Upon arriving at the city gate, LiRen and JiuTian, both stopped and hesitated. They had their own reasons for refusing to step into the place, but the thought of JinGe outweigh their reason and they marched inside nonetheless.

The roads were busy and everywhere there were merchants and people from all over the continent, however just as he passed through, a horse carriage passed through the main gate as well, joining the city's lively marketplace. "Hey, stupid, look at the road when you are walking," said the driver to the young scholar who stood in the way, as he carried a girl on his back with a hooded man following them.

Although they tried to keep a low profile, with the sudden shout from the man, they were attracting more attention than they hope. Some nearby guards even looked towards them and were walking in their direction. To avoid further drawing more attention, LiRen quickly apologized to the horse carriage and slipped away before the guards caught up to them.

"I must be more careful next time. Mustn't attract attention," as he hastily headed towards the alleyways, crossing back streets, and entering into side streets, disappearing from sight from the crowd.

"Are you sure where you are going?" asked JiuTian who had no idea which part of the city they were in. "Trust me, I know this place like the back of my hand," replied the scholar with confidence and they continued on their way.

Entering into the city at the same time with LiRen, following behind was a carriage. Instead of the small alleyways, it went through the noisy and loud marketplace. One of the occupants in the carriage, curious and excited, pulls and opened its curtain and stared out through the square window.

"Big brother, see it's so festive here," said a young girl as she tugged at her brother's sleeve, but her brother just won't wake up. He was still deep asleep and won't open his eyes. The woman who sat next to him, stop the girl, "Let him sleep. The both of you could go sightseeing later anyway."

The little girl disliked the woman ever since she came but she can't force her to leave because she was her brother's saviour and future wife, meaning her sister-in-law. The little girl pushed her hand away and returned to the scenery in front of her.

The city was bustling with life, it made her happy thinking about the time she would be spending touring the place and then something caught her eyes, it was a travelling merchant group, they were doing a performance.

It was dazzling and she could not stop watching even though the carriage rode further away from the marketplace to the secluded inn areas of the city which they were supposed to stay while passing upon some guards who were patrolling the marketplace.

The travelling merchant band was none other than the Dancing Merchants who are doing a performance to capture the audience attention while marketing their wares.

They were selling gems and stones which are embedded and turned into beautiful pieces of jewelleries; there were necklaces, bracelets, rings, and hairpins of all sorts of assortments. They had their dancers wore them and danced around.

However, do not think of their performances as sloppy or even for a minute less spectacular. Each and every one of their choreographies was made with heart and soul and was expressed through the dancers' elegant, fluid and sometimes passionate moves, which was how they made their name in the merchant world and around small and large cities.

Currently, they were performing in an empty space in the marketplace, and the three dancers began dancing, their accessories caught the sun's ray and were glittering and sparkling as they moved. For a simple street performance, they did a very wonderful job of it; everyone at the scene was enjoying it very much.

A young man stood at the corner and bumped into the guard who were patrolling the area. "Hey, watch where you are standing," scolded the head guard.

The guards were too busy today. They do not have time to spare. They have an important secret mission by their commander which they must execute without fail.

"Why is the commander so agitated by this runaway?" thought the head guard as he walked around the marketplace in search. "The girl should be here. I just saw a glimpse of her here."

"Spread out," said the head guard and all of his fellow men went in different directions covering the area, where one of them searched the backstage.

While on the stage, the performance had ended, the shop keeper who had a scar on his face, shouted a special offer to the audience, "Today there is special performance installed for every one of you here which you might not get another chance for in this lifetime or your next life."

Some was intimidated by his looks and went away while some approached to look at the deals offered by the merchant.

One of the more courageous audiences thought the performance was subpar confronted him. "Bah...What's so special? Your performance just now was already bad. Is there something that is even worse?" said the man before turning away.

The shopkeeper replied said, "Dear sir that performance just now was just a warmup. Now is the main dish which I promise will make your jaw drop."

"Let's see then," said the man in reply.

The man looked at the shop keeper as he walked backwards until he reached his travelling carriage and with one hand holding a fan, the man bowed towards the crowd and the music began playing.

Performers gathered again and surrounded the shopkeeper.

In the middle, replacing the shopkeeper, appearing in the awe, a beautiful dancer. She stunned everyone there with her graceful dancing. JinGe smiled and winked at him. ShiBa was shocked to find the girl here.

