CHAPTER 22, THE COTTAGE OF STORIES
Wei An Ge found herself on the cold and mighty throne, listening to the reports across the kingdom the next day after the coronation. She was trying to focus by the fact that she can't fall asleep the way she always did during her training days. Her eyes were almost shut down before she heard the very last report being read.
"My Queen, the last report is about some of the ministers and generals that went missing overnight." The minister reported with a nervous tone of voice. "By the behalf of the ministry, we hope the Queen can work on something upon the reports read."
Wei An Ge nodded determined, already carving a plan.
----
Inside the Chang Ge manor was the Queen, on her bed rethinking life with countless sigh and head scratching.
"Generals being kidnapped?" She inquired, staring on the ceiling, confused. "Hei An Guang military base is one of the best. They are trained with mind skill and war strategies. How can the generals easily be kidnapped in one night?"
She blinked once in disbelief.
"These assassins must be dangerous." She rise from the bed, shaking her head, dizzy.
"They sure are dangerous," Li Zhang Ke appeared at the door room, folding his arms with a sneaky smile, making an eye contact with her.
Wei An Ge gripped on the bed sheets, shocked of his sudden apearance especially after destroying his previoius plan, she knew the general won't go easy on her.
"My Queen," He bowed, pulling his chin down to the gravity.
"General, what took you here to my very own room?" She defenced with a formal tone of voice. "Wouldn't it be inappropriate?"
Her eyes enlarged to highlight things up for him.
"I don't think so, my Queen." He replied, stepping inside. His voice was playful and a pulled smile was taped to his face. "I wanted to read a report for you, that's it."
As he gets closer, Wei An Ge reached for the old dagger somewhere behind the layers of her thick outfit. She was controlling her cold stone expression even though she was trembling in fear and praying for luck in the inside.
"LI ZHANG KE, YOU SHOULDN'T BE TOUCHING OTHER PEOPLE' WIFE, ESPECIALLY WHEN SHE GRANTED YOU ONE ALREADY, RIGHT?" Gan Xin appeared, with confidence he shouted. He was just a few steps away from the room.
"Wife?" Wei An Ge monologued, confused. "Oh yeah, we did got married"
"YOU!" Li Zhang Ke turned to Gan Xin who stole Wei An Ge's attention from him.
"ME!" Gan Xin replied, encouraging him for a fight.
Li Zhang Ke immediately took out his long sword and marched to Gan Xin. His sword sliced the thin air as Gan Xin ducked to the ground. He passed his left calve to Li Zhang Ke's feet and the general was boomed to the floor. The sword slide further away on the floor, outside.
"Argh-" Li Zhang Ke moaned, dissatisfied on the ground finding out that he was unable to move. "Gan Xin!"
"Hi, General. How are you?" He crouched to the General, smiling. "Queen wifey, come look at him."
Excited, Gan Xin called.
"Why-" Wei An Ge was lost of word. "Did you called me-"
"Queen wifey," He giggled and continued teasing the general on the ground, unable to move.
She scratched her head, clueless and finally walked towards the fallen general. "Don't call me that. I almost got him just now if it weren't for you,"
"Saving your life," He cut, smiling ear to ear. "Anyway, what do you want to do with this useless general, my Queen? Kill him? Drown him? " He recommended, convincing.
The Queen shook her head, disagreed.
"Yeah, too easy. Why don't we-"
"Just let him go," Wei An Ge commanded, staring at the General, pity.
"What?"
"Let him go, you heard me." She raised up, standing. "Also, don't call me wifey or so,"
Gan Xin pulled out a needle from Li Zhang Ke's stomach, enable his movement again. The General raised up, pasting his view on the Queen, turning her back on him and immediately ran away after one bow.
"You're guessing Li Zhang Ke is the assassin?" Gan Xin inquired. "That makes sense but that won't prove anything, actually."
"What do you mean?" Wei An Ge turned to Gan Xin, curious.
"He would have guessed it. But don't worry, I know exactly if he was the assassin." He said, convincing. "You got no worries, Queen wifey."
"What did I just said?!" she threw a fist to his stomach, dissatisfied.
He started cracking up which made her stunned by his figure. "Let me take you to a place." He gripped on her wrist covered in black glove.
"How can the Queen escape the palace easily?" She stop, worried.
Gan Xin let go of a sigh, "First, you're already out of the palace. We're in Chang Ge Manor."
"But-"
"Shhh-" His voice lowed to a whisper. "Second, I'm your husband and lastly you won't need much guards right?"
Gan Xin knew the tricks. Based on Wei An Ge's ego, she wouldn't bow to anyone. Hence, once getting dared, he knew she will always prove himself.
"Exactly! Let's go, I'll hide under your cape." She marched first, competitive.
"Good girl,"
"Shut up, don't "
Riding Ma Xing, the silver horse, together they marched through the Central City and out of the kingdom Hei An Guang, away from the darkness of it. As planned, Wei An Ge hid under Gan Xin's cape, being alert of the guards.
"Why are we exiting Hei An Guang? Where are we going?" She inquired, worried as the horse marched further from the kingdom's boarder. It was her first time leaving it and she had a weird feelings about it.
"My home,"
She went silent, not daring enough to bring out the issue more. At least she remembered the path and will run if things went wrong. But sadly, she fell asleep halfway. It's been a chaotic week, Wei An Ge couldn't be more tired.
"Here we are!" Gan Xin jumped off Ma Xing while Wei An Ge who was asleep fell to the ground, half awake.
Trying to cover things up, she instantly rose on her feet, rubbing her puffy eyes. She found herself in front of a cottage surrounded by dark forest.
"Why did you live in a cottage?" Wei An Ge scanned the area. The cottage was not at all big but the plants cascading on it was an excellent decoration, she thought.
