8 The First Knight

Of course, it created a scandal. The arrest of several of Templar's privileged executives became news fodder that lasted until Fan Bao ordered Bo Chang to send out a press statement that said the company was being organized from top to bottom and in the meantime she was taking control of the company as the next CEO and Fu heir.

The news of an 18-year old teenager running a billion dollar diamond company was like fire that whetted the media's imagination. And when a picture of Fan Bao finally made it into the internet, the social media went wild with excitement. Fan Bao was not only young, rich and powerful, she was also breathtakingly beautiful who had exquisite and unequaled taste in fashion. Add to that the fact that she was the stepdaughter of a former prime minister still influential within the royal circle and the granddaughter of the legendary Diamond King Fu Qiang, the media's almost worshipful reaction to her was inevitable.

Overnight, Fan Bao became a media celebrity without even acting in front of a camera, becoming a politician or hawking a product via a TV commercial. Fan Bao was annoyed, Li Jun unemotional and Bo Chang...he was so excited about his boss' celebrity status he immediately created a media profile for Fan Bao that included her favorite fashion brands, the type of shoes she likes to wear, the food she likes to eat, and of course, her fabulous jewelry collection that included diamonds of all sizes and colors.

"What the fuck is this?" she demanded when she saw the profile. "You even told them the size of shoes I wear? May I remind you that I am not a celebrity, my dear boy? I am a nobody. I am only a simple diamond designer. And this," she said, gesturing towards the screen on her computer, "you've gone too far."

"But the media loves you, boss," Bo Chang protested with a little whine. "You're even more famous than that blonde actress or that actor Feng Gan. I mean, did you know that you've been voted one of the most influential young people this year? You're world famous. A global celebrity."

"Take this website down asap," Fan Bao ordered. "I don't want to be famous. I don't want to be a celebrity. And I especially don't want my face plastered all over the papers and the internet. I need to do something and I need anonymity for that."

"But boss...."

"Do it."

The sudden deletion of the fast-growing website came as a shock to many of its more than two million followers. The netizens were outraged, which became a springboard for many conspiracy theories that followed. Fan Bao was even more annoyed, Li Jun unemotional and stoic, and Bo Chang...apologetic.

A week after the internet brouhaha, Fan Bao took the sports car and drove almost 200 miles away to a town called Jilin. It said on the travel brochure that the town lies on the edge of the sea with a population of about 50,000. The town was agricultural and it was famous for one thing: the white cliffs that wall it from encroaching typhoons.

"Do you think he's there?" Li Jun asked, turning to look at Fan Bao. "It's been nearly sixty years."

"I don't know," Fan Bao said. "But what choice do I have? I have to go and make sure."

Li Jun didn't say anything anymore. They had been driving for nearly two hours and Fan Bao was already bored. They stopped to have a meal but had to leave soon because Fan Bao created a stir in the restaurant. Her outfit was not only eyecatching it was downright indecent. She was wearing skin-tight jeans that flared at the ankles and hug her long legs like a glove. On her white feet were open toed sandals that had five-inch heels; and on her upper body was a handkerchief-size halter neck that exposed her back, her ribs, and her cleavage. She looked astonishingly expensive and so gorgeous she made everyone's heart stopped.

A few minutes of grumpily picking her way through lunch, Fan Bao suddenly became aware of the silence. She looked around and saw that all the customers were eyeing her with surprise and a little awe. Annoyed, she grabbed her phone and walked out, Li Jun following behind her.

"How many more hours before we get there?" she asked crossly as she fastened the seatbelt around her trim waist.

"We'll be there in thirty minutes," Li Jun, reversing the car out of the parking lot.

"Go straight to the hill," Fan Bao said, yawning. "I need to see where it is."

"Go to sleep," Li Jun said, driving down the road. "I'll wake you up when we get there."

"Hmnn…" Fan Bao mumbled, closing her eyes.

