LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

"Are you hungry, XinXin?" Xing gently poked his cheeks and he cooed with a little smile in his chubby face as if answering her. She had named him Li WeiXin.

"Aren"t you a smart little chubby?", Xing could not resist kissing him and she gave him a smacking kiss before pa.s.sing him to the wet nurse.

"It"s been two months Xiao Tang... What are you planning to do hiding here? What are you going to do with the baby? You even gave your husband"s surname without even consulting him. Xiao Tang, why don"t you... ", Lady Shaoyao sighed seeing that stubborn girl still unmoved and staring out of the window.

" What happened between you? He is not even looking for you... ", Lady Shaoyao placed the cup of wine on the table and sighed seeing the slight movement from Xing.

So this stirs her up!

Xing felt her heart squeeze and she snorted.

Of course he is not going to look for me. He thinks I ran away to my lover!

"What"s the news from the Water Kingdom?", Xing asked. The last time she received a letter from Yukiko, she mentioned that she was fine and she couldn"t stop thinking of her son. She even named her son "Hiroyuki" meaning "Abundant Happiness".

"He is my joy, Mingxia. And I wish abundant happiness on him. He won"t have it with me in the palace. So you take care of him" she wrote.

Xing was sure that she would come and get her son back soon. If she did, it won"t be the first time she changed her mind.

Looking at the boy made her miss Chenglei more and more. He resembled Chenglei more and more. Maybe he will change as he grows up.

Just as Xing asked the question, a page came and delivered a letter to Xing. The shadow guards of the Heavenly Flowers Palace all returned to the demon realm when the portals closed. The fox clan gave up the owners.h.i.+p claim to the Heavenly Flowers Palace and it is now owned by Lady Shaoyao and Xing had ten percentage stake here too. Everything in the human realm owned by the G.o.ds and demons were left to the humans to rule.

The page pa.s.sed on the letter and Xing"s had shook as she read it.

"My wife died suddenly. As per her wish, you raise our son in her place. She wanted to pa.s.s this letter to you"

These were the words written in the letter with the Water Emperor"s seal that contained another envelope.

Yukiko died? How come? She seemed fine.... She shouldn"t have travelled just after she gave birth...

Xing"s hands shook with those thoughts and she opened the other envelope and started reading it.

There was nothing more than how much Yukiko trusted Xing to raise her son and in the end she added this, "Decide as you please in the future, if the palace is secure", bluntly.

Is she telling me that I should decide whether I send the baby boy back to his father or not depending on the situation in the Water Kingdom? d.a.m.n woman,did she think I am her boy"s nanny?

Xing cussed Yukiko in her heart while tears dropped from her eyes.

You said you hated him from the bottom of your heart, yet you still cannot be cruel to him, can you?

Lady Shaoyao could guess from her reaction that it should be the letter confirming the death of the Water Empress. There were already rumours floating around that the Empress was dead while she gave birth to a stillborn baby. There were chances of uprising in the Water Kingdom since the Emperor is still childless and the only woman he graced died.

Too bad that husband can"t even properly grieve for his wife since he has to tackle his enemies laying around like snakes in tall gra.s.s.

"Xiao Tang.... You... "

"Big sis, he doesn"t love me. He only wanted a trophy wife. And he thinks I am a cheater. I"m not going to return to him. I don"t think everything can be tied to him forgetting me. I"m scared I"ll end up hating him"

Silence.

There was a dead silence for sometime as Lady Shaoyao pondered about what she said. Those are really words that carried a lot of weight. She wouldn"t have used it easily. She must be actually believing what she said.

Could she be misunderstanding?

Lady Shaoyao knew this one won"t open up until she gets drunk and asked for an entire barrel of the best red wine they had and poured Xing cup by cup.

"Will you explain me what happened?", Lady Shaoyao asked Xing who was now half drunk and her guard down.

"He forgot me, Big sis... He forgot me... Me...", Xing who never openly talked about the sorrows in her heart, opened up to Lady Shaoyao.

As she lied in Lady Shaoyao"s lap, she opened up her heart and told everything that happened between her and Chenglei to the one she considered a mother.

Lady Shaoyao gently caressed her hair as she listened to the blabbering of Xing without interrupting.

As Xing explained more and more, Lady Shaoyao could understand what the problem between them is.

Generally people aren"t that perceptive regarding their own affairs and sometimes involving a third party will give a new perception. And if the other really cares for the one, then it would be more beneficial.

