It was pure torture - excruciatingly painful. It felt like the inside of her abdomen was being ripped apart. Why in the world would this monthly torture visit her in this very inopportune time?

Yan Mei ling was torn between physical and emotional pain. It was very hysterical to the point that she seemed driven to madness. She hugged herself tighter as the pain stabbed her again.

Someone she knew in the camp had already known her secret and he was the doctor, Lee Sui Song. He was only doing his duty as the camp doctor but when he saw the blood stains on her back, he already knew.

"You are a girl!" Lee Sui Song gasped in shock.

"I beg you - please do not expose me."

"I... I do not know what to do but you shouldn't have joined the military - you are a female!"

"Are you men all like that?" Yan Mei ling asked in hurt indignation.

"What do you mean?" Lee Sui Song stammered, unable to get what she meant.

"Bunch of prejudiced snobs!"

Lee Sui Song opened his mouth, as if hurt by Yan Mei Ling's opinion, then he shut it again contemplating before answering. After a moment, he slowly shook his head. "You are wrong about your opinion."

"Then why do you judge me for my sex in joining the military?"

"It is not like that, Tang Lao Fang," Lee Sui Song gently and calmly said. "I am just surprised why a female join a war - please do not react yet - it is not a usual thing. I do not know if it is allowed but whatever your motive for joining the military is then that will be your own."

"Women are not allowed to join the military. We are looked upon as the weaker sex and tasked to be incarcerated in domesticity." Yan Mei ling said bitterly.

"Then why did you break the rules and join the military?"

"I want to save my friend - joining the military is the only way that I can save her." Yan Mei Ling said with tears in her eyes. "But I guess joining the war didn't help her either."

"Why?"

"She is abducted by the Hsein armies." Yan Mei Ling hiccuped violently - tears fell from her eyes like a violent deluge.

Lee Sui Song looked at her with sympathy and tried to comfort her. "I am sorry. War is very unpredictable - we do not know what will happen. It is like a devious and sneaky thief who comes to your house and then takes away the most precious things that belongs to you without any warning. But you should not lose hope, we can still save your friend and defeat those Hsien armies who abducted her."

"It is so easy to say."

"You are right; it is so easy to say." Lee Sui Song mumbled in dejected agreement. "Anyway, who is your friend?"

"The princess."

"You mean Princess Li Lei Shuang?" Lee Sui Song eyes went agape in surprise. "You know her?"

"Yes, we are best friends."

"Who exactly are you,Tang Lao Fang?" Lee Sui Song asked, his face frowning in curiosity.

Yan Mei Ling breathed in deeply and said, "I am Yan Mei Ling, the daughter of Unit Commander Yan Bao Rong."

"Your father is the highest ranked military official and he is a duke which makes you a noble!" Lee Sui Song exclaimed as she looked at Yan Mei ling as if she was someone way beyond him - like heaven to earth. He felt unworthy of conversing with her, a noble, considering that he was a mere peasant practicing to be a doctor.

"I am but I do not feel like one - please do not look at me as if I am someone higher than you, Sui Song."

"But you are..." Lee Sui Song bowed his head timidly.

"I am your friend." Yan Mei Ling said gently then suddenly, her face looked contorted as she felt a sharp pang of pain attacking her.

"Lao Fang... I mean, Yan Mei Ling, are you fine?" Lee Sui Song asked in panic.

"Please call me Tang Lao Fang lest someone may know who I really am. I can trust you to keep my secret, can I?"

"Yes, of course." Lee Sui Song nodded swiftly. "Ah, I think today is your moon cycle. I have a lot of sisters and all of them experience the same thing. I will make something that will relieve you of your pain though temporary it may be."

"Please do."

"I will."

"Thank you very much... Oh, Lee Sui Song?"

"Yes?"

"I know that Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei is outside. Please tell him that I am not feeling well as of the moment and I need my rest. Tell him I will be fine tomorrow."

"Good thing that you told me that. The Jinzhou is very worried about you. It is the first time that we ever seen him like that. He is normally aloof - very unemotional - but now he seems to be cracking just a bit."

"Maybe he is showing that he is a human just like us." Yan Mei Ling said in a jest though she blushed lightly at what Lee Sui Song said. A wonderful feeling touched her - grazing her heart with the smoothness of silk.

