Enxuo was aware of Li Cheung"s feelings for Hippolyta. The boy had grown from a spoiled, pampered idiot to a man of quiet dignity and bearing in all the years he had known him. Unluckily for him, Hippolyta wasn"t even aware of these changes since she treated him like air every time she saw him.There was a slight change in her treatment of Li Cheung, however, when his dogged infatuation entered its fifth year. She smiled at him, which nearly put him in a catatonic shock. Luckily, Enxuo was there to help prop him up when Hippolyta drew nearer and actually spoke to him.
"You are a magician?" she asked, like it was the first time she had ever seen him before.
The sophisticated and elegant Li Cheung stammered some inane response.
"There is a book I am currently reading that deals with magic and alchemy. I am actually confused which is which so maybe you can help me?"
Hippolyta at closer range was more devastating than Li Cheung ever suspected. Her eyes shone a pure onyx, her lips had the softest tinge of pink he had ever seen in a woman. Her body was made for loving a man that looking at her actually dried his mouth and fried his brains. Enxuo again came to his rescue by chatting with Hippolyta about what little he knew of alchemy until Li Cheung finally took a grip of his emotions and asked Hippolyta if she could show her the book she was reading.
It turned out to be a disputed book written by an alchemist who was denounced by the magic world as a bigot. In one of the most argued chapters in the book, the man gave his opinion that magic arose from superst.i.tion and unacknowledged fears arising from carnality; that alchemy was the truest form of magic because it was based on reason and logic backed up by the evidence of science.
Li Cheung was conflicted. He was a man of magic so he didn"t believe in alchemy. But he was also a man of reason so he believes in evidence. But evidence can be manufactured. A powerful magician like him can manipulate evidence to back up a lie; and a lie can be manufactured to back up evidence. He looked at Hippolyta and didn"t know what to say. Seeing the conflict on his face, Hippolyta laughed and threw the book aside.
One good thing that came out of that incident was that Hippolyta started talking to him more and more. He was now in his early twenties and had fully grown into his own. He was taller, his face leaner and his eyes keener than when he was a youth. His mother had even started matchmaking him to the daughters of other influential families but Li Cheung wasn"t interested. He had even disbanded his harem, calling them a distraction on his path towards greatness as the most powerful magician of his time.
The world admired and loved him, women wanted to marry him and have his baby and the only woman in the world he ever likes didn"t even know him from Adam.
He was encouraged by his growing relationship with Hippolyta though. She was starting to notice him more and more. They would discuss science, gardening, food and sometimes, astrology. He was starting to get his hopes up until Enxuo of course dashed his lovesick head against a brick with a few words.
"What did you say?" he stared at Enxuo with eyes almost falling off their sockets.
"I said Hippolyta is preparing to leave so she could find a mate to father her child. It"s about time she has an heir," Enxuo said casually, like he was talking about s.e.x in a manner of plucking chickens before frying or broiling them in oil.
"What?" he asked, staring curiously at Li Cheung"s thunderstruck face.
"A mate for her child? Who is this mate we"re talking about?"
"Who knows? They go out, find a strong man they think qualifies as a father, have s.e.x with them and waits until the baby is born to see if it"s a boy or girl. The boy baby is given back to the dad and the girl baby stays with the mother. That"s about it."
"Just like that? Hippolyta is doing it just like that?" Li Cheung was shocked.
"That"s the way they always do it. Nothing wrong with that, right?
Li Cheung was stunned. And very unhappy. And very depressed by what"s going to happen. His woman was actually preparing to find a man, any man, to father her child and he"s actually not doing anything to stop it? He was a man of great talent, a man of great perception. Most important of all, he was a man of great jealousy, of greed and great possessiveness when it comes to Hippolyta.
That night, he met her at the usual time and slipped a potion in her drink. She likes her wine after dinner and the wine came from her cellar. He didn"t even feel any ounce of guilt from what he did. It was a battle between them. He knew the consequences but he didn"t care. He wanted her and this time, he would do anything, even murder, to own and possess her.
Like the great magician he was, Li Cheung went into battle fully armed. He loved the woman he had been obsessing with for nearly six years like it was his last hours on earth and he was going to die. He didn"t hold anything back. He told her he would marry her, that she would be his wife, that she would not bear any man"s child but his and that he loved her, enough to suffer the consequences of her hatred if she decides never to forgive him for what he did. He would even accept death from her hands if that"s what she wants.
The two of them stayed glued together the rest of the evening and morning. Li Cheung was indefatigable. Hippolyta accepted his advances with her body singing with desire. After their fourth or fifth coupling, she knew she was pregnant and that the child was going to be a girl. But she stayed at Li Cheung"s side, even when the day turned into dark and morning again greeted them with its brilliance.
The marriage of Li Cheung and Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, was postponed for a year by the untimely death of his mother. The woman was neither poisoned nor a.s.sa.s.sinated but swallowed a chicken bone the wrong way and croaked, leaving Li Cheung a major part of an inheritance so large even Hippolyta was stunned.
When Ceres was born, the couple decided to live for a while in the grove and just vanished from the world for once. But the world was not done with them yet. Li Cheung"s father sent him a letter telling him of his impending marriage to the widow of a fellow politician in his party. The woman was a great hostess, she was well-known for her wit and elegance and she also had a daughter, a 12-year old girl named Yu Yan.
When the one year was up, Li Cheung and Hippolyta finally had their wedding ceremony. They also travelled to the city and saw Li Cheung"s father, who had become very fat by then. Hippolyta was indifferent to her in-laws. She was cold to the dad, even colder to the stepmom and somewhat lukewarm to Yu Yan.
Li Cheung didn"t know whether to laugh or cry. His wife was crazy arrogant when it suited her. She was also easily bored but he knew she cared enough about him to accompany him to a city which she found abhorrent because of the rats and the apparent poverty they saw on the streets.
Hippolyta was also impatient to return home because of an experiment she had been working on since they got together. She said that he had given her the idea but she didn"t tell him what it was and he didn"t ask because he was busy with other things, too, like an impending war with a neighborhood kingdom because of gold.
The gold was discovered in the mountains that bordered the two kingdoms. A prisoner escaped and when the soldiers found him, he had fallen into a cave that sparkled with the mineral. A fight ensued. Soldiers fought soldiers. The escaped prisoner ran across the border with a handful of gold in his pockets. The border patrols apprehended him, found the gold, and then crossed over to ransacked the cave for their share.
It was a melee that turned the once friendly kingdoms into overnight enemies. Li Cheung was called upon by the king for his advice and inputs. Li Cheung, who was still in a honeymoon phase with Hippolyta, was incensed. He didn"t want to leave his wife and child and go traipsing amongst the mountains looking for war. He told the king"s messengers so but Hippolyta, who had centuries of experience in warfare and know how to break an enemy that seemed unbreakable, offered her take on the conflict: attack the enemy"s treasury and empty it of all its value. That should hold their interest for a while until the cave was emptied of its gold.
The plan worked so well that Li Cheung received another commendation from the king. Li Cheung and Hippolyta celebrated their triumph by making love in the waterfalls for a night. The gentle flow of water smothered their screams, the stream cradled their bodies until they fell asleep. Their celebration didn"t last long, however. A few days later, a letter arrived with Enxuo. Li Cheung"s father and stepmother had died in a blast. And Yu Yan, his 12-year old stepsister, was on her way to his house, where she intends to live with his new wife and his baby girl.
She was alone now and it was left to his care to take full responsibility of her welfare.