Chapter 11: Something Wicked This Way Comes

The four men trekked along in the pouring rain, looking for their place of shelter. They were in Dali on a mission, a mission which involved a stay with the Fang family.

They had arrived in Dali only two days ago, and found the Fang residence with much ease, considering most the town knew where the Ai clinic was, and the Fang house was not far away. They had spent a day watching the house's occupants, trying to figure out who was who. Now, they would act.

At first, their biggest dilemma had been how to come up with a plausible excuse to come into the Fang household, but it seemed that Heaven was on their side. On the day they were to put their plan into action, it poured with rain, liked someone had punched holes in the sky, which they rejoiced at. This was the perfect excuse.

So now, they walked towards the house, dripping wet, but that was all part of the plan. When they reached the door, one of them rapped on it. A kindly looking woman in her early forties opened the door to answer them. They knew this was Qing Ge Ge, but of course, she must not know that they knew anything about that.

"Oh my goodness," she exclaimed upon seeing them sopping wet and worse for wear. "Please do come in, gentlemen."

"Thank you," one of them said apparently gratefully but inside, they were all smiling in triumph. The first phase of the plan went perfectly well.

"The weather is dreadful at the moment, is it not, gentlemen? Let me get my husband out to greet you then I am sure we can get something dry for you to wear," she said. Then she left them in the main living area, going into one of the inner rooms. A moment later, a man, looking only slightly older than his wife, stepped into the room.

"Gentlemen, welcome to my home," the man said politely. "My name is Fang Yan and you are very welcome to take your shelter here as long as need be."

"Thank you, Fang Xian sheng," one the four men said, stepping forwards. "My name is Liu Cao and these are my brothers, Liu Tang, Liu Ying and Liu Tian. We own a business in Beijing, and are here in Yunnan to conduct some business. We were on our way to see some friends but unfortunately got caught out in the rain; it started so suddenly. It's very kind of you to agree to take us in like this."

Liu Cao was proud of himself. The polite and cultured tone of his voice perfectly hid his intentions and no one listening to his speech could ever suspect his reasons for being here. His brothers likewise didn't give anything away.

At that moment, Qing Ge Ge reentered the room with some towels. After Fang Yan had introduced them to the visitors, she said:

"Gentlemen, if you will follow me into the guest room, you can get dry and change into something drier."

While the guests were changing, the master and lady of the house gathered the children in the main living area to introduce to their guests.

"These are all your children?" Liu Tian asked as they were introduced to the children.

Fang Yan chuckled. "No, sir. These three are our children," he indicated them. "And the other three are our niece and nephews. My sister and brother-in-law is currently away visiting some friends and the children are staying with us for the meantime."

After some inconsequential conversation, it became clear that the rain was not going to let up before night is over, much to the Liu brothers' happiness, as it would give them more time to act. Fang Yan offered for the men to stay in the guest room for the night since it was obvious that they could not go out while it was still raining so hard.

It was her younger daughter's terrified scream that woke both Qing Er and Xiao Jian the next day. To Qing Er's own panic, she woke to find herself not in bed but in the living room, tied up to a chair and the two youngest Liu brothers - Liu Ying and Liu Tian - hovering menacingly over them. Qing Er found that her head was heavy as stone, and she was very much disorientated. It took her a moment to shake herself out of her stupor, think properly and get her bearings. She gasped as she looked around and saw that her husband and children were in the same situations, while Jian Jun, Jian Wen and Ru Yi were nowhere to be found.

"Who are you?" Xiao Jian was shouting angrily, as he struggled futilely against his bonds. "What do you want? What have you done to my niece and nephews?"

Liu Ying smirked at them. "We are who we told you last night, and we are from Beijing, here to do some business. We just failed to say that our business involved you. Now, ah yes, Qing Ge Ge - " Qing Er gasped at his use of her title. Likewise, Xiao Jian let out a straggled cry next to her, while their children looked terrified and confused, " - I have a letter here for you, from the person who hired us on this business. I believe it will explain everything."

Liu Tian was holding a piece of paper in front of her for her to read. Though it had been many years since she saw it, Qing Er could immediately recognise Zhi Hua's handwriting and it gave her a sinking feeling before she even started reading.

Jie jie,

I hope you don't mind me calling you Jie jie, but we were both taken in by Lao Fo Ye, I think it is not too presumptuous of me to call you thus. In case you still don't know who I am, I am Zhi Hua.

