"What? Who are you?"
"Younger brother does no longer remember his elder brothers?" A low voice was heard from the right side of the room. Sitting on a chair, An Feng was also woken up by the ruckus.
"Ho..how? Wh...why? What!?" The surprise made Ai fumbled on her words.
"An, not only did this person stepped on my precious bottom but she damaged this treasure of a body by kicking it! I must repay this!" The lying corpse was grimacing in pain.
"Who the heck are you?" Hung over with 2 strangers in her room, it would have been a miracle for Ai to be able to maintain polite manners in these circumstances.
"Younger brother Ai, he is Ming Xia, the famous philandering 2nd son of the grand tutor and our sworn brother. " An explained calmly unperturbed.
"What happened last night?!!? I have faint memories..." Suddenly, Ai's eyes lighted up with shock, her hand pointing in An's direction.
"YOU CAN SP.. hmpff!?!" Immediately, Ming Xia jumped and muzzled her mouth with his hand.
"Only us brothers knows. Shut your trap!" Ming Xia added ruthlessly. An's secret has been protected for 10 years, they couldn't afford for it to spread.
Though she understood the importance of being discrete, Ai disliked being manhandled thus she bite Ming's palm in retaliation.
"Ooouuch... he dared! If you were a girl, I would have already forced you to take responsibility and cough up compensation! You definitely would not be able to walk for 3 days..."
"Be quiet! Someone is coming." An hearing the approaching steps warned them.
"Brothers I brought breakfast!" A male voice joyously spoke.
As he opened the door, Ai sword was already on his neck, ready to strike.
Both An and Ming were surprised. The young man was nearby the bed and in the blink of an eye, he appeared next to the door. Superhuman speed, they never saw him moved!
"Peace! I come in peace! An, Ming are you going to let our little brother commit a fratricidal sin?"
Ai attention was distracted for a moment and that was sufficient enough for the new uninvited guest to disarm her while ensuring the food would not spill.
"Woah... that was dangerous! Luckily the food is safe!" He sighed in relief.
"Who the heck are you?"
Another stranger joined the lot. By the look of it, last night must have been wild. Ai suddenly panicked. All this time, she had not been paying attention to her dressing. She quickly pat herself. Luckily, the tissue bands she tightly bound around her chest were still in place, as well as the bean bag that was tied around her waist and tights to further complete the male impression.
The gesture did not escape the eyes of the gentlemen in the room.
"Are you looking for something?" said Ming.
"Just making sure I am not in a nightmare..." replied Ai on a sarcastic tone.
She then went to sit on one of the chairs in the room on a very manly fashion.
"Now, what happened last night? Why are you all in my humble room?" Ai recalled drinking at the banquet but not much afterwards.
"We drank, younger brother insisted to go to the Golden Flower to enjoy the dance of that famous courtesan, so we went and kept on drinking. We came back here because younger brother wanted to become sworn brothers with us and we drank some more. I am guessing we fell asleep. Here, eat this sobering congee and have some meat buns to jog your memory back." The newcomer explained while putting the food on the table in front of Ai.
Ai stared at him then at the food. This new guy was dressed quite expensively, his martial skill was very good, his identity was definitely not simple.
Seeing Ai standing still, Ming was quick to reassure her.
"He is the concubine-born son of the right prime minister, Yang Jiang. Don't worry the food is not poisoned. "
Yang bowed and added : "At your service!"
Ai was thinking that men friendship was quite simple: drink with them, go cultivate flowers and then you become sworn brothers? The heir of the Jianghu alliance, the son of a grand tutor and the son of a prime minister, quite unexpected. More opportunities for her, Ai granted them a wide smile.
She then stood up, cupped her hands and bowed deeply.
"Elder Brothers, it's Ai's good fortune to become brother with you. Ai is of low origins with no great accomplishments, underserving of this grace. Ai is nonetheless extremely grateful. Please give guidance in the future and forgive Ai for the lack of manners."
All the young men were very pleased. Their newly acquired brother seemed to be able to distinguish between right and wrong and was able to show humility. When they saw him performed at the Peach Blossoms gathering, they knew someone that exceptional could only help them in their cause and thus had to try to rope him in. Against all odds, it's the young man that voluntarily approached them. Still, they needed to observe him a bit longer before truly letting him in.
They then ate the food heartily while discussing unimportant matters before parting ways.
The day was still young and Ai had not had the time to explore Capital City since she came so she headed out to visit a bit more. Capital city was large and populous with plenty of normal and exotic shops. Its location was nested at the foot of a mountain and crossed by a large river. The imperial residences as well as grand temples were built on the side of the mountain. Scattered through the city, neighborhoods were developed. Forgeries and weaponries neighborhood, the merchants square where one could find in the open market, fine clothing and accessories shops as well as inns, taverns and restaurants and simpler stalls or the literate corner where the study halls, libraries and shops for calligraphy paper and tools were. There was also the red light district where flowers (courtesans) where being cultivated.
When she left C* kingdom, her Master had specifically told her to look for the "the Fragrant Blooms", a specialized tea shop where one could also sit and enjoy the view. Her Master had not given any other clues besides the name of the shop. Ai initially thought it would be in the merchants square where her inn was located. So she strolled the alleys that made the open market and walked by the streets where restaurants were. She had no luck. After walking the whole afternoon and asking different people if they knew of the shop, her research yields no results. No one ever heard of the shop. She was in no hurry to find it. For now, she should just focus on her main objective.