Chapter Nineteen

I even told him about our encounter with the general, and that he had over thousand men at his disposal but yet it was no match for a bigger army owned by Qianlong. He somehow agreed with me on the fact that we weren't ready for an ambush yet, or even a war because of the lack of supplies.

"I have to tell him to stand down. He is the army commander but if he does this then it's suicide" He said.

"I agree and I told him the same thing"

"What did he say?"

"He agreed to my advice but I'm not sure if he still has patience within him anymore"

"But you are back Yae Lin, you are our hope and our dreams. We do this for you, it's time Qianlong gets overthrow for the sake of our Tong'an and Tong'an citizens"

He kept talking about how I was the only savior of the people of Tong'an and I should act like it. Honestly, he was exactly like Lee and I somehow felt perhaps Lee was also reincarnated like I was. Because if Yae Lin who died somehow found her way inside me, and maybe all her life in the past also aligned with mine so to create a pattern or a puzzle which I didn't know where it led to.

That night we didn't sleep at all as we spent it talking wat strategies, past experiences and more importantly what to be done. But as he was talking I kept remembering our moments together, that's when I knew Yae Lin had taken over my soul and I embodied her to the fullest. When that happens I normally blacked out as Mingzhu and when I came back I barely remembered anything.

And that's when I woke up between Fen's arms, without any memory of how did I even get to her. I checked out myself and thank goodness I was still on my robe with a coat on top and a hat. I'd hate for my identity to be known when I wasn't even halfway through my mission to know more about Qianlong Emperor and how can I get to him.

"Rise and shine..." said Fen and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Where am I?"

"Where you should always be. In my arms"

I struggled to get up but I had a headache so I couldn't. "Don't be so hard on yourself Jang Li. I shall take care of you"

Fen got up and walked outside, when she came back she had a bowl of hot water and a small piece of cloth. She warmed the cloth deep in the hot water and then she placed it on my head. "There you go..."

I felt my mind which was racing coming to a halt and finally relaxing. The hot water did wonders indeed and I somehow felt relieved.

"There's someone here to see you" said Fen.

"Who is it?"

"He's just a young man, he says you two are friends"

"Shu Yu?" I asked.

"No, he said his name is Lee"

I sighed softly "Let him in..."

"I shall do that my sweetness" Fen said and suddenly kissed me on my lips and then she walked outside.

I was caught off guard by the kiss and had to remain numb for just a moment. Then, the door was unlocked and entered Lee with his grey robe and he was holding a knife plus the golden fish which we stole from that man who invaded us on our inn. I tried to sit and we faced each other.

"Your Highness!" He said and bowed slowly "I... I am sorry for my actions. I deserve to die"

"How would you like to die?"

"Huh!?"

"I'm asking you Lee Qiang, how would you like to die?"

"Mingzhu..." He tried to plead me but I wasn't in the mood for his jokes and I put on a serious face.

"It's your highness and not Mingzhu!"

I got up from the bed and drew my sword, he was still down so I took a few steps towards him and placed the sword on his neck. He could feel the touch of the blade and indeed he was scared even to look at me.

"Lee Qiang" I said.

"Your Highness!"

"I, Mingzhu of Empire Xinjiang. The sole and truthful heir of the throne of the people of cold lands, sentence you to die. How do you plead of your bad behavior towards the princess?"

Lee took a moment to breath in and out and perhaps he already knew that I wasn't serious about it, or maybe I was considering his actions the day before. He finally said "I plead guilty" and I straightened the sword just a bit closer to his neck and acted like I was going to swing it and then removed it.

"Get up, coward" I said and laughed at him. He looked at me and smiled, then he got up and we hugged.

How I had missed him in just a span of a day, he could be crazy on his own ways but he was still my best friend. The only friend that I had who I knew was truthful and honest to me. "You are in a brothel!" He exclaimed and then continued "Do they think you are a man?"

"Yes..."

"Oh Mingzhu you are trouble"

"His Majesty himself comes here every night to see his mistress" I whispered to Lee and his eyes widened up.

"That's impossible"

"I saw him last night getting out of the room just beside this one. We had to do a kowtow just when he passes"

"A kowtow! He is really a tyrant"

"Indeed he is. I hear he hangs people every week just beside his castle, anyone who's considered a spy or a traitor gets hanged"

"But we are going to get inside the castle..." said Lee and then he showed me another golden fish which I didn't even ask where did he get it but I just took it and we were on our way.

It was still in the middle of the day and the sun was hot, Lee and I walked side by side in the streets and as usual Tong'an always showed up. They were people singing in the streets, some busy doing their work and as usual merchants were all over selling their goods to customers.

The Tong'an sacred palace was guided heavily and no any local citizen could pass. Qianlong never invited citizens inside, not even on any rare occasions I guessed it was because he didn't want anyone to have a blueprint of the castle.

"So how do we get in?" I asked Lee as we neared the opening gates to the castle, just when he was about to answer there was a trail of ten men on horseback who passed us. We had to move aside like everybody else so as to let them pass through and they rode straight to the gates. They didn't show anything and the guards opened the gates for them and they passed through.

These men's robes were different, even their sigil was different. They wore purple robes and were fully armored so I knew they were soldiers but maybe from another empire.

I looked at Lee and said "They are soldiers!"

"That I noticed, Qianlong must be making allies"

"He's trying to grow his army by aligning with other rulers, Lee he's ahead of the rebels" I said with a sort of panic in my tone because I was panicking.

First and foremost Qianlong Emperor had a large army which was no match for the rebels. And if he intended on increasing the number of soldiers by aligning with other rulers then we had no chance for revolution. "We have to warn General Chun" I said and walked away from the gates of the castle.

Lee stopped me from my tracks "To the general?" He asked.

"Yes, he has no idea what Qianlong is doing. He's just stuck in the mountains hoping for the ambush without any knowledge of whatsoever"

"What makes you think he doesn't have spies in Tong'an? He's a smart man Mingzhu, he knows everything already"

"How would you know?"

"Because... I just know"

"Like how you knew that my father's men weren't going to find us just because we headed West. And there they were on the river bank searching for me" I explained it to him just to juggle his memory and then I continued walking as he tried to keep up behind me.

I intended to get to the general as soon as I can so that I can warm him about Qianlong measures and tricks. But I bumped into Shu Yu along the way.

"So fast your Majesty, you need to be careful in these streets. People still remember your face..." He said to me and took out a scarf out of his robe, and then he carefully covered half of my face with it.