Chapter 620: Ceasefire for now
‘Alright, fuck it. Nepherage, Frosttusk, I need you two to hold back the prince. Razorstella, Hurricroak you two will-‘
[May want to hold back on that, milord.]
‘Huh? Why?’
[Princess…on…the…move…]
[She is about to rip a dude’s head off.]
[Correction, she’s about to rip her brother’s head off.]
[Y’all… y’all seriously don’t notice? Godsdamn.]
_____________________________________________
“Brother Yang!”
“Huh? Xiao Ren?!”
Just as Prince Jinju Yang and Patriarch Zhen Shi were about to throw hands, Princess Jinju Ren proceeded to angrily stomp towards the former.
Surprisingly, the prince ended up retracting his aura and put on a significantly more docile demeanor once the princess got close enough.
Amongst the curious crowd of onlookers, several of them ended up sharing looks of understanding with one another. All of these people had siblings, more specifically, younger ones that were…a bit strong-willed. In other words, they knew exactly what was going to happen next.
Especially since it was the 24th prince who was trying to explain himself, instead of trying to discipline his younger sister.
“Wait, my darling sister, I can explain!”
“You promised me and mother that you wouldn’t pick any fights during the Sapling Festival, especially when we’re guests of the Zhen Clan!,” Jinju Ren scolded. “So why are you trying to pick a fight with this member of the Zhen Clan?!”
“Technically, he’s an exile and the so-called ‘patriarch’ of a side branch,” someone in the crowd clarified.
“Yeah, and I’m starting to get more and more proud of that title by the minute,” Zhen Shi confirmed as he shouted back towards the direction that comment came from.
The royal siblings, however, ignored this comment and continued on with their discussion…or rather, Jinju Yang was doing his best to justify his actions while Jinju Ren was not having any of his shitty excuses.
“I didn’t pick a fight with that ba-old guy. I was merely defending myself when he assaulted me!”
“Oh, bullshit!,” Jinju Ren and Zhen Shi said almost simultaneously. The former looked shocked at this verbal coincidence and paused as a result. This in turn gave the latter a chance to explain his side of the story, and damn Jinju Yang even further.
“You’re the one who picked a fight with me when you decided to casually name drop my wife and the ‘lovely’ nicknames that had since been bestowed upon her by members of her own family. What was one of the ones you shared with me? A blind bottom feeder?!”
“GASP!”
As soon as this nickname was shared, practically everyone in the room looked positively aghast.
“Whoa!”
“Oh no, he didn’t.”
“Well, shit. If I heard someone call my spouse that name, I’d probably rip their heads off too.”
Jinju Ren in particular looked rather shocked as she stared at her older brother for daring to utter this phrase in the first place.
“Seriously?!,” she hissed at the man who was supposed to be her eldest and an example.
Evidently, despite being a dragon-blooded royal, he looked positively sheepish at the moment.
“I was merely making conversation…”
“…”
_____________________________________________
[Wait, I’m confused. Why is the term, “blind bottom feeder”, having such a negative reaction?,] Spring Brawler asked his fellow kaijin and Zhen Liu.
Zhen Liu for his part was doing his best not to react negatively to Jinju Yang’s words, more so than necessary, which meant that the task to explain why this particular nickname was so heinous was left to the kaijin to explain…or at least, the unenviable task of explaining was now left to Logos and Pathos since the kaijin weren’t too sure either.
=To put it bluntly, Tide Tongue is incredibly reliant on the usage of tone marks when speaking, similar to how the Asiatic languages of our lord’s previous world function. Hence why some of the graphic novels you have all been reading mark the number four as being unlucky for sounding like the word for “death”.=
[Okay…,] the kaijin agreed with slight understanding.
=Keeping this in mind, the term, “blind bottom feeder”, sounds incredibly similar to a sentence that implies-wait, are the children hearing this right now?=
=Ah. In that case-=
‘That fucking lecherous lizard, as grandfather called him, just said my late grandmother was a cheap prostitute that worked exclusively with disease ridden animals,’ Zhen Liu interjected after having to hear his mental companions beat around the bush about the double meaning of the words being used, ‘and it is taking practically every fiber of my being to not run up to that guy and kick his gonads directly into his throat.’
