LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

The Emperor commended the Minister of Salt for his quick actions in the Western Province and will properly acknowledge it in tomorrow"s court.

Fa Donghai bowed respectfully, "It is all thanks to his majesty"s incredible foresight. By letting Ming Yushen becoming the Lord of Ming family, the royal subjects really were pleased with the government and it made everything easy. Also Lord Ming also sent his word before me and all I had to do was verify everything that was already prepared. I respectfully thank your majesty for being gracious with my brother", he said earnestly.

" Lord Ming is a valuable subject of mine and he did save zhen"s life. It is only fair to give him what he deserves" ,the emperor said.

Rijun was thinking about everything and wondered if Shengli knew he would beg for his brother. Also Mingxia said he had helped them both previously, so he interrupted before he asked for leave, "Minister Fa, do you remember your brother"s friend?"

A smile came in Fa Dinghai"s lips, " Official Huang Rijun, are you mentioning Xiao Xing? She is not someone one can forget easily. I heard she"s living in your Manor these days from Yushen. She"s a bright child and I wish her a good fortune. Please convey my thoughts to her", he said heartily.

Rijun nodded, " I sure will" and afterwards Fa Donghai took his leave. The emperor looked at Rijun in suspicion and he smiled, "Apparently, Fa Donghai had helped Ming Yushen and Táng Xing when they were bullied by the other Ming sons while he was living there. "

" No wonder Lord Táng kind of pushed on Fa Donghai that day, also Minister Fa came to beg for leniency only for his brother Ming Yushen when the Ming family was blamed", the Emperor added.

Rijun laughed, could this also be arranged by Shengli to save their Haru?

"How are you going to reward him?", Rijun asked.

The Emperor pushed him a paper where a list of salt beds were mentioned, "I am going to give these to him"

Rijun looked at the list that contained almost half of the Ming salt beds and looked at the emperor in confusion.

" I should find more loyal people by my side. What"s the easier way than making them rich? If I get him, everyone related to him will be loyal to me to especially his father-in-law Shen Feng who is in the neutral section for too long. Also I am going to gift other salt beds to others too. Also I am going to make salt trade as rice trade too. Only the land will be theirs and the government will buy the salt and fix a price to sell it so the price will be cheap and accessible for everyone. Also since the salt will be government property, those who would try to do illegal activities will be actively decreased",the emperor said strongly.

"So you finally decided to take your role seriously", Rijun smiled.

" Hmm", the emperor sighed. He cannot sit still while the others are working hard for the common people. Since his brother had blatantly refused the throne, it is his duty to take on the role, even if he does not want to, so that people need not suffer.

Rijun was thinking hard on how it is going to be hard for the court to this decision of the emperor. Previously the Scarlet Sovereign took the liberty of selling rice on their own from the families from the east. Although it had many opposition, he vehemently suppressed it and brought that Rice Reformation Law that made all the rice grains property of the government and to be only sold by the government in a fixed price.

Rijun looked at the reports from the East complaining about the lack of rains in the past decade and possibilities of drought. Right now the people are surviving by the Qingze River which is a main water source for the Eastern and Southern province. The rice production is also not greatly affected thanks to the river and the perfectly planned irrigation ca.n.a.ls. Southern province depends on the various mines of jade and precious metals around the river and the soil is not suited much for agricultural purposes. Most of Southern Province is owned by the Huang family. But experts had predicted a severe drought in the coming five years if the scarcity of rain continues and the river won"t be enough for the livelihood of the people and without rain the river will be dried up soon too. Already with the tribes uniting for war, if the drought adds up too then the kingdom will be in peril.

Rijun rubbed his temples, This is bad! A situation that can be resolved only by rain. As if one can alter nature! Who can find answer for such question? And most of these lands are owned by his sister too..

Then he remembered his Uncle"s letter and a frown appeared on his clear face.

"Oh, dear friend! What made you frown this badly?", the Emperor asked.

