"Where do you live?" asked JinGe. "At the corner there and turn right," he told her weakly as he gave her directions to his house. JinGe noticed that even in the dark, he seems to be getting paler at the moment.

"You can't die yet," said JinGe unconsciously. She can't have him die like that, so easy, so pleasantly, without knowing anything.

"Oh... do not worry. I will be fine," said YongSan who misunderstand and thought that the girl was worried about him. "Here, turn right again," as he continued to give the directions to his home.

They walked along several streets and the more directions he gave her, the angrier she was. JinGe recognized every street they were going through.

They were not going to his house, this was expected because YongSan is a general now, he would not be living in old house anymore but, "How dare you!" she thought to herself as she followed his instructions and reached the back door of a house.

JinGe stared at the door, the familiar door, that she had stepped across so many times.

"Even without your instructions, I would reach this place a million times blind folded," thought JinGe because the place was her house, the Sun's Mansion, where she had spent her whole eighteen years growing up within its wall with her beloved family.

JinGe tried to keep calm and called out to the people inside, "Anyone home?"

She waited for a while before the door opened and a young girl came out of the house. "Who is it?" asked the girl coldly until she noticed YongSan.

"Brother San, what happened to you? Why are you hurt?" asked the girl anxiously.

"My sister," introduced YongSan.

"You are hurt," the girl said to YongSan, ignoring JinGe.

The girl turned around to the servants and ordered them angrily, "Stupid fools why are you standing there like logs, quickly call for the doctor and carry the Master back into the house."

The servants scrambled to carry out her orders and it was chaotic as they took him back to his room. "You must YongSan's saviour," stated YongSan's sister.

There was no gratitude or any emotion in it at all as the girl took out some money and handed it to JinGe. "Here is some money. Thank you."

"I didn't help him for a reward," refused JinGe as she returned the money to the girl, but the young girl didn't accept it and insisted, "You are brother's saviour. This is gratitude from us so that we don't owe you anything in the future."

"We don't owe each other anything."

"Take it," the girl persisted.

They were staring at each other, unwilling to give up first. There was an unexplainable displeasure between the girls.

YongSan turned around before the girls began to argue and stated, "LiQin needed some dry clothes. Bring her... some to change."

The young girl stared at JinGe rudely, measuring her with her eyes. JinGe felt naked as water dripped from the edges of her clothes.

JinGe felt her displeasure, but the girl forced her a smile on her face and said, "Oh no. You are wet. I didn't notice. You should come in. We can't treat you, the 'saviour' like this. Sorry brother."

JinGe, YongSan and the sister all went inside.

YongSan went back to his room while JinGe was assigned to a guest room so she could change. "Give her my old clothes," YongSan's sister whispered to a maid, yet she made it loud enough that JinGe could hear her.

The girl glared at JinGe before leaving her at the guest room.

"Miss, please have a seat while I will get you the clothes," said the maid following behind YongSan's sister.

JinGe sat down on a chair, but it was uncomfortable being in a familiar yet foreign place. The room she knew had changed, it used to be simple, lantern at the side of the door, with a small round table in the centre and matching chairs. A peony tea set placed in the table.

Everything in this room was handpicked by her and her mother when they were renovating the room for a guest.

There was an unknown loneliness growing in her heart as she stared at the empty space where the lantern once hung and noticed how all furniture in the room was replaced with something more lavish. The only thing that remained was the peony tea set.

Her fingers traced the carvings on the tea set, she couldn't help but be reminded of the sadness of the ones who departed yet it was only briefly, as JinGe pushed the tea set onto the floor. It scattered on the floor.

"I will get revenge for all of you," thought JinGe as she hardened her resolve for vengeance.

The maid entered into the room with towels and a change of clothes as JinGe started to pick up the pieces on the floor. "Miss, please leave it. I will do it," offered the maid but JinGe had almost finished.

"It's alright-" In their struggle, she cut herself.

"I am sorry Miss," apologized the servants profusely.

"Never mind. It's a small wound. Here, hand me the towels and clothes. I need to change soon or else. I would catch a cold," stated JinGe. The maid was relieved and helped her change.

