18 The Changes

In the early morning, Xue Qin and his little group of men goes out searching for Da Xia. He rides on his horse as he scavenges areas nearby the palace. Xue Qin looks behind at his men, "Instead of following me around like useless people, why don't you all spread out and help find my fiancee?" The men bowed their heads at him, "Yes, Your Highness!" They all go on their own paths in search of her and the King has his men in training to prepare them for the upcoming war he's been planning.

Ying Pei takes a step forward to Da Xia, "What is this future war?" Wu Zhou sits up with his hands curled into a tight ball, "This stupid war must be about them trying to rid of Wen Qiang. I won't let such things happen again!"

Wen Qiang speaks up, "The King can go ahead and kill me. I have no other reason to continue living in this torturous life." Wu Zhou looks at her with a worrisome face, "Aren't I the reason why you want to continue with life? Wen Qiang, don't think like this. What would I do without you?"

She puts on a fake smile at him, "I don't know how I should feel about what you've just said. Lately, it's like we both feel nothing for each other. This relationship of ours is just falling down and it pains me deeply everyday to see you becoming so close with someone else." Jia Yi and Ying Pei looks at each other then back at Wu Zhou them. Wen Qiang continues, "What do you think of me?"

Wu Zhou answers her, "Of course you mean a lot to me. Your imperfections and personality..it's all beautiful to me. You just being there makes me feel more than alive." Jia Yi puts her hand on Wen Qiang's shoulder, "I've never in my entire life being with you, seen you so crazy and jealous over Wu Zhou. If I can remember correctly, you've always kept things like this to yourself and never showed any kind of emotions to anyone. It's really a new thing you're showing us."

Ying Pei agrees with Jia Yi, "It's been two to three years, not only did we change but you've also changed so much. It's like you're a whole new person sometimes." Wen Qiang looks at them, "Do I not have the right to feel like that when my lover's eyes are beginning to focus onto someone else besides me?" Wu Zhou leans forward and strands of his hair falls over in front of his face, "As much as I love you, it's like you keep having doubts about it. I give you everything, do what you ask for me to do, I'm always there for you every second yet you still complain on every little thing about me. It makes me think, 'Nowadays, do you even care about my feelings for you?' 'Do you have faith in our relationship?' "Is this still the same Wen Qiang that I knew of back then?' Look I too, have many questions about you, so don't think that things will only revolve around you."

Jia Yi jumps in the conversation, "Hey, let's not try to argue here. Why not slowly talk things out instead of just bluntly assuming things and causing more misunderstandings?" Ying Pei asks Wen Qiang, "When did you start feeling this way towards Wu Zhou?"

She looks at Da Xia who was silently watching the scene the entire time, "Ever since that girl there appeared." Wu Zhou stands up and leans his back against the wall then softly sighs, "Honestly, deep in my heart, I feel like the problem is only with you."

Wen Qiang looks at him with a frown drawn across her face without saying a single word.

In the forest with the warm early afternoon air, dead dried leaves and twigs crunches while Xue Qin and his men are looking around. He speaks in his mind, 'Why did you suddenly disappear? Did someone take you away from me? What about our marriage? Please Da Xia..don't leave me alone."

Minutes later, one of his men comes running towards him and kneels down while holding something out for Xue Qin to see, "Your Highness, I believe that this hairpin could belong to Da Xia. I remember seeing her wear it all the time."

Eyes wide open, he quickly snatches the hairpin away from the man's hands, "This is the same exact one I gave to her when she first arrived here at the palace." His group of men as well as himself begins to search further. As they continued travelling in search of Da Xia, a pocket pouch caught Xue Qin's attention. He picks up the pouch that was a charm bag and realizes it didn't belong to Da Xia but to Bi Yu.

His men stops walking and waits for Xue Qin to catch up with him. He holds the charm pouch in his hands, "Now that I've thought about it... I haven't seen Bi Yu anywhere for a while now." Xue Qin swings the pouch around as he continues to look for Da Xia with his group of men.

A piece of rolled paper then slips out of the pouch and Xue Qin picks it up. He unrolls the piece of paper and read, "Nian Zhe Village, she's here with me, trust no one." Xue Qin then orders his men, "Lets head out to Nian Zhe Village right now."