Tears of Gold

Wuhan took off his robe and his inner garment. He was half-naked, holding Suyin's body by his side as he continued to kiss her neck down to her shoulders. He then began sucking under her collarbone, causing it to become dark pink and then purple, leaving a mark. His cold, frozen hands were trailing across her arms and shoulders as they went down to her chest to take off the wrap.

Suyin immediately stopped him, grabbing his hand.

"If you continue to kiss me like this, you'll become poisoned."

Suyin remarked.

Wuhan immediately stopped kissing her, surprised at her statement.

{TRIGGER WARNING}

"At a young age, my family was slaughtered and I was taken advantage of during my younger years. I began to apply poison against my skin, little by little as I got used to it as the years went on.*"

{*Note: This was fake that Suyin had made up!}

{END OF TRIGGER}

Suyin's words grew cold, her face gazing straight at the ceiling.

Wuhan presently got up, then wiped his lips. "It's no wonder you ended up there. It seems like you were like me." He expressed. "It's a shame. Seems like I won't be getting dessert then."

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The night instantly grew dark, and Suyin was sitting alone in another tent. Suyin was sitting in a corner, embracing her knees as she calmly awaited an answer or sound. She needed something to reassure her that there would be help. If she did something, she didn't want others' lives on the line because of her. At the very least, hopefully, she would be able to stall time for the soldiers of Qin at least to come here.

Suyin wouldn't let fear get to her, though. She was going to not let apprehension win over her at this moment. She needed to be strong so that no one would sense the fear sowed deep down in her heart.

That night, Suyin hardly got enough sleep, fearful that something might happen to her or the students.

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{The next day}

"You are instructed to cure the Leader." One of the bandits came into the room to summon Suyin.

She immediately got up, taking a deep breath as she was called to Wuhan again.

"Welcome, again." Wuhan kindly expressed, sitting as he took another gulp of rice wine in the teacup.

Wuhan raised his hands, scooting the bandits away as they complied.

Suyin only stood there, thoughtlessly.

"Come take a seat across from me." He summoned.

Suyin attended, going to the seat as she gazed at him. He was still wearing the eye patch, but this time, he seemed more relaxed than the day before.

"Would you like me to make the cure?" Suyin asked, her eyes never darting away from his motives.

He shook his head. "I know that there is no cure to this. With the way, I am now. I just wanted to tell you a story."

"There was a town near the city of the Shu Qin. It was a beautiful small, bustling village where farmers could live freely without any chains held onto them." He set his teacup down, "And then, a domineering Prince came, burning the whole town down. Killing children, women, and families."

Suyin immediately noticed him as he emphasized the word, "Prince." There was no way that he was mentioning, "him?"

"We all watched him massacre the women and children, laughing with fear as the soldiers began to slay them all. Before they left their lifeless bodies."

"Those that survived could only drink mud water from the rain if the Gods permitted them and ate grass for survival. They had nothing else and no one else."

"Then there was a man who decided that it was time to fight back." Wuhan gazed at Suyin's eyes, who looked back at him with the same, apathetic expression.

"Young Miss. You see. What I'm here for, isn't just because I'm here to kill anyone thoughtlessly." He raised both of his hands as if he did nothing wrong, "I'm just sending back what should have been done a couple of years ago. Do you not see that I'm repaying them what they gave to us?"

"You should have gone to another path, but you took the dark path of revenge," Suyin spoke.

"Despite my poor eyesight, I already know that I am dying. I knew by the look of your eyes yesterday that there was no way that you could do anything." He calmly uttered. "What you have gone through, was probably the same thing. I see that we may have come from the same background."

Suyin was beyond disgusted by this man's reflection. Thanks to Suyin's wit, she was able to make something up to save herself, but this man only believes in selfishness.

It felt like if this man didn't take the path to darkness, maybe he would have been in a more reasonable place. But it all didn't matter anymore. Suyin knew that he was deep in the hole that he dug himself and he wasn't going to get out of it*.

(*Meaning that he's done so much and changed that he will never be back to his old self anymore.)

"Yes, we are bandits, but let's just say. We are here just to take our retribution."

The sound of horses could be heard from a couple of miles away, the sound of about fifty to a hundred soldiers making their way here.

"Ah, do you hear it?"

Suyin's eyes grew bigger. Were they here? The sounds of the horses' hooves treading on the ground get louder and louder.

He then darted at Suyin with a sinister smile on his face.

"That Prince who thinks that you're 'special' is on his way to his death door."

Suyin's heart then sank to the ground.

"Get her out of here," Wuhan spoke.

Suyin then panicked. "What are you going to do?!" Suyin roared as the bandits dragged her back. Suyin tried resisting back.

Suyin didn't care what was going to happen to her, but if anything happened to Qin Fuhua.....

Suyin suddenly thought of his face. His big, broad shoulders, his sharp eyebrows, eyes that could pierce someone with a glance, and his delicate, large warm hands.

Suyin was always following him, staring at his large, back with a scowl, but she never noticed how warm it was, despite his aura being so intimidating.