When they were done, the maid said, "It's already late, Miss. The General said that Miss will be staying the night here and he will send off Miss in the morning. He also mentioned that you will be treated with highest respect, please let us know if you need anything." Then the maid took the wet clothes and left JinGe alone.

JinGe tried to sneak off in the night, and waited but the maids were relentless, they changed shift and took turns waiting in front of her door.

"There is no way to get out," thought JinGe as she poured herself a cup of water.

With nothing to do, thoughts began to fill her mind.

"He had family, a sister. I never knew he had family," thought JinGe.

She felt that the YongSan she knew was only a tip of the iceberg. The man had never told her that LiQin saved her once when they were young. The smile when he saw her. It was different, so genuine.

The smiles he had given her over the years they seemed so fake now. It sent a chill down her spine.

JinGe sighed at her own stupidity and went to bed.

Early morning, JinGe woke up. It took her a while before realizing that she was in the guest room of her own house. "It was too suffocating in this house. This is not my home anymore," thought JinGe.

In the morning, everything looked even more ugly, the overly excessive decorations and furniture felt irksome to her.

She stared at the door; the maids had left.

JinGe quickly sneaked away.

Before she stepped out from the room, JinGe tucked her head out to check. Once to her left and then right. Seeing that they weren't people around, moved quickly, heading towards the direction of the backdoor.

However, on her way, JinGe saw some maids who were carrying trays of food. "They must be heading towards my room," thought JinGe.

Avoiding them, she quickly turned away from that corridor and gone down another path yet, it was a roundabout way to the backdoor.

And she suffered along the path.

JinGe saw the corridors that she used to play with her brother. The garden where her father, General Sun carried her on his back, pretending to be a horse. But they did not sound like a horse, it was more similar to a pig, and it would make her mother laugh.

Another group of maids came along the way, and she took another turn.

JinGe turned left and stared at the corridor in front of her.

Nightmarish screams came like a torrent. The image of Xiao Hua standing there, killed, came running at her, the memory of her brother, killed by YongSan and her own death.

She hated XinYe. Hated coming back to this place. It was a mix of wonderful memories accompanied by nightmarish experience.

If it was not for that 'information' she had gotten at the time, she would not have set a foot into the city.

JinGe shook her head and thought to herself, "Do not think. Do not remember." She walked past her own room.

However, coincidentally, some people were walking past. JinGe didn't want to meet with anyone and instinctively hid inside the room. She listened behind the door and waited until they left that she breathed a sigh of relief.

Escaping danger, her attention turned towards the room.

She can't help to notice that it had remained the same as if it was yesterday. Time had stopped in the room since her wedding day.

"The guest room changed, every corner of the house had changed but my room," thought JinGe.

It was still decorated like the day on her wedding; everything was just the same as she had left it on that day. The comb her mother used to comb her hair before the day of the wedding, the hairpins that she had chosen but did not wear.

JinGe stood at the dressing table, as if she could hear the whispers of the past.

"You look beautiful. Don't worry," said Madam Sun.

"Yes, Miss. You are the most beautiful bride that I have seen," complimented Xiao Hua.

It all bought a tear down her face which landed on the table. She wiped it away quickly, afraid that it might ruined the happy memory.

JinGe saw the divider in the room. It was a present from her father. However, when she looked at it more closely, she noticed that someone was sleeping on the bed behind it. She took a step closer to look at the person when suddenly someone rushed into the room. It was YongSan, who was still looking quite pale.

She grabbed onto her hand and led her out from the room. "Who was it in the room?" asked JinGe. "It is my cousin," replied YongSan.

"You are lying," thought JinGe but she let it slide because she knew that he would not tell her the reason even if she insisted him.

"I was lost," said JinGe to YongSan.

"Do not wander off," he reprimanded her. Without another word, YongSan led her back to the corridor where they met YongSan's sister who was leaning there on the side of the wall.

When the girl saw him, she leaped towards YongSan and puts her arm around him to support the man as he almost stumbled forward. She glared at JinGe before heading towards YongSan's room, followed by JinGe.

JinGe stood there while YongSan sat down on the bed. YongSan looked over at her sister and said, "Sister, Miss Yang will be staying over," which also surprised JinGe as she never agreed to stick around but she did not say anything while being frown upon by the sister again.

