Just as Mai had predicted, dusk was already settling over the landscape by the time they reached Shu Jing.
“Are we here already?” Ty Lee had been leaning against Mai’s shoulder and dozing for quite a while.
When she felt the carriage stop, her big eyes immediately opened, and she stretched like a silly, adorable little cat.
Mai gently pulled aside the window curtain, revealing a sky painted in hues of brilliant gold as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Hearing Ty Lee’s voice, the guard responsible for driving the carriage immediately spoke up.
“We have arrived in Shu Jing, Princess.
However…” He trailed off, hesitation evident in his voice.
“However what?” Azula asked, a brow arching sharply.
She had forced herself to stay awake the entire journey simply because she refused to lose a test of endurance to Mai.
The guard replied cautiously, “It’s just that His Majesty once gave an order that no Fire Nation soldier is to disturb Piandao’s manor within a five-hundred-meter radius.” Azula already had a temper, and now she was especially sleepy on top of that.
Naturally, she could not endure it.
She immediately ordered the guard, “Is there anywhere in the Fire Nation that I, the princess, cannot go?
Drive the carriage in.” Oh boy…
For a moment, the guard did not know what to do.
On one side was the current Fire Lord’s military order.
On the other was the direct command of the princess in front of him.
He was instantly caught between them.
Fortunately, Mai spoke in time and rescued the guard from his predicament.
“Don’t make things difficult for him.
Five hundred meters isn’t far.
We can just get out and walk a few steps.
“If we force our way in, Prince Zuko and Ren will both be put in a difficult position.” Azula glanced at Mai.
As always, Mai’s attitude was cold and indifferent, and her emotions could not be read.
“Fine.
Then I’ll personally pay a visit and see just how grand this master swordsman thinks he is, daring to make me come to his door myself.” Although Azula was very displeased, she was still willing to give Mai some face and display her tolerance as a leader.
She was the first to jump down from the carriage and walk forward.
As for the unfortunate guard, he would likely be discharged upon their return under the pretext of stepping out of the carriage with his left foot first.
The three of them soon arrived in front of Master Piandao’s manor.
Hearing the knock, Fa opened the door and calmly looked at the three girls.
“How can I help you?” Azula’s personality was forceful and domineering, but ordinarily, she did not reveal her true nature.
Because she was good at observing and clever enough to know what to do in order to achieve what she wanted with the least effort.
At this moment, facing Fa, Azula bowed obediently.
“Hello.
I am Zuko’s younger sister, and these are Ren’s friends.
It has been quite a while since we last saw them, and we missed them dearly, so we took the liberty of paying a visit.” Although Fa looked cold and unapproachable, his manners in dealing with others were not lacking in the slightest.
Even though Azula was just a child, he politely cupped his hands together to return the gesture.
“In that case, please follow me.” Ty Lee hid beside Mai, secretly glanced at Azula’s back, then shrank her head back behind Mai again.
She felt that Azula’s ever-changing personality was truly too frightening.
Fa led the three of them to the training grounds, but his brows knit together slightly when he found it completely deserted.
Still, he knew better than to think the boys were slacking off; neither Ren nor Zuko possessed the type of personality that would shirk hard work.
Noting their discarded jackets draped carelessly over a nearby stone bench, he realized they must have headed to the waterfall to wash up.
This was hardly the first time they had done so.
Fa turned and said to Azula and the others, “The two of them should be by the waterfall.
You may rest in the hall first.
I’ll go find them and bring them back.” “The waterfall?” Azula was a little puzzled, not knowing what those two would be doing at the waterfall around dusk.
She immediately said, “We’ll go with you.
After all, I truly have missed my brother after not seeing him for so long.” Fa was instantly somewhat troubled.
After all, they were girls.
But after thinking about it carefully, Ren and Zuko were both very proper people.
When they had gone to the waterfall to rinse off before, at most, they had only removed their upper garments.
It should not be a major problem.
Besides, Azula’s request was quite reasonable.
A younger sister wanted to see her older brother sooner.
Stopping her from doing so would be a bit excessive.
… Just as Fa had expected, Ren and Zuko were indeed rinsing off by the waterfall.
This had mainly been Ren’s idea.
Back in his previous life, he had seen many film and television works where the protagonist trained by meditating beneath a waterfall.
In any case, it looked very cool.
Ren had wanted to recreate it as well.
But after he lost his footing once and nearly got swept away by the waterfall, he became honest.
Movies and dramas were all lies.
A waterfall’s impact was that strong.
Aside from the Monkey King, who could withstand it?
“Ren!” Just as Ren and Zuko were working together to wring out their clothes, a bright and cheerful familiar voice reached his ears.
Ren instinctively looked up.
Standing there from left to right were Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee—along with the manor’s chief steward, Fa.
Ren first gave Ty Lee, who was waving and greeting him, a small smile in response.
At the same time, Azula’s gaze swept past Zuko and fixed on Ren.
Her folded hands unconsciously loosened.
At this moment, the setting sun still had a little lingering radiance left, dyeing the boy’s well-defined upper body with the pale orange color of twilight.
His damp, medium-length black hair had been casually brushed behind his ears, revealing the faint outline of his collarbone.
Looking further up, his refined profile was perfectly outlined by the afterglow of dusk.
His brows and eyes were slender as willow leaves, and his clear, clean blue pupils turned lightly, like ripples moving across a mirror-like lake and spilling into a young girl’s heart.
The thought she had held earlier of teasing him suddenly disappeared.
Instead, she felt that all the weariness of the journey had been worth it after seeing something so beautiful.
After a long while, seeing that no one had responded to him, Ren could only put away his already somewhat stiff smile and scratch his head to hide his awkwardness.
“Why are you all here?” The illusion shattered instantly.
“Well, um, while you were gone, we all thought things were really boring, so we came to see you,” Ty Lee said, somewhat guilty as she shifted her eyes away.
Mai still wore her usual cold expression, impossible to read.
Her gaze wandered around, as if she were looking at the scenery.
But the sky was almost dark.
Was there really any scenery left to see?
Azula stepped forcefully in front of Ty Lee and Mai, reached out to cover their eyes, and glared at Ren.
Her small face was slightly red, and she looked extremely displeased.
“Before you speak to us, could you put your clothes on first?
Have you no shame at all?” Ren’s face darkened.
“You’re the ones who suddenly came over, aren’t you?
Besides, the two of us are only shirtless.
Why do you make it sound like Zuko and I are running some kind of illicit business?” However, under Azula’s threatening glare, Ren quickly learned a universal truth: never try to argue logic with a girl, especially not Azula.
Ultimately, Ren and Zuko exchanged a helpless glance.
Seeing the clothes in their hands that still had not been fully wrung dry, both of them felt rather helpless.
Still, they draped the garments over themselves, planning to change into dry clothes after they returned.