I shall cut the long story short, Jie jie. I am sure despite the fact that he didn't want to meet me, I did come across Yong Qi in Beijing and shall we say he was less than cooperative in my plan for his returning to the palace, to the titles, wealth and everything else that could be, is, was and will always be his. I am in need of something to persuade him, so to speak, so I have taken the liberty of borrowing his children for the purpose.

By the time you read this, Liu Cao and Liu Tang will be on their way with my darling husband's remaining children to Beijing. If you must know, yes, I did meet the girl, Ji Xiang, but I can't hope to lay a hand on her while she is at Xue Shi Fu. Anyway, so I need her siblings in Beijing and I cannot risk you or your husband meddling with this plan. I just need someone to hold you and your husband back in Yunnan, to stop you rushing to Beijing to tell Yong Qi of his children's whereabouts before I am ready for him to know.

So Liu Ying and Liu Tian will be your houseguests for a while. I hope you do not mind. They will just be there, keeping you company and make sure you don't set a foot out of doors. Do not worry, I will not harm you or your family, so they are under orders to keep you as comfortable as possible, in captivity of course. Lao Fo Ye would never forgive me if something happened to you. Liu Cao and Liu Tang will be back to collect his brothers when everything is settled on my end.

I hope you are well, and I remain affectionately yours,

Zhi Hua

Qing Er's first reaction was disbelief. Then she realised, after what Zhi Hua did last time to try to win Yong Qi, this shouldn't be that much of a shock, even if she did take things up a notch. Qing Er wasn't sure what angered her more, what Zhi Hua had done or the mocking tone of the letter. She had a headache as it was and reading Zhi Hua's letter just made everything worse. All the time she was reading it, Xiao Jian was trying to get out of the Liu brothers what was going on but they just smirked at them, waiting for her to finish reading the letter.

"Qing Er?" Xiao Jian asked, apparently given up on trying to talk to his jailers.

"Zhi Hua," Qing Er said.

"Zhi Hua?" Xiao Jian asked through gritted teeth. "What - ?"

Liu Tian just moved the letter to Xiao Jian's line of sight so that he could read it, still smirking. Qing Er tried to clear her head to think but failed. She was drowning in a daze of confusion, of not knowing what happened to her niece and nephews, of the appalling horror of what Zhi Hua would do next -

Apparently Xiao Jian had been shocked into silence as well after he finished reading the letter. He was just glaring at their captors with death glares, as if willing his stares to kill them right there. Liu Ying smiled even wider.

He said casually, "Oh and if you are wondering how we managed to tie you up with so little trouble, I have to confess it was with the help of a little thing called Mi Hun Xiang."

"Mi Hun Xiang?" Xiao Jian breathed. "Of all the lowly things - "

It was low, indeed, but it would explain how none of them could be very coherent and think properly.

"We are not paid to be noble, Fang Xian sheng," Liu Tian laughed. "We are paid to do what is required of us. Do not worry, as the letter said, we will not harm you. Just cooperate and nothing will happen to you. You will find that you will be quite incapable of any form of martial arts right now, as we had to give you something to ensure you would not fight back when we loosen your bindings a bit. We don't intend to keep you permanently tied up to chairs like this for however long we will have to be here, no. There's no fun in that. We'll let you off the chairs in a while. But as I said, you'll find all your strength and martial arts gone, until we give you an antidote to the potion we forced into you last night."

True to their words, Liu Tian and Liu Ying let them up from their tied positions on the chairs, but they still kept the family loosely tied up. To make the situation worse, whatever it was that they forced them to take, it not only took away their abilities to protect themselves but also put them in a weakly state that they were all dominated by their keepers in strength.

Qing Er knew what frustrated Xiao Jian most in the days they were basically under house arrest was not only their worry about what happened to Jian Jun, Jian Wen and Ru Yi and Zhi Hua's schemes, but also his inability to protect his family. She knew these days, when not one of them as left alone for long, when they were under the constant watch of the Liu brothers, it all was damage to his pride and self-esteem, though neither she nor the children blamed him for it. They had to explain the situation to their children under the scrutiny and sneers of Liu Ying and Liu Tian, which made the experience which under normal circumstances would had been uncomfortable enough, doubly so.

Their reactions, naturally, had been shock, but Qing Er imagined that if they were told this under different circumstances, their reactions would have been much different, perhaps with more anger. But as of right now, they were all too busy being worried about their cousins to think much about anything else.