"DaJie?!" he thought to himself, in disbelief. The shop keeper was surprised by her unusual appearance, "She wasn't supposed to be here."

Just moments before the performance had started. Right before the dance, something unexpected had happened and dramatically changed behind the scenes.

In their haste, LiRen and the gang had chanced upon a girl who was being chased by the guards when they were hurrying along the back alleyways. She pleaded for their help but before they could either accept or refuse, one of the guards who was chasing her, came and had assumed, they all belonged to one gang.

"Do not think that just because they are more of you. I will be scared," said the guard and then he took out his sword and rushed towards them. JiuTian pushed everyone out the way and unleashed his own sword and faced the man.

They were in a close fight as there weren't a lot of space for the both of them to move around in the narrow alley.

The guard was in disadvantage, because he wasn't used to close combat and JiuTian managed to flex his weapon effortlessly even though the alley was narrow.

JiuTian managed to slice the man's armour and when he moved in closer, seeing JiuTian coming towards him, in his mind's eye, he saw a huge mountain instead of a defeatable foe and the guard fainted.

With the obstacle gone, they were ready to continue on their way when suddenly JinGe woke up and demanded to be put down, "I am fine. Let me down."

LiRen refused at first, "You are still hurt. I will bring you to a doctor." However, JinGe wouldn't stop her tantrum while on his back and LiRen had no choice but to let her down.

"Thank you," said JinGe while she stretched and then looked towards the girl, "Hey, are you are chased by the city guards?" asked JinGe. The girl nodded and began sobbing.

"Hey... hey... do not cry. I can help you. You need a place to hide right. I know the best place. Follow me," said JinGe. She had already distinguished the smell around the market.

"Stop," said JiuTian as he grabbed onto JinGe's arm.

"Where do you think you are going?" said the young scholar who followed.

"I am fine. This little wound here, is nothing," said JinGe as she flexed that part of her arm to let them see that it no longer hurt or bleeding.

"We are going with you," said LiRen and JiuTian in sync. JinGe gave out a little laugh, and said, "Sure. Common, let's go meet my family."

And they departed. However, instead of heading away from the main streets and the marketplace, they were going back there. The girl grabbed hold onto JinGe's sleeve. Her eyes were almost tearing up again.

"It's okay. My family is there. They will surely help you," said JinGe reassuring the little girl.

JinGe passed across someone's house and grabbed onto some clothes which she puts on and also on the little girl. "We must at least put on some disguise," said JinGe while smiling at the little girl and then glaring at the rest. "You two try not to attract so much attention, slowly blend into the crowd."

"But where are you going then? Are you sure, you don't need a doctor?" asked LiRen.

"I am okay. The wound is only a small one. I will go meet with my family," told JinGe and she slipped away with the girl and slowly made her way up to the marketplace where the dancing merchants were performing, without waiting for the two.

LiRen and JiuTian had a hard time following her and they were not as good as JinGe in manoeuvring around the huge crowd who gathered to watch the show. The men lost the girls in the crowd.

When JinGe finally, reached the back of the stage, the first performance had just ended. However, it was also this moment, that she caught the guard's attention, as she entered into dancing merchants backstage with the little girl.

"DaJie," cried out a young woman upon seeing JinGe's face and she rushed towards her and then gave her a big hug. JinGe returned her gesture.

When they finally parted, the young woman noticed the little girl at her side.

"Where did this sweet pumpkin come from?" asked the young woman.

"Oh, do not tease her, ZhiMei. She still in fright," said JinGe and then suddenly her face turned serious, and she told ZhiMei about their situation. However, before she was done explaining, someone rushed into the backstage. It was one of the dancers.

"ZhiMei Jie, there are guards coming over," said one of them.

"Quickly hide," said ZhiMei.

JinGe grabbed onto her hand, "Do not worry about me. Just hide the kid first," said JinGe confidently. ZhiMei nodded and took the girl away and hid her while JinGe began changing in the middle of the room. She took off her normal clothes and grabbed hold onto the nearest dance costume and began donning on the clothes.

It was then the guard entered into the room, and JinGe cried out, softly but loud enough to embarrass the man. ZhiMei and the dancer quickly came over, one quickly draped a huge piece of cloth onto JinGe while ZhiMei ushered the man away, "If you want to watch the show. Then please go to the front. This is our dressing room. Please leave."

