Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Life is called survival of the fittest for a reason

The servants, or lambs that she had sacrificed, left straight away. At least most of them did.  

Lily, Rose and Tom, the man who Rose had introduced them to, were still enjoying the show. They were waiting there like three little pigs greedy for more of the play. 

Fenhua turned his attention to them. Min Li could practically hear them gulp they seemed completely frozen. 

“IF YOU DON’T MOVE, THEN I WILL EITHER FREEZE YOU SO YOU NEVER MOVE AGAIN OR FREEZE YOU AND TOSS YOU OVER THE WALL.” 

Oouuu, none of those options sounded particularly appealing to Min Li.  

For a second there, Min Li wanted to cheer Fenhua on when she remembered how the two flowers had called him great and spoke about his accomplishments and how Fenhua loved Min Li. Then she remembered that the person he was talking to Lily, was her best friend.  

Speaking of best friend, Rose, Lily and Tom all at the same time dropped their mouths open gobsmacked.  

Min Li smiled; he probably didn’t seem like the same nice knight they had heard about before. Never meet your heroes they say. At least they now knew how irritating and irksome he is.  

When Fenhua said that he could freeze the three greedy pigs, he was referring to his power of refined water that he was able wield.  

Unlike people with the power of normal water who could generate water and use it to attack people, Fenhua had the ability to use water not only freeze someone from the outside but the inside. He could freeze their minds, freeze their time, freeze them forever. He could freeze them so that they were physically stuck but could still hear him and move their eyes. He could freeze them so that they could not hear at all and would never have any opportunity to use any of their senses again.  

 All other people with refined water power couldn’t do all this, even his majesty couldn’t completely control the degree at which a foe was frozen.  

Given all this power that he had it was funny that the man didn’t have to use it to freeze the three in front of him. Just the raising of his voice was enough to render them scared frozen. This was why Min Li felt it was unfair for him to shout at them to leave, it was like he was giving them two contrasting commands.  

Seeming to know the effect of his voice, Fenhua cut back a bit on the anger, and this time just glared at them and said, “Go.” 

Luckily for them the three little pigs seemed to find their footing. They listened to the instructions of the big bad wolf and left Min Li in the dust. 

Min Li wasn’t too happy by how quickly Lily had folded. Min Li didn’t think Fenhua was all that scary although it seemed everyone else did. Even if he was as scary as they seemed to think, she thought that at least a best friend should stand firm and take a bit more persuading.  

Who cared if she were going to get a little bit frozen? At least she would get to keep her best friend status.  

Min Li contemplated as to whether she had too high standards for a best friend, if that was the case then Fenhua would be washed clean from his sin.  

As Lily, Rose and Tom moved towards the servant quarters, their silence didn’t last long. She could hear the two girls gossiping about her yet again.  

“I see what you mean. You were quite right they do seem like quite the couple,” one of the chits chuckled.  

“I am telling you that they are in looovvvveee,” the second giggled. 

“I did pick up on some tension in the air, the good kind,” the other hit back shimmying her body in a way that made Min Li feel physically sick.  

“Guess we will just have to see who gives in first,” the second, not to be beaten, shimmied along with the first.   

The girls tailed off as they moved further away. If they were talking about anyone else Min Li would have wanted to hear what they were saying. Wouldn’t it be great if I could hear from far away, Min Li thought. I would quite like the power to wield refined air.  

Then Min Li had come to her senses that they were talking about her.

I have a group of wenches for friends, Min Li half wept. Lily becomes shackled under the glance of a cute man. She is rendered weak by a cute smile. Her loyalty only exists for as long as a man isn’t present. How discouraging.   

Even Fenhua was looking on after the two girls in disbelief. 

While Fenhua was distracted, Min Li creeped behind Joe and tried to push him towards the exit of Eastern palace so that Fenhua knew that she wasn’t kidding.  

Joe didn’t take much persuading, he seemed to derive joy from annoying his friend. He started walking by himself to the exit, smiling at her walking besides him.  

Even Min Li thought that he was a bit too comfortable taking her away from her original crush, he probably knew it was all a ploy to work at Eastern palace.  

She was trying to add fuel to Fenhua’s fire and golly, it did work.  

She just wasn’t sure if it was to her favour or not. Fenhua had tossed Joe to the side with a flick of a hand producing a gush of water. To that Min Li nodded, Joe was acting a bit too comfortable, and she really needed to stay at Eastern palace.  

But where she wasn’t so happy was that she was now being brought up to the sky by a blob of water. The fuel was certainly working.  

“DROP ME. DROP ME,” she screeched.  

