LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

Shengli washed her gently in the bathtub and she slept through it making Xu mama worry. But Shengli knew she won"t wake up at least for a day and even dressed her up himself. He was so gentle with her, treating her like a rare delicate flower. He placed her gently on the bed and covered her and placed a kiss on her forehead and gently caressed her forehead with his coa.r.s.e hands,

"My moon! Why did you have to soak your beautiful hand in blood? Don"t you have me for that? Taking human life is like getting in a quick sand. You may think you can get out but once you get in, it will clutch you in and you will only sink deeper struggling to get out! ", He sighed and stared at her for sometime and left the room.

As he was going out of her courtyard, he saw Lord Zhong and AoTian sitting on the pavilion by the lotus pond and they asked him to join them.

"So, you weren"t that surprised seeing her fifty feet above the ground. You were with her too! ", Lord Zhong asked.

"Did you get any news about s.h.i.+hong?", Shengli asked. She must have at least wounded him!

"You already knew this about Mingxia?", AoTian asked. Seems like he"ll never know everything about his daughter in this lifetime.

Sensing both of them not moving past it, Shengli answered them, " This is not the first time I"ve seen this", he said and explained to them the incident at the pond and at the library in detail. She needs her family now more than ever. They cannot misunderstand her or look at her differently. That would definitely break her heart.

After he explained, there was a heavy silence and then Lin Mubai came to report,

"Big brother Wolf, the woman who died was a close aide of s.h.i.+hong, the only woman he kept close to him for almost a year. And the fingers sister-in-law broke had poison in the nails and other fingers had remnants of poison probably mixed in the beverages she served previously"

Lin Mubai then placed a broken shaft of an arrow on the table and Shengli recognised it as the arrow Xing shot at s.h.i.+hong. Judging by the way it was broken, Xing had hit s.h.i.+hong deeply so he escaped breaking the shaft with the arrowhead still stuck in him.

Shengli then gave him security instructions around the city and also the Prime Minister"s Manor and asked his people to watch the Ran Manor closely too.

"Mingxia didn"t let that girl serve me and drank all the wine and tea herself", AoTian told Shengli panicked. Is she poisoned by the poisons hidden in the nails? Is that why she is sleeping deeply?

"Poisons don"t affect her", Shengli poured himself a cup of wine and gulped it down. The burning sensation made his throat itch but he still drank more.

Lord Zhong and AoTian just watched him not knowing what to say. That girl is beyond what they had imagined and he knew everything about her and still stayed with her all this time.

Shengli was intoxicated in a short time and he looked at AoTian and laughed, "Didn"t you say I manipulated her? I did manipulate her!", he cupped his hands to make it look like a flower,

"She was a like a Magnolia flower....", he slurred a bit and both AoTian and Lord Zhong listened to him. This was the first time they had seen him this open, weak and helpless,

"When I saw her, I thought she was a beautiful.. Alluring... Divine flower", he banged the table, "That raven haired, obsidian eyed snow-skinned G.o.ddess! But then I found out, she was surrounded by thorns... Not hers but someone else wanted her... I knew then... If she knew... She"ll fight with all her might... She"ll fight to get away... She"ll be p.r.i.c.ked with those thorns, her beautiful petals will be ruined... ", his hands balled into a fist and AoTian rubbed his back seeing him in great pain. Looks like alcohol brought out his deep thoughts.

" So I did what I could do... I made her to focus only on me so she won"t realise the thorns around her... So that she"ll be happy! I worked hard to remove the thorns surrounding her without her knowledge... To protect her... I failed... I failed...! My beautiful flower... My moon! I failed! ",he sobbed lying on the table and AoTian patted his head.

AoTian felt ashamed that he had used harsh words on him before. He had done what a father must do and a lot more for her without even expecting her to know anything. Who else is suitable for his daughter other than him? No wonder that girl refuses to give up on him. She is always smart and how could her choice of a life partner be any less than what she deserved?

"You did what you could and now let her do what she must do!", Lord Zhong"s bell like voice rang. He wasn"t an elder for no reason. As an outsider his perspective was much more clear.

Shengli snorted, "What must she do?"

Well! No one had that answer except the glaring sign the G.o.ds gave today, "To enter the Palace".

"Boy, if you knew, why did you help your brother ascend the throne? You could have been the Emperor, even my family offered you support! ", Lord Zhong asked the most obvious question.

