LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

Shengli was happy because she did not call his brother by his name. She doesn"t call many people by name and it"s enough that she only calls him by his name, right?

Xing then asked about that "Old Rong" s.h.i.+hong talked about and Shengli said it was a talking halberd s.h.i.+hong had which is said to be a G.o.d. Xing laughed clutching her stomach for a long time.

Seeing her not believing, Shengli told her about the entire incident that happened in the Library during the fire, how she manipulated wind to attack s.h.i.+hong.

Xing was shocked for a moment but soon she realised it must be that G.o.d of Wind. Of course G.o.ds can hide their presence from humans and that must have happened that day as he obviously saved them.

Xing explained everything to Shengli and he just sighed and told how it was her who saved them both on the day they drowned in the pond too. Xing had a reasonable explanation for that too. She had protection spells on her and that must have been activated as she was in danger and so both of them were saved.

Shengli was incredulous at her theories as he firmly believed it was her doing but decided to pretend to accept her explanations for now. She is obviously trying not to accept the truth for now and in deep denial.

Xing then told Shengli about the dream she had twice recently and Shengli comforted her and in the end Xing ended up sleeping leaning over Shengli and he ended up sleeping in her bed too.

The next morning Xu mama didn"t even showed any surprise seeing both of them in bed together and her father who came in just gave a sigh and asked both of them to join him for breakfast.

Xing thought everything was a dream as her father didn"t even talk about it anymore. It might be because her father had given up on changing her mind just like her mother did regarding Shengli, Xing concluded.

Xing had a smirk in her lips the whole time during breakfast as she knew how her stubbornness is getting things done. Even Shengli maintained a respectful att.i.tude to ease the mood of his father-in-law. AoTian sighed looking at Xing, of course the product of two stubborn beings will have at least a little more stubbornness than the originals! But she did break the rules he set and she is still his daughter.

After breakfast, Xing was asked to stay and AoTian handed over the accounts books of the Manor to her. AoTian had learned from Ming Yushen that his daughter hates dealing with numbers and she had handed over all her accounts handling to the Heavenly Flowers Palace before for the same reason. He knew she is not doing her accounts even now. It must be that pampering Shengli doing it for her now.

"Mingxia, from now on, it will be your responsibility to handle our Manor"s accounts. It is an important duty that is always carried on by the women in our Huang family. So take it as an honour. And if you have any doubts ask your brother", AoTian said with a smile that looked like an evil smirk to Xing.

Father! Is this your punishment?

Xing hated numbers, hated as much as she hated rats. She"ll get nightmares thinking about numbers and her dreams will be of numbers taking monster form and attacking her. And being a parent must be fun, Xing thought. Her mother made her do things she didn"t like as punishment and now her father had learned that too. So Xing made a promise to herself that she"ll become a mother soon and make her child do what she doesn"t like too. Yes! That should be nice, feeling all superior! Xing"s lips curled up pleasingly.

AoTian saw the smile on her and wondered what she was thinking but disregarded the idea of asking her as he had a gut feeling that it won"t be of any good.

Shengli excused himself as he had to do preparations for Xing"s departure. Xing and Rijun were sitting in AoTian"s study as she was doing the accounts. Rijun noted she was doing the calculations pretty well even without the help of abacus and wondered what was the dejected look she gave previously was all about. But Xing didn"t like the numbers not because she didn"t know how to handle them but because it made her use too much of her brain. It"s a shame to concentrate this much, right?

"I"m used to do the accounts of Heavenly Flowers Palace to help Lady Shaoyao sometimes", Xing explained.

Of course you did! Rijun sighed.

"You are the topper this year", Rijun said and it took a while for Xing to realise he was talking about the Court Exams.

"Oh!", she said blankly after processing the information and Rijun wasn"t surprised. She was surprised at first because she didn"t write the provincial exams and she knew some percentage of that score will be added too with this court exam score. So how come I am the topper?

Of course, my sister is a rare genius! Rijun thought. He held the topmost score till this day but his sister is below him by only a little less score and that too was because she didn"t write the provincial exams. If she did.... Well, that did not happen and I"m still the topper! Rijun puffed up his chest.

"Too bad, your score won"t be recorded and you won"t be acknowledged as the topper", Rijun said. This issue really pained his heart. The Emperor brought up the discussion of letting women attend the court exams in the court today but the first person who opposed was his father which was seconded by Lord Ran and also by Lord Zhong followed by everyone else. As far as Rijun knew this was the first time the entire court reached to a decision unanimously.

Rijun tried to speak up but was met with the angry glare of his father and he shut his mouth. He knew his father was trying to protect Mingxia, but still he could not help but feel powerless and sorry towards his sister.

"Doesn"t matter", Xing just shrugged it off. It"s not like she prepared for the exams for years with an ambition to enter the court anyway.

"And the price of cotton dropped. Someone exposed the h.o.a.rded cotton of the Zou family in the Southern Province and they had no way other than selling it off almost as if giving it out for free to be not implicated by the Justice Department", Rijun said with a smile in his face. The Zou family cannot survive anymore.

