The Rise of Phoenixes (天盛长歌) - Chapter 18 (Fanfiction)

Chapter 18 - Stripping a Prince Is Hardly a Good Idea

written by kakashi
edited by Bunny

**Note - I am going to follow the direction of novel in the next two chapters instead of the drama. Thanks to Ninja Reflection at https://ninja-reflection.com/ for the translations that I used as the inspiration for this chapter!

The palace grounds were much bigger than she had ever realized, but how could Feng Zhiwei have known when she was always so busy as Wei Zhi? Or, she corrected herself mentally, how could she even have come here as Wei Zhi when this area was reserved only for the women of the harem, their royal children and their servants.

Even the increasing gloominess of the weather could not spoil the beauty around her or silence the songs that wanted to bubble out of her. Tiansheng Kingdom may have been established by extreme violence, but walking in the serenity of its ample grounds, she could not imagine anything more peaceful. How many hours had she been walking? She almost felt like she had fallen into a trance or… she looked around herself in wonderment, what if she had walked through an enchantment shield put up by a fairy goddess?

Only when the temperature dropped markedly and the first heavy drops began to fall did she come to her senses. A loud clap of thunder had her jump in fright and she struggled to pluck a large lotus leaf from one of the ponds, holding it over her head as makeshift umbrella. Those leaves knew masterfully well how to keep themselves dry, but alas, that mastery did not extend to what was underneath them.

Soon, the rain came down hard. Almost blinded by it, Feng Zhiwei found herself stumbling into a compound with high, moss covered walls. She should be able to find some shelter here, she thought, shivering quite violently in her drenched clothes. There was a nasty wind that seemed to blow directly from the snowfields up North, bringing with it an untimely bite of winter.

A building appeared in front of her, looking ghostly and forlorn in the gathering mist. She squinted hard. “Yilan Palace”, a sign above the door read. She had never heard of this place before and it looked abandoned, but it was the only house she had seen in quite some time. Pushing open the squeaking gates, she entered, even though a voice in the back of her head shouted shrill warnings at her, as if it knew something she did not.

She had to walk much further in to understand why. In the inner courtyard, he was kneeling in the rain, completely drenched, shaking violently from the cold. Dumbfounded, she stalled her steps. How was it possible she would end up in the exact same place as him again? And why was he in such a state of disarray? Another shiver made her teeth chatter, but it was not only from the chill. Her heart filled with great unease when she saw the extreme paleness of Ning Yi’s face, so white his face shone sickly in the gloom, as if he had died and become a ghost. The only sounds she could hear was the unrelenting rain, her own frightened breathing and Ning Yi’s sobs.

Zhiwei couldn’t help but walk forward, wanting to do something, anything. “Ning Yi,” she called out, “Ning Yi, what is wrong?”

But her voice was too timid and another clap of thunder drowned it out so that it never had a chance to reach his ears. It was like the space between them grew larger with each step she took, as if yet another enchantment had been placed on this palace or on him, as if something, somebody wanted to keep them apart. Ghosts… she had heard the stories, there were haunted places here and now that she took another fearful look at the broken panels, the unkempt grounds, the debris strewn about, she had to conclude this was one.

“Ning Yi,” she called out again, but maybe it wasn’t Ning Yi at all, maybe it was a demon with his face, only waiting for a silly woman like her to walk into its trap so he could eat her. And yet, he looked so uncharacteristically pitiful, so in need of someone to help him up and bring him to safety, she could not turn around but had to rush to his side.

A short moment before she reached him, he keeled over and lay very still.

“Ning Yi!” she shouted and turned him on his back, checking for signs of life - he was breathing, but unconscious, not waking even when she shook him. Swearing in desperation, Zhiwei grabbed his limp arms, pulled him on her back and with much difficulty, amidst the pouring rain and the raging thunder, dragged his heavy body along a moss covered path towards what looked like the main building.