She couldn't believe it but she actually had a dream. Huan Ji was laughing, his face red from the sun. He was seventeen years old when she first met him, an orphan who lived in a house near the cliffs with his grandmother. He was seventeen but he was full of life. The sunshine to her morose moon.

"I have to leave now," she told him. "Will you be alright?"

"I don't understand the urgency," he protested. "Must you? Tomorrow is my birthday."

"I have to meet with the others. We don't have time, Ji."

"Will I ever see you again?" he asked with an unhappy smile.

"Yes."

He was saying something again but for some reason Fan Bao can't hear him anymore.

"What did you say?"

"We're here," Li Jun answered.

Fan Bao opened her eyes. The car has stopped in a break between two giant trees in a thick copse. She could the sunlight beyond, shining on the greenest grass she had ever seen. They were on a hill overlooking a valley rich with grape trees. It was actually a vineyard now. When did that happen, she wondered. The last fifty years? The last twenty?

"The house is gone," Li Jun said.

"I see that. Huan Ji wouldn't be caught dead running a vineyard. It would bore him to tears."

"Where to now?"

"The town. Maybe he left us some clues in there."

The town resembled most antebellum towns anywhere, which was to say it was generic and basically dull and boring. There were shops, a postal building, a mortuary and of course, the ubiquitous gas station cum diner cum pharmacy. The very town that Huan Ji practically wanted to ran away from when they first encountered each other, which was half a lifetime ago now it seemed.

Li Jun drove slowly down the main street. Fan Bao looked at the old buildings, her thoughts unknown. They were passing a narrow street which ended in a cul de sac when something caught Fan Bao's attention.

"Stop the car," she told Li Jun then bounded out of it when he did. Fan Bao crossed the street and walked towards the something white she saw. When she drew nearer, she realized it was a boy lying unconscious on the ground. She ran towards him then stopped when she saw the five teenagers standing between two huge garbage dumps a way further down the street. They were pointing and laughing at the boy, who still lay rumpled and quiet on the ground. The boys looked to be the same age as their victim, about seventeen or eighteen, and by the way they were dressed like wannabe hoodlums and the thick haze of smoke around them, they were obviously the classic high school bullies.

The mocking laughter stopped when the boys saw Fan Bao. Their stares turned instantly lascivious, looking avariciously at Fan Bao in her tight jeans and her hankie top. Fan Bao walked towards them, wearing an enchanting smile on her lips, her hips swaying gently with each move. The boys threw down their smoke, looked at each other smiling then lunged towards her with eager hands outstretched. The next thing they knew they were on the ground with their faces kissing dirt. Fan Bao was standing over them with a tall, big guy beside her.

"Break them," Fan Bao ordered. "I hate bullies. Hated them since I was young. Teach them a lesson they will never ever forget."

The boys were startled and tried to run away but Li Jun was faster. Fan Bao watched emotionless as Li Jun took his sword out and slashed at the boys' limbs with deadly accuracy. There was an ugly squish as arms and legs flew as fast as the sword reached them. The screams were horrific, the blood continued to splash like red tide on the ground. Fan Bao watched all this without flinching, without even an eyelash batting. When it was done, she looked at Li Jun's handiwork and smiled.

Fan Bao turned away and walked towards the boy who was now sitting with his back against a wall. He watched her walked towards him without expression. His eyes looked dead, his face battered and bruised, his shirt was torn and there was an ugly cut above his left nipple. Fan Bao squatted on her knees and brushed the hair away from his eyes. He looked at her passively, his eyes on her face.

"What do you want to do with him?" Li Jun asked behind her. The screaming had died down to an abject whimper, body parts littered the narrow street, the blood continued to flow but Li Jun remained stoic, looking at his master questioningly.

"Take him with us, of course," Fan Bao answered. "Here, help me carry him to the car."

Both of them helped the boy up and half-dragged, half-carried him to the car. Fan Bao sat beside him on the back, doing nothing, not saying anything. After a while, the boy turned towards her.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked.

"Why were those boys bullying you?" Fan Bao answered with a question. 'Why didn't you fight back?"

The boy turned away.

