Li Lei Shuang felt utterly hopeless despite the beautiful song of the spring wind in her garden; she felt as if that fate had been extremely unfair. Adding to her despair was her solitude for Yan Mei Ling had forgotten to visit her today.

Li Lei Shuang had inquired several times to her maidservants if Yan Mei Ling had come to visit but to her utter dismay, her best friend hadn't. It was simply unusual of Yan Mei Ling to forget visiting her every day because it was what her best friend had been doing for many years - Yan Mei Ling did not even bother sending her a letter to explain her absence.

A stray flower darted on Li Lei Shuang's face as she wiped the tears forming from eyes. She felt extremely lonely ever since her father had told her of Lord Hsien Mao Dong's demand so that a war would not break.

A heartbroken sob formed deep from her heart, the thought of war along with its ruthless violence and its tremendous bloodshed terrified her so much - she loved the empire and its people.

Her father would never succumb to Lord Hsien Mao Dong's demand but then she was prepared to sacrifice everything for the Empire. She would do anything even if it means compelling her life to a loathsome and loveless marriage to an old and ugly barbarian.

'All of the males o the Hsien clan are nasty perverts - they had plundered several states and raped all of the woman they could see be they toothless or not. There are actually a widespread suicide of women who survived after being raped by the Hsien clan probably because no woman could live up to the shame brought by those filthy and ugly pigs. He had several wives and mistresses, and he made each of his woman's life a living hell!' Li Lei Shuang remembered Yan Mei Ling's hideous description of the Hsein clan.

If Yan Mei Ling's description about the Hsien clan was true, then Lord Hsien Mao Dong would certainly be a terrible husband.

Ghastly hopelessness pervaded Li Lei Shuang which left her no hope to cling upon. As tears dulled her eyes, a vision of fallen empire, lying corpses of the innocents and crying people came to her.

She cried harder feeling terribly defeated by the demons of her mind and for knowing that she was trapped. She had no right to put herself first because it only meant the death of more people. She even doubted if her father's army had a chance against the Hsein clan.

'They have gone stronger after incorporating a lot of feudal states.' The hopeless words of father came to taunt her.

"Oh, no," she sobbed harder - everything seemed hopeless no matter where she looked at. She had to tell her father that she already made her decision. But before incarcerating herself to an extremely bitter fate, she had to see Mei Ling, for all days before her dreaded day would finally come. "Oh, Yan Mei Ling, where are you? I need you."

°°°°°°

Yan Mei Ling along with her maidservant, Yeng, passed outside the enormous gates of the Imperial palace but she deliberately walked past it.

"Are we not going inside the Imperial Palace, my lady?" Yeng asked, there was wonder in her voice.

Yan Mei Ling wearily shook her head though from the look in her eyes, going inside the imperial palace was what she really wanted to do. "No, let's go straight to the town, Yeng. We will find out when is going to be the next fight of the Ninja boy."

"As you wish, my lady"

As they walked away from the gates of the Imperial Palace, Yan Mei Ling felt extremely lonely; she also felt guilty - guilty over the things she felt for her best friend and guilty for taking the coward's way of not showing up without any explanation. But she had no choice; staying away was the only known sensible solution to avoid falling deeply in love with her best friend.

The realization that she loved her best friend had certainly knocked her away despite the fact that she didn't want it to happen. She could not - would not - relinquish herself to such. She didn't want to feel that way, and if only she could extricate herself from such emotion, she would gladly do.

"The young and valiant Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei of the Imperial Palace Military has enlisted himself for the town's upcoming brawl." Mei Ling heard an old vendor shared to one of his customers as Mei Ling and Yeng walked past his store in the bustling and lively cobbled street market.

"Who could be the probable opponent?" His customer asked as he waited for the vendor to finish computing the amount of the goods he brought on the abacus.

"I don't know - ah, that costs you 3 pieces of copper" The vendor said to his customer. "Oh, but I have seen the list and all of the names there are nothing but weaklings."

"Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei is certainly a strong man. I have heard that his unmatched strength helped greatly in pacifying the invading pirates of the south." Another customer joined in.

The old vendor scratched his chin as if in deep thoughts before nodding his head slowly. "True," he affirmed to the other customer. "but if the ninja boy will enlist himself in the town's next brawl, then, I think, Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei will have a formidable opponent."

"The ninja boy has great skills but I think that he will have no match against the battle-trained Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei. I think I will put my bet on Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei."

"Me too," another agreed.

Yan Mei Ling's ears hang to the every word that the vendor and his customers said. Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei - she heard of his numerous glorious feats and even though she had not seen him yet, her father had talked about him as if he was someone of great worth.

'Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei had brought immense glory to the empire even at a young age. I wish I have a son like him - it would have been a great honor.'

Yan Mei Ling had remembered the pride in his father's voice whenever he mentioned the name Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei. She never heard her father talk about her with such great pride that she felt extremely jealous and full of spite to the faceless man.

'I am going to fight you Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei, and I'll mark the first taint in your seemingly immaculate honor,' she said to herself with intense determination.

"Yeng," she quickly called the attention of her maidservant who was busy hovering over the goods put on sale by different vendors.