It took her forever to cover the small distance and she thought her back would break, but she eventually reached the doors and stumbled inside. It was blissfully dry, though very dusty, and her desperate eyes made out a bed across the room, with linens and a cover, as if whoever had lived here had just stepped out for a bit, only to never return again.

She could not have said how she managed that last distance, but she made it without collapsing herself, a miracle. Right before dumping the Prince of Chu’s body on that bed and be done with him, she hesitated. Like her, he was completely drenched. Her passage across the room had left a trail of water almost like a little creek and if she put him on the bed like this, he would just end up laying in a growing puddle and die, putting her entire efforts to shame.

After setting his body on a high chair, she stretched with a grimace and an extended groan. Her vertebrae righted itself with audible relief and she took a deep breath, just to sneeze violently from the dust that got into her lungs.

“I will make you pay for this,” she promised Ning Yi’s still form, but there was no bite to her threats, he looked much too pitiful. Grabbing some blanket from the bed and shaking it perfunctory, she wrapped him in it from head to toe before she fumbled for his hand to take his pulse.

Frowning, Zhiwei quickly realized that Ning Yi’s condition wasn’t as simple as getting rained on too much or seeing a ghost. Ning Yi’s body must have been harboring an old malady and it was about to get much worse if she couldn’t figure out a way to protect him from the cold first.

Standing in the dark room, Zhiwei raised her face to the ceiling to think for a moment. Apart from starting a fire, there was something else she needed to take care of. Pressing her eyes firmly shut, Zhiwei reached under the blanket again and resolutely began to undress Ning Yi.

Long robe, belt, outer garment, inner garment, pants, underwear… initially, Zhiwei’s movements were brisk but she soon slowed down as her ears turned bright pink and her own daring actions made her hands shake. A pile of wet clothing appeared on the ground. She peered through her eyelids. Judging by the size of the pile, the clothes that should be off, were off…and the ones that should not be off… were also off.

While pulling her hands out from underneath the blanket, shuddering at the feel of smooth, silk-like skin so cold it was like touching ice, Zhiwei froze briefly when her fingers encountered an irregularity. Curiously tracing it with her fingers, Zhiwei found it to be a scar, a very ghastly one at that.

This was probably the old malady that had caused him to fall unconscious. But how had he sustained such a severe injury? Slowly exploring it again, she found it to be long, wide and jagged, running across his entire torso. It must have been dreadful. He would have almost died.

Belatedly realizing what she was doing when her fingers reached the smooth part of his skin again, a red faced Zhiwei quickly pulled her hand back and stood there for a while with her back to him, gathering her wits about her. It was one thing to undress a prince, but so much worse to let her imagination run wild.

To distract herself, she first went over to the bed and shook the linen and cushions and blanket long enough to free them of the worst of dust. He was lucky they never had had too many maids when growing up, not many young women of her status would know how to make a bed! Turning back to him, Zhiwei savagely dried his whole body with a piece of cloth, imagining she was polishing some metal plate or mirror not to have her mind drift again. Then, she replaced the wet blanket on Ning Yi with the only other dry one, trying not to look at his body … and failing miserably.

She was not sure she would survive this day. Once he awoke… once he was back to his old self, his retribution would be brutal.

Her cheeks burning, she put him on the bed, less gently than would have been warranted given his poorly state. Using the blanket around him to forcefully rub a still unconscious Ning Yi’s body all over to encourage his blood circulation, Zhi Wei was eventually rewarded for her efforts when the sickly white in his face gave room to a more healthy color. Now sweating profoundly, Zhiwei frowned at him. He was still out, though breathing more deeply and regularly, like he was asleep. It was just so much like him. Bringing her so much discomfort while he was probably having a pleasant dream.

After searching around the room for things to start a fire, Zhiwei pulled out a brass basin from underneath the bed and lit one. The little source of warmth made her realize just how cold and miserable she herself was. Sighing heavily and suddenly feeling obscenely tired, she turned her attention to Ning Yi’s hair, which needed to be dried… and brushed.