"But I have orders to check the place out," said the guard unwilling to stop watching the free show displayed in front of him which forced JinGe to turn around while holding onto the cloth and said to the man, as charming as she could, "Please sir, go away. Haven't you watch enough. If you continued to stay, I might not be able to get married."

She smiled slightly, the corners of her mouth slightly curved upwards and then looked away shyly.

This pleased the guard and he finally listened to ZhiMei's words, "You could come back later to check. We are having a show now. It's her performance soon."

"Yeah, sure. I will... come back... later," said the man glancing at JinGe.

"You will cheer for me, right?" asked JinGe returning his gaze, enticing the man so he would leave the backstage and go to the front.

"Yes," said the guard totally smitten by her and finally left. ZhiMei saw the man out. The guard decided to report the event to his chief first and then to return for the show. "Good plan," he thought to himself and went away.

ZhiMei reported to JinGe what she saw. "Never mind, I have a plan. You just back me up and follow my orders."

Exchange

JinGe fully changed into her costume at the corner of the room and ready to go up on stage because of what she told the guard, she must perform or else they will get suspicious about them.

The music started playing, and the dancers came out once more from the back and then to the front. They clustered around it and using the clothes hanging on their arms, they hid the shopkeeper and just for a split second, a girl appeared from the center, like a blooming flower, holding the same fan from the shopkeeper. It was JinGe.

Luckily, the dancers in the Dancing Merchant weren't new and was used to this type of unpredictable situations and were all able to coordinate with the sudden surprise and continued the performance as usual.

However, JinGe sudden appearance made the performance even more successful than usual.

Everyone's eyes were all on the mysterious girl who was divinely beautiful, even the guards forgot their duty and stopped to watch. She was cloaked with a transparent veil like a bride but instead of it being red, the veil was white in colour, matching the costume she was wearing.

However, her dress was not all white; it had shades of blue in gradient. From the top it was vivid colour of the blue ocean and slowly become paler like the sky.

She had simpler clothes and there were fewer accessories on her compared to the other dancers, but she doesn't need them because her dance alone was enough to capture the crowd's attention, stunning and dazzling them.

JinGe placed both hands on the fan and it multiplied, as another came out from underneath. She now held a fan in both of her hands and with speed she twirled around with the fan, jumping and leaping, like the wind was carrying her under it, enticing the crowd as the autumn leaves and flowers from the trees flew all over the crowd. As she twirled around, her veil came on and off, in a very subtle and angelic way, slowly yet fast, revealing yet hiding at the same time as she manipulated the veil to her advantage, drawing the eyes of every member of the crowd.

As she moved, she counted the guards in the crowds, "One, two, three.... And six." There was more than she anticipated. "But it would not be a problem," thought JinGe as she leaped into the air, as high as she could possibly muster, enjoying the moment.

In it, her eyes caught LiRen's and it was too late for the young scholar as he fell into a web spun by this ethereal beauty. It was not just him but every person in the crowd, whether they were young, old, married or single. They could not forget her endearing presence which soothes their hearts and vigour which warms and filled their soul.

Even the guard who was supposed to report back to his captain was captivated and didn't leave until the show was over.

With the height of the stage and her outstanding jump, it created an illusion in the hearts of everyone, uniting them, forging an image of a beautiful goddess had come down onto earth from the heavenly garden as the shawl on her head flew away. When she landed, bent down, and then subtly looking up at the crowd and said, "May all of you be bless." The crowd applauded so loudly that it was deafening.

While this was happening, the backstage was still in confusion, mostly from the shopkeeper. He was very shocked when she saw JinGe instead of ZhiMei who was supposed to go up onto the stage.

"ShiBa, come over here quickly," gestured ZhiMei at him when he arrived in the room through a secret hatch he made especially for the performance.

"ZhiMei, what in the world happened here?" asked ShiBa, the shopkeeper and ZhiMei concluded everything and explained it to him as quickly and accurately as possible.

"The boss, she even stole both of my fans. How did she know that I had an extra one in my back pocket?" mentioned the ShiBa to ZhiMei and chuckled.

"DaJie, she is still playful despite all of this is happening?" sighed ZhiMei who was very worried.

