LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

Since they decided to stay there for the night, the Emperor asked Haru to join them too since he knew Xing would like it and only he could figure out what she is thinking apart from his brother.

The Emperor expected her to tell him where she went that day when she went missing but she wasn"t willing to talk to him much,which surprised him. He did go a little too far that day when he shouted at her but she was in the wrong too and he thought everything would get better soon. Seems like that is not going to be the case. She is not even looking at him when they are in private as she was in deep thoughts and she had the do-not-disturb expression on her face all the time. Even Bai Li was ignored that surprised him.

Haru was formally invited by the Emperor to have dinner with him and the Empress and in the tent Xing waved the servants away leaving only the Emperor, Xing, Haru and Bai Li inside the tent.

"You are really stupid , aren"t you?", Haru who was acting polite till then, showed his usual demeanour with her once everyone is out.

"How is Shurei?", Xing asked, serving a piece of meat in his bowl. He haven"t started to eat and her old habit of waiting for him to finish half a bowl before she started to eat, kicked in.

" You cut that... Person"s hair? His hair? You should have cut his neck along with it! Why didn"t you? Now he"s going to try something more vile..,",he paused his ramble seeing her not starting to eat and finished half a bowl in a hurry and pushed her a bowl of soup prompting her to start eating.

She never changes! This idiot! He chided her in his heart.

" Shurei is fine. She is five months pregnant now and she does not have morning sickness anymore and her belly is starting to show. The doctors said there is nothing to worry too", his voice mellowed a bit and a small smile could be seen in his lips.

The Emperor by his side was silently eating as if he was invisible and wondered what this man was talking about. Isn"t he too informed about pregnancy? And how come he knows what she did to s.h.i.+hong when he who is with her doesn"t?

"Stay low and be with her all the time. Don"t move around too much. And postpone any big business ventures for now until s.h.i.+hong is settled", Xing said playing with the food with her chopsticks.

"Will you eat properly? Brother Lei was worried you"ve lost weight!",he poked her forehead.

"He is contacting you? I specifically told him not to involve you anymore", Xing got a bit angry. That Chenglie never cares about others!

"Stupid!", Haru forced some rice inside her mouth, " I tried to contact him and was able to, after much effort only recently. Possibly because he thought you looked down and he felt like you were suffering somehow and asked me to take a look. And, he was sure s.h.i.+hong does not care about me anymore and I am being careful nonetheless. And brother is right! You look terrible... You were always ugly but... Now.. You are terrifying ", he winced.

" Good thing you are here. I wanted to ask you of something.. ", Xing ignored his comments about her appearance. It would be odd if he complimented her! Otherwise it is just another day in her life...

So Chenglie sent him here to have a look at me because he was worried?

After he nodded Xing continued," My lands... I"m settling the Sima Tribes people there as there is where they belong and I want you to write some laws for my feif that would let them live freely at the same time not too freely"

Even though the Sima Tribesmen are the original inhabitants of the lands she owns, they had left for a while and now they are returning generations after and the people already there won"t be very willing to accept them. But it is the fair thing to do so there should be some common laws to let those two groups of people integrate together.

The people who are already there cannot be too hard on them and also the tribesmen cannot be too overpowering too. There should be a delicate balance for them to co-exist.

No one should be above or below the other. No one should be the victim or the oppressor. Everyone should be the same sharing the land that belongs to all!

No one could make such laws and conditions better than her friend, Xing knew.

Her vague description confused the Emperor even though he understood what her intentions are. Can someone write laws by that description alone?

" Yeah! I understand... I can think of thirty eight conditions off the top of my head but I will think that through. I think I can come up with at least a hundred",Haru replied blinking his eyes a little faster as if he was still calculating in his head.

"Thirty eight? In such short time? Can I hire you?", the Emperor was intrigued. He"d be an a.s.set in the court.

"No!", Haru was blunt.

The Emperor just shrugged it off. He tried!

"Also, I need to find a place to keep the rescued children too. I"m planning to give them Táng name and raise them as my children. You think we could find a place in the East since these kids are used to here?", Xing asked.

She had thought about it and reached to this decision. Her uncle won"t allow them to have the Huang name so that is her other best choice. Her uncle refused to allow even her in the family first. And, of course she cannot raise all of them and she"ll have to hire a lot of trained people for helping her. She won"t be in the palace for long anyway!

" You are not leaving them in the Heavenly Flowers Palace? ", Bai Li interrupted. Isn"t that what she usually does? His inst.i.tution has trained people who could handle such abused children too. Won"t that be good for them?

"No, I"m not trusting your place anymore. You allowed s.h.i.+hong in, remember?", her clear eyes flickered with the distrust she had that made Bai Li go red with shame. Even though it was his sister, he cannot be excused!

For someone who promised to protect her, letting her worst enemy in a place she felt extremely safe... It is worthy of criticism!