[Oh.]
[Oh…]
[Ay caramba.]
[Now that’s just nasty.]
[Wait…how does “blind bottom feeder” share the same letters for “diseased beast whore”?!]
‘FUCKED IF I KNOW!’
_____________________________________________
“Now that we have established the reason why I want use his guts for garters, do you mind if I-”
“Alright, that’s enough of that,” Zhen Xun Tian finally interjected, “both of you need to cool it for the time being.”
“What?! But he-”
“Of course, matriarch,” Jinju Yang suddenly said in an incredibly respectful tone.
“And can I say I-”
“Ah, bababa,” Zhen Xun Tian interrupted with a not-so pleased expression.
“Your tin-plated tongue has already gotten you in enough trouble, so you’re going to be quiet as I lecture you. Understood?”
Jinju Yang was just about to protest about being treated this way despite being a son of the Pearl Scale Emperor, but closed his mouth once he felt Zhen Xun Tian’s aether temporarily spike. He swore he saw the spectral hand of a giant covered in runes appear but only for a second.
Once the room was quiet once more and Zhen Xun Tian had the floor, she began to explain as to why she had stopped this fight early.
“While I normally would allow people to fight to their deaths for my own amusement on my territory, I will not tolerate it being as a result of painfully obvious goading. If you want to fight Xiao Shi here, then do it properly and challenge him to a duel like a reasonable warrior, otherwise, take it outside and give the rest of the city a reason to toss you into the wandering ruins.”
‘What the fuck?,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself as he heard the main clan’s leader’s reasoning. He had long since figured she was the violent/insane type, he just didn’t expect the veneer of politeness mixed in.
“Now then, I don’t expect either of you to apologize for what had been said/done to each other, but please save it until after the Zhen Clan competition tomorrow. Consider it a ceasefire.”
“That…fine.”
“Yes, matriarch.”
“Good.”
Both Jinju Yang and Zhen Shi proceeded to relax their guards and retract their respective auras. Several members of the onlookers let out audible sighs of relief as the pressure released by the two old veterans suddenly disappeared as quickly as it came.
“And with the implementation of that ceasefire, I’m now going to declare this banquet is over,” Zhen Xun Tian announced.
“Tomorrow is a big day for the young warriors and I’d prefer if they had a good night’s rest beforehand. I wish you all luck.”
“Well then, branch clan! Move out. We’re heading back to our hotel,” Zhen Shi quickly announced shortly after Zhen Xun Tian.
Technically, as members of the Zhen clan, the branch clan had the right to spend their evening in the Blessed Willow Manor, aka, the main homestead for the Zhen Clan.
However, the branch clan had precisely zero desire to do so due to the unfriendly atmosphere from their fellow clansmen this evening, the almost battle between their patriarch and the 24th prince and the fact that that the aforementioned prince was staying at the manor as well.
As such, the branch clan wanted to get the fuck out of there as quickly as possible. Of course, there was still a little to say goodbyes.
“Looks this is the part where my family and I leave the party,” Zhen Liu told Jinju Ren.
“Sorry for my grandfather, I didn’t expect-”
“Oh, no no no!,” Jinju Ren interjected, “I should be apologizing for my brother’s behavior. He’s normally more polite but…I don’t know.”
“No no, I get that.”
Shortly after this exchange of apologies between Zhen Liu and Jinju Ren, the latter left the area with his family and headed back to Cozy Maple Hotel.
On the way back to the hotel though, several members of the branch clan made a quiet little wish.
That this…spat…at the banquet was going to be the most exciting thing to occur this evening, and that the rest of the night was simply peaceful sleep.
Evidently…that wasn’t going to be the case…until Zhen Liu detected something on the way back.
‘Hold up…why do I feel several people watching me?’