"So, where is the child now?" asked ShiBa, directing the conversation back to the topic.

Before ZhiMei could answer him, the dancer who had helped JinGe before came in and grabbed hold onto ZhiMei's sleeve, "ZhiMei Jie, there are two gentlemen who would like to discuss business with you."

"DandaDan, go quickly prepare some tea right now and serve it to the gentlemen," said ZhiMei quickly to the dancer and then turned around again, facing ShiBa and said to him, "The child is safe. You do not have to worry." She gave him a little wink and went out of the room to the see the gentlemen.

ShiBa could hear her laughter echoing to the backstage as she attended to the guest.

He sat there and waited for a while, and then suddenly there was a never before heard applaud, that boomed through his ears. "It must have been a great show," too bad, he had to miss it, thought the man as he climbed back into the hatch, ready to change places with JinGe when she came back from the performance.

When it finally ended, everyone applauded and the girl left like how she had appeared and vanished into thin air and the shopkeeper returned. Men and women alike bought something from the shopkeeper, even the man who insulted the performance just now, apologized for his rude behaviour.

"I had a fight with my wife," confessed the man. "This was why I was feeling very unhappy but then your performance. It was wonderful. It made me forget all about it and become happy. Hope my wife here to watch it too. You got yourself a gem there," praised the man.

"Maybe, maybe we will try to hold another performance," said the shopkeeper and then he took a simple wooden jade hairpin and presented it the man.

"Oh no, no. It looks expensive. I do not have that much money on me," said the man as he refused the shopkeeper advances.

"For you, I could give you a discount," said the shopkeeper as he showed three fingers to the man which the man agreed and bought the hairpin for his wife and walked away happily. "Thank you for your patronage," said the shopkeeper. He had a great haul that day, after the show, almost all of his wares were gone. He should be feeling happy but that was only on the surface as he pretended to be happy because there was danger still in store for him and the troop, waiting at the backstage.

"I must get DaJie, out of there immediately," thought ShiBa as he began packing and closing his shop, while some of the musicians started to disassemble the stage and loading the parts of the stage back onto the cart but it's taking a long time.

"And we must leave this place quickly. It isn't safe yet," as he quickly helped unload most of the stuff onto the first carriage. "Why hasn't the stupid pals, gotten the horse back yet," thought the ShiBa.

He had ordered his two lackeys who survived with them when the bandit hideout was burned, ZhuQian the scrawny lackey, and FuHan the average guy.

Being average was beneficial. It was a good skill, so he could blend in anywhere and using his harmless appearance to get on good side of people.

They were task to fetch the horse so that they could start pulling the carts away.

However, the lackeys had come late, when they arrived, the crowd had dispersed, the city guards had gathered around again and came over asking to inspect the place. The head guard had left the area but still skeptical, he came back to have another look after the guard who had saw JinGe remembered to report back to his captain.

"Stupid why you did not tell me earlier," scolded the head guard. "I forgot," said the guard which provoked the head guard's anger, and he was hit on the head. The head guard walked a few steps away, after thinking a bit, and turned around. He felt that the runaway is mostly likely still hiding there and said to his men, "We are going back to the marketplace."

Trunks

The men marched back to the where the place of the Dancing Merchants.

The moment they arrived, he went straight to the ShiBa and said to him, "We are checking the place up. Tell everyone to come out," he said to him in an unfriendly manner, still angry for his subordinate's mistake.

"But Captain PangShen, no I mean sir we just had a performance, the dancers and musicians are all very tired," said the shopkeeper. "Could you maybe overlook this?" asked the man politely, trying to not cause a scene as it would be bad for business and later, he tried to bribe the guard. ShiBa took out a few coins from his purse and placed it into the head guard's palm. "For you and your guards' mate who are tired. Maybe, get a drink or two."

The head guard looked at the money and then took the money from his palm, "Thank you for your hospitality but we are on strict orders to search for a runaway," said the head guard to the shopkeeper and then he pushed him to the side and went to the back of the stage while keeping the money in his breast pocket.

Backstage

Everyone, dancers, and musicians alike were crowding over JinGe when the performance had finally ended and praising her dance. The place was lively as a bird cage with all the colourful costumes from the dancers and they endless chattering.