Meanwhile, Jian Jun, Jian Wen and Ru Yi knew very little of what went on during their trip to Beijing. In fact, they didn't even know they were being taken to Beijing. Per Zhi Hua's request, Liu Cao and Liu Tang traveled day and night to get them to Beijing in the shortest amount of time. For the whole duration of the trip, they were kept in a more or less constant state of intoxication of Mi Hun Xiang burning inside a stuffy carriage. The Liu brothers escaped the effects of the mind-muddling incense as they were out on the driving seat of the carriage in the fresh air.

They arrived in Beijing at night, about ten days after started off from Dali, and it was under cover of night that Liu Tang and Liu Cao snuck them into the palace and into Jing Yang Gong to bring them to Zhi Hua. Seeing how they were all still unconscious when the Liu brothers brought them to Jing Yang Gong, Zhi Hua had them locked up in a secret chamber behind a bookshelf in the study.

Her plan would come into action tomorrow.

To those at Xue Shi Fu, it seemed like nothing happened for a long time and for that time, Yong Qi thought he had worried about nothing. It puzzled him in those days when he didn't see Zhi Hua again and as Zi Wei reported from her visit to the palace, she didn't seem to be doing anything to seek him out or show that she knew Yong Qi was at Xue Shi Fu at all. In retrospect, Yong Qi knew this should have been the thing that alerted him that something was wrong. Zhi Hua would not just sit back and wait for him to leave and meekly accept it.

In fact, Ji Xiang's wound had completely healed, and he and Xiao Yan Zi was planning to leave Beijing to go back to Dali before they knew that something had gone wrong back home at all.

"Ru Yi!" an urgent voice was calling her, shaking her. She struggled awake, and opened her heavy eyelids.

She couldn't see anything. It was very dark in the room. For a moment she thought it was not lit at all, but as she slowly gained her senses, she realised it was only lit by a very small candle.

"Ru Yi, are you ok?" Jian Jun was talking to her. It took Ru Yi a moment to make her mouth work.

"Brother? Where are we? What happened?"

"We don't know, Ru Yi," Jian Wen said quietly while Jian Jun stood up and looked around the room. There was really not much to see; the room was totally bare except for a small table that held a candle and themselves. He felt around the walls, trying to find an exit, or at least a door, an opening, anything, but couldn't seem to find any.

"How are you feeling?" Jian Jun asked, concerned, sitting back down next to them.

"Dizzy," Ru Yi said weakly. "Scared."

Jian Wen put an arm around her shoulder and she huddled closer against him. "It's ok, it's going to be ok," he whispered, though none of them believed it.

What scared Ru Yi most was the fact that neither of her brothers seemed to know what was going on either, and why they were here. They didn't know how much time had passed since they left Dali or where they were. Nothing made much sense and none of them knew how they would get out of this situation, whatever this situation was.

Then suddenly, the wall opposite them opened and one of the men that had kidnapped them, Liu Cao, stepped in.

"Well, well, you are finally awake," Liu Cao sneered.

Ru Yi clung fearfully to Jian Wen, whose arm was still around her protectively. Jian Jun stood in front of them and said harshly, "What do you want?"

"I don't want anything with you, someone else does," Liu Cao said. He seized them and pushed them out of the opening. They stumbled into a room; it was a study by the look of it as it was lined with bookshelves and had a writing desk at one end. The room they were locked in was concealed by a bookshelf, which Liu Cao closed behind them.

For a moment, Ru Yi looked around the room, and despite the situation, was in awe at the rich furnishing and the beauty of the room. She looked at the scrolls of calligraphy on the wall and was immediately confused. The writing on them looked eerily like her father's handwriting. She looked over at her brothers and found that they, too, were looking in trepidation at the writing. Of course, it was not impossible that someone else could have the same calligraphy style as her father, but it just made the whole experience even scarier.

The door to the study opened and a woman, richly and elaborately dressed, stepped inside, followed by their other kidnapper, Liu Tang.

As soon as they spotted Zhi Hua, the older boy, Jian Jun was his name from what Liu Cao told her, stepped in front of the little girl and faced Zhi Hua was a venomous look. "Who are you and what do you want with us?" he demanded with considerable force for someone so young. The way his eyes flashed in anger couldn't help but remind Zhi Hua of his father. She thought idly how this boy would have great potential one day; he was already showing the commanding presence and calibre of a future monarch. It was a pity he was Xiao Yan Zi's son.

"Not to harm you," Zhi Hua said serenely. "Not yet. In fact, I would hope I will not have to harm you."

