LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

She didn"t want her children to know her as a divine ruler. And that"s why, she never let her children know about her past and just showed herself as a wife and mother. Now her behaviour would have stirred some doubts in their children"s minds.

All because of that idiot!

" No, I would never. I shouldn"t have surprised you like this. And I can understand your concern, " he answered calmly. He liked it when she washed his hair. Her hands always were gentle and beautiful.

His wife can do anything she wants.

"You shouldn"t have, but... I should have been a bit calmer," Xing leaned on him and accepted her fault. She asked her children to be proper and now she lost all composure in front of them.

"Sixteen is too young, " she added. Her daughters are too little. How would they be able to handle married life? And that too Little Yu was always carefree and easy-going who does not know how to plot or conspire.

Will she able to handle the life in the inner palace? And that too in a place far away and where their reach is limited?

" Wedding won"t be until they are eighteen, " Chenglei held her hand and made her sit in his front, as he hugged her back.

" You know there are a lot of families trying to make us relatives... Why do you want to send our daughter that far away?" Xing asked leaning in his chest.

" The Fire Emperor has been asking me forever. And, his son... He is suitable for our daughter, isn"t he? And Little Yu likes him too. But in the end, it is your decision"

Chenglei knew how to talk to his wife to let her decide according to his wishes. She knows what is right. And their children"s wedding is not just that. It involves a lot of other considerations too.

The Fire Emperor wrote and told him that he want to make an alliance and some strong connection with the three kingdoms. That"s why he chose Chenglei"s daughter for his first son and not his youngest son who"d be closest to Chenglei"s daughters" age.

But Chenglei knew of the actual reason he wants his daughter for the Crown Prince. According to the prophesies about the divine ruler, his blood should be ruling the nations.

Xing, being the divine ruler, united the nations with trade, rather than by war and it was possible because they knew of the blood they shared and they all had a similar thought.All of the Emperors are of Lu blood and that served as a unifying factor. The sky Kingdom"s monarchy who shared no blood with the Lu, ended up getting united by war.

Even though the Fire Emperor is of Lu descent, no one knows of it since he has the Long surname. And so to ensure the peaceful future of his kingdom, in case the future generations are having misgivings, he needs his descendants to have some obvious blood connection with those three kingdoms.

Who is better than the daughter of the divine ruler, right? Even though Xing hid everything about her, the fact still remains that Chenglei and Xing has a strong influence and known well in the three kingdoms and she is the holder of the Tiger Token of the three kingdoms, which is public information.

And if the crown Prince marries the divine ruler"s daughter, their son will share the blood of the divine ruler and when he ascends the throne, it would be the prophesy getting fulfilled.

And it is for the same reason, Ayane wants to get her son marry Xing and Chenglei"s daughter. Her son will not take the throne but her grandchild will be somehow involved with the throne,probably as the Empress with their next generation on the throne and so the blood of the divine ruler will be on the throne of Earth Kingdom, as per the prophesy.

The Water Emperor was keen on marrying Ryuga"s daughter to Lian Lian for thr same reason too. Now that a connection is made through wedding alliance, he will strengthen it by making another wedding alliance between Lian Lian"s child and his grandchild, so that the divine ruler"s blood will be mixed in his descendants.

Everyone wants the blood of the divine ruler getting mixed with their descendants to get the complete protection of the G.o.ds and keep their promise of making the divine ruler"s blood ruling the nations and also to protect their descendants along.

Of course none of their plans will ensure the protection of their descendants, but it is then trying to protect their future generations and their kingdoms.

Who knows if someone from the Li family gets ambitious and wants to rule over everything?

In that case, on whose side will the G.o.ds be? It would be obvious!

Back to this alliance, it seemed like it was fated for those two to meet. Of it is fated, he didn"t want it to get interrupted by his wife anymore.

Hasn"t she suffered enough trying to change our fates? She need not suffer to change our daughters" fate.

Chenglei has met Long JunTing once, a couple of years back and he liked that boy instantly for Little Zhu. But it seems like he fell for Little Yu.

And little Zhu... The thought of her made his heart clench.

"What are you thinking deeply?"

Xing pecked his lips turning to look at him and Chenglei snapped out of his thoughts.

"Little Zhu might be in love with Little Zai" Chenglei said holding Xing and he kissed her forehead seeing her going pale.

"No... How? He is her cousin by blood. Ahhh... But she doesn"t know that... And... Isn"t Little Zai trying to woo Fa Donghai"s second daughter? W-why? W-wait... Are you sure? You could be wrong. Also, if that"s the case, I would have known. I"m not that careless" Xing was flabbergasted and asked Chenglei after staring at him for an entire minute before his words sank in her mind.

