After talking with his mother for awhile, Wu Jian decided to go find Wu Meiying and Hou Jingshu. He wandered the compound in search of the two. Someone would occasionally cross his field of vision, most of them Wu clansmen around the same age as him, but none of them the pair he was looking for.

He had already searched his training ground and the library, which he thought the most likely places to find the pair, but they were not at either of those spots. Wu Jian eventually traveled to Wu Meiying’s building.

Wu Meiying had been moved into her own building ever since her powers began aiding the Wu Clan. It was not as large as his own, but it was bigger than anyone else their own save Hou Jingshu, who received special treatment because she was a princess.

When he entered her bedroom, he found the girl in question napping on her bed. She looked resplendent as she slept. With her eyes closed, her long lashes revealed themselves in all their splendor. They were dark and stood out starkly against her snow-white skin. At the moment, she was wearing a very light dress, which showcased the lines of her body and allowed him a glimpse of her chest as it rose and fell.

He didn’t see Hou Jingshu right away. She was out on the porch, gazing at the courtyard across the way, her legs dangling over the edge as she kicked them back and forth. He couldn’t see what she was staring at, not at first. Then he caught sight of two young men sparring in the courtyard.

Wu Jian said nothing as he sat himself beside her, easing his legs over the edge, until they dangled.

He watched the two young men spar. Both of them were fairly decent. They were older than him by at least two years. The one of the left was Wu Ling and the other one was Wu Bo. Both had a strength of around six thousand, which meant they would likely break through to the Hunger Realm once they turned sixteen, but they were only fifteen at the moment.

“Are you feeling as restless as I am?” asked Hou Jingshu.

“I guess that would depend on how restless you’re feeling.” He paused, shrugged, and continued. “That said, I am feeling pretty restless, yeah. I can’t help but worry about how Father, Wu Taohua, and the others are.”

The Wu Clan might have the advantage in numbers, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t suffer casualties. Deaths in battle were expected. It was very likely they would lose several clansmen or maybe even several dozen clansmen during this time.

What would happen if one of those people was Father, Wu Taohua, or one of the elders? They were the backbone of this family. Victory over the Ming and Juishi Families would become pointless if the clan lost them.

“I feel the same way.” Hou Jingshu pressed a hand to her chest. “It’s strange. I was so upset with Father when he first made me come here. I despised how he decided to marry me off without my consent, dragged me across the Shang Kingdom, and made me live in this small city with nothing but a few thousand people. Back then, the only thing about this situation I liked was how living this far out granted me more freedom than when I was living in the palace.”

Wu Jian couldn’t quite imagine how she felt, but that was only because they used to live in such different worlds. He had always been cowardly and easily frightened when he was younger. That was why Wu Yong would bully him all the time. At the same time, he felt like he understood her initial dislike, at least a little.

“I don’t think I would have appreciated being taken from everything I knew either,” he said out loud. “If Father dragged me away from my home, away from Wu Meiying, I would have protested against it with all my might, so I think I can at least imagine how you would have felt.”

Just imagining being torn apart from the girl he had always loved made him feel nauseous. It was not something he wanted to think about.

Hou Jingshu had lived that experience. She had been taken from the only home she had ever known, from the place and people she loved, and was dumped into this small hick town out in the countryside.

“You’ve always struck me as someone who is very understanding.” Hou Jingshu smiled at him. She reached out, hesitated, then placed a hand over his. Her cheeks were red. “I’ve always… liked that about you. You know just what to say and do to make me feel welcome and safe, but you also push me to get stronger. I really appreciate that. I want you to know how grateful I am.”

Wu Jian stared at Hou Jingshu’s face, at the light hue of pink dotting either cheek, at the way she averted her eyes slightly like she couldn’t look directly at his face. He could practically feel her embarrassment through the touch of her trembling hand.

“I am happy I could make you feel that way. Honestly? I’ve always worried that maybe you were still dissatisfied with life here. I want you to be happy about living with us… happy about eventually marrying me,” he added that last part, his own cheeks warming up like he was sitting next to a bonfire.

