Enduring Like the Plum in Winter

梅子 (Plum): 八

The carriage wheels creaked and groaned, protesting much more freely than Meiying had been able to as she was dressed in a pink hanfu and veil and sent off down the road the next day, to decline a proposal that was not her own.

Fenfang was the only other one who knew of Xuejun's scheme, as she was now forced to play the attending role that would have otherwise gone to Meiying that day. The two of them sat in the carriage across from each other in silence, unable to do much more than hope that the ordeal would be over with soon. If they were found out, they knew, it would not be the princess who would be at fault.

After what seemed like hours, the carriage rolled to a halt, and Meiying looked out the window, careful to keep her veil across her face.

"Are we there?" she asked one of the attending guards, who shook his head.

"Another couple hours, at least," he said. "We're just letting the horses rest for a moment." Behind him, Meiying could see the other guards beginning to dismount their own horses. "Would you like to step out of the carriage for a while, your highness?"

Meiying was about to answer, when something bright caught her eye, streaking through the sky. For a moment, she thought it was a red bird, until it landed with a thunk against the side of the carriage, and flames began to lick at the lacquered wood.

"Arrows! We're under attack!" the guard shouted, and the others hurried to attention – but it was too late. As Meiying watched, a swarm of figures in dark-colored clothes emerged from the trees around them, quickly overpowering the guards.

"Fenfang!" Meiying hissed to her terrified friend. "Out of the carriage! Quickly! Head for the woods!"

Fenfang threw open the carriage door on the other side, but was stopped immediately as the silver gleam of a blade came into view.

"Now, who do we have here?" a voice said, and the owner of the sword stepped into view.

The young man was dressed in black from head to toe, with his hair kept half-up in a topknot by a polished wooden pin. She might have considered him handsome, Meiying thought, had she not been so terrified.

The man smiled when he saw Meiying. "Well, hello," he said, quite cheerfully.

"Do – do I know you?" Meiying asked, confused by his friendliness.

He smirked. "Rather, I know you, princess," he said. "But I'm sure you'll get to know me and my friends soon enough. You'll be coming with us."

Fenfang and Meiying exchanged a brief, horrified glance. In all their worrying, being robbed, kidnapped, and found out as imposters had been so horrible, neither had even been able to consider it happening.

Meiying swallowed. "If you let me and my maid go, you can have whatever you wish," she said, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice.

"Oh, I'm not interested in that," the man said.

Meiying took a breath to steady herself. "Then let her go."

The man's eyebrows raised. "You must really care for her."

Meiying bit her lip. She had to be careful not to make him suspicious – the princess was not known for being nice. If he found out who they really were, and became useless to this man, he would kill them for certain.

"I believe the carriage is burning," Meiying snapped, her fear suddenly making her bold. "Are you going to let us out or not?"

The man stepped back in a mocking bow, allowing for Fenfeng and Meiying to clamber out of the vehicle. Once they were safely away from the flames, Meiying was able to look around and see that their guards had been merely knocked unconscious and tied up, and not killed, like she had originally thought.

A suspicion began to grow in Meiying's mind, and she slowly turned back to the man with the sword, studying the other attackers around them as she did so. They all wore homespun clothes of a dark color, and aside from this man who was obviously their leader, they wore green kerchiefs tied around the lower half of their faces to disguise themselves.

"You're the Friends of Winter!" Meiying said, half-forgetting her fear as she looked back at the man in awe.

He tilted his head, gauging her overeager reaction. "We are," he confirmed. "I'm Dongsheng. And you, it seems, are not the princess."

~*~

Dongsheng took the maid named Fenfang and not-the-princess Meiying back to the Friends of Winter's camp deep in the forest. The band had been camped in their location for a week, and would soon be moving west, closer to the capital. When they had received news of the princess's carriage heading east to a nearby town, Dongsheng and his men had thought it a perfect opportunity to get the emperor's attention.

But as their luck would have it, this Meiying had been in the carriage instead, and they were no closer to bringing the emperor's attention to the suffering of his country than before. Dongsheng frowned at the blue- and pink-clad backs of the two maids they had now ended up with. What were they supposed to do with these two now?

"You don't think all that color is going to stand out?" Baoshan, Dongsheng's second-in-command, muttered as they continued through the forest. Sunlight filtered down on the party in various hues of green, but Meiying's bright outfit clashed with the more muted colors that the others wore.

Speaking of catching attention.

Dongsheng reached up to unclasp his cloak, slipping it off quickly and throwing it across the fake princess's shoulders.

"Here," he said, making sure the fabric was fully settled before letting go. "It's safer if you wear this."

She startled, looking up at him with wide eyes, before taking the dark material and pulling it more tightly around herself. "Thank you."

The rest of their trip passed in silence. When they reached camp, Baoshan took it upon himself to find the two ladies a tent, while Dongsheng felt obligated to answer their questions.

"You're really heading to the palace?" Fenfang asked nervously after he had explained. "But there's no way you could possibly break in! You and your men will be caught for sure!"

"It was our original plan before you two showed up," Dongsheng said. "The crown contains a rare diamond that, if we steal, will be able to feed five villages for an entire year."

"Why are you telling us this?" Meiying said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"Well, you can't go back to the palace," Dongsheng said. "Unless you'd like to be executed for impersonating royalty. You are, however, free to leave and go elsewhere. But I was more hoping you might be willing to help us."

"I don't know..." Fenfang said, looking nervously between the two of them. "It's too dangerous."

But Dongsheng had caught the glimmer of determination brimming in Meiying's eyes, and waited for her to speak before losing hope completely.

"It's true the emperor does not care much for his subjects," she said slowly. "And I've seen firsthand how the princess is set to follow in his footsteps." She paused. "How would we be able to help?"

The corners of his lips twitched upwards in a small smile.

"How well do you know the layout of the palace?"

Meiying and Fenfang exchanged a glance.

"I think we can help with that," Meiying said, just as Baoshan walked up to rejoin them. "And a little more, besides."

Baoshan looked over at Dongsheng. "Did they just agree to help us?"

He smiled. "Sounds like it."

Baoshan's grin matched Dongsheng's own. "Well ladies," he said. "Welcome to the Friends of Winter!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ughhh what is life.  I was supposed to have posted this chapter last week but I had no time - how is it almost the end of January already??  I'm just glad I have all the chapters written out now so I just need to remember to post them before the contest deadline haha.  How is everyone doing?  Thank you all for reading this far - I love reading your comments and seeing your reactions as the story progresses!