Again

CHAPTER ONE.

  "Li Xingyun was born into affluence. Her father Li Qiangdu was the Left Prime Minister, younger brother to the Empress and sworn brother of the Emperor.

  Li Qiangdu had two wives of equal rank, the first being Lu Heiping who gave birth to twins Xingfu and Xiyue; Xingyuns' elder brothers. Her mother was Gu Chújú the daughter of a travelling merchant. After Xingyun was born, Gu Chjú fell ill and lost the ability to give birth again.

  However this posed not to be a problem as Heiping and Chújú got along very well, so well the entire country knew about the peculiar family relationship.

  When Xingyun was about five years old, her mother took in the daughter of a close friend who had passed, the girl who was named Du Meinu joined the family until she was eighteen after which she would be able to take over her family property and she grew up with Xingyun and became her best friend.
 
  The elder of the twins Li Xingfu, was a traveller. He had travelled around the eight provinces of their country, Xu and beyond. He was also an accomplished musician and painter who was very famous.

  The other twin Li Xiyue, was perceived as a gigolo and a flirty scholar. But he held the identity as the head of a deadly assassin organisation Scorp-o. The scholarly demeanor was just an act to cover up.

  Du Meinu, Xingyuns' best friend was a well cultured lady with the manners and grace of one who was brought up in the palace. She was the co-owner together with Xingyun of 'Radiance Courtyard' the best tea house in the entire country and to an extent, the continent.

  Radiance Courtyard attracted crowds of many from far and wide making it the perfect hub for information gathering hence it was one of the resources of Scorp-o.

  Everyone liked Xingyun very much and treated her like she was a precious egg which made her quite spoilt. Especially her brothers. They spoilt her with the finest jewellery and various instruments, art pieces, delicacies and whatever or whomever she wanted. But who she wanted the most was Jun Wang, Bai Yā Tòng. He was the son of the Former Emperor's brothers' niece and was brought up as the current Emperor's nephew.

  A true beast in a human body, the peaceful looking young man held a surging vileness in his heart. He let his jealousy and envy of the Emperors' children drive him. Caring to no one but himself and he had carnal affection for Li Shanliang, Xingyuns' scheming, insecure and jealous cousin. Ironic how they fit so well together.

  Yā Tòng had big plans to become the emperor and Xingyun, the Emperors' favourite niece was his key. He manipulated her access to the restricted areas in the Palace and extracted the location of the Tiger seal, which was created to control a powerful secret army. He used her Fathers' position to attract and gain confidants who helped in his cause.

  He had her Father framed for treason against the throne and beheaded which lead to their family being banished to the outskirts, and on the way her mother's were murdered by 'bandits'.

  He collaborated with the wild prince of the neighbouring country of Mi, who lent him his personal assassin sect which he used to battle Xiyues' Scorp-o sect. The battle left Xingfu dead and Xiyue so badly injured he fled.

  He then rose into power because of all the backhanded deals he had done in securing the support of ministers and generals and made use of the Tiger seal army to overthrow the Royal troops and proceeded to execute the entire Royal family.
 
  He only saw Xingyun as a pawn, he used and abused her, both her body and her mind. And finally, he killed his son  never accepting the child as his own. A true bastard."

🍂

  A tall young man; with long cascading black hair, dressed in white and grey ancient style clothes with a cloud pattern adorning the material making him look very refined; finished his recounting looking over at the other person in the room. Her eyes were strayed, her mind seemed to not be present.

  "Ahem, Jang Mi, are you listening to me?" He asked flicking his finger lightly.

  "Ouch, what did you do that for? I'm listening to you" Why would he even think of doing that, showing off his powers, I was totally listening.

  "Really? What was the last thing I said?"

  "Said." I offer a teasing smile.

  "Stop being cheeky and pay attention."

  "Why do I even need this briefing anyway JD, I'm still going to get memories when I enter this world."

  "This is important so that you know your missions and you can start thinking of ways to implement them."

  "Fine, tell me, what does Li Xingyun wants me to accomplish."

  "Mission one, prevent the death of the members of the Li family and the royal family."

  "Mission two, get Meinu and Xiyue together."

  "Mission three, find love and happiness."

  "The first one I got it. The second one, she wants me to play matchmaker? Hilarious. And the third one is .... well... I don't know about that and I don't think I can do love, not after what happened last time. Besides I know you know who the guy is, so who is he?." My mind strays to my past life and I feel bitter memories rising.

  "The crazy wild prince of Mi, Lord of Darkness, Huai Xing." JD casually drops the bomb, as if he's casually admiring the weather.

  "Are you crazy? You want me to get together with a psychopath who had no business in the entire story to begin with but just decided to poke his nose."

  "He joined the affair cause he had beef with Xiyue. They know each other, both being sect leaders and also opponents".

  "That's a stupid infact, very stupid reason to do what he did." I sigh, resting my head on the table.

   "Would you get your bummy self up and let me send you your way, I have places to be and important things to be doing." JD urges.

  "Fine, I'll get going. But to be honest, going fishing and spying on fairies aren't really considered as important things to do be..." I get cut off as he snaps his fingers and I find myself falling and soon everywhere is black.