The next day dawned bright and sunny and the group could be on the road again. Qing-er and XJ drove the cart while the other couples rode on horses. Their path followed a river filled with rushing water from the previous days of rain. XYZ was overjoyed that her dance worked and insisted on taking credit.

XYZ: "Qing-er, that was such a wonderful idea! It feels so good to be outside again! And Da Li is getting closer!"

ZW smiled at her: "XYZ, I don't think it was all you. SY, YQ, and ET helped too! And YQ is the son of the Emperor, so I'm sure his influence was greater. Besides, Sai Ya is a princess, I'm sure her gods helped too."

XYZ pouted: "Zi Wei, don't ruin my fun."

YQ shook his head: "Well, XYZ, you're important too. Or did you forget you're a Ge Ge too? Besides, don't you have that golden medallion from Huang A Ma? That gives you his authority you know. I'm sure the heavens took that into consideration as well."

ET complained: "Oh I see, so apparently I'm worth less than the three of you now?"

SY was quick to reassure him: "Of course not! Huang Shang gave you the status of a prince when we married, didn't he? So that means you have plenty of authority too."

XJ: "Well now, this is quite an honor for me then, as a commoner among so many princess and princesses."

Qing-er held his hand: "Don't worry about that. Your sister is a princess and the wife of a prince, that makes you royal by association…besides, you're the prince of my heart, that must count for something."

XJ turned and smiled at her while the other couples looked at each in contentment at how sweet they were together. The men held their wives closer, glad to be with the one they love.

Suddenly, they saw a disturbance in the road where a group of sad looking villagers were looking worriedly at a pile of broken wood on the banks of the river. The eight stopped in their journey and dismounted.

Er Kang approached the eldest villager and asked: "Sir, what is wrong? You all look extremely worried…"

The old gentleman turned to the group and noted their well-made attire. " Shao ye," he replied, "the rain from the past few days made the water so much stronger that our bridge has been washed away. The old bridge had been in need of repair, but we have always managed. But now, none of us can enter cross the bridge to get to the city to sell our crops and wares…I don't know how we are going to survive!" The men and women around him nodded their heads in agreement.

YQ was surprised: "Oh? Hasn't the local official of this region been contacted? He should definitely send someone to rebuild the bridge for you folks."

A motherly looking woman shook her head: "I can tell you folks are not from around here. We've tried many times over the years to appeal to Wang Da Ye (Master Wang: regional official), but he just brushes away our concerns. We've all worked together to patch the bridge. We knew it was going to fail eventually, but we lived in hope. Now it seems we are beyond hope."

Ever logical, Qing-er asked: "Is there no other point at which you can cross the river?"

Another gentleman replied: "The next spot is at least two days away. We can use it I suppose, but it's dreadfully inconvenient. And by the time we get to the city, the vegetables won't be fresh anymore; we wouldn't make much money."

XYZ and ZW looked at each other in concern. ZW quietly said to EK: "Do you think we need to pay a visit to this Wang Da Ye? It's just so wrong that he wouldn't care for his people!"

EK nodded but whispered back: "I think we'll have to…but I don't like the idea of revealing our identities again…"

Er Tai, meanwhile, asked: "You say Wang Da Ye doesn't listen to you? Surely he knows how bad it is!"

The original elder gentleman shook his head: "Wang Da Ye? How would he know? He never comes this far away from his home in the city. Us lowly country folks only hear from him when he wants more taxes. Even then, he makes sure to send only the collectors, who are all masters of kung-fu. Even if we want to complain, we can't do anything about it. My poor brave son went to the city to seek an audience and try to make him see reason, but I haven't seen or heard from my son since he left three months ago; I expect the worst…"

XJ felt his indignation and anger rise: "What do you mean you expect the worst? Surely you don't think Wang Da Ye had him killed?"

The motherly woman replied in a bitter tone "Killed? Ha! That would be much better than what the poor boy must be going through right now. If he's not dead then he must be wishing he is…"

SY gasped: "You don't mean…torture?"At the word, all the other girls gasped as well.

