Catching Shadows

Chapter Ten: Home

A/N: Chapter Ten is here! Enjoy!

Chapter Ten

After Choi spoke, there was a long moment of silence. Li Yuan looked away, his fists clenching and unclenching, but he didn't speak. Choi, wanting an explanation and yet too afraid to ask, merely began gathering up the bloody cloths and the bowl of water. "I should go," she said, forcing a calmness she didn't feel. "Madam Xiu will want me to see to Xiaolian--"

"The Xius aren't my real family."

Choi spun around, nearly dropping the bowl in her hands in shock. Li Yuan stared up at her, his black eyes pleading. "Sit down...please. I...I need to tell someone."

Hesitantly, Choi obeyed, sitting in the chair across from Li Yuan.

The boy stared out the window, a muscle in his jaw tightening fractionally as he began. "My real father was a friend of Xiu Jin Li. They fought together for the Emperor; and my mother was Lady Mingzhu's best friend.

"My father and Deputy Minister Hong Lao were enemies for a very long time. Hong Lao was jealous of him, and kept trying to undermine him in front of the Emperor, but with every failed attempt, he got more angry.

"Father suspected Hong Lao of cheating the people and stealing from the city's treasury, and he was gathering evidence against him. The Deputy Minister, however...he must have found out. Masked men came to our home one evening and killed everyone. My mother, my father, all the servants...and my younger sister. They thought they had killed me too, but I got away. I went to the Xius' house and they looked after me, but no one ever found out that Hong Lao was behind the murder."

"Why not?" Choi asked quietly.

"Because there was no evidence to prove it. Everyone knows there are thieves in Bianjing; and they all just assumed it was a robbery that had turned into murder. But I know it wasn't that. Hong Lao came and stood over my father; I was lying right next to him. I pretended to be dead, and I heard Hong Lao laughing." Li Yuan's fists clenched as he spoke. "So I've been planning revenge."

"I don't understand," Choi said. "Were you at the Deputy Minister's house last night?"

Li Yuan nodded. "I've been practicing all the ways of getting in and out. One of the guards saw me last night, though, and he threw a dart at me. That's what caused this." He gestured to his shoulder. "I wasn't sure what to do when I saw you."

"What did you do?" Choi queried.

"I jumped over the other wall and entered the house the back way." Li Yuan smiled a bit. "So now you know, and one day I will get my revenge on Hong Lao, and I'll be sure to tell him why before I kill him."

"Does Hong Lao know you're still alive?"

Li Yuan shook his head. "No. He saw me lying in the house with my family. It has been six years; he won't remember me."

Choi stared at him, suddenly feeling an inexpressible pity for the quiet boy. She reached out and put her hand over his gently. "I understand why you would hate him. But...is revenge really what you want?"

"What do you mean?"

"Killing Hong Lao isn't going to bring your family back," Choi said softly.

Li Yuan's dark eyes went hard. "No. But it will avenge their deaths. Even if I go to hell for this, there's nothing you can do to stop me." He started to stand up, but Choi caught his arm.

"Hong Lao's tax collector was the one who put me in jail," she said. "He insulted my grandmother and would have had me publicly whipped and my family sold as slaves. But revenge isn't the right way, Li Yuan, and if you do this, one day you'll regret it."