LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

The attack was the talk of the city as everyone knew who these "bandits" were. There were almost no bandits in their kingdom and certainly there was none near the capital city since the government had enforced law everywhere that curbed the bandits. Most of them were reformed and they are doing decent jobs now.

Also if those were actually bandits who attacked the Lei Family, they wouldn"t have just killed the family, leaving the servants and even the valuables of the Lei family weren"t taken by those "bandits".

Of course it was a message by Prince Jin since he would be meticulous if he wanted to hide his retaliation. The retaliation of a father after his son was almost killed by that family member, was terrible and could be considered going overboard when the perpetrator actually was dead and the child was in no way harmed. Yet it served as a stern warning for anyone who wished to even touch the most respected family in the city.

This reaction from Prince Jin sparked some outrage in certain circles but no one dared to say anything out loud. They expected the Emperor to launch an investigation of the deaths of the Lei family to keep Prince Jin at bay but the Emperor"s reaction was lukewarm. In fact he even asked Prince Jin not to attend court and sent him on vacation when he obviously was needed in the city for dealing with the p.i.s.sed off Prime Minister who is h.e.l.l bent on investigating everyone who tried to attend the compet.i.tion.

The Emperor also has signed an order for drafting young men over sixteen years old for the upcoming war the first to be drafted were members from the n.o.ble families pp.

Although, Those who were against Prince Jin could have created a big outrage but they were all busy trying to get their sons not to get drafting letters from the Defence Ministry and some even knelt in front of the Zhong Manor for Lord Zhong to change his mind.

Lord Zhong had a meeting with the Emperor and even then, he didn"t have changed his mind, apparently. Many tried to pacify Prince Jin and coax him to talk to Lord Zhong to let his army partic.i.p.ate in the war but Prince Jin"s family have left for their other Manor in the west and could not be reached. The West has always been a stronghold of Lord Tang a.k.a Princess Consort Jin and they couldn"t even reach Prince Jin for comments even and it seemed like they had severed all ties with the city before they left. It"s been three months and they haven"t returned yet.

Will Prince Jin announce the Western Province as a sovereign state and rule it, rebelling against the Wind Emperor? Or will he join Water kingdom and attack Wind Kingdom from the North and West while they are already defending their Southern Borders? In that case it won"t be hard for him to get the entire Wind Kingdom. Won"t the Ouyang Navy support the Princess Consort too?

Some of the officials who never doubted Prince Jin found his behavior unacceptable and they even blamed the Emperor too. In times of need, it is the duty of everyone to stand united for the nation. They should not put their personal issues to the front and abandon their nation especially during war.

All in all, it seemed like the ones in the capital city were seemed to be in much danger. Everyone of them regretted their wish to get their daughter inside the Jin Manor, that has created this big of a problem.

---

Meanwhile in the Jin Manor after a few months,

Xing had the peaceful life she had always wished for. It was slow and boring but it was oddly pleasant. She had been in contact with her father and Seiren and knew of every speculations going on around the officials but kept quiet.

In the garden, Xing was watching Chenglei teaching some of the basic sword moves to Little Xinxin with a little wooden sword, the Water Emperor sent for his son that he handmade. Xinxin loved that little wooden sword so much he"d practice sword just to hold that little sword.

Lianlian was holding a stick in his hand and followed his big brother"s movement alongside his father. His father didn"t want him to hold a sword yet and told him he"s not big enough to hold a sword.

But he is a big boy now. He can walk without falling!

Xing felt conflicted seeing those two little boys holding a sword. They are doing it out of their own interests and no one is forcing them to learn... But still... Those little hands should not be holding a sword, she felt.

For the first time, Xing realised why her mother would look at her like she had failed as a mother everytime Xing picked up a sword. And how apologetic Master Yuan was to let her train with a sword.

Gender is not the only issue there...

For a child, he is pursuing his interests and he is happy. But for a parent, it feels like they have failed, to let a little kid hold a sword.

"It is better this way", she sighed deeply and leaned at the back of her chair while rubbing her belly that started to show slightly. Since it was her second pregnancy she started showing even by the fourth month.

Their kids will need to learn these things no matter what, as it is mandatory for their survival. Both Chenglei and Xing held a lot of power and that had its perks but the dangers around them are great too. They can spoil their kids silly and try to protect them by not exposing them to the dangers outside... But it won"t be good for the child. They need to learn to protect themselves and also to protect the wealth and power their parents gained for them.

