Empress Of The Lost Kingdom

Eighteen years ago,

The evenings in the downtown market in the Jing city was always busy with people who are going home on work. It is the time when most of the restaurants in the market get most of the customers. In one of the restaurants, Mei Rong and Li Qin were busy with serving and clearing the tables which have used by the customers. Even though Li Qin didn't have a moment rest, she repeatedly looked at the clock kept in the wall.

"Is everything alright, Li Qin?" Mei Rong asked her friend who appeared uneasy. 

"It is already half-past five, why kids aren't here yet? "

"It is Friday, they must have been playing in the park," 

Even though Mei Rong tried to pacify Li Qin, she was unable to feel at ease. What if someone took Li Juan away from her?

"Mama," Qiao Chu called his mother in a panic.

Hearing Qiao Chu's voice, Li Qin ran out of the kitchen only to see that, Li Juan standing in the corner with downcasted eyes.

Li Qin rushed towards her daughter. 

"What happened Lili?" Li Qin held Li Juan's shoulder and raised her face. There was a bruise on Li Juan's face.

"What is this? Did your classmates teased you again?" Li Qin examined her daughter's face. 

"Those little monsters, what are their parents teaching them? How can they hit a girl?" Mei Rong asked in anger. 

"Mama, it wasn't them. It was Jie who hit them." Qiao Chu said in a proud face.

"What?" Li Qin and Mei Rong was equally shocked. Most of the time, kids at school used to bully Li Juan, but this was the first time she defended herself.

"It was Jie who hit that boy." Qiao Chu began to explain. 

"They were teasing her- they tried to pull her pants to check whether she is a boy."

"Oh, my God!!!!!!" Li Qin embraced her daughter." Are you alright, Lili?"

"Hmmm," She said in a low voice.

"Jie just punched his face and kicked him down. If the teacher wasn't there, Jie would have broken his face."

"Well, They deserved it." Mei Rong looked at Li Juan. "How can they mistake, our pretty girl as a boy?"

"It is because she dresses up like me, everyone thinks that Jie is my gege," Qiao Chu said with an innocent voice.

"Huh, why are you dressing like a boy? You are a girl, you should wear pretty dresses." Mei Rong suggested. Li Juan always dressed up as a boy, no wonder that people mistake her as a boy.

"No," Li Juan said in a determined tone. "I don't want to be a girl."

"Huh?" 

"Lili," Li Qin called her daughter. "What did mama say?"

"Mama loves Lili, whether Lili is a girl or a boy." Li Juan said reluctantly. 

"Mama loves my baby," Li Qin ruffled Li Juan's short hair. "Go and take a bath, mama will come home earlier and let's make dumplings together."

"No, no, go sit there, let's eat chicken today," Mei Rong said.

"Come Jie," Qiao Chu held Li Juan's hand and walked towards his room.

"What happened to Lili, why is she saying like that?" Mei Rong asked Li Qin.

"She heard it from someone that, I would've been happier if I had a son rather than a daughter. It is more expensive to raise a girl. Because of that, she is even refusing to wear dresses and frocks. She says that it suffocates her."

"Huh, who is saying these stupid things to kids?" Mei Rong got angry.

"My only wish is to see my kid being happy and enjoying her life like everyone else. I wish people would stop judging her because of her skin colour and clothes she wear." Li Qin sighed.

"Princess," Lin Li-Hui woke up Li Juan from her memories. "Are you alright?"

"Hmm,"

"Master, Dr Su has reached." One of the maids informed Bai Zhu.

"Princess," Bai Zhu called Li Juan's name. "When you finish your breakfast, go and meet Dr Su."

" I am finished." Li Juan didn't have any appetite after the incident happened in the dining room. So she excused herself from there and went to back to her room to take her medical records.

"I hope nobody will repeat the conversation all you had with the princess." Bai Qi said as a warning. 

"When the right time comes, I will inform her about it. There is no need to rush."

When Li Juan came back from her room, she ran into Zhang Zi Zhong in the corridor.

"Princess," Zhang Zi Zhong called her with a worried face. Li Juan has changed her clothes and wore a normal cardigan with T-shirt and jeans.

"Please don't mind Bai Yu's words. He used to be closer to my daughter." He tried to explain Bai Yu impulsive behaviour.

"Please don't worry about that. I've been called worse- it is no big deal." Li Juan said with a smile.

"But still," Even though Li Juan remained nonchalant, Zhang Zi Zhong felt bad for her.

"It's alright. They are my cousins."

