Chapter 4

Mothers...

“In this part of the moves set, you can either fade or empty fade depending on the skill of your opponent” Tao explains as he hold up the wooden sword and leaps backward with his feet to show Meiyin how the move works. “If your opponent has good speed it’s best not to empty fade as he can quickly…” Tao pauses and looks over to see if Meiyin is paying attention and see her trying to copy his moves.

Not hearing Tao’s voice continues, she looks over to see him staring at her “What’s wrong Tao da ge?”

“It’s nothing, I’m just always surprised at how fast you learn.”

“It’s because Sifu and you are good at teaching” she smile as she repeats the moves in the set she had just learned from Tao.   

Tao looks up at the sky and said “Let’s stop here for today, it’s already mid-day,” he looks back towards Meiyin “don’t you need to head home?”

“Not today, my father has been busy lately so he doesn’t have the time to mind about me,” she swing the sword to the right and switching her stance ready to maneuver into the next move when she misstep and was about to fall backward. Tao saw and immediately move towards her and reaches out to catch her before she hit the ground. Tao looks down at Meiyin with concern, wondering if she was alright. Meiyin, who’s still in Tao’s arms, looks up at Tao’s face and feeling completely embarrassed. She quickly gather herself and jumps out of Tao’s arms “Tha...thank you Tao da ge” she said as she took a step back feeling conscious of her real identity.

Tao just smiles in reply. He does wonder why this junior brother of his is so light, and it doesn’t seem like Xiaoyin has grown any sturdier even though they’ve been training for over a month now. Tao thinks he needs to check with Master Wong on how they can help Xiaoyin build more muscle strength. Tao picks up the wooden sword they dropped and proceed to place it back on the rack, that’s when he heard a growling noise. He looks over and saw Meiyin hands quickly flew up to her stomach.

“Have you not eaten before coming to train this morning?” Tao asks. Meiyin just shakes her head, too embarrassed to speak. Tao shakes his head disapprovingly and motion for Meiyin to follow him “Come, follow me.”

“Where are we going?” Tao didn’t answer so she just follows after him. The two of them made it out of the forest and back into the city. On the way to wherever Tao was taking them, he stop by the rowdy street market and bought some fishes, a chicken and some vegetables. They made their way towards the poorer area of the city and continues deeper into the area. Finally, Tao stops in front of an old and small house. He turns to Meiyin who stops behind him and said “This is uh...my house, hope you won’t mind the cramp space.”

Tao was half expecting Xiaoyin to judge and half was hoping that his judge of character is not wrong, that Xiaoyin isn’t the type of person who judges people based on wealth and status.

To Tao’s surprised, Meiyin didn’t even seem to care that his house was more broken down compare to the other houses on this street or that his house is located in one of the poorest part of the city. She only exclaims “Wow! Will you be cooking Tao da ge?”, he smiles to himself, happy that his judgment was not wrong.

“Actually no, I won’t be cooking today” he said as he open the door and invite her inside.

As he set the stuff down on the only table in the house, someone from the bedroom calls out “Zitao? Is that you?”

“Yes mother, I’m back.” Tao calls back and when the bedroom doors open, a woman came out and make her way over to Tao and Meiyin.

“Did you brought guest?” the woman ask her son.

“Mother, this is Xiaoyin, my Junior Brother” Tao steps aside so that his mother can take a look at Meiyin. “Xiaoyin, this is my mother Huang Xueyi and she is also our chef today.”

“It’s nice to meet you Madame Huang” Meiyin did a slight bow in greeting “Sorry to be causing you trouble today.”

“So you’re the Xiaoyin he has been talking about,” she smiles at Meiyin “It’s no trouble at all, I’m glad he finally brought a friend home. Good child, come sit, don’t be too polite.”

“Thank you Madame Huang” she smiles and sat down, that’s when her stomach growls again. Meiyin looks at Madame Huang and laugh in embarrassment.

“Oh my,” Tao’s mother laugh “you must be really hungry, let me cook up some things for you two.” she picks up the ingredients Tao left on the table and went out to the kitchen area. Tao was pouring Meiyin some water but when he turn around to hand it to her she was already gone. He looks out the door to see her trailing after his mother to the kitchen area.

“Madame Huang, let me help you” Meiyin said as she follows after Tao’s mother.

“Oh there’s no need, you must be tired after training so go and take a rest.”

“I’m not that tired, please let me help” she reaches out and took the vegetables from Madame Huang, “I’d feel bad if I just eat for free.”

Madame Huang laughs “Such a good child, so well manner. Alright, why don’t you go wash the vegetables?”

“Washed vegetables coming right up!”

Tao came over carrying two buckets of water from the wells, “Here use these, I’ll go get some more”

“Thank you Tao da ge!”

As Tao disappear from sight, his mom turns to her and said “Xiaoyin, thank you.”

Confused, Meiyin asks “Why are you thanking me Madame Huang? I’m the one eating for free”

Huang Xueyi smiles “Thank you for being my son’s friend. This is the first time he had ever brought a friend home, the first and only one has been Master Wong.”

“That can’t be, Tao da ge is a nice person. He should have lots of friends”

“It’s true, he only have you and Master Wong as friends. Because we were always moving from places to places so Zitao had a difficult childhood,” Madame Huang smiles bitterly “he had a very hard time making friends. That is until he met up with Master Wong who helped us through our difficult times and taken Tao in as his disciple.”