"It's a long story," Bitterly he said, opening the door recalling each seconds he spent there alone with Wolfie before and how far he had come. "You wanna hear the story?"
"Go ahead,"
Both of them had a seat around a circle wood table inside the cottage. The inside was quite dusty and there weren't much furniture in it except for the table and a bench.
"I actually found this house and found out the backstory. There was a boy who was tricked to follow a man. This man was a complete stranger for him. He asked the boy to follow him to save his daughter."
"The boy followed him?" Wei An Ge fixed her attention to him, enlarging eyes with curiosity. Based of Gan Xin's tone, it sounded as if the story was going to end up tragically.
Gan Xin nodded, confirming.
"He did saved the daughter but when the boy returned home, he was punished to be separated from his family and live here until he's fifteen. He's quite happy about his life here but he kept on remembering and missing his beloved family."
"Doesn't the boy hates the daughter?" Wei An Ge asked, clueless of the true story of herself and Gan Xin.
Gan Xin turned to her, interested and surprised. "At first he did. But then they met each other and he-"
"He what?"
"He fell in love with her."
"Oh my god," Wei An Ge was surprised, she started clapping. "What's the ending?"
Gan Xin froze in surprise. His head started mixing different ending of the story and ended with a brief answer.
"They died happily ever after,"
"Ouh," In awkwardness, she react. "You know, this story is quite the same with the one Jing Nu once told me. But it was slightly difference."
"How is it difference?"
"The King might be the father but I'm not his daughter."
"Then how can you be the Crown Princess and now the Queen?"
Wei An Ge shrugged her shoulder, speechless as she continued twirling her hands on a long thread of plant. "I started training every day since I can walk, maybe? But I always failed and get hit. It doesn't actually matter what position you are, you will always suffer."
Gan Xin mind was getting chaotic whether he should start telling her identity as Jade Ring or not. He was battling with himself that he was frozen, zoning out from reality.
"Gan Xin?" Wei An Ge passed her left hand in glove in front of his face, checking for consciousness. There was barely no reaction. "Servant husband?"
"Huh, what did you call me?" Gan Xin woke up, staring at Wei An Ge falling deep into shame. "Husband?"
"Servant. I said servant." she stood up, running away leaving Gan Xin to forget his worries including the one about telling her to go to Wei Zhuang.
After a while, Gan Xin finally chased Wei An Ge and found her by the side of the cottage, crouching and fixing her attention on the floor of dirt and sand.
"Does the boy and the daughter love each other?" With a low tone of voice, she questioned.
"I've never been told"
"That's it, we're planting flowers here." She stepped on the ground a few times with folded arms, calculating the bouquets of flowers needed to cover the whole ground.
"Flowers?" in disbelief, Gan Xin repeated.
She nodded, convincing.
"How about I teach you how to grow them right now?" Gan Xin had an idea bulb popping to his head. To save time, he's going to teach Wei An Ge how to use the power and make Jade Pearls as the cottage is far from the palace hence her power was fully revived.
"Shouldn't we go to the market and get some?" Clueless, she asked.
Gan Xin smiled, shaking his head.
"Stand straight and with your left index fingers drawing the perimeter of the area you want to grow flowers" he instructed from afar.
As she draw, fern coloured dusts floated, following her fingers. Her eyes was brightly decorated with the shining dusts.
"And then?" excited, she requested the next step.
"Imagine the flower you wanted then paste the sketch you drew on the ground."
She pasted the sketch as the dusts fall to the ground. Each that fell grew a single white and red tulips, already blooming.
"What in the black magic-" Wei An Ge was stunned she almost cursed.
Gan Xin's reaction was just to smile and start cracking up by her reactions.
They soon returned to Hei An Guang safely and Gan Xin went to the Central City which was crowded as the normal days. He thought of having a stroll around the city, wanted to come out with a new plan to bring Wei An Ge to Wei Zhuang.
Gan Xin stopped at a stall decorated with hanging bananas, arranged apple and some other fruits.
"Young master, buy some apples." The seller recommended, smiling ear to an ear trying to convince his customers.
Gan Xin carved a smile, "I'll take some,"
He planned to feed some for Ma Xing who kept complaining about being hungry and tired.
"Leader!" Sun Ai Er called, running as soon as her eyes found his tall figure.
"Miss Sun?" He inquired, clueless. "You want to buy apples? They look sweet and crunchy."
"Leader, your parents-" She gasped, trying to catch her breath.
Gan Xin automatically held her shoulders, anxious. His heart beat was as if he ran a marathon. "What's wrong with them?!"
Sun Ai Er was surprised by his touch. She felt restless, anxious and finally fell to Gan Xin's arm, on the ground.
"Miss Sun!" He shakes her body gently, worried.
"Uncle, I'll get the apples later." He reminded as he carried Sun Ai Er to the back of the stalls where it was less crowded and less noisy.
She was laid to the floor of rocks while her head laid on Gan Xin's chest.
"Leader," she called, slowly uncovering her brown eyes.
"Miss Sun,"
"Your parents are poisoned by the queen of Wei Zhuang."
Gan Xin furrowed his eyebrows, furious. He couldn't properly arrange his words.
"They said you should bring Wei An Ge back to Wei Zhuang and most importantly, do not waste time."
"Waste time?"
"You shouldn't fall in love with her,"
"I-" He stopped. "Miss Sun, let's get you treated," He changed the topic, picking up Sun Ai Er towards the air.
Her heart felt a slight pain knowing that Gan Xin was liking Wei An Ge. But she was determined to have another try with him. Sun Ai Er had been in love with Gan Xin since the first day he arrived at Hei An Guang and when they hid inside the closet, she was aiming at Gan Xin.