"Yue Er..,are you practicing the embroidery ?" Lady Jiang called her daughter.
Yue Er was indeed practicing the basic embroidery techniques her mother taught her, when she heard her mother's voice. She lifted her head from the embroidery she was doing and looked at her mother.
"yes mother, I'm practicing. Soon I will be able to do embroidery as good as mother" she replied her mother enthusiastically.
After seeing her daughter's enthusiasm, lady Jiang Lin smiled at her happily.
"Then, let me see your work" she asked her daughter, coming into her room.
It seemed her daughter has practiced really hard because her embroidery had turned into a beautiful Peony flower.
"Yue Er…you have done a good job. It is so beautiful. Mother is so proud of you" she praised her daughter.
Yin Yue was so happy.
"Mother…when I'm able to do embroidery like you, I'm going to embroider a dress for my little brother" she said to her mother.
That made Lady Jiang smiled.
Lady Jiang was the only lady of Jiang household because General Jiang had no concubines. And Ying Yue was the only child of Jiang family and now that lady Jiang is expecting, that made her the eldest daughter of the family. Yin Yue had two close friends and they both had brothers. Therefore Yin Yue also wanted a brother. She always called her unborn sibling "brother". She loved her unborn sibling so much.
Remembering those, Lady Jiang smiled happily and gave her a warm hug.
After releasing her, mother took a beautiful little box in her hand and gave it to Yin Yue.
"Mother, what is this? why are you giving this to me?" Yin Yue ask curiously.
"My Yue Er has worked hard to practice embroidery. This is a gift from mother" lady Jiang replied and asked her to check whether she liked it or not.
Yin Yue opened the box carefully and saw a beautiful hairpin in it. She was happy. She took it out and exclaimed with joy.
"Mother, it is same as yours."
"Yue Er , do you like it? Lady Lin asked her daughter.
"of course mother. Yue Er like it very much. Yue Er thanks mother" she replied happily.
After a moment, she looked at her mother and asked this.
"Mother…Yue Er wants to wear this after doing hair like mother does"
Lady Jiang Lin approved it with a smile. Therefore Yin Yue called her assistant Xin Er and asked her to do her hair exactly like her mother. Xin Xin did her young miss’s hair beautifully and wore the hairpin. Yin Yue looked herself in the mirror and was so happy.
"Xin Er, aren't I look like my mother?" she asked joyously looking at Xin Xin and her mother at the same time.
"Yes, our young miss exactly takes after our madam" Xin Xin said politely.
Indeed, Yin Yue was a real living image of her mother. She had a pair of long bright eyes, with long jet black hair. Lady Jiang was a tall lady with elegant, slender figure. Her every move, every word she speaks, even her glance was graceful. Yin Yue was tall for her age, although she was merely nine years old, she was tall as much as her maid Xin Xin who was twelve years old. She had a petite figure with a cheerful smile always on her face.
Although she lacked the matured elegant aura her mother had, she was adorable in her own way.
"Daughters are the pride of a family While sons are the strength and foundation "General Jiang always used to say that.
"Xin Xin,let us have some tea" after watching her daughter, Lady Jiang asked Xin Xin.
Both mother and daughter enjoyed their tea together.
* * * * *
It was evening. The sun beaming in crimson color, was setting in the western sky coloring the sky with various colors.
The servants were getting ready to light the lights around the house because the night was about to invade the surrounding. It was not just the darkness of night, It seemed it was about to rain heavily. While the sun was setting in western sky, the eastern sky was filling with dark clouds.
Yin Yue was reading a book while lady Jiang was having a rest. All of a sudden, the leader of the guards, protecting the Jiang household came in, asking an immediate audience with the lady. He was allowed to meet the lady.
"My lady, some of our guards have been assassinated by unknown assassins. We are taking actions about it. We tightened the security by increasing the guards. Mu Qi came here to inform our lady just in case"
Lady Jiang nodded and let the guard leave. But since the moment she heard that news she felt uneasy. She lost the peace of her mind. But she tried to be calm.
After some time, they heard the noises of weapons clashing, shouting of soldiers, running sounds, neighing of horses...around the house.
Another message came informing that a large group of masked soldiers are attacking the guards of Jiang household; lady and the others were asked to prepare for an emergency just in case.
Lady Jiang Lin was anxious and curious at the same time. She couldn't guess who would be dared enough to launch such an attack to Jiang household.
Therefore she issued some quick orders to prepare for an emergency. She asked her maid to make their young miss change into normal clothes and lead her towards the hidden path which leads to the outside of the house. Then she called for the female fighting team.
In Qing empire, females were not allowed in army. Practicing martial arts for females were not encouraged but it was not prohibited either. Therefore throughout the Qing empire, there were some concealed female fighters.
This team consisted of twenty-five female maids who worked in Jiang household. As a daughter of a master who taught about art of war to thousands of students, Lady Jiang herself was a martial arts practitioner. She trained the team herself and then a higher training was given to them by General Jiang.
