His head was swimming, and his mouth was uncharacteristically dry.

' Ren... where are you?'

The fearful thoughts looped around his head till there was no more room for anything else.

' Where is he?

Will I ever be able to find him?

If I fail, how will I face Shing? How will I face Ehuang?

Ugghhhh hell, even if I succeed, along with Ruan Fai's help, they will come to know anyway. How will I face them then?

Renshu.... where are you?

How will I find you?

Come back...

How will I...'

The Elder Lord Li Liang was pacing to and fro in the compound, barely stomping at times, to keep out the cold of the nearing night, and also to ease his frustration. He occasionally rubbed his palms and kneaded his fingers. He kept glancing in the direction of the palace gates, where now two new guards had been posted.

The weirdest of sensations flooded through his body. First of all, he couldn't sit still in one place without fidgeting. He couldn't sit down at all, without feeling the need to get up. Once, he felt like he was being roasted inside a furnace, and felt an impolite desire to fling his robes away. The very next moment, he felt like he had been placed inside an iceberg, and wrapped his robes and arms tightly around him. His intestines began to twist inside him, giving him painful stomach cramps.

The memories of the times they spent together, right from the time when the newborn Renshu was placed in his arms, how he used to chew on the clasp of his cloak, his first lesson on the alphabet, how he had begun to hiccup on his tears when the strings of a guqin accidentally slit one of his white fingers, till now when he had been kidnapped, came flooding back to him.
It made him swallow hard, and he willed his eyes to remain dry.

As the sky began to dress up with twinkling stars, the tension in him grew, to an extent that he started biting his nails. He was the verge of running towards the gates, staring the metal rods, as if as soon as he would reach there, Renshu would tug at his robes and look at him, like he had the stars in his eyes and the rising sun in his smile. He could visualise his own smile of relief and the waterfall of fresh brine that would come crashing down his cheeks, as he would lift his darling boy into his arms, and chide him as to how worried he had been.

These next few hours would either pass as a blip in the course of his life, or they would be the final trauma that broke him.

Lady Ruan Quinyang was sleeping in her room or rather forced to sleep by her elder daughter Anbai who on the pretext of making an aromatic calming tea, had slipped a herbal sleeping potion into it.
Everyone had insisted her to take rest, lest the anxiety takes a toll on her. But she was adamant. Even her mother-in-law, i.e. the Elder Lady Ruan had miserably failed to persuade her. Thus, the sleeping potion was the only way.

Sect Leader Ruan Fai was standing in a stately posture, his brows furrowed in his attempts to think up all the possible places his younger daughter, Caihong, could've run off to.

'Fields?
Nope.
Who's gonna plough in the afternoon? It's the time for their siesta.

Temple?
Nope.
It's under renovation.

Then... Then...

Ah-ha!!

The Physician's house! She's very close to his daughter. She might be...

Oh no. Not there either.

The Physician would've dragged her back here by now, despite all her protests. Besides, Zhang checked there. Tch tch... So stupid of me...'

His thoughts were cut short at the sound of running footsteps, and the sight of mahogany tresses dancing in the wind.

"Elder Lord, where are you going?! Wait, wait for me!!"

He dashed after Li Liang, who was now far ahead of him.

Li Liang gazed mindlessly at the ground, sometimes kicking up dust, only to watch the particles get blown away by the wind. He jerked up his head at a sound that he had never expected to hear.

'Carriage wheels??'

The sound stopped.

' Huh... I'm hearing things, I must be dreaming.'

The sound of carriage wheels rolling on the ground resumed.

He perked up his ears to listen carefully.

' No, it's indeed the sound of wheels... Isn't it getting nearer? Is my Ren...'

Without giving himself a chance to complete his thoughts, he rushed towards the direction of the gates, not thinking once about how crushed he would be if his hunch didn't turn out as he expected.

It was indeed a large carriage, which had just entered the palace gates.

"Stop!..... Please stop!!"
A voice gasping for breath floated over to them from afar.

At the cry, the man at the reins parted the curtains to look at the two occupants.

One of them, who was sitting with the legs crossed, nodded.