“I’m sorry to hear that you both had a difficult time” Meyin took Madame Huang’s hands into her own to reassure her “I promise to be a very good friend to Tao da ge, he is my Senior Brother after all!” Tao’s mother looks at Meiyin and smile full of gratitude. Looking carefully at Madame Huang’s face, Meiyin can see the lines of time and sadness tearing away at the beautifully aging face. She can’t help but wonder just how much hardships Madame Huang had to go through to raise Zitao alone. “Madame Huang,” she tightens her hold on Madame Huang’s hands “I’m also very glad to have met you today.”

Huang Xueyi smiles brightens, truly happy her son made a good friend “Good child, I’m so thankful to your parents for raising such a good child.”

The two of them continues to chat as they make food. Zitao came back with more water and joins the two of them in cooking. They had a great time and enjoyed a wonderful lunch together.

Imperial Palace:

Yifan had just exited from the Emperor’s Study Chamber when an eunuch quickly rush up to him and told him that the Empress had summon him to her quarters. He let out a sigh, wondering when this tiring day will end. He had been with the Emperor all day discussing and learning about matters of running the kingdom, and now his dear Royal Mother is about to add to his stress level.

Yifan quickly made his way to the Empress’s palace. When he arrives just outside the main gate he can hear a commotion on the inside. He let out another sigh, already knowing what’s going on inside. He steps through the gate and made his way towards the main courtyard where he can see some eunuchs and maids kneeling and slapping themselves.

“Greetings Your Highness” Xiaoming, the Empress’ trusted maid, bow and greeted him upon seeing him making his way towards her.

“Who pissed Royal Mother off this time?” Yifan questioned her after he waves off her greeting.

“It’s nothing to concern yourself over Your Highness, the Empress has been waiting for you.”

He gave the eunuchs and maids, who were crying and begging for forgiveness as they continue to slap their already swollen faces, one last emotionless glance and made his way inside the main quarter of the palace. As he steps inside the room, he can see his mother sitting at her throne and fuming.

“Greetings Royal Mother” he bows to her.

“You’re finally here,” she said as she motions for him to get up “how was your court session with the Emperor?”

“It’s as usual, Royal Father seems please with my performance.” He reply as he sat down in one of the chairs that line the two side of the room.

Empress Ziyi nodded, satisfy with her son’s answer, “You must always remember to be better and stands out the most out of all the Princes.”

“Yes, Royal Mother” Yifan answered in a monotone way since he’s used to hearing his mother reminding him of this since young. It’s practically fifty percent of all the conversation his mother and him ever had. He sigh internally, “Was there something you needed me here for?”

The Empress motions for Xiaoming to hand Yifan a tray stack to the rim with rolls of papers individually tied with red strings. “You’re now at the age of marriage and in order to further secure your position as the future Emperor, you must choose a wife befitting your status.”

Yifan glares at the pile of paper rolls, already starting to dislike the red color of the strings. “Those are all good matches that I’ve selected for you. Their portrait, family status, background, wealth and relationships are all included in there for you.” Ziyi sips at her tea before continuing “Look through them and choose wisely, see which one will benefit you most and choose that one to be your Princess Consort. Keep in mind that she must be someone that can bear the burden of becoming the future Empress.”

Yifan sets the tray on the table next to him and nodded at Ziyi’s words. “Afterwards, choose two or three more to appoint as your future Consorts. It doesn’t hurt to have their families’ backing when you step on the throne.”

Now Yifan’s head was really starting to hurt. He not only have to choose a wife but also concubines? He honestly doesn’t care for these things, he only wanted to focus on learning from his Royal Father on how to rule the kingdom. He doesn’t want to waste time on the inner court things like women. Yifan doesn’t understand why the Empress didn’t just pick them for him since she already went through the trouble of selecting them out of hundreds of candidates. But he didn’t ask. He had never questioned her out loud on the things she wants him to learn and do since young.

“I understand Royal Mother.”

“Have you seen Liufei?”

“I have not since I’ve been with Royal Father.”

Ziyi sigh, “Help me keep an eye out for your sister. I should start finding good matches for her too.”

Yifan looks at Xiaoming and she nodded in reply. He immediately understood why his mother was fuming and the servants commotion in the courtyard. This little sister of his probably went missing again and those servants were punished for not being able to keep an eye on her. Since young, his mother’s strict focus has always been more on him than on Liufei. So the girl has grown up more mischievous and less controllable compare to him. Yifan sigh internally for the nth time that day, knowing more things were stacked onto his already full plate.

“I’ll look for her, please rest assure Royal Mother.” He knew there was only two likely places she could be hiding at.  

After leaving the Empress’ palace, Yifan sends two of his personal eunuch over to the Second Prince’s palace and the Third Prince’s palace. He then headed back to his own palace to rest and await news of his sister.

Later, both eunuchs return at the same time. The eunuch that was sent to Yixing’s palace reported that Yixing was not present. The one sent to Luhan’s palace reported that the Second Prince had demanded not to be disturb so the eunuch didn’t dare to enter. It’s clear where Liufei currently is so he dismiss the two eunuchs and sent one of his maid to go report to the Empress. Yifan picks up one of the paper rolls from the tray that he was given earlier. He undid the red string and starts looking through the paper rolls.