This is impossible!

"Don"t blame yourself, Xing. I myself didn"t notice either until Junjie talked to me about it. And I still couldn"t believe it but only realised it when I saw her getting sad when you mentioned Little Zai today and said you won"t let him marry your daughters since you consider his father your brother," Chenglei hugged his wife who was pale close to his heart.

It was never easy to know their eldest daughter"s mind. She always hid it pretty well.

" It"s not like marrying cousins is taboo in our kingdom. So, do you think.... "

" No way! " Xing pinched Chenglei, intersecting him. "Little Zai is your brother"s son. He is like your son... How could our daughter marry him?" her volume was high and Chenglei noticed someone leaving from being the part.i.tion.

"Good she knows! Then it would be her decision from now on" Chenglei took a deep breath as he saw his eldest daughter"s lily embroidered sleeves disappear through the door.

"It doesn"t matter," he hugged Xing close, "Did I mention before? Marrying relatives is pretty common in our Lu family. One of my ancestor even married his half sister."

"No wonder craziness runs in your Lu blood, " Xing refuted and Chenglei went silent.

She is right!

But, my love... What will you do if our daughter still insists on marrying Little Zai? She is your daughter and how stubborn would she be? Will she back off knowing Little Zai is her cousin by blood?

There was silence there except for the occasional sounds of water splas.h.i.+ng. She seemed to be in deep thought.

"Now I understand why he laughed that much. He must have thought I was being naive. And boy, was I?" Xing broke the silence and Chenglei couldn"t get the top or bottom of what she was saying.

Xing then explained about that conversation she had with the Oldman just days before he pa.s.sed away. She said girls stop being cute after they get old and so she"d gladly send them away.

"He must have thought, "Wait till you have a daughter, brat! Then you"ll know!"" Xing laughed but unknowingly there were tears in her eyes.

" He said I will definitely have children and his words came to pa.s.s, Chenglei! We have children and grandchildren.... I miss him, " She sniffed her nose and Chenglei got anxious.

Why is she crying suddenly thinking of the great general?

This has been happening a lot lately. One moment she"d be hot like a pepper and the next moment will become sweet like honey and the next moment will become bitter. This has happened before... When she was pregnant...

Could she be pregnant? Her monthlies didn"t arrive this month, did it? No, it didn"t... How come? She is forty eight. She shouldn"t be pregnant. She"d die! What should I do?

Chenglei worried. He even got a medicine from the Fire Kingdom that would make his swimmers less virile and would act as a contraceptive. It worked till now, why didn"t it work suddenly?

"Ah! Why am I crying? And why is it so hot?" Xing got out of Chenglei"s hold and tried to get up but he held her close and pa.s.sed her some cold water to drink.

This is happening a lot lately too? Is she sick to have hot flashes?

Chenglei held her close and since she struggled, let her go. She"d get mad if he didn"t let her go. She sat by his side, fanning herself.

Chenglei looked at his wife now having slight signs of aging. There were fine lines of wrinkles in her face and his hands ran through her hair that has greys in some areas.

A lot of hair is turning grey these days and he s.h.i.+vered as he remembered her words.

"I will die the day my last hair turns grey. I want our hair colours match when I die"

Chenglei felt a chill pa.s.s through his spine remembering that.

"Could she be really sick and is hiding it from me? Will all her hair turn white overnight and she"d die tomorrow?"

Chenglei"s thoughts wandered dangerously pessimistic.

"I think I"m having menopause, " Xing said and she was startled by Chenglei"s face getting pale like a sheet of paper.

"So I was right! You have an incurable disease, Xing... You cannot die. You cannot leave me. Xing! Xing! "

Chenglei hugged Xing tightly and rambled on and Xing"s mouth was pressed in his chest and she couldn"t speak and she could only mumble. Soon she felt her nose being shut by his firm chest and she tried to wriggle out of his hold but he didn"t let her go.

He let go of her only after she gave him a purple nurple.

"That hurts, " he pouted and Xing glared at him. "You were suffocating me"

"But you have this incurable disease and..."

"It is incurable, alright. So now might be the time for you to go bring an eighteen year old as your concubine" Xing rolled her eyes.

"Really?", he held her hand with his eyes red. He didn"t even hear her last sentence and Xing sighed.

Seems like her husband actually believes menopause is a disease.

She then explained about menopause and only then colour returned to his face.

"Oh, so that"s how it is..." he hugged her, "You gave me a scare. You women have a lot of weird things going on in your body, " he added and he couldn"t believe how different a man and woman are.

