Riluo City (Blue Phoenix Book 1) Read online

  Prologue

  Hui Yue closed his eyes and turned his face towards the window. The warm wind was flowing gently through his messy hair. Summer was coming to an end. A tranquil smile was evident on his handsome face as he opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings. Happiness was the only word which could describe Hui Yue’s current feeling.

  Hui Yue noticed two girls who were intently staring at him while they were whispering together. A cheeky smile appeared on his face as he enjoyed the cuteness of the two girls while he waved his hand at them. This instantly caused them to giggle and wave back.

  Their cheeks turned crimson. They acted as if he was some kind of celebrity, making the young man chuckle slightly with happiness.

  Hui Yue, remembering where he was, gave an apologetic smile to the two girls still openly staring at him. Hui Yue would not mind flirting with the two of them. Nonetheless, he knew that classes were about to end, and he could not help but smile. It melted the hearts of the girls and their faces flushed with an even deeper crimson colour than before as they quickly went on their way. One could say that they were trying to escape from their embarrassment.

  Hui Yue was used to behaviour like this. He had grown up in a wealthy family and both of his parents were beautiful people, passing down their genes down to their only son.

  Hui Yue had eyes as dark as the moonless midnight sky; they seemed to contain as many secrets as the universe itself. Girls would feel as if their souls were exposed to them as they were attracted to this mysterious feeling.

  Those shimmering dark eyes hid beneath a slightly messy fringe. Hui Yue’s hair was shoulder length, and he usually tied some of it up while leaving his fringe hanging; this gave him a slightly mischievous and youthful look. His black hair and dark eyes were in sharp contrast to his pearl white skin and perfect physique. In fact, most men would admit that Hui Yue was a beautiful man, which often caused everyone who saw him to instantly take a second glance to ensure they had not seen an illusion. His appearance caused both admiration and envy amongst his peers.

  Hui Yue was grateful to his parents for his good looks, but more than that he appreciated all the resources and possibilities he had been given from them. From a very young age he had been given anything he had wished for, whether it was games, toys, books or home tutors. These resources had helped Hui Yue achieve his current level of knowledge and understanding.

  All in all, Hui Yue was very satisfied with his life. He had every reason to be with good looks and a good education. He stood up and gathered his things before f leaving the university for the day. Everyone he met in the corridors greeted him, professors and students alike. Proud of the recognition, Hui Yue smiled back at all of them.

  Suddenly footsteps started to approach him from behind at a rapid speed, clearly someone was running;however, before Hui Yue had the chance to turn around two hands had already landed on his shoulders. The culprit jumped onto his back forcing Hui Yue into giving them a piggyback ride.

  Nevertheless, Hue Yui was not surprised. Rather, the familiar feeling of the two small hands on his shoulders caused Hui Yue to smile in content; he turned his head and looked straight at his childhood friend Li Fen.

  Seeing Li Fen always aroused a storm to occur within Hui Yue as his feelings for her were doing their very best to burst out. Nevertheless, no matter how fierce those feelings were and how much they raged inside of him, Hui Yue forcefully subdued them and behaved as if the storm of his passion did not exist.

  Li Fen was the only person that Hui Yue treated differently.he was his special person; though, only he knew it.

  “Hey!” Hui Yue said with a voice filled with joy. This joy was always bubbling within Hui Yue’s chest whenever he saw Li Fen, and when he was able to spend some of his time with her. It was a bubbly feeling which he had experienced for the first time more than ten years ago prior to this day.

  They had grown up together as neighbours, gone to the same day-care and kindergarten. Throughout their years together, they had been the best friends who shared everything with each other.

  Well almost everything. Hui Yue had loved Li Fen for as long as he could remember, but he had never been able to tell her how he felt. He was very well aware that she did not share his feelings.

  Hui Yue had no doubt that Li Fen loved him. Unfortunately, the love was equal to that of a family member, and although it had caused him great pain in the past it was something which he had overcome. Currently, Li Fen was the happiest Hui Yue had ever seen her, and he had no wish to destroy her world by confessing his feelings. Instead, he had accepted that his love would stay unrequited forever.

  “Will you be training today?” Li Fen asked with a melodious voice. A relaxed smile appeared on her face, making her face shine like a beautiful sun. This caused the bubbling feelings within Hui Yue to increase.

  “No, not today.” Hui Yue said gently.. He decided to change his focus to the girls whom were looking at him with dreamy eyes, imagining they were Li Fen. Those looks always made Hui Yue think of the irony. These girls wished to be the one girl who had no romantic interest in him.

  Hui Yue practiced wushu; he practiced barehanded combat, short weapons, and long weapons. He enjoyed how the training would allow him to solely focus on his body and on progressing rather than the one woman with whom he wished to spend his life. Also, he found that the feeling of improving his physique step by step was immensely satisfying. This had caused his usual days to consist of training, studying, and spending time together with Li Fen.