Rijun closed the reports and supported his hands on his chin, "Oh! These reports about East are not good. Also I remembered there is going to be a family banquet and that too in our Manor this year in a week. With my sister here, I don"t even have the courage to imagine the disasters that might follow", he sighed.

"Oh! You can get through like always. Won"t your father will be a guard protecting you?", the Emperor smiled and then he turned serious, "Speaking of which, My friend! Why are you hiding your sister so much? Why not at least show her portrait or something to me?", he stared at Rijun.

At that moment Rijun saw something he had never seen in the Emperor"s eyes,

Interest for a woman.

When his father brought him home six years back, they got along pretty well and called each other by their given names. They were like bosom friends when they lived together for two years. He had never shown any interest in any women even if they throw themselves in front of him. The emperor never have spared a single glance at any of the portraits sent by the various n.o.ble families before and now he is interested in the same woman as his brother?

"Why? Are you interested in my sister?", Rijun probed hoping he was interested in his sister just to spite his father and not seriously.

"Can"t I be? Huojin said she was a beautiful and elegant lady after meeting her. Won"t we be perfect together?", he said not wavering his eyes from Rijun.

A chill went through Rijun"s spine.

He is really interested in her!

After all this time... why are you interested in Mingxia? Oh! My Friend! Wait... should I tell him who she actually is? But.. It"s not my secret to tell. But I cannot leave my friend to heartbreak. I should end it before anything starts.

"Your Majesty", Rijun bowed, " Forgive me.. But.. You know Mingxia is the biggest treasure of my family. My father would never send her to the inner palace no matter what"

"What! Aren"t you my friend? And You are saying my inner palace is a worthless place and I can"t protect my woman?", the Emperor said rather angrily. This is the first time he has honestly thought about a woman and his friend rather than supporting him is opposing him? Weren"t they the ones who nag him to take a woman?

Rijun saw the Emperor"s angry countenance and politely said, " Junjie, My sister will not enter the palace ", he said firmly and took a deep breath, "I"m saying this as your friend and not as a Huang son, to not let your hopes up"

" Is that so? ", the emperor spoke while his anger had been considerably reduced seeing Rijun being truly honest and spoke with his wellbeing in his heart. It"s been a long while since he had called him by his name too!

At that time a thought pa.s.sed in the Emperor"s mind, could that Mingxia and Lord Táng the same person? It is not like AoTian would give something important like the trust sword just to anybody.

But he put the thought away immediately. If so, Huojin would have noticed since he had seen both of them and he said that Mingxia was elegant and refined.

"You can leave, I"ll try to finish my work", he said and started to look at the doc.u.ments in front of him.

Rijun stood and bowed and looked at him for half a minute,

My friend, I might not be able to reveal it to you, but I will convince her to tell you.

"By the way..", the Emperor stopped him, "Tell Lord Táng that I asked to see her"

Are you kidding me! Why am I tangled in such a situation? Stupid sister! Everything is your fault! Rijun cursed his fate.

"Your Majesty!", he grinned, "I"m not a messenger and after the stunt at the imperial study last time, she is not keen on coming here ever again. You"ll have to pa.s.s an edict and even so I"m not sure she"ll obey in which case you"ll have to punish her and your brother will be angered and my father won"t be pleased and in short.. Do not involve me. Ask your brother", he said and left hurriedly.

"What the.. ", the Emperor looked at the retreating form of Rijun in surprise.

These Huangs! Not even respecting the Emperor! He muttered and started looking at the doc.u.ments.

....

AoTian who wanted to visit Ming Yushen took a carriage and he got down to go to the clothing store and was greeted by Haru himself.

" Greetings, Prime Minister Huang. You need not come here yourself. You could have sent out for this young one and I would have come", Ming Yushen bowed and pointed at a chair for him to sit.

