Lady

Without warning, Kai Xuan found himself thrown onto the ground with a strength too robust to be a maidservant's and fell face-first into a patch of dirt and pebbles. Fortunately, he recovered in time and scrambled back for dear life just as knife pierced through the hard ground where he laid just moments ago.

And to his horror, the person aiming to take his life was no other than his mother's maidservant, Su Rong. She yanked the tip of the knife out of the ground, angered that she was unable to apprehend her target in one move.

Kai Xuan yelped, kicking up clouds of dust as he clambered to his feet the moment Su Rong took a step forward, her sharp blade glinting dangerously under the moonlight. "Wh- who are you really?" he sputtered, his heart thumping fast against his chest. "Why are you doing this?"

"Forget that," Su Rong hissed. She pointed her weapon at his face and glowered. "If you hand me Bai Hua Lin's necklace, I'll at least promise you a painless death."

Bai Hua Lin's necklace? What-?

Kai Xuan's hand flew to his chest where the pendant hung, his eyes growing wide with realization. The attack on his family's carriages as they journeyed to the Mystic Mountain Villa, Su Rong's betrayal - no, perhaps she didn't betray them, but was a spy all along - was it all just for this necklace? But what was the significance of this necklace?

To others, wouldn't it just be the Madam's jewelry, nothing more, nothing less?

"So I was right. You do have it. Why don't you accept my offer?" Su Rong asked. The corner of her lip turned up. "I'm already being quite generous, Young Master. You should give it up while I'm still being nice."

A noise of alarm escaped Kai Xuan's dry lips. Cold sweat broke out over his back, but he felt hot as adrenaline began pumping rapidly through his veins, his every instinct screaming for him to run away. And so he did.

Su Rong started after him. "Don't you dare-!"

To both of their amazement, Xiao Qin had returned screaming at the top of her lungs, "How dare you!" With the stick in her hands, she swung at Su Rong's legs and sent her off her feet with a shriek.

Without wasting any more time, Xiao Qin dropped the stick and turned towards Kai Xuan. "Young Master, run!" But before she could take another step, Su Rong reached up and seized her ankle, bringing her down onto the ground with her.

"Xiao Qin jie-jie!"

"You b*tch! You should've left when I gave you the chance!" Su Rong pinned down Xiao Qin's flailing limbs. Unable to break free from her strength, Xiao Qin could only scream as Su Rong raised her knife and sliced the blade aggressively across her face, leaving a deep, bloody gash running down from her eye to the side of her jaw.

She raised her arm for another slice, but felt the air knocked out of her lungs when Kai Xuan suddenly came running and body-slammed her to the side with a cry.

"Quick!" Kai Xuan frantically pulled Xiao Qin up to her feet while she sniveled, holding her disfigured face with agony as she was led away by the wrist.

Together, the two sprinted down the slope of the far left path, running even faster when they heard Su Rong's shrill voice follow behind them.

Kai Xuan's limbs ached, his legs were burning. Never in this life had he had to run like this. He wanted to give up. It was too hard, he wanted to stop. He wanted to catch his breath, to relieve his lungs from suffering... but he couldn't. He had to keep going. He cannot let himself or Xiao Qin jie-jie get caught. If he did, then it will be all over. Their lives depended on it.

"Young...Master...look!" Xiao Qin managed to force out these few, strained words between strenuous gasps for breath. With the loss of sight in one eye and a wound left open and untended down her face, Xiao Qin held on strong, pushing herself to keep up with Kai Xuan's pace without reeling over.

Kai Xuan looked down as told, wiping the sweat that dripped down into his eyes with his dirtied sleeve. He lit up with hope when he saw buildings below and ahead in the distance, clay-tiled roofs lining the dip between the mountain inclines. However...

"That...that's not Mystic Mountain...Mountain Villa," Kai Xuan panted, disappointment visible in his exhausted expression.

But it was better than nothing.

Rekindled with new hope, Kai Xuan's steps hastened. The town was not too far off. Perhaps if they kept running for another hour or so, they would find the threshold of safety not far from their grasp.