The man nodded once and pulled at the reins. The horses whinnied and trotted to a halt.

"You stay here, Mèi. I'll check." A voice murmured from outside the curtains on the window.

"Yes, Zhang Ge."

Zhang Taio took a few steps forward and caught the sight of a figure racing towards them.
He caught the man just as he was about to stumble and fall.

"Oh my God, Elder Lord Li! Are you alright?"

The said person completely ignored him and trudged his way towards the carriage. With trembling hands, he drew open the curtains of the window.

Zhang slipped his hand and opened the door of the carriage.

The door swung open.

The sight that greeted his eyes made the Elder Lord want to fall to his knees with overwhelming joy. He turned into a mass of tears in no time. His breath became shaky and he could hardly speak with the tears that were welling up in his eyes and emotions that were crammed in his throat. He clung to the door for dear life; he couldn't bring himself to touch the sight which was now right in front of him. He feared that it would disintegrate and vanish, and break him all over again.

He just gazed at the sight, taking it in with his tear oozing eyes. Anguish tore at his soul. He never imagined he would see something like this.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was the Sect Leader Ruan Fai, who had finally caught up with him and was breathing a bit heavily from all the running.

He sucked in a breath, mustering all the courage he had, and breathed a silent prayer that this would not turn out to be a dream or a mirage. He leaned in, his quivering hands outstretched, and rasped out, "R-R-Ren?"

'Why are you unconscious, love?

What happened to you?

Why are-'

"Aahh!" Li Liang gasped and looked at his finger. It was bleeding.

He looked up, and his eyes met with a pair of eyes, glaring daggers at him. Out of his joy, he hadn't even noticed the other occupant of the carriage. It was a girl, dressed in dark blue and grey robes. She was holding Renshu in her arms in a protective grip. She held an arrow in one hand, which was now smeared with his blood. She had pricked him with it.

"What happened, Elder- Oh no, you're bleeding!! How-" Ruan Fai exclaimed, in horror.

"Oh don't worry, it's fine, just a small cut-"

"No one touches him," a voice growled from inside the carriage.

Both of them looked inside the carriage, and Ruan Fai yelled, "RUAN CAIHONG!! YOU?!?!"

"No one touches him," Caihong repeated. "He's mine." With that, she wrapped her black cloak securely around Renshu's unconscious body and hugged him tightly.
"I will poke anyone who comes near him with this arrow."

"Y-Y-YOU... Ah, my apologies, Elder Lord, I-I-" the Sect Leader helplessly apologized, burning with embarrassment.

"Take the carriage towards the quarters," Caihong ignored both of them.

While Ruan Fai looked like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole right there, the carriage rolled off.

"Please, pardon my younger daughter, Elder Lord Li. She-" he was at a loss of words.

"Not at all, please don't apologise. Your daughter has given me a renewed life. I am eternally grateful to her."

The two men walked back.

"To be honest, Sect Leader Ruan," Li Liang added, "I am rather grateful to find my grandson in such safe hands." He smiled softly, yet it was dazzling.

******

Caihong's bed was currently taken up by Renshu, who was still unconscious. She had removed the cloak, and placed the covers on his frame, fondly tucking him in.

Then she stood firmly in front of the bed, her hands planted on her hips, her nostrils flared with irritation. She started walking to and fro.

Three others watched her in silence, for they didn't know what to say. They were Sect Leader Ruan Fai, the Elder Lord Li Liang, and Caihong's elder sister, First Mistress Ruan Anbai.

Finally, Caihong huffed, rubbed the bridge of her sharp, yet cute nose and vociferated, "WHERE IS THE ROYAL PHYSICIAN?!?!!"

Elder Lord Li smothered a smile yet again. He wanted to hold her face in his hands and caress it, just like he was accustomed to doing with Renshu, but he figured that that gesture wouldn't be very welcome right now. His head would be bitten off, and seriously, who wanted that? The silence was the wisest choice.

' Caihong, her name was, right? A very fitting name indeed.'

"Anyone there?!" Caihong yelled.
A guard appeared at the doorstep and bowed low. "Yes, Second Mistress?"

