Bai Ling and Su Xiao exchanged glares below the ring outside the imperial city.
Su Xiao noticed how beautiful Bai Ling's body-line was. Her curvaceous hips looked soft and her generous physique was wrapped in a eunuch's robe. The tight robe emphasized her seductive lines. Her face was small and snow white. Her facial features were exquisite; in particular, her beautiful eyes were like magnets that one couldn't take their eyes from. Su Xiao snorted and said to himself: What's the use of such big eyes? She looks like she's out to seduce people, how annoying! One glance and you can tell that she's a vixen! A vi-xen!
Looking at Su Xiao in front of her, Bai Ling felt that Su Xiao was just someone who would cause one to lose their ways. He had narrow shadows and looked fragile. The slightly revealed white skin of his crane neck looked so weak like it would snap with a tap. He had long legs, his hips were narrow and his physique was perfect. You could say that one extra inch would be too much, and one inch less would be too little. He had a delicate melon-shaped face. If he were not dressed in a male's clothes, she really would've mistaken him for a peerless beauty.
Bai Ling said to herself: He's still a guy at the end of the day! You're more feminine than the eunuchs in the palace. You're nothing but a vixen!
The two of them scanned each other. The more they saw, they more they disliked the other. The atmosphere turned tense. A big fight was about to break out.
Bai Ling noticed that Su Xiao was still hugging Ming Feizhen and Ming Feizhen didn't look like he was aware. She started to get angry without knowing why: "Ming Feizhen, come over here, I have something to say to you."
"Don't come here! Don't come here! You viciously scold people every day." Su Xiao clung to Ming Feizhen's left arm tightly and waved his hand at Bai Ling like he was trying to tell a spirit to get lost: "Look at Big Brother Ming, you scared him!
Ming Feizhen kept silent.
Bai Ling got angrier, but she revealed a startled smile: "You're talking to me in that tone? What's your surname and first name?!" Bai Ling already knew Su Xiao's surname and first name, but she didn't want to admit that she knew him as that would be the equivalent of her admitting she bothered herself with some insignificant fellow, hence why she needed to put on the act.
Su Xiao pulled a funny face: "Hmph, I'm Su Xiao."
"Su Xiao, huh? What rank are you to be calling me violent?" Bai Ling widened her eyes and coldly chuckled: "You think this place is Liu Shan Men's office?! Even if Shen Yiren is favoured more than she already is, you think I can't beat up a minor constable guarding the gates inside these palace walls?!"
Bai Ling checked her surroundings and was about to call someone over.
"Beat me? You better look at you're talking to."
Su Xiao pulled out a bronze token from inside his shirt. Bai Ling looked at the bronze token and asked with astonishment: "Bai Hu? You got promoted to Bai Hu?"
Su Xiao acted haughty. He revealed his bright-as-the-sun smile: "I'm an official too! You can't hit me!"
If Su Xiao was still just a minor constable, Bai Ling would be able to give him a beating using any excuse even if they operated under different systems. Shen Yiren can't butt heads with the general manager of eunuchs even if she held more power and was more favoured. It's not a question of whether or not she wants to, but something she can't do. Shen Yiren wouldn't do something so reckless as creating enmity between herself and officials in the imperial court for a mere low-ranking constable. So Su Xiao could've been beaten without a chance at escape.
But now that he was an official, things were different. You can't hit officials of the imperial court even if you arrested him for a crime unless you had established that he was indeed guilty. Further, it was just an argument with her, the general manager alone. As the general manager of eunuchs, a fifth rank official, she was many ranks higher than Su Xiao.
There's never been a precedent where a lower ranked official dared to argue with a higher ranked official, mostly because they were afraid of the power wielded by the higher ranked official as well as the impact it might have on their future prospects. That said, there are no documents which state that one cannot argue back just because of a difference in rank. Among them, the most obvious cases are the censorship officials and censorship supervision officials getting into arguments over rumours. A commonly seen example in the imperial court would be a seventh ranked censorship official pointing at a second ranked official and spitting in his face as he cusses him.
Su Xiao as he is now was completely unafraid of Bai Ling, and since he just got a promotion, he didn't care about his future. So while Su Xiao is just a seventh ranked official, Bai Ling truly couldn't do anything to him despite him wanting to pick a fight.
Bai Ling looked at the token with surprise and said to herself: What's going on with Liu Shan Men? They're promoting even little kids now.
When she looked at his hand he held the token with, she noticed how his skin was snow-white and she just wanted to say: Your skin is so white… This guy is disgusting!
