Chapter 44: Chapter 44 – Opening Ceremony.

It did not take long to finish the canal after the battle. Xiulan was reclining in a chair having her hair meticulously arranged by one of the twins. Yin Ju, she thought. She had finally come around to asking their names but surprisingly they had none. It would be more correct to say that they could not remember them. For years they had lived in Temple Gorge only by the moniker ‘the twins’.

Xiulan had offered to name them, and they had been ecstatic. Xiulan called them Yin Ju and Yin Xiu. The Yin sisters were not only excellent spies but were surprisingly good with elaborate hair styles.

Princess Lijuan was sitting opposite Xiulan having her own hair worked on by Yin Xiu. “Qi Shen is almost family though. He has been my guard for years. I cannot believe he would do anything to hurt my interests,” said the Princess with a pout. 

Xiulan shrugged and replied, “I might be wrong but over those years he has clearly fallen in love with you. Love can often turn to hate or desperation if it is not returned. He certainly does not like me. He is scared that I will steal you away with my seductive nature.”

Princess Lijuan scoffed, “but he has always known I am a Princess. He cannot have expected me to fall in love with or marry him? I would always need to make some kind of alliance match. Besides I prefer woman.”

Xiulan chuckled, “when you were an aloof and untouchable beauty, he could probably reconcile himself to the barrier between your statuses. Now though if you end up with some common merchant with no status like me, then the equation changes. He is probably thinking, why not me? I have always been by her side!”

Xiulan finished her statement with a gruff imitation of Qi Shen’s voice. Princess Lijuan sighed, “I think he will understand. I will speak to him after the opening ceremony. I will not allow anything to endanger our partnership.”

Xiulan smiled and said playfully, “Our partnership, Princess, does not need to involve sex. We could be strictly business partners.”

Xiulan uncrossed her legs before recrossing them giving the Princess a tantalising view of her legs. Princess Lijuan blushed, “fine I will not let anything get in the way of ravishing you. Happy now?”

Xiulan laughed but relented, “okay Princess I will stop teasing you.”

Yen Wen interrupted the moment, sweeping into the tent the two were using to prepare. “There is an elder from the Silver Waters Sect here who wishes to see you,” stated Yen Wen adopting her best guard demeanour.

“Show him in Wen and you do not need to be so formal with me. I might be engaged to Meirong but you are all my lovers.”

Yen Wen shook her head, “The formality is not for your benefit. It is so that others note your status and importance. When I am on duty, I want to be a proper guard captain.”

Xiulan sighed, “just don’t keep it up in private.”

Yen Wen smiled and walked over to pinch one of Xiulan’s nipples, “do not worry Xiulan I will still dominate you in bed.”

Xiulan flushed at the sudden intimacy and looked over to see a grinning Princess Lijuan. Xiulan composed herself and snapped with joking petulance, “fine what goes around comes around I deserved to be teased.”

Xiulan felt Yin Ju pat her shoulder and knew that her hair was done. She was wearing her finest white and gold dress for the opening ceremony of the canal. As a finishing touch she was putting on her golden jewellery when Yen Wen returned with a hunched old man in Silver Waters robes.

The man was late into the energy focusing stage of cultivation but given his age it was unlikely he would break through to the golden core stage before reaching the end of his life span. Xiulan could use that.

“Elder Wu I presume?” asked Xiulan while putting in an earring.

The elder pursed his lips and said, “you are well informed miss Long.”

 Xiulan nodded, “it pays to be well informed Elder. I have a proposition for you it might help you win your battle with the Patriarch of your sect.”

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Elder Wu replied impatiently, “do not beat around the bush miss Long if I were not interested in doing business then I would not be here. The Patriarch is already planning revenge against you, so we better come to some kind of agreement quickly.”

Xiulan clicked her tongue, “This impatience might be what is preventing you from breaking through to the Golden Core stage. Luckily, I have a solution for that.”

Elder Wu Frozen. Xiulan continued, “You would be the first Golden Core cultivator in the Silver Waters Sect. Something I am sure is valuable not only to you but the future of your sect.

Elder Wu grit his teeth not in anger but resignation, “what do you have and what is the price?”

Xiulan clapped in delight, “a straightforward man. We will do good business in the future. I have soul calming seaweed. The main plant can be used for the breakthrough in your cultivation. Your sect can use a few pieces to start a seaweed farm in the Bay. My price is five percent of gross sales going forward and a guaranty that the Patriarch will not seek me out for revenge and an end to all hostilities between myself and the Silver Waters Sect.

Elder Wu did not think about it long before in said, “deal. When I become a golden Core cultivator the Sect will be happy to obey my wishes and the wishes of my friends in business.”

Xiulan smiled, “I will have the seaweed brought to you then. Try and keep the Patriarch busy until you have broken through. If I have to deal with members of your Sect again then relations between us will fray.”

Elder Wu nodded before leaving.

Princess Lijuan took Xiulan’s hand and shook it from side to side. “You know that the royal family only has one Golden Core cultivator as well right,” she chided.

Xiulan stuck her tongue out and dismissed, “not for long with my backing the royal clan will have more in the coming years and it will be sometime before the Silver Waters Sect settles all internal struggles.

“Ready?” asked Xiulan when she heard the growing noise of the crowd outside.

“Ready,” confirmed the Princess.

The two walked out hand in hand and ascended a platform. A massive crowd of Combine members were standing in front of the platform and Xiulan raised her hand to waved them to silence.

The crowd stilled and Xiulan began, “today marks a special day. For the first time, the west of the kingdom will be truly connected to the east. Your crops will sell for more and you will no longer have to pay taxes to Silver Bay to ship your goods to the Capital. More importantly this Canal will allow the Combine to grow, and more regular people access to cultivation.”

Xiulan let the crowd cheer before she gestured to Princess Lijuan. “This is Princess Lijuan. The canal and Combine would not have been possible without her support. She is the one noble who truly cares about you, her people.

Princess Lijuan stepped forward and gave a short speech about the prosperity of the people being the most important thing to her.

After some more waving Princess Lijuan declared the canal officially open and symbolically the first barge was allowed through to make its way to Temple Gorge.

As they watched the boat sail east Xiulan whispered in the Princesses ear, “this will be our first step to putting you on the throne. The people’s goodwill is a powerful weapon that your brother will overlook.”

The Princess squeezed Xiulan’s hand and whispered back, “we will need a lot more but it is a good start.”

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