The wealth and power the Li family is not only a cus.h.i.+on on the floor, supporting them but also is a knife above their heads bringing danger to them.

The wheel always turned around and there will be more people waiting to see the Li family fall. If their kids are not prepared enough, it won"t be far for the Li family to end up like the other great families like the Ran family or plenty of other families.

Who knows who will turn against their family...? Now they have a lot of support in family and friends. But who could guess the future? Relations.h.i.+ps are always fragile and a simple mistrust can break it. The Zhong family or the Huang family could turn enemies to the Li family. Who knows, even the sweet Ah Xuan could turn against their sons fearing the power they hold!

Not only they, as parents, had the need to teach their sons to be strong physically and mentally but also they have to be taught to be prudent to not trust the wrong person too.

As parents they can protect them to certain extent but they cannot be with them forever and they need to learn all these by themselves.

Xing sighed.

Chenglei let the kids spar among themselves and returned to Xing and with a smile she poured some tea. But as usual he grabbed her cup to drink, making her frown.

"What? Your cup is more sweeter", he kissed her cheek.

"Since it"s kissed by you", he whispered in her ear making it go red.

This guy and his sweet nothings! I love him!

" Here", she pushed a bunch of letters addressed to him with a smile. She could never get tired of him.

"What"s the gist?", he asked as he knew she already read it all. She is a good wife helping him.

"These are the officials asking you to come back... These... They want to join your "rebellion"", she shook her head.

"I already made note of those who wants you to take care of them when you rebel and sent them to Kouki. This is a good time for cleansing the palace, don"t you think? It"s just three months since we left but they think we are rebelling? ", she showed him the letter she wrote and he placed it to the side without even reading it since there is no need. After sealing it, he will send it secretly to the palace.

But how stupid are people to actually be blatant about rebelling? What happened to their brain?

" And "he" sent another letter. I wrote a reply this time. Just send it as it is"

The displeasure in her tone and the way she frowned clearly told Chenglei that she is mentioning Water Emperor. He never could get why she hated him that much.

He was just a father who worried for his son"s safety since he got news about what happened in the compet.i.tion. Chenglei found nothing weird about it. Although Chenglei didn"t like the Water Emperor"s letters at first, after he held Lianlian in his hands, his perspective changed. As a father he could sympathise with the Water Emperor and he could understand why he would want his son back.

"I"ll go inside and take some rest. Feifei is acting weird. Uh! Lianlian never troubled me. Bring the kids inside soon. It"s getting dark ",she sighed and stood up.

Chenglei helped her stand up and his lips curved up automatically.

"This girl! Why did she name their third son Feifei like a girl? Guess I"ll have to take over the naming from now on!"

He smiled as he opened the letter she wrote for the Water Emperor. He very much liked to join her but she would get mad for getting close to her at these times when she wanted to be alone. Guess each pregnancy is different. Her moods go to extremes within seconds.

He read the letter she wrote and chuckled.

" Annoying Dragon,

Your wife left your son with me not because I am the safest person to be with but because, she trusted me that I will protect him despite the dangers around me and the dangers he might face. And I will just do so. So just f*ck off and clean your sh*tty backyard first!
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Frustrated,

Mother Xing. "

That was the entire "letter" she wrote.

Chenglei need to agree that they were wrong to bring Xinxin to a potentially dangerous place and the whole thing happened because they left him out of their sight for a minute.

So he wrote another polite and official letter to the Water Emperor explaining the situation and the precautions they had made after that incident and also made sure that Xinxin"s fine and wasn"t traumatised by that incident and acts normal. He also wrote how Xinxin likes the wooden sword too.

"Ah, since when did I turn this sympathetic? ", Chenglei ma.s.saged his temples and leaning on the chair, closed his eyes. This woman has changed him too much.

" And... My Xing is right"

Chenglei concluded and in the end, Chenglei"s letter was added as a post script to Xing"s "well-written formal letter" filled with cuss words and impolitness.

Chenglei saw the bunch of memorials regarding the war happening for a month and frowned. The Wind Kingdom was winning and defending the attacks of the United army, but there seemed to be something missing.

Why are the wins so easy?

He spread a map on the table and marked every place the United army have attacked and their every form of attack and his eyes widened.

The enemies are smart!

"Xing!", he shouted, "You got to see this!"