  “Going to meet up with Han Xia?” Li Fen asked with a cheeky grin on her face, which caused Hui Yue to sigh deeply. While Hui Yue was busy reminiscing about his emotional struggles all Li Fen worried about was Hui Yue’s girlfriend.

  “No.” He shook his head, “She broke up with me a few days ago.” Li Fen looked at Hui Yue’s face and couldn’t hold back a small giggle as the man in question didn’t look the slightest bit sorry. Even after countless of different girlfriends Li Fen showed no signs of having noticed Hui Yue’s feelings.

  “The usual?” Li Fen asked carelessly with laughter in her voice. She was casually looking at Hui Yue who nodded, followed by his reply.

  “They say that there is no point in being with me if I am always busy with training or studies and don’t take care of my own girlfriend.”. Hui Yue repeated what his previous girlfriends had told him so many times before that he now knew it all by heart. Li Fen giggled once again as he did not sound sorry at all; both knew that he had a lot of girls to choose from after all.

  The only girl that Hui Yue truly liked was Li Fen, however if he was not dating anyone and a pretty girl confessed to him, he would not hesitate to accept. He was a young man after all and living a life of abstinence was not something he was keen on.

  “Well then,” Li Fen said while her smile widened into a grin and she grabbed Hui Yue’s hand, “Come shopping with me before we go back home!” She started moving towards the city centre before giving Hui Yue the time to answer as she knew he would never say no to anything she asked of him. Instead he laughed helplessly and obediently followed suit.

  Although Hui Yue might have placed his girlfriends second to training and studies, Li Fen was in a different league from those two and he would gladly study less if it meant spending more time with the love of his life.

  Hui Yue was standing outside a lingerie shop and felt quite uncomfortable as people were walking by. Li Fen had dragged him here as their first stop in their shopping spree, but as Hui Yue was a man it was quite inappropriate for him to enter a shop that specialized in female lingerie. It would embarrass other customers that were present along with Hui Yue himself.

  Hui Yue sighed
and leaned against the wall while quickly killing the jealousy he felt roaring inside of him. He did not mind going shopping with Li Fen, and he would have been quite excited if what she was currently buying was something she would wear while being with him, however it was obviously to celebrate the anniversary with her current boyfriend and that put Hui Yue in quite a bad mood.

  Although Hui Yue had long since accepted that his love was one-sided, the pain had grown to feel even more stabbing now than it had been back when he still held a sliver of hope. The constant hope which kept being shattered and breaking his heart was much more painful than finally accepting the reality.

  The young man decided to preoccupy himself, rather than allowing himself to drown in self-pity, and started to observe the surrounding area for anything that might grab his attention.

  As he looked across the street he noticed an extensive amount of glances that were being thrown his way, he couldn’t really blame them. He was standing outside of a lingerie shop with a rather uncomfortable expression on his face after all.

  However, as his eyes swept over the area, he noticed an antique store across the road that piqued his interest. His uncomfortable expression on his face instantly vanished as his face lit up, he couldn’t help furrowing his brows as he slowly started making his way towards the store that he had never noticed before.

  Hui Yue was currently taking a Master’s degree in ancient history and adored everything that had something to do with the subject. He had studied everything from war and tactics to cooking recipes and architecture from every nation throughout history.

  Studying these subjects had brought him great joy since his childhood, and even now it was one of the things that was most pleasurable. Hui Yue had been certain that he had visited every antique shop in town, but somehow he had missed this one, and he wanted to correct that.

  Who knows, he might even be able to find something of interest, so he was fairly excited when he opened the door to the shop and felt the stale air from the inside hitting his face.

  An elderly lady was sitting behind the counter reading an old book while sending a long look towards the young man who had just stepped through the door. However, this elderly woman quickly determined that the handsome youth that had entered didn’t seem to be a troublemaker and she returned to reading her book.

  As Hui Yue’s eyes swiftly adjusted to the dim lighting that was illuminating the shop his gaze swept past the elderly woman and focused on the rows of intriguing items. Even at first glance Hui Yue felt excitement growing within him; the excitement was as if he was treasure hunting and had just found the most valuable of treasures.

  The first shelf that Hui Yue arrived at was completely filled with vases that ranged in age from as young as five hundred years to as old as three thousand years. Hui Yue was shocked at the manner that these incredible treasures were displayed.

  At first the young man was sure that these vases were fakes and disdain was evident within his eyes. But something kept bothering him and after spending some time examining the details, he was certain that they were genuine. Shock quickly replaced the disdain and Hui Yue felt his heartbeat grow erratic, this caused his breathing to slightly hitch. If these vases were genuine, then what about the rest of the items?

  Although Hui Yue adored vases, he had no actual use for them, so he slowly moved further into the shop eager to see what he would find next.

  As he made his way through the shop he noticed one treasure after another. A whole shelf was filled with ancient paintings that had been rolled up and stored one on another, stacked up to three layers. Hui Yue felt deeply depressed when he noticed that old texts were lying amongst those valuable paintings, treated as though they were nothing, even

  as their value may be truly priceless.

