Chapter Eighty-Eight: It Turned Out to Be Diao Chan

Two young eunuchs were stunned when Liu Yao simply stood there, as if their presence meant nothing at all. Enraged, they shouted again, asking where he came from.

The cry startled Liu Yao back to his senses. He looked at them coldly. Seeing someone dare show such disrespect to their master, Shi A was about to strike them on the spot.

"Enough!" At that moment, the young eunuch who had been trailing behind Liu Yao finally came running up, gasping for breath as he shouted. He had always lived within the palace and could not possibly match the speed of Liu Yao and the others; he had fallen far behind, and by the time he caught up he was already panting hard.

The moment he arrived, however, he saw his two companions actually pointing at Liu Yao's nose and cursing him, and nearly lost his soul from fright. He hurried forward to stop them.

"The two of you fools, kneel at once and beg His Highness, the Crown Prince, for forgiveness!" the young eunuch cried out.

The three eunuchs seemed to know one another. When the other two heard the words "Crown Prince," their legs went weak and they dropped to their knees, bowing and kowtowing nonstop as they begged for mercy.

"Heh. Not bad," Liu Yao said coldly, narrowing his eyes. "This is the first time anyone has dared speak to me like that. Which palace attendant do you serve?"

"Your Highness, we work under Lord Zhang Rang," the two young eunuchs stammered.

"Zhang Rang, is it? No wonder." Liu Yao looked as though it all made sense. So they were relying on Zhang Rang's backing to act so arrogantly. That no longer seemed strange to him.

"Still, what happened? Why did the two of you insult and beat her?" Liu Yao asked, his face dark with anger.

The two eunuchs were terrified, yet one of them still said a little unwillingly, "Your Highness, it was because this lowly maid broke Lord Zhang Rang's favorite Phoenix Crown. That is why Lord Zhang Rang ordered us to teach her a lesson."

Liu Yao grew furious. Zhang Rang really had a tremendous air about him; over some crown, whose worth he could not even know, he had people treat someone so cruelly. It was as though he did not regard people as human beings at all.

His voice turned icy. "Since that is the case, I will not pursue this matter further. But the two of you dared insult me. Go back to Zhang Rang yourselves and tell him I am waiting for him to give me an explanation."

"Yes!" the two eunuchs said delightedly. In their minds, perhaps Zhang Rang would surely protect them. But how could Zhang Rang possibly offend Liu Yao for the sake of two small-time underlings?

"Get lost," Liu Yao said in disgust.

Immediately, the two eunuchs fled as though their lives depended on it.

Only then did Liu Yao walk over to the little palace maid. Shi A had already helped her up long before. Fortunately, she was not seriously hurt; there was only a scrape and a bit of blood on the back of her hand.

"Your servant greets Your Highness," the maid said as she came before Liu Yao and hurriedly bowed.

Liu Yao waved a hand casually and said with feigned composure, "You are injured, so there is no need for such ceremony. What is your name?"

"I do not have a name. I entered the palace when I was very young and served as a female attendant, keeping charge of the Phoenix Crown. Thus, everyone calls this servant Diao Chan," Diao Chan said softly with her head lowered.

The words struck Liu Yao like a heavy blow to the chest. Diao Chan. Damn it, she was Diao Chan, one of the Four Great Beauties of antiquity. No wonder she was so bewitchingly lovely. No wonder in history Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo had fought over her until blood ran. She was born to be a peerless enchantress.

But was she not the adopted daughter of Wang Yun? Could it be that because of this matter she had first been expelled from the palace, and only afterward taken in as Wang Yun's adopted daughter?

As Liu Yao inwardly marveled, many questions rose in his heart, but his eyes never left Diao Chan for an instant.

"Your Highness?" Diao Chan saw him staring so openly at her, and her fair face flushed red. She gave a shy, half-protesting murmur. She did not realize that this only made her even more radiant.