"I will go prepare," said her sister, leaving them alone. When his sister closed the door, JinGe said, "I have to go. My friends are waiting for me at the inn."

"Please stay at least for dinner. I really want to repay you. You could even invite those travelling companions of yours over," suggested YongSan.

"I really need to be going, my friend is waiting, and your sister seems to dislike my presence."

"She is very kind once you know her," said YongSan. "Please stay."

"I really can't," said JinGe with a more forceful tone so that YongSan would give up. She stepped a few steps backward so that he could not grabbed hold of her and continued, "I have lost my memories. I do not remember you or anything for that matter."

"Then I can tell you about them," said YongSan gladly.

"No, I do not want to remember about them anymore. I have things I need to do now. I do not want to be tied down by the past," said JinGe but in her mind, she felt so contradicted by her own words. She was so tied up in it that she could not even breathe, both her own past and LiQin's.

"Then-,"

"Please do not tell me to stay anymore. I cannot. I could not," said JinGe as she inched away from the man.

"Then at least tell me where you will be staying so I could find you."

"If there is a fate, even if we are thousand miles apart, we will meet again. Without fate, even if we are close. We would past each other, without meeting," said JinGe as she turned away and headed towards the door.

"When that time comes, I will repay your debt," said YongSan.

"I will collect your debt. You owe me one. I will remember," said JinGe as she looked back at him at the side of the door. She whispered under her breath, "You are going to pay back your debt in a thousand-fold."

The morning sun shone at her, covering her face as she walked away and briefly, yet again YongSan saw YuQiao's shadow in the woman standing in front of him.

He could see YuQiao, smiling at him from a far, so proud so confident at him just like how she used to smile at him but when he blinked, and it was gone so does LiQin. He could only see her shadow slowly leaving his sight.

"New toy 'brother'?" asked YongSan's sister with a sarcastic tone as she entered the room shortly after JinGe left, with a tray of bandages and medicine. "Are you already bored by that thing in that room?"

"SongLing," said YongSan slowly. "Do not call me brother when there are only the both of us," with a threating tone.

"You have to be a good boy and take your medicine. You are very 'precious'," teased SongLing as she walked closer to him. "I am your 'sister' aren't I? I need to take good care of you as your, good, wonderful, loving, 'sister'."

He rose up from the bed like a storm and rushed toward the girl and using both of his hands, he strangled the girl, causing the tray that she was carrying in her hands to drop onto the ground. "Do not you dare threatened me. You already took the most precious thing from me. What else do you want?"

"I am just doing my job," said the girl calmly, even though she is being strangled by YongSan. Her eyes still remained closed.

"Do not kill her. She has nothing to do with 'it'."

"I could sense it in my blood, that she is the one," said the girl.

"Open your eyes, SongLing. Open your eyes and stop using your powers."

"No."

"Open them."

"No."

YongSan knew that the girl in front of him was very stubborn and said instead, "I saw her bled. She is not the one. If she was, her wound would have immediately healed. The maid saw it too when she cut herself. She bleeds."

SongLing opened her eyes, "I see, so the colour on her face wasn't an act."

"You doubt my words? Can't you smell the blood on her."

"Oh, how silly of me. I have been in this form for so long that my senses muddled."

"You liar," said YongSan.

"It is not good... for your reputation... if I suddenly die," said SongLing who mouthed the words to him.

YongSan released his grip on her.

"You knew about her from the beginning. You are just messing with me. If I dare say just now you weren't even-Arggghhh," and YongSan rushed off leaving the girl alone again in the room.

The girl gasped for air while touching the bruised area on her own neck where YongSan's fingers were still visible. It was exhilarating, the feeling of her blood throbbing. She smiled slyly when she recovered, "You are going to pay for it. I shall curse you and torture those you love."

Reunion

The morning sun was just beginning to rise, a new day and also a new danger. JinGe, still oblivious of the danger that was coming after her, walked along the unknown street. It had been five years and so much had changed in that period.

She walked until she stopped at an old building. It was the same tea house that her father had once bought her to have delicious tea. "It's still here," she thought.

JinGe went in and sat down on the second floor despite the strange looks that the waiter was giving her.

