The Sorceress: Blossoming Power

Cūxīn Estate was part of the gifts from the king for Lei Ming's assignment as the new governor of Fengfu. This was formerly one of the royal estates but granted to the Fēngfù City governor. It was a vast land with large rice fields, fruit-bearing trees, and it even included a brook. There were villas of different sizes for the different wives and children.

Xinyi walked behind Foo who was holding a lighted lantern to brighten their path. She wore ordinary clothing given to her. In her hand was a folded cloth with some of her personal things inside.

They walked for more than half an hour before they reached a forest-like area of the governor's estate and finally, a villa appeared. It has its own walls and gate before reaching the courtyard. Foo pushed the gate. It sounded an eerie squeak as it opened. There, the courtyard came into view. It was full of weeds and shrubs almost as tall as them. The pathway toward the villa was full of cracked bricks. Foo stepped back to give way for Xinyi.

"This is ridiculous." Xinyi turned around to demand an explanation for Foo might have brought her to the wrong place but the maid had fled. "Grrr, she scrammed before I knew it."

Xinyi looked down and picked the stick attached to the lantern from the ground. She walked inside and carefully watched her feet from stepping loose bricks as she lifted her skirt, keeping the dried shrubs from catching it.

Xinyi breathed deep in relief as she reached the foot of the three steps of stairs. She lifted the lantern and saw the crooked dusty board with the name Anjing, which meant quiet.

"Anjing, it lived up to the name, very silent, but who had lived here before and named this place like this?"

She climbed up and saw the wooden doors lying on the floor, covered with dust, while cobwebs took its place at the doorpost. A chilly wind blew on her face and it gave her goosebumps. She brushed her palms on her shoulders and neck to ease her hairs from standing.

"Oh, my. Does he really hate me this much? No wonder he took Gu Dai and Kong Hanying from me." Then something came to her mind. "Hmm, this is odd. Why would my father the prime minister to send her to this Lei Ming who hated his father, including her? Am I became a sacrifice of something I don't know. Ugh, I'm really unlucky to have parents and husband like them."

She shook her head, assuming what she thought was the right reason. "No time thinking about those unpleasant things. I need to work." Xinyi turned around to make sure no one was around to witness what she would do and smiled. She opened the tied bundle of cloth with her and took a necklace with an odd-shaped jade pendant. It was a semicircle and rough edging on the lower part like it was cut by force from a circle one.

Xinyi put it on her neck and whistled a flowery song. A minute after, birds of various kinds flocked toward the villa. They perched on every place they could stand on their feet.

"Hi, birdies. I'm Xinyi, your new neighbor here. You see, I'm alone and need to clean this place. Can you spare some time to help me?" She said in a sing-song voice accompanied by a pleasant smile and friendly waves of her hand.

However...

Silence...

Her smile turned awkward.

The birds only stared at her, wondering why this girl could speak their language and asked them to clean this dilapidated place when they knew this was within the estates of the newly appointed governor. Some birds seemed too drowsy and scratched their heads with their feet. While an owl hooted on top of a tree, watching her in deep intent.

A few couldn't bear their curiosity and hopped nearer to birds and began talking to each other. "This girl is crazy. How could she speak our language?" said a pigeon.

"I must be crazy, too. Why can I understand this human girl's language?" replied a bird with a redhead.

"I don't think so. She is intelligent and talented that's why she can speak our language. Do you agree, dear?" said a female bird sitting beside a male bird.

"Let's ask the owl for his opinion." The male bird pointed its beak to the white owl. The owl only sounded a hoot.

Xinyi's shoulders dropped while listening to them. "Bummer. I can't even make these guys listen to me. Well, it took me days to make those in the valley to like me too. It could be the same here, but I can't wait for days to clean this messy house alone. I don't even have a place for my head to sleep tonight."

Xinyi crouched down, defeated. She looked up to the birds again. "Come on, guys. I'm not crazy. You're not crazy. I can really communicate with you. I know it's sleeping time for some of you but please, just help me clean a portion where I can sleep tonight. Please." She said and ended kowtowing.

Xinyi's head moved up a little to sneak a peek, to see if her pleading worked. The owl flapped its wings and flew down nearer to her. She knelt with both knees on the floor.

The owl's mouth opened and a bass male voice spoke, "You're a disrespectful being. Why call us in the middle of the night to do your bidding? No wonder the governor didn't stay in your room and transferred you here. If not for the sorceress' presence in you, I won't come here at all." The owl ended his speech with a harrumph.

She heard murmurings from the background. 'Hmm, this pesky old owl saw me there and couldn't comprehend what we were talking and judged me. Well, I can't blame him. He's just a bird. But for now, I must convince him to help me since the other birds listen to him.'

"Sir owl, my apologies but I won't be doing this if my husband didn't take away my servants," said Xinyi apologetically.

"Ask the foxes and other beings and clean for you." On that note, the owl flapped open his wings and flew. The others followed. Only a few stayed behind, waiting and expecting for something dramatic to happen. This was the old owl they were talking about, who easily changed his mind.

"Aya! I can't ask them. They don't know me yet. They might attack me and I might hurt them. I don't want to hurt animals." She shouted, trying to stop them from leaving, but her words went to deaf ears. "This is horrible. If I knew this was happening, I shouldn't have thanked that Lei Ming for sending me here and ask for another house somewhere."

Xinyi stomped her feet, sulking and pouting. She couldn't help but feel sorry for herself.

Alas, she thought, "There's no point sulking. Will I just escape now while no one can see me? But I'm really bushed. I don't have the strength to run away. I must sleep first and plan tomorrow."

She stood up and picked a portion of the door and began dusting it with a cloth, causing the dust to float around and entered her nose and mouth as she breathed, sending her to a heaping cough.

While she coughed and busy with the dusty job, she heard flapping from the air. She glanced to where the sound came and to her delight, the birds came back. Led by the owl.