  Although the shop looked dodgey and was quite dusty it was without a doubt a treasure trove. Hui Yue moved deeper into the shop and each step caused his heart beat to hasten, causing him to almost faint. The next he came across at a corner of the shop was a place where armour and weapons had been dumped on top of each other.

  Hui Yue spent a lot of time looking through the weapons and noticed that some of them bore the marks of great craftsmen and no doubt had been used by the nobility and generals of the ages long past. After staying in the shop for so long, Hui Yue had completely forgotten about Li Fen having been swallowed up by his interest in the ancient times of great heroes and wars.

  Although Hui Yue knew that he was in a shop, it was very much as though he was visiting a museum, except here he was allowed to actually touch and examine these treasures. Looking around, Hui Yue was certain that this shop contained even more treasures than the actual museums he had visited before.

  Hui Yue had walked past the clothing, emblems, and books to reach the counter where he saw jewellery. The moment he arrived he saw something which caused him to freeze and take in a deep breath to mentally steady himself.

  In front of him was the most beautiful Phoenix Crown he had ever seen, an astonishing Fengguan. It was far more exquisite than the one that had been found in the tomb of the Wanli Emperor, and Hui Yue had never even heard of such a treasure being found before. This shop was filled with surprises.

  The crown was on display on the middle of the counter, it was, without a doubt, the most stunning piece he had seen in the shop so far. The crown was, oddly enough, not locked down or guarded with anything, it was just standing there allowing the customers to examine it through a mere glass cabinet.

  Interestingly enough Hui Yue once again withdrew his gaze from this stunning piece to look around the counter for other intriguing items. A large grin was spreading across his face as his eyes had fallen on a box in a corner that had a sign that read ‘anything in this box is ¥600’

  Hui Yue had noticed a blue shade that was extraordinarily similar to the one he had seen on the Phoenix Crown, he immediately went to the box and removed this beautiful item.

  It was a hairpin that was unlike anything Hui Yue had ever seen before. It was a blue phoenix, it had a body formed into an oval from an incredibly pure piece of white jade framed with golden swirls. The wings were made from sapphires and ended in more perfectly white jade. Jade, gold, and sapphire were swirling around each other creating elaborate patterns, beautiful tail feathers, and a long delicate neck towards a beautiful beak and face. Multiple pearls lined the face towards the wing, completing the look.

  “Oh, you like the Blue Phoenix?” an old voice sounded from the corner. Hui Yue was startled as he had completely forgotten about the elderly lady, but he quickly looked at her with a respectful gaze and noticed a complex expression on her face.

  Hui Yue gave a short nod as an answer to her question before once again looking at the beautiful hairpin. It had to be an exquisite antique, and he had no way of understanding why it would have been tossed into this cheap box. A worrying premonition appeared within his heart as he felt that he liked the hairpin more and more each passing moment.

  “Was it placed in the wrong box?” Hui Yue asked with a worried voice pointing to the sign that read ‘anything in this box is ¥600’. He could understand that she might feel cheated taking such a low price for this masterpiece. This being the case, no matter the price, Hui Yue felt that he needed to own this particular piece of jewellery.

  “No, the price is right,” The elderly lady said with some hesitancy.

  Hui Yue frowned upon hearing the old woman's reply, but said no more as he waited for an explanation. He was certain that it was from either the Tang or Ming dynasty, and most likely from the same place as the beautiful Phoenix Crown. How could it possibly be sold for such a low price? For some reason Hui Yue felt insulted that this crown was considered cheap. Insulted as if it was he himself that had been considered cheap.

  “It is cursed,” the old lady finally said with a sigh. She had noticed how obsessed this young man had become after holding the hairpin, even though it had been for such a short time, “Death will descend upon t
he owner of this hairpin.”

  Hui Yue was about to snort in disbelief. His upbringing, however, had taught him to never show arrogance in front of others and he managed to restrain himself. He understood that people would be superstitious when there was a lack of knowledge; although in this day and age something like a curse could not scare him. Especially not since this beautiful hairpin felt as though it was a part of he himself, he could not bear to part with it already.

  “Young man, do not make fun of curses, they are more real than you might imagine,” the elderly lady warned as she stood up and walked towards Hui Yue and the blue phoenix hairpin. Although Hui Yue had tried to contain his contempt, the lady had easily understood his thinking, and she wished for this man to survive. She did not wish for him to become another target for the Blue Phoenix.

  “It arrived in our shop three hundred years ago,” the lady started, as she took the hairpin from Hui Yue’s hands and moved behind the counter, “We sold it almost immediately, then the owner died three days latter, having been assaulted by thieves.” Hui Yue kept quiet as he did not believe that thieves could be blamed on the hairpin, unless they had aimed to steal it.

  “Those thieves were then killed by relatives of the buyer and so the hairpin went to his oldest son, however he died from a lightning strike.” Hui Yue crooked his brows slightly. It was very unlikely for anyone to die from a lightning strike unless they intentionally sought out the locations where lightning would hit them. He chose to not believe the story so far as it was more than a hundred years ago and the story must have been exaggerated.