Yeng immediately went to her. "Yes, my lady?"

"I want you to find someone who will enlist the ninja boy for the upcoming town brawl." Mei Ling instructed her maidservant, and gave her a few copper coins for the registration and payment to the man who would enlist ninja boy on the list. She did it this way to avoid being discovered and maintain the anonymity of the Ninja Boy.

Yan Mei Ling continued walking around the town. She would like to stroll before going to Master Tang Jiao Quon's lair up the mountains. She sauntered above the cobbled street and saw several vendors in their lively and colorful stands; at the other side, she saw someone plucking his ruan hoping that the music emanated from the stringed instrument would lure customers into buying vases from him; and on a farther side, she heard a squealing pig desperately struggling against the cursing burly man who attempted to drag it into the caravan.

Despite the simplicity of everything she saw, she felt that each activity all added up to form the word: Life. Beyond the walls of her house, everything seemed so free and lively, and in wonderful symphony - this was life should be. Amidst the townspeople, she never realized that she would feel the pulse of life.

So very unlike her home...

She doubted that her house should have the honor of being called a home. A home should be a place filled with the music of happiness, love and laughter not the not the eerie song of tension, insecurity and coldness. She even regarded the Imperial Palace more of her home because there, she felt loved especially in the arms of her best friend, Li Lei Shuang.

Yan Mei Ling's heart clenched despairingly at her thoughts. She would never experience how it felt to have a home anymore; she had finally decided to confine herself to the cold prison of misery now that she would avoid Li Lei Shuang forever. Maybe it was for the best. She should not cry even though that was exactly what she wanted to do - wasn't it her decision? She would rather take it as the most selfless act in her entire life.

Yan Mei Ling was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice a horse speeding to her direction.

Fortunately, the rider of the horse was keen on his senses and was quick to stop the animal before it ran over her. Terror momentarily seized Mei Ling's senses - what happened was certainly a near-death experience.

'Even if you are in the midst of self-absorption, you must still be perceptive and conscious of what is happening around you. Heedlessness can be your possible downfall,' Master Tang Jiao Quon words came to taunt her panic-alarmed state.

The rider came down from his mount and hurriedly checked on the girl that he almost ran over. "My apologies - are you fine, my lady?"

Yan Mei Ling remained stunned for a few moments but was pulled back to reality when she realized that someone held her shoulders. She flared up immediately when she recognized that the one who held her was the rider of the horse that would have permanently stamped her life away. "Take your hands off me! You have no right to touch me!"

The man was surprised by Yan Mei Ling's reaction but then he also smiled because he was in awe of her beauty. "I hope you will accept my apology, my lady. I never intend for my horse to nearly hit you."

The gall to deflect his misdeed to an animal - the gall indeed! She furiously looked at the smiling man with dagger eyes hoping that simply staring at a person could kill. But, unwillingly, she also noticed how tall and handsome he was - nape-length straight black hair, darker than the moonless night sky, tied neatly in a pony tail fashion, beautiful and sparkling almond eyes regarding her both with admiration and concern. Oh, she never thought that a nose would seem to be a work of art but his was; never had she seen such wonderfully sculpted aquiline nose.

To make thing's worse, the wide breadth of his shoulders filled his imposing armor which was worn above his finely tailored silk brocade. She would have swoon over his overwhelming male beauty if not for her anger at almost being killed due to his recklessness. "Do not blame your horse if it happens to hit me because it's just a loyal animal that goes wherever and whenever his master wants it to, and picks up the speed whatever its master pushes it to!"

"I am truly sorry, my lady; both for blaming my horse over my inability to control its speed and for almost hitting you with it. I swear I have no intention of harming you. Now, I would like to make sure of one thing - are you fine?" The handsome man humbly asked looking genuinely contrite though his admiration over her beauty was still in his eyes.

Yan Mei Ling felt absurdly shy but then she displaced it by snorting at the handsome man petulantly and left him without bothering to answer his question.

"Can I bring you to the place where you are heading, my lady? I have a horse" The man called the beautiful girl who furiously turned her back at him.

"I am fully aware that you have a horse, you have almost killed me with it!" She sarcastically answered not bothering to look at the man. "And, you only have one horse which means that only one person should mount it. Besides, I am capable and old enough to go to any places where I want to go!"

"Well, mind if I could ask for your name then, my lady?" He desperately tried to catch her attention. He had followed her leaving his horse in the middle of the street unbridled.

"I do not give my name to a clumsy stranger!" Yan Mei Ling angrily burst out, stopping in her tracks to face the man who followed her. "And, please, do not follow me!"

The man did as he was told and remained standing in his place for a moment watching the girl who hurriedly walked away from him as if his nearness offended her.

"Keep safe, my lady" he said to the wind hoping it would convey the message to the girl who had earned his admiration with both her overwhelming beauty and sharp mouth.

The noisy warble of the townspeople and the massive stone walls of the town suddenly became a very picturesque scene as the girl walked farther and farther until she was finally nowhere in sight. The man smiled once again, as if in trance, before returning to his horse and drove toward the Imperial Palace gates.

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