章 18: Don't Tell Me

Her voice made a resounding boom within a circumference of a hundred steps. The trees and plants shook, the animals within the estate rose to still alertness, but the oddest thing of it all... was that birds hadn't flown away. They remained on their perches... because they hadn't felt fear, their minds, instead, were ready to strike if summoned.

At this moment in the grand hall, Madame Lei sat with her pet dog on her lap. Suddenly, the dog stood with his ears and tail in thorough alertness. It faced where Anjing Pavilion was located. Madame Lei followed the dog's line of sight and her eyes squinted.

Kuàilè woke inside Xinyi's dress but didn't tweet. She stood vigilant as she felt her master's emotion; It was mixed emotions of anger and disappointment. Frustrations gnawed inside Xinyi.

While these things transpired, her pendant and the object in his purse glowed together. The soft and lonely voice whispered in Lei Ming's ears again.

"My heart is in pain. Ming 'er, why?" the whisper said.

Perchance, Xinyi spoke afterward, "Why are you and my family are treating me like this?"

Lei Ming could not speak, totally stunned as the two voices intermingled inside his head as if only one person spoke. He stood there unmoving, not just because he was stupefied... but his body was completely rendered immobile right now. His body refused to obey his brain's commands. Ming felt as though time froze at this very moment, but his mind and eyes were not affected.

Lei Ming saw Xinyi stood from the bushes with her chest glowing but the pendant was inside her garment. He saw her looked at him with her big sad eyes on an egg-shaped face while in between his long nose and cupid's bow's lips were smudges of black ink of which by now was like a thick and unevenly cut mustache.

A few parts of her forehead and portions of her face had black ink. In other words, he couldn't tell she was pretty or not with the paints slathered on her face. However, those sad eyes combined with the lonely statements he heard, Ming felt like two arrows smote his heart... and winced as he felt piercing pain within his chest. For the first time, he wanted to look at her again and talk to her. But then realized he was the one who pushed her away.

While Ming could not move, Xinyi bounced out from her hiding place and stood on a tree branch. She sadly looked at him one last time and turned her back. Xinyi left with a tied cloth in her hand as she jumped from one tree to another.

Lei Ming stood powerless, helpless, and ashamed for what he did until she disappeared from his sight. Right after she vanished, he felt his body's mobility was back, and he could speak again.

"Wai…wait! Don't leave." Lei Ming followed her with urgency, using the fastest speed he could muster. It would amaze an observer to see his feet hardly touched the ground as if he was exactly flying. However... she was nowhere to be found. He went to the brook, to the middle of the forest, to a cave he explored before and throughout the estate, but... no trace of Xinyi, not even her shadow.

The last place he checked was Anjing Pavilion. The courtyard was now clean, aside from the inner portion of the house. He sat on the stairs and thought of Xinyi's glowing chest and the object in his purse.

"The fairy last night wore a glowing necklace, and the Xian girl this morning was also wearing one. Don't tell me that lady fairy last night and my wife are one? But…"

Ming was still in denial. He went in and walked directly to where Xinyi laid last night and foolishly tried to find even a clue just to prove his assumptions were wrong. Mostly his conscience pricked him. There he saw the leaves and grass on the broken tiled floor. He raised his hand and wind blew and the leaves flew to a corner, revealing folded clothes underneath the pile.

Those were her other normal clothes, including a dark red cloth folded properly. He pulled the cloth and saw a stained portion. Ming looked at it closely and smelled moss and something else... fish. His eyes and mouth were frozen wide open, staring straight at the cloth as an image popped up in his head. The image was the silhouette of the lady playing with the fish at the brook.

"This cloth… it could be the cloth she used to wrap herself?"

Ming breathed deep to make sure he was right, and it did smell of fish. His gaze went to the stain and rubbed his hand on it. It was green and easily scattered. Ming excitedly ran back to the brook and went to where she changed her clothes. There, a part of the moss below the tree was freshly brushed off.

He ran back to the villa and checked her other clothes and saw the dress that matched the one she wore after changing. Ming seriously tried to connect the dots but refused to admit it even now.

"No, it can't be true. She couldn't be the fairy lady. If she was, how come...?" Then he recalled those eyes, so sad, so lonely. "I must apologize. Damn, what was I doing?

Ming walked out and jumped up from the roof and observed the ground from the brook. He spotted an area where long grasses parted in the middle and jumped in that direction. It was a freshly created path and there were marks of running footprints heading toward the pavilion and... turned his gaze to where it came from and saw with clarity that it was a long line of footprints... exactly from the forest.

His heart pumped wildly and..., "It could be her." That very instant regret swallowed him whole. "What have I done? Why didn't I suspect her to be that lady fairy last night? If she was that fairy, then why did her father make her my wife since he's against me? What is going on here? What am I missing? I need to talk to her."

He kicked every ounce of his regrets to a rock, and it flew straight toward the forest. Ming looked heavenward and lifted his fists in the air and screamed at the top of his lungs. "Arrrgh! I'm so stupid."

In the grand hall, everyone cringed as Ming's loud yell reverberated within the estate, frightening the dog from the old Madame's lap. However, the Madame sat unperturbed… She chuckled.

"Haha, foolish son. He is so slow to realize what type of girl he married. Hoho, this is getting interesting." And said to Lei An. "Dear, prepare a villa for me. I think my visit will take longer than I expected." And continued to laugh.

But in her mind, 'Ah, I need to take matters in my hand so this two will learn to work together or else ...'