The Ballad of Luwei

Chapter One

Only few knew that their tribe's princess, Weiwei, traveled ahead of her country's convoy to the Tsinghua Kingdom's capital city of Zhi Yi. That was because only a select few knew that their great leader had trained the princess of the Rising Jade Sea's tribes as if she was a man. Why? Who would be a better spy than one of the few people who knew both the intricacies of both male and female of different classes of life? Dressed in the preferred style of dress for the merchant class of the Tsinghua Kingdom, a futou hat and zhiduo robes Weiwei inconspicuously wandered down the main roads of the marketplace. She observed the guards who had been monitoring to make sure that there were no thieves about. Weiwei had to admit whomever who did the duty of the inner town magistrate does their job well. She couldn't find any obvious holes in defences so if her father ever decided to attack the capital city it would be quite the battle that she was not sure who would win. Looking across the road she gave a discrete signal to the merchant whom had been undercover in the city for months and then with a turn of her head she sent another person to purchase a steam bun where a message would be hidden within the paper holding the product. As she passed her spy they placed a small fold up piece of paper in her hand. With that she left for her rented room in the tavern.

When she was in her room she read the note. 'The game has been set for tomorrow. Shaoxiang to play main.' Weiwei rolled her eyes at the message Zhen Shaoxiang, is the son of General Zhen Gong of the Zhen Yi tribe who is the biggest thorn in her father's hide. While General Zhen was someone to be wary of his son on the other hand while a good fighter he was a lazy playboy who enjoyed using his father's achievements to get his way. She and Shaoxiang had clashed multiple times with her persona of the Red General of the Luwei tribe. In all honesty, Weiwei wanted nothing to do with either male Zhen with either persona. The oldest one had been trying to promote the marriage between his son and Weiwei so Shaoxiang would be the next in line to rule and the younger went from trying to jealousy instigating skirmishes between her tribe trying to make himself look like he was more capable than Weiwei was in battle to attempting to gain audience with her princess self in an attempt to seduce her. Thank goodness neither Shaoxiang or General Zhen have never seen either one of her persona's face or it would be all kinds of headaches for her. She sighed and went to her makeshift office and burnt the message and sighed. She knew if the tribes lost the game it would show her father's kingdom as weak but letting Shaoxiang play the whole game was not an option. It looks like she would need to send Kei Ouyang or as she affectionately called her most trusted warrior Kei Oh; undercover to arrange an accident mid-game. Weiwei called for the tavern keeper to have the cook prepare some xiaolongbao and have it brought up to her.

Weiwei was startled out of her thoughts when the door knocked. The disguised female called for the worker to enter. "Your xiaolongbao, my lord." the tavern's cook announced.

"Shut the door and bring it here." Weiwei commanded. The cook did as she commanded. When the steamer basket was settled on the table and the cook was bowing, did Weiwei look up.

"Kei Oh." Weiwei acknowledged.

"Your highness." Kei Oh bowed his head deeper. "How can I be of service?"

"Shaoxiang is here in the town staying with the Rising Jade Sea's Convoy. My sources tell me that the upstart chose to take the lead in tomorrow's cuju game instead of the pre-planned line up. I need an accident to be arranged sometime right after the second half starts so I can replace the fool and keep our tribe's honor." Weiwei informed her loyal warrior. "After the match I need you to find passage with merchants going north for me to return to the tribe. After a week passes I need for you to take the direct route to the temple Xue Shan where I am supposed to be officially. From there we will return to our tribe. Our other spies are to slowly trickle back to the tribe within a month. You have been gone too long my friend and I would like my war counselor by my side once more." Weiwei gave her friend a warm smile. "Time is short, return to your post and I will meet with you tomorrow."