"You're a man that has skin whiter than a woman's. Are you really a man?"
"Who said my skin is whiter than a woman's?!" She didn't know it was taboo for Su Xiao. Su Xiao widened his eyes, pointed at Bai Ling's small nose and shouted: "You're the woman. Look at your puny nose. Can you even breathe?!"
"What's wrong with my nose?!" Bai Ling's nose is smooth, but she had never heard anybody critique her facial appearance, nor did she realise she was a peerless beauty. She noticed that Su Xiao had a tall and straight nose which was very pretty. She thought his nose was the standard to pursue, so his words caused her to shiver all over.
Bai Ling grew up in the palace. There are many rules and the palace and she interacted with very few people. After being promoted, all of the eunuchs and maids only felt fear towards her so she essentially never argued with anyone. She's a smart individual nonetheless, so she immediately found a way to get back at Su Xiao.
Bai Ling clenched her teeth: "Your ears look like… look like a caterpillar that tripped over and died! They're horrendous." She didn't know if she was factual or not either, but after she saw Su Xiao's displeased expression, she knew she did the right thing and couldn't help but feel pleased. Her cheeks were glowing, demonstrating that she was happier than winning a bet against Ming Feizhen.
Su Xiao's ears are like crystal clear jade. His ear lobes are like whirling jade pendants. But Su Xiao felt thought that they didn't look good, and he never expected that damn eunuch Bai Ling to pick that out of all things first. Su Xiao grew up in the world of commoners. While he's naive and simple at heart, he's much better than Bai Ling at verbal warfare. He had his comeback ready without even having to think.
Su Xiao pursed his thing ice-like lips and proudly said: "My mouth looks better than yours."
The topic of mouths was Miss Bai's weakness. She was in a predicament because she couldn't clear up the issue of mouths with Ming Feizhen just before. Now that the topic of mouths was brought up with Ming Feizhen present, Bai Ling felt her lips burn and itch again, causing her to blush again.
Bai Ling's cheeks turned red like she was slightly drunk on alcohol.
"You… you……." Bai Ling felt a dip in her confidence levels. She had never seen herself as a woman, so suddenly engaging in a competition of beauty left her somewhat perplexed. But her innate instincts told her that if she were to lose, her entire value as a woman would be nil. She couldn't help but use her sleeve to slightly cover her peony lips and small nose, leaving just half of her hand-sized face revealed, which made her look even more alluring
"But I… I have bigger eyes! Hmph……" Bai Ling covered her mouth with her sleeve and let out a mocking chuckle: "Your eyes are puny. Can you even see?"
Su Xiao couldn't accept that. Not only are Su Xiao's eyes not small, they're actually close to the same size as Bai Ling's. It's just that Bai Ling's eyes droop down slightly, making it look like she's crying and pitiful, which makes her look mesmerising.
Su Xiao always shared that sentiment and felt that he couldn't compare, so her words ticked him off.
"Midget!!" Su Xiao, "You're a midget! I'm only sixteen and I'm taller than you!"
Bai Ling couldn't believe it. A man is trying to compete in height with her?! I'll have you know I'm a woman through and through!
"I'm not as tall as you… You're… you're flat chested!"
Su Xiao froze up like he got struck by lightning. He opened and closed his mouth, "I-I'm a guy! What would I want a perky chest for?! Okay, I'm flat, but what about you? You got a perky chest?!"
Bai Ling revealed a ridiculing and proud smile: "You're right. I'm a eunuch and also flat-chested. That's why there's nothing worth mentioning." But after she said that, she shrugged her shoulders up slightly and her clothing naturally spread out on both sides. If you were to look at her silhouette, you could imagine two voluptuous soft and white mounds filling up the small space underneath.
Su Xiao glared at the pleased Bai Ling with hatred like she murdered his father, and Bai Ling responded by glaring back at him.
"Big Brother Ming, why aren't you helping me out? Look at this damned eunuch!"
"What did you just call me?!" Bai Ling angrily exclaimed: "Ming Feizhen, if you don't put this kid in his place, I'll have you go guard the castration room and have you watch people get castrated every day!"
"Big Brother Ming!"
"Ming Feizhen!"
"Whose side are you on?!"
"Whose side are you on?! You dare not help me?"
The anger of the two got directed at the silent Ming Feizhen. But all they got was a quite one word response: "Apologise."
Ming Feizhen's gaze was blank as he looked at the three pears on the ground and the two.
"The two of you… better apologise before I get lose my temper!!"
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