Forevermore

The Ling’s compound was quite impressive considering General Ling was not a noble himself. It was grand, but not sparkling with gold or made from jade. Instead, it was a stylish yet elegant estate, where it looked more of a magnified model made by hands of an experienced sculpture, piecing it with striking details, instead of real buildings that could be built into reality. Ye fanned his face as he entered without any difficulty after he gave his name to the servants as they had assumed he was another contestant, which was correct.

For now.

Pasty white walls—which surface was smooth without any cracks—bordered the houses in a perfect rectangle, isolating the Ling’s compound from the crowded town; the cinnabar red tiles covered roofs were arranged in the typical ways of two extended bends curving inwards at the top, which never ceased to amuse Ye despite he had got used to this unique fashion. The houses look new, clean without any fading color or destroyed corner, indicating the owner refurbished them frequently to keep the compound in good condition, and his wealth for affording this and the classy compound itself.

The second most eye-catching thing in the compound was the amount of people. As soon as Ye stepped foot into the main house, his view was filled by young men of fancy clothing. Voices of these enthusiastic contestants filled his ears with their chatting. Some were more excited than the others, while some were playing chess or admiring each other’s achievements in studies and creations like ink paints and poetries. Regardless of the how different these young men acted, Ye could feel the eagerness radiating from them. He surpassed the urge to smirk at the naivety. Children would always be children; although they were considered as adults in among the human, they were still far from being mature. Ye could only shake his head at this.

‘I didn’t know you were interested in this too, sir!’

Ye quickly recognized the voice, which belonged to the particular young man that he had only converse with just a few minutes ago. He smiled at the sight of that familiar yet special shade of green as the young man stood from his seat and approached Ye.

‘I just figured I should give it a try,’ Ye said. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t all of the truth either. ‘I’m not married yet, and from what you’ve told me, the Ling’s daughter seemed to be an ideal wife, don’t you think?’

The other male grinned, nodding in return. ‘Indeed. I’m rather surprised that you aren’t wedded though. From I’ve seen, you have both looks and money, and most likely intelligence too, so won’t there be countless girls fancying you?’

The Dragon King chuckled at the question with amusement as scenes of his memories flashed in his mind as answers. Each and every time he had a ‘vacation’ on the surface, he was sure receive the young girls’ awed gazes. He was born to make every female he came across breathless; it was his job, his duty. His very presence called for attention; when he breathed, he demanded adoration. It wasn’t his fault that he was the most handsome creature in the world. Ye smirked a little, once more admiring himself.

‘Of course there is,’ he said, thinking about all the love-struck expressions he had seen over the years, centuries even, though none had yet captured his attention more than his citizens in the East Sea had. ‘It’s just that none have sparked my interest.’

Unexpectedly, the human nodded as if he understood what Ye meant. He must have had the same situation, Ye decided, since rarely would anyone agree with him on this. His twin brother, Ao Guang, would have given Ye an annoyed look and called him an egoistic jerk before leaving him alone with his work.

‘True. Feelings are such strange things…’

Ye could tell there was someone, to be specific, a girl, in the young man’s head as he commented on Ye’s reply—-an obvious sign of being in love. Though Ye himself had not experience it before, he could still distinguish the different light in one’s eyes. Curious, what was he doing here then? This was a trial for choosing a husband for General Ling’s only daughter was it not? If he had someone in mind, then…Ye mused, and came to the conclusion that the young contestant wanted to make whoever he was in love with to be jealous and force that girl to confess her love for him. Well played, Ye shook his head.

Remembering the other reason for coming here, Ye interrupted the man’s train of thoughts. ‘I still don’t know your name, sir.’

Flicking his slightly dreamy gaze to Ye, the human realized he was just asked a question. ‘Oh! How inconsiderate of me. My name is Li…Qing Yu,’ he answered with a shaky smile, but it became firm and genuine before long.

‘It’s a good name,’ Ye noted, though he also notice how Li Qing Yu hesitated when he said his name. There were only two reasons, Ye thought. Li Qing Yu could be someone very famous—or infamous—thus he feared how Ye would react, but unfortunately, or fortunately in the human’s case, Ye was not a human and therefore had never heard of this name.

The second reason—and the more reasonable one, in Ye’s opinion—was that Li Qing Yu was an alias. The boy paused only after he spoke of his surname and before his given name. From that, Ye assumed ‘Li’ was most likely his real surname, but with ‘Qing Yu’, that was a different story. Though he had to admit, ‘Qing Yu’ was certainly talented. He wasn’t sure could he, the East Dragon King, have think of a nice name such as that on spot.
‘And you?’

‘Ao Ye,’ he replied, resuming in fanning his face, which he had stopped a few minutes ago without knowing, probably when Qing Yu called him. ‘So, when will the trial begin? I thought it should have started by now judging by the way you were running like a headless chicken.’

Qing Yu gave a brief chuckle with slight embarrassment. ‘Actually, it has already begun,’ he responded, ignoring Ye’s mention on his clumsy act on the street and their little accident on purpose.

‘It has?’ Ye echoed, clearly puzzled by Qing Yu’s answer. He surveyed the room again with his sharp eyes of an immortal’s, yet the result was the same as he had looked around the room for the first time: the young, eager contestants were chatting among themselves or doing recreational activities leisurely. ‘The General wants a sociable son-in-law?’ he asked after Ye settled with no answer of his own.

