LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

Xing looked at the note and wanted to bang her head for asking her father to make rules for her to follow. She really loved it when Shengli was there by her side when she wakes up. Guess she"ll have to do with notes until they get married then and that"s not going to be a smooth sail.

Xing"s mood was dampened and she half heartedly drank the milk Xu Mama had prepared which wasn"t as tasty as when Shengli would have prepared it. She took a stroll when he saw her brother"s courtyard and knew he"d be busy getting ready to attend the morning court and graciously decided to spread her mood to him.

Xing sneaked in quietly into Rijun"s courtyard. Her brother didn"t use much servants either as he deals with many government doc.u.ments and more people means he had to be more alert. The security in his place was also higher than her father"s.

The guards let her in as she had the pa.s.s of the Huang family and she entered his study signalling his page to keep quiet. Xing saw Rijun reading a letter with a frown clearly visible in his face and got close to him.

Rijun noticed Xing approaching him and immediately hid the letter he was reading.

"Brother.. You are not reading lewd books so early in the morning, are you?", Xing asked smirking as she noticed him hiding the letter.

"What..?", Rijun screamed with his face red. This sister of his had no reservations.

"This is a letter from...", he paused for a second, "From the Head of the Huang family. Father does not read his letters and Xu mama always delivers his letters to me"

"Oh!", Xing nodded. But.. Head of Huang Family.. Isn"t it Huang Zedong, biological father of brother? So he doesn"t address him as Uncle or father but as "head of Huang Family" like some outsider of the Huang Family? Xing wondered. But then what should one call the father who abandoned him?

"Why are you hiding it then?", Xing tried to s.n.a.t.c.h it when Rijun protested.

"Mingxia, you can"t.."

"Why?"

"He had written that he cannot accept you and he did not like the idea of accepting Lord Táng as a G.o.dchild too. He never holds back in his letters and always writes a lot. You might get hurt", Rijun"s tone was so gentle and Xing realised the care her brother had for her and she smiled heartily as it made her happy.

"I can handle it", Xing told and got the letter with many pages and started reading.

Rijun didn"t lie when he said Huang Zedong doesn"t hold back. There were pages and pages of reasons why Lord Táng cannot be accepted into the Huang family and the implications of accepting Lord Táng into the family.

All Xing could infer from the letter was that Lord Huang really loved the Huang family and didn"t want any danger to affect them. Also it showed how smart he was to predict the various scenarios and it reminded her of the contracts Haru would make thinking of all possibilities.

No wonder he is the top businessman in the Kingdom!

Rijun who was expecting his sister to be depressed by that letter that rejected her from being a part of their family was confused to see the admiring look on her face.

"What"s with that look?", he asked skeptical.

"Look how smart Lord Huang is. As I said, anyone with brains will try to keep me at a distance. He really cares for the safety of his family. How is it wrong? And just because father and you accepted me doesn"t mean everyone should too, right? ", Xing asked making Rijun laugh.

"You really are a weird one! How can you put yourself in his shoes even when it involves you?", he asked.

Xing just shrugged it off, "So there is going to be a banquet?", she asked as she had read in the letter. "Banquets and I don"t go well together", she mumbled softly and sighed. Whether it was the Ming family banquets or the Imperial Banquet she attended recently, she never had good experiences.

"Yes, usually it is arranged in the Huang Ancestral home in Dajing. This year the Family Head had suggested to have it in a week and that too in our Manor. Hmmm.. It is going to be h.e.l.l. They always put us down ", he sighed.

Xing remembered how the family banquets were always "eventful" from what Xu Mama told and wondered how this banquet might be.

"Still, brother.. I"ve heard that Lord Huang is always reasonable and rational. Won"t he interfere?", she asked. Xu mama had told her that Lady Huang and Concubine Lan who is the birth mother of Rijun would be the ones who always start the trouble which would be blown up by her father resulting in a verbal war.

" Him? ", he snorted," He won"t even move a finger and his sons try a bit but no one can control those women... They are....annoying!", Rijun spoke dryly and Xing could see the disgust in his eyes.

Lord Huang Zedong had two sons from his wife who are both married and his elder son had a son and one daughter from the Concubine who is actually Rijun"s blood sister. Also Uncle Feiye"s daughter also lived with her first uncle. So for the banquet everyone will be attending.

"Anyway, this time they would focus so much on you and with the family head not approving you, it"s going to be a bloodbath. Till now Uncle Feiye would pacify but this time if they speak ill about you or your mother... which they surely will and father cannot be stopped. Don"t know what might happen... ", Rijun said and stood up to leave, " Let"s go meet father", he said and Xing followed.

On the way, Xing remembered everything that happened on that night she got drunk and got fl.u.s.tered. She actually asked her father who was still grieving for her mother for a sister and even suggested a woman to top it off.

"Brother, does father hate that First Ran Young Miss too much?", she asked Rijun who halted his steps.

Xing looked at him shocked at his reaction as she just wanted to know how bad her punishment will be if her father tried to for making absurd suggestions.

