The clean buildings were tightly packed, leaving only narrow alleys. In the bustling street, women went to and fro between street shops, buying fruits and other food.

A group of children played ball in the middle of the street, laughing joyfully and having the time of their life.

As we moved closer to the busy street, the noises died down to hushed whispers. The women at the shops whispered between them and avoided looking in our direction.

The kids stopped playing and their smiles left their faces. Quickly, they ran to the side of the street and made way for us.

With knitted eyebrows and glassy eyes, they balled their tiny hands to fists and avoided eye contact with every one of us. Their head was lowered and their wet eyes stared onto their feet.

As we moved closer to the people, even the whispers of the women died down. They pulled their hoods over their head and turned their back to us.

The streets turned so silent that I could even hear the prince's wheezed breathing. He sounded like he finished a marathon and was near his collapsing point.

"Zhenli!" a feeble female voice cried out.

Suddenly, I saw a tiger cub jumping from a roof onto the prince's head and onto the ground. Noiseless, it padded towards a little girl in dirty clothes.

She exclaimed, "Zhenlie, where were you? I was worried…"

She patted the tiger cub's head and stroked its fire-red and coal-black striped fur. It coiled around her foot and raised its tail in pleasure.

*crack!*

The cracking sound of a nut pulled me away from my thoughts, and I looked back at the prince. The fat on his body quivered and the nut in his fist crumbled apart.

Rage made its way onto his face and turned it blood-red. He focused his widened eyes at the animal and howled, "Guards! Kill the both of them!!"

The red-haired guard broke a card. Under a green light, a cleanly-polished sword appeared in his hand.

"Wait!" screamed Bao Lie, grabbed the guard's arm, and asked, "Why kill them? What have they done wrong?"

The prince's anger was now at its peak. He panted heavily, patted his chest, and yelled, "It defiled my body! It has touched my head with its dirty paws! My body is a temple and this thing has defiled it!!"

I scoffed inwardly, "Your body surely is a temple – ancient, big, and crumbling apart; maybe even haunted."

Bao Lie turned his head towards me and looked at me with a pleading gaze. It was as if he wanted me to help him in saving them.

I made my way towards the red-haired guard. With my spear standing tall, I grabbed his shoulder, shook my head, and pointed at me.

Looking back at the prince, his head trembled in rage and his fat cheeks and double-chin quivered uncontrollably. He threw the crushed nutshell at the tiger cub and shouted at me, "You do it, Jingyin! Consider it a test!"

A weight lifted from my heart and I sighed in relief. I had the situation now a little under control and nodded at the prince.

I stepped towards the girl and her tiger cub.

The little girl wore ragged linen clothes stained of mud. Her petite face was covered in filth and a putrefying stench came from her.

She held the tiger cub tight against her chest and said in a brittle voice, "B- Bai Mei is very sorry for what Zhenli has done. Please don't- *sniff* Please don't kill us."

Snot ran down her nose and tears streamed down her eyes, washing off some of the filth. She wiped her nose with her sleeve, kneed down, and leaned over the tiger cub, protecting it with her body.

Pity quelled up inside my lonely heart and filled it with unwillingness. I tightened my grip on the spear and gritted my teeth.

'Maybe the prince pities her too. Perhaps he changed his mind,' I thought in hope and turned my head to look at the prince.

He was baring his teeth and clenched his jaw, nearly grinding his teeth in rage. His eyes were now bloodshot and glared at the duo, wishing to tear them apart with his gaze.

He turned his gaze at me and barked, "GO!"

Spit flew from his mouth and rained down onto his servants' clothes.

Seeing him being even angrier than before, I turned my head back at the duo and closed my eyes shortly. Taking a deep breath, I calmed my heart somewhat and made up my mind.

When I opened my eyes again, the little girl's lips trembled; no, not only her lips, her entire body shivered in fear. Her eyes were tightly clenched and she snuggled the tiger cub dearly, pushing its soft fur against her face.

'I shouldn't do this out here where everybody can see us,' I thought.

I raised my spear and slowly reached the spear-shoe towards her, tipping at her leg to gain her attention.

*tap* *tap*

"AAAhh~!" The girl screeched in a high pitch and jumped in fright.

After one or two seconds, she slowly opened one of her eyes to look at me. I pointed my spear towards the nearest alley and shook my head in that direction.

The girl sniffled a few times and stood up while holding the tiger. With trembling feet she walked unsteadily towards the alley, nearly falling at every step.

I followed shortly behind her; and before I entered the dark alley, I turned my head a last time to check on the prince's mood.

It got even worse.

Each servant held a bowl of nuts towards him and he was stuffing them without pause into his mouth, wolfing them down without even removing the shell. His bloodshot eyes stalked my every movement and stared unblinkingly at me till I disappeared in the alley.

The stench in the alley was so strong that it nearly burned my nostrils. The ground wasn't paved like the street; it was just slimy mud, sticking to my shoes.

The barefooted girl stomped through the sticky mud and stained her small feet. She turned around to face me and buried her face into the tiger's fur, hiding her face from me.

In a silent and brittle voice, she muttered, "Please don't kill Zhenli. *sniff* Zhenli only jumped onto the prince's head because- *sniff* because Bai Mei called him."

A sudden pain assaulted my heart. It felt as if someone pinched it. I clutched my chest, trying to cool my heart down.

The pain subsided slowly and got weaker. I knitted my eyebrows in pain of knowing what had to come now and raised the spear, pointing it forward towards Bai Mei and Zhenli.

Bai Mei looked with a pleading gaze at me and cuddled closer to her tiger cub, holding it tight to her heart.