Suyin's chest then began to feel pain. The image of his face, Suyin was always defenseless to it. There was no way that she could be like this (in a cold way) to him, no matter how tough it was.

Suyin then admitted that she was in love with Qin Fuhua.

Her eyes began to swell up with tears, getting hauled away back to the tent that she was in the night before.

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Qin Fuhua was riding on a horse, leading a full team of soldiers in a flash. He tried looking for the rest of the scholars and Suyin up at Xian'er Forest but then no one was there.

He had Weizhe investigate it after doing some work on his investigation of a recent incident in the city of Shu Qin, where some bandits were stealing citizens outside of the outskirts of Shu Qin.

It was Qin Fuhua's job to arrange a meeting with the generals and soldiers to create a new base near the city so that they could prevent incidents like that.

But for Qin Fuhua to discover that the scholars were apprehended at the soldier's base camp and it was overrun? Qin Fuhua grew enraged and instantly requested soldiers from his Father (the King) to deal with this personally.

He knew that Suyin was there, but was it possible that he'd make it in time?

They reached the gates of the base camp, with most of the bandits all in the front.

"Charge!" Qin Fuhua hollered out, his voice, low and deep but with such passion and fury. The soldiers then began forcing onward to the gates. Weizhe and Qin Fuhua hustled to fend the bandits off.

They had looted some of the stuff at the base camp, but not enough for the fortress. It was an easy battle since the bandits were outnumbered, but Qin Fuhua would have to investigate later who was causing this to ensue so close to the city of Shu Qin.

Like a soldier in a war, Qin Fuhua was attired in beautiful black and gold armor, his black fur coat gradually being covered in the bandit's blood as he swung his swords against the bandits who charged against him and the soldiers.

It was an honor for the warriors combating alongside the Prince of Qin. The last time that Qin Fuhua battled in the war was when he was younger-- his prime years when he made the name for himself-- "The Devil of Misfortune."

As his soldiers were able to fend off the bandits, Qin Fuhua charged onward inside the gates and to the base of the camp.

Qin Fuhua's horse charged straight, with the sight of Teacher Zhou Lin's hands being dangled on a rope while Suyin was being held imprisoned by Wuhan himself on the second floor of a small wooden wall.

The scholars were all tied up, too. Half-naked as their body displayed marks of whips.

Wuhan drew Suyin back, inhaling her as Qin Fuhua's eyes grimaced at Wuhan. He then chuckled, verifying Qin Fuhua's attachment to Suyin.

"So it was right. The precious person that this scholar had uttered." Wuhan pointed at the culprit of the scholar, who was the one that tried to fight Suyin a couple of days ago when she was drunk.

Suyin's eyes were anxious for Qin Fuhua. She didn't want him to see her like this. Wuhan kicked Suyin's knees to the ground, forcing her to kneel. Although Wuhan was an evil man, his sense of retribution had devoured him so much, that he was blinded by revenge.

"Which one will you choose? This one? Or that one?"

Teacher Zhou Lin was secured up by a large, wooden log. His clothes were disheveled and he hadn't consumed a single drop of water or eaten food in two days. His lips were pale and he hardly had the energy to move. He was a couple of feet high above the ground. If he didn't die from falling, the bandits from the ground level were ready to kill him.

Wuhan giggled. "What a pity, isn't it?" He positioned the sword on Suyin's neck, pleased with Qin Fuhua's face.

Weizhe began to unsheathe his sword but was intercepted by Qin Fuhua.

"Don't do anything rash." Qin Fuhua whispered, his eyes never gazing away from Wuhan.

Suyin was kneeling on the ground, so she had the time to grab some dirt from the ground. As much as she could with her hands, she was able to fling some dry dirt at Wuhan's face.

"Ahh!!"

Wuhan instantly let go of Suyin's grip, causing her to stand up as fast as she could to kick him down before Qin Fuhua directly went after them.

Suyin sprinted as fast as she could to reach Teacher Zhou Lin, trying to unfasten the knot of the rope.

"I'm sorry, this might hurt when you fall." Suyin apologized, trying to untie it as fast as she could." Suyin's hands were trembling, but she was trying to be calm as much as she could to unfasten it as she unbounded the knot.

"No!" Wuhan instantly lifted his sword, dashing towards Suyin.

Suyin didn't have the time to respond to Wuhan's sword because she was barely able to undo the knot as she shut her eyes hard.

"UGHH"

Suyin opened her eyes a millisecond after she shut her eyes, realizing that a large, back with broad shoulders stood by her side.

"Y-You..."

Qin Fuhua's sword penetrated through Wuhan, but in the process, he couldn't protect Suyin or Teacher Zhou Lin fast enough, causing him to take the hit instead of Suyin.

Wuhan's body tumbled, his body slamming the ground as he began spitting out blood.

Suyin wanted to move to see what was going on but she was being blocked by Qin Fuhua.

"Don't look." He softly spoke, thwarting her from the scene of Wuhan's death as Wuhan's blade was still stabbed in his left rib.