Just a bit more... Just a bit more...!

But once again, his hopes were soon down-casted.

At the the turn of the path down the mountain, the dirt beneath their feet came loose. Unable to stop their momentum, the pair found themselves falling off the edge of the road, and they tumbled the rest of the way down.

][][][][][][][][

It was morning, the sun had just risen above the horizon, yet the streets of a certain prosperous town have already come alive with the movement of early customers and opening shops.

And though the town was located in the mountains, it was never short of passing travelers and even visitors who came to enjoy the scenic view of the sunrise and sunset, the misty waterfalls, the forests, and many more.

"Good sir, you don't seem from here! How about a hot bowl of freshly made noodle soup to start the day, eh?" a shopkeeper called.

A lady from the food stand across yelled as well. "Don't listen to that fogey, young man! You should try our steamed buns! I'll let you have two free!"

"No, I assure you our noodles taste incredibly delicious! You will not regret coming here!"

"No! Their noodles are expensive! Come to my stand if you don't want to be robbed of your wallet!"

"That's not true!"

"Shut up!"

Footsteps approached from behind, and the traveler took a step to the side as an old man came forth, his hands held behind his slouched back. "Hoho, there they go again, bickering and bickering and bickering...," he murmured, his raspy voice light with amusement. "They are a pain, aren't they?"

He looked up and smiled at the tall individual beside him, deep wrinkles forming at the corners of his bright eyes. He couldn't see a face through the long, dark veil of this person's wei-mao, but he didn't mind, for he sensed no hostility, nor did this person seem to be searching for anything in particular.

He did, however, notice the glimmering hilt of a weapon, barely concealed within the black-patterned robes that draped elegantly in layers from the collar. He raised an eyebrow, intrigued. A martial artist? Dressing like this...they didn't want their identity revealed, was that it?

"Are you headed to the Mystic Mountain Villa?" he wondered aloud, stroking his chin. "I heard it's quite a long journey from here, still. You have business with their Lord? ...I remember hearing that they were hosting some sort of gathering, though I do not know what it is..."

When he received nothing but silence for an answer, the old man let out a hearty laugh. "Aha! The shy type, are we now?" he chuckled, shoulders bouncing up and down. "I promise you, this old man doesn't bite. Though I would say, my nosiness in other's business may have increased with my age...I do apologize if I made you uncomfortable."

The veil shifted ever so slightly. "It's...alright."

The old man lightened up, all excited now that he'd finally gotten a reaction. "Hoh! Now that's more like it!" he burst. "Say, young one, what's your name? You don't come here often, do you? It's not everyday that this old man encounters someone as remarkable as a martial artist, mm?"

He eyed the sword.

Surprised, the traveler glanced down and quickly shielded the exposed handle with a pull of their cloak.

"Eyy, don't be so nervous," the elderly complained. "What if I introduced myself first? You can call me Old Hu. How's it?"

Old Hu could've sworn he heard a sigh before the person answered with a low voice, "Chen Ying."

"Chen Ying?" Old Hu echoed. He let out another laugh before taking a step forward. "Then, Sir Chen, care to join this old thing for breakfast?" He turned and continued to hobble up the street, unbothered when the young man surnamed Chen didn't follow. Because by this time, the shopkeeper and stand owner's squabbling had died down. If he didn't follow in the next ten seconds, he'd be bound to be attacked by their... 'aggressive' advertising once again.

Indeed the young man seemed to notice, and Old Hu hummed joyfully to himself as he heard footsteps start quietly after him, not far behind.

][][][][][][][][

Chen Ying sat still as Old Hu placed two dishes of fresh jianbing on the wooden table. He too, owned a little food stand right beside his humble home. It was a tiny but well-kept residence, with a small garden filled with crops right in front, and an outdoor kitchen where a few tables and chairs sat. It was exactly where Old Hu cooked up a small breakfast for he and his guest.

