' How much does that girl know?'

"Mother, this is the parchment about the assumptions of how much the expenditures might be this year..."

'Oh hell... Does she know about me?'

".... based on the last year's accounts and this is...."

' Does she know about how she met him? What does she know? Oh fuck ... I need to do something, how much does she know?'

"These are the documents of... Ummm. Mother? Mother?"

A tall man, clad in the imperial green and golden robes of the Ruan Sect and seated on a magnificent throne, placed his hand on the shoulder of a woman seated beside him, who was older than him and also dressed in the royal robes.

'Does she know about-'

He shook her slightly when she didn't respond.

"...Mother??"

'About Xingjuan? Does she know...'

"Hh-huh?" the woman finally broke out of her deep trance and raised her face from where it had been resting on the palm of her hand. She gave him a bewildered look.

The man smiled a bit and said, "Mom, I guess, you're a bit off today. Never mind, I'll discuss this with you some other time."

"Ah no no no, I'm listening, I'll hear it. So, Fai, what were you saying, son?"

The man addressed as Fai sighed, and called out, "Guard!"
A guard immediately came to the threshold, and bowed, " Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Tell a maid to go and fetch some tea for me and Elder Lady Ruan."

"Yes, Sect Leader." the guard bowed again and scurried away.

"Okay, so Mother, as I was saying...."

The discussion about the costs and expenses was resumed, but it had an unsuccessful outcome, for more than half of it, Elder Lady Ruan kept zoning out, and her son, the Sect Leader Ruan Fai, had to repeat it to her all over again.

Ruan Fai was tall and well built; his chiselled face glowed with a healthy tan. His long dark copper hair which flowed down to his waist was fashionably braided according to the latest trend. His eyes, which were of the same colour as his hair, twinkled when he smiled; quite contrary to his mother's cold demeanour.

But now, he was feeling rather irritated.
He was a busy man, and even more busy now because of the upcoming festivities. The finance accounts were important documents which required detailed and careful planning. Such discussions were also tiring. And here, the Elder Lady Ruan was hardly herself. She was constantly losing herself in the maze of her high and mighty thoughts.

Naturally, he too was losing his patience.

Yet, on another note, he had noticed his mother's upset temperament, as soon as she had practically rushed into the room, her jet black hair looking like she had run her hands through it, and her features distraught. It came as a big surprise to him, for he had hardly ever seen his mother losing her composure. It was something truly unimaginable. He wondered what, or rather who was the cause of such a massive change.

Thus, not wanting his mother's undue wrath to rain down on him, he tried his hardest to control his tongue from snapping at her.

Ruan Fai realised that it was no good talking about the finances to the Elder Lady now. So he wisely fell silent and busied himself in making repeated glances at the door.

'Where the hell is the tea? How long does it take?' he wondered.

The Elder Lady seemed to be floating in her sweet world; she didn't even notice that her son wasn't saying anything anymore.

A maid appeared at the door with a tray in her hands and bowed.

The Sect Leader nodded, gesturing her to enter. The maid came in, placed the tray on the table, which had been cleared by him earlier, bowed again and left.

"Mother," Ruan Fai poured the tea into a cup and offered it to the Elder Lady. She started at first, and then took it from his hands with an unusually silent nod and sipped at the beverage. He sighed at his mother's strange behaviour for almost the hundredth time throughout the day and proceeded to pour himself a cup of the steaming, fragrant liquid.

But as luck would have it, the tea was forgotten by a long, desperate wail that echoed across the whole compound.

"SECT LEADER RUAN!!!"

The screams were getting louder by the minute and soon the sound of racing footsteps became audible too.

" SECT LEADER RUAN!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!!"

The Sect Leader and the Elder Lady Ruan looked at each other, puzzled.

"PLEASE HELP ME!!!"

"Who's shouting like a madman at this hour?" The Elder Lady asked, a frown creasing her forehead.
"I've no idea, let's check," the Sect Leader replied, smoothening out his robes, and stood up.

But the mother-son duo didn't need to go anywhere, for a tall figure clad in once azure but now dusty from travel robes burst in through the ornate doors, and fell to his knees on the marble floor, sobbing loudly.

"Elder Lord Li!!" Ruan Fai exclaimed, quickly wrapping his arms around the weeping man. "What's the matter? What happened to you? And where's your grandson?"

At the mention of the grandson, the Elder Lord Li began to howl, so much that he couldn't get any coherent words out.

A few guards who had rushed in with their swords were drawn were quickly dismissed by the Sect Leader.

"Here, Elder Lord, water," he held a cup near the older man's lips.

The Elder Lord sipped at the water, and almost got choked, for he was still hiccuping from his sobs.

After he was done, the Elder Lady Ruan asked, "Elder Lord Li Liang, could you please tell us what happened?"

The Elder Lord Li Liang raked his fingers through his mahogany strands, fresh tears pricking the corners of his eyes, and blurted out, "My grandson, Li Renshu, is lost!!"

"What!?!" Both of them exclaimed, in shock.

"Y-yes, s-someone took him away," Li Liang croaked.
"I looked for Ren everywhere, trust me. I looked for him throughout the market place, before coming here," he buried his face in his hands. "B-but I c-couldn't  f-find him anywhere."

Ruan Fai slowly helped the older man to his shaking feet and helped him sit down on a chair. "Please sit here, Elder Lord Li, please. Calm down, please."