"Shh, Mingxia!", he whispered, "She is a taboo in this Manor and father punishes whoever mentions her. It"s just that the last time, three years back, that Ran Young Miss sneaked into our Manor and there was a big trouble that night. That night Lord Zhong asked me to talk to father to take her in at least as a servant a.s.suring me he would listen if it was coming from his son. But before I even brought that up, Father got really mad "If you feel bad for her and if she wants the Huang name that badly, why don"t you two marry and get lost from my sight? Don"t bother me with this" he shouted and almost hit me with a teacup. I got scared and ran away and thankfully that issue was resolved to a compromise with not much loss on both sides. I was scared to even talk to father for a long time after that. So marriage is something no one talks to him about and definitely not her name", he said in a whispering tone.

Xing rubbed her her temples, "That serious, huh!", even she couldn"t believe her father would act this way towards his son.

Then what about me? My misdeeds are piling up! Xing screamed inside her head.

They entered their father"s study and after giving their morning greetings. Xing noticed the tea making utensils were set up and went to make tea without her father saying anything. AoTian smiled at the serene way she was making tea and he felt calm and happy watching her. Seeing her father"s pleased look Xing was relieved too.

This trick works everytime on mother! Guess father can be placated using this method too! Xing was happy.

After drinking tea, AoTian was the one to speak first,

" Mingxia, about what you asked of me that night, I thought about it a lot and...", he paused and Xing tensed up.

I asked a lot of things that night... Which one is father mentioning?

" About you and Shengli I would prefer if you"d change your mind but I won"t interfere in any ways as long as you follow the rules I gave that day. And you might have thought you scared us by saying a lot of things about you but I a.s.sure you I can only look at you as my daughter and I don"t care about anything else. You should know too that your father is no simple man himself. Even if you walk through the morning court and a.s.sa.s.sinate the Emperor right in front of all the officials, this father can still save you. So you don"t have to worry about anything. I hope Rijun agrees with me too", AoTian looked at Rijun and he nodded in agreement.

AoTian then opened a box and placed two green jade tokens that had the "Soaring Eagle" emblem in it with white silk ta.s.sels hanging. Xing knew it was the Huang family Emblem and only the male heirs carry it with them.

As Xing was thinking that it was for her father and brother, AoTian gave it to Rijun and her surprising her but Rijun looked at her like it was what he expected.

"Hang it in your waistband at all times. Whatever ident.i.ty you take, you will be a Huang and never forget that", AoTian added.

So what her father means is that as a daughter or a G.o.dchild, she can carry this token and she would be treated as a Huang. If Xing is someone emotional, she would have cried in joy but even though she didn"t, only heavens knew how happy her father"s words made her.

The feeling of getting accepted for who I am is really great! Xing smiled.

"Thank you, father", Xing bowed and her father smiled in content seeing his daughter"s happy face.

Rijun then informed about the content of the letter, when Shengli came in and gave his greetings. AoTian who wasn"t very inviting of Shengli, decided to keep his cool in front of his daughter as suggested by Lord Zhong. He didn"t want to push his daughter to Shengli himself. He decided to make her realise how much of a bad person Shengli is just by herself. And then he can find someone better than him for his daughter.

"Father, can"t we cancel the banquet?", Xing asked hesitantly.

"If you don"t want to, we can opt not to attend", AoTian answered immediately.

Shengli who wanted to keep quiet could not let that happen because he needed the support of the Huang family for her too.

"Xing, you"ll have to meet your family someday. Also, I"ll be there too", he spoke gently.

"OK, fine! Then let"s have the family banquet", Xing agreed happily.

AoTian"s face twitched seeing how Shengli had Xing wrapped on his fingers but concealed it,

" Mingxia, that"s settled then. If you are worried that your first uncle won"t accept you, you have no need to. Uncle Yingjie already wrote to him. Elder brother won"t just decide without considering thoroughly".

"Yes, Father", Xing said happily. Honestly she didn"t care if her Uncle accepted her or not. The one person she thinks of as someone is Shengli and as long as he is by her side, nothing or no one else can make her feel rejected.

Xing then spoke softly to Rijun," Brother, you think of me as your sister and my father as your father. So if the head of the family is my "First Uncle" as father said, isn"t he first uncle for you too?" and that made Rijun root on the spot as she had nailed right on the head and AoTian looked at Rijun with expectations.

AoTian had always worried for Rijun in this matter as ever since Rijun knew of his true ident.i.ty as the Concubine"s son of Huang Zedong, he had started acting differently from his jovial self. He called AoTian "father" but AoTian felt it was full of doubts and his elder brother as just "Family Head" and not as first uncle as he usually did. He had tried to bring up this issue with him but he always smiled and just left it unresolved. AoTian even wondered if he wanted to return to his biological father. So since his daughter had bluntly brought up this issue, he wanted to know his stand on this issue.