Soon, the owner of the tea house came over hurriedly and apologized to her, "Sorry, dear customer, we never expected a guest so early in the morning. Everything isn't ready yet. And even our chef hasn't arrived yet. Do you mind waiting for a while? We have other things. How about simple snacks?"

JinGe stared at him and smiled, "Dear sir, it is I, who bears the fault for coming so early. You don't need to serve me any food. I really love the tea served here so I had come early to taste it."

The owner was smitten by the young and polite girl and said to her, "If you don't mind some jasmine tea. I will serve it for you?"

"I will gladly accept your offer," replied JinGe.

The tea house owner went to the kitchen and took the boiling water from the pot and pours it into a ceramic teapot and placed the tea leaves into it and closed the lid. He waited for a while, waiting for the tea leaves to slowly dissolve its exquisite and mild taste. Making tea was his pride and joy.

The man then took the teapot and cups and placed them upon a tray and took them with him to the second floor where he saw the girl, sadly sitting there staring out at space.

He came very close to her, but she was still in trance. It was not until that he poured her a cup of tea that she returned and looked at him with a smile. "Thank you, Uncle Yang (Goat)," she blurted out.

"Oh, you knew me."

"No, I heard it before from my sister that the tea house belongs to a person name Uncle Yang and seeing how you address me first and apologize, you must be the owner."

Uncle Yang laughed, "Yes. I am the owner. I am called Uncle Yang. Anyway, stop with the idle talk, go ahead have a taste of my tea before it gets cold."

JinGe took the cup and sipped it. He could see that her hands were still trembling.

He could not help it, but to worry about the little girl. "You are the first customer I have today so tell me what problem you have," said the tea house owner to the girl.

"I" she stopped. "It's nothing. I am fine."

The owner stood up and patted her head, which made JinGe turned around to look up at him, "I do not know what problems you have. I will always welcome you. No matter what time, whenever you need to talk to someone or drink tea. You could always find me here, QiaoQiao," said the restaurant owner.

The moment the girl called him, Uncle Yang, had known who the girl was. Only General Sun's daughter called him that. His surname was not Yang (Goat) but Yang (Sun). "Children do really change a lot when do grow up especially girls," thought the tea house owner, mistaking JinGe for Sun YuQiao.

JinGe wanted to correct him, tell him that she wasn't her, but what is the truth? She is Sun YuQiao too. "It's nostalgic to hear someone called me like that," and she smiled and took a sip from her cup while the owner went over to the side, hidden from view and began setting up chairs for business.

Suddenly, from behind someone fell. JinGe turned around to find a few waiters on top of each other. She chuckled slightly which embarrassed the men who were peeking at her, slipped and fell. Yet her laughter, only made the boys more captivated by her.

One of them was her fan from yesterday dance. He chanced upon the performance when they were on a delivery.

"I believe you," said the waiter on top.

"Yeah, me too. She really looks like a goddess," said the middle waiter that was squeezed by the both of them.

"I already told you so. You guys haven't seen her dance. It was even more amazing," said the bottom waiter.

"Yeah, I think so," said the middle waiter.

"Really, and what are you doing here? Bothering our customers?" asked Uncle Yang appearing in front of them. The waiters saw his face and blood drained from their faces.

"Didn't you say he was in the kitchen already," said the waiter on top.

"My bad," apologized the middle one.

"Sorry, boss," all of them said in unison.

The owner turned around to apologize to JinGe before shooing his waiters, "Get up already, haven't you embarrassed me enough." The waiters scrambled onto their feet and went away. The owner bowed again to JinGe before scolding everyone one of them.

JinGe gazed at the empty streets below and the drops of water that began to fall off the clouds in the sky. "What a gloomy day? Suddenly raining," a person said to her from behind. "Right?"

At the inn, JiuTian had fallen asleep waiting for JinGe to return. She was never a heavy sleeper and when she felt her magic awakening even if it was briefly, it woke her up. "It felt not too far from here," she thought, and took a coat and her sword with her and opened the door.

Someone fell into the room, it was LiRen. He came at night, but seeing that it was already late, he slept outside the room, with his back against the door, unknown to everyone.

He woke up and was extremely shocked by the girl in front of him. "Who are you?" he asked her.

