Yang Ming Xi had already heard the horses clattering up the path and was exiting out of the front of his home, holding an umbrella over his head, when they appeared in view. He started to run when he saw that Cui Xi was unconscious.

“What happened?” he cried, reaching out hands to help carry the girl into the house.

“Your adopted daughter was whipped at least twenty times,” Murong Yan said, ignoring the old man and striding into the house without further invitation.

“This way, this way!” said Yang Ming Xi, taking them to his medicine room. He went to fetch herbs for a poultice and Xiao Yu went to get hot water. Murong Yan laid the girl down and then stepped back to allow the doctor to work.

For the second time since arriving in Tiansheng, Cui Xi was unconscious. Yang Ming Xi wondered if this would become a regular occurrence and furrowed his brow. 

Impatient to go, A’Bo crossed his arms as he stood in the doorway looking on with a frown.

“A’Xi! So pitiful!” Yang Ming Xi muttered. He lifted a corner of the cloak and his hands shook with anger, his face turning white, but a very, very tiny voice whispered in relief that it was not A’Yu. Then he flushed with guilt. Over the last few months, his affection for A’Xi had grown and he treated her like his own daughter. To have this happen to her hurt his heart. His lips flattened into a grim line as he contemplated the tiny mole under her eye. A bitter life…

“It was the City lord’s son Gao Wei,” said Xiao Yu coming back with clean white cloth and hot water. She saw the look of rage on her father’s face. “He tried to take me away and A’Xi wouldn’t let him. They would have killed her if this person’s Master hadn’t intervened.”

Murong Yan looked anxious.

“Will she live?” he asked the old man.

“She can be saved,” said Yang Ming Xi, peaking under the cloak through the shreds of fabric. He dared not pull it off; in the short time it had taken to get up the mountain, the cloak had been caked in blood and had already begun to stick to the wounds.  The bloodied cloth would have to be soaked and cut off with shears along with the rest of her clothes. This would have to be done as soon as possible.

“That is very good,” said Murong Yan, quietly relieved. “Then we should not linger any longer. We must return to our Master. Here,” he said, removing a jar from his sash and pressing it into Yang Ming Xi’s hand.

The old man looked at the jar, opened it, and sniffed cautiously. His expression changed rapidly with disbelief.

“This -This wound salve is only made for the Royal households….” he said, his eyes narrowed, staring at the two men. “Y-you! Who are you?”

A’Bo shrugged, arms crossed.

Murong Yan did not bother to volunteer the information:

“The salve is a gift from our Master for the girl. Hopefully, her wounds will not scar so badly,” said Murong Yan. “Also, do not trouble yourself about the matter with Gao Wei. Our Master will deal with it.”

Murong’s Yan’s words held a finality that was full of promise. Xiao Yu did not doubt that the revenge that Cui Xi had sworn would land squarely on Gao Wei’s head.

However, Murong Yan was not finished and gestured for A’Bo to go out first. The young man rolled his eyes, but obligingly exited, wondering what good show he was going to miss.

“Master Yang…” said Murong Yan very slowly. He reached into his robes and pulled a fine gold chain up over his head. On it hung a delicate jade ring and it was obviously a woman’s ring. He handed it to Yang Ming Xi, who looked at him with a puzzled expression.

The young man bowed his head.

“Please forgive me. Earlier you asked my identity: My name is Murong Yan. I am the eldest son of Murong Duan, a general of the Northern Imperial Army. I am a vice-general of the An Xi army here in the northwest. This ring belonged to my mother. I will leave it with your foster daughter as a token of my feelings. I will be away from the capital at least a half year, but should your family ever need help, then send the ring to the Murong manor there and I will return immediately.”

Yang Ming Xi stood stiffly 

Murong Yan’s intention was obvious, but he had left it open, not saying anything directly as he did not want to force himself onto the Yang family and the motionless girl. Although, the old man had the right to make the marriage arrangement without her consent, Murong Yan would wait for her to decide for herself. When she had recovered, if she chose to come to the capital to look for him, then he would take her as his wife. If she didn’t wish this, then he would at least offer her help when asked.

Bowing over cupped hands, he stood quietly and left.

Xiao Yu closed her mouth abruptly, realizing that it was hanging open and looked to her father.

Yang Ming Xi thoughtfully gripped the jar of salve, but then he snorted and immediately put Murong Yan from his mind, gesturing for A’Yu to help him. They worked steadily, soaking and cutting, gradually removing the bloodied fabric until Cui Xi’s back was exposed.

Besides her back, there was a livid whip mark across her chest, a myriad of bruises, and cuts on her hand and left foot where she’d cut herself with the roof tile.

“Aiyo! Pitiful! Pitiful! This is so ugly for a girl,” Yang Ming Xi muttered as they worked. “How can she marry like this!”

However, her back was definitely the worst. There were quite a few bloody gashes that were deeper than others, but luckily not too many had cut to the bone. He would have to stitch some of them, and it was a shame as she would carry the scars for the rest of her life. Had the Murong brat made his offer out of pity, knowing that her marriage prospects had been severely affected by the incident?

