Phoenix Rising

014

"You like that girl?" Nansheng asked after Zi-ning had disappeared out of the shop. He folded his arms and leaned against the counter, tilting his head towards Jongdae with a bemused smile on his face.

"She's interesting," the crown prince replied, his fingers absentmindedly fiddling with one of the brushes on the rack.

"Interesting enough for you to marry her and make her your wife?" Nansheng continued probing, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

The fifth prince Ru-an was wandering about the shop aimlessly, running his fingers along the clean sheets of parchment that had been rolled up on the shelves. He was still listening to the conversation between his older brother and Nansheng, though he made no effort to participate. Instead, his mind drifted back to the pristine features of the girl that had been in the shop earlier and the way her soft strands of hair had delicately framed her face.

He had noticed her back at the queen's garden party, even though he hadn't said anything then. Han Zi-ning—how could he not have noticed her before? She was different from all the other girls who were only too eager to impress them and throw themselves at their feet.

Zi-ning was a strange one.

Although she had obviously been trying to stand out by painting that willow, her behaviour afterwards had been oddly contradictory. A girl who was trying to impress the queen and the princes would have tried her best to shine in front of them, yet when she was called forward all she did was to stand there quietly with her head bowed down, as if none of this concerned her at all. And then there was her response towards Ru-quan earlier. Any other girl would have been over the moon if they received a gift from the crown prince, yet there was no happiness in her expression whatsoever. She had even tried to reject him.

Was she merely trying to play hard to get?

Han Zi-ning was an interesting one, that was for sure.

"Perhaps," Ru-quan replied with a wink, "although I think Mother will have something to say about that. She seems to have her sights set on Minister Ouyang's daughter."

"Ouyang Sangya?" Nansheng shrugged. "Not surprising. Sangya is an excellent choice for crown princess, isn't she? Minister Ouyang has a lot of influence in the court and Lady Ouyang's family isn't a pushover either. Sangya herself is one of the most outstanding young ladies in the capital—beautiful, talented, eager to be the next queen. The only other girl who might match up would be Song Lanfang, but I'll bet the queen would rather have you marry a donkey than marry Consort Song's niece."

Ru-quan shot him a look of disdain. "If you like Ouyang Sangya that much then you can marry her yourself. Once I get back to the palace I'll ask Father to issue the marriage edict."

"Oh no, no, no," Nansheng protested, shaking his head vehemently. "Leave me out of this, I take back everything I just said. I don't think I could handle a girl like her." While Ouyang Sangya was all those things, she was also well known to be quite the spoilt brat, since she was the only daughter in the family and everyone treated her like a precious pearl. "In fact, I think I will never get married. Imagine being tied down by a woman for the rest of your life? What a horror."

Ru-an laughed, walking over and slinging his arm across Nansheng's shoulder. "I don't think your mother would appreciate you saying something like that. She's been pestering you to marry a girl and produce some grandchildren for her soon, isn't she?" he quipped.

Nansheng scowled. "Thanks for the reminder," he muttered. As the eldest son in the family, his mother invested all her energy into nagging at him round the clock, reminding him constantly of the importance of carrying the family name.