Feng jiu moved towards the man standing in her doorway and took him by the arm. She helped him back to the bed and to lie down comfortably. After he was fully comfortable and didn’t look like he was on the verge of passing out, she finally started talking, “I told you to stay put then why did you have to move so much? Are you purposefully trying to ruin your health or do you not know the meaning of staying put?”

He had no clue what had just happened. The girl he thought was frail and soft had, a few moment ago, defeated an entire battalion of soldiers alone. To say it specifically, she had not just defeated, no no, she had blown them away with one slash of her sword and the generals who had stayed ended up with their heads cut off before they could even realise where she had gone. The way she had played with them had left him feeling discombobulated. She had toyed with them with the ease of a cat playing with the mouse she caught before eating it. And those generals were no toys, he knew that. Those were the best professional assassins, all over the mainland. Their rival kingdom had inculcated them in it's army as generals. They had no morale or rules and fought only to kill. These ruthless killers had been a continuous source of headache for him over the years. They kept attacking the borders again and again, resulting in a continuous war with too much deaths and endless suffering for their kingdom. He had tried countless methods to kill them but none had worked. And she had sliced their heads off with such ease. To say he had a hard time wrapping his head around this fact would be an understatement.

After a while, he finally got hold of his tongue and tried forming a coherent sentence, “how….how did you…how did you do that?”

“that?” she asked confused.

“those assassins…” he said, trying to focus his mind, “how did you kill them ?”

“was I not supposed to?"

“no…I mean, yes… I mean it is good that they are dead but what I am trying so fruitlessly to ask here is how did you kill them so easily? Those are the best assassins from all over the mainland.”

“oh”, she said. She got up moved to her work table to make his medicine while he continued chatting on.

“those blood hounds are the ones responsible for my situation right now. early morning, yesterday, I was meeting with an informant of mine when 10 of them attacked me stealthily. They caught me unarmed and empty handed. I got away just in the nick of time, before the others could gather round too.”

Well, that explained their wounds. She kept nodding her head as he kept up his tirade of how deadly those assassins were and how much problem they had caused him and their country. Feng jiu didn’t understand what the big deal about those assassins were. Even the little dough, ah li fought better than them. The students she had trained in one of the mortal worlds would have had so much fun playing with them, she thought humorously. All she could understand from his tirade was that he was a part of the nobility or some high up from the court and even that wasn’t news to her. She had guessed as much from his robes and the air he carried himself with. The way he was talking, in no way could he be dong hua, she wondered. He just had a face similar to him. Donghua would be in the sky kingdom right now, lazing around by the pundarika pond, fishing and reading a buddhist scripture at the same time. No, this man certainly can’t be donghua, she reassured herself.

When the sound of his voice stopped, she looked up to see him waiting.

“I am sorry. I missed your question. Can you please repeat it?”

“I asked who taught you sword fighting?”

“an uncle of mine”, she answered. Well, mo yuan could be considered an uncle to her, albeit one very far removed and extremely old one, she mused.

“what a brilliant uncle you have, xaio jiu. You must come from a very strong family to have such strong fighting skills. Say where do you come from?”

“your medicine is ready. Would you need something sweet to set off the bitter aftertaste?” she asked evading his question.

“yes, please.” He answered forgetting his question and just staring at her dreamlike beauty.

She came and sat beside him, handing over the bowl of medicine. He was disappointed to see that she won’t be feeding him the medicine herself. This reminded him of the question he had asked her a few minutes ago. He wondered if she had evaded his question or just hadn’t heard it like before. So, after finishing the medicine he asked her again.

“where do you come from xaio jiu? Tell me about your family.” He asked again softly.

But instead of answering him, she just took the bowl of medicine from his hands and handed him a plate of cut up tangerines saying, “here, this will help cut the bitter taste of the medicine.”
With that said, she took another bowl and moved out the back gate.

She was definitely evading him, he thought to himself trying to figure out why. The only valid reason he could come up with was that she was shy and not familiar enough with him to confide in him yet.

