Little Purple

"Shou!" She cried out his name many times but to no avail. He didn't answer her back. She gritted her teeth and tried to look down from the edge of the clift, but there was nothing but a wild raging river down the dimly lit clift. "No…" Unknowingly, tears streamed down her face.

"They are there!" Someone shouted. Hu Zi gasped. She was too close to the clift, those fire users must have seen her shadow. She was about to run away but thought of something.

His face! She needed to see his face!

Now that she was able to utilize her eyesight, she didn't need to think about the sparse air anymore. Although it was hard to get used to her new ability in the nick of time and she wasn't sure how it all worked, she did know what people would do when they wanted to get a clear view of something blurry.

She squinted her eyes and saw that man raise his hand to signal the fire users.

Her eyes widened when she saw the mark on his right wrist. "The dragon tattoo?" She exclaimed. Of course she knew what the symbol was. She had felt it and 'seen' it multiple times before in the capital.

At this moment, shudders began to creep from the tip of Hu Zi's toes to the very last bit of her hair.

This feeling, why was it so familiar?

She recalled the day she barged into Hu Ye's room and had suddenly fainted. She trembled, her face turning paler and paler by the second.

She shook her head. "No, Zi!" She called her own name, commanding her body. "You can't collapse yet, we need to get out of here!"

Hu Zi looked at Hu Xiang Yi, her sweet nephew. He was so small and beautiful. With her two clear eyes, she could finally see his pale skin and dark eyelashes. "Brother, sister…"

Before she could think any further, the men in the distance started to shoot blue fireballs in her direction. Although the snowy greenery made it harder for the fire to spread, the blue fire was stronger and more dangerous than normal fire; it would harm them if they got hit.

Hu Zi couldn't help but gasp in pain when the passing fire scorched a bit of her skin. She desperately held little Hu Xiang Yi's body to herself. She could not use her wind to her advantage because the blue fire's heat made even the forest air near the cliff edge sparse.

Turning, Hu Zi ran and ran until she was far enough from the cliff where the air was not sparse. She gulped the fresh air and started to drive the wind for speed, but unfortunately, she didn't know where she should drive it. Halting her movement, she suddenly jumped and climbed a big tree in order to see the far distance. Unfortunately, even at the top, she could see nothing but an endless forest veil. "This is bad." With no clue about where to go, she would definitely meet the pursuers if she started to go back the way they came from.

Hu Zi looked to the left and right and bit her lip in desperation. At that moment, she saw a familiar figure.


-----

The Fei unit was not as fast as Shou, they only managed to arrive at the temple by the morning. When they arrived, however…

"What happened?" Falcon, the leader of the unit, exclaimed behind his silvery white mask, his eyes widening in disbelief.

They could no longer see the snowy ground because it was covered with dead bodies, some burnt while others broken to parts.

The fire users could use two types of fire, red and blue, but only those who were born with pure special talent could control blue fire. The blue fire managed to destroy the whole palace flat into the ground.

Falcon stood there in the middle of the whole mess, his body trembling. He had been taken in by the Hu household since he was young and had served the family beside Zhi Yu for years. He gritted his teeth when he spotted the body of his Young Master, who he spent years fighting alongside on the battlefield with, lying beside his wife, hand in hand. "Young Master Hu Ye…" He shook violently.

"That...that is!" A Fei warrior saw the general's body and felt relieved, believing there was still hope. He kneeled on the grass in front of the great general and his wife and gave his respect, trying to wake them up. It was not until his fellow Falcon members checked the great general's body that he realized that the old general was with them no more.

-----

Days passed before news finally reached the Right Chancellor's home.

Prang!

"What did you say?" Qing Bo said in utter shock. His face draining of all color before the tea cup in his hand fell and shattered on the floor.

"The head keeper of the Hu residence, Zhi Yu, personally requested this servant to tell the Right Chancellor Qing that all of the Hu family members were assassinated on their last night in the palace," the servant said solemnly.

"The… whole family?" Qing Bo's body shook uncontrollably. He forced himself to get up only to stumble back down.

Some other servants came up to him so they could give him a hand, but he waved them away. Forcing himself once again.

His eyes were cloudy, showing that his mind was in a mess.

