Bao Li view

"Bao," Ying's voice called me.

"Bao," her voice called me again, "Perhaps if I get Fergus, he will wake up," and I felt a flurry next to me and footsteps go away.

Two pairs of footsteps returned, one heavier than the other, "See, he is unconscious, and blood is coming out from behind his head. I do not want to clean him unless he is awake."

"I understand, Ying," Fergus' voice seemingly boomed before I felt someone kneel next to me. "Bao." Fergus called, "Bao if you can hear me, wake up."

I nodded and tried to open my eyes, but pain shot through my head, and I quickly closed my eyes again, "Argh, it hurts too much to open my eyes."

"Well, can Ying and I clean your head?" Fergus asked, "It is a pretty nasty blow."

"Sure," I agreed, "I won't attack you."

"You better not," Fergus mock threatened, "Or you will be cleaning your messy head wound yourself."

I laughed unwillingly. It seemed strange to laugh when I was in so much pain due to my head.

"How did you end up in such a sorry state?" Ying questioned.

"Oh," and tears instantly formed at the thought, "I am sorry, I failed my duty."

"What do you mean you failed?" Fergus said, surprise lacing his voice.

"I failed to stop your mama from being kidnapped," I apologised, "I am sorry."

"I am sure you did  your best," Fergus comforted me, "After all, you have saved her multiple times from various assassins since you came here."

"But it still is not enough to rid her of the bounty placed on her head," I muttered, somewhat annoyed, "I do not get why they persist. Xin now has his own children and has adopted you and Maelgwyn. What is their reasoning to continue?"

"Hate and envy are like that it seems," Fergus shrugged it off.

"Yes, but I do not understand why they hate her so much. She could not have insulted them. She is not like that," I said again, puzzled by the actions of the people who hired me.

"They seemed pretty peeved at her playing an instrument when they were told she could not. Perhaps that is why," Fergus offered a possibility.

"That is just petty, though, after this amount of time," I objected, "There has to be more than that."

"Baba was in demand as a husband," Fergus reminded me, "And they did not feel Mama worth his time."

"I guess, but what are we going to do about her kidnapping? How long have I been unconscious?" I opened my eyes as the pain had lessened with the cleaning of the wound on my head.

"I do not know," Ying said, "I found you around dinner time and have been calling you ever since. It is around midnight now."

"So, it is too late to go after them now," I stated a fact, "Fergus, can you write letters to your brothers and let them know of Xinye's abduction? Tell them to keep an eye out for her. I will send a message to General Xin, Weice, and Prince Taiji. I don't think Prince Taiji will do anything, but it is worth a try since it was his brother who abducted her."

"What Prince Taiji's brother abducted her?" Fergus asked, astonished, "How did he even meet her?"

"Remember that man who she rescued from the alligators that time?" I asked him.

"Yes?" Fergus tilted his head questioningly.

"That is his brother," I explained.

"Dudo? Why did no-one tell me he was a prince? No wonder he looked like he was going to kill me whenever I cleaned him," Fergus stated as if pieces of a puzzle were finally starting to fit together.

"Oh, dear," Ying put her hand to her mouth in horror, "I was so disrespectful to him too."

"I do not think he noticed. His whole time here was not usual for a prince, and no one addressed him as one. Also, he was glued to whatever your Mama was doing, so he was not watching for the addresses expected of him. Xin is of high enough rank that he did not need to address him such, and Emperor Taiji is the only one whom Xin needs to address correctly."

"Taiji? He never demanded us to address him with honorifics," Fergus stated, "Perhaps we would need to now since he has become emperor and we have not seen him for a long time. But when Baba was his general, we did not need to."

"You would be best to remember the honorifics," I advised him, "Too much time has passed since then. Anyway, after I send the message,  I will go search for her."

"Wait a day," Ying said, "Let your head recover at least a little before heading out. Fergus can follow the route to the capital and look for her tomorrow. I am sure if he lets the town know, people will help look too."

"Ok," I agreed, "I will wait until my head has healed, besides which someone needs to be here in case everyone returns here first."

Fergus headed out the next day after sending pigeons with the messages to his brothers. A couple of days later, return messages arrived, and as Fergus had gone, we had to rely on the children of Xin to interpret. It was lucky that Xinye had taught them to read in English early. 

All the messages said, according to the children, "Thank you for your advice, we will look for her in our area." The other messages from Xin, Wei, and Prince Taiji said, "If Prince Dudo is found with her, he will die for his transgression." Wei wrote he would use our guild to find her.

I relaxed then and waited until I was fully healed before heading out to look. Everyone else in the manor kept up the maintenance of the manor. The town mayor came to me a day after Fergus had left and advised me all the men that were available to look had gone looking too. They were told to keep looking for a month only as it is very improbable she would be found after this. 

I thanked him and gave him remuneration for the families who had lost their males to the search.

It was two weeks before I set out to look myself. I did not follow any real logic, I just figured I would search the countryside's isolated manors, and see where that lead me.

🍀A/N If you enjoyed this chapter, please take the time to vote by pressing the star. Please let me know if you see any errors, as this is unedited.