Jade General

CHAPTER ONE

A/N: HI GUYZZZ n GURLZZZ I'm so happy that I'm finally publishing one of my stories... I would love to hear your opinions etc. so please comment and vote!

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All the servants and even her own mother think of the young woman -First Daughter of the Wei-household- as a wreck. What they don't know, is that she still has the eyes and ears of an eagle and wit as sharp as an eagles beak. 

Their ignorance makes them bold and shameless.

When she hears the usually quite noisy servants outside her room whispering and urging each other to be quiet as they pass her room, she subtly tilts her head in curiosity. It was strange that these servants, that would always be chatting during worktime and acting as if she wasn't there, were quiet. The woman tries to leave it alone, but she can't seem to shrug off the feeling that something's wrong and keeps on thinking about it.

With an unsteady and bony hand the woman, Wei Yin, fist and last granddaughter of Wei Liang, the late General of the South, grabs hold of the near empty flask of rice-wine. A loud sigh leaves her lips. Why are these servants being to secretive? Irritation and suspicion rise within her, they are clearly keeping secrets from her. Then she realized that they had every right to, she's the one that had held herself cooped up inside her room for nearly a year! Besides, she was also keeping secrets...

Another sigh breaks the silence and with a snort Yin thinks about her mother, she would surely have scolded for being this loud, it wasn't ladylike, and she could just imagine her mother telling her exactly that.

All of a sudden her mother -whom resides at the far end of the house, as if she wants to be as far from her daughter as possible - cries out in joy! Her mother who always had been composed. So composed she never even showed a feather's weight worth of love to her daughter. Yin's brother on the other hand, he had always been the apple of her eye. Yet, way too soon after his death, she stopped mourning. One might think she only pretended to love him because of all of his possibilities: he could become an army captain, or even better, a councilman for the Emperor!

As the memories of her dead brother cross her mind, Yin places the opening of the flask to her lips and downs the rice-wine that the flask still contains in one go, to drown the memories in the haze of pleasure the liquor would bring her.

'Ugh, empty, again!' she mutters and exclaims a few curses. The flask flies through the air and finds its way on top of a growing pile of empty jugs. The sound of breaking pottery somehow calms her down a bit.

The eerie silence that seems to engulf the house has sparked her curiosity and she can't seem to extinguish the flames these sparks have light up. Yin has always had a very adventurous nature, but ever since she came back from failing to save her brother, she locked herself in her gloomy, dark room. Nothing had ever really caught her attention again... except for the booze.

Yin debates whether she should go out, finally she groans and thus, she begins the long, long journey to the outside world, all the way across her room -which could only contain up to six people when stuffing them together.

Admittedly, her curiosity wasn't the only thing to drive her out of her room. Nowadays the main reason for ever leaving her room would be to get herself more booze and every now and then something to eat.

The old, dented generals helmet that sat on her left, the one that had once belonged to her late grandfather, serves as her support as she stands. When the immense struggle is finally over, she stretched and immediately regretted ever getting out of her warm and comfy bed: all her blood ran from her head straight into her legs and she almost fell over from dizziness.

'Look at what you have become! You're an absolute disgrace to your family!' her inner self said to her in a menacing voice.

Yin chuckled and replied to herself out loud in a scoffing manner, saying: 'You're starting to sound like mother!'

'Shut up, you good for nothing! How far you have fallen!'

That thought had struck a chord and a single huff was her answer, but Yin shook off the uneasy feeling nonetheless.

The first part of the journey was over, now she would have to begin the even longer journey to the sliding panel that separated her from booze... and the commotion, though it was more of an eerie silence. When she finally arrives at the door, she has to squint her eyes shut because of the little bit of light seeping through the cracks. Yin reaches for the door with her hand, that seemed almost of a transparent color in the yellowish light. With surprise she wiggles with her bony fingers, as if to test if she was still alive. She wonders how she ever became like this. Carefully she slides open the panel, closing her eyes for the bright light that wanted to stab out her eyes.

Xia, the servant girl her mother had appointed to take care of Yin, jumps up in surprise when Yin appears in the doorway. Normally Yin would just ask her to bring more booze instead of coming to the door herself. Xia eyes Yin nervously, had she done something wrong? She notices that the continuous lack of nutrients and sunlight had had its effect on her: Yin was pale like a ghost and as thin as a stick, her bones protruded from her skin, making her look like a walking skeleton.

'Miss Yin, can I do something for you?' Xia asks with a trembling voice.

Why is everyone afraid of me, Yin wonders. Her inner self answers: 'Must be because of your weird eye color, you freak!'  Yin fervently answers back that it has nothing to do with her eye color, since Xia was accustomed to this. 

'Miss Yin?' Xia asks again when she sees that Yins mind hand wandered off. Is she going to be okay?

'Oh yes, could you bring me some booze and explain what the silence is all about?' the slightly tipsy woman slurs, while having to hold herself upright by leaning on the door post.

A wave of fear flashes in Xia's eyes, but she manages to keep a straight face. Yin wasn't to know about this until her mother tells her about it herself. Xia hated to have to lie to her best friend, but she had to, to protect herself.

'I'm sorry, miss Yin, but mistress has forbidden me to bring you more alcoholic beverages,' Xia says, imitating Yin's mother.

Yin snickers and says: 'You know, you're getting better at that every time, keep it up!'

After a short pause she asks: 'Why were you afraid just now?'

Instead of trying to deny Yin's observation, Xia answers truthfully: 'You know your mother will hurt me if I let you to do whatever you please...'

'What has she done to you?' Yin asks, but she doesn't wait for an answer. Her hand shoots forward like a snake striking at its prey snake and snatches Xia's arm. Xia never expected her to be this quick and couldn't stop Yin. With the other hand Yin shoves down her sleeve, revealing bruises and cuts.

'I'm really gonna kill her some time, just wait and see!' Yin says, seething with anger.

'Yin, please, you have been through enough already, don't get yourself in even more trouble... not for me!' Xia pleads with Yin.

Yin sighs, 'you know, I have already hated her for so long. After I returned, I had hoped for her to be happy with my... accomplishments, my existence, but it seems she can only be displeased about me. She is so inhumane towards you... Is it because she doesn't like the bond we share?' Yin muttered the last part.

Xia is about to answer Yin, to comfort her, but just at that moment, Yins stomach growls in hunger.

After Yins stomach stops, Xia says: 'That was the longest sentence I've heard you speak until now-'

Yins stomach starts again, and Xia and Yin start laughing, Yin even falling over and snorting in the process, which results to Xia laughing even louder.