Chapter 33  Etched in one's memory

kè gǔ míng xīn - something that is so deeply embedded to your memory that you won't forget for your whole lifetime

Heaven Realm - Peak of Western Mountain

The missing mother of the Gold Peach Clan and the Tree of Life has cause much distress to the entire clan, but one particular clan member felt keener distress. He was none other than Huang LiWei, estranged husband of HeQiu and son-in-law of the regretful Lim HeQi and HuiSan.

Huang LiWei was still recuperating deep in the ground, supposedly healing his wounds inflicted from the Hell's fire by the Overlord of Hell, Lu JieKe, with the magic suffused to the ground by the Tree of Life's roots. However, over the days without the Tree of Life and the healing magic, the healing process had paused and Huang LiWei was in limbo. His limbs had already regenerated but his soul and spirit had not fully mended since the loss of his wife, hell's torture and his eternal regret for the harm he had caused to humankind and the Gold Peach clan.

Thus, Huang LiWei laid in the ground, temporarily forgotten by his clansman.

Down below in the mortal realm, two young girls, one mortal and the other immortal, were playing together. Murong LiWang was ecstatic to have a female playmate, she could not remember when was the last time she had one. The bird, DaShu, the winged fox and the rest of the island friends... none of them were her age group or even female; FeiFei did not count as a friend, so no, she did not have a female playmate before.

The small furry white dragon that she picked up in the snow had turned out to a funny girl named Xun BingBing. At first, Xun BingBing was wary of Murong LiWang, how could a mere mortal child detect her but she figured LiWang was one the special gifted mortals with affinity towards beasts and immortals.

Lowering her guard, Xun BingBing revealed her human form to Murong LiWang after she found out that the latter was a girl.

Not only Murong LiWang was unsurprised about Xun BingBing's as a demon, in exchange, she also took off her mask to greet Xun BingBing.

"You are not scarred or ugly, why do you need to hide your face from people?" Xun BingBing went around Murong LiWang, peering then poking her soft baby face.

"Hehehe, my father gets worried ah, so I wear this for him." Murong LiWang explained, "only inside my room and private space, can I remove this mask, outside I promised my father to wear."

"Oh, it's like a protection! So no bad people will steal you away. At least you can wear a mask and go around. My parents disallow me to even step out of our village."

Having a sheltered childhood and a group of overly protective elder brothers, Xun BingBing herself also lacked of female playmate. Both girls were happy of each other's company and they became steadfast friends, inseparable with Murong LiWang carrying Xun BingBing everywhere she went.

After driving away the rebels and taken over the Eastern Righteous Alliance, Peace Swallow Town city had barely recover from plague and famine, their market place in their town square had not revive yet. Civilians determined to make a living, trickled back to make and sell their handiwork and food.

"WangWang, I want to eat good food!" Xun BingBing told to the girl who's carrying her inside her clothes.

"Just call me LiEr, I already told you WangWang is like calling your neighbor's dog." Murong LiWang tried not to tickled by Xun BingBing's movement under her outer clothes. No wonder the bird was impatient but then, I was round and plumb, not wiggling as much as this furry dragon ah.

"BingEr, the city just recently recovered, not all the citizens have return or able to start up snack stalls. Even the food in the newly opened restaurant was just passable," Murong LiWang strolled down the Peace Swallow Town, nodding her head and greeting the people.

"Ah! General's heir! How's the General? This is a fish I just caught, please receive it as our gratitude."

"Please take our fish too! The weather is still cold, else if there's fruits, we will send to General's house."

"We just freshly made steamed buns, please take them."

"Gege (older brother), these are berries from the plant I planted," a little girl, with red ruddy cheeks, presented Murong LiWang with a smaller straw basket filled with red plump berries. The bright color looked appealing.

General's heir was a common sight and was popular with the city people in Peace Swallow Town. They had seen him with the General and his army helping out with city, helping out and also giving out food and other living supplies during hardship. The citizens felt deep gratitude towards the generals and his army, then with the arrival of the 9th prince and his retinue, the citizens had positive reviews towards their emperor. With such prince and General, they highly believed in their monarch, praising the emperor and the army.

"Wolfberry! Thank you little girl," Murong LiWang squatted to the little girls height and took the basket from her, while ruffling the girls hair. The girl blushed and ran away, earning the laughter from the civilians at town square.

Two elegant men were seen seated by the restaurant second floor window. Peace Swallow Town was slowly returning back to life, such as this restaurant. People still need to make a living, and mostly most of the patrons were the soldiers and the most grandest and highest status patrons were these two customers who graced their humble restaurant.

The owner of the restaurant, Mr JunGu, had came to serve the 9th prince personally, bowing and ingratiating himself, "Welcome 9th prince to our humble restaurant, this lowly one apologize as we only have very simple peasant food, that maybe unsuitable for your grace."

