33 This is my gif (1/2)
”Intruder?” Han Suyin paused for a second. The clothes that she wore were balled up in her arms. For her to carry her old clothes, she took one of the table cloth lying on the table to make it into a bag.
Suyin had requested one of the servants (after they found out that she was still alive) to light up her lamp so she could see, but she needed to destroy her evidence. She threw the clothes down on the ground, taking one last glimpse of it before burning it with the candle.
”This is my gift.” Suyin watched the flames slowly creep to the clothes and took a step to peek out the door.
A massive line was formed down the hallway and to the other side, with the soldiers carrying their swords.
Suyin couldn't see what was going on because of the pillars that blocked her view. If she were to rush out right now as a servant, then maybe it wouldn't have been a big deal.
Suyin had to look in the mirror to make sure that no one-- even Jianhong-- could recognize her. She had a plain, tan male servant outfit on, with a hat on her head. She had tied her hair into a bun to hide any excess hair and took a deep breath.
The fire was starting to get bigger and she didn't want to get any smoke inhaled, so she swung the door open, scurrying down the hallway. With the chaotic clashing and people groaning, Suyin wanted to try to find a way out, in an attempt to escape as quick as possible.
Suyin tiptoed down the hallway, carrying her bag in front of her as she paused her footsteps. Up ahead of her was none other than Jianhong, approaching down the hall, screaming and pointing to servants to help the guardsmen.
”You!!” Jianghong had noticed Suyin at the corner of his eyes. Suyin held her breath, not daring to inch forward. Jianghong had finished taking his bath and heard all the screaming occurring outside.
With his hair bun still damp, the madman had rushed other servants to help the guards fight. He pointed at Suyin from afar, about 8 inches (30cm) away from her.
”This isn't the time to be washing any clothes right now! Go help the others right now!” He pointed at Suyin, spitting out fire at her. He was ready to approach Suyin until he heard another scream coming from Suyin's direction.
”Fire!!!” A servant screamed, causing Jianhong to turn his head to the screaming servant.
”God damn it. Hurry and put out the fire then!” Jianhong was irritated enough with the sudden ambush. ”Whoever has done this is going to die in my hands!!” He dashed off to the direction of the servant screaming fire from the room Suyin had snuck out from. Turning her body around to take a glance at Jianhong, she let out a sigh of relief that the idiot didn't recognize him. She had to take a second to pat her heart, feeling as if it was stuck at her throat. A line of servants hurried with buckets of water running past Suyin as she tried to get out of the situation at the moment.
One side of the building fought with an intruder and another fought with fire. This was the perfect opportunity for Suyin to slip out while she could.
”This is not any of my business, so I need to get out of here to meet up with Shao Feng later.” Suyin had thought to herself, nodding her head as she pushed through the wooden gates to enter the east side of the courtyard. Suyin had no clue where she was going but was instructed by Shao Feng to continue east to exit through the backside of the manor.
High-pitched sounds made from the swords clashing against each other echoed through the courtyard as guards laid on the ground. Suyin had no interest in what was going on with the scene, attempting to flee while there was a distraction, hiding behind the huge, porcelain pots that laid at the corners of the corridors. In the middle of the scene, the person in black had knocked out one of the soldiers with his scabbard.
Suyin tried to observe the person as quiet as possible, attempting to move from one pot to another while he was distracted. The person had a black suit with a mask covering his face and headgear to hide his identity and hair. The swift movements of the man in black seemed as if he was just dancing along in the wind knocking the soldiers down.
Suyin found it strange that the man in black did not attempt to hurt any of these soldiers with his sword. Instead, he was knocking them down with the metal scabbard of his sword. All the men that laid all over the ground weren't dead-- they were knocked unconscious! Instead of being too engrossed watching the scene, she was getting closer to the exit when the man noticed Suyin, flying straight toward her.
”A-ah!” Suyin's eyes had looked straight in the eyes of the man and grabbed a small chair and lifted it to attack him.
The glance of the man in black immediately shifted to an expression filled with softness and relief when he saw the eyes of Suyin, stopping his steps right in front of her.
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”Attack him, stupid servant!” A soldier rushed with his spear aiming at the man in black while he was distracted by Suyin. The soldier's spear aimed straight to back of the man's lower left quadrant and struck him, barely puncturing him about 5cm in.
The person groaned for a second, swinging the metal scabbard at the soldier's head as he flew straight down to the ground due to the concussion. Suyin's eyes widened at the scene right in front of her, dropping the chair as she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.
She couldn't do anything because she couldn't figure out who this person was.
”Are you....?”
Before Suyin could finish her sentence, the man in black lifted his index finger, placing it to the location of his lips. He kneeled, breathing heavily now as more soldiers came in. With the situation turned around, the man had pulled a small, dark brown glass bottle and slammed it to the ground, causing the whole area to turn into smoke.
All the guards began yelling, calling each other. ”Find him!!” They screamed, panicking.
This was the perfect opportunity for Suyin to escape out without anyone noticing. The smell of the smoke slowly reached to the eastern courtyard, so the mixture of the bottle that the man in black had used and the smoke from the fire had made the coughing seem more intense.
Suyin rushed to the wall, touching the walls to reach the wooden gate near her as she pulled the doors, small enough for her to slip out while the others suffered in the smoke.
---------------------------------------------
The cicada was making noise in the garden of a home. Small bonsai trees were neatly lined up with a pathway made of stones, guiding visitors and the owner of the courtyard their rooms.
”Jiejie. Jiejie. Where is Master?” A familiar voice called to the maid who carried a tray of dishes, shaking her head.
”I think he went out. It's strange... the Master never leaves without letting us know.” the maid answered.
The girl frowned, taking a deep sigh. ”Okay. As long as he didn't go out without taking his medicine.”
The maid shook her head, looking at the full teacup filled with the Master's medicine. ”He didn't take it and just left suddenly.... as if something was going on.”
*****
The identity of the concerned female about her Master was none other than Jiayi, the person that Suyin had saved when she was in the brothel dressed up as a man. Jiayi was a maid of Junli's apparently and had seized the key-shaped as a rose, known to lead to the 100-year-old Hong Teng, known to cure any kind of illness when she was at the brothel and was captured.
*****
It appeared that Junli had disappeared suddenly that the maids were looking all over for him---especially Jiayi who had a bad feeling about his disappearance.
”Let me know if you see him.”
The maid nodded, leaving the courtyard and back to the corridors that led to a large beautiful hall furnished with ancient antiques such as expensive porcelain that was given from previous Kings to swords and shields passed down from generations.
Jiayi's mind wandered off, thinking about the Master's health until she heard a loud thud as if someone fell to the ground. Jiayi turned her head around and saw that Junli had collapsed to the ground, laying on his side as he groaned to pick up his sword.
”M-Master” Jiayi had whispered, looking around to see if anyone spotted Junli and hurried to his aide, holding his shoulders as he used all of his strength to get up. ”What did you do?!”
Junli's face and lips were pale. Jiayi helped him to his room and laid him down on the bed.
”Go get me some medicine for me to take.” He immediate ordered. Jiayi did not argue and rushed to get his daily medicine to him. Junli could bitterly laugh, with the scenes playing in his mind:
[Flashback]
The sight of seeing his Uncle after the lantern festival made him suspicious because he was riding a carriage as if his journey was miles away from home (when it wasn't that far).