The sound of horse hooves broke the peaceful evening in the village. Five sturdy horses galloped at fast pace as commanded by their riders. It was obvious that the riders were not commoners. Four of them were in dark green uniforms and fine sword was at each’s waist. The man in a green silk robe with gold embroidered belt appeared to be the leader. There was a royal scroll secured between his belt and it had been the reason that the man and his servants had to ride across the village that day.

Come to the palace right away.

It was written on the scroll followed by the most powerful seal in the kingdom.

Xuxi looked at the sky; It has the color of an old canvas. The man knew that he will be able to reach the palace just before the moon came out if they kept up with the pace. 

It wasn’t uncommon for him to receive such order, but it never sit well with him as he knew those words were the early warning for the incoming troubles.

As he rode pass the village, he noticed that they were very few villagers on the road, most probably because the population is small, and the day was getting late. The unnamed village was located on the outskirt of the city, on the way to the forest. He didn’t usually visit the village even though ones can reach the palace quickly through the forest path because the road was dangerous. Xuxi had no choice that day as he didn’t want Luhan to know about the royal decree. Xuxi and Luhan were never friendly to each other despite being families, but recently, Luhan had made it obvious that he meant harm. Moreover, the servants that came along that day were trained by himself. Rough roads and wild animals shouldn’t be a problem.

Suddenly, his servant who was leading the group made a sudden stop. Xuxi too, had to pull his horse to a sudden stop, followed by the others.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“A child, my lord”

In the middle of the street, there was a small child, around three to four years old, crying on his own. There were no other children or any adult around.

“Make way, little boy! The lord wants to go through!” the servant shouted at the child. But the boy didn’t stop crying, instead his cry had gotten louder.

The servant got off his horse, about to force the boy to make way. Xuxi knew his servant didn’t want to harm to the boy, but he was a bit concerned about the boy. Why was he alone? So, he stopped his servant and approach the boy himself.

He kneeled in front of the child.

“Where is your parents?”

But the boy didn’t answer him. Xuxi grabbed the boy’s shoulders, trying to get the child’s attention. For a split second, he felt a stab on his chest. With tears in his eyes, the boy held a black knife and stabbed Xuxi. His servants saw what happened and immediately charge at the boy. Then, a group of assassins came out of nowhere and attacked them.

Xuxi drew his sword to fight the enemy. His wound was shallow as it was inflicted by a child, so it didn’t affect him much. At first, he was confident that they could defeat the enemy even though the enemy had a bigger number than his group. Xuxi was known as one of the best fighters of the kingdom, and people across the country feared Green Jade’s warriors. But then, Xuxi’s vision started to get blurry suddenly and a sword slashed at his arm. Alongside the pain from the new wound, he could feel a throbbing headache and his breath became irregular. He was poisoned.

After an intense fight, Xuxi was able to escape the assassins but all of his servants couldn’t make. They died protecting their poisoned lord.  Xuxi ran into the forest to lose the tail. He was bleeding so much from the wounds that his head started to feel light. He forced himself to stay conscious and kept on moving as he could still hear the sound of horse hooves in the distance. However, his body could not keep up and the last thing he could remember was the sound of stream and the feeling of falling.

  After an unknown time passed, Xuxi caught a familiar scent. When he opened his eyes, he was met with a very familiar scene. The soft snow fall, the frozen lake, the stone pavements, the oak pillars, and the scented tea on the marble table; he was at the pavilion near the White Jade house.

“What are you thinking, XuXi?” Lady Jiang asked. She was in her regular white dress and fox fur winter coat.

“Nothing” only after Xuxi answered his mother he realized that he was at least ten years younger than he should be. He wasn’t really surprised. There was no way he could converse with Lady Jiang if this was real. Lady Jiang passed away in a winter just before Xuxi turned ten.

“You never told me anything.” Lady Jiang took a sip from her cup. “Don’t you trust me?”

Xuxi didn’t answer right away. He took his time staring at the face that he had missed so much. Lady Jiang didn’t mind it. She only smiled softly and looked away to the distance.

“I miss you.” Xuxi found himself saying.

Lady Jiang didn’t turn around to face the boy immediately, but he could see her expression brighten.

 “I miss you too.” She finally admitted as she embraced her son. “Maybe more than you do.”

Xuxi closed his eyes let himself drown in the warm and gentle hug, the flowery scent, and the calming heartbeats, everything that Xuxi loved the most. He wished that he could stay there forever.  

“It’s time, dear.” A man said and consequently, their hug came to an end. But Xuxi noticed that his mother smiled brighter at the man. He had never seen his mother to be that happy before.

Xuxi turned around and saw a man in a general war armour. He couldn’t make out his face, but he knew it was the man that his mother has loved so faithfully, his father. The reason Xuxi couldn’t see his face most probably was because he never knew his father’s face as the man was dispatched to the west border to fight the war when Xuxi was barely a year. He never made it back.  

Lady Jiang rose from the seat, but a pair of small hands grabbed her hand. She looked down at her son.

“Don’t leave me, mother. I’m so lonely.” He cried so pitifully.

 Xuxi rarely cried even as a child. So Lady Jiang knew how unbearable it was if he did. Lady Jiang wiped her son’s tears with the corner of her sleeves and she kissed the boy’s forehead lovingly.

Staring at his son gently, she said “Don’t cry, Xuxi. You will not be lonely anymore as you will be loved and love so much that no man, no evil, and no king could stop you.”