She was in a hurry and only replied him briskly, "JiuTian," and went on her way.

It took a moment, for LiRen to register the name into his brain and when it did, he said out loud, "WHAT!" And he rushed out from the room, following the girl, already forgetting about his aim to check upon JinGe.

JiuTian rushed out, followed by the man.

Another party was moving as well, in the darkness, running towards where their master had felt a sense of the magic that they had wanted for a long time.

The white group continued to run, to find her, the source to end everything. They were moving in an unbelievable speed, across roofs, without a single ceramic roof tile falling off where their feet landed.

They move in silence towards their goal.

"Boss, we have come home," said ShiBa, reporting in.

"DaJie, is back?" asked BuDao with his back facing ShiBa as he was writing on the table.

"Yes, I have seen her in person."

"Why isn't she home yet?" said BuDao, he asked him plainly, without a single hint of anger.

"She was hurt and had been carried to a nearby inn for treatment."

"What, why did not you come back to report it to me earlier," said the bald man, standing in front of ShiBa. He looked like a mountain bear with his stature.

It usually frightened a lot of people but to ShiBa, who had known his boss for such a long time, all the intimidation from his physique was long gone. Calmly he told him, "I have already check on her condition."

"How?"

"I have forgotten to ask her where she lived so I tried asking around and when I found her living at the inn. I thought I would go and visit her but instead I saw a doctor coming out from her room. I took the chance when the doctor left to ask her for information, and she had told me that she was doing fine."

"Then we should go visit her," said BuDao.

"But sir, it's already late now. How about we visit her tomorrow?"

"No, we will leave immediately," insisted BuDao and the man began taking things he saw and packing them.

He went over to the cupboard and took some medicinal ointment, several of them. "This would be good for bruises and this for stopping bleeding. Okay done. Let's go." And they went out from the room.

JinGe blinked ever so slowly, her eyelids moved in such a way, that it seem like it will take an eternity to blink, however in reality a blink is a blink and however slow it is, it was still a second when she turned around to look at the person behind her.

It was neither, JiuTian, LiRen, BuDao and the gang nor was it the white clothes group.

Rain began to fall behind her, as it gets heavier so does the person who was getting closer to her.

The person was someone she unexpected to meet here in XinYe, it was ZhenYu. JinGe was speechless.

Fate was cruel to the lovers; he had played with their strings, making them to be unable to meet twice. However, thrice passed, their strings would be severed, it hasn't had its fun yet and the whimsical fate pulls their strings once more in order for them to meet again, cruel yet kind at the same time.

Cruel to her, who remembers; kind to him, who doesn't.

That day, ZhenYu woke up earlier than usual while YongSan was still slumbering in dreamland. He quietly went out for a walk since he was already awake.

Yet a sudden downpour dampen his spirits and he took to this tea house, to shelter from the rain. Since the rain was not going to stop any time soon. He then decided to have a cup of tea and headed upstairs where he saw a girl's lonely figure facing him.

Unable to leave her alone, he talked to her, trying to strike a conversation, "What a gloomy day? Right?"

The woman turned around to face him, and he could that tell that she was very beautiful, the most in fact, but when she saw him, suddenly a tear fall off her cheek and another. The clear droplets kept strolling off her pale cheeks.

It was wrenching his heart. Before he could take another step towards her, the girl stood up, backed away.

"Miss," ZhenYu said to girl, his hand reached out to her, wanting to console but the action induced her to run instead. She passed him and their shoulders touched each other ever so slightly. However, in that moment, something took hold of ZhenYu, and he grabbed onto her hand which the bracelet on her hand tinkled.

ZhenYu looked at her and asked her, "Do I know you?"

The words hurt even more than she had anticipated. The moment, her eyes met his, her heart was feeling a pain thousand times more agonizing than all the time she was hurt but the words he had spoken now was even worse than that, it was a million times, than the thousand time she felt.

JinGe already anticipated this, while she was living with JianYu. She would practice how she would respond to him. "I will smile and bravely walk away from him," she thought to herself while looking at the mirror.

However, when it really happened, she could not help herself, she had underestimated the power of her heart, her longing for him. How her heart calls for him, to be in his arms, in his embrace even when she knew that it would be impossible. There was a deep reluctance as deep as the sea itself in her, to give up this relationship.