JinGe gave out a polite smiled at them and went over to have a seat in front of the mirror followed by all the dancers who were bombarding her with lots of question. For example, where did she learn to dance like that, her name and her age and the likes because most of them were new recruit to the troop therefore did not know about JinGe.

DanDan moved back into the room after serving tea, seeing that everyone was surrounding JinGe. She moved in to help her. "Excuse me everyone, give way," said DanDan as she pushed everyone away, but they did not seem to hear her and she spoke out loudly, "Hot water behind," which scared some of them and they finally let her pass.

Upon arriving in front of JinGe she turned to the other girls, "Go away, let her rest," which dispersed the others. And when everyone was away, she took the teapot and poured into the cup on the tray.

When it was filled, she handed it to JinGe who was very grateful for the sudden silence and the tea.

"Why is her hand so cold?" thought DanDan when she touched JinGe's hand when she handed over the cup. However, before she could further inquire about JinGe about her hand, the guards had rushed into the backstage which scared all the dancers in the room.

ZhiMei who was the girl's head wasn't around, which further added onto their nervousness. The room was filled to the brim with tension as the head guard scanned through the room, looking at every corner and every nook in the room.

He finally spotted something suspicious, a mysterious chest at the corner of the room, "It must be there where they hide the little girl," thought the head guard. "It looked like it would fit her."

The head guard moved in, towards the chest, however, JinGe at the same time stood up and blocked his way while DanDan followed.

She bowed, slightly inclining her head in front of the head guard, "Dear sir, please leave."

"Who are you? How dare you stop me in my tracks?" said PangShen as he was getting more and more annoyed by all these obstacles he faces. First, it was the stupid order, then his subordinate, later it was the shopkeeper and now this little girl. Everything wasn't going to his way at all. If he could not find the girl, he would be further punished by the General.

He moved to the side, trying to slide past her but she followed, continuing to hinder him from moving forward. Although mad, but her actions made the chest even more suspicious which confirms the head guard's suspicion. He looked over at the chest again and saw that there was a sash that the runaway was wearing.

"Dear Sir, there is nothing in the chest," said JinGe as if she knew that the man was looking at it, even though, not once had she looked up from her position. "The chest only has only costumes but seeing that we just had our performance. The chest is now holding onto our clothes instead." All the dancers were nodding at the head guard.

"I do not believe you," said PangShen, the head guard.

"Then please check," said JinGe as she looked up at the man and gave way to him.

The head guard looked towards his subordinate and ordered him to search with a hand signal. One of his men quickly, offered himself and went towards the chest at the corner of the room, and opened it. It was empty as the girl had said, there were only dresses worn by girls in the chest.

"How about that trunk, next to it?" asked PangShen, his attention had changed to the two trunks which are laid on top of each other, with the bigger one on the bottom at the side of the first chest.

"The one on the bottom is empty because it contains the entire musical instrument for our performance. The musicians had just filled them. The one on top, on the other hand, contain the musicians' costumes," explained JinGe and then looking around, seeing that some of them haven't changed yet and added, "Some of them anyway," while giving the head guard a little smile.

The head guard was doubtful and didn't believe her words. He ordered his men to check the other trunks. A guard check the first, there really were clothes again.

He too began to think that the head guard was too persistent about the finding fault with the group, "No matter, how you see it. There isn't anything suspicious in the group," thought the guard to himself, as he made a face behind everyone's back.

JinGe interceded again, walking closer to the head guard, "Dear Sir, we are really an honest group of merchants who just came here to do some business. We will cooperate fully with your investigation. Dear Sir, what are you looking for?"

"It's none of your business," replied PangShen, as he snorted. "Continue," when he saw his subordinate looking over at him.

The guard took away the second trunk, but it was too heavy for him, and he looked over to his friends where another came over to help him and lifted it away. But when he tried to open it and then saw that the trunk was actually locked on the other side, he turned it around and reported back to his chief, "Captain, the chest is locked."

The head guard suddenly felt that he had hit the jackpot. "Open it," he ordered JinGe with a smile of contempt. "Finally, something," thought the man as he had a sudden sense of achievement.

JinGe bowed again to the head guard and said politely, "All of us here do not have a key to that chest. It's with the shopkeeper."

Are you curious what's in the trunk? What do you think you will find inside? 

Are you hoping that JinGe be caught by this troublesome head guard?