It would help her get her mind off other things.

***

Ning Yi felt he was trapped in a dark abyss struggling to find an escape from the cold and stormy waters, dragging him down and under every time he was able to take a tiny breath, just enough to keep him alive. Struggling to the surface again and again, he began to think that drowning would be sweetest bliss, because it would put an end to his misery.

Why exactly that dreadful feeling stopped he did not know, but when he was finally able to open his eyes, the first thing he saw was a delicate hand brushing across his forehead, then disappearing from his field of vision to lightly tug on his hair. Raising his eyes in some confusion, Ning Yi could see the corner of a dainty chin and soft pink lips that seemed to glow brightly in a world that was completely grey otherwise.

He felt a source of warmth to his right more welcome than anything, just now starting to thaw the ice that had taken root in his bones. It was a fire and that presence, a woman, herself so warm she chased away the lingering fear of the dark, cold, endless torment of his dream.

Or… what if this was the dream?

His vision was blurry when Ning Yi looked around himself cautiously. Everything felt so familiar and yet so strange. He seemed to remember that years ago, there had been such a place with a person who had gently and carefully tended to him like this, had brushed his hair with the same brush, while singing him songs.

Foolishly, his heart instantly filled with an overwhelming joy. Had everything that he had thought lost returned? Dream or not, he never wanted to wake up from it.

Letting out a soft moan of longing, he grabbed the hand that caressed his head and pressed his face against it, inhaling deeply. It was warm and soft against his cold face, chasing the last shadows in his heart away.

Home. He had returned home.

“Hey, what...,” somebody whispered and the hand quivered ever so slightly, as if the person was contemplating pulling it away, yet feared the consequences.

Jerking fully awake, Ning Yi opened his eyes as wide as he could and blinked hard until he managed to focus them. The face that peered down on him from a strange angle was familiar and welcome, but not the face he had dreamt of just now.

“Why… why are you here?” he let go of Zhiwei’s hand and stared at her, unsure if he could trust his eyes. Where was he? What had happened? He did not like feeling this confused. Nor did he like feeling like he had barely escaped the Gods of Death. Suppressing a moan of pain, he tried to move and found himself extremely weak.

Snorting rudely instead of giving him an answer, Zhi Wei turned away to continue drying some clothes over the crackling fire. An outer robe, inner robe, pants, undergarments…

Undergarments…

Undergarments?

Jerking up the blanket, Ning Yi glanced down before immediately pulling it tightly around himself again, just as the shameless woman nonchalantly raised up the undergarments to check for wet spots.

“Pu… put it down!” he barked at her, but his voice was so weak it had no threatening effect at all, sounding more like a gentle whisper than anything else. Turning around to give Ning Yi a weary look, Zhiwei let out a sigh.

“Rest,” she suggested. “Don’t get worked up. You can think of punishment later. I am just making sure everything is dry before you put it back on. Soon there, see?”

Ning Yi shut his mouth to look on in silence until Zhiwei, satisfied with the result of her efforts, gathered up his clothes, folded them neatly and put them into a little pile on the bed, with the silky undergarments resting on top. The woman’s expression was completely innocent when it was clear she had stripped him when he had been unconscious and entirely defenseless. There was even a hint of shyness in her expression… but he knew her well enough by now to suspect she was greatly enjoying the signs of his discomfort.

Gazing upon her with rising resolve, Ning Yi could feel the crushing sorrow pressing on his heart dissipating. Letting out a sigh, he checked his own pulse and discovered with some surprise that despite his old ailments acting up with a vengeance, his health hadn’t worsened and he hadn’t caught a cold in that torrential rain. It seemed he had to thank her for it.

For the moment ignoring the pile of his clothes beside him, Ning Yi continued to stare at the woman busying herself with the fire. The storm rain had washed away the ugly color and blotches from her face and her hair had been loosened, falling freely down her back. Fascinated, he watched how it swayed when she moved, thinking he would like to touch it. And brush it. Ziyan always boasted about brushing his wife Dahua’s hair and loved to sniff his hands during the day, claiming he could smell her scent on them when he missed her.

