by Tony Tran
Touched and feeling sympathy for her Yue Lao gave her a mystical treasure. It was a single strand of red string. The red string looked just like any other strand of string however it had a very unique power. The red string was also called by some as the String of Fate which helps guides lovers to one another.
“Young maiden waiting in the dark, tear no more, wait no longer, for this string will guide thy.” Yue Lao said to the young maiden as he handed her the string and flew up into the sky toward the moon.
Once receiving the string from Yue Lao the young maiden set out to find her beloved. In her hands the red strand of string became invisible to everyone but her it also became incredible long and one of its ends could not be seen due to how far It was from the other end. She tied it to her pinky finger and followed it.
After many months of following the string it led her into a deep forest in a remote valley and then to a small cottage. Once she opened the door she could see the young man that had left her laying on a bed wrapped in bandages.
Later a middle aged man returned to the cottage and after sometime told her what had happened. The middle aged man was a hermit who lived off the forest and one day while scavenging he happened upon this young man.
“It was a miracle that this young man even survived the fall. There were many arrows sticking out of his back when I found him and it seemed like he had fallen off the cliff above. But amazingly he was alive and kept on mumbling someone’s name before he went unconscious.” The hermit said. The hermit decided it was fate that they met so he took care of the unconscious man.
The young maiden then began living in the small cottage to help take care of the unconscious young man and one day he woke up and they two of them lived on happily ever after. From then on Yue Lao was known as the god of love.
Ling had found out from her father that the Red String of Fate was within the treasury of the Heilong Kingdom. Her father had tried to acquire it for her but the king rarely gave out such mystical items so all was in vain. But if she placed in the top ten then she would have a chance to enter the treasury and pick one item.
As Ling sat in the library reading her book a voice rang out.
“Hello there I’m a bit lost can you help me find my way?” The voice said.
Once Ling heard the voice a wave of nostalgia hit her. The voice sounded so familiar yet she could not tell who it was. When she looked up she saw a tall man dressed in full black armor. From the small opening in his helmet Ling could see his eyes.
The second she saw his eyes a face flashed through her mind.
“It it’s you.” She said as tears began rolling down her rosy cheeks. Despite her words her mind was screaming, “it can’t be him.”
She always believed the he did not die and waited for him to return to her however seeing him in front of her was an entirely different story. It had been so long and for him to suddenly appear her mind could no process everything.
Ling had always imagined that they would meet in some far away land where Zhang ended up and was so injured he could not return just like in the story of the red string. One could say that she was in denial the entire time but then it turned out that she wasn’t in denial at all. A mass of contradiction happened within her mind.
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Zhang stood there staring at Ling not knowing what to say. Of course the question is what could he have said in such a situation? He had been gone for almost three years and everyone thought he was died. Well he actually did die to make things worse.
As he stood there he could see the tears rolling down her eyes which made his heart clench.
His reasoning and logic told him that he shouldn’t have approached her yet however a part of him longed to be with Ling and his family and in the end that part got the better of him. Plans and strategies could only take one so far in the end it is the heart and soul of a person that is the deciding factor in life.
Thus he began slowly walking toward her. It also seemed that Ling had recognized him and got up from her chair and slowly walked toward him. The slowness soon began to grow quicker and eventually turned into full on running. Well of course they weren’t running more like speed walking because who runs in this sort of situation.
The table where Ling sat was pretty far from the door but after a few moments the two were in each other’s embrace. There were no words that needed to be said because the warmth that they gave off was more than enough.
Zhang had taken off his helmet and tossed it into the air where it turned into white light and was stored into his interspatial ring.
Once Ling saw his face she was one hundred percent certain that it was him. She used her delicate hand to trace his face and more tears could be seen rolling down her cheeks.
Zhang pulled off one of his gauntlets and used his hand to wipe away the tears on her face then went back to hugging her by the waist.
Yuying and Ai watched from afar with a hint of envy in their eyes however bright smiles could be seen on their faces. They were envious of the relationship that Ling had with Zhang while they were happy for Zhang. They knew that had they been in Ling’s place he could certainly embrace them like he is doing to her.
Ling and Zhang stood in the middle of the hall embracing in their own little world until a voice rang out from the door.
“There you guys are! I’ve been looking for…. you….”
When everyone turned and looked to the door they could see Huang Zu standing there with a stunned look on his face.
“Wha-what are you doing to my future wife!” Huang Zu yelled still confused by the sight that he saw. He had noticed that the trio was gone after walking and talking by himself and turned back to look for them. When he entered the room he only saw Zhang’s back but when everyone turned around he saw that Zhang was embracing Ling.
