Lord Huang looked at Xing who was looking at him calm and composed yet her eyes had that dangerous glint and his heart skipped a beat in fear. He knew she was this way with Lord Chu when she lured him for the game that doomed him. Although she said her mother didn"t like family members at odds, he knew that wolf a.s.sa.s.sin beside her is provoked too and not to mention the white tiger token on her possession that holds more power . He himself could not accept his family members" behaviour too. As a merchant, he knew how to weigh in benefits and risks and they are in no place to bargain now. No matter what, the main Huang family is in his niece"s graces now. He wanted to know how much his little brother and his son changed and ended up being in an embarra.s.sing position because of the despicable act of his daughter. Still his brother"s family had changed for the better in these past weeks as he had wished and that was his only consolation. Like his love said Lord Táng does bring light to those around her.Everyone"s eyes were trained on Huang Zedong as he stood up. To everyone"s surprise, he asked the women to kneel and he himself gave a deep bow to Xing. His confused sons stood up and bowed to her too and her father and uncle Feiye stood up in surprise and Rijun gave a gasp. Only Shengli was seated and had a proud smile in his face. That"s right! Everyone should bow before her!
" Huang Mingxia", Lord Huang Zedong spoke without wavering, "I apologise for the behaviour of my family. They had no right to speak in that demeaning way about your mother and you. Those who had to be an example to you youngsters had acted in a derogatory manner and I as the family head apologise to you", he straightened up and looked at her with his eyes deep.
Xing saw everyone around her surprised by his behaviour as it is not custom in their kingdom for elders apologising to the next generation even if they are wrong. Only those who are little by age or power or status will have to kneel or bow as per their customs. Clearly a family head does not have to bow before his niece for any reason. Even AoTian was weirded out by his brother"s behaviour and he looked at his daughter who wasn"t even fazed by this abnormal thing.
Xing looked back deeply at her Uncle who didn"t even think twice before bowing to her and he wasn"t faking the apology either. But, what his women did cannot be let go with apology alone and she have to give face to the head of the family who is sincerely apologising.
"First Uncle, I accept your apology as the family head on behalf of my mother who was needlessly slandered by these women. However, you must forgive me if I refuse to acknowledge them as my elders and wish to be not in the same room as them in the future", Xing said in a calm and collected tone with a light bow.
Lord Huang"s lips curved slightly by her answer. She had accepted the apology for her mother and not her. Also she had subtly told him she won"t attend any future gatherings if those two women were there.
The reason you were called "Lord" is not only because of your long hair but also for this haughty att.i.tude of yours, isn"t it? If it was some other seventeen year old, they would have kneeled if the family head bowed to them. And here you are standing tall, negotiating with me. What I heard about you is right, you never compromise your principles, do you? Either others follow your way or you remove yourself from them, don"t you? But how can I let you go after I"ve seen how similar you are to my mother? Lord Huang smiled and asked her to stand in the side and Xing went to her father who asked her if she is fine with her being drugged. While Xing was a.s.suring him it won"t do much to her, the roaring voice of Lord Huang Zedong was heard,
" WanRou, your despicable act of drugging your cousin made this father bow his head in shame. You will receive twenty flogging. You will be grounded in your room until you become sixteen and will marry the one this father arranges for you. Until then you will learn the rules of our family in seclusion.
Concubine Lan, not only you have no moral but also you taught those immoral behaviour to your daughter. You will be taken off your t.i.tle and will be a servant in the main Manor.
Madam Zou, even after I advised you to watch what you say, you still failed and behaved in an uncouth way even in front of our grandson and spoke ill of our ancestor Táng MingLing in front of her children and husband. For that you will hand over your responsibilities and accounts in the Manor and live the rest of your life praying for the welfare of the family in your courtyard", he spoke as a command making those three collapse.
Xing felt the punishment her uncle gave were fair as she wouldn"t want any less for them. Her Uncle did take the things they want most away from them as she would have. Wow! First Uncle works the same way as me too?
Zedong signalled Xu mama to take WanRou for flogging and WanRou wailed as if she was wronged and MingXue who was beside her had tears in her eyes on behalf of her, making Xing surprised.
MingXue knelt in front of her uncle,
"Uncle, please! WanRou cannot handle twenty floggings. Please forgive her", she begged crying.
Xing looked at WanRou who was looking at her with eyes full of fire and she didn"t feel any pity. She should have been flogged fifty times. Twenty floggings is already a concession considering she was her brother Rijun"s blood sister. It cannot be further reduced.
