LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

Xing could not get any news about Shengli and Lin Mubai didn"t give her any reports on the investigations she asked him to conduct and Xing just spent her days meeting Lord Zhong in the morning and just reading books rest of the time.

Xing"s status in the harem was already high as she was a High ranking Consort, the only Consort in the Harem with a powerful family backup.

Not to mention, her father is Huang AoTian!

Also, the fact that she was allowed to break the rules and leave the inner palace was known to everyone. Eunuch Xin got scolded by the Emperor for abiding by the rules and the n.o.ble Consort even visited the Ministry of war to have a chat with Lord Zhong that day and no one stopped her or even educated her. Even so, the Emperor visited her a couple of days later and stayed the whole night with her and had left in a good mood.

All this made everyone wary of her and Xing was treated with respect by everyone and that made her stay in her courtyard more. All these people trying to curry favour with her made her feel sick.

Even now there would be other concubines trying to meet her everyday. Xing made the excuse of being sick due to the cold climate and just stayed inside.

Also she found out that the protection of G.o.ds didn"t work here. For the first time in her life, Xing felt the coldness of the winter. She didn"t know how much the G.o.ds had made her life easy till now. She used to feel cold before but it was never this severe. Are snowy winters this chilly always?

Also her heart was constantly hurting thinking about Shengli. With the New Year and her birthday approaching she was feeling extremely sad that she didn"t have Shengli by her side. The problems that didn"t seem big before looked ma.s.sive to her now.

With only five days to newyear, there was a blizzard out and Xing who could not handle fire was covered in thick and warm clothes with warmers fixed everywhere and was on the verge of crying.

My Prince! It"s so cold here... ! Where are you? Are you cold too..? Are you thinking about me...? Why aren"t you coming to get me? I don"t like it here...! I"m alone here...! You are always warm and you always hug me close and I love it. Come and hug me close again... Please...! Come back...! Warm me up...!

Xing was sitting hugging her knees, all bundled up in her room when Lin Mubai approached in an eunuch"s uniform and knelt in front of her and greeted her. Hope lighted up in Xing"s devastated heart making her a bit warm seeing him.

Xing asked him to stand up and asked her maids to leave,.

"Sister-in-law...", Lin Mubai was lost for words seeing her hope filled eyes for the first time in his life.

Xing let out a deep sigh looking in the distance. Still no news about him!

She covered her face with her hands. Is this going to be my future? Here in this place, without him? Xing was scared.

"Sister-in-law...", Lin Mubai called her and she looked at him and sighed. Lin Mubai noted the corners of her eyes were red and felt bad for her. He was also wondering about the recent rumours about the Emperor"s stay here. Did something bad happen?

"Shengli knew of a particular allergy of the Emperor and Lord Ran made sure the Emperor ate it. He came here for medical a.s.sistance", Xing told Lin Mubai understanding his looks.

"Big brother Wolf is with s.h.i.+hong?", Lin Mubai was surprised.

Xing nodded, "He almost killed his brother- the Emperor to send me this message", she smiled wryly.

"That"s more like him. For Big brother, only you are untouchable and precious. Everyone else are secondary", Lin Mubai spoke softly and as a matter of fact.

"Like I don"t know that". Xing sighed. "Now tell me why you are here".

Xing sniffed her nose as she felt like crying thinking about everything Shengli had done for her and felt helpless about her inability to do anything back for him. She composed herself as Lin Mubai might have something important to say.

Lin Mubai had brought some reports about the eunuch and her second uncle. Xing was surprised how fast he had gathered all the informations.

Xing went through the information about the Eunuch first and noted he had joined the palace work when he was sixteen and that was a pretty late age to be castrated as usually they"d do it as boys. Also the Xin family was a pretty well-off family in Donglu village, not very rich but not too poor to send their only son as an Eunuch.

Wait! No one sends their only son to be castrated. So why did he enter the palace and stay here for twenty years? Everything about him is suspicious!

"Where did I hear about Donglu village..?", Xing talked to herself.

Lin Mubai was explaining her the geographical location of the village and that"s when Xing remembered that she had read that the Emperor"s mother belonged to the n.o.ble family from Donglu Village.

Hmm... Have to think about it... A lot! Xing decided.

Next she read about her uncle and he was a fourth rank official, a Huang and blah.. Blah... All the details she knew...

Wait! What is this about the secret bodyguards of the previous Emperor that turned out to be a myth? Did the previous emperor forget to mention this in his journals?

Uncle was rumoured to be one? If he was one, that would explain his skills with weapons. The previous Emperor did mention how much he hated the Huangs, so was uncle a spy for the family beside the Emperor?

I always knew Uncle Feiye hid a lot! Uncle Little bun must be in on it too! Wise!

Xing read all the reports and immediately threw it in the brazier and it caught fire and burned completely. Reading all these had distracted Xing from her yearning for Shengli and her mood got a little better.

Lin Mubai who was worried to see her sighing for each sentence she spoke, was relieved to see her mood getting slightly better. Guess solving problems lifts sister-in-law"s mood!

"Sister-in-law, the Ran family had sold all their valuables and turned them into banknotes and they even sent most of their servants out saying they cannot afford them anymore but they accepted the high price we set and already paid for it. Looks like they are making a run for it. But why are they running away from the capital city before new year? ", Lin Mubai told her.

Xing joked , " May be they are going to burn the city to the ground....Anyhow, give me the route you are taking them"

Lin Mubai gave her the map and Xing kept it with her. "Make sure to use this route no matter what. And try to protect them as you usually do. Li ChengNuo"s business cannot lose it"s reputation right?", Xing smirked.

"Sister-in-law, are you planning to..", he made a cutting throat gesture.

"Try not to lose your important people. Allocate appropriately", Xing smirked.

"But how? Sister-in-law!", Lin Mubai was surprised by Xing"s confident look as if she had already made plans.

"You"ll see!", Xing said mysteriously and sent him off. Even though he was dressed as an eunuch, too much alone time with an eunuch will create rumours in this wretched place too.

It"s time to not play by rules and end the Ran family once and for all! Xing decided. They seem to be the only support of s.h.i.+hong for now and also they dared to Poison the Emperor. They cannot be allowed to live anymore!