"Don"t worry, Xing. Our daughters will have a happy life just like our sons. We"ll get through this menopause thingy too"

Chenglei kissed her hair and she leaned on him. A content smile was in her lips.

Yes! After everything they went through, this is nothing. As long as they are together nothing will be tough.

"I love you, my Prince"

"Love you too, my wife"

The next day, Xing learnt that Little Zhu locked herself in her room and felt bad. She talked to Shuang to learn what Zhu has in her heart. Little Zhu was close with Shuang and Feifei and so Shuang has a higher probability of learning something.

Lian Lian informed Xing that he let Little Yu and Long JunTing have a little meeting under his supervision the previous night. Xing didn"t mind. It is better for them to know each other if they are going to marry.

"Mother, I still want to marry him, " Little Yu politely told Xing and looked at his father for his support. She was dressed in proper attires for a young lady, with her hair neatly made to a bun and there were at least eight heavy hairpins in her hair.

"What do you know about marriage? And that too the life in the Inner Palace?" Xing asked the girl who clearly dressed to impress JunTing. She knew because, she did it with Chenglei too.

My girl is fallen deep already!

Xing took a deep breath. Her girl who was acting politely was now throwing a tantrum.

" You don"t care for me... Can"t you even grant my only wish? When have I ever asked you anything? I will not eat until you agree to our marriage. I will starve to death...."

Little Yu went on and she was surprised her mother is not even flinching. Poor girl didn"t know her mother was better at throwing tantrums than a novice like her.

" You love him? You want to marry him? " Xing asked not bothered by Little Yu"s threats. She knew her daughter can"t even skip a single meal.

"Then win the compet.i.tion" Xing said and Little Yu agreed.

In the open training ground, Little Yu and Long JunTing stood face to face with training swords in their hands.

"Start!" Xing watching from a platform nearby raised her hand.

"Wait! Mother, " Little Yu interrupted, " What are the rules?"

"Figure it out"

Xing didn"t answer and rang the gong and the compet.i.tion started.

Xing saw both Yu and JunTing attacking each other and they weren"t holding back their attacks. She went and sat by Chenglei"s side and pouted some tea for him.

"This is a good way to test my son, " the Fire Emperor pulled a chair and sat beside Xing, "And I can see my daughter-in - law"s character too"

"Look both of them are respecting each other and showing their skills. Isn"t this wonderful? Both are already showing how serious they are with their love"

The Fire Emperor was happy.

Xing didn"t answer and waved her hand when a bunch of trained soldiers of the Jin Manor surrounded the two with swords. Before the two realise what was happening, the fifteen soldiers clad in black, started attacking.

"Look how they are operating in tandem... Look at the way they are communicating with each other.... Surely in the future too, they will solve problems together!
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See... Now Yu made a gesture and he understood.. They are already so in sync"

The Fire Emperor could not help but praise those two. Even Xing cannot deny the connection those two had as if they had known each other for a long time.

She smiled and soon her smile faded.

He is a nice boy and they love each other. But he wants the woman and the throne. How will he be able to protect both? The last dragon who wanted both, ended up neglecting his wife.

Love is not enough all the time!!

So can I really send my daughter to him? What if she ends up like Yukiko?

Noticing her change in expression, the Fire Emperor looked at Xing, "Mingxia, " his voice was calm and a.s.suring, " I know you worry since you know the path of an Emperor is always lonely and the woman whom he loves will never be able to share his path. I know all the Emperors you know have it bad when it comes to love.

But, there is me and Yunxi. We are together longer than you and your husband and even now, our love never faded. There are other women in my harem and my wife knows how to handle them. Trust me, my son grew up watching his parents walking hand in hand through all the struggles and knows how to protect his wife.

And your daughter might be naive but she is smart. She is your daughter! And she can learn all the nuances of the inner palace easily with Yunxi"s teachings.

And don"t worry about whether she"d be fine with no support in some strange Kingdom. She is the daughter-in-law, I, myself, the Emperor of the Fire Kingdom travelled far and brought back. I"ll see who has the guts to even look at her with animosity, " he held Xing"s hand.

" Look at them,sister. See how they are holding their hands and defending each other with a smile in their face...? Is it not nice to see? "

Xing looked at Chenglei and he seemed convinced by the promise made by the Fire Emperor. The Emperor gave his word and he will keep it.

Both of them couldn"t guess Xing"s thoughts. But they saw her walking toward the railing of the pavilion they were sitting with a bow and a quiver of arrows.

She nocked an arrow and thr tip of the arrow was pointed at her daughter"s heart.

Now what is she going to do?