章 18: The History of Revenge of the Lost (Part 1)
Zhang Colony
"Stop struggling," Zhang Li's brother said as Mei-Lin wiggled in her chair. She wasn't tied up, but understandably fidgety. The almost extinct Long colony's Chang Wufei wanted to take her away, and the idiots that were Li's brothers (along with some of the stupid citizens who believed in their ideals) were gathered there to take a stand. A stand for what? For her. All of this, so that she and her unborn didn't go to the Long colony.
Futile, not to mention stupid. Zhang Li or Chang Wufei, they were both going to be the exact same thing. She hardly knew either one. One was from a dissonant probably extremely small colony, and the other was from her own colony but she didn't know him nor favor how he helped her so far in anything. Long or Zhang, the only one that stood up for her was actually the outsider. He stood up for her family's ceremonial robes.
A small gesture, but it did mean there was a shred of honor. Not only that, but a child was involved between two clans where the pride would definitely fight. She may be weak, but she was smart. There was no way she was ending another colony just because she was part of some stupid plan against a former pilot.
She looked over Zhang Li's brother. Today she would be turning up her ability to be annoying to an eleven. She would need time alone to be ready. "Your outfit's stained. Is that what you would have worn to my wedding? Which you were late to, obviously."
"If we could give you away, Mei-Lin, without any kind of honorable strife?" He answered. "I would."
"You are learning the brother roll well. Compliments." She gave him a cheery, crooked smile.
"I hate when you do that. Don't smile like that." He looked away.
"Future brother, can you at least get me something to eat? This isn't good for me, all this stress, especially in my condition. I'd like some water. With some lemon."
"We don't have lemon."
"Then go to my house and get the lemon. This isn't hard. Home isn't more than ten homes away. Which begs the question why Zhang Li didn't feel like he should bother to visit his bride to be more often. We've known each other since we were children. He wouldn't accept my letters before the wedding."
"He was putting off the nightmare as long as possible. Be quiet, Mei-Lin."
"I will be," she insisted. "If someone would get me some water with some lemon already. Oh, and something simple to eat. I don't want very much. Shrimp would be decent." Everyone was getting tired of her. Good. "Fine, ignore my plight. When we go to war and the press ask why, I will be sure to throw off the subject and tell them that in our own colony, they couldn't take care of the nutritional needs of one woman."
"Fine!" One of his brothers said as he got up.
"And my water? With lemon," she insisted to the other one.
"Someone needs to make sure you don't do anything stupid," his other brother said.
She shrugged. It was too easy. She'd do it anyway. "Then who's watching you?"
---
Half an hour. One suitcase. That was decent of him considering the circumstances. Wufei looked at the time. "Woman." He was going to have to go and fetch her. He left the shuttle with the guard again, dealt with the strange stares at him again like he was some mythical extinct creature, until he came back to the marriage area. Li Zhang was still there. Buffoon really expected Wufei to just talk it out and have it resolved. "Where does she live?"
Zhang gave him directions and he headed out with his guard again. The longer he was on the Zhang colony, the worse things could get. He should have just commanded her to come right away but the way she fought for those robes? She needed closure. She apparently knew it wouldn't be a small talk with a tidy resolution.
When he found her address, he found out why she wouldn't come. Three men stood in front of her home, armed. Her family apparently didn't feel like her going was a good idea. "Stop being idiots." Warning one. Normally, that would be all they would get, if his colony had been as strong as it once had been. "Send Wang Mei-Lin out here." He watched one of the men approach with a contract. Seriously?
"No one has to know. There doesn't have to be war," he said to Wufei. "Just leave her be. Whoever is left of your kind, it can't be much."
Warning two. "I won't sign anything away that will shame me or my colony. It doesn't matter the size. Bring Wang Mei-Lin out here."
"It's not a bad contract," one of the others said. "It's just a basic-"
"Don't marry her and take her as my wife kind of contract." Obvious, and that was a bad idea to sign. Did they really think the Long colony would accept such a proposal? The best he could do for them. "She will come with me and adapt to the colony first." That was all he could offer. For her to bear his child and to leave her and it in a state between colonies would only invite war.
Wufei had enough of war. Enough of the senseless violence and bloodshed, especially just in the name of a woman and a child. However, he had to hold that fine line between them. No dishonor toward his colony either. "But before the child is born, it will have the last name Chang."