Rijun was shocked by his sister bringing up this issue, but he knew she was right to bring it up now. He also knew his father was worrying about him too. In fact, he had no intention of returning to his biological father not because he thought he abandoned him but because whenever he thought the word "father", only AoTian"s face came to his mind and no one else. He was the one who raised him and tried in his own way to show his love and affection and made him feel safe. So why would he bother about calling Huang Zedong as "First Uncle" as that was his relations.h.i.+p to him in his heart? Who cares about the blood relations.h.i.+p? Relations.h.i.+p between people are only what you think of it in your heart.

Rijun rubbed her head and took a deep breath, "You are right, Mingxia. If he is your first uncle, he is my first uncle too", he said with his eyes misty. He felt relieved as if a burden was lifted from his shoulders.

AoTian looked at Rijun and nodded wordlessly as he was finally accepted as Rijun"s only father by him and Rijun smiled back agreeing. They didn"t have to say anything and yet everyone understood each other.

Xing felt happy too but she started to happily show the token her father had given her to Shengli and spoke about the soaring Eagle in the token.

Geez! What"s with tokens and her! Shengli thought.

"I have one too", Shengli replied dryly.

Oh! Right! He has the Huang name too! Xing remembered.

AoTian was glad to see her happy with a little thing like this and asked,

"So Mingxia, do you like the emblem this much?"

"Ah that!", Xing scratched the back of her head, "When I got a lot of properties from Lord Chu, Lady Shaoyao and Haru insisted on me to have a personal seal. Lady Shaoyao made arrangements with Lord Huang to make the Seal too. So for that, I wanted to have either a tiger because the G.o.d I used to meet took that form or an Eagle, since I had seen how beautiful the eagles glide in the wind. The higher they are and the faster the wind is, they soar. But apparently Lord Huang rejected both idea since tigers can be used by those who are chosen by the Emperor and also Eagle was the emblem of the Huang family. So Lady Shaoyao used a painter from the water kingdom to make this", Xing showed her seal to them.

She took out the Peony Token from her sleeves. She then pulled the ta.s.sel which opened the token and there was a yellow-red hetian jade seal with a peony flower with parts of leaf and characters Jia Xing was carved below in her own writing. One look and AoTian knew this is pretty valuable and if it is valuable jade, only Huang family is able to make it. He asked to take a look and it was warm to touch. He realised most of the jade she has are warm to touch. This one too, at first look it looked like a peony with leaves, but when looked closely that was a face of a tiger with the wings of a soaring Eagle. This is definitely a work of Huang family"s skilled carver old man Tong whose family had worked for the Huang for generations. But now that he was old, he doesn"t take upon jobs and leaves everything with his sons. So how did she get it carved by him?

By AoTian"s side, Rijun was also bent over and looking at it closely and came to the same conclusion. Sister is really blessed to have everything the best. AoTian looked at Rijun who used to keep his distance standing so close and it made him feel warm. Even though she had been with them for only weeks, he could sense the difference in Rijun. They spent time together doing work and would joke around like real siblings. He really was glad to see these siblings get along.

Shengli should feel a little jealous right? After all Rijun is not her brother but cousin. AoTian wanted to see how this plays out.

Shengli who was quietly observing everything knew only now why she tried to keep the tiger token too. She can be silly sometimes and that only makes her more adorable. Guess her wishes for tokens stemmed from being raised in a humble background too.

"Lord Huang got angry that Lady Shaoyao pushed him too much and so I had to pay double the rate fort his seal. But within a month he had to return all of it since NanCheng pa.s.s was mine and he had to pay me tax for using it", Xing laughed and Rijun felt happy for some reason too.

Xing then became serious,

"Father, I"m planning to meet Lord Chu in the Heavenly Flowers Palace soon. Even though he does not have the guts to collude with s.h.i.+hong, I had to make sure he does not in the future too" .

" How? ", Shengli asked curious.

Xing looked at him and smirked, " Coercion, of course! He has to know I am to be more feared than s.h.i.+hong", her eyes had a dangerous glint and her voice was lower too.

Shengli chuckled, "Coercion, it is! So you already have a plan", he asked and Xing nodded.

Shengli knew of the powers of Heavenly Flowers Palace and the way she was treated there. So he need not worry about her protection there. Also a small fry like Lord Chu is easy for her to handle. Also he knew he had no connection with s.h.i.+hong, so she could enact her retaliation on behalf of her mother however she wants.

AoTian saw them both in their own world and interrupted,

"I"ll be going with you"

Xing did not expect her father to say this so she didn"t know how to reply as having him with her might ruin her plans for Lord Chu as she knew her father is short-tempered and if he knew the reason she"s doing all this is for her mother, he would snap and end Lord Chu immediately which Xing does not want. What she wants for him is far worse... To make him afraid to live each day and yet unable to die. A miserable life where he cannot live or die.

But seeing her father"s serious expression that he won"t give up, she had an idea,

"Father, I will let you go with me only if you let me and brother defend ourself in the banquet. You cannot speak on behalf of us", she said grinning. She knew her father won"t agree to it and even if he did he cannot hold his tongue with his bad temper and will end up arguing as usual. So she could do her thing peacefully,she thought.To her surprise, her father agreed immediately and Xing had no other way than to make a deal with her father.