The Emperor looked at her with amus.e.m.e.nt. She always has a clear head dealing with such things logically!

"But..", she continued with her eyes firm, "I will hire people from there. No one would be better suited other than the maids from there. I"ll be talking business with Lady Shaoyao soon"

"Okay",Bai Li nodded. This.. he really can help with.

"Xing, won"t a change of place be good for those children? How about raising them in the west? The Ming Manor..! I am planning to abandon it. Why not use it for the children? Better than that place being ruined, right? "

"You are going to abandon your Ancestral home?", Xing asked her friend who just nonchalantly told her a weird thing.

Haru took a deep breath with his eyes clouded with his memories of the past, "Xing, you know how I was raised there... How much we suffered there... I"m not raising my children there. I"m building a Manor in Faling Port. That is going to be our home from now on!", he spoke with conviction as he had thought a lot about it.

"Wow! If every Lu thought like that how many palaces would have been built by now!", the Emperor wondered. Did any Lu have a good life in the Palace?

Both Xing and Haru had nothing to say since they do have much more flexibility in deciding their life than the ones in the Palace.

Xing agreed to Haru"s suggestion as it seemed like a good idea and Xing asked Haru to rename the Manor for the kids and Haru happily suggested to change the name to "Crimson Jade Manor". He also offered to support the children monetarily.

With everything Xing had thought of handling finished perfectly with the help of the person she trusted completely, Xing sighed in relief. He sure is a friend worthy of absolute trust. Now all she has to concentrate is the plans s.h.i.+hong may come up with to ruin the kingdom in the future.

"So...", Haru stretched his arms after finis.h.i.+ng the dinner and pouring himself a cup of wine, "Are you going to tell me what"s that about a

... kerchief... Or towel... Something of the sort ?", Haru asked and he didn"t even understand why Brother Lei insisted on asking her this.

"He told you to ask me?", Xing pursed her lips.

"s.h.i.+hong is his sister, right? And when Chenglie was...."

"Wait... What..? Sister..? SISTER?", Haru was flabbergasted. No wonder brother Lei had an indescribable irkness visible on his face whenever he mentioned s.h.i.+hong"s name!

"Yep! His father drove his mother away for fun.. He was a crazy man... Anyways... Apparently s.h.i.+hong who tried to get to be acknowledge by his father got in the Palace as a maid.."

"In our Palace?",the Emperor was dumbfounded.

"Yes, in fact he was the one who held you first when you were born!", Xing smiled at the Emperor cringing hard.

What the...! So that"s how he knew Eunuch Xin?

"Hey, his word... Not mine!", Xing shrugged seeing the discomfort the Emperor was in. "And... One day when he was punished, your Brother Lei gave s.h.i.+hong his kerchief which made him "fall in love " with his brother",Xing rolled her eyes.

"No way!", Haru screamed. As bizzare as everything is, saying that Chenglie helped a woman is much more unbelievable...

That guy jumped aside like he was burnt by fire when he noticed his shadow falling on a woman... Literally! For him to give a personal belonging like kerchief to a woman... No way!

"Impossible!", the Emperor shouted. His brother? Helping a maid? He might not know his brother now, but the brother he knew back when he was in the palace, he would never help someone... Anyone.. Beneath his status! Period.

A Prince helping a maid? That too, the haughty and aloof Rui w.a.n.g? That is as much as possible as a hungry old lion who cannot hunt, genuinely helping a lame fawn escape without eating it! Impossible!

"s.h.i.+hong didn"t lie!", Xing was sure. He wasn"t that delusional about that. These two are overestimating that casanova!

Then it dawned on the Emperor...

"There is only one possibility that it might have happened!", he clapped in excitement that he figured it out making Xing and Haru and even Bai Li focus on him.

Everyone was looking closely at the Emperor who realised everyone is being curious and he gently poured himself a cup of wine and took it sip by sip, slowly.

Xing who is the epitome of patience could not hold on any longer and she poured the entire cup inside his mouth hastily, "How?", she shook the Emperor by his shoulders as she could not hold on to the suspense anymore.

"My third brother... He must have thought that was a laundry maid and gave his kerchief which he found dirty, to was.h.!.+", he shrugged.

Xing, "..."

Haru, "..."

Bai Li, "..."

Judging by what she knew of Chenglei, IT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE!

Xing who was keeping that matter in her heart fuming with jealousy for the past days, sighed thinking of her stupidity.

How did I not think this through? I am stupid!

So with her mind cleared of all the issues that were bothering her, Xing and the Emperor reached the capital and Haru left to the East where he was staying for now.

The Emperor and Empress who had brought an end to the decades long war, were all welcomed with grandeur and with celebrations in the Capital City.

Xing was still inside the carriage while the Emperor was riding a horse along with the commanders and generals who won the war for their nation.