Phoenix Rise: XieRong

XieRong had never seen the capital before.

Neither had Fa Chun.

The idiotic, limp master of the Fa Family was too much a shame to bear for the right prime minister, Fa Boqin.

He would punish anyone who dared to mention the only black spot on his golden reputation. This was one of the reasons they had been locked away in a remote corner of the Fa estate.

XieRong knew that no one would recognise her while she was dressed as a girl but she couldn’t help but wear the cloak her mother had packed.

She couldn’t let her mother’s years of planning go to waste because of a simple mistake.

The capital was everything XieRong had heard it would be. Bustling, lively, and full of cheer.

XieRong remained unfazed.

With quick steps she walked around looking for the herbalist store.

XieRong went to a small restaurant and sat down pulling the hood off of her head.

"What can I get you, miss?" A girl about her age asked politely.

"One dumpling stick."

"You must not be from around here if you’re asking for just one from our shop."

XieRong looked up and smiled at the waitress from where she was seated.

"Actually, I came here looking for directions to the herbalist store."

"There is only the Fa Herbalist store which is well known in the capital, but I would avoid going there if I were you. I’d take my chances finding medicine in the forest than in that herbalist store."

This piqued XieRong’s interest.

"Oh?"

"Waitress!"

"Coming!" The young girl shouted.

"Excuse me miss, I’ll come back with your order."

XieRong’s curiosity was heightened as to what the Fa Furen had done to the herbalist store from her mother’s dowry.

XieRong remembered her mother always mentioning the store with deep regret laced in her tone. The store was something her mother had passed on to her, but she’d been unable to save it from the clutches of Fa LiHua.

XieRong listened to the conversations from the nearby tables hoping to get some more news about the affairs of the Fa family, more specifically about her death. However, most of the current gossip she heard was about the second prince, the fiance of Fa MeiLien.

"Have you heard? The second prince is helping the disaster struck families up north."

"I have. We are blessed to have such a kind prince. He doesn’t act proud or arrogant even though he’s already about to break through to the Dantian formation realm!"

XieRong scoffed at the gossip in her heart. Only she knew how much of a black heart the second prince possessed despite being only a year older than her.

Her eyes blazed with fury when she thought of the ideas he came up with to bully her; pushing her in the pond, throwing rocks at her leg, throwing scraps and leftovers and making her behave like a dog, but the worst was when he had tried to feed her night soil. She clenched her fist as she remembered it.

"Hey, Fa Chun," Fang Chao had said, blocking her way.

"Big brother Chao!" she’d exclaimed, pretending as if she’d been happy to see him.

"Come, let’s go play," he’d said trying to drag her away.

XieRong had tried to avoid going with him. His ’play’ always meant playing using her as a tool for his, Fa MeiLien’s and other kids’ amusement.

"But brother Chao I need to go to mother."

"It won’t take long," he’d said, pulling her along.

As usual, Fa MeiLien and the rest of his friends were gathered to watch the show and even help him.

"Here."

He gave her the bucket full of night soil one of his lackeys held.

"Eat. It’s very tasty."

The people gathered had chuckled expecting her to eat it.

"Brother Chao, if it’s so tasty then Chun wants you to have it. How can Chun eat something tasty and not give brother Chao first?"

Fang Chao had dropped the bucket and its contents to the ground pulling Fa Chun by the collar, "You, a limping idiot, wants this benwang to eat night soil?!" he shouted red in the face.

He was always very quick to lose his temper.

"Hmph, if you won’t eat it then benwang will make you eat it!"

XieRong remembered the way they’d shoved her face again and again into the night soil before they’d been called away for lunch. She still remembered the sensation of being unable to breathe, the smell of night soil as she’d washed it off and the pain at the back of her neck from where he’d held her.

"Miss, are you okay?"

XieRong snapped her head up, scolding herself for forgetting where she was.

"Yes, I’m fine. Can you sit with me for a while? If need be, I’ll pay you for your time."

"It’s alright, miss. What do you want to know?"

"Let’s continue our conversation where we left it."

"Ah, yes! Rumour is, the Fa herbal store hardly ever sells authentic medicine to the commoners or the poor. They give out the correct prescriptions, but the medicine they sell is mostly fake."

XieRong felt her hatred towards Fa LiHua grow immensely. She felt her nails dig into her palm and draw blood. She loosened her clenched fist.

’Not now. I have to become stronger then I’ll take back everything they’ve stolen from mother.’

"So where can I buy medicine, then?"

The waitress kept quiet.

Of course she wouldn’t let their only source of medicine be known to others so easily.

"Please miss, tell me where I can find medicine. My grandmother is very sick. If I don’t get some ginseng by tomorrow morning, then I will have no one left in the world. Please, I’m begging you," XieRong pleaded, holding the waitresses rough hands in her own.

The waitress hesitated and looked around.

"Promise me you won’t tell anyone."

"I promise," XieRong said with firm determination lacing her tone.

That ginseng was the only way she could start to cultivate, her door to her future.

"Right now it’s the hour of the monkey (15:00-17:00), you won’t get the medicine now. Go to the alley behind the Fa Herbalist store during the hour of the pig (9:00pm-11:00pm), there you’ll see a young beggar around five to six years old wearing a torn purple jacket. Tell him the medicine you want and how much of it you want. He will name a price. Pay it to him and he’ll deliver it to you by the hour of Dragon (7:00am-9:00am)."

XieRong furrowed her brows. She’d have to leave here by the hour of rabbit (5am – 7am) if she was to make it back in the hour of the Dragon (7:00am-9:00am). She’d have to convince the boy to deliver it earlier somehow.

"How will he know where to find me?"

"Do you have a place to stay the night?"

"No, not yet."

"We have rooms on top. You can stay here for the night. Tell the boy you’re staying at Chuanli restaurant."

XieRong smiled.

"Thank you, miss. You’ve done me a great favour. By the way have you heard any news about the Fa Family lately?"

"Yes, there was a fire yesterday in the Fa Estate. They say some people were killed, but no one knows who and since no one in the family is grieving, I assume it was no one important."

XieRong’s smile grew colder as she thanked the waitress and paid her bill. She took the token to her room and left the restaurant.

XieRong was seething. She didn’t blame the waitress. How could she? No one knew the injustices the Fa family handed out to her mother, FeiHong and she. How could they when the entire family was in support of the bullying and torture that went on in the house?

She promised to her mother in heavens, ’Mother, watch over me, I’ll make all of them pay for everything they’ve done to us!’