LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

The odd smell of various mixed poisons and aphrodisiacs entered through the small window that spilled the rays of the sun inside the crampy room that made it look more eerie than the person sitting in front of her and Xing planned to get out of this place soon if she could not find Old Rong. She is not willing to take a chance with this vile person ever again.

Once bit twice shy!

Xing had that much sense. Revenge is important but not so important as to lose some more things valuable to her, " It"s upto you to believe!", she didn"t want to argue with him or convince him any further. He is no kin to her and she is not obligated in anyway to help him transform or listen to his deepest worries and support him. She was never a altruistic person anyway!

Xing retracted her gaze to the floor and slowly started to untie the rope tied in her wrist and was planning to whistle to get Bai Li"s attention. He can teleport her to the carriage back in no time as she didn"t know where she is now.

As Xing was contemplating, she felt a sharp gaze on her that made her shudder unconsciously.

"What do you want with me?", she asked the one looking at her without even blinking his eyes and the fondness in his eyes made Xing feel chillness to her bones.

Gee! You are my enemy and you are supposed to look at me with animosity not fondness! Don"t creep me out like this!

" I can see why everyone wants to protect you...", s.h.i.+hong said leaning on the back of his chair and crossing his leg, "You are ethereal!", he placed his hand on his knee and began to tap it with his fingers.

"So, are you going to let me go?", Xing asked back. She had no interest in chatting with him.

"You know what? When I learned from my wolf how you are like me growing up, it made me wonder how you and me turned up so different", he let out a small sniffle and his lips curved up to a gentle smile that made him look pretty in her eyes at that moment. His smile even resembled the Emperor"s smile a little and he seemed pure for a moment.

Guess those Lu genes aren"t to be taken lightly! But wait... HIS WOLF..? Oh, Xing don"t fall for his charms! How dare he call my Prince as his Wolf? And why would Chenglie say that me and s.h.i.+hong are the same?

Apart from the fact that we both are women who cannot bear children, what"s so similar about us?

But Xing knew if this fact was known to s.h.i.+hong he wouldn"t have let it be a secret for long. It is the easiest way to depose her from the Empress position. There will never be a barren Empress in the history of any kingdom! Liar s.h.i.+hong!

Seeing her not willing to converse with him and her disgusted look, he continued, "We both were raised by single mothers not knowing who our fathers are, been called names growing up, been poor, had struggled for food...", he went on with his list.

Oh! Xing wondered, So these things? So Chenglie lied about half of the details about me?

"Do you know who my father is?", s.h.i.+hong asked since Xing still wasn"t willing to engage with him, "It"s the previous emperor. You may not believe it but it is the truth. I am the firstborn daughter of the previous Emperor... A Princess by right! It"s my birthright to be... "

"I believe you", Xing interjected him to stop him from his fantasies of being the First Princess of the kingdom.

Like that matters anymore! It is nothing more important than the fact that I am the descendant of the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor. What of it? Nothing... That"s what!

Xing was really irritated to be in that place and wanted to leave and him trying to engage in conversation with her made her feel jumpy.

What is he planning?

Seeing her still uneasy to be here, s.h.i.+hong tried to ease her, "I"m not planning to do anything to you today. I just want you to listen to me... Don"t you help everyone..? Help me today and lend me your ears... ", his voice was gentle and almost pleading.

Xing rolled her eyes, I....? I... help everyone? And this guy brought me here by pus.h.i.+ng a little girl to death just to have conversations with me? What kind of monster is he? Does he truly need help.... ?

Or Is he lying? Maybe he holds me here and is attacking the Emperor or others back there?

Xing wasn"t truly convinced of his intentions when,

"Of course, you"ll HAVE TO LISTEN..! There are nearly a hundred children underground that I am holding hostage afterall! One word... And they all will be... ", s.h.i.+hong made the cut throat gesture and smirked and in his eyes there was a glimmer as if his word is absolute!

Xing knew the tunnels she could sense, led to an underground room and there were kids there and she couldn"t sense any guards there, so are there traps set? Xing could tell s.h.i.+hong is not bluffing and if he actually set a trap that would collapse the room, all the lives of the children will be lost which cannot be let to happen.

"Of course!", Xing glared back as she truly believed him now. There will be a catch surely! This guy is purely evil. Why would he need help? He clearly is planning something.

" These children don"t belong to me and I"m not running this business. It is your kingdom"s Justice official for the South, Lord Kong and Earth Kingdom"s Minister of Rites, Lord s.h.i.+n ", he was candid and Xing could tell he was not lying.

So an official from out kingdom and a minister from the Earth Kingdom... How harmonious. Both were in a position to know if there are any complaints against them and that"s how they escaped being exposed or caught till now.

Lord Kong from South? So Uncle doesn"t know what he does either? He must be really careful and what made s.h.i.+hong betray him so easily if Lord Kong could be absolutely careful all this time?

And so just like her speculation of s.h.i.+hong, he really is a snake taking control of rat holes and he found out these rich old perverts doing such thing and tried to exploit them rather than expose them.

Xing wasn"t about to plead him to let those children go because she knew he won"t budge until he gets what he wants and she"d have to find perfect timing to escape from here and to figure out what his true motives are.

"So, you seem to know more about me... Why don"t you tell me about yourself?", Xing decided to indulge him. Its not like she has much of a choice now if she wants to reduce the damage, anyway!

So s.h.i.+hong started off with how his beloved Imperial father drove his mother away from the palace and sent people after her to kill her and the child after it was born and how the guard who found her felt pity for her and let the mother and child go. According to him, his father had ordered to bring the baby back if it was a boy and kill the child otherwise and the guard felt pitiful and lied that the child was stillborn.

This is kind of similar to my story, Xing thought.

After that ,s.h.i.+hong told about his life in a village in the East, close to the Quingze River where he grew up with his mother working as a maid in a rich household and his childhood friend who who is a boy and the good times they spent together.

OK, this is too similar to my story! Xing thought. They had searched for the childhood records of s.h.i.+hong before but couldn"t find out anything and lateXing knew that"s because he lived as a girl. And his real name turns out to be s.h.i.+ Hua as mentioned by s.h.i.+hong.

"I was a beauty... Among other women and girls in our village, I was considered a flower, true to my name... And that was the reason for all my sufferings", s.h.i.+Hong continued to tell Xing his story and by now Xing was invested in his story.

Well...! s.h.i.+hong has a good talent for storytelling...