"What are you waiting for? Dig in!" Old Hu clicked his tongue and shook his head of gray. "Aiyah, young people like you are really hard to deal with. Geez! Take off your hat and let this fogey see what sort of handsome young man your parents put together-"

His outstretched arms reached to remove Chen Ying's wei-mao, but to his dismay, he was dodged.

"Yah, don't be stubborn now and take it off!" He grunted as he tried and was evaded once again, grumbling under his breath. He tried again, and again, and again...

"You're the one that is stubborn," Chen Ying suddenly remarked.

"Oh, so you know how to talk back, huh?!" Old Hu huffed, out of breath. He shook an accusing yet playful fist at the bold one. "A grown man like you should know to respect your elders, that's a very important aspect of a gentleman! Don't you know maidens prefer gentlemen? Don't you want to get married?"

Chen Ying glanced up at Old Hu through the veil, puzzled. "...I never said I was a man, though?"

"Tch! Heavens, this kid really... What kind of nonsense are you speaking now?" Old Hu waved it off with an annoyed roll of his eyes before making a face and mocking, "'I never said I was a man'- ...wait, what?"

He paused, looking as if he were just hit in the face with a pan.

"You keep addressing me as a man. I'm not a man." Chen Ying brushed aside the veil with the back of her hand, and Old Hu immediately stumbled back in surprise when she revealed her face. He then slapped himself in the cheek three times and leaned in close to see if he saw right.

"A- Aiyah...," he spluttered. He turned away and began smacking himself on the mouth, saying "aiyah, aiyah, aiyahhh" repeatedly to himself. "Old Hu, you really messed up this time around," Chen Ying heard him muttering.

When he came back around, he sat back down on the table and peered closely into Chen Ying's face, squinting his eyes as his expression remained frozen with utter perplexity. "You...really are a girl?" he asked.

She was quite tall for the average woman; Old Hu remembered just barely standing at the height of her chin when he first came up to her. She had black eyes the shape of almonds, straight brows and straight hair. Strangely enough, when he looked closely, he saw a few loose strands of white hair dangling in front of her face. But he couldn't tell if it were just those few strands, or if she had a whole lock of white hair hiding underneath the wide straw hat.

Even so, she looked quite young. A few strands of white hair was already out of the ordinary.

He scratched the side of his head. Martial artists never fail to amaze him.

"Old man, have you seen enough?" Chen Ying asked flatly. "Are you a virgin?"

"Oi, lemme tell you," Old Hu started energetically, ignoring her comment. "All my life, I've seen pretty girls and handsome boys, but I've never seen a young lady like you who cannot be described as cute or pretty, but handsome. Wahahaha!"

It was true that a heavy aura lingered about her. It wasn't the depressing kind, but the pressuring type of aura. It was the type of aura that held both unparalleled elegance and sophistication, power, and a sense of importance.

Without taking her mysteriously dark clothes and possession of a sword into account, her refined composure and confidence alone were enough to make her seem untouchable.

And though the few words that came out of her mouth were rebellious to an extent, Old Hu had to admit they came out too calm and restrained to break out of her dignified character.

Chen Ying took a bite of her serving of jianbing as she listened to the old man chatter away, enjoying himself in her company. She was a lone wanderer after all, it did feel a bit nice to sit by someone every once in a while while she enjoyed a meal. But at the corner of her mind, something felt out of place.

Something was wrong.

Someone was...watching them. From where? From...

There.

Chen Ying turned her head to the left and cast a sidelong glance out the open gates of Old Hu's property into the street, slightly taken aback to find the dismal brown eyes of a lonely and injured boy staring back at her. He sat with his knees hugged to his chest, partially hidden between the wooden crates that stacked surrounding him and the stone wall he had his back against. His clothes were ripped and tattered, coated with dirt and stains, as was his face...

The moment the boy realized that he had been caught staring, he hectically looked away and buried himself deeper in the tiny shelter of crates and straw mats he came upon.

She frowned.

Was he abandoned? Abused?

What- no... who was he hiding from?