This was the first time in memory that he had admitted he wanted Hou Jingshu to marry him. For whatever reason, it was more embarrassing than when he said he wanted to marry Wu Meiying.

I wonder why that is? Am I embarrassed because it’s the first time I’ve said this to her? Or am I embarrassed because Hou Jingshu is embarrassed?

“Jian…?”

He snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at Hou Jingshu, now leaning forward with her eyes partially closed. She was pursing her lips.

As he stared at her glossy pink lips, he wondered if maybe this was her way of saying she wanted to kiss. They hadn’t kissed before. He never tried to initiate one because he was worried that it wasn’t what she wanted.

Maybe it would be okay now?

Wu Jian leaned down and closed his eyes. He moved closer. Soft, warm breath washed over his mouth. He was so close. Just a little closer, then he and Hou Jingshu would—

“MMmmmmm! That was a good nap! Oh! Jian, you’re here too?”

—Wu Jian’s eyes snapped open as he jerked his head back and looked over at Wu Meiying. The young girl was sitting up in bed, yawning as she stretched her arms. He glanced back at Hou Jingshu to find the girl once more staring at the courtyard, though the two young men who had been sparring were nowhere to be seen.

Her entire face was red down to the roots of her hair. Redness even crept along her neck.

Guess I missed my chance, he lamented.

“Sleep well, Mei?” he asked.

“Yeah… I’d say so. I don’t know why, but I’ve been very tired lately. I guess I haven’t been sleeping well.”

Wu Meiying slipped out of bed and padded barefoot onto the porch. She sat on Wu Jian’s other side. Only after sitting down did she notice how red faced the other two were.

“Did something happen while I was napping? You’re both blushing.”

“N-nothing happened!” Hou Jingshu snapped in a fluster. She waved her hands back and forth like she was trying to ward off Wu Meiying’s words and stare. As she did, a flash of light caught Wu Jian’s eyes.

“What is that?” he asked, pointing at the thing just barely visible beneath her hanfu.

“What? This?” Hou Jingshu reached into her hanfu and pulled out a small, simple, but surprisingly elegant jade ring dangling from a chain. She stared at the chain with an unfathomable look in her eyes. “Father gave this to me before he left for home. It belonged to my mother.”

Wu Jian remembered when Hou Jingshu told him about her mother. She had died when Hou Jingshu was very little, so she didn’t remember much about the woman. Because of that, she did not have any female role models to take after which, come to think of it, might explain why she was such a tomboy. In either event, he was surprised that he hadn’t even known about this ring until now.

“That looks like a storage ring,” Wu Meiying said. “See those engravings along the inside? Those are seals. I bet you anything your father gave that to you because he hid something inside that you’ll only be able to retrieve once you turn sixteen and break through to the Hunger Realm.”

Hou Jingshu brought the ring close to her face and studied it. “You think so? I wonder what’s inside.”

“A cultivation technique,” Wu Meiying said with such certainty that Wu Jian and Hou Jingshu were left with no choice but to believe her.

At that moment, someone ran over to them, shouting to get their attention. They looked over and were shocked to find a person covered from head to toe in blood. So covered in crimson fluids were they that it took Wu Jian a moment to realize the person running over to them was actually Wu Taohua.

Wu Jian leapt to his feet and rushed over to the woman. “Wu Taohua?! What happened?! Are you…”

“I am… I’m fine…” She huffed.

“You’re obviously not fine! Look at you! You’re bleeding!”

Wu Taohua was favoring her left side and placing a hand against her torso. Blood leaked between her fingers. It looked like she was trying to stem the flow of blood with nothing but a simple application of pressure, but the wound was far too big for that.

“I’ll live. Anyway, I need you to come with me,” she said.

“What? Why? Has something happened?” Wu Jian could not help but feel something cold settle in the pit of his stomach.

“It’s your father. He’s been gravely injured,” she said with her lips forming into a thin line.

***

Father was already being tended to by the time Wu Jian, Wu Meiying, and Hou Jingshu rushed over to the hospital. It wasn’t just Father who had been injured either. There were dozens of people resting in the hallways, in beds, and even in futons that had been pulled out of storage. Most of them had bandages wrapped around their bodies. A few were asleep, but many of them were groaning, too pained to rest. He even saw some people who were missing limbs.