She stepped closer to them. "As for who I am, all you have to know right now is that I am Rong Wang Fei. You are at Jing Yang Gong, in the imperial palace."

This information put all three of them into shock, apparently, and Zhi Hua was able to push Jian Jun aside without much struggle. For the first time she got a good look at the other children.

As much as the two older children resembled their father, Ji Xiang in look and Jian Jun in manners, the two younger ones were definitely their mother's children. The second boy, Jian Wen, did not look obviously like his mother, but he had a face that showed he could be just as high-spirited, cheeky and mischievous as her. Zhi Hua could well imagine her annoying playful smile on his face.

The little girl, Ru Yi, on the other hand, was a carbon copy of Xiao Yan Zi. How strange that the two girls should be the ones to most resemble their parents. Well, this would be interesting.

"Well, you are a pretty little one, aren't you?" Zhi Hua said softly, tilting the girl's chin up. Ru Yi cringed and tried to struggle against her but Zhi Hua was gripping her shoulder with her other hand. Jian Wen protectively pulled Ru Yi away from Zhi Hua and put himself between them.

"Don't touch her. I don't care who you are; don't touch her," he said angrily. Jian Jun had shifted closer to Ru Yi as well.

Zhi Hua swept a look at the three of them, before turning away from them and said airily, "Did you parents not teach you any manners? Did they not tell you to be respectful to your elders?"

"Only when they deserve it," Jian Jun said in the same harsh voice he had used earlier. "And only when they are not trying kill us."

Zhi Hua laughed, "I never said I wanted to kill you. No, I do not want to kill you."

"What do you want then?" Jian Jun demanded.

Zhi Hua turned and gave them a smile. "That, you will find out in due course." She nodded to Liu Cao. "Take the girl into the other room."

Immediately Liu Cao seized Ru Yi, who struggled madly against him, and took her out of the room, while Liu Tang went over and held Jian Jun and Jian Wen back.

"No! Jian Jun! Let me go! Jian Wen!" The only appropriate way to describe her struggles was to say that she was literally kicking and screaming.

"Ru Yi! Let go of her! What do you want with her? Whatever you want to do with her, you can do to us! Let her go!"

There was a howl of pain as Liu Cao let go of Ru Yi quickly because she had bit him and as soon as she was free, she made to dash back to her brothers. However, Zhi Hua caught her around the middle and held her back. Gripping Ru Yi's throat, she forced the child to look up at her and was met with defiant eyes on features so like Xiao Yan Zi. Zhi Hua's own eyes hardened with hate and Ru Yi couldn't help but cringe from a mixture of fear and pain. It was as if she knew what was coming even before Zhi Hua did, but still she couldn't help the cry of pain as Zhi Hua slapped her hard around the face and the force of it made her hit against the table.

She could hear both her brothers scream. "Ru Yi!"

They were shouting completely inappropriate things at Zhia Hua too and were struggling more than ever now but both Liu Cao and Liu Tang had restrained them and in their dizzy and disorientated from the effects of long exposure to Mi Hun Xiang, it was a hopeless affair.

Ru Yi tasted blood and knew there would be a massive bruise on her cheek soon. She looked up just as Liu Cao, having left her brothers to Liu Tang, grabbed her again and despite her continued struggle, dragged her out of the room, with her brothers angered and fearful protests still ringing in her ears.

"Stop struggling," Zhi Hua said to the boys. She appeared visibly discomposed by what she'd just done nevertheless and was trying to calm herself. "I'm not going to do anything to her, just put her in a place away from you. Do not worry, if your father cooperates and do what I want him to, no harm shall come to her."

"Our father? What do you want with our father?" Jian Jun demanded, still struggling against Liu Tang, and failing.

"That, you will find out in due course," she repeated. Then she walked out of the room, leaving Liu Tang to force the boys back into the room behind the bookshelf.

The next morning, a letter arrived early at Xue Shi Fu for Yong Qi, from Zhi Hua. In fact, they were still at breakfast when the letter arrived.

Yong Qi took the letter, a feeling of unease slowly seeping into him. As he read it, his face paled considerably. There was something in the menacing tone of the letter that told him Zhi Hua wasn't bluffing, and as unlikely as it seemed, she relaly somehow managed to get his children from Dali to Beijing and now were holding them captive in his former home.

"Yong Qi, what is it?" Zi Wei asked as she looked at her brother's stricken face.

"Zhi Hua - she - she has Ru Yi and the boys - "

"What?" Xiao Yan Zi asked, alarmed. "What do you mean, have them?"