Lord Huang was a bit moved by her pleading and his daughter"s wailing. He do love his daughter but she does not look like she had any intention to repent and he was disappointed. Sometimes pain do teach values better than words and what she tried to do and what she did is no simple prank. She should be punished.
"MingXue, I believe you had nothing to do with her plans. Also you had stayed in our Manor for too long. Your father is getting old too and an unmarried girl like you should stay in her own Manor. So you will return to your Manor with your father today and stay there until you get married", Lord Huang banged the table and the servants pulled WanRou out while MingXue was too petrified to say anything.
Lady Huang and Concubine Lan also were escorted out as they were wondering about the sudden changes that were brought just because of one little girl who arrived at the Prime Minister"s Manor.
Xing"s cousins also excused themselves and Lord Huang stared at everyone leaving with an indescribable emotion.
Shengli looked at Xing who had a content expression and he felt good too. He thought his girl would feel jealous when her uncle said that MingXue will stay with him but she does not mind, it seems. Also he wondered why she stopped him from killing that filthy woman. Even though she is her cousin, she slandered her to that extent and she still let her live? He didn"t feel good about that.
"Xiao Táng, come here", Zedong told Xing.
"Yes, Lord Huang", she replied instinctively and stood in front of him. As he was looking at her, Xing realised that he called her "Xiao Táng". Only Lady Shaoyao calls her that way. Xing knew Lord Huang was a regular patron of Lady Shaoyao but she was always very protective of her and never let"s anyone talk about her. If she told him about her then...
Also if he calls me "Xiao Táng ", then does he know that I am Lord Táng too? Xing wondered.
"Do you disapprove the Huang family?" Lord Huang asked and Xing gave a blank expression wondering what he meant and he continued,
" Even though your second uncle knew of your birth he didn"t help your mother in any way. Also you would have faced a lot of hards.h.i.+ps growing up without a father and you might have had bad feelings towards your father who might have abandoned you and your mother. Even today my family behaved rashly towards you and offended you. Also I know who you are and how much you own and you really don"t need the Huang family for anything. That"s why I"m asking, do you dislike the Huang family? ", he fixed his eyes on Xing.
Xing looked at the man in front of her who is called the "Fox of the Business World". His eyes didn"t have any calculations but he was simply asking this as her uncle. If he knows who I am, he should know what I did to the Chu family and his fear is not baseless, Xing thought.
"Lord Huang", she smiled haughtily, " If you know who I am, you must also know that I don"t hurt family. Also I can understand the events around my birth and Uncle Feiye was bound by the promise made to my mother. And more importantly why should I blame the Huang family for my misfortunes growing up? Also father never abandoned me as he never knew of my existence. At least I knew I have a father. With the connections I have, if I really wanted to find my father, I might have found him earlier even if my mother refused to tell me", she smirked.
Feiye laughed out loud hearing her answer,
"Didn"t I tell you, big brother? She is too much like Xiao Tian.. She"s saying that we were the one abandoned by her and not she by us. How prideful! ", he laughed some more. Shengli had a prideful smile too and Rijun was wondering if his sister knew the spelling for modesty.
Zedong chuckled with Feiye too, "She really is!"
Then Zedong looked at Xing and pointed at her headdress, " Did Jingfei sent it to you?", he asked and his tone was so casual with his eyes smiling.
Xing wondered who Jingfei was and realised he was mentioning Lady Shaoyao.. Wait... So that"s her real name? And she never mentioned it to me but told him? Big sis, you hypocrite! You said I am the most important person to you! She scolded her in her mind for a while and then remembered her uncle knew her too. So... The first love Big sis mentioned, the young master of a reputable family.. The one she had to give up because her father sold her when the young master was away on business... That is her first uncle.. ? Why are there too much coincidences in my life? If so, mother came to meet big sis that day to not let me meet Lord Huang before?
"... Yes!", Xing spoke after a while, "You were her first love", she pointed at him.
"And she"s my love too", he smiled. Xing could see the pain in his eyes and also various deep emotions that she usually sees in her father when he talked about her mother. Is love such a painful thing? She unconsciously looked at Shengli who smiled at her gently. She felt an unexplainable joy that he was by her side.
"By the way, Xiao Táng.."
"Mingxia! Her name is Mingxia!", AoTian interrupted his brother.
"Yeah, yeah!", Zedong shook his head smiling by his brother"s childishness.
"Mingxia", he said stressing each syllable, "That bracelet you are wearing.. May I have a look at it?", he asked with his hands outstretched.
Xing gripped the bracelet with her other hand defensively that made Zedong laugh, so it must be a gift from Shengli then! He understood.