The female fighters team also were sent as reinforcement. But after a critical fight, all male guards were severely wounded or dead and female fighters were wounded and were surrendered with their hands tight behind. The assassins stopped for a moment and the leader of them asked to bring the rest of family to the front and made them kneel.
All remaining attackers rushed to get the remaining servants and the lady of the house. Two soldiers get the lady by two hands and tried to bring her to courtyard while remaining servants were trying desperately to defend the lady. Lady Jiang was furious. She shook those soldiers' hands off. Trying to maintain her patience, she demanded for a reason for this unruly act.
The leader of the attackers, a general according to his appearance, presented a document looked like an imperial decree. He started reading it aloud,
"General Jiang Lin, who was in-charge of protecting the western border of The great Qing empire, has colluded with the enemy against our great empire betraying the emperor. Including him, all the members of his family are to be assassinated by beheading.
-The emperor himself-"
The lady couldn't believe her ears. This is definitely a false accusation or someone's conspiracy. She vehemently denied the accusation asking for an investigation but was of no use.
All of them were brought to the court yard and were knelt. Execution orders were about to be issued, but stopped by the general .
"Are all the alive personnel of Jiang household here? isn't there anyone hiding inside? did you search well?" He asked his men.
"Yes General, we searched the house thoroughly but no any other one could be found" his men replied.
"It is said that General Jiang has a really pretty wife and a daughter. wife is here but where is the daughter?" he asked again. His men had no answer and he became furious.
"I want every inch of this house to be searched and find the culprit "he ordered. His men dispersed for the search.
This complete situation was seen by Yin Yue, Xin Xin and Zhu Li, the maid of lady Jiang. Zhu Li was leading the young miss and her maid towards the secret path to escape from the house and on their way, they were hiding in the stable, behind a pile of hay which were stored for horse food. Yin Yue wanted to go to her mother but Zhu Li managed to keep her hidden.
After hearing that order, Zhu Li understood that until they find young miss, they wouldn't stop the search. If they want to protect the young miss, they should distract the enemy. Therefore, thinking of a plan to distract enemy, Zhu Li whispered something to Xin Xin's ear and turned to Yin Yue.
"Miss, we thought of a plan to escape. To act on our plan, Xin Xin and I need to go out for a while.
Please...promise us no matter what you see or what you here, you should never move out from here until one of us come back." she asked Yin Yue.
What Yin Yue wanted the most was to escape from those cruel people with her mother. Therefore she promised Zhu Li. Then Zhu Li and Xin Xin covered Yin Yue totally with the pile of hay and left her in the stable.
After a while, the soldiers who were searching for the daughter of the General Jiang, found her hiding in an inner chamber with a maid. They brought her in-front of their General.
The panic striken eyes of the lady Jiang, after hearing that her daughter is caught were immediately changed after she saw the daughter. Quick glances were exchanged and some messages were shared between the lady and Zhu Li with their eyes which others couldn't notice.
Finally…everything was ready according to the general and he gave the orders to execute the death penalty.
The rain which was preparing to pour down, suddenly started.
While waiting for the death, kneeling on the ground, Lady Jiang had taken one final decision. She had released the female fighters’ hands who were kneeling beside her while the killers were searching for her daughter. She issued the final order secretly.
“Let’s not die without giving a fight.”
All were ready to give their all for the final blow. With the signal of their Lady, all the people who were kneeling on the ground attacked the assassins together. While the rain was pouring down heavily, they carried on the fight until all the people were killed down ruthlessly.