"Go and tell Zhang Ge to come and meet me, after he is done checking on the recruit who got injured this afternoon."

"Alright, Second Mistress. I'll go right away."

Caihong waved her hand at him. The guard bowed again and left.

After some more pacing, she yelled, highly annoyed, "I AM ASKING AGAIN, WHY ISN'T THE ROYAL PHYSICIAN HERE YET?!?!"

Another guard arrived at the door, totally out of breath, and stood there, wiping his sweat covered and flushed face. He bowed, "T-the Royal Physician... will be... here... in... a jiffy... Second Mistress...oh..."

"Hmmm," Caihong huffed, and turned, only to turn back around and do a double-take.

The guard who was about to leave, almost jumped out of his skin at the next command, "Hey, you! Come here."

"M-m-me?"

"Y-yes, y-y-you. COME IN !"

New beads of perspiration appeared at his hairline, and his blood ran cold at the menacing look in the girl's eyes. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his sides, grasped his spear shakily and entered the bed-chamber.

Caihong gave him a good once over and stepped back a bit.

"Aren't you one of the guards who accompanied Gege, when he was looking for us this evening?"

"Y-yes, Second Mistress, I was one of them."

"Hmmm."

The guard was about to heave a sigh of relief when her next question had him quaking in his boots.

"Aren't you the one, whom I asked to go and bring the Royal Physician to my quarters?"

He gulped. He looked like he was about to wet his pants at any moment. His eyes were about to pop out of his sockets with fright. He shook like a leaf in the gusty wind and took a wobbly step back.

"Finding a suitable carriage took us quite some time. His treatment was anyways delayed, because I don't know how long he has been like this," Caihong gritted out.

"S-Second Mistress-"

"It's been well over an hour, and you still haven't done what you were asked to do."

"I-I-I... S-Second M-Mistress. I-"

"WHY?!!"

"Mistress, please...forgi- AH!"

Suddenly, there was a burst of golden beams and the spear went flying out of the room. It fell with a clatter outside.

The guard didn't get the opportunity to even rub his stinging wrist before he found his arms tightly bound by sturdy, glowing ropes to a beam attached to the ceiling of the bed-chamber.
He struggled to free himself from the binds suspending him, but in vain.

The Elder Lord stood amazed at the strong aura being emitted from the ropes and Caihong's body. He was struck speechless.

He finally stammered, "Woah, w-what-"

"That's a binding spell which mèimei has created. She has two more of these, but of course, they're hardly used," Anbai whispered.

"First Mistress Ruan," He bowed.

"Elder Lord Li," Anbai bowed back.

In the meanwhile, both of them were pushed back by a strong magical wave. Caihong had generated a protective shield in the room.

"Oh no," Anbai whispered, shocked.

"First Mistress Ruan, is there something wrong? Why are we inside a protection barrier all of a sudden?" The Elder Lord asked, touching the glowing barrier gingerly.

"I never thought that she-"

"What?"

The rest of her sentence was drowned by Caihong's booming voice, "I hate it when people are not punctual and prompt with their work. Engrave this sentence in your stupid skull for life."

The guard was already crying and trembling like a fledgeling in the binds. He nodded his head vigorously, "YES! YES! I WILL! I WILL REMEMBER THAT FOR LIFE, SECOND MISTRESS!! PLEASE, I WILL REMEMBER! PLEASE LET ME GO!"

Caihong sat down comfortably on the floor, facing the cowering man in front of her.
"You ignored my order. You dared to disobey me. I had told you to go right away and  get the Physician, and that he must be here by the time I return."

"Y-yes!! I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!! I swear I'll never do this again!!! Never again!! Please spare me, Second Mistress Ruan, I beg you, please spare me!!"

Alas, his pleas fell on deaf ears.

Caihong calmly leaned against the bedpost, and summoned her ruan and plucked the strings once. After she was satisfied, she peered back at him, still struggling in the ropes, and shook her head at his futile, bootless attempts. She poised both her hands on her beloved musical instrument, which was now glimmering under her touch.

"Let's begin, shall we?"