"Zhang Li is not the only Zhang who has a say around here!"
Oh? They weren't part of her family. "Foolish. You want war?"
"The Zhang say no!" One of them held out a damn sword toward him. "For some extinct Long to come over and steal a woman from us to be one of theirs to make their itty-bitty colony bigger? It's too shameful. We will fight to make sure you do not take what is ours. To make sure every Long member is extinct."
Warnings were over and the three-man crowd gathering was growing to six. Soon, more would be coming. The guard escorting Wufei gave meaningless warnings.
"Chang Wufei!"
Hm? Wufei looked toward the back of the house, toward a back window where Wang Mei-Lin was trying to sneak out of. They had locked her up so she couldn't comply. He quickly moved over there. The room was empty now. Shifty woman. He snuck in. He heard footsteps moving back and forth, but they were too heavy. The light-footed ones were to the right. As he started to head that way, she shoved a piece of paper in his face with a pen.
"Hurry it up or things will get worse." She moved in front of him and laid herself to the ground in a bowing crouch. "In the name of peace, a token between the Zhang and the Long." She glanced to him. "Zhang Li offered me as a gift. At least, it is what I assume? He wasn't that clear."
Wufei raised his eyebrow a moment as he signed. "I accept." Since others were claiming he was stealing her, she was countering them. By saying Zhang Li offered her as a peaceful gift, and making a contract? She diverted the problem. It was clear she wanted no one hurt any more than he did. "Follow me."
They both walked out, looks of disapproval at both of them as Wufei held out the paper. He moved back to the shuttle with her almost obediently behind him. A few times someone had tried to throw something at him, but he quickly evaded it or knocked it away. Some things were thrown at Wang Mei-Lin, but she didn't do anything reckless. Just kept going. Typical. Those that didn't fight in the large wars craved real action. A chance to be in the history books. They were too naïve.
Just in time too. Zhang Li was headed toward them. Truthfully, Zhang Li only postponed his marriage, he never said he was giving her away. That was Mei-Lin's interpretation, which would only last for so long. He was hoping for it to be long enough to get to the shuttle.
"Wang Mei-Lin!" Li started to yell. "Do not say that I gave you as a gift to Chang Wufei! That is going to hurt my reputation! Mei-Lin! I stopped the marriage, but I never said that!"
"Oh? I was confused," she lied. "I mean, you were willing to let Mei-Hua steal my ceremonial robes. As a woman, I had assumed such a move meant you were giving me away and choosing to marry her. Oh well."
Nope. Almost to the shuttle, and Wufei was not risking it. It was a good move, especially with that excuse, but it wouldn't last long. The Zhang would come over to his colony to argue about it. Things could get deadly, fast.
"A conversation with her, and a postponement only," Li Zhang insisted. He crossed his arms. "Unless, when it's born, it matches your blood."
Hm.
"Do not marry Wang Mei-Lin. We will sign a contract, here and now." Zhang Li gestured to himself. "If the blood of the child does not match with you, she and it are mine and belong to this colony. If they do match with yours. This colony will have no more say over them. No war, just a civil arrangement."
"You come up with a decent contract both colonies can settle on, and then I may sign. Wang Mei-Lin. On the shuttle."
"Without some form of written contract, you can't take-"
"She was a gift," Wufei interrupted him. That's how they managed to even get to the shuttle. It was the best way. Yes, it made him look bad, but it was how it had to be. "Like it or not, she is coming with me." Finicky and stupid. This Li acted like he was going to marry the other woman. He was only interested in Mei-Lin now because of the contract Mei-Lin wrote. Shameful.
"Temporary, with exclusions," Li finally gave in. "A genuine contractor, not whatever messy writing you signed with her. No loopholes. Two contracts, here and now."
Fine. He wasn't swimming in options. Wufei waited in his shuttle as a decent contractor was brought out to create two of them. It was simple. Wufei could have her in a friend status, but he could not do anything with her a husband would or could do. Not that he wanted anything anyway. Wufei had that status up until the child was born. If anything happened and the pregnancy was terminated, he would be responsible for bringing her right back. The second contract involved the birth of the child and duties and responsibilities of each party.
Finally, it was all signed and officially a sealed deal without any bloodshed.
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