"Hmmm." 

"If you don't mind, can you help me to get my identification documents?" Li Juan requested him. "I seriously can't sleep in the night, worrying about that."

"Sure." Zhang Zi Zhong assured her.

"Then I will leave,"

"Let me accompany you," Zhang Zi Zhong suggested. Li Juan smiled in agreement and walked with him.

An infirmary is situated in the palace vicinities. Zhang Zi Zhong accompanied her to the hospital and waited for Li Juan when she went to meet the doctor.

The doctor was a kind-looking woman in her mid-forties. Apart from the doctor, there were a nurse and a young resident doctor in the consultation room.

"Good morning, princess." They greeted her. 

Li Juan looked at them in surprise, how did they know that she is the princess?

"Hi, my name is Li Juan." She introduced herself and low-key instructing them to avoid calling her "princess".

"Oh, you're a name-" The doctor tried to start a conversation.

"Sounds familiar. " Li Juan completed the doctor's words.

"Ah yes, the firstborn female of your generation had a similar name, Zhang Li Jun."

Li Juan smiled in agreement.

"My name is Su Yu." 

"Are you related to the queen?" Li Juan asked her.

"Yes. She is my elder sister."

"Oh, I see."

No wonder, she knows that a princess has been shown up. 

"Can you change to hospital wears?" The nurse asked Li Juan.

"Yeah sure," Li Juan changed into loosely fitted hospital wears. It made her look like thinner and weaker. 

After checking Li Juan's weight, the nurse came to take her blood sample. 

"Are you a runway model?" The Young doctor asked Li Juan. "You look pretty and skinny." She emphaisized on the word "skinny".

Li Juan looked at the doctor, she looked cute like like a plump mochi baby. She must have been concerned with her physique.

"No, I am research scholar."

"Oh wow! You look so young," 

Li Juan folded the sleeves of her hospital gown and got ready to take blood sample.

"Oh, you even have a tattoo!i never knew that our new princess is too cool" The young resident doctor looked at Li Juan with admiration.

"It is rare to find tattoos on a woman's body." The young doctor explained when she saw Li Juan's confused face."Whenever I say I want a tattoo, my mom just beats the shit out of me. She says a woman's body should be like a glass without any scratch."

"What if someone have scars?" Li Juan asked her.

"Well, all of us have scars." The nurse said with a smile. "Most of the people go for scar treatments."

" I turned my scars into tattoos." Li Juan said with a plain face.

"Do you have scars?" The young doctor was curious.

"Hmm, scars from injuries, self-harm and bullet wounds."

"Huh," The young doctor looked at Li Juan with confused eyes.

"I used to be a really bad girl, so I hurt those who used to love me and tried to kill myself due to guilt." Li Juan said with a poker face.

Both the nurse and doctor looked at Li Juan with a startled face.

"I didn't die. So I thought maybe it's okay to move on," Li Juan continued. "But no, bad girls have to be killed- someone shot me and threw me in the Xi River. But I still survived. 

I must be really lucky. Don't you think so?"

Li Juan asked the young doctor who appeared horrified by her words. 

"Ah, yes yes." She agreed with a fake smile. 

"But no, there are even worse things- physical torture, mental torture." Li Juan started to point out.

"Princess, you have a great talent in storytelling." Dr Su Yu who listened to Li Juan's conversation with her assistant, complimented her. 

"I almost believed that it is real." 

"Huh, the princess was joking?" The resident doctor looked at Su Yu." She just scared me."

"Haha. You are so naive, how can these things happen to commoners like us. It is a new story that I have read recently." Li Juan lied.

"Then you must like these dark and horrific crime thrillers?" Su Yu asked her. 

"Your father used to like it too."

"Oh you know my-" Li Juan stopped and corrected herself. "You should have known my dad."

"Hmmm, quite well."

"Were you two friends?" Li Juan asked with sparkling eyes. Li Juan's moodswings are always switched to a happy mode whenever someone mentions her father.

"Our families wanted us to get married." Su Yu said without looking at Li Juan and checked her Blood pressure.

"Ohhh, so do you hate my dad?" Li Juan asked the question. This woman was her father's fiance once.

"For what?"

"For breaking off the engagement." Li Juan added.

"Well, I did cry for some time. But gradually I got over him and married someone else." Su Yu said with an expressionless face.

"Hmmm."

"You talk like him."

Huh? Li Juan was surprised to hear it. After coming to Yu palace, everyone compared her with Zhang Li Jun.

"Thank you. You are the first person to say so."