"Somehow - somehow she managed to kidnap them and brought them to Beijing. They are at Jing Yang Gong, it says here," he explained, completely at loss at how he was could even manage to speak this much. "She said she wants to see us at Jing Yang Gong - "

"Impossible!" Xiao Yan Zi exclaimed. "What has she done to them?"

Zi Wei gasped, "And how can she kidnap them just like that? What about Xiao Jian - "

Yong Qi shook his head and passed the letter to Er Kang. He closed his eyes and listened to Er Kang's voice reading the letter out to the others, repeating what Yong Qi just read, making it even more real than the first time he read it. The letter had explained that Jian Jun, Jian Wen and Ru Yi were held captive in Jing Yang Gong, how Zhi Hua managed to kidnap from Dali in the first place, and the fact that the Fang family were now also held captive in Dali.

Anger filled every part of his being. That Zhi Hua would try to keep him back, he was not surprised about. But that she would go to such length! It was insuffereable that his children, who had no fault in any of this, had to pay for his mistake of marrying her and her ruthless denial that he could never love her. The more he thought of it, the more the fury choked him. He clenched his fists together and was glad that Zhi Hua was not in front of him now, because if she was, he couldn't guarantee that he would be able to resist wringing her neck.

"We must go to them!" Xiao Yan Zi cried. "Yong Qi, I don't care what she wants - in fact, I have a good idea what she wants - we have to go in there - "

"Yes, there's no question of that," Yong Qi said through gritted teeth. "But how - "

"Well, obviously you can't go in there as Wu Ah Ge and Huan Zhu Ge Ge," Zi Wei said. "Er Kang and I could bring you, you could disguise as a couple of servants or something."

"We must tell Huang Ah Ma," Er Kang said.

"No!" Xiao Yan Zi cried. "No, we can't. I can't risk it, Er Kang, what if she does something if she finds out we've told Huang Ah Ma? Please, can we just go see her first?"

"But - " Er Kang started to argue but Yong Qi cut him off.

"Xiao Yan Zi is right, I don't want to have to go and explain to Huang Ah Ma now! I just want to get there and see what she's done to my children! And don't say that she wouldn't do anything! You should both know what she would dare to do!"

Zi Wei and Er Kang exchanged a look before nodding grimly. Quickly, the four of them changed to appropriate clothes, with Xiao Yan Zi and Yong Qi acting as two servants from the Fu household.

"Can I go - " Ji Xiang asked.

"No," Yong Qi said shortly.

Ji Xiang looked like she would have liked to protest but was silenced by a look from her mother.

Xiao Yan Zi said, "Stay here, Ji Xiang. The last thing I need right now is you in the palace as well!"

"We must still be careful not to run into anyone who might recognise you," Er Kang said when the four of them were in the carriage. "I mean, the servants in the palace have changed over the years, so I don't think many would recognise you, but there are other people."

"Well, we're pretty inconspicuously dressed as your servants," Xiao Yan Zi shrugged. She was pushing against her seat, as if pushing would make the carriage go faster.

"You'll find that Zhi Hua had kept Jing Yang Gong pretty much the same since you left. In fact, I think that's one of her ways of convincing herself that you'll come back one day," Zi Wei said. Yong Qi grimaced at this information.

They reached the palace gates quickly, but not quick enough for either Xiao Yan Zi or Yong Qi.

As Yong Qi stepped down from the carriage, despite his haste to get to his children, an overwhelming feeling of resentment and oddly enough, nostalgia, swept over him as he took in the first sights and sounds of the palace. It looked the same. Nothing had changed. It was still there, the luxury and wealth, the pride and ego, the arrogance and disdain, the beauty and drama. It was a cold elegance that spoke of the ambitions and malice that was the imperial court.

Though it had been many years since he had made this journey, the route from Shen Wu Men where they got off the carriage to Jing Yang Gong fell into steps with him. He knew if he closed his eyes now, he could still trace the steps right to Jing Yang Gong's gates with no trouble.

They fortunately didn't meet anyone they shouldn't on the way to Jing Yang Gong as it was still pretty early in the morning and reached Jing Yang Gong with no trouble at all. Both Xiao Yan Zi and Yong Qi stopped only for a moment at the gate of Jing Yang Gong and stared at the building, overcome with the rush of emotions and memories that it brought.

Then they stepped over the threshold determinedly and purposefully, as if nothing had happened all these years, as if they still lived here, still belonged here. It was as if they never left. It was time to face Zhi Hua again.