When she came his way next, bending forward to take something from a chair behind the bed, her hair fell down and tickled the back of his hand. Feeling a strange fluttering in his stomach, Ning Yi grabbed a fistful of it and pulled rather hard just to relieve some of his confusion.

“You lousy t… stop it!” she cried and pulled it out of his grip resolutely.

Her voice was even gentler than usual with a hint of laughter in it. It made him feel even more confused.

No, flustered.

The word for what he was feeling was flustered and that wasn’t a word he had had to use for himself ever before. But then, it wasn’t every day he found himself naked after waking up in the presence of a woman who was fully clothed either.

Fumbling for his warm underwear, he put it on underneath the blanket, careful not to stick any limbs out into the cold. Then, Ning Yi finally got a good look at his surroundings.

“Are you burning valuable things in that fire?” he exclaimed in shock.

“You needed to get warm fast.” With her back to him, Zhiwei’s voice didn’t give any hint that she had picked up the displeasure in his. “No matter how valuable something is, nothing compares to staying alive.”

She sneezed.

Falling silent again, Ning Yi looked around some more and finally muttered after a long moment, “Nothing has changed… no wonder I was so confused.”

He started to remember how he had gotten here. Walking through the grounds, thinking gloomy thoughts, it seemed his feet had quite naturally wanted to go to the one place his heart was yearning for. But then, the rain had started and it had seemed to him he had seen a person walking in front of him in the rising mist, a familiar person. He had hurried after, not minding the rain that had pelted down like it was planning to kill him. Soon, he had thought he heard his mother’s voice, calling out to him. He had believed… foolishly and delirious already, that she was back, that she was only waiting for him to find her.

Ghosts.

So many ghosts in his heart, tormenting him when he let his guard down.

Pressing a hand to his aching scar, Ning Yi fumbled for the pills in his robe pocket and threw one into his mouth. They were very strong and might knock him out again, but he could not allow himself any weakness tonight.

“It is still day,” he murmured upon looking toward the window to check the light. A few more hours until they needed to be back, he guessed.

Zhiwei’s continuous sneezes caught his attention now. He saw that she shivered and her lips had taken on an unhealthy blue sheen. Not good. The draft in the room was considerable, he saw it from how the flames danced. After a short moment of hesitation, Ning Yi said “there is another basin in that corner over there. Start a second fire. Burn more things.”

“Now you give me permission?” Amusement in her eyes, Zhiwei looked back at him as he was struggling into a sitting position in bed, with the blanket still tightly around him. Damn this weakness. There was not that much time.

“I just don’t want you to draw suspicion by sneezing up a storm during tonight’s feast,” he scoffed.

She murmured something like “forever unwilling to simply admit what he is thinking” and he was quite glad to feel anger stir inside of him. That was a sure sign he was on the path to recovery. Of course, headstrong to the end, she did not even think of following his suggestion.

“I told you to get that other basin,” he snapped when she just returned her attention to her one meager fire.

“Do you really think I am your maid?” she murmured, but still, maybe because she wanted to humor him, she got up and lit a second fire, pulling the fire basin a bit towards the bed.

“Come here for a moment.” Ning Yi commanded.

Coming over, Zhiwei sat down by the edge of the bed, hands folded in her lap demurely. “Yes, Your Highness? How may I serve you next?”

What a mockery. Her eyes spoke of her own anger, flashing danger signals at him. Had she said he could think of punishment later? No, he’d rather do it right now.

Ning Yi pulled back the blanket and commanded sharply, “Get in, I will share half of it with you.”

Jumping up in an instant, her face turning the sweetest kind of red, Zhiwei stammered, “my hair is all messed up, I am going to go brush it.”

