Soul bonds

Hopeful

Madame Yu poured another round tea for her husband and her guests while everyone waited for Jiang FengMian to read a message he had just received. She handed out the steaming cups, whose warmth was more than welcome.

"Is everything all right, love?" Madame Yu asked.

"Well it would seem that we have an unusual situation in town..." Jiang FengMian reported.

"Unusual?" QingHeng Jun asked.

"Indeed... Xue Yang is in town. He has booked a room for two weeks... I have received a report that he has saved a girl from a horde of rogues and has requested a maid to look after her!"

"Xue Yang? Xue ChengMei? The delinquent of Kuizhou? Xue Yang saved a girl? Are you sure it's him?" Madame Yu asked.

"Absolutely! It is confirmed that Jiangzai was seen when he tried to save the girl..."

"What business does he have in YunMeng?" Lan QiRen asked.

"According to rumours, he is working for Wen Xu. He has been lying low after the Chang massacre. Maybe he just wanted to come here to hide and enjoy the festivities... I have my eyes on him... So there is not much to worry about." Jiang FengMian said.

"That villain is caring for a girl... that is unthinkable!" Lan QiRen spat.

"What is so unthinkable? He is a boy after all, a human being! No matter how bad he is, he still has a heart! One cannot stay bad all the time..." Wei ChangZe added.

"There is nothing much we can do now. I will wait for his move and respond accordingly... Right now, let's focus on the main reason we are gathered here... I don't know when we are all going to meet again... "

"You are right FengDi... I think we may have another lead..." QingHeng Jun said softly.

"Which one?" Wei ChangZe asked.

QingHeng Jun looked at Lan QiRen intensely and added, "The Jade Rabbit pendent!"

Lan QiRen felt his chest constricting. He felt suddenly short of air – he could not breathe. He steadied himself and took out a neatly folded handkerchief from his pocket. He placed it on the table and unfolded it, revealing the necklace with the Jade Rabbit pendent.

QingHeng Jun continued.

"The Jade Rabbit pendent is one of the treasures of our family. Our mother gifted it to CangSe just before her coming of age ceremony. It has very special properties – the protection of the wearer, for instance... But not only that, it used to be mother's tracer... You would always disappear to fool around when you were a child, QiRen... this is why mother had put it around your neck. Since we were always together, she always knew exactly where we were... If we were in trouble, she was alerted and she would always send someone to help us..."

"Why did she gift it to CangSe?" Madame Yu asked.

"That was mother's choice... This pendent is cut from a single piece of Jade. It's flawless in its structure... See the red eye? Initially it was just like the rest – white. Remember the night hunt when we all nearly got killed? Had it not been for this pendent, we would all be dead today... Mother sensed that we were in danger; she came and brought help with her. We were all badly injured and almost unconscious. Somehow, the necklace and the pendent ended up in CangSe's hand. When mother retrieved it later, she found that the pendent was blood stained. Even after deep cleansing, she was not able to remove the drops of blood trapped in the eye. It remained red. Mother also found that the pendent was imbued with the essence of CangSe; she parted with the pendent and gifted it to CangSe. After that, she could no longer use it as a tracer..."