YQ, EK, and ET looked at each other gravely, shocked that such an awful thing could continue in the world with no one to prevent it. XJ, however, felt sadness replace his own anger. In his wanderings, he had too often seen cases such as this one when corrupt officials took advantage of their power.

XYZ spoke up indignantly: "What kind of monster is this Wang Da Ye? Why doesn't someone stop him?"

The gentleman replied: "Stop him? How can we? He is the one with all the power. As long as he keeps making good reports to BeiJing, no one will know any better. We're far enough south that I highly doubt Huang Shang will send someone here to double check the reports. Besides, I'm sure any messenger that is sent here will meet a mysterious end…sometimes, I think only Huang Shang himself can make any difference in this case."

The women sighed: "At least he leaves us women-folk alone. Since his poor wife died, he just has one daughter left. I think they are the only two people in his life who he cared about. Sometimes I wonder if losing her didn't drive him to violence; he had always been just and fair before. Now it just seems that he wants everyone else to suffer his pain along with him."

The male village turned to her and scoffed: "Oh stop making excuses for him. So what if he lost his wife? Does that make it alright to hurt everyone else? Besides, it's been 5 years!"

The woman retorted: "Well, I hear that he deeply loved her, which is rare in people of his status, and losing her just about killed him. His daughter is his only saving grace. Nothing's good enough for her; I doubt he'll let her marry anyone he deems unworthy."

ZW felt her heart stir in pity: "You say he loved once and was kind once? While I don't agree with his current behavior, I can't help but feel bad for him."

The eldest villager said practically: "Well, no matter the cause, we still need a bridge and I would so love to have my son back."

EK nodded to the villagers and said: "Thank you for sharing your stories with us, we're heading towards the city ourselves. If we hear anything about your son, we'll definitely come back and let you know."

The villagers were all grateful to the travelers and bid them a good trip.

Back on the road, EK noticed that ZW was extremely quiet.

EK: "ZW, what's wrong? You're worried about something? Please stop feeling bad for Wang Da Ye, I can empathize with him. If I lost you…I'm sure I would go rather mad as well."

ZW replied wryly: "I really should be used to you knowing my worries. Yes, I do feel for Wang Da Ye. But, it doesn't make his actions right. Er Kang, if you did lose me, do you think you'd hurt everyone else just because the heavens was unfair to you?"

EK said thoughtfully: "I certainly hope not. I can't promise that I wouldn't be filled with anger at the world for taking you away from me. But I would have so many friends and family members, I'm sure they would keep me from lashing out at others. From the sound of things, Wang Da Ye doesn't quite have that luxury."

ZW: "But he still has a daughter! I wonder what kind of person she is. EK, we really must do something."

EK agreed: "Yes, ZW, we will, but I think it's a topic we will need to discuss with everyone to come up with a solid plan." She nodded and leaned against him, feeling safe in his arms.

Meanwhile, XYZ was desperately brainstorming ideas to take care of the Wang Da Ye problem.

XYZ: "YQ, do you think it would be appropriate to use the golden medallion from Lao Ye? You said it gave me the authority of the Emperor, can't I use it to just it and get rid of his position? Teach him to take advantage of the common people."

YQ sighed: "I am tempted to let you. I can't stand people who use torture as a means of creating fear. But, XYZ, Wang Da Ye sounds like he has the capacity to be a good ruler, but the pain of losing his wife is too great. I can't help but think what would happen if I lost you…"

XYZ was startled: "Lose me? You mean you would turn into such a big monster without me? YQ! I can't believe you."

YQ sighed: "XYZ! I don't know what would happen if I lost you…but I promise you, I'll do not my best not to be a monster. Besides, I highly doubt EK, ET, or your brother will let me turn into an awful human being."

XYZ nodded: "That's right! My brother will take care of you. Now, what are we going to do about Wang Da Ye? YQ! You're smart, think of something!"

YQ sighed: "Thank you for your confidence, but I think this is one for the group. Let's discuss this with everyone."

XYZ sighed: "Fine. Let's wait and see."