LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

Xing removed the black cloth covering her head, hid the tiger mask in her sleeves, undid her braids and pulled her hair to a simple hairdo supported by a wooden hairpin with a horse carved in it. Xing knew her mother would get more angrier if she saw her in a male outdo and so she changed her appearance to feminine to reduce the punishment she might receive. She then wore her lucky red jade earrings her mother gave her, took a deep breath and entered her home preparing to face her enraged mother.But what she saw was shocking.

This is new, is this some new sort of punishment?

What appeared before her was a table full of her favourite foods with nice aroma. Her mother was sitting there lost in thought. "Ming Ling?", she called her mother, " Are you ok?", she sat beside her mother.

"Can"t you call me mother? You know it"s disrespectful calling one"s mother by their name."

"Ming Ling", she said and hugged her mother by the neck and kissed her cheek, "Who else will call you by your name? The only people who you talk to are me and Haru and Haru calls you "Mother". At this rate you will forget your name and it would be sad. That"s why I am calling you Ming Ling. You know l love you and respect you. ",she smiled widely. Her mother saw her beautiful daughter. She always gets away with anything. She cupped her cheeks, placed a kiss on her forehead and said, "Alright, it"s late. You are dirty. Go and take a bath. I"ve prepared everything. Go….. Go… Go" she pushed her. Xing was happy her mother was not mad and went to take a bath. Wow, this feels great. After finis.h.i.+ng, she put on the clothes her mother prepared and sat at the table.

" Ming Ling, you haven"t eaten yet? You shouldn"t wait for me", saying this she put food on her bowl and gave her with the chopsticks. Somehow mother acts different today. She wasn"t scolded but being pampered? She then took food for herself and sat opposite her mother.

"You know what Haru did today Ming Ling?..", she started when her mother interrupted

" Yushen told me everything ", she smiled softly.

d.a.m.n that pretentious b.a.s.t.a.r.d, always making me look bad in front of my mother by acting like a obedient little child in front of my mother. Why am I still friends with him?

"He visited?"

" Yes,he brought his bride with him. She seemed good for him. He"s a good boy. He deserves to be happy.",she said heartily wis.h.i.+ng him best.

"Yes Ming Ling, he does"

"He also told me about his brother"s crimes and how you both saved the emperor and that you wanted to talk to the emperor ", she paused, "So how did it go?"

" I think it went well. I suggested some solution and he said he"d consider it"

"Really?", she forced a smile, " So what was your opinion on the emperor? Tell me? "

" The emperor? Well he looked Haru"s age, dark black hair, green eyes, lonely and sad. But why are you asking about him? Ming Ling you don"t look good. You didn"t even scold me. You are making me scared. Are you sick again? I"ll get some herbs now"

" No.. No, I"m fine. It"s just that Haru said that the people in the capital thinks he"s a foolish emperor, so i was wondering. That"s all".

" If you say so. But the emperor, he acts differently but he"s definitely not a fool. It should be a misunderstanding or he is pretending to be stupid for some reason ". She suddenly thought about the emperor"s plan of giving his throne to the third prince. She shouldn"t be thinking about that.

" But what"s that with us? Let"s eat, Ming Ling", she said and continued eating. After both finished eating, Xing picked all the bowls and did the dishes. She asked her mother to go to bed early.

Ming Ling sat in her bed. She thought about the day she birthed Xing. She thought that by staying far away from the capital she can keep her daughter from her fate. But everything her daughter did, only pulled her towards her fate. From learning sword arts, archery, playing GO, learning all languages, playing zither everything she learned with interest only proved her affinity towards the palace. Even she, as a mother cannot stop her. Even now for six years she"s been running around, dressed as a boy, helping people and becoming a local hero along with Haru.

Ming Ling first thought that because of that boy Lu Chenglie she wanted to learn sword arts. But after he left, her daughter"s interest only increased. She even found a master on her own and even dragged Haru with her. She thought with time her interests would fade, but her daughter proved her wrong. She not only mastered sword arts but also learned archery. She thought since she was a girl, with her physical const.i.tution, she won"t be too strong. But her master came to her after two and a half years and pleaded with her not to send her to him since she"s learned everything he"s learned in only this short time which took more than twelve years for him. "Your girl is at least having the same skill as the legendary Scarlet Tiger or maybe more than him", he said. This shocked her. But she always knew her a daughter is not ordinary but exceptional. No one can control her and that reminded her of Xing"s father who had the same temperament as her. She"s like the wind, one who flows freely. She can"t be tied down. So she let her be. But for her own satisfaction, she would teach her the etiquettes of a lady disguised as punishment. But however she tried she cannot get her daughter to learn embroidery and cooking which were her forte. Her fingers were only getting hurt learning embroidery. She wondered how the same hands that handle sword with ease cannot handle a small needle. Also she almost burned her kitchen trying to boil water. So she stopped hoping her daughter will ever get better. But now, in this remote place she had met the emperor and saved him, she probably would have done something to protect Haru"s family too. Guess she can"t keep her hidden for long. It is her time to s.h.i.+ne. She sighed, reaching a decision and drifted to sleep slowly. Meanwhile in the emperor"s tent, the emperor and General Zhong Huojin were having dinner.