Although the salve that Murong Yan had provided was a miraculous wound salve that he himself had helped to develop when he was the head of the imperial college of physicians, it could not fix everything. It wasn’t clear how well the girl’s skin would survive these wounds.

They worked for hours until he was able to apply the salve and wrap A’Xi up with clean bandages. Sighing with fatigue, Yang Ming Xi sat back.

“Go brew willow bark tea,” he told Xiao Yu, who nodded. There were two things they had to worry about now – infection and fever. Even if the beating had not killed her, it would be a miracle if she survived infection.

Yang Ming Xi hoped this would not be the case as he had also applied a magic ointment that A’Xi had given him after retrieving her things from the riverside. She had told him that the ointment was meant to prevent infection.

Sighing he watched his daughter depart and stared somberly at the girl lying on her stomach on the bed. They would have to keep watch on her overnight. His eyes fell to the jade ring that he had left on the low table and he suddenly barked a dry, rasping laugh, shaking his head in wonderment. 

A’Xi really was a fox spirit – only a goddess could seduce a man while half dead.

“Are you laughing at General Murong?” asked Xiao Yu coming back in. Her lips curved up a little now that the emergency had passed. She could see why her father would laugh. That man is a little silly…

Her father continued to chuckle.

“I think he is quite a good man,” said her father. “Perhaps a little foolish in matters of love, but because he’s a soldier, he is quite straightforward and used to his own way. He saw her, he likes her, he wants to marry her.”

“Yes,” said Xiao Yu, handing her father a cup of tea. “I’m not sure what A’Xi will think when she wakes up. Do you intend to give her the ring?”

“Yes of course. She will have to decide what to do with it.”

“Hmph. Actually, I’m a little envious,” Xiao Yu said, and made a face. 

“Don’t be. That girl has a unique destiny and her life won’t be easy. Do you want that? If she really is some deity, then she is a special existence that will cause war. Do you want thousands of people to die just because of you?” he snorted. “I didn’t think I had raised that kind of daughter.”

“No, no, Da. I don’t mean it like that!” Xiao Yu shook her head. “Although maybe I feel it a little like that.”

“Hah! That’s exactly what you meant. Don’t be so foolish,” he said. He reached over and knocked her on the head with a knuckle. She pouted a little, but she clearly understood that he said this out of concern for her.

Yang Ming Xi snorted. His daughter was still young, and every young woman wanted a little romance. If they’d been living in the capital, he would have settled on her marriage already. 

Yet, he reflected that after years at court living with that tiger, there was no way that he truly wanted his daughter to be entangled with such highborn men as the ones who had stepped into his house today. The fight for the throne within the kingdom would eventually come to a head and with A’Xi’s strange appearance it already felt like the wheel of destiny was in motion.

Things are beginning to be outside my control, he thought. 

It could not be a coincidence that A’Xi was saved by that person. And that Murong brat…Hmmph! So troublesome.

Yang Ming Xi frowned to himself as A’Yu moved about the room.

He had been in exile a long time, watching the situation in the kingdom from the sidelines.

With Xiyu on the move, perhaps his return to the capital could no longer be avoided. He had put things off as long as he could for the sake of raising A’Yu outside the vicious environment of the capital. She had suffered though…rather than being raised as the rich, spoilt First Miss of the head imperial doctor’s household they had lived as paupers on the side of the mountain. He had protected her pureness of spirit and she had had many carefree years, but still…

Sighing, he rose. A’Yu was a good child. He knew she understood these things.

“I think you and A’Xi will have to go to the capital after she recovers. Gao Wei will not let this humiliation pass.”

“Father…” she said, shaking her head reluctantly.

“Yang Wan Yu, my treasured daughter,” he said, taking her hands. “I’ve prepared you as best as I possibly could. You will be sixteen this year. If I can send you to safety away from Gao Wei, then so be it. Like A’Xi, your destiny lies in the capital.”

There would be a time when he had to explain to her the reason why he had been banished from the imperial court and not just killed outright. Unfortunately, that time was not now.

She nodded obediently. It made sense to her to escape from Gao Wei, and now that she was grown up it was time for her to help her father return to his rightful place. 

Yang Ming Xi continued to mull things over. His life still served a purpose and he had waited for many years. That A’Xi had appeared could only mean that the Yang family would have the chance to rise again and those people that caused the family’s decline and the death of A’Yu’s mother…this would all be taken into account. It’s just as well that Gao Wei has stirred up this trouble and provided an excuse. He would have to make arrangements in advance and send another letter to the capital.

“What will happen to A’Xi?” asked Xiao Yu. 

“What will happen depends on her. As a special person, she must be served and protected. I believe that the gods have left this task to us. Whether or not she gets caught up in the struggles of the kingdom…well, one step at a time...”

Xiao Yu wasn’t sure what to think. Her father had taught her many things over the years, and she knew that much of this was in order for the Yang family to return to the seat of power in Tiansheng’s capital. However, this stranger had unhesitatingly saved her from harm. Whether or not she was actually a deity or a highborn person of special identity, A’Yu would do her best to ensure that nothing happened that would cause Cui Xi to be hurt again.