"He was a rebellious kid who wants to break the rules. So it totally explains why you got the tattoos. You just wanted to break the taboos, isn't it? Like your father."

Li Juan smiled and remained silent.

"Can I see them?"

Li Juan showed her right wrist and slid the gown from her shoulder to show the tattoos

"They're really pretty." Su Yu praised her and touched the tattoo on her wrist. "Are you Zhi Jun fan, it looks similar?"

"Yes." Li Juan replied and grinned."He is my favourite."

"We too. "

Li Juan was busy all day. She met all the medical experts in the infirmary and had a whole body checkup and even had a session with a psychologist.

After the test's results are out Su Yu personally visited Bai family to talk about the test results.

"Su Yu, did you meet Princess, what do you think about her medical condition?" Bai Su Ya asked the moment she saw her sister.

"She is indeed a cheerful pretty lady, she uncle reminds me of the fourth brother." Su Yu reported with a smile. However, within a second, her smile has replaced with a gloomy face.

"But she is extremely weak, she is underweight, malnourished and anaemic."

She stopped for a moment and looked at Bai Qi and continued, "In her medical records, it was recorded that she had two consecutive accidents, a temporary memory loss for a period of 6 months. She was under medications to prevent the possible threats of concussion from emotional stress. She has been diagnosed with clinical depression. However recently her mental as well as physical health, has started to deteriorate and the chances for relapse are high, or on a worst-case scenario a coma." Su Yu give a brief idea about Li Juan's medical history.

"Is there anything we can do to help her?" Bai Zhu asked in concern.

"No,"

"Are you saying that nothing can be done in her case?" Bai Zhu repeated his question.

"Princess's medical condition is somewhat related to her mental health. At the moment we don't have any permanent solution ,but if we can keep her emotional state stable, we can avoid most of the problems.

But the thing which I am concerned is something other than her head injury." Su Yu appeared genuinely concerned about Li Juan.

"What is it?" 

"There are few bruises and wounds in the princess's body which can be considered as physical abuse." 

There was a sudden shock on Bai Qi's face.

"At first, I thought it was something which can be found in young people who are rough with their love life. 

But all of my inferences were proven wrong, when I saw a bullet wound in her shoulder." Su Yu said with somewhat horrified expression.

"Bullet wound?"

"She indirectly said to us, that someone shot her and threw her in the river and tortured her mentally and physically. I thought she was joking, but on further examinations, we found that she wasn't lying.

The bullet wound-it was a clear cut flesh wound which is by a professional and even it stitched perfectly, to give a false impression of a normal wound. On her wrist, there are several wounds which can be considered as self harm. She covered those scars under the tattoo."

"She even has a tattoo?" Bai Zhu asked in disbelief.

No one could believe Dr Su Yu's words. The Princess who appeared calm and quiet as still water had a turbulent and murky side? It is impossible.

"I know you want to conduct a coronation ceremony as soon as possible. But uncle, I request you to think about it once again." Su Yu suggested more like a warning.

"Did you check her DNA?" Bai Zhu asked. "Is Bai' Ze's daughter?"

"I am sorry, uncle, but we have done it. I couldn't control myself when I found that bullet wound in her body." Su Yu said with a guilty face. "The results will be out on the day after tomorrow." 

"I don't have any doubts about her identity. She is a descendant of Queen Yu Yue. 

But I want to know more about her." Bai Qi declared.

"Zhu," Bai Qi called his son. "Gather all the information about her."

"Yes, father."

When Li Juan came back to the palace, Wu Xuan Yi was waiting for her.

Seeing Li Juan in her own clothes made her realize that, Li Juan got hurt by Bai Yu's comments about faking Zhang Li Jun.

"Aunt Wu, I've already forgotten what happened in the morning. I am completely okay." Even before Wu Xuan Yi start apologising for Bai Yu, Li Juan wanted to clarify her opinion.

" Then why did you change your clothes? Isn't it because of him?"

"No, no. I normally don't like dresses. I feel suffocated whenever I wear them. I am better off with these." Li Juan said with a smile.

"If you don't like dresses, please do inform me what do you prefer to wear, I will change your wardrobe."

"No need. I have already brought enough clothes for me." Li Juan refused her offer.

"But still, you are a girl and you need pretty clothes," Wu Xuan Yi tried to compel her.

"It is just a matter a few days, I will be alright."

"Matter of a few days," Wu Xuan Yi stared the woman standing in front of her with a faint smile. "Are you going to leave?"

"Yes. I miss my home."