Birth of Jia Xing It was new-year eve. There was heavy snowfall and the entire mountain was covered in white. From the tree trunk on the mountain Táng Ming Ling was leaning, she could see the entire imperial city decorated with lanterns waiting for the new year. But the sky was really cloudy and the moon and the stars all went to hiding as if it was a premonition of something bad going to happen.
It was the Wind Kingdom and ever since their crown Prince whom the Emperor groomed to be the next emperor died a little over six months ago a series of misfortunes occurred in the imperial city. The Crown Prince was only 12 that year and other princes were really young. The Shu clan in the city who are really famous for their horoscopes, predicted a great danger to the imperial clan which may end their bloodline. This made the emperor want to kill the entire Shu clan but suddenly many of the princes got sick and two of the Princesses died of an unknown illness. The emperor was furious and sad but that can"t prevent him from celebrating new years at least for appearances sake. He is the emperor and he cannot let his personal grievance affect his subjects otherwise he"ll look weak and an emperor cannot be weak. It really is lonely in the top of the hill.
In the mountains, Táng MingLing"s maid Xiao Yu came to her and said " Miss you sure you don"t want me to get a midwife? Your contractions have started and it"s early. You are only six months pregnant. We can go to the nearest village".
"No.. No one should know about this child, you are going to help me deliver ", Ming Ling said clenching her fists.
" Me?" Xiao Yu said and started mumbling " this child really is a jinx, even before it"s born it had made the Miss like this… look at the sky, even the moon has hid… It really has to be a demon child.. I can"t understand why the Miss decided to keep the child.. If not for this child Miss wouldn"t have to suffer like this… " She kept on mumbling while making hot water from the fire she previously made.
" What are you mumbling?" Ming Ling asked, her simple clothes wet with sweat and her face showing unbearable pain. "I"m saying that this child"s a curse..", she didn"t even finished when Ming Ling shouted " Enough Xiao Yu, you can leave me if you don"t like suffering with me but don"t ever mouth a single bad word about my child. I"ll love my child no matter what and I"ll I will not let anyone hurt it whoever it may be.. So be careful with your tongue now and in the future ". Xiao yu kneeled with tears in her eyes. The barely sixteen year old young miss she knew for more than ten years was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with determination more than she had ever seen before. She started sobbing " Miss forgive me… this lowly one couldn"t bear to see your suffering and said inappropriate things… I"ll serve you till the day I die… ". " I know", Ming Ling said and held on her belly, " I think it"s time Xiao yu…"
Meanwhile in the imperial Palace…
The New year"s banquet was filled with all the n.o.bles according to their ranks and a heavy atmosphere filled the halls. The n.o.bles didn"t want to offend the emperor by being too extravagant or too simple. They had to maintain a delicate balance. The Shu family elder was seated considerably closer to the emperor. Even though the emperor hated him the Shu family was one of the respected family for generations of the imperial Lu family. Beside him were the people from other n.o.ble families, the Zhong Huang and Ran families didn"t miss the ba quet too. The Shu Elder sipped tea and looked at the sky. "It"s new year and the moon is not visible. Surely this is not a good sign", he said making the emperor frown. The elder didn"t care and continued sipping his tea when suddenly there was a heavy wind and while everyone was watching the clouds in the sky cleared and the moon s.h.i.+ned with all its brilliance illuminating the entire palace. As everyone was watching bewildered, a bright shooting star pa.s.sed through the sky and merged with the tiger star and the gongs symbolising the start of new year sounded followed by the fireworks.
At the same time Ming Ling screamed and pushed the baby and the baby"s cry was masked by the sound of the fireworks. "Miss.. It"s a girl", Xiao yu said with cheer, "This girl is really a good omen, see the sky is bright and even there"s a shooting star pa.s.sing… This year is going to be good", she stopped when she saw her Miss" accusing looks. Ming ling looked at her daughter. Her complexion was that of a moon washed with milk, her hair the colour of gold and eyes amber coloured . She has seen people with different hair and eye colours before but to say neutrally, her daughter looks well… Different like she"s not a human, a celestial maiden maybe?. While Ming Ling was admiring the beauty of her daughter Xiao yu showed the birthmark on the left shoulder blade of the baby a crimson coloured mark of w.a.n.g(王) like someone painted with vermilion ink on her skin. Ming ling rubbed it off but it didn"t come off. Her face paled and she ordered Xiao yu not to mention this to anybody.