"Ahem." Liu Yao also noticed that his behavior had been somewhat too forward, and quickly coughed twice to cover his embarrassment. This was not modern times, where looking at beautiful women had become a habit. In the Eastern Han, such conduct was highly improper.

Yet he had already made up his mind to take Diao Chan with him. To put it kindly, he wanted to change her fate so she would not become a political sacrifice. To put it bluntly, he had set his heart on her. How could Liu Yao let such a rare woman slip away?

As for Dong Zhuo's life or death in the future, what of it? By then the Han realm would already be in chaos, and Dong Zhuo's task would have been fulfilled. Whether he lived or died afterward would matter little. Besides, if there were no Diao Chan, there might still be some Wang Chan or Li Chan; Wang Yun could always use his chain scheme just the same.

Then Liu Yao turned to the young eunuch and said, "Go fetch a carriage for me."

The eunuch did not ask why. At once he dashed off to make the arrangements.

Diao Chan lowered her head and secretly glanced at Liu Yao, her face still burning with shy color that would not fade.

Beautiful women admire heroes. Not to mention that Liu Yao had just saved her. Moreover, by his deeds he was surely the most famous hero in all the Han realm, and his noble status made him the dream of countless young maidens. Diao Chan was no exception. She also knew the difference in their stations; merely being able to see him once was already enough to satisfy her. As for anything else, she did not dare hope for it.

If Diao Chan knew that Liu Yao had already set his sights on her, who knew whether she would be happy or happy.

"From today onward, you will follow by my side. Are you willing?" Liu Yao asked, still pretending to be calm.

"Ah!" Diao Chan cried out in surprise. Happiness had come too suddenly. She had only just been thinking of it, and now it had been realized. To be able to remain at Liu Yao's side, even as a servant girl, was the dream of countless maidens.

"Are you unwilling?" Liu Yao asked, looking at her expression with a trace of nervousness. After all, if Diao Chan refused, was he supposed to force her?

"This servant is willing," Diao Chan blurted out, then added, "It is only that I still have duties in the palace."

Hearing her agree, Liu Yao was overjoyed. Smiling, he said, "You need not worry about that."

It was a joke; with his status, would taking one person out of the palace pose any difficulty at all? Was that not simply a matter of a single word from him?

As for letting Diao Chan follow him for the time being, that was only a stopgap measure. Liu Yao could not very well say right now, "I fancy you and want to take you as my concubine." Of course, that was not impossible either, but it would be too abrupt toward such a beauty. With the mindset of someone from the twenty-first century, Liu Yao was not especially fond of political marriages or forcing feelings upon others. He still longed for mutual affection, just as with Cai Yan: childhood companions growing up together, and love blossoming with time.

Earlier, Liu Yao had also noticed that the way Diao Chan looked at him was somewhat unusual, suggesting she already had a favorable impression of him. If he kept her by his side and waited until feelings had grown, then everything would naturally come together.

Not long afterward, the young eunuch returned with a carriage.

"Get in," Liu Yao said to Diao Chan.

The eunuch was quite quick-witted as well. He knew Diao Chan could not possibly climb up into such a high carriage on her own, so he immediately crouched down to serve as a step. Seeing this, Liu Yao kept nodding in approval, thinking that when he returned he would be sure to ask his father to reward the man well.

"I..." Diao Chan hesitated. She had never seen such a scene before, and for a moment did not know what to do. Yet inside, she felt as sweet as honey.

"Go on," Liu Yao encouraged her again.

After a long hesitation, still unaccustomed to it, Diao Chan finally stepped onto the young eunuch's back and climbed into the carriage. Only then did Liu Yao and Shi A step aboard as well; neither of them needed anyone to serve as a step.

The young eunuch then climbed back up, took the driver's seat, and drove the carriage toward the residence of the Dowager Empress Dong. After all, Diao Chan's hand was injured. Though it was not serious, it still needed to be bandaged as soon as possible.