AoTian looked at him, even though his words were polite he had a glint of anger in his eyes and realised, he knows what he had told his daughter previously and this friend of his daughter didn"t allow her father to be rude with her too. He should be offended but on the contrary he felt pleased that his daughter has such true friends around her.

"Lord Ming, please don"t stand on ceremony. My daughter spoke many good words about you. I heard you called MingLing "Mother" from Mingxia. You can call me "Uncle AoTian" at least", he smiled.

" Please call me Yushen. Also, How can I be rude and call you uncle? You are the Prime Minister after all ", he said politely.

"You could have stayed in my Manor. Although I sensed uneasiness from my daughter", he said waving his hands.

"That"s how Xing is", he smiled, "She wants me to be successful on my own and not by hugging legs, so that in the future I can raise my head proudly and say, "I"m my own man" . There"s no other reason. Also if I need help, she"d definitely help me"

"Oh! So that"s why", AoTian only realised that then. So she let him go for him to succeed. That"s a good friend.

" I came here today to get you to make a dress for Mingxia for the upcoming family banquet in a couple of weeks "

"Ah! Yes! I"ve already started on it a week back. I know she should be introduced to your family. Rest a.s.sured, Prime Minister Huang, it"ll be ready for the banquet. Also the hair accessories and shoes too are also taken care of", he said politely.

AoTian was surprised that he would think as far as that, "Fine then, send the bill to me, but call me Uncle at least in private"

Haru smiled, " Ok then Uncle Huang, but I won"t be taking any payment for her clothes. But don"t worry, her clothes will be the best of the best ". AoTian gave him a perplexed look. Why wouldn"t he take payments?

Haru sat after serving him tea, "Uncle Huang, everything I know about clothes, I learned from mother… , I mean Xing"s mother. So you could say it as my respect for my teacher. Also I have made clothes for Xing since I was eleven and I have no plans to stop now just because she had found her father", he said firmly.

AoTian couldn"t refuse him and decided not to pursue it anymore. But he wanted to know more about him since his daughter said he was an important person in her life.

"Your third brother and first brother were sent to our family Manor in the South"

Haru gave a smirk, "How ironic! Guess karma really works. But beware, third brother is a snake in human guise and a slacker"

So he really has no attachment towards his brothers, "I heard he likes to whip kids and to overly salt food", he probed further.

Haru snickered, guess Xing told her father about them after all. Time for them to get revenge. "Yes, I hope the Huang family would teach my brothers properly since my father failed", he smirked.

AoTian smiled, this boy is not bad at all. Guess his daughter had good friends after all. "My daughter said you really took care of her and her mother too. So I..",before he finished Haru interrupted realising he was going to thank him, "Please don"t… Not any further.. I don"t know what she told you, but it is I who am indebted to her and mother for my life. As you might have known, my life was hard after my mother pa.s.sed away. I really wanted to kill my brothers at the time I met her. She changed me, stayed with me even though being with me would hurt her too. She glued herself to me and made me the man I am today",he cleared his throat, "She dragged me with her to practice sword which made me discipline my hatred. She let me call her mother, "mother", when my own brothers didn"t let me. Also I remember once an old woman said growing boys need to eat more and from that day onwards she would start eating only when I finished at least half bowl of rice and even when sharing food, she would give me the better half. It might be only half a bowl of rice for others but for me it is worth several golds, since she had the heart to share what"s hers with me who isn"t even related to her by blood. Honestly speaking, she, mother and brother Lie were more family to me than my own father and brothers. So Uncle Huang, please don"t say anything to embarra.s.s me,since I owe every last part of my life to her", he said with his voice breaking.

So this is the kind of relations.h.i.+p they had, AoTian thought ,

"So you both supported each other",

No wonder they share a deeper bond, AoTian sighed, "Since both of you had useless fathers", he muttered softly. Haru didn"t catch what he said lastly, but AoTian continued, " By brother Lie do you mean Huang Shengli?"