Taking a deep breath, he sprang to his feet, ran through the corridor, through the entrance gate, and sprinted toward the Hu residence, his bare feet slapping against the ground.

Seeing their master run like a demon without footwear, the servants chased after him, trying to bring his slippers to him.

When he arrived, there were white clothes hanging over the cloth line, even the peony courtyard. "Madam Zhi too?" Qing Bo's eyes widened as he took it all in. "All of them? All of them are gone?"

He rushed into the gate.

The coffins had just arrived and were placed down in the courtyard. Qing Bo hastily walked and saw them.

All of the guards and servants were wearing black clothing. Zhi Yu, as the head housekeeper, was kneeling solemnly and looking down with void eyes. Never, in Falcon and Fa Sui's lifetime, had they ever see him as sad as this.

Falcon and Fa Sui looked at each other and sighed heavily.

Fa Sui glanced up and saw Qing Bo slowly walking in to see the coffins.

The coffins maintained the bodies well. Though they were cold, the noble aura and good appearance were the same, as if they were only sleeping.

He saw his sister's body first. Her beautiful appearance that always soothed his heart, she looked exactly like their mother. The days living in the left chancellor's house were dark and grave, but with his twin sister alongside him, he managed to overcome everything.

He touched his little sister's forehead and remembered the feeling he always got when he tried to put her to sleep in that dark, damp room, stroking her rich hair and her cheek.

He was very proud of her. She was not just beautiful, but also clever and strong. He was always proud of his younger twin sister that loved archery so much that she even practiced in that dark and gloomy room. She had married a good man and given him a great brother-in-law and later a wonderful nephew.

"Big Brother, check my bow techniques."

"Big Brother, you need to read the books, don't be lazy!"

"It is okay, Big Brother, I will marry him."

Flashes of memories encased him. He missed her.

"Why? She had just become a mother, finally leading the happy life she always wanted." He gazed at his sister's face.

Hu Ye and the Hu family, he used to hate them to the bone for being a carefree family and knowing nothing about pain and hard work. But in the end, they were the only ones who treated him and his twin sister justly.

Qing Bo was in a daze as he looked back up. There was a coffin right next to Hu Ye. He gasped when he saw the corner of that orange dress. He didn't dare to move. But...

He first gritted his teeth, hard, then started to walk.

That stunning girl that could silent anybody's mouth in just a few sentences. That girl who made all the boys shiver upon her arrival. That girl who loved her family so much, she would use her body to defend them. That girl who was so bold and daring in her everyday's life but blushed so innocently when he proposed to her. That girl who cursed him, even called him a stupid guy when he claimed her. That girl who stole his heart.

The beautiful maiden face had traces of tears left. Her right hand held onto something.

He took a look and opened the cold and stiff hand. Inside was a shiny orange gold colored fish hairpin that he gave her.

I will personally put it on you.

"That girl!" He furrowed his brows. "How could I put it on you like this?"

A priceless hairpin made of very strong material. A dagger beneath an unordinary beauty was the real meaning of the fish-shaped hairpin.

He took the hairpin and gripped it hard in his hand, so hard that he started to bleed. He brought his bleeding palm with the hairpin to his forehead, touching it like he usually does. But he knew that he might do this kind of habit less because the one who made him be at ease and could lower his guard is no longer here to make him laugh.

He kneeled in front of Hu Cheng Se's coffin, regret and anguish in his eyes. In his heart, he cursed himself. The world seemed like it was spinning, his heart feeling empty as if there was a giant hole in it.

Right then and there, he swore that no matter who it was, he would make them pay for this.

Falcon said that the enemies' dead bodies outnumbered theirs by almost twenty-seven folds. This showed how powerful the general's people were in being to hold up for so long and also how serious the enemies were.

-----

Shao Yao was looking at her mother's needlework, it was supposed to be a scarf she would wear in new year's eve, but her mother couldn't finish it.

Shao Yao, who had done needlework since she was very young, wondered if she should finish it in her stead.

All of a sudden, there was a commotion at the gate. An official with a long mustache came with two bulky servants.

He took long strides into the courtyard. Without any sympathy, he said, "By the emperor's order, we will now take over the late great general's household and return it to the empire."

Zhi Yu, who seemed about to snap, sent him a murderous glare in return.