LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

Xing yawned lazily as her golden hair had sprawled all over Shengli. She had untied her braids as she wanted to feel free as it was only Shengli here.

Shengli who was leaning in the headboard of the big canopy bed, leisurely drew circles in her back,

"Shall we leave?"

"Hmpf, no", Xing nuzzled her face into his firm chest and his manly scent entered her nose.

"Your father will send armies around searching for you", he said mockingly. Her father had previously done that!

"Let"s stay here!", she looked up and kissed his chin, "Let"s stay here forever", she played with his clothes.

"Mmmm... That won"t do! ", Shengli gently grabbed her chin and looked into her eyes, "I want to marry you publicly and dress you up better than the Empress and bring you to Imperial Banquets and show you off! "Look you imbeciles.., Look at my pretty wife! This amazing one is all mine! ".. And watch them go sour with jealousy ", he kissed her lightly.

"Like a doll?", she asked looking back at his emerald eyes s.h.i.+ning with delight. She felt like she should be offended but she really wasn"t. Wouldn"t she want to show him off to other women and say, "My husband bought this, that.. He is rich..he"s handsome.. he loves me.. ", and so on?

Shengli blinked his eyes by her sudden refutal but Xing waved her hands, "Never mind. By the way what did you say to my father? He"s looking at you differently", she said fiddling with his belt.

Shengli held her hands and interlocked his fingers with hers, " Just drunken blabber".

Xing looked at him and giggled, "You cannot hold your drink, can you? In the future while attending the banquets you mentioned, you"ll have to say, "My wife will beat you in drinking", since you cannot", she playfully slapped his chest.

Seeing her mocking him Shengli got red because of embarra.s.sment and kissed her to stop her from laughing at him.

Xing freed herself from his kiss and licked her lips that made her more seductive looking in his eyes and she still had a mocking look on her.

Shengli looked at the adorable and alluring woman straddling on his lap and asked,

"How did you know?", he thought he had perfectly hid his flaw till now. Did her brother tell her?

"I always knew... Who"d drink tea in a banquet? I was sure of it as much as I was sure that you didn"t kill your brothers. So don"t try to lie to me, my Prince! ", she laughed.

Shengli"s smile froze when she mentioned his brothers. Every one knows the "Lone Wolf" killed the princes. She knows I am the lone wolf. Why does she think that I didn"t kill the princes? How does she know the truth when I, myself didn"t clear the allegations that I killed my brothers?

"Why do you think that I did not kill the princes?", he asked resting his head on her shoulders and wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.

"Simple!", she hugged him back, "Because you love me and you know I hate it when brothers kill each other"

Shengli let out a deep breath and his warm breath on her skin made her heart tingle.

"I could have sent someone else to kill them", he said back. Why does she trust me this much? Is it impossible for me to do things behind her back?

"Mmm... You could have. But there is a missing point there. It is impossible that all your brothers were against the current Emperor ascending the throne right? At least one or two would have agreed to support him. But why did everyone end up dead? Neither you or your brother are that heartless to kill your brothers just because they might have a change of heart in the future", she said as a matter of fact.

Shengli might be dark but he is not evil, he knows good from bad and the Emperor, well, he is a saint. There must be someone else who killed those princes. May be s.h.i.+hong, who knows? Who cares?

Shengli sat straight and looked at the woman on his lap. Her hair was untied, her clothes were disheveled and her collar bones were clearly visible and he remembered wiping her in the bath the previous day. She was looking at him with that clear and s.h.i.+ny eyes that were alluring and full of trust.

"Did you?", Xing asked him who was staring at her like a hungry wolf. For some reason she didn"t mind him looking at her like that and she found it attractive. She knew he didn"t have anything to do with his brothers" death but she wanted to confirm.

"No", he said placing his coa.r.s.e thumb over her small, pouty, cherry lips. "I took every chance of their success in the fight for the throne but never touched their lives", his hands gradually lowered and glazed through her neck and ended up in her collar bones.

Xing felt hot all over her body and she didn"t want to reject his touch. For once they are just a man and a woman who understood each other and are in love and who wants to spend their life together.

She leaned to kiss him and he grabbed the back of her head with one hand and wrapped the other hand around her waist. They were indulging themselves in the sweet caresses and kisses of each other and they found their clothes were a disturbance and they were almost removed too.

Xing was still straddling on Shengli"s lap and was kissing his neck and as he tried to lift her and place her on the bed, they heard a scream...

"Young Miss... What....? "

Both Shengli and Xing were flabbergasted and felt like they were poured ice-cold water on them immediately after getting out of a warm bath.

Xing looked around to see she was actually in her bed, in her room, in her Manor. That"s impossible because they were in Shengli"s place a moment ago.....

G.o.dS !!! What gave them the right to do this?

Xing hugged Shengli closer by his neck and Shengli covered her with the blanket beside him. He himself was confused, angry and disappointed by what had happened and he could feel Xing shaking in his embrace.

Xu mama retreated back pulling down the curtains in the bed not knowing what else to do. She was there the whole time and how did her young miss and young master "appear" here? That too in that position?

"Xing! ", he called and his voice was shaking too.

The G.o.ds really don"t want them together and are interfering to this extent.

Shengli grabbed her chin to take a look at her and was heartbroken to see her laughing mockingly but tears were streaming from her eyes.

Both had no words to say and just stayed in each others embrace for sometime when AoTian"s voice was heard.

"Xu mama, Mingxia haven"t returned yet. I wanted to give her this new inkstone myself. Anyhow, give it to her"

Xing got alert and pulled herself off from Shengli"s embrace and dressed herself up. As brazen she might be she is not that flagrant enough to be seen in this position by her father.

Shengli got dressed too and got down from the bed when Xu Mama was explaining something to AoTian in a low voice. Xing knew she was explaining that she had returned.

AoTian saw both Shengli and Xing exiting from the bed chamber and he let out a sigh,

"I"m announcing your marriage tomorrow! Shengli, make necessary arrangements ", he said in a decisive matter and Shengli was standing with his head hung low making AoTian confused.

"Father, how long is the mourning period after there is a death in the family? I thought you don"t announce marriages at that time",Xing spoke.

"Usually it is a year. But three months is acceptable", AoTian answered. He thought both of them would be at least happy hearing this news but why are they disappointed?

"Do not try to announce our marriage for now", Xing said and AoTian was shocked and Shengli sighed.

Xing knew if the G.o.ds were going to this extent to stop her and Shengli from being together, they won"t stop from taking lives too. She really cannot face another death in the family.

She really have to be careful from now on as her single silly mistake may cost a life. And who knows what else those G.o.ds might do? Just why are they this interested in me?

Till now they had left us alone because father hadn"t agreed to our union and the moment they realised father had accepted us, they started acting. Just what do they have against me and Shengli being together?

AoTian looked at both of them who looked like they were in mourning and didn"t know what happened. But the fact that they are serious made him leave them alone for sometime till they clear out their problems.

These two who had spent a day alone didn"t know that the Emperor had already selected a bunch of women to enter the palace and had decided to choose one of them to be the Empress soon.

The selected women included the only remaining Shu daughter from the main family, Shu Rouran, the third young miss of the Ran family Ran Gujiu and some other girls from other n.o.ble families.

Every family that had received the edict of the Emperor to send their daughter to the inner palace were rejoicing and were surprised that the Emperor had left the Huang family alone.

They were mocking the Huang family in their hearts and sneered that the Huang family"s end in the capital city will be soon not knowing the plans of the heavens.