Shengli who was drunk, sobered up with that question, "I told you she is a flower, who will allow a flower enter that place filled with snakes,vultures, hyenas and foxes? I won"t..!"

AoTian didn"t know what to say. What he says is true but has he thought about what he will do if her fate is really to enter the palace?

" She may look strong to you all...She is strong!! But only I know her heart. I saw how she broke down when her mother died. She is not good with deaths. She cannot handle my death. She"ll die! For sure! That"s why I"ll have to hold on to my life, even if.. ", he said and stopped abruptly what he was saying.

"Is he saying that if he chose to be the Emperor, he"d have ended up dead? And so he has no choice in this matter but to let her enter the Palace? But what will she say about this?", AoTian and Lord Zhong were perplexed. Why is fate playing with their lives?

Shengli remembered the day that masked man who he met outside the library said," You don"t have the dragon sign. Stay alive for this child and watch her back! "

"I"ll wait on her tonight", Shengli stood up and walked towards her courtyard and AoTian didn"t even stop him.

Lord Zhong chatted with AoTian for a while and went to his Manor and AoTian had a sleepless night. Rijun who partly heard what they were talking about, didn"t know what to do but decided to talk to the Emperor what he was thinking.

Come what may, her feelings towards Shengli won"t change and in the end it is going to be a big mess! The Emperor being Shengli"s brother is complicating things too.

Shengli was staying beside Xing the whole night and he couldn"t sleep a wink. Middle of the night, Lin Mubai came and reported him that s.h.i.+hong had escaped in a pulses cart with the body of Meimei with the help of the Ran family but they could not stop them.

Shengli felt a s.h.i.+ver pa.s.s through his bones. If s.h.i.+hong was this attached to that woman, he will definitely retaliate. He"ll have to be much more alert.

Next morning, Xing woke up as usual and Shengli was a bit surprised that she woke up this early. Before, it took her two days to wake up after the library incident. Does this mean she"s becoming much more stronger in handling her ability to control wind?

When Xing woke up to see Shengli"s face she was ecstatic. For some reason, she felt extremely fresh that day and she sat in her bed and looked at Shengli who was handing her a bowl with joy in her eyes.

But when the smell of the bitter medicine entered her nose, her entire elated mood was deflated,

"Shengli! It looks bitter", she whined.

Shengli had a smile that wasn"t a smile per se,

"Dear, did the Poison you consumed yesterday tasted sweet? ", he asked sarcastically.

"Ah, That! Actually since it was mixed with wine, it tasted a bit sour", she replied and only then she noted the deep frown on Shengli"s face.

Shengli looked mad and Xing knew he was mad because she nonchalantly drank all those poisons. He always got mad when she showed him that snake bites don"t hurt her when she was little too! Snakes were always scared of her, especially poisonous ones!

Xing wordlessly consumed that G.o.dawful concoction of Heaven knows what, that smelled like skunk fart and gave him the bowl.

Shengli threw that bowl away and it scattered on the floor. Way to waste good quality jade bowls!

"You knew it was poisoned, yet you drank it", Shengli looked at her with a glare.

"I"m sorry", Xing mumbled like a little scared girl. She actually wasn"t sorry! Not even a least bit! Poisons don"t affect her and it is a fact! Why waste good wine for that, right?

"Xing!", Shengli hugged her and she could feel that he was trembling, "Xing, it won"t kill you but what if it gives you side effects?"

Xing who hadn"t thought about that shuddered. That"s right, what if I become blind or deaf or limp?

"You are right!" Xing hugged him back, "I swear, I won"t eat poison deliberately anymore!", she said and looked at him and only then he looked satisfied.

"Lord Zhong and your father wants to talk to you", Shengli said planting a kiss on her forehead.

Only then Xing remembered everything that happened the previous day. She actually stood fifty feet above the ground. If so, what Shengli said about her attacking s.h.i.+hong in the library should be true too. But all that aside, would her family know what she did? Then they will treat her like a sp.a.w.n of devil right? What should I do? Not everyone will be like Shengli, right?

"Silly!", Shengli flicked her forehead seeing her pale face, "Your family saw what you did and they are not as weak as you think they are. They love you too much!", he said smiling, "But it"s surprising you remember what happened", he mumbled inside his mouth.

"Get dressed", he raised his eyebrows and gave a devilish smile as he had no intention of leaving.

Geez! Can"t this guy think about anything else?

Xing had to push him out, changed and cleaned herself up and went to her father"s study where everyone was along with Shengli.