Li Jin Qing: The one behind it all

Epilogue 2: Smiles

Tian Xiang tilted his head up towards the sky, his eyes closed and his face relaxed against the sweet summer breeze. He did his best to ignore the sound of screaming women, their begs of mercy and vows of vengeance after death. Anyone who knew who they were would have been confused at such behavior; they used to be refined ladies of rank with silver tongues and golden smiles. They used to be dressed in silk and precious jewels, not thick chains and and heavy manacles.
The two women continued cursing him. Even the most prideful of humans can crumble at the face of death.

He squinted at the sun. It was shining too brightly for such a gloomy day.

His eyes drifted away from the shining ball of fire and back to the crowd watching the two women. Was she standing amongst them, watching it all? He had heard about how she disappeared from the face of the earth right before the coronation of the new emperor of the Wei. No one-- not even her closest friends and family-- knew where she went.

Tian Xiang chuckled. It's been two years since he last saw her in that forest, but her face was hard to forget. Those focused eyes and piercing glare... It should have been child's play to see her among the blurry faces in the crowd. He didn't dare lose hope as he continued searching for her. He knew of her deep hatred for these two women, so she wouldn't miss this for anything in the world.
If that's the case, where is she?

The two women— Gui Fei and Huan Le— continued to scream out their woes and their cries for pity, but treason had been declared and he had long sentenced them both to death. To save them some face, he allowed them to die by hanging rather than the more gruesome death worthy of a traitor, but he would not give them the pleasure of life.
Their execution was one of the many reasonable terms presented by the Wei Emperor, and one that he couldn't disagree with. After all, he had reason to believe that she would go after his head and throne if she found out that he didn't execute her two mortal enemies. After all— she'd already taken the life of one of her enemies herself, and she would like to see that her life goal was complete.

Eventually, noise gave into silence, and the two criminals were dead.

The crowd started to disperse, and he tried his best to look into the crowd to spot her. All the faces mixed together as bodies moved through the crowd, but he could have sworn he saw a woman dressed in common clothes with a familiar-looking smirk before she disappeared into the crowd.

He smiled to himself. Of course, she would be watching it all. She always would be.

So of course Tian Xiang wasn't surprised to find a simple, handwritten note resting on top of all his papers when he returned to his room after such an exhausting day. It was simple and he didn't recognize the handwriting, but he knew who it was as soon as he read the few words written on it.

Thank you, He read out loud to himself. For what you've done.

Who knew there would be a day where he'd get a thank-you note from a woman he'd once locked up in prison?

Tian Xiang read the note over and over and over again. First to himself, and then out loud once more. He didn't need to look around or ask any guards to patrol the area. He knew she was watching, and that she knew what he was trying to say.

It was late and the moon was beyond its peak in the sky, but Tian Xiang ordered two steamed buns to be made and sent to him from the kitchens. He didn't touch the steamed buns, but rather left it on the table with the note she had left him.

Those two steamed buns would be gone tomorrow morning.