Chapter 5: Qian Xing Is Rescued

"I thought he wanted to show me something nice! I never knew he was trying to patch things up between me and that good for nothing Ping!" A male voice sounded angry.

"It's okay Xuan! It's not actually his fault, forget about it, Xuan" A guard named Min Zhe, tries to calm him down.

"This is bad! How am I going to get out of this place?" Leaning against one of the shelves, Fuyuo thinks of what to do next, since the guards are back to duty.

An ideal pops up in his mind and he smiles. Hitting the shelf, some piles of scrolls fell down.

"What was that?"

"It's seems to be coming from the library"

"Come on Ming Zhe, let's go in and find out!" The both of them open the door and rush to the last shelf.

Using that opportunity, Fuyuo slips out of the library, running back to their assigned quarters.

"Nobody is inside the library, it must be one of those cats" Xuan said after they both looked everywhere and found nothing.

"Yeah, you are right!" Let's go back in case the night patrol squad doesn't see us outside the door.

Fuyuo runs past a snoring guard, who wakes up shocked at the sudden speed of an unknown person before raising an alarm.

"Ghost! Ghost!!! I have seen a ghost!!!" He screams.

****

FLOWER CITY

"Father please wait for me" Fang Zu, an extremely handsome teenage boy and the only child of farmer Fang who lives in the next kingdom called flower city, tries to catch up with his father with difficulty due to the thick snowflake on the ground.

Even with his thick clothes, the cold weather was telling on him already as he breathes out smoke through his mouth whenever he speaks.

"Ayiee! Fang Zu, stop trying to slow my pace down. I remembered telling you to stay at home but you refused and insisted on coming with me, now why are you complaining?" Farmer Fang asked his son while he kept walking.

"Complaining? Hahaha! I wasn't complaining to you father, I only asked you to wait for me to catch up with you" Fang Zu said while he struggled to carry a rather big bag containing some arrows and other hunting equipment.

"Ayiee, it is the same thing as complaining, my son. I told you about this icy region but you did not listen to my warnings, you have to walk faster because I can't slow down my pace for you to catch up.

Remember what the medicine man said concerning your mother's illness? Meat is one of the prescriptions if she must regain her health faster. So we need to act fast" farmer Fang explains to his son.

"But father, how on earth are we going to catch an animal in this cold weather? They must have gone into hiding due to the terrible cold" Fang Zu said.

"Ayiee! What did you know about hunting? Although the weather is bad, some animals actually live inside of rocks. We can see them around the rocky part of the forest, if we are lucky enough.

"Lives inside rocks? Father, what kind of animals live inside the rocks?"

" Animal like..! Aaii !!! You ask too many questions Fang Zu, keep quiet if you don't want to end up scaring them with your loud voice".

Shocked at his father's words, he points his index finger at himself mumbling under his breath. Then he kept quiet at once, trailing behind his father. Looking at a distance towards the part of the forest with tall bamboo trees, Fang Zu sighted something laying down on the ground, looking lifeless.

"Father, there is something out there. It might be a dead animal due to the cold" Fang Zu said, pointing in a particular direction.

"Yeah, it looks big too. Let's go and check it, we might be lucky".

A pale looking girl wearing plain short shirt and high waist skirt cloth covered with frozen bloodstains, lotus shoes, and a jade hairpin on her hair, lays facing the snow.

"It's a human! Such a young child! How did he get here? He said looking at the still body of Qian Xing, then he quickly squats down to turn her face. Her face is pale, with a trail of dry blood at the corner of her mouth and her lips look dark, void of color.

"Oh, it's a girl!" Farmer Fang said.

"Wow!!!" Fang Zu said in his mind, blinks his eyes rapidly then swallows his saliva on seeing her face.

"Someone seems determined to kill this young miss," farmer Fang said when he discovered a large amount of dark thick blood stains in a particular spot of clothes.

"Father, we can't leave her here to die! Let's take her back for treatment" He said, squatting down to take a better look at her face.

"Of course Fang Zu, we need to save her. Hold my bag for me while I carry her on my back" He said handing over his hunting bag to him.

"But father, what about the animal? Are we going back home without one?"

"Ayieei ! You talk too much Fangzu, we can always buy one at the market back home. Come on, we can't delay any longer just in case her killer is still after her life" He carried her on his back and tried his best to walk faster in the snow, while Fang Zu walked behind him.

Soon they arrived at a village with scattered houses surrounded by fairly big mountainsides.

Only a few people were outside working due to the cold weather.

Arriving at the third hatched house fenced with flowers, they went inside and farmer Fang placed her on a bed, in his son's room.

"Quickly Fang Zu, go and call the medicine man here. Run along now and don't waste time fooling around".

"Yes father" He ran off immediately.

Arriving at a house with light smoke coming from the backyard, he went in immediately.

"Mr Chen, your attention is needed at my house, you have to come with me now" Fangzu said while placing his hands on his chest, breathing hard.