Haru smiled, "Yes, I"m used to call him that way since way back"

"Mingxia.., she said a lot about both of you last night. Shengli… He… can one really trust him?", AoTian was stuttering, while Haru understood his thoughts. A father would generally be worried about his daughter"s future.

Haru smiled, "If there is someone you can blindly trust regarding her, it would be Brother Lie. That guy would give up anything and everything for her except his life"

Except his life...? AoTian wondered. Wouldn"t people usually say even my life is yours?

Seeing AoTian still skeptical Haru continued,

" Uncle Huang, I"m only nineteen this year and I have a silk business of my own when my family had nothing to do with silks and haven"t contributed a single coin for me. It was brother Lie who got me connections and helped me in everything. I know he did it just because I am Xing"s friend but he did it without her knowledge even. That"s how much he loves her and don"t think any less of her... She will go to any extreme for him. Even mother cannot change her heart. They have a bond connecting deep to their souls", Haru gave a smile that had a warning undertone.

Just then a servant entered the inner room when AoTian saw a glance of Shurei. She was carefully doing embroidery and her silhouette reminded AoTian of Táng MingLing as she used to focus like that while embroidering too.

"Forgive me for not properly introducing my wife", Haru bowed to AoTian as he noticed the latter staring at Shurei with a bit sadness in his eyes and AoTian nodded looking at Haru, who continued,

"She does not like to be disturbed while working"

"I know", AoTian smiled, "You should bring her with you to our Manor for dinner one day. I know Mingxia will be happy". He spoke genuinely and stood up to leave.

" So she chose someone like her mother for her friend ", he mumbled softly. Haru didn"t catch it and he looked at him looking like someone in late twenties..

He could get a girl their age to marry and he does not look like someone having a seventeen year old daughter. Xing does not take after him either. So who does she takes after to be that pretty? Haru wondered.

Then AoTian saw the expensive silk and pearls that are scattered on the work table.

"These are for the dress I"m making for Xing", Haru answered.

AoTian knew those are too expensive, "Let me at least pay half the price", he asked.

Haru chuckled softly, "Uncle Huang, I can promise you I won"t go under by clothing Xing. Either it is me or Brother Lie, we have more than enough to dote on Xing. It"s a pleasure for us. So don"t try to take it from us"

AoTian looked surprised at the blue eyed boy the same age as his son with no backing br.i.m.m.i.n.g with such confidence. He was impressed by him. Guess the ones around her are not simple people either, he thought and left to his Manor.

AoTian wanted to know if Shengli and Xing had returned and his page replied with a weird expression that they had returned and now they are playing together. He also reported how the weird murder case was solved by some mysterious person from the black market.

Didn"t both of them went there? Is this my daughter"s doing too? AoTian wondered.

AoTian went near the lotus pond in their Manor to see Xing mocking Rijun and Rijun chasing her throwing stones at her and both are laughing heartily. AoTian"s heart felt warm to see his kids getting along, even though they are not acting their age. He looked at Shengli who had a slight smile in his lips as if he is enjoying too and got surprised.

So he didn"t get jealous?

When Shengli and Xing got back, Rijun told Xing that the Emperor was asking to meet her and she blatantly refused. Seeing Shengli was of no help too, Rijun tried hard to convince her. Then Xing made a bet that if Rijun could catch her in a tag match, she"ll meet the Emperor and Rijun agreed.

But as Shengli expected Rijun was no match for Xing and could not run even for three minutes before he was panting. Xing joked that with his "endurance" like this, his wife would cheat him like Lady Ning and that angered Rijun more and he chased her even more.

Shengli could not help but smile as Rijun started throwing stones at her because he wasn"t able to catch her and everytime he got a big stone he"d replace it with a small stone before throwing.

Guess Rijun cannot hit his sister after all! If this was Haru, he"d have thrown a big rock at her with no regrets! Shengli chuckled happily thinking that Xing had got a lovely brother for her.