So, he did. By golly, he did drop her. He got rid of the bubble of water and she dropped through the sky.  

Fortunately, at the very last second, he caught her before she hit the floor. She froze as he hadn’t caught her with water, but with his own arms. 

It felt so comfortable. He didn’t feel cold to her like other water yielding Xilins. The mark at the back of her neck began to warm pleasantly. Fenhua scratched the back of his own neck and put Min Li down before she could enjoy it.  

She now remembered that she was wet from the blob of water he had created. He had managed to ruin her new servant dress.  

She meant to screech, “DRY ME”, but since she was now seemingly in a state of satisfaction, it came out as more of a warm warning.  

Fenhua looked at her laughing at her. Min Li was a sucker for a nice smile, she fell a little bit in love again, until his next words.  

“You are looking at the wrong person. I could freeze you and I might even try my hand at boiling you. You would need a Yilin to dry you.” 

Tutting, Min Li looked around to see who had seen her in an embarrassing state.  

Now the servants had gone, she could concentrate more clearly on who was behind the crown prince.  

She peered carefully at the warrior girl who was next to his highness’s assistant. Min Li finally recognised the woman.  

The woman named Jess had been one of the many who had mocked Min Li back when she was first denounced for being powerless. At the power ceremony at Min Li’s fifteenth year, whilst even Min Li’s sworn enemy the crown prince had groaned and looked in pain for her, Jess had cackled while the mark behind Min Li’s neck felt like it was burning when she had been trying to produce water. 

Min Li and Jess had also been in countless lessons together. They had lessons on both general education and learning to wield the power of water. There were also the basic martial arts lessons that they had both attended since they were kids. As Jess was the daughter of a rather famed Xilin general, the two had pretty much ran in exactly the same circles until the damned power ceremony.  

Before then, Fenhua would have ruined anyone who even dared to disrespect Min Li. But now Jess was right next to him, happily breaking bread with him.  

Min Li wouldn’t have been so bothered if the girl had stopped teasing her around the same year that she had started, but that hadn’t been the case.  

Instead, even up to two years ago, Jess has used her band of loyal serving girls to push Min Li into lakes, chase her up trees and tie her to the highest tower in Xilin.   

Min Li had tried to get her own back, but without any powers it was awfully hard to get one up on Jess. There came a point in time when Lily had enough of their antics and she finally lodged a complaint on behalf of Min Li who was too proud to complain on her own.  

But most the kingdom wouldn’t believe that their beautiful, sunny female warrior would ever do such a thing to a defenceless orphan. Even Min Li was impressed by how well-trained Jess’s serving girls were when they had been brought forth the king and queen and had denied the rumours. If only I would have been as lucky, and Fenhua was as loyal as that, she had thought. Without proof, the king and his wife couldn’t do anything about it and yet again Min Li was left to fend for herself.  

Luckily support had come from Joe. Even though he had never witnessed what went on, he seemed to believe Min Li’s account.  

She didn’t know how Joe had done it, as to open the dark forest needed a member of the royal family. But rumour had it that Jess had spent a day in the dark forest by Joe's command.   

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The dark forest was so formidable that no one dared to venture in unless they were forced. Apparently, Jess had come out shaking her head, unblinking even though she had not even been in the dark forest for a mere night. From then the girl had never put another hand on Min Li even though Min Li was the subject of many a scathing glare.  

Uncoincidentally, that was around the time when Min Li’s crush on Joe first began. Although Joe hadn’t done what he did under the law, Min Li still admired that his moral compass never wavered no matter who was on the other end. Knowing what he had done Min Li had run up to him and hugged him, leaving a sulky crown prince next to them.  

Now, after all the Jess had done those years back, Min Li hadn’t the foggiest idea why Jess was the one with a frown etched on her face looking hard done by. 

 But the girl was also the one with a hand wrapped around the sword around her waist, meaning Min Li didn’t take offence to the disgust on the girl’s face. It’s called survival of the fittest for a reason.

….

Once again Min Li had a second of momentary bliss as without warning she was taken into Fenhua’s arms. He quickly deposited her behind him as footsteps signalling somebodies arrival got louder. 

The crown prince was so tall and his back so strapping that with him holding her firmly behind him with one hand, Min Li couldn’t see who was now opposite the both of them.  

Trying her best to crane her head to see, the crown prince held her even closer to the back of him.  

Jess made a sound of exasperation looking at the pair of them.  

Though Min Li and Jess weren’t friends, and they were annoyed for different reasons, Min Li sympathised with the girl as she was feeling as much frustration as the girl was displaying. 