JinGe briefly looked at him, hesitated but then quickly wrestled her way out. If he had used his strength, the feminine JinGe wouldn't have escaped but it took only a moment for her to break free from his grip because, when ZhenYu returned her gaze, he suddenly felt overwhelmed by emotion, there was an unexplainable intuition telling him that she was the person he was longing for in this life and maybe in his next life and the next and forever more.

He was stunned by his new confound desire and he loosened his grip on her which gave JinGe a chance to escape, for her to run downstairs and rushed out from the tea house, even forgetting to pay and thanked the owner for his tea.

"For him to be safe, they must never be together," was what she was always telling herself whenever she wanted so much to see him.

To suppress all her feelings, even though, JianYu had taught her how to use a mirror to look at someone or to seek something, she never once used it because she was afraid, afraid she could not let him go.

The cruel fate she had to bear, "But I will bear them alone," thought JinGe. She doesn't want him to know, she wanted to protect him from all pain she now felt, and the pain of knowing the person he loved wasn't who he should be in love with especially since she knew that they could never be together.

ZhenYu who was stunned, took a few seconds to recover and chase after the girl. "Miss, wait. Do not go," as he cried to JinGe and while he was going down the stair, he suddenly remembered how the girl looked just like the woman in the painting.

When JinGe eyes laid upon him, she knew that he had been living healthily and happily. There was all she ever wanted and wished for him, and she should be happy, but she cried, was it happy or was it sad?

She could not tell but she was definitely grateful as she picked up her skirt and ran as fast her legs could take her away from him.

ZhenYu who only came down a few moments later, wasn't able to catch up to her as he was stopped by the owner, "Mister, you mind paying for the beautiful lady?" asked the owner.

Uncle Yang knew that something must have happened between them, in order to stop him. He purposely blocked him from chasing after her.

ZhenYu kept looking at the outside while he took out his pouch and handed the money to him as quickly as possible. When the money was paid, he rushed out to the open street, but JinGe was already gone from his sight. He deeply regretted his action.

An image suddenly flashed across his mind, a person was telling him to smile more, "No 'buts' listen to me and talk to her. You haven't even taken the first step. How could she follow?" thought ZhenYu as he stared at the empty street.

Danger

JinGe ran and ran until her legs tripped on the uneven floor where a stone protruded. She did not get up instantly but instead looked at the scratches that were on her hands when she used them to break her fall.

The moon essence in her was very weak; it was weak to the point where even small scratches like these weren't able to heal. Normally, any wound inflicted upon her would heal instantly which JianYu explained to her before.

She was cleaning the house when she broke a vase and absentmindedly used her hand to collect the pieces and cut herself, but it healed immediately which shocked her and she told JianYu about it.

"It's something natural," he told her, while taking a sip of wine from his cup even though it was only afternoon.

"Do you have the same capabilities?" asked her as JinGe thought that all deities are like that.

"No, the talent only belongs in your family," said JianYu in a matter-of-fact tone. "And only female members in your family have it. Males are not born with that ability. Now go out, do not worry about me and it," said JianYu because he knew how she would nag him about drinking in the day.

"They hurt," thought JinGe as she looked at those scratches but currently her heart hurt more than her body. Remembering it, a tear fell off her face again and she quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand.

Then she got up and walked away. "This is not the time, not the place," as she reassured herself and then wandered off.

This was her luck, being defenceless, letting her guard down, had actually saved her.

Unknown to her, the white group was following her, but they did not attack her because YongSan was standing at the side of an alley, he was following JinGe since she left.

He had to confirm it again, that she didn't have the ability to heal instantly. If she has, he needs to bring her back.

Just now as she fell, seeing the blood and wound, he was assured and when he saw the white clothes group, he ordered them to retreat. He signaled to them that she wasn't a target.

The men followed his orders and departed while YongSan was dragging his feet as he headed home. JinGe's appearance was unusual. "Why did she come out from the tea house crying? Why is she so sad? Did I do something?" the thoughts lingered in his mind.

What do you think about JinGe and ZhenYu's reunion? Do you like it/hate it?

Overall do you like this chapter?