"What for? They always do it anyway," he said in a surly voice.

"And you just allow them to beat you up?"

"I can't do anything, okay? I tried but....I can't do anything," the voice ended in a sob. The boy's face was turned away at the farthest corner of the window. Fan Bao met Li Jun's eyes on the rearview mirror. Both of them had the same thought: who the hell is this kid and why does he look so much like the young Huan Ji?

"What's your name?" Fan Bao asked the thin shoulder which was turned away from her. "What's your name, boy?" she asked again, when he didn't answer.

"Don't call me boy," he said, angrily turning towards her. "I have a name, you know."

"So, what is it?"

"Why should I tell you? And where are you taking me anyway?"

"I'm taking you home with me," Fan Bao said coolly.

"What?" the boy turned around, his eyes round with panic. "I don't want to go with you. I don't even know you. Let me out. Let me out this instant," he said, frantically turning the knob on the door.

"Shut up and enjoy the ride," Fan Bao said lazily. "I won't hurt you. You have me curious, that's all."

"You just can't kidnap me like this just because you're curious about me," the boy protested angrily. "What the heck kind of a reason is that? Besides, I have no money or parents. No one will ransom me. It will just be a useless effort on your part."

"So, you're an orphan?" Fan Bao seized on that one fact that he advertently revealed. "Who were your parents? Did you and your family always lived here?"

"What's that got to do with you?"

"Is that the way to talk to someone who probably saved your life?"

The boy was silent, looking shamed and embarrassed.

"Thank you," he said. "For...for helping me."

"You're welcome," Fan Bao said, smiling. "As to why I'm taking you with me, why not? I told you I'm curious about you. I want to help you."

"Help me? You're not...not going to sell me as a slave?"

"Sell you?" Fan Bao laughed in surprise. "Why would I sell you? And who would want a thin, prickly kid like you anyway?"

The boy fell silent, staring at Fan Bao, at her honest smile and exquisite face.

"Why then?" he asked quietly.

"You remind me of someone," Fan Bao asked. "A friend I knew from a long time ago."

"From a long time ago? You mean when you were a baby?"

"You could say that," Fan Bao chuckled. "So, how about it? You have no parents, no family, you're a free agent just like me. So, why not stay with me until you can find something you want to do?"

"How about school?"

"You can enroll in any school you like. Up to you," shrugged Fan Bao.

"You want me to stay with you because I remind you of a friend from when you were small?" the boy laughed. "That's kind of hard to believe."

"Didn't I say I was curious about you, too?" Fan Bao reminded him.

"What was your friend's name?" the boy asked curiously.

"Probably like yours," Fan Bao guessed.

"What?" the boy was surprised.

"You look like a Huan Ji. That's your name isn't it?"

The boy gaped at her.

"That's my father's name," he said, stunned. "I am Jing. Huan Jing. How...how did you know?"

"I told you, you remind me of a friend. In fact, you look exactly like him."

"You knew dad? How can that be? You don't even look old enough to have entered college."

Fan Bao calculated in her mind.

"Not your dad. Your grandfather. Your dad was named after him, right? The second Huan Ji?"

"You knew my grandfather?" the boy narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You're pulling my leg, right? I mean, how can you know grandpapa? He died when I was five. What's going on here? Why are you telling me these ridiculous things?"

"Ji died when you were five?" Fan Bao asked softly.

"Ya. Twelve years ago to be exact."

"Then what happened to your parents?"

The boy was silent. Then he said after a while.

"They died with him. The three of them had a car accident. I grew up with a distant aunt who took me in. She was a drunk and a slut and she bankrupted my trust fund so that I became totally destitute when I turned fifteen. She died a year ago, thank god. But enough of that, what do you mean you knew my grandfather? Are you insane? You wouldn't have been born then to have met him!"

"Ah, that's a mystery, right?" Fan Bao said, smiling like a cat. "Now, it's your turn to be curious about me."

"Tell me!" the boy demanded.

"I'll you everything you want to know if you'll go with me."