“Your future wife? I’m sorry but even though this is the first time I met her it seems she has taken a liking to me.” Zhang replied trying to make it seem like he did not know Ling.
“First time we’ve met?” Ling asked in her mind. But as smart as she was she could guess that Zhang was up to something so she did not say a word.
“Bu-but you already have two wives.” Huang Zu said.
Upon hearing his words Ling’s gaze fell onto Yuying and Ai. Although half of their faces were covered she could tell that they were very beautiful maybe even more then she was.
“Who are they?” She murmured.
“So what if I have two wives already? I can have a third and even a fourth if I wanted to. I’m the next lord of Aurora I could have a hundred wives and no one could stop me. I’m sorry brother but it seemed like she really has taken a liking to me and I to her.” Zhang said to Huang Zu as he pulled her closer to him with his arm wrapped around her waist.
“Don’t worry even though I believe love at first sight is for lonely people I feel that we can spend some time to get to know each other and perhaps then we can marry.” Zhang said while turning back and looking at Ling with a wink.
“Ye-yes I don’t mind that he has two wives.” Ling said in a whisper with a blushed face.
“See? I’m sorry brother but she doesn’t mind.” Zhang commented. As he saw it Huang Zu was his equal in terms of status. Although Aurora was not big enough to be labeled a kingdom it was still a force to be reckon with so the king of the Heilong kingdom would not get involved in something such as this. Also this was the Aurora of the past the current Aurora could most likely consider itself a small kingdom after Zhang had taken Red Mist city.
“You you! Gahhhhh!” Huang Zu yelled as he stormed out of the room.
“Welp glad he’s gone.” Zhang said with a shrug.
“You mind telling me who they are?” Ling said while pointing at Yuying and Ai. Although she said what she said she was still utterly confused and had no idea who these two girls were.
“My second and third wives after you of course.” Zhang sai
d as he hugged Ling once more.
“Waaahhh?” Ling said.
“Who who said we are going to marry you brother!” Yuying yelled along with Ai.
Zhang stopped hugging Ling and held on to her hand and lead her to the door where Yuying and Ai were standing. Once in front of Yuying and Ai a big silly grin appears on Zhang’s face.
“Who said? I did.” Zhang said while laughing as he used his free hand to pull Yuying and Ai toward him by the waist and then hugged them with Ling. Physically Zhang was stronger than the three beauties so they could not break out of his embrace and after a while just went along with it.
After a while the group of four sat down and Zhang told Ling what he had gone through over ever since the day the Siwang Empire attacked. They gone to Ling’s room to make sure no one was around to eavesdrop on them.
Once everyone sat down Zhang began telling his tale. He started off from when he fought the general in golden armor back in Blue Tear city and how he had died. Then he went on to talk about the underworld and how he had tried to escape but failed. His encounter with Xin Tao was also spoken of.
From there he met and Yuying escaped to through the Pool of Regrets and ended up back in the world of the living. And how Ai came out of nowhere. Zhang went on in detail about the Lightning Eater snake, Frost Emperor ape, and the Voracious Eater lion while pointing at his scale armor and showing Ling the two daggers.
Then came Jian Wei and the pirate raid at sea which almost costed them their lives. From there Zhang went on to talk about Red Mist city, and the ruins of the Sai empire.
Ling sat listening in silence and awe at some of the things he was talking about. In three years Zhang had been literally to the pits of hell and back. The things he did and encountered were not what regular people would go through in their entire lives.
She found some parts hard to process, other parts to be very exciting, and listened quietly. From the story Ling could tell the Yuying and Ai had been through thick and thin with Zhang which made a part of her somewhat accept their being around him.
As a woman of course she did not wish to share her man with anyone but realistically in this time and age most men had multiple wives and who was she to deny Yuying and Ai’s love for Zhang. The three of them had been through countless hardships so it was not her place to tell them what they could and could not do.
After completing his story Zhang asked Ling no to tell anyone of his identity. He did not want to cause unwanted trouble for his family. He still thought that it would be better to secretly meet his family then to do it publicly. Because as the next ruler of Aurora people will find it odd that his father is a minister in the Heilong kingdom. That would then make the king suspicious of his family and that wouldn’t lead to anything good.
“Brother where will you be staying?” Ling asked.
“The king had made arrangements for us to stay in a private villa. Do you perhaps want to stay with me?” Zhang said with a grin on his face.
“Sta-stay with you?” Ling said with blushed cheeks.
“Yea then we can go sightseeing together, I’d much rather you take me around then that other guy. And you get three can get to know each other better. Since I’m going to marry all three of you.” Zhang said in a playful tone while getting up from his seat.
