from the Palace to check on the progress of the selection. Since Mu Yue was his most trusted Subject, he actually didn't need to personally come out, but he also wanted to amuse himself, hence he went out of his way to come to this arena in commoner's clothing. But who could have guessed, there was someone who actually dared to call out to him.

"Who are you?" Who was this extremely impudent man? Jing had never seen him before, but the delight in his eyes upon seeing Jing, and the pure excitement in his voice were like he had known Jing for a long time. Jing couldn't help but extremely annoyed.

This was actually Jing's reason for not showing his real face to the peasant. Although since long ago he had been used to the admiration eyes of the people upon his extreme beauty, but still, their reactions were always the same. However, none of them had addressed him in such familiarity, to the point of calling his forbidden name. This brazen act couldn't go unpunished. Jing simply looked at Lu Cang with his despising eyes.

That cold voice, that cold and distant tone, even colder than the iceberg, pierced Lu Cang straight in his heart, leaving a big hole on its wake. He refused to show any weakness in front of this man no matter how much he had longed to see him.

Squeezing his urge to strike back, Lu Cang very slowly stood up. He looked at Jing with such eyes while wiping the trace of blood from the corner of his lips. His emotion rapidly changed from hurt to sadness, from sadness to anger, from anger to hate, swirling like the typhoon. The Lu Cang at this moment had completely forgotten Ding Peng's words regarding the curse placed between the mermaids and mermen with the humans.

Instead of answering to Jing's heartless question, he looked at him with a challenging manner. His heart was consumed by the extreme disappointment for Jing's distant attitude.

"How dare you!" Once again Mu Yue raised his hand to land another slap on the insolent commoner. As Jing's Subject as well as his childhood friend, Mu Yue had always earnestly safeguarded Jing from any insolent behaviour. Especially from men who were mesmerized by Jing's beauty. And this man looked like one of them.

"Stop. Don't dirty your hand with something unworthy."

'Unworthy?'

Lu Cang almost couldn't believe his ears. He was deemed as unworthy after he saved him from the storm and gave him his Bead of Life. This cold and heartless Jing, was he the same person as the kind and playful Jing he met during the storm? His face was still the same heavenly unrivalled beautiful face, but his attitude......

"I shall send him to the dungeon and punish him for his insolent behaviour." Mu Yue was signaling the guards to come and take Lu Cang to the prison to receive his punishment, but once again, Jing stopped him.

"No. Let him be the Inner Palace Guard."

"Your Majesty!" Mu Yue cried out in alarm upon Jing's seemingly reckless decision.

"Just do as I said!"

At a flick of his wrist, Jing dismissed whatever Mu Yue was about to say.

There was something about this man that piqued his interest. The man seemed to know him. In his life, Jing rarely made contact with any commoners, but why did this man's eyes tell him that he knew him? He even called out to his given name. Had he ever mentioned his name to a mere commoner before?

After he ascended the throne a year ago, right after returning from his voyage, there was hardly anyone who called him by his forbidden name anymore.

And a surge of foreign sentiment floated up in his heart from seeing the handsome man's eyes. It was as if he had seen that pair of black eyes before. But he couldn't remember when or where. This very thought alone annoyed him to the utmost. Yet, he couldn't just let him go. For some unknown reasons, he had to keep him by his side.

Looking at his number on the list, although obviously unwilling, Mu Yue announced Lu Cang as the Inner Palace Guard. The three fighters who secured the last spots and the other ninety six fighters before Lu Cang could only look at him enviously, none of them gained a position higher than Lu Cang's.

With this result, in this unexpected circumstance, it could be said that Lu Cang got what he wanted in the end. To enter the Forbidden City as the Inner Palace Guard. 

A step closer to retrieve his Bead of Life.