" Huojin, I know about your family"s information gathering skills. Find everything about this Lord Táng person. "

" Yes, I"m already on it. I can see why you can"t trust him".

"It"s not that. I really trust that person for some reason. There is something about him. I just want him as our ally and work with us hand in hand", the Emperor said solemnly.

" Hmm.. It took a year for you to trust me, but only a day to trust him? I"m heartbroken. ", he pouted.

The emperor laughed, "I still remember the you three years ago, desperately trying to get me attend court and following me around without my knowledge. "

" Yes, you really hid well. Anyway back to the Scarlet Jade Brothers, I asked around and they seem like local heroes. Even people in Caijing, knows them. Apparently they"ve been protecting these people from bad people for around six years. Both are mostly together and good at martial arts. People even say they are the protectors of the borders between Wind and Water countries. ", Huojin reported.

"If a pair of kids had to protect our borders, how shameful this issue is? What were our officials of the Western Province doing? Make sure to launch a full scale investigation on every one of them when we return. See I told you, this visit here would only be good. We learned a lot about the Western Province. ", the emperor smiled.

" You are in a good mood.. By the way, where did you go before? What did you talk about? "

" Do you believe those stories about these mountains, Huojin? About how G.o.ds and demons live there and there are portals to heavens and underworld in there and humans cannot survive there? "

" Maybe, there are temples for G.o.ds everywhere, even there is a temple for G.o.d of Winds in the imperial palace. But no one has ever seen them right? Even my father believes those astrologers and priests. But why are you interested? Did you happen to meet one?"

" Not really, we just went to the peak and talked for a few minutes."

" To the peak? Stop kidding, It would take hours to reach there "

" Hmm.. That"s true. I"m jesting. ", he said deciding to hide the truth,no one will believe him anyway.

" So what did you talk about, Your Majesty?", he asked with indifference.

The emperor then explained with admiration, the solution that Lord Táng came up with. Huojin was impressed, " Isn"t that what Prime Minister Huang Ao Tian wanted you to do too? You didn"t seem this pleased then", he put down his chopsticks.

" He didn"t say anything but punis.h.i.+ng the family by seizing their a.s.sets. Don"t talk about him, he leaves a bad taste in my mouth".

"Fine, but I don"t understand why you must hate him this much. He is really loyal to you".

" He sure is loyal, but I really like to Tease him and see him mad! . ", He wiped his hands and stood up.

" Still a little boy coming up with the same idea as an experienced politician, it"s really impressive. So it is decided then? But who can you appoint as the Minister of salt if people don"t accept outsiders?"

" I heard the a.s.sistant to the finance minister who got third place in the government exam three years back Fa Donghai is the Ming family"s son from a Concubine who was taken in by his maternal grandfather after his mother"s death. He also pleaded to spare the innocent young Lord Yushen when this issue was raised . He would be perfect. He is loyal, has brotherly love, has knowledge about salt business and he"s a local with ties with the Ming Family and people will accept him."

" That"s great, now finish your work and rest well your majesty"

The general bowed and prepared to leave when the emperor grabbed his arm and said, " You know, I told you many times that you can call me by my name when we are alone. So why aren"t you? Also stay with me tonight..I really don"t want to be alone tonight... "

Right then a servant was about to enter the tent to clear the dishes saw the two closely standing together and retreated quickly.

Huojin"s face flushed red with anger and took a deep breath. He controlled his anger and with his best fake smile he said, "Your Majesty, you are the emperor and I your subject. It"s only proper to call you as Your Majesty. Also no one can casually say your name. It"s an offence punishable with death. You know it well, also..",he pulled his arms away and said, " Stop creating rumours like this. You know how people talk about you. You may not care but I do. Now finish your work and sleep well. I"ll be guarding.. outside. ", he stressed the word "outside" and he took large strides and exited the tent, glaring at the crouching servant at the door of the tent, leaving him shaking with fear.

"Yeah, yeah… I"m the emperor. So you all say.. I"m not a human, but son of heaven .. ", the emperor murmured and went to his table. He tried to remember the last time someone called him by his name. The memory of his third brother extending his hand towards him with a practice sword on his other hand surfaced. He with his divine smile said, "Don"t be sad Junjie, you can learn. I, your big brother will teach you. Even if you can"t be better, I"ll protect this adorable little brother of mine. You know I"m really good.".He was only eight that year and his brother was twelve. It"s been more than a decade. Brother Chenglie, where are you?, his eyes started clouding. The darkness left by his bangs hid his sad and lonely eyes that held his tears.