"Someone..?", Xing smirked, "Is it first uncle?"

Rijun raised his eyebrows and shrugged, "Must be"

Xing had a pleased smile. Serves you right, Lady Huang. You should have known your place and kept your mouth shut and should not have talked bad about my mother.

"And, Lord Chu is meeting the Emperor tomorrow. Actually the Emperor told me to inform you that you can be present there", Rijun said cautiously. He had known the mention of the Emperor or Palace, makes his sister more unpleasant than she usually is.

"Is he? ", Xing smiled, looks like the rumours did it"s job.

"Brother, you listen to every word he says and observe his every expression and act accordingly. I already gave a copy of the list he is supposed to give to the Emperor to him. Cross check it and if even a single person is missing, add his name on the list too before sending it to the Justice Department"

So she is not coming, as expected, Rijun thought.

"And about the rainfall issue you mentioned the other day, I won"t talk to the G.o.ds about it but I can introduce the Emperor to them. He is the "Son of Heavens" and they may do every thing free of cost for him", Xing told him suddenly.

Rijun raised his hand towards her head and Xing instinctively moved back as she expected him to knock her head as usual, but he just patted her head gently, "Let"s talk about that later!"

Oh, Mingxia! You say you don"t care but you cannot help but care. Such a sweet sister!

Xing then gave a sachet to Rijun, "Have it with you always. It has certain herbs and spells that would keep you away from demons. Don"t go around seducing foxes in my absence!", she said in a mocking tone, "You"ll definitely die", she whispered making Rijun irritated. He smelled the pouch and it smelled like sandalwood and felt really expensive.

"It is the best quality Sandalwood imported from the Sky kingdom. You are the only one in the kingdom having it", she smirked. "Also , it has many other odourless additives that are extremely poisonous to humans, so you can use it as a weapon too", she pressed her lips to prevent herself from laughing.

Rijun who was ecstatic for a moment for his sister"s care and wanted to buy some return gift for her was provoked by her other statement.

Poison as weapon? Am I a woman? She is mocking me for not knowing martial arts, right?

Her satirical expression only made him more furious and he wanted to kill her.

"Mingxia!", he gritted his teeth and Xing sprung up from the chair and ran out giggling and of course Rijun cannot catch her and the plan of killing her was generously put off by her lovely brother.

That night after dinner, Shengli discussed the plans of the departure with her. Two days from now, Shengli and Lord Táng will be leaving "causiously" out of the city by horses and the people following them will find them entering the Great Green Forests. The next day, the Prime Minister"s daughter will leave with her first uncle to the southern province in carriages. As Lord Huang has some expensive products with him, he"ll use the most secure path through the Great Green Forests too. But in a couple of days, Lord Táng will be "found" in Eastern province while Huang Mingxia will be in Dajing with her uncle.

This plan was to prove that Lord Táng and Huang Mingxia are different. Also with Lord Chu snitching and the Emperor opening an investigation on the n.o.bles and officials of the Eastern province, s.h.i.+hong won"t find it odd about the sudden arrival of Lord Táng to the East as he owns it. This is a perfect plan to make s.h.i.+hong believe wrong as confusing the enemy is a best form of defence.

Xing didn"t care about the other issues and agreed to go to the Southern Province because she knew she had to pay respect to her ancestors as a Huang. She was also curious to meet RuYang and his little sister too. But the thought of leaving Shengli for long made her heart ache. They were united just now after long and they had to separate again. This is not fair, right?

The next day Xing went to the Zhong Manor, as the Oldman invited her. Xing wanted to spend some time with Lady Zhong but the Oldman made her brew tea the entire day as if he wanted to drink an entire month worth of tea in a single day. But she was rescued by Lady Zhong and they spent some time together.

The next day after breakfast, Xing and Shengli packed their stuff and got ready to leave.

Everyone was present to send her off, her father, brother, her two uncle"s and Xu mama.

Xu mama advised her to eat properly and Xing just rolled her eyes, we"ll meet tomorrow.

AoTian looked like he was crying and Xing didn"t know what to say, "I"ll write you, father!", she said and he nodded and advised her to be safe and kept on stuffing banknotes on her. He does know I have a lot of money and I"ll be with first uncle from tomorrow onwards, right? Xing shook her head. AoTian even gave warning words to Shengli and he was politely accepting it making Xing smile.

Even Rijun had a sad expression even though he said nothing, "Mingxia,just be safe, ok?", he patted her head and Xing nodded.

"Alright, alright! Mingxia is not going for war for her to be safe. She"s going to be with me. Just let her go. It"s getting late", Zedong hurried Xing and both of them left the Manor and walked towards the gates with their horses.

On the way Seiren came to give his goodbyes and Xing could see the glow in his face as a result of happiness. Xing just smiled sarcastically at him and walked past him. By the gates, Lord Zhong was there which was way beneath his station. Xing knew it was to send her off and she felt happy.

When she entered the gates previously, she never thought she"d gain this many people who would care for her in the city but all of them are here and that made Xing happy.

She nodded at that burly Oldman and left the gates and got on the horse and both of them travelled towards the Great Green Forest.