Xinye's view

I woke to see an exhausted Xin walk into the room, and I was so pleased to see him. I said with a smile," Xin, it is so good to see you!" To my surprise, he cried, "Xin?" I asked, getting out of bed and going over to him, "Xin, are you ok?" I was worried now as he still had not settled down even though I had hugged him.

He hugged me back and sniffled, "You're ok. I am so thankful. I did not think you would get better after what that bastard did."

I did not know what to say, so I just hugged him. His sniffles stopped, and I felt his weight increase on me. I realised then that Xin was falling asleep. "Xin, don't you sleep here, sleep on the bed," I said as I put his arm over my shoulder and guided him to the bed, where he lay down and fell asleep.

I could tell he was exhausted, so I let him sleep. I went out to find Sari at the door, about to knock. Sari looked haggard too, "Sari? Are you alright?"

"Lady Fang," she sighed with relief, "You are finally alright. Where is the General?"

"Sleeping, I do not want to wake him," I replied, "Is there anything you need."

"Will you be alright to fend for yourself today, Lady Fang?" Sari asked tiredly, ready to jump into action despite this.

"I am sure I will manage. Are we in an inn?" I asked, trying to assess the situation.

"Yes, the master has booked to the end of next week for us to stay, but only breakfast is provided. We have to purchase food at any other time." Sari replied.

"I see, and what time is it now?" I asked her as I had no idea.

"Breakfast time. I was coming to see if Xin wanted me to bring you your meal again," Sari answered.

"I will go down if that is the case," I said to her before asking,  "So why did you ask will I be able to fend for myself today?"

"I want to sleep too," Sari replied frankly, "These past two weeks that you have been sick, neither of us has slept much. We need to catch up on our rest."

"Go and rest then, my friend," I said, putting my hand on her shoulder, "I will be fine. I will bring you both something at lunch and dinner, alright?"

"Thanks," she said tiredly, not even bothering to argue why I shouldn't bring her something as I was her mistress. I guess she was just that tired. She went to her room and shut the door. Then, I stood and watched her as I did not know where she was sleeping, but it was not in my room. When she had gone in, I headed down and had breakfast.

"So you are Mrs. Fang?" the innkeeper asked me, "Are you better now?"

"All better now, thank you!" I smiled politely. "Can I have trays of food brought up to our room for lunch and dinner? And some for Suri too?"

"Your maid?" the innkeeper asked, tilting his head.

"That is her," I nodded.

"Sure, that will be four coppers," he said.

Knowing I had to bargain, I said, "Sure, I will pay that if you put a wine and watercraft on both trays with the meals."

"Deal," the innkeeper said with a satisfied smile.

"It better be sweet wine, not vinegar wine," I warned him afraid that he would take advantage of my generousity.

"It will be done as you instruct my Lady," he nodded.

"Thank you," I said with a smile, "Is there anywhere I could walk to nearby for something to do or see?"

"There is a park if you walk down the road to your right. It is about a block away," the innkeeper guided me.

I headed out of the inn, turned right, and started walking. The park was where he said, so I sat and watched the ducks swimming in the artificial pond, which followed the rule of Fung Shui.

I was lost in my thoughts, the sun high in the sky above me woke me from my stupor, and I hurried back to the inn in time to see the meals delivered. So, I first fed Xin and then Sari. Xin drifted back to sleep when I returned, pulling me into a hug. I accepted it and lay beside him. I did not realise I had drifted off until I heard banging on the screen of the door, "Lady Fang, your meal is here."

The following day we were all awake, and we decided to leave to go home. I went to the innkeeper to tell him of our plans, "Oh, thank God!" he exclaimed, "I was wondering what to do. You see someone of higher rank than you arrived and demanded the best rooms in the house. I had already rented them to you."

"Someone of higher rank than me?" I mused, "I wonder if you realise my rank has increased quite a bit since I came here. There is only one family considered higher than me now. So, if you are telling me someone of higher rank is here, that must mean the Emperor is here or his wives. So who is it that has come?"

"I did not know," the innkeeper when white, "I thought you were a mere courtesan by your dress."

"Well, that is understandable," I sighed, "These are the clothes Prince Dudo gave me."

A rather arrogant-looking lady came up behind me, "Prince Dudo? Are you the whore who stole him from me?"

I was amazed by the accusation, thankfully I did not have to answer as my husband came then, "My wife is no whore! And how dare you accuse her of such, Princess Lan," he defended me and wrapped his arms around me, "As for your husband, he is no more, emperor Taiji had him killed for crimes against the nobility."

The lady fanned herself rapidly, turning white, "Oh, my! This is a sad state. I had come to see him. Do you know what happened to his staff?"

"Yes, why?" Xin replied curtly.

"I actually came to retrieve my favorite serving girl, Sari," she said, and as she said that, alarm bells went off in my head.

"That can't be," I said and went to leave, "Excuse me, Lady Hong." and left, hurrying up to Sari's room.

"Sari!" I panicked, "Lady Hong is here. She says she is here to claim you."

"She can't," Sari said flatly.

I was astounded by her surety, so I asked, "How do you know this?"

"The butler gave me this," Sari replied, pulling out a letter and seal, "I do not know for sure. I can only say what this says. But Dudo was not all bad. He must have known his end would be bad as he wrote this will when he sent off your letters with his men."

"What does it say?" I wondered.

"The butler said that it says that the Hua Quin Chi Palace and all its staff were willed to you and your son Maelgwyn in the event of his death, regardless of how he died. Everything else is willed to his son. He gave you his seal as part of the will because he could see how his first wife would react. When the butler questioned the wisdom of giving you the seal, he replied, Xinye would not abuse its power, and I believe she will hand it back to my son when he is of age."

"It makes it hard to hate him when he does things like that," I said, "But I want nothing to do with that palace. Perhaps it is a good thing for Maelgwyn; I do not know."

"What will you do?" Sari said.

"First, I think Xin should read this," I said, "I am not that good a speaker or reader yet. Wait here; I will go down and get him."

I left, shutting the door behind me, and headed down to Xin.

"Xin, can you come upstairs, please?" I asked him when I found him. He was outside with the horses after leaving the lady to her own devices inside. When we went in, I noticed she was sitting drinking tea in the corner, waiting for us to leave.

"Xinye, what do you need me for?" he asked.

"I need you to read something," I said, "Sari gave me something that the butler of that place gave her."

"Ok, I will have a look then," and we headed into Sari's room and sat down. Sari gave him the document to read.

As Xin read it, his eyebrows went up in surprise, "I give Dudo this; he really was intent on looking after you should he meet his death. It was like he knew it was coming. This, from what I can read, is a watertight document giving you full ownership of that palace and the staff therein until you and Maelgwyn dies, after which it reverts to the state until the year 22xx July 7th when ownership is given to a Thomas Chen, xx Drive, Qld Australia."

"What?!" I exclaimed, "Really? You are not kidding me?"

"No, it is written here," he said, pointing at strange characters, "Can we go now?"

 I nodded, "Let's go. I trust you will protect Sari now you have that."

Xin nodded and put the document and seal in his gown. The safest place for it till we got home.

We managed to leave without incident, the lady in question was not in the corner, but the person who was with her was. Perhaps she was at the outhouse, I thought, hurrying away.

This ride was more pleasant than the first ride, as my bruises were no longer purple but a greenish yellow. It was a week before I arrived home, and I never wanted to ride another horse again after that trip. I only agreed to travel like that as it shortened the distance home.

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.