Chapter 21: His Past - Life Changing Incident
Chenglie realised he was found out by Shihong and tried to escape but was caught by Shihong. Shihong held Chenglie prisoner in a abandoned place and drugged him and tortured him for information about the divine ruler because he was sure he knew. Chenglie never revealed any information and that’s when Shihong showed him a painting of Xing. That painting was done by Chenglie as he found good drawing materials in a mansion they looted. It was his hobby to paint back in the Imperial Palace and he missed Xing very much,in the earlier days he joined the gang, so he painted her. It was a painting of his first sight of her, when she was playing in the snow with the white tiger and the cubs. It had been two years since then and Chenglie always had that painting hidden it on himself and it was now in Shihong’s hands.
"Is this girl your lover? Cute girl! Should I bring her head here for you to reveal what you know? Or should I bring your ninth brother to accompany her too? Maybe they’ll be lovely together in the underworld", he threarened and gave him time to think about it and left.
Chenglie felt helpless, angry and despair all at once and he thought his life would end and that’s when a masked man in crimson robes entered and saved him. He gave the antidote for the drugs and left wordless. Mysterious man!
Chenglie then stayed in Caijing, the capital of the Western Province and was plotting to kill Shihong who was said to be there. He cannot allow him to live any longer! He knows way too much!
That day he saw Shihong entering the library in the dark after hours . He smiled as an opportunity had presented itself and followed him inside secretly. Shihong started reading in the history section with a lantern by his side.
Chenglie attacked him by surprise ,but Shihong dodged him with his halberd. It was the same halberd that their master had saying a god was trapped inside. Shihong told him how he had killed their master and the next one would be the divine ruler. In their fight, the lantern fell to the wooden floor and the fire began to spread. Since the library was filled with dry paper the entire place started spreading inside in a high pace.
Till now Chenglie didn’t know why or how long Xing was there that night, but while he was escaping the fire planning to leave Shihong trapped in there, Xing appeared in front of him. She had grown taller and she was stunned to see him too. But soon her expression changed and she was in despair looking at him, "My Prince! What happened to you?", she asked softly holding his cheeks. She had tears in her eyes, probably because of the fire because he had never seen her cry.
Right! What happened to me..... ?
But is she crying for me? He looked at the tears falling from her eyes.
Chenglie held his heart that hurt like it would burst. All the stuff he did in the past two years came to his memory. All the pleadings and all the blood he spilled. Even now after knowing Xing was in danger his mind only thought about how to kill Shihong and not on how to protect Xing....