Lady Shaoyao is someone who really cares for Xing and she knows Xing"s personality too. She also had the basic understanding that Xing cannot live without Chenglei and he is not a bad guy to be kept away either.

"So judging by all this, you"ve arrived to the conclusion that your husband doesn"t love you and he doubts you and he thinks of you as a decoration...", Lady Shaoyao spoke gently and tenderly caressing her cheeks.

Seeing Xing"s tear filled face, Lady Shaoyao can think of the pain she went through but the knowledge she gained from her life told her that this little one is over thinking and misunderstanding.

Lady Shaoyao chuckled pinching Xing"s cheek, "Silly, why didn"t you think this could be just a misunderstanding? You said he forgot you and so he won"t know you like he did. And you are in the wrong too"

"What do you mean? He asked me if I am going to my lover right to my face. How is that a misunderstanding?", Xing sat up staring at Lady Shaoyao.

How is it my fault?

"He accused you and you ran away without explaining anything to him clearly. What is that going to prove?", Lady Shaoyao raised her brows and smiled seeing Xing getting pale.

"You think he would think I am with my lover? Is that why he is not searching for me?", Xing got a bit scared.

Only then she realised she really couldn"t stay away from Chenglei and her decision of staying away from him for the rest of her life would be impossible and is not a decision her heart would accept.

No way... Xing, have some pride! She scolded herself.

"I don"t care", Xing wanted to look nonchalant and sipped the wine but ended up choking instead expressing how she actually felt.

She do care!

"Also... I don"t think he actually tried to hold you inside his Manor like a trophy wife or whatever...", Lady Shaoyao added.

"Then why would he..."

"Jealosy", Lady Shaoyao"s eyes widened with mirth as Xing looked at her.

"What?", Xing was confused.

"You yourself said he forgot you. And everyone around you knew you were crying for a man and with his skills, he would have gathered that information about you. So it won"t be surprising if he decided by himself that you have a previous lover."

"Wai... Wha... Bu.... It... It is possible", Xing could only agree.

Why didn"t I think in this angle till now?

"But... He... Everything only changed after we got married. He should have known about it for a long time then, right? How would you explain his sudden change then? He thought I was mocking him by using my powers", Xing really liked Lady Shaoyao"s perceptive. If that was true and Chenglei acted like this out of jealousy, it would be better.

" Think wearing his shoes, Xiao Tang. In the past he met you as an innocent child who went after him and also he knew you like the back of his hand and so he never felt insecure that he might lose you. But now, he met you as the divine ruler. You are rich, smart and independent. You definitely will survive without a man unlike the other women in our kingdom who either depend on their father or husband for their needs.

You also said your confessions are not reaching him. So, he doesn"t even know you love him.

All he knows is that you have a past lover you loved a lot and then for some reason decided to marry him, just another man you just met when you obviously have no reason to marry.

Won"t you feel insecure too if the situation is reversed?

And that particular incident with the woman in his bed.... Men like it when they see their women getting jealous for them. By pretending you were fine even if you see another woman in his bed, you might have made him believe that he is not that important to you"

Lady Shaoyao explained everything patiently to the one who is dumb in these things.

"But I did get jealous.... I thought that he might find it annoying if I get jealous when he didn"t do anything wrong. Also... How are you sure?"

Seeing Xing started to think about other possibilities than the ones she came up with, Lady Shaoyao smiled. This is what she liked about her. She always is willing to learn.

" I"m not sure. You aren"t either. Won"t you know for sure only if you talk to him? Even you said he treated you really well. So if he changed suddenly, there must be a reason, right? I think it is because he is under the a.s.sumption that you still care for your past lover. He does not know it is him all along. So he is jealous... Stupidly, of himself"

"What should I do, big sis? My brain hurts...", Xing covered her face with a scarf and sank I to her own thoughts.

"I"m not saying his actions towards you are acceptable. But you should at least give him a chance to explain before cutting off your relations.h.i.+p ", Lady Shaoyao advised her.

She really thought this problems could be solved by talking properly.

In the end, if Chenglei didn"t live upto her expectations and mistreated her once more, Lady Shaoyao was willing to purge him out of the face of the earth.

But he should be given a choice given their past. No one makes her daughter cry!

Meanwhile, in the Imperial Study, Chenglei was sitting by the windowsill staring outside.

There were already rumours that the Princess Consort had eloped with another man but it seemed to be brought under control by using iron fists.

"You really don"t know where Mingxia is?", the Emperor asked his brother. Even he got worried as she disappeared for a couple of months with no news of her sightings.

What might have happened.?