Jess, Joe and his highness’ assistant who could all see what Min Li failed to, all quickly brought their hands together and slightly bent in welcome to the person in front of them.  

Ah, so the person is someone with a great title, Min Li gathered from their actions.  

A manly voice rang out from ahead. “I had heard some commotion when I was on my way to visit the king so I could hear of his latest decrees about the land and decided to come check the disturbance out.” 

The crown prince gave no answer.  

From the man’s voice and his reasoning for why he was there, Min Li could discern who he was. It’s probably General Kit of the North.  

 Knowing the prince would not entertain him for long, Min Li tried to find a way to free herself from Fenhua’s clutches.  

 No time like the present. Min Li bit Fenhua’s hand, to which he showed no reaction but to let go, and she was free to start her next plan. 

She confirmed that the man was Kit but was surprised to find that he wasn’t alone but had brought a whole dozen henchmen with him. Given that she had only heard one step of footsteps, she was impressed that they knew how to walk in sync.  

The crown prince had never really liked Kit. It was clear when they were in education at nine years old and it was clear now.  

A bovine, boorish brute was what the crown prince had called him. Min Li had remembered the phrase as it was quite catchy when it was repeated so frequently. Not that Min Li would ever repeat the phrase out loud to the man himself, especially now that she wasn’t completely under the protection of the royals.  

The man happened to be the son of the leader of the North of Xilin Kingdom. After the King, Kit’s father was second in the chain of command, along with Jess’s father and Joe’s father, who were leaders of the West and East of Xilin Kingdom respectively. The king spoke his decree over the land and all their fathers made sure it was fulfilled.  

Since Xilin palace was in the Capital of Xilin which itself was in the North, there was no need for any head of the North.  

  The brutish, boorish bore opened his mouth to say another thing, “What on earth was going on?” 

 Sure that the prince would shut the man down, Min Li answered quickly. 

 “I wanted to find a place to live and work but apparently there is no space at Eastern palace.” Min Li twirled a long strand of her hair, “Do you have any room for a little servant like me?” 

“Of course,” the man croaked.  

Kit looked at Min Li from her head to her toes and back to her head with his characteristic lopsided smirk. “Not only as a servant either.”  

For the first time since Kit had been there, the crown prince gave the man the respect of an answer. “NO NEED,” Fenhua boomed. 

“But if not, where else would she stay?” The man with a frog in his throat croaked back.  

Good question. Very good question, Min Li thought. That’s the type of quick, clever quip I like to hear. That is the type of proactiveness I like to see.

“She is staying here at the Eastern palace,” the prince said through gritted teeth.  

“Promise?” Min Li said eagerly. 

Looking at her with resignation, Fenhua muttered, “promise.” 

Min Li nearly cried in relief, she looked up at the skies and thought, with this amount of mercy and grace surely there was a God, and a good God at that.  

Aah so feminine charm and the influence of a friend doesn’t work, but the enmity of a foe. Min Li nodded storing the information for whenever she might have need for it later. 

Since she had achieved her goal, Min Li again turned her eyes to her crush. Yet again, Min Li started a staring match and Joe cooperated always eager to please. 

Yet again, Fenhua blocked the two.  

“Min Li,” he said trying to draw her attention.  

“You have gotten what you wanted. You can stop now.” 

Always willing to poke fun at Fenhua, Joe replied, “don't worry about it. We are just bonding.”  

Knowing that there was nothing he could do as his word as the crown prince should be everything, especially when attached to a promise, Fenhua stormed off. 

The crown prince didn’t even bother to dismiss Kit and his band of men.   

This time his storming off was not just in Min Li’s head, even though the man still managed to remain relatively poised as he did so.  

Finally breaking eye contact with Min Li, Joe, as well as the rest of the crown prince’s companions, followed quickly after Fenhua. 

Min Li was left to gleefully skip to the servant’s quarters of the Eastern palace. She was excitedly expecting for Lily and Rose to have turned on the crown prince since he had threatened them with frosty death earlier on; now that was something she could get behind.  

She was absolutely disgusted by what she saw, do they have no shame? 

She even started feeling sorry for the Crown prince, but she was no sorrier for him then she was for herself.  

The two flower girls were gloating to the other servants about how powerful their king was and how he had the ability to toss them over a tree. They called him dominant. They bestowed to him the title of manly. The started a chant in his honour.  

The only reason she felt sorry for the crown prince was that it would be hard to live up to their expectations of him! 

It was even worse than before. Sniffing, Min Li retreated to the other side of the room waiting for her friends to stop talking and the pain to end. 

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