Everyone in the imperial new year banquet stared at the bright shooting star, while the Shu elder harrumphed. Everyone looked at him in antic.i.p.ation. The Shu elder just smiled and said "Guess the G.o.ds really intervened". The emperor clenched his fists and his golden dragon embroidered robe crumbled. He held his anger and asked "Elder Shu state clearly what you mean". The elder stood from his seat and said " The child with the Heaven"s blessing who will change the fate of the kingdom… No, kingdoms has appeared ". Saying this he left the banquet hall leaving the bewildered guests.
The emperor asked the equally shocked empress beside him if there was any childbirth in the imperial harem today to which she replied" no". So an imperial edict was pa.s.sed to report any childbirth in the past week to the emperor. But to everyone"s surprise no child was born anywhere. The emperor left the matter as another one of the Shu elder"s rambling and forgot about it. But this event was recorded in the emperor"s chronicles book.
The sky started to get bright when Xiao yu was bathing the little girl along a stream with hot water in the mountains. She wondered was her memory wrong when she saw the baby with golden hair? Because now the baby"s hair was dark as a raven and her eyes were a dark as ink too. "Hmm" she thought "guess I remembered wrong" . Ming Ling was half asleep near her when a man clothed in black with golden eagle embroidery appeared in front of her. He was entirely covered in black even his face and only his eyes were visible. Is this the rumoured golden eagle troop who only serve the emperor? Xiao yu was thinking when the man got the baby from her hand.
Ming Ling woke up startled and she looked at the man with her baby in his hand. "Is this Huang Ao Tian"s child" he asked. "Yes. She"s your niece " Ming Ling replied with a clear voice. The man Huang Feiye, startled said, "you.. How do you know it"s me"and removed the veil covering his mouth and nose. Xiao yu who was prepared to fight off the man who is at least a full head taller than her with a twig she found nearby, froze in her place.
Ming Ling looked at the man not looking older than twenty, but she knows he is twenty six, ten years older than her husband,kneeled in front of him and pleaded" please, your brother cannot know of this child and me. He still has his future ahead of him. He should become the prime minister in the emperor"s court. We"ll only hinder his progress. Please give the baby to me and you can tell him I"m dead", saying this she put her hands in her sleeves and found a white jade hairpin with a phoenix design and gave it to him. Feiye looked at the hairpin and shocked that it was the same hairpin and pendant set, their mother had given Ao Tian to give to his wife. Seeing that hairpin Feiye was conflicted, then he saw the beautiful baby in his arms and thought this is the child of my brother with the woman he chose to be his wife. That thought made his lips curve upwards unconsciously. Then he saw the birthmark on the child"s back and he remembered the commotion in the palace that day. It"s a girl, she cannot take the throne. So what kind of change can a girl bring to the kingdoms he wondered. Then he saw the baby"s face and thought don"t newborn babies look like potatoes, he remembered all his elder brother"s babies looked like potatoes for at least a month since they are born. So why does this baby look so beautiful? Guess she"ll be like one of the beauties he read about who started wars just with their beauty. Then he saw the baby in his arms sleeping peacefully and thought No way my little niece is not an Enchantress, She"s pure and cute. He also decided it"s better if the child stays away from the imperial capital city. It"s going to break my cutest little brother"s heart for he still thinks he can find her, Feiye thought with sadness in his eyes.
Ming Ling was looking at Feiye before her with changing expressions and thought brother in law is cute.. ah. Feiye snapped out of his train of thoughts and said to Ming Ling, " Sister in law, you can have the hairpin for my brother gave it to you. Also take the baby and go far from the imperial city. You can contact me if you need help. Also you can return whenever you want. I"ll make sure my brother is in a position where no one can harm you or your child", saying this he took a heavy bag of gold ingots from his waist and gave it to her. When she refused, he threw it at the frozen Xiao yu, who dropped the stick immediately to catch the bag. He then gave the baby to Ming Ling and asked, "what"s her name?". She thought for a while and said"Jia Xing, Táng Jia Xing". "I"m sure she"ll be a lucky star", he said and then disappeared in the trees.
Xiao yu asked " Can he be trusted?"
Ming Ling replied "Yes, he knows his brother is a hotheaded. He"ll definitely keep this a secret".
Feiye looked from behind the tree when he saw a majestic snow white stag watching over the mother daughter pair and said " Jia Xing is really blessed by the heavens and the G.o.ds will definitely watch over her " and left with an ease of heart.