It flattered and somehow warmed her that Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei actually cared for her. She never imagine, despite the fact that she felt an initial animosity towards him, that he could actually make the table turn and made her like his person. Like him more than enough that his face surfaced in her dreams; like him well enough that the mere thought of losing him left a lonely void in her life; and like him more than enough to the point that it almost reached the depth of the feeling she thought that she would only feel for her best friend, Li Lei Shuang.

Yan Mei Ling gingerly took a sip from Lee Sui Song's concoction after reminiscing what had transpired a few minutes ago. Though she is inside her tent, she could feel that someone was guarding her outside - she could hear the anxious footsteps pacing back and forth. She was certain that it was Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei. She had heard him talked to Lee Sui Song from the outside as he was about to make his entrance to the tent where she was recovering. She had even heard the faint sound of his voice as he argued with Lu Jinhai. Now, despite the silence, she could hear his worried sighs as his shadow walked past the entrance of her tent - how she wanted to talk and assure him that she was just fine.

She also wanted to get well and get outside of the tent because she felt that her affliction had stalled everyone. They would have planned on their next move against the Hsein armies - either to attack the Hsien's base or, possibly, retrieve the princess. How she wished they would be planning more on saving the princess, her best friend, as the fear in her heart would never be subdued unless she knew that Li Lei Shuang was safe.

---------

The moment that Unit Commander Yan Bao Rong arrived at the imperial court, he had asked the Emperor's permission to have all the highest officials summoned to the military hall. The Emperor hastily agreed and even let his momentarily prodigal Unit Commander to spearhead the meeting as he had other pressing matters to attend to.

All the highest military officials had arrived to the military hall where the Unit Commander was already waiting. Even if the military meeting hall wasn't as extravagant as the main imperial meeting hall, it couldn't be dubbed as simple either. Its roof was made of sturdy red ceramic tiles and, its stone-and-wooden walls were decorated with beautiful geometric patterns. Inside, several sturdy wooden pillars mounted the ceiling and roof closer to the clouds of heaven. The strong wooden beams had miniature dragons sculpted on them in honor of the imperial dynastic symbol. Several beautiful paper lanterns were hanging majestically, creating a wonderful glow inside and, blue wall papers decorated the entire interior walls. The gargantuan lattice windows were firmly shut to provide privacy. The floor was made of marble and ceramic tiles which lent a flair of subtle extravagance. In the middle of the hall was a huge heavy wooden table where the officials immersed in a serious discussion.

"They cannot go further to the South - they will be stuck in the wilderness. With the ferocious howls of the wind, they won't risk travelling nor will they take another detour considering that they perfectly know that we have huge camps stationed everywhere other than the South." Unit Commander Yan Bao Rong said in an impassive voice, his eyes glinted like a newly sharpened steel - perfect for murder.

"Then that will be a massacre," one of his high ranked subordinates said with satisfaction.

"Yes, that is the plan, Jiangjun Chonglin Da," Unit Commander Yan Bao Rong answered aloofly. Despite the fact that he had barely shown any reaction or emotion on his face, inside his heart, he was burning with a festering ire which could only be assuaged by the death of the entire Hsien army. He had worn his heavy dragon-embossed lamellar armor though with less gumption as he had before - merely for formality or, aptly, for survival's sake.

"Should we make our move now?" Jiangjun Chonglin Da tentatively asked.

"Yes. I want you to divide the army into four units with the majority on horseback - assign one Tongjun and Jinzhou each. If we lack military officials, raise one of the most promising JunFu or Duizhu to the position - let it be known that I have the Emperor's word that I can do whatever I want with the military as long as it is not detrimental to his interest."

"As you wish, Unit Commander Yan Bao Rong."

"As for those who will go on foot, I want you to divide them into 5s and assign each group with a cannon. Do not forget to provide them with bows and arrows, jian, quiang and gun - do the same with the cavalry units."

