67 The Crescent Moon

[Qin Fuhua]

After failing to retrieve Han Suyin's body, Weizhe came back to the Tienzhen manor with a defeated expression on his face. Qin Fuhua had failed to unlock the door, having difficulty getting through the riddle. Although it was strange that he had the key and knew the location, there must be something to the riddle that perhaps Suyin would only know about.

At Tienzhen manor (located in the Long clan's territory), the atmosphere was gloomy. Unable to abandon Wu Fei after finding out that her father had passed away due to his fixation, Qin Fuhua arranged to bring her back home to help back at the Qin manor in the Qin territory.

Not a single maiden, servant, or Qin Fuhua's men uttered a word. The clouds slowly moved on in the sky, quickly rushing back to where they came from as the moon remained. In the night, the crescent moon was barely visible, enough to show a silhouette on top of the rooftop in the Tienzhen manor.

Sitting there alone was a distressed male, dressed in a dark, navy blue robe. His hair was down, with a fur-coated robe around him to keep him warm from the frigid breeze passing by. He gazed at the sky, the stars aligned around each other except for the lonely moon that stood in the middle of the sky.

His eyebrows were relaxed, never showing a sign of anger or hint of sadness. A round, dark brown jar of wine was next to the feet of Qin Fuhua. Sitting alone in the darkness, embraced by the cold wind, he held a piece of item in his right hand. As he stared through the endless darkness of nothingness, facing away from the bustling city where lights lit everywhere, he clasped onto the hairpin meant for Han Suyin.

No one could read his mind. Weizhe and Zhaoyun stood at the bottom, gazing at the Prince with a worried expressions on both of their faces. This was the first time that the Crown Prince had faced away from them, tucking his emotions away into the darkness so that no one could see.

Qin Fuhua let out a small sigh, pouring the jar of wine into a porcelain cup. As he took one gulp of the wine, the man was engulfed with remorse.

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[Morning]

Qin Fuhua got out of his bath as the sun began to rise behind the mountains. The birds were chirping and the workers still managed to keep everything in place.

Weizhe and Zhaoyun stood in front of the doors of the Prince of Qin. As he got out of his room after getting dressed, Qin Fuhua turned to his men. "We are going home."

The two looked at each other after the Prince announced his decision. Was he planning on leaving Suyin here? Even if they couldn't find her body, they knew that Qin Fuhua wouldn't hastily make a decision, especially the night before.

They nodded, in agreement with the Prince.

"Tienzhen, do you think that she may be still here?" Zhaoyun questioned, daring to ask him the question that everyone (that knew about this situation) had wandered. Afraid to speak out their minds, Zhaoyun decided to ask since he had been searching for her from dusk to dawn.

Weizhe elbowed Zhaoyun to make him stop but it was far too late. Qin Fuhua turned to Zhaoyun and then stared in front of him.

"We didn't recover her body, so it means that there's a chance that she's still alive somewhere." he looked up in the sky and placed his hands behind his back. "She's strong. There's no way something like this will defeat her."

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[Qin Territory; The Qin Manor]

Qin Fuhua's men as well as Wu Fei had departed back to the Qin territory. The clouds covered the whole sky grey and to top it off, the winds began to dance against their direction arriving home. Areum was the first one to hurry back to the front of the Qin manor gates, anxious to see Suyin because she knows how rash Suyin was going to be. Seeing her Master would relieve her.

Qin Fuhua was in the carriage, sitting alone as the men quietly marched towards the manor. As Qin Fuhua got out of the carriage, Areum couldn't help but tiptoe, hoping to see her beloved Master inside the carriage as she moved left and right.

Qin Fuhua entered inside, ignoring everyone else as he hurried inside. Zhaoyun followed behind Qin Fuhua as well as Weizhe. Right as Weizhe walked past Areum, she stopped him, blocking his way.

"Where's my Lady?" She asked, with a worried expression on his face. She knew that something was off the moment Qin Fuhua stepped foot out of the carriage.

"She disappea---"

"Miss Suyin had some urgent things she needed to get done back at home. Once everything is finished there, she will come back." Zhaoyun had turned around the moment Aruem stopped Weizhe. Although Areum faced Weizhe, he could see Zhaoyun shake his head, a motion to not speak about the problem so freely yet, until everything is confirmed.

"O-Oh. But it feels... a bit off." Areum wanted to get ahold of the situation but was stopped when Wu Fei entered the picture.

Stepping foot in the Qin manor, the child looked afraid but stood her ground. "Areum, this is Wu Fei. She is going to work with you to take care of Suyin."

Areum tilted her head in confusion. Where did this little girl come from?

"Nice to meet you, Areum. Suyin has done a lot for me. I hope that I can take care of her till the end of my time. She's helped me, and with her kindness, I wish to serve her with you."

As little Wu Fei said that, it reminded her of the younger days when Suyin and Areum were just little children. She had said the same thing at the same age as hers. She lit a small smile, bending down to the child. "Now, we have to work together as a team to help our Lady, right?"

Wu Fei nodded with a smile on her face. "Eum!"

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During this time as Areum and Wu Fei were introducing each other, Qin Fuhua hurried off to look for Princess Chuhua, his little sister who was diagnosed with a rare illness that no one could cure.

"Go call the Princess for me." Qin Fuhua ordered, sitting in his room with a wooden book in his right hand. Carefully reading each word about poetry, one of the servants walked in hastily, his eyes looking down on the ground as he nervously kneeled in front of the Prince, a couple of feet away from him.

"M-My Lord, the Princess had left the manor a couple of days ago. She was summoned by the emperor."

Qin Fuhua paused his reading, his eyes slowly looking at the servant who shivered with fear. "She was summoned?"

His tone suddenly turned cold and serious, enough to give one goosebump. The servant, shivering in fear now nodded.

Qin Fuhua placed the book down, staring into space. It wasn't a good idea that the Princess was suddenly summoned like this. Was it possible that the King was going to do something with her? Back to his cold self again, the Prince got up, scaring the servant who could only look at the ground with fear.

Qin Fuhua had a bad feeling about this. The emperor would never summon the Princess unless it was something like an engagement. It was something that Qin Fuhua had wanted her to avoid. To be able to be free from being pulled by the strings like a puppet in the palace, Qin Fuhua wanted to get away from such superficial beliefs.

"Go pack my things. We are heading to Shu Qin."