"Sect Leader Ruan Fai!!" The latter all but yelled in frustration and anguish.
"My grandson! He has been bloody kidnapped, stolen away from me!! You are asking me to be calm; for fuck's sake, how will I be calm?!! He's just a ten-year-old boy!! Ren, oh, Ren... God knows what's happening to him... I'm so irresponsible, I couldn't take care of a kid... A kid who doesn't play pranks at all, he's such a good boy, my Ren... How the hell am I going to face Shing and his wife now?!??"

The Elder Lady Ruan knit her eyebrows together in anxiety.
' Why do I feel like this? Something's not right..'
She placed a hand on her ample bosom and rubbed her sternum absently.

Li Liang leaned his head on the Sect Leader's shoulder and continued to cry his heart out.
"Ren... Ren...." he mourned.

' Something's going to happen...'

"Elder Lord, I am equally guilty. As the Sect Leader, if anything happens to my subjects and my royal guests, I am very much responsible for it," Ruan Fai said.

"I'm sorry for being impolite," Li Liang sniffed and clasped the other's hands.

'I don't know... I may be wrong...'

"No, please don't apologise, I understand. I'm sorry, but honestly, I... I don't know how to console you," the Sect Leader Ruan exhaled. "All I can say is, my whole family is with you, and I will find your grandson as early as possible. I am sending out search parties right now, to ransack the whole kingdom. Please don't worry. He will be back in your arms sooner than you think. After all, Young Master Li Renshu is like my own son." He patted the Elder Lord's shoulder, and squeezed it, in a soothing, promising way.

'Why am I feeling like... something bad..'

"I have no words to thank you enough, Sect Leader. Please help me... My... My Ren..."

'No no... Maybe I'm... just overthinking...'

The Sect Leader stood up and walked towards the door. He cupped his hands in front of his face, and shouted at the top of his voice, "ZHANG TAIO!!"

' But I... why?'

Zhang was dusting the front of his robes, after a friendly spar with a fellow soldier. As soon as the cry reached his ears, he was off, sprinting towards the Main Hall.
He dashed in, to see the Elder Lord Li, with his face in his hands, incessantly murmuring something that seemed incoherent to him, and both the Elder Lady and the Sect Leader, in a state of apprehension and nerves.

"Zhang, set off with the best men and scouts we have, right now. We need to find Elder Lord Li's grandson, Young Master Li Renshu as soon as poss-"

"Sect Leader!!" A maid scampered in. She held a bundle of green and golden robes in her shaking hands. "S-Sect L-Leader..." she panted.

"What is it?" Ruan Fai rolled his eyes and demanded, clearly vexed at being interrupted while giving out instructions.

In the meanwhile, the sight of the servant made the Elder Lady Ruan feel dread clog her windpipe. She started to knead her long fingers, twisting the rings adorning them.

' Robes?'

"Sect Leader Ruan, Second Mistress Ruan is missing! She is not in her room! She is nowhere to be found! I've looked for her all over the palace!" the maid blurted out, holding the robes in her arms. " I found these, her robes, on the floor of her bed-chamber. But-"

"WHAT?!!!!" an enraged Ruan Fai bellowed; the last restraint of his patience fell to pieces.

The Elder Lady Ruan staggered a bit in shock.
' I had punished her with knitting... Where did she go?'

"Sect Leader Ruan," the Elder Lord Li whispered. Ruan Fai swivelled, infuriated, only to come face to face with the former.

"I think, we should check her room once again," Li Liang suggested, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Sect Leader Ruan nodded, breathing heavily through his nose.
"Go, call Quinyang," he told the maid, who immediately bowed and hurried out. "No point hiding this from her, she will find sooner or later anyway," he muttered.
Quinyang was the Lady Ruan, Caihong's mother.

Soon, Lady Ruan Quinyang dashed into Caihong's bed-chamber, closely tailed by her elder daughter, Anbai, who was begging her not to run. She burst into tears.
Anbai hugged her mother, "Mom, please don't worry, I am sure, Caihong will be safe."

"Yeah, of course, you will know that best, always spoiling the brat, letting her do anything... You... And you... You are at fault! You teach her all that trash, and you keep urging her... I'll..." Lady Ruan screeched, her voice cracking into tears at the end. She pointed a trembling, accusing finger at Zhang and Anbai.

"You.... I'll never forgive you!!"

"Quinyang! Please don't forget that you are not well," Elder Lady pointed out.

"This girl... She will be the death of me!! She will.... she'll kill me out of worry someday!!"

In the meanwhile, Zhang was done with his inspection, and he smirked as he said, "Second Mistress Ruan will be safe."

"Oh, GuanYin.. that's a relief... But, Zhang, how are you so sure?" the Sect Leader inquired, as he gathered his wife into his arms.

"She has taken her bow and arrows with her, and also the dagger which she was sharpening yesterday."

"Just wait till she comes back, just wait, I will chain her up and never let her out again!" Lady Ruan sobbed, her voice muffled in the Sect Leader's broad chest.

"Sect Leader, I will take your leave now," Zhang bowed.

"Yes, Zhang. Leave."

"General Zhang," Li Liang said, his back quivering due to the fresh salt drops streaming down his cheeks, "I am depending on you. Please find them.... my Renshu... your Sect Leader's daughter..."

Sect Leader Ruan added, " Zhang, try to find the kids by tonight itself."

"Yes, Your Highness."
Zhang turned to leave, but the Elder Lady Ruan's voice called him back.

"Zhang Taio."

"Yes, my Lady?"

"Don't leave a single stone unturned."