Xue ShiMin motioned for ZhenBao and ZhenBao smiled to Me JunGu, "store owner, 9th prince understand your situation and take this to buy the food you need to serve your customers."

He took out a silver ingot, to which Mr JunGu became awkward to accept, "this..." There's truly no one who can sell him any food at this point ah! His orders had not arrived yet from outside of the city.

ZhenBao took Mr JunGu's hand and placed the silver, "then use this to repair your shop then! Now, can you bring out your best teas."

"Yes, tea we still have." Mr JunGu hastily retreated to call for his only helper, whom he managed to hire and train in short notice.

When the people became upset with the previous governor, riots erupted, and the rich took their belongings and ran out their city. Those who stayed gathered and attacked stores and the empty rich houses. These robbers mostly scoured for food and the first stores to be attacked were those who had food. One of them was this restaurant.

Those men had pillaged Mr JunGu's restaurant, taking all the food but they did not bother to take the tea. Tea was of no sustenance and could not fill anyone's belly; tea could not be sold for money too. So in times of hardship, even you have best tea leaves, they were considered worthless!

Mr JunGu had returned with tea but ZhenBao took over and had him to retreat. While ZhenBao served the tea, both the 9th prince and his companion, Helan Jiang, looked at the cute figure of the General's heir skipping around the town square with his hands full of food basket.

"We are both young, rich and handsome, how come we don't get as much items as that masked, small sized brat? Just waltzing down the town square, he gets free food, while we, well mostly me have to hand out food," he Helan Jiang sounded a little disgruntled.

The 9th prince, Xue ShiMin, merely smiled while he took his chopsticks from ZhenBao who carried the prince's set of utensils. Xue ShiMin held his palm up to indicate for ZhenaBao to retreat, while he picked up some the dried food to his bowl of congee.

"9th prince and this Gongzi, please try this humble congee. This congee was cooked slowly with different high grade wild mushrooms and salted anchovies. The General Heir has taught this lowly one the recipe and he said it is highly nutritious and suitable for this season after... ah sorry, for talking too much. Please if you don't disdain, please have a bowl, while we prepare some other dishes for you," Mr JunGu retreated again after ZhenBao waved him off.

Mr JunGu decided to serve the porridge first as an appetizer as he needed time to arrange with the cook for the prince's meal. This porridge might not look much, but it was really appetizing with easy to find ingredients.

During those painful months, Mr JunGu finally left the safety of his residence to visit the city to see the situation after the arrival of General Murong. Passing by the previous governor's residence, which became General Murong's current residence, Mr JunGu saw there was food aid station and people were queuing up.

Curious, Mr JunGu came out of his carriage to see what was served. It was there he found out that the masked boy was the general's heir. Mr JunGu sampled the free simple food and was impressed with the taste. He remembered the boy told him, "help me distribute the food and I will give you the recipe for free."

"Do you think if that Murong boy comes here, the shopkeeper will also offer him free food? Smile, you only smile when you see that rabbit face boy. Can't believe the boy's charms overpower both of us," Helan Jiang shook his head and smiled too before picking his chopsticks from his clothes chest pocket.

"By the way, you are eating Helan rice grains," Helan Jiang could help to point out. Sigh, I'm paying for rice from my own granary in this restaurant!

"We leave tomorrow to Sheng," Xue ShiMin said simply, his form of eating elegant, ignoring Helan Jiang's jibe.

Back in north of Xue, far from Peace Swallow Town, within an ornate palace room, a pair of royal mother and daughter were enjoying their dessert after their lunch.

"Mother, why did 4th brother and 7th brother left the palace before the spring fair?" The 3rd Princess, Xue ShiYan, took the bowl of sweet fragrant soup from the handmaiden. "I love this white fungus and date soup!"

"Please see to your etiquette, slowly eat it, don't burn your tongue," the Dugu empress smiled indolently at her youngest child.

"Your 4th and 7th brothers are paying respects to their grandfather, the old General XiJi. Let's see if they will return before the Spring fair. Aside from your 4th and 7th brothers, how do you think of the Right minister's daughter?"

"En, Lady Yan is really a nice person, very sweet and delicate. Mother, you should listen to her Qin and see her calligraphy, I think Lady Yan is an unknown hidden gem!" Yan ZhiRou excitedly ate her dessert, licked her lips at the sweetness and picked up the warmed towel to wipe her mouth.

Dugu empress merely smiled. Earlier on, she had received the news of the failed assassination and the 9th prince had safely arrived at Murong General's camp at the borders. She had to applaud 9th prince uncanny luck of survival but since he was out of her grasp for now, she could only watch the others.

Those others that stood in the way, had to be removed by the roots and since Ru concubine had already placed her chess pieces, it's time for her to move too.