But before she could run away, he had launched forward, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her onto the bed. She was so shocked she forgot to fight him. Her eyelids fluttering nervously, Zhiwei lay stiff as a corpse, muttering “Your Highness, this is not proper.”

“Proper? What dirty mind do you have?” he scolded her, pulling her a little deeper into the bed, “do you think you are so beautiful that I cannot control myself?”

Her hand trying to grab onto the edge of the bed in a last futile attempt to avert the inevitable, Zhiwei dared to reply with quite some confidence, “Yes, I think I am.”

He wanted to laugh at her audacity, but he was getting seriously annoyed. Ning Yi pulled much harder, bringing her all the way next to him and then, looking down at her, started the next phase of his revenge with considerable glee. “How dare you speak nonsense when all you are doing is getting the bed wet while you uselessly grumble?”

“Grumble?” Zhiwei glared at him with outrage. “I am right to grumble, Your Highness, is this how you repay the one who saved you? How am I supposed to get married later if you do this!”

“Ha!” Ning Yi cried, “I do not want to know who taught you to think like this. I am offering you warmth because you are too cold, that is all. Marry?” Ning Yi’s anger surged even more and with a dangerous smile, he asked: “I guess all you can think of is becoming Helian’s bride!”

Returning an equally fake smile, Zhiwei retorted, “At least not yours.”

Her reply rendered him speechless. Biting his lip he momentarily felt blindsided. But he had never lost a battle of wits in his entire life and today would be not exception. She wanted punishment? He was good at that. Very good.

Finding new resolve he said “Either you take them off or I will. Either way, off they come.”

“Are you taking your revenge?” she squealed.

“What goes around comes around,” he said with a grim nod, “don’t you know better than to oppose me all the time?”

“A… all…. all of them?” she stammered and looked so pitiful that for a moment, he considered letting her off the hook. But only for a moment.

He would have liked to be the one getting to strip her, but she pressed her lips together defiantly, got on her knees, her back turned to him and took off the outer robe, draping it over the bed rails to dry. She had very shapely shoulders, Ning Yi noticed, and an incredibly long, graceful neck. No wonder, that hard head of hers needed a lot of support to stay up like this.

“Look away,” she said angrily.

“Most certainly not,” he replied and looked extra hard, even leaning forward for emphasis. She was starting to undo the ribbons on the front of her dress. The dress he had made for her. He had put an extra number of ribbons, thinking it would take her a long time to tie them all, which would be an annoyance for a practical person like her. She seemed to take an extra amount of time to open the extra amount of ribbons too, probably hoping he would get tired of it. But quite the opposite. There was nothing he enjoyed more than seeing how her hands slightly shook, how with each ribbon, her face turned redder.

Then, her hands were reaching behind her for the ribbons on the back. They stopped in mid air… and then disappeared.

“C… could you help me,” she asked, pulling her hair forward over her shoulder to give him easy access.

Two things went through his head at that moment. First, that somebody must have helped her put on this dress, which meant somebody had tied these ribbons for her. Had she come from Qingming or the Qiu Residence? If the first, had he mistaken her relationship with Huaishi or Nanyi? He would think about this later. Second, that she was probably thinking he would back down now because no Prince ever opened ribbons for a woman like a servant.

“With pleasure,” he said and moved forward a little, feeling even more glee. Had she really thought he was so easy to beat?

Eight ribbons down the back, five ribbons across. His fingers were used to handling fabric and without thinking much, they started to undo the first. When they reached for the second, he did become aware of his breath being a bit short. The third came with a rather unpleasant racing of the heart. Was he sweating? Probably the effects of the pill earlier, he thought as he undid the fourth.

Only when she halfway turned her head to look at him did he realize that he had walked into a trap, one he had no desire to get out of. The reflection of the two fires danced in her eyes and their warm light threw shifting patterns on her flawless skin.

It crossed his mind that she was right to think she was very, very beautiful.