Yuying, Ai and Ling all could be seen blushing once they heard his words.
“Who’s going to marry you!?” All three of them yelled.
“You three of course!!” He replied as walked to each of them and planted a kiss on their cheeks.
Chapter 40: Proposes?
With three beauties behind him Zhang walked toward the entrance of the Royal Academy. It was time for him to meet back up with his men waiting outside. Once they reached the entrance of the academy the group was greeted by the hundred soldiers that were left to be Zhang’s guards.
“My lord and madams.” A soldier saluted by kneeling on one knee along with the rest of the soldiers.
“At ease men.” Zhang said as he patted one soldier on the soldier.
“My lord the prince had left earlier and by the looks of it he looked somewhat unhappy. However, one of his men had left us with directions to the villa. Also we were told that the king will hold an audience with us tomorrow.” The soldier that was talking to Zhang before said.
“Alright then before we head to the villa then we have one stop we must make. Also from today onward she will be one of the madams too.” Zhang said as he held Ling’s hand.
When Zhang held her hand in front of so many people she began to blush However she did not pull her hand back from his grasp but instead held on to it even more tightly. She had lost him one time already so she was not willing to lose him again.
Since they only had so many horses Zhang decided to ride with Ling. So after he jumped onto his horse he extended his hand down toward her. Soon she was sitting in front of him and his arms were wrapped around her waist as they rode down the street.
As they rode through the streets they received many strange looks. Zhang looked like a prince on top of his horse with three out of the world beauties by hide side. Along with his one hundred guards on top of their horses.
Many gazes of envy were laid upon the group as they rode down the street. Zhang, Yuying and Ai were used to this by now but Ling was still somewhat shy. She had spent most of her time training and had never caught this much attention before.
Pretty soon they arrived in front of a large mansion with a sign with the word Wu written on it. This was the home of the minister of war. But the strange thing was there were many carriages in front of the mansion.
Zhang changed his mind about not interacting with his family or Ling’s after he saw that Huang Zu had a liking for Ling. He felt that if he did not act then maybe her family would be pressured into marrying her away to the prince against her will.
People often say serving a king was like serving a tiger. If you kept them happy you will live if they are displeased, then you might get eaten alive. So Zhang had to ensure that Ling would stay his hence the reason he paid his visit to her family home today.
He was going to use his status as the next lord of Aurora to ask for her hand in marriage. Of course as just a formality because they were already engaged.
Once everyone dismounted a servant from the mansion ran out to greet them.
“Young lady your back! The lord will be very happy to know you came home. You also brought back friends.” The servant said.
“Yes I’m home to visit father and I have good news to tell him. Also who do these carriages belong to?” Ling asked although she what had an idea of who they belonged it.
“Ah yes princes Huang Zu had come earlier looking for your father.” The servant replied.
“Is that so, lead the way I would also like to meet father also.” Ling said.
“Right away young lady.” The servant said as he led the way.
Leaving their horses outside Zhang, Yuying, Ai and the one hundred guards followed behind Ling. After a while Ling led the group to a large hall in the mansion. Outside of the hall a few dozen soldiers could be seen standing. These were most likely the guards of prince Huang Zu.
In the hall they could see Ling’s father sitting in a large chair at the very end of the hall while Huang Zu could be seen sitting in a chair to his side talking. In the middle of the hall were many boxes with extravagant gifts inside of them.
“Father I’m home.” Ling said as she entered the hall.
“Ling you came home at just the right time! I’ve come to ask your father for your hand in marriage.” Huang Zu said once he saw Ling walking into the room. However, when he saw Zhang walk in after her a slight frown could be seen on his face.
“Daddy’s little girl finally came home?” Ling’s dad said with a large grin on his face as he walked up and hugged her. As he hugged her he noticed the trio standing behind her along with the group of black armored soldiers outside.
“Are they perhaps your frie
nds?” He asked Ling.
“Yes father.” Ling said politely.
The two of them seemed to totally ignore what Huang Zu had said.
“Hello Minister Wu, I’ve come from Aurora city and happened to meet your daughter and fell for her at first sight. So I came here today to ask for her hand in marriage.” Zhang said and with a wave of his hand many treasures appeared from out of thin air.
Once Ling’s father heard Zhang’s voice a stunned look appeared on his face. But he did not say anything about it.
“That puts me in a bad position. As you may have heard Prince Huang Zu has also wanted my daughter’s hand in marriage. But I only have one daughter. So how can I marry a daughter to both of you.” Ling’s father said.