‘You are very humorous, Ye,’ Qing Yu laughed at Ye’s respond, failing to realize Ye was not joking. At which, Ye could only react by smiling politely while being annoyed by Qing Yu’s thoughtlessness secretly. ‘Hopefully the Ling young miss will think that too, since the first trial is to have an audience with her, individually.’

‘An audience with General Ling’s daughter?’ Once more, Ye was surprised by how the General designed the trial. Although not a land dweller himself, Ye was certain that it was unheard of. In the mortals’ society, male was superior to females and children were to demonstrate absolute obedience to their parents in the way akin to how the citizens would show to the emperor. On top of that, it seemed too easy. She had been a mystery to everyone, and now they could see her simply because of this?

‘I know, it sounds bizarre, right? But I think it shows how much General Ling cares for his daughter, and wants her to be happy instead of marrying her to a random guy she has never met and lives unhappily as his wife for the rest of her life,’ the young male explained to Ye. ‘And General Ling orders that every contestant must not speak of her to anyone else, just like how the servants are forbid to.’

‘And should anyone fail to do that?’ Ye challenged, fully aware about how nosy humans were and how little resistance they had against rumors and attention.

‘Well, I’m not sure either,’ Qing Yu frowned, as if pondering for a possible consequence. ‘But I guess you’d need to prepare your own coffin…’

Scoffing at his words inwardly, Ye changed the topic, leading it back to the original direction. ‘What would the audience be about?’

Pausing to find the answer, Qing Yu’s frowned turned deeper, evidently he did not find a satisfying answer. ‘I suppose it depends on your luck.’ Upon hearing another useless reply, Ye crooked an eyebrow, his perfect suave façade slipped. ‘I’m sorry,’ Qing Yu apologized since Ye’s discontent was clearly written on his face. ‘But nobody is certain about it, even General Ling himself. He said there was no time limit, and the topic for the audience depended on his daughter completely. She could ask the basics like your name or family, or your opinions on everyday life issues, or test you in your knowledge in arts, music, books, or a game of chess. On top of that, you have to give a good impression since she decides whether you can stay for the next round, or leave.’

‘You sound like a host instead of a contestant,’ the immortal commented off-handedly. Qing Yu sounded too confident, like he was sure that he would win without a doubt. Could it be a jest to show how precious the Ling’s daughter was? They could’ve made Li Qing Yu the intended suitor, while the rest were clowns who foolishly volunteer themselves to compete. They would lose, naturally, and it would highlight how exceptional General Ling’s son-in-law was. This could explain why the kid described everything with extreme details to Ye, as it would not affect him in marrying the Ling young miss.

‘Ao Ye.’

Turning his head, Ye saw a teenage maid stood at the end of the room. She didn’t smile, like his maids at the Crystal Palace, instead her lips were pulled back, in spite of how slight it was, creating a frown that was unnoticeable to most, but visible to Ye’s flawless vision. Apart from her age marked her difference from the majority of the servants in the estate, her clothes was different too. It was more colorful and seemingly of higher quality, nevertheless, it was suited for a servant’s. Perhaps she was the personal maid of the mysterious young miss.

‘The young miss will see you now,’ she spoke with well-trained manner, her voice soft yet dripping with strong distaste. ‘Please follow me.’

Ye closed his fan with swiftly, and nodded to Qing Yu as a temporary farewell. When he turned back to the girl, she had already started walking. He could barely catch sight of her as she turned at the corner. Without further delaying, he hurried through the room and reached the corridors. In spite of the small steps she took, her pace was quick and rushed, as if she was trying to lose Ye, thus preventing him from meeting the young miss.

The situation was getting stranger with each passing moment. The young miss of the Ling family—the prize—was a secret misted by heavy fog, which lifted suddenly; the General cared for her so much that he would ignore tradition; Qing Yu, an ordinary contestant, held unnatural high confidence, like he was convinced that the young miss would choose him for certain. All of this would have added up according to Ye’s first theory of an antic, however the young maid’s attitude had overturned everything. It would have benefited the Ling’s if he joined in this trial, but there she was, trying to get rid of him in a subtle way.

Past the door leading to a garden, and presumably to the young miss’ quarter, Ye had finally reached the young girl’s side, walking beside her. He glanced at her for a split second, studying her facial expression. She didn’t bother to hide her dislike. It was plain, whether it was for her task or at Ye, he couldn’t tell. Although Ye attempted to distract himself through appreciating the delicate designs of the corridors and the beauty of the perfectly organized plants in the garden, he was disturbed by the way how she paid no attention to him, or worse, hated every second she had to spend with him, like she was wasting her time on someone worthless.

Unable to take the awkward silence and dying to know the answer of her perplexing dislike she had for him, Ye blurted out the question, ‘Why do you hate me?’ You should be worshiping the ground I walk on and be stunned by my good looks.

She gave no response to Ye, her lips sealed as she carried on leading him to the young miss.

He wouldn’t give up just yet. ‘If I had offended you before, I apologize, but I don’t recognize—’

‘I don’t hate you, sir,’ she interrupted Ye.

The reply relieved Ye a bit. At least he wasn’t hated, not to mention by reason he had no idea about. Encouraged, he pushed for a better answer. ‘Then why do you—’

Giving no chance for Ye to finish his inquiry, she stopped him in mid-sentence once more. It was considered rude, though she seemed not to care for it. ‘I merely loathe the likes of you.’ Just as Ye opened his mouth, ready to ask her to elaborate, she said the words that shut him up effectively.

‘We’re here.’