"Yes, Unit Commander," Jiangjun Chonglin Da answered then he stared at his commander for a while - a look of sympathy clearly evident on his face. His commander had always been silent but now, he seemed different. Before the devastating tragedy in his village happened, Unit Commander Yan Bao Rong's eyes always had this zealous yet powerful blaze on his eyes but, now, there was nothing but an eerie calmness laced with an inexplicable gloomy light reflected on his seemingly apathetic eyes. He had felt his commander's painful loss, and it was something that anyone, even the bravest men, could barely handle. "My condolence for your loss"

Unit Commander Yan Bao Rong merely regarded Jiangjun Chonglin Da in long silence then he turned his back as if the jiangjun's words had finally registered in his mind and, felt its searingly painful impact upon him. Everyone in the room suddenly became eerily silent.

"I will go ahead, Unit Commander," Jiangjun Chonglin Da told his silent and brooding commander to go about the task that was assigned to him.

--------

Yan Mei Ling's legs still felt a little wobbly from traversing for several hours since yesterday was the last day of her moon cycle. The troop had resumed their journey towards the Hsein domain while tracking the Hong Se unit who escaped after their previous encounter. All of them had to walk afoot considering that their entire cavalry horses were extirpated.

They were already four days behind as Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei had decided to let everyone stay in the camp because they need to recuperate and prepare themselves against the Hsien army but Yan Mei Ling knew that it was her that caused the delay. It was highly uncharacteristic for Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei to camp for a few days considering his burning desire to go after the Hsien army Hong Se Unit after the war. It made Yan Mei Ling guilty because the delay had made the odds of saving her best friend, Li Lei Shuang, low. But despite her guilt, she was somehow touched that Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei albeit in his own bizarre way had actually cared about her.

"The doctor, Lee Sui Song, said that I can now visit you so I - I come here to visit you." Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei said in an impassive voice but there was a sign of timidity in his beautiful eyes - as if he was unsure of himself. "He told me that you can now go back to training but when you did not show up, I had him go to take a look at your condition and he said that you need a day more to rest so I decided to let the troop do the same thing."

"I apologize - "

"No, Tang Lao Fang" he immediately cut her off. "There is no need for you to apologize. You are right when you told me before that we need to rest considering the damage that has befell upon us after the fight with Hsien army Hong Se unit. I never realized the extent of my people's exhaustion until I saw you collapse during our military exercise; I never imagined that it will happen to you since I expect that you are the last person who will experience it."

There was a moment of silence and an awkward air filling the tent which made the surrounding romantically dim. All that Yan Mei Ling could hear was the erratic beat of her heart - she swore that it might actually burst from her chest. If seeing Lu Wang Wei made her heart beat in a different rhythm, being near him - with just a little space to close the gap - drowned her with sensations beyond her comprehension.

"Thank you, Jinzhou." It was all that Yan Mei Ling could say. Whatever was in Lu Wang Wei but he most certainly had this power of making her thoughts scatter into the wind.

"You are welcome, Tang Lao Fang," Lu Wang Wei said with a ghost of a smile - a smile Yan Mei Ling would only see when they were talking. "By the way, I just want to make sure of one thing, are you feeling fine now?"

"I think I am," Yan Mei Ling said with a smile. She noticed Lu Wang Wei's clenched his jaws as if he was controlling himself. She did not know what came into her but she suddenly felt the urge to touch and cradle his face in her hands until it was devoid of any tension. In many ways, the unbidden thought had flabbergasted her.

"We will stay here for one more day."

"But the princess - "

"We will save her. I had news that her abductors will have no choice but to head south which means that they might come across the new troops being sent by the Emperor to aid us or, possibly, our troops."

"I hope so - we really need to save the princess, Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei. If Hsien Mao Dong gets hold of her, then that will be the downfall of the empire. Everything that we fight for will be in vain if that happens."

"I will never let that happen, Lao Fang." Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei said with serious gravity - a steely determination reflected in his eyes. "We will crushed the Hsein army; we will all survive and emerge victorious. I am confident that if her abductors will indeed head our way, we will kill all of them and save the princess - that I can promise."

Yan Mei Ling put her heart in what Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei said. She had this great trust in him that they would succeed and save Li Lei Shuang. Her effort in joining the military will never be in vain. At this very moment, things had changed for her, everything had been illuminated and she found a new meaning that was worth taking the plunge in - she knew, it could never be denied, that she her feelings for Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei had reached to a different level.

She didn't want to succumb to it but her heart could not deny it anymore. As clear and as radiant as the moon light, a realization came to her: She likes Lu Wang Wei.

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