"La.s.s! I"ll return it",he said smiling.
Xing wondered why he was this interested in her jewellery. First it was the headdress and now the bracelet. Was it because he was a jade merchant he had interest in all things jade?
Xing gave him the bracelet reluctantly and he observed it keenly. He then looked at Shengli,
"How did you find it?", his tone had surprise and a bit anxiety too.
Xing sighed, so the myth that Huangs are smart is true it seems. Without a word he realised he was the one gifted me this.
Xing looked at Shengli who shrugged, "Somewhere", he said and went on drinking his tea.
Xing looked at her Uncle who didn"t mind this vague answer,
"Mingxia, this is part of the "Eternal Love" gifted to the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor by our family elder back then. Actually it is a complete set with headdress, bracelet, necklace, forehead chain and waistband trinket. Other things got lost but this bracelet didn"t. See this... This fault that looks like a nine quailed chrysanthemum painting? This is the original one. It is said the Priestess of the Shu family the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor tried to woo agreed to marry him after he gave this set as a gift. That"s why the Emperor got happy and opened a previous case and gave back the n.o.bility status of our family",Zedong paused.
But within a year the Empress died leaving the Emperor in distress and he diverted his hate towards the Huang family for giving him a cursed object on top of not agreeing to work for the kingdom. It was said he broke everything else from the set in a fit of rage and only the bracelet that was stolen by someone got saved. But Lord Huang Bojing found the same bracelet in the black market and gifted it to his mother for her birthday when she was pregnant with AoTian. He was the one who told the story to Zedong but he didn"t believe that bracelet to be cursed as chrysanthemum with nine quails is a symbol of remaining together a long time and hence that set was called "eternal love". Also chrysanthemum means nine generations to live in peace in home. So he gave it to his wife but sadly she died giving birth to AoTian and his father threw that bracelet away and spent the rest of his days miserably too.
But why is it back in the Huang family and it is in the hands of his niece and that too gifted by her lover? Is this thing actually a cursed one? Zedong looked at Xing in a contemplating way and he wanted to break the bracelet. His eyes had a dark glint..
Xing who was consumed with joy upon receiving something that the Scarlet Tiger gave his wife by Shengli"s hands didn"t notice the change in emotions of her Uncle, but Shengli noticed it. He had gotten this while looting from a place and he had kept on his storage for years. When he wanted to gift Xing something, he chose this bracelet just like that. He had a lot more like this and what is the probability that he chose this? He did not know this was such a valuable piece. Seeing Xing happy made him feel good but why is that her Uncle having a dark expression. Rijun who was sitting beside Shengli noticed his uncle"s weird look too and wondered why.
Xing who was oblivious to other things as she was happy, forcibly pulled the bracelet from her uncle"s hands and seeing her happy expression, Zedong decided not to tell the other details and spoil the mood of these young people. Ignorance is bliss!
"By the way, Mingxia! Do you know Li ChengNuo?", Zedong asked Xing. He wanted to know about that guy and he immediately needed a new topic too.
"Li Cheng Nuo?", Xing asked, "I thought Li was the Imperial Surname of Earth Kingdom"
"Yes, but it can be used in this kingdom. Have you heard about him? Your accounts are in his bank "Bright Moon Treasury""
Xing smiled remembering what happened ten years back. Her mother always scolded her for calling him by his name "Chenglie". So she would call him "snow prince" around her and "Chenglie" when alone and Haru started calling him "brother Lie". But when they went out to the village "Chenglie" advised her not to call him by his name otherwise he might be taken away. So she gave him the name Li Cheng which was his name reversed with different characters but almost similar sound. Later when she learned to write from him, she gave the Li character for seeping water to make his own way and he added Nuo with Cheng that means "to make an oath". When Xing asked what oath he made he just smiled and didn"t answer. So it should be him right? Also treasury of Bright Moon? He always calls her his moon right?
Xing knew Shengli was rich and she did not know he was using that name they came up with as an alias. But her uncle did not know about him, so he is keeping it a secret?
"Li Cheng Nuo, that"s the first time I hear the name from someone", she said smiling. It"s true, it is the first time she is hearing that name from someone else than the person himself. AoTian looked at her smile and had an intuition that that guy might be Shengli. His daughter only smiled like that thinking about him.
" You don"t know?", Zedong asked skeptically. By now Xing"s stomach could not hold any longer and she really wanted to throw up. So she excused herself and ran out of the banquet Hall followed by Shengli. Xu mama who was entering to report that the punishment for WanRou had been carried out was ordered to follow them immediately by AoTian.