Hou Jingshu paled at the sight, but unlike when she saw the poisoned farm, she remained steadfast.

Father was lying in a medical room dedicated to just him. Mother and Wu Shaolin were in there with him. It looked like they had managed to stabilize him before Wu Jian arrived. They were just standing around his bed and looking down at him. Mother appeared more distraught than he could remember seeing before.

But that wasn’t what concerned him the most.

“Father!” Wu Jian shouted as he rushed up to the bed. He stared at his father’s pale face and closed eyes, shocked because he had never seen Father look so weak before. The man who had seemed indomitable was covered in blood and injuries. He turned to look at Mother. “What happened?! How did he get so injured?!”

“We were ambushed,” Wu Taohua said as she walked into the hospital room with Wu Meiying and Hou Jingshu. She looked down at her husband and bit her thumb in frustration. “While on our way to attack the Ming Family, we were caught in a pincer maneuver by the Ming Family and the Fierce Tiger Sect.”

“The Fierce Tiger Sect?! Why would they—former elder Wu Wei,” Wu Jian said through gritted teeth.

Wu Taohua nodded. “He was at the head of the group that attacked us. It seems he joined the White Tiger Sect and convinced them to team up with the Ming Family. While I have no evidence to prove it, I would not be surprised if former Elder Wei has been in contact with the Ming Family this whole time.” She crossed her arms as though to protect herself from the memories. “It was… awful. They caught us between their two forces and crushed us. We were so surprised that only a few of us managed to escape. Yōushì fought against the Fierce Tiger Sect’s sect leader, a man known as Bu Tai and the former elder and was gravely injured.”

Part of Wu Jian wanted to deny what he was hearing to escape reality, but he knew that wouldn’t help the situation improve. It would only create more problems down the road. Still, he didn’t know what to do now that one of the Wu Clan’s greatest pillars of support was injured.

“Fortunately, we still have many of the healing pills the Zhou Clan has given us to sell. We were able to save him thanks to those. He should recover without suffering from any lasting side effects, but he also won’t be able to function without at least a couple months of rest,” Wu Shaolin said.

“What should we do in the meantime?” asked Mother.

“I’ll take up the position of temporary head until our husband recovers,” Wu Taohua said at last. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to speak with the elders and see about shoring up our defenses. Something tells me our enemies won’t let us lick our wounds.”

Wu Jian left the hospital not long after Wu Taohua did. His father needed rest, and staying there wouldn’t help him any. Instead, he, Wu Meiying, and Hou Jingshu worked under Mother to help the other Wu clansmen who had been injured. They would deliver alchemy pills to people, wrap bandages around injuries that weren’t severe enough to waste alchemy pills on, and even helped deliver food to the others.

“Thank you…. Young Master,” one of his clansmen said as he delivered her a plate of curry. She wasn’t too much older than him. At a guess, he would have said she was maybe seventeen or eighteen There was a bandage wrapped around her face, covering her left eye, which she had lost during the battle.

“Eat up and get some rest,” Wu Jian told her with a smile.

Hours passed and evening came. The sun was going down. The stars were coming out. However, they were currently blocked by clouds.

Wu Jian, Wu Meiying, and Hou Jingshu finally finished helping everyone and were able to get their own food. They ate their meal in silence. None of them felt like speaking up at the moment.

Later that night, a restless Wu Jian found himself unable to sleep and decided to wander through the compound. His feet took him naturally to the library. There, he found Hou Jingshu standing beside one of the wood posts that held up the walkway’s roof. She looked confused.

“You couldn’t sleep either?” he asked as he walked over to her.

She turned to him. “Wu Jian? No, I couldn’t sleep, though that’s not the reason I’m out here.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“I was looking for the aviary.”

“Are you hoping to send a message?”

Hou Jingshu hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath like she was preparing herself, then stared at him with a resolve that was harder than steel. “I’m going to send a message to my father with a request that he send aid.”