Ning Yi forced himself to open all the ribbons, slowly, an exercise of control, breathing deeply to focus his mind on other things. It was entirely futile, because he did not want to think of anything else.

When he was done, he lifted his right hand and touched the skin on the back of her neck, where fine hair was moving every time he exhaled. She made a small sound, he was not sure what it meant. His fingers had moved on sideways already, to the back of her ear, tracing it up to the top and down on the other side. Outside, the storm raged on but even the clamor did not stop him from hearing her rapid breathing.

“What did you do to me when I was unconscious?” he whispered, finding his voice very hoarse and his head very hot, whether from the effects of a cold or from his attempts to pretend this was still her punishment, he wasn’t sure. The skin of her back was visible through the gaps of the fabric now that all the ribbons were open. His desire to touch it was overwhelming so he did with the tips of his fingers. Cold, she was too cold when he was burning so hot wet clothes would go up in smoke and flames if they touched his skin.

“I rubbed you dry,” she replied in a shaking, fearful voice, shivering violently several times. “Underneath the blanket.”

“And then?” he demanded to know.

“I… I touched your scar by accident,” she whispered, “please…”

“And then?”

“I wrapped you in a new, dry blanket. I really didn’t mean to look. I realize I should have left you with your underwear now, I am ready to take any kind of punishment for overstepping, but... ”

Her teeth were chattering and when he looked at her again, he realized that she was terrified of what he might do to her. At the same time, she would not allow herself to look away, she even shifted on her knees to face him, presenting him with another view even more enticing than the first.

“You were right,” he said and closed his eyes against the temptation. Too beautiful. Much too beautiful.

“About what?” she asked defiantly.

“The punishment. I will think about it later. I do feel…,” dizzy. He was extremely dizzy, the room had starting spinning.

“Just lie down over there,” he said, gesturing to the edge of the bed, “but make sure to get warm or you will catch your death.”

Without looking at her again, he lay back down, pulling the blanket around himself. He felt her move, heard the rustling of fabric, squinted… and saw she had taken off the dress, draping it carefully over the bed rails too, remaining only in her own underwear. What he could see of her skin was shimmering golden and the urge to touch it, all of it was growing at an alarming rate again

Ning Yi couldn’t help himself, he had to groan, a helpless sort of groan that had her turn around in alarm.

“Are you in much pain, Your Highness?” she asked.

“Don’t mind me,” he pressed out, even considering turning his back on her, but what use would that have been when his body was so attuned to hers that he felt every small quiver and shiver even at that distance.

She settled down eventually, obviously deciding to keep her underwear on, which he considered a small blessing in his current crisis. She lay there and shivered ever more violently because now she was in a state of undress but he was hogging the only blanket on the bed.

He cleared his throat.

“Here,” he said after a moment, peeling his body out of its comfortably warm shell, “here, have it.”

But as soon as the cold air of the room had access to him, he felt considerably worse. Miserable, he pushed to blanket over to her anyway. He would be fine. He had his medicine. Zhiwei moved a little closer to take it. Then a little closer still, making his heart race so fast he feared he might lose consciousness again.

“Wh.. what is it,” he stammered.

“We must share the blanket,” she said resolutely. “No need to pretend to be selfless, Your Highness, this is not the right time.”

Throwing the one end over him and the other end over herself, she wiggled around a little to find a good position and then lay still.

So close.

Not touching, which was a kind of torture he had not known existed, because in that small distance between his and her body, a longing grew to extinguish all reason.

“Please don’t be mad,” she whispered after her shivering had stopped. “Be lenient for once, Your Highness. I don’t think I deserve any more punishment.”

“That is for me to decide,” he retorted gruffly, thinking that only a very foolish person would not realize in time that he was punishing himself instead of the other person.

“Please sleep a little,” she whispered, “I will wake you up in time.”

How many more hours? His head swimming, his body hurting all over, Ning Yi was not sure whether he wished for it to be many or for this torture to be over in the blink of an eye.

Chapter 19