Getting up, he slowly moved towards the back gate to see her. He stayed out of her line of vision lest he ends up getting scolded again for moving around too much. He saw her feeding the medicine to little white, her face full of concern for the horse. She looked so serene in that moment with her long black hair falling luminously like a waterfall down her back. Her eyes filled with affection for the horse, her eyebrows all scrunched up with worry and her full red lips pursed up in concentration. He studied every facet, every curve and angle of her face, committing it to memory. Never in his life had he seen a face so ethereal. after being with her just a few hours, he could confidently say that it was not just her face that was beautiful but her heart too. The way she cared for the horse showed a soul full of love and compassion. She treated that wounded animal with more care and respect than he had seen humans treat other humans with. He felt his heart beat rise so rapidly that his cheeks flushed at the thought.

Moving back to the bed, he lied down and waited for her to come back inside. This time, he would not be asking her any intrusive questions but he would tell him all about himself, he resolved. This way she would not be weary of me, the more she will know me, the more she will feel comfortable and then she might talk to me on her own accord, he surmised.

Confident in his plan, he started talking about himself, the moment she walked back in. he started by telling her about his parents who had always been good to him and loved him unconditionally.

“they would dote on me day and night. They were always looking after my every need.” He said lovingly.

“were?”

“they passed away when I was 15. Killed on their way back home one night”, he said lost in their memories.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It is what it is. It’s been 20 years since then. I no longer grieve them and wouldn’t have wanted me to. they had a happy life and I like to remember them by those.”

She was very surprised to hear that. How much he must have suffered to have such maturity, she thought.

“after their deaths, my grandfather had to step in. the old man loved me too but he had to harden up for the sake of the country. After my father, the throne couldn’t have been left empty. He was too old to take the throne again so I had to step up. That was the hardest part of it all, not being allowed to mourn for them properly. My grandfather took over my education, he showed me how to handle the responsibilities that came with being an emperor. He was a strict teacher but I understood that I didn’t have the luxury of time to learn which in turn did not give him the luxury of leniency. What was usually done over a period of many decades, he had to do in as short a time as possible. He had to turn me into a ruler, the people respected from a boy prince they used to love. That’s why his harshness showed me his love. It was in respect of that love, I devoted myself to him and the kingdom fully. And I have never regretted that decision.”

he was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t see the tears running down feng jiu’s face. Her heart had been so moved by his story that she could feel his pain seeping into the air through him towards her. This boy had suffered so much but never said a word; he had loved his family so deeply that he had taken every hurt silently for them, she thought.

Looking back at her he saw tears running down her face. For some reason, this was more painful for him than all his injuries combined. He slowly got up and walked to her side. Cradling her little face, he wiped her tears with his thumbs softly.

“don’t cry jiu jiu. Never cry. No one is worth your tears least of all me. Never cry, jiu jiu, never cry.” He kept repeating until she finally looked up at him, no longer crying.

“I am sorry for getting all emotional on you. It’s just when you said you never got to mourn for your parents that broke my heart. i understand your situation but my heart still says that every kid should have the right to mourn his parents.” She said looking at the pain in his eyes that he so desperately tried to hide.

He knew she could see the pain inside him but didn’t have the heart to let it out now. caressing her face, he softly murmured, “maybe one day that kid will get his chance, maybe one day.”

She took her time studying his face, she had already known he was a part of the nobility but she couldn’t have guessed he was an emperor. He didn’t have that arrogance on him. Pondering on this fact she suddenly realised, he hadn’t told her his name yet.

“you know, you never told me your name”, she said softly.

Hearing this, he laughed.
“you mean all this while that you have been taking care of me and you hadn’t known who I am?” he asked thoroughly amused.

“how is this related to me taking care of you?”

“my little jiu jiu, did you just got to know I am an emperor when I told you?”

“judging from your robes, I had thought you must be a part of the nobility. i had no clue about anything else. Why are you laughing?” he was confusing her now.

“because my little jiu jiu, you are a beautiful and kind soul. Most of the people would only care for someone they could gain anything from. And for them, I as the emperor, am the most prized possession. Aside from my parents and grandfather nobody had ever cared for me as a person. That is why I am laughing jiu jiu, at the situation I am in. the next person to care for me is a small and loving woman who has no clue who I am. you xaio jiu, you are a breath of fresh air in this stale and rotten life of mine. You are so kind, compassionate and loving. You had no clue who I was or what I could give you in return but you still saved me again and again. thank you jiu jiu.”

She blushed at hearing this and turned away from him to hide her reddening cheeks. But he had already seen her blush rising and chuckled softly.
Irritated at being the source of his humour, she redirected the conversation back to her original question. “you still haven’t told me your name.”

“I am the emperor of chen dynasty. My name is wen chang”