"Mother....!"When Yin Yue woke up screaming ,it was already dawn.The sun has risen.The beams of golden sunlight were coming through the entrance of the cave, brightening the inner surrounding of the dark cave. The smell of roasted meat was spreading everywhere around the cave.Yin Yue sat up and looked around.Wang Wei was sitting infront of the fire, preparing breakfast.Because she screamed ,Wang Wei was looking at her at the moment . "Young miss,you are awake,"Wang Wei casually asked. "Please come here and have something for breakfast. There's no much but I prepared something for breakfast ."Wang Wei said to Yin Yue. He had brought water from a nearby stream and gathered some fresh fruits.He had prepared the rest dried meat too. No more assistance for getting ready in the morning.No more cheerful greetings from Xin Xin,who was her maid and closest friend. Sighing to he
"We can hire a good team of assassins to assassinate General Huang and eliminate his family totally" Wang Wei said with a lowered voice,lowering his head. Ying Yue's eyes turned towards Wang Wei,shooting a sharp glance at him. "Do you think I would allow to do something like that?"although her voice was not high,Wang Wei felt as if those words are booming in his ears. "I dare not.This ignorant servant asks for young miss's forgiveness"he immediately knelt infront of her. Yin Yue calmed down. "I am the daughter of General Jiang Lin.Merely taking their lives is not enough for me.I want them to suffer ,I want them to have the taste of betrayal,I want to disclose their conspiracy to the world and I want to restore my father's and my family's honor"she said with determination. Wang Wei was really surprised for a moment .Yesterday,she was a little girl,frozen with fear and shock but today she is issuing orders as if she is a general in army. "No wonder,it is our master's blood runnin
"Miss,please can you explain what you said before in details?Wang Wei couldn't comprehend what miss said before"He asked very politely. "As I said before ,I want to avenge for my family myself.Of course I need your support.I would be depending on you.But avenging my family would be my responserbility.That is why you would not be the one joining the army but me."Yin Yue explained the first part. "of course,females are not allowed in our Qing empire's army.That is why the one joining the army wouldn't be a female" she explained the second part looking at Wang Wei.From his looks she understood the question he didn't ask. "That is because I'm going to disguise myself as s male" she explained the last part clearing all the confusions.Wang Wei was astonished to the core. He could not imagine how did this little girl's line of thoughts ended up like this.It was an unexpected decision and hard choice from such a little girl.He opened his mouth to protest, explaining the difficulties,but h
That was Wang Wei who was running along the horse.With his amazing running speed,he could catch up with the speed of the horse. Anyone who was watching could not guess even in their dreams that this man who was running fast like a horse might have been severely injured a few days ago. So, while running,suddenly he jumped up very high and leapt on to the horse.The horse seemed to panic once again and speeded up more.But Wang Wei kept hanging on the horse.With the experience of being a horse rider since he was a child,little by little he managed to calm the horse down.Finally ,he led the calmed down horse back to where people were gathered and were talking,exclaiming about the incident took place.As soon as the carriage was stopped,the driver and the servant girl came running.Both of them heaved sigh of relief seeing the carriage back and they thanked him profusely . The girl leapt up the carriage to check the condition of her lady.She was fainted inside the carriage.She came to her
The next day morning, Wang Wei came to escort his young miss out. When he knocked the door, he was asked to come in. When he entered, again he was astonished for a moment. There was no longer his young miss in front of him. Instead of the pretty young girl he knew, there was a cute looking young boy standing there. Wang Wei beheld the boy head to toe. Her hair style had changed, and something was different about her long bright eyes. Except for that, although there was no other visible differences, her appearance had changed considerably. He kept staring at her for another moment. "Uncle Wei, is my appearance weird?" Ying Yue asked awkwardly. "No miss. not at all" Wang Wei replied immediately. "Then why are you staring at me like this?" she asked again. "Instead of a young miss, when a young master appeared in front of me suddenly, I was a bit startled." Wang Wei replied. "Uncle, remember to call by my name from now on. otherwise it would be weird if you call me young miss by chan
The stable of city magistrate was not just one stable with some horses. It could be considered as a stables complex. There were different kind of horses in different places, a horse breeding center, treatment center for treating the ailments of horses and horse training center was there too. Different kind of horses were imported and strong wild horses were caught and detained in there. In the horse breeding center, more capable highbred horses were produced. In the horse training center, horses were tamed and trained as war horses, riding horses, race horses...etc. Wang Wei was the newly appointed in charge of horse training center. First of all, he took a tour around the stable complex to get an idea about each section's activity. As a soldier and the closest bodyguard of late General Jiang Lin, Wang Wei was very familiar with all kind of horses, specially war horses and riding horses. So, it was not hard for him to adjust to his new working environment. As for Yin Yue, that wa
Everyone except Yin Yue, looked at the direction which that voice came. They could see that, there was a tall, splendid looking boy standing beside them. He was wearing an azure coloured dress, holding a book in his hand. His appearance was similar to a scholar, but he gave off a majestic aura. "First young master" the attendants hurriedly bowed in front him while the little boy called him. "Elder brother.." He walked towards the people who were gathered. "Lu Er..,what is going on here?" he asked the same question from his younger brother again. "Elder brother ..,I was going to teach a lesson to this wicked, undisciplined servant" Wang Lu replied . "what mistake did he do to annoy my little brother?" he asked in a soothing voice. "He was roaming in the garden and without noticing my arrival, collided with me, making me totally wet with that water basket of his" Wang Lu complained. "Ooh..Was our Lu Er playing hide and seek again?" he asked again. "yes brother, I was running aw
Everyone was paid according to their rank and seniority. When Yin Yue's time came, she received three pieces of silver.* Taking them she left the place. In her previous self, she didn't even get to see these pieces of silver although she knew that there is this smallest, basic unit of money because they always dealt with silver and gold coins. She experienced a totally new side of the society in her life, collecting her salary for the work. After getting paid, she thought of visiting (uncle)Wang Wei because it was a day off too. After reaching the stable complex, she informed her arrival to Wang Wei through a guard. Wang Wei came to escort Yin Yue in. He could see that Yin Yue had become thinner and pallor than before in this one week's time. He was so sorry and hurt to see the little hands of her filled with bruises and cuts. He even suggested Yin Yue to withdraw herself and follow another method. But Yin Yue was firm in her dec