Wuhan began to spit out blood, jerking at every movement until he stopped moving. He was now dead.

Suyin turned to look at Teacher Zhou Lin who was rescued by Weizhe (and killed the bandits).

The scholars immediately ran to Teacher Zhou Lin, including Yuan Fu.

"Brother!" Yuan Fu cried, rushing upstairs to Suyin. "Are you alright?" He asked Suyin, who nodded.

"T-The Prince of Qin" Yuan Fu instantly kneeled, as he ran to turn to face him, he saw the sword that was still pierced in him. "Y-Your Highness! We must take care of this! Before you bleed more!"

Qin Fuhua had blocked Suyin's sight so she wouldn't see that he had taken the stab for her so that she wouldn't worry. But as Qin Fuhua attempted to hush Yuan Fu, Suyin went around to see that his large, black cloak stopped her view from noticing it.

Suyin instantly glanced at it.

"You..."

She darted at the sword that was still in him and then up at his face.

He stared at her with uneasy eyes.

Qin Fuhua was barely holding on, enough when the other scholars came up, Qin Fuhua directly pulled Suyin to his right side (where the sword wasn't impaled), and he then sliced his sword at the scholar who snitched on Suyin.

He hauled her tight to him so that she wouldn't see the scene of the scholar dying in front of her.

Qin Fuhua's eyes were heartless and evil at the sight of the dying scholar, but this didn't make up for all the mess that had ensued.

"To persecute the unfortunate is like throwing stones on one fallen into a well*"

(*Means that someone that is adding misfortune to another person)

All of the other student's eyes were filled with fear, some of them dropping in shock as they watched the Prince of Qin kill one of their students like that.

Qin Fuhua grimaced at the others, who instantly ran off back to Teacher Zhou Lin at the bottom of the stairs.

Suyin tried to fight with Qin Fuhua again, but he weakly began to gradually lose more and more blood as it slowly trickled onto the armor. Suyin's hands were able to touch the blood and halted him.

"Yuan Fu, please help me get him to the tent."

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With Yuan Fu and Weizhe's help, they were able to help Qin Fuhua into the main tent (where Wuhan was previously in). Qin Fuhua was conscious, barely enough to make remarks to her while she laid him down on the floor.

"You all, grind the medical herbs if you can find them." She commanded. The other scholars attended instantly, scattering around like ants as they got out of the tent.

"Yuan Fu, please find me some cloth or something to stop the bleeding." Yuan Fu nodded, hustling out of the tent.

Teacher Zhou Lin took a glimpse at the sword that was still impaled while Weizhe walked out of the tent*.

(*Author's note: Because he knows and trusts Suyinnn)

Teacher Zhou Lin could only sink his head, feeling ashamed for this to happen.

"Why don't we take a look at your wound?"

Yuan Fu had entered back in with some cloth that he had found in the tent that they were in. He set the cloth next to Suyin as he ushered Teacher Zhou Lin out.

It was important to mend Teacher Zhou Lin's condition, too.

Suyin's hands were quivering again, this time, she was anxious because she didn't want to lose Qin Fuhua.

She carefully glanced to see how to take off the armor in an uncomplicated way.

Qin Fuhua drew out a dagger at the side of his right hip, offering it to her.

"You can take the armor off with this."

"Just bear with me. I need to have them grind some medicine so that you won't feel the pain--"

Qin Fuhua clutched Suyin's hand, holding it tight as he gazed directly into her eyes. His gentle stare, as if he had yearned for her, "I trust you, with whatever you do."

Suyin bit her lips, shutting her eyes. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, it'll hurt." She gave him the dagger back as he slid it back into his sheath.

Qin Fuhua closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. He embraced Suyin's hands tight.

Suyin then carefully but effortlessly pulled the sword out of his left lower ribs, as Qin Fuhua took a deep, long breath. With nimble movements, Suyin immediately took off his armor and set some cloth on his wound to put force on the bleeding.

Qin Fuhua was already half naked, his body barely scathed of any scars or marks.

Qin Fuhua's eyes couldn't resist the marks on her face and wrist as she continued to work, but he was too weak to move.

Qin Fuhua hadn't slept for two days, knowing what was happening to her.

The hold on Qin Fuhua's hands was getting weaker, as he gradually fell unconscious.

"Hurry!" Suyin blurted out loud to the scholars.

One of them came in, with ground herbs. Although it wasn't pretty and in clumps, it still worked. Some of them came in with materials that would help with medical work too when they searched for the items.

Suyin made sure that it was the right herb, taking a nibble at it to make sure before she positioned it on some new cloth to put on Qin Fuhua's wound.

Now that her focus was to make sure that his wound wouldn't bleed again, Suyin realized that her tears were swelling up now.

Tears flowed from her eyes, descending like rain down on Qin Fuhua's face before she acknowledged it, brushing it.

"I'm not dead."

He was able to weakly comment. He felt a tear on his face and it woke up him, only to observe her at the side of his eyes to see a whimpering Suyin.

"Your tears are gold. You mustn't let others except me see it."