望女成凤 (wang nü cheng feng) - hoping that a daughter will become a phoenix, i.e. hoping the best for your daughter.
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Qiānbàn was in chaos.
And now, it was not simply a whirlwind of rumours.
As Zéyì rushed into the streets with Shǔ Kuí on her back, she was confronted by a melee of fighting figures. A mob of people wielding rocks, some wrapped with burning cloths, faced off against the city's soldiers. There were fires up and down, stores and houses alike burning. Zéyì could hear children crying and people screaming.
“Why is this happening?”
“I don't think you're fully aware of the situation here, Your Highness,” Shǔ Kuí said grimly. “Those documents I brought with me contain details of the Regent's crimes against the people, crimes that have built huge amounts of resentment with nowhere to go, because no one knew who was responsible. Where were people's mothers and daughters, fathers and brothers disappearing to? You arrived at the perfect time; Chūn Yīlì has been brewing this disaster for a long time, and now she has to finally drink it.”
She laughed, the city fires shining madly in her eyes.
“I see.”
“Are you angry, Your Highness?”
“No, I'm actually a little embarrassed. I really didn't think through how much would be involved in this, and I've left all the work to you and Zeng Guk Lung. I also didn't expect things would flare up so quickly, or so violently. We need to stop this.”
“There is no revolution without violence, Your Highness. Whether it is one side or the other, someone will shed blood. Someone will be hurt. The people are angry. They want to fight something.”
Zeng Guk Lung had caught up. “We can use it. Pressure the palace. If you take the people with you, there will be less likelihood of them looting or attacking other civilians.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than he found himself suddenly supporting Shǔ Kuí. Zéyì appeared between the two warring sides in a whirl of black energy, her white lotus aglow beneath her feet.
“ENOUGH! Guards, stand down! People of Qiānbàn! Those who can fight, come with me! The rest stay here and put out the fires. We're going to the palace!”
“Soldiers, go with them. Save your commander Yáng Jìn!” screamed a voice from the crowd that Zéyì recognised as Shǔ Kuí's.
If there had been hesitation before, those words dissolved it in an instant. Yáng Jìn must truly mean something to his soldiers, Zéyì thought, finding herself racing through the streets of Qiānbàn with a mixture of citizens and soldiers behind her.
They almost ran headlong into another group of soldiers, a much larger one, standing guard on the main road to the palace, but the woman at their head dropped to her knees and clasped her hands respectfully. “Your Highness, I am Vice-Commander Wù Māo, What are your orders?”
“I have several. Enter the palace and find Yáng Jìn,” she ordered to the woman's bowed head, the long brown hair shaved on one side to proudly display a long scar that adorned her scalp. “The prisons will have people who have been wrongly incarcerated, they must be processed properly. If there is anyone to spare, have the go into the city and put out the fires and attempt to control the looting. We will be distributing aid from the palace for those in need once it is secured. Organise the civilians to take part so they have something to do. The rest can wait, we must help those that can be helped right now.”
“And... the Regent?”
“I will go by myself. Wù Māo...”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“No one is to come near the Regent other than me. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Then go.”
Zéyì walked alone down the path to the main building of the palace. She could hear soldiers calling orders, hear calls of the people looking for missing loved ones, finding horrors in the palace prisons. Her senses shivered. She could feel them, the tears and the sweat of the people of Qiānbàn, as she walked slowly through the main courtyard, and up the steps that led to the throne room.
Pushing open the doors, she stared at the woman sitting on the golden throne across the room.
Chūn Yīlì had a rueful smile on her lips, and although she sat casually, in her hand she held a nine-section whip, still stained with blood. “Lián,” she said in a voice filled with gentle rebuke and a tender pride, “you're late.”
Zéyì bit back tears and gritted her teeth. “I'm here, Regal Mother.”
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Chūn Yīlì came to the throne of Chūn fifteen years prior, as the Sixth Regent of Chūn. She, or he, as was presented to the public, was the only surviving child of the previous regent. Some more stuff
For the first few years, Chūn Yīlì had little to no presence. Things continued much as they had under the reign of her father, the Fifth Regent.
Stolen story; please report.
“At least it's better than the reign of the Fourth Regent,” the people told themselves. The time of the Fourth Regent had been one of chaos, as he fought to bring the country back to stability following the devastating floods. His father, the Third Regent Chūn Shénzhī, had lived nearly one hundred years with his high level of cultivation, but it was not enough – the floods brought a disease that took out quarter of the population, including King Shénzhī.
“Why do I find that hard to believe?” Zéyì asked coldly.
Chūn Yīlì smiled, but didn't answer the question. “Your elder brother was nowhere near as talented as you, Lián. It became clear that he had no idea how to stabilise Chūn. But I knew. I knew how. I wish he had just listened to me.”
“Was it really Gē ge who tried to assassinate me?” Zéyì asked suddenly. Her voice was tight.
Chūn Yīlì's smile grew softer. “His little boy was much more helpful. I was able to stabilise Chūn very quickly once the Fifth Regent was named.”
“What happened to Gē ge?”
“But even he became problematic as he grew older. He just wouldn't listen.”
“What happened to Gē ge?”
“And so, I had to die... and become someone else.”
“Where are they, Regal Mother?” Zéyì begged. “What did you do with them? With Father and Gē ge and his son?”
“I'm sure you'll find them, eventually.” Chūn Yīlì shrugged.
“How did you manage all this? Your cultivation level... you should have died many, many years ago.”
“Is that any way to speak to your mother?”
“Answer me, Mǎn Jiāng.” The demonic energy within Zéyì reared up, and she didn't fight against it. Her divine power, burning with righteous rage, rushed to meet it, and she glowed with power, white shadow and black light swirling harmoniously around her. Chūn Yīlì's eyes widened, then grew watery.
“Lián... my Lián. How beautiful.”
“MOTHER!”
“I guess that thieving Shǔ Kuí brought you that scrap she tore from my journal. Perhaps it was silly of me to write it down, but...” Chūn Yīlì's smile became sad. “I just wanted someone to know. I hoped you would realise what I'd done for you, one day.”
“How did you do it?” Zéyì whispered.
“When I was a young girl in Zyu... ah, I can see from your expression that you already knew about that, as well. So clever, my daughter. I met a young woman... I don't even remember her name anymore. I was upset about something, and I'd run away from home for the day. I remember sitting in the pine forest crying when this pretty young woman appeared before me. There was a beautiful flame in her eyes. I wanted it. I thought that maybe I could burn the world down with it.”
“Who was she?”
“No idea, or perhaps I no longer remember. I thought maybe she was some kind of spirit or Immortal, since back then they used to roam the world more freely than they do now. In any case, she said she could show me a few things. I maybe couldn't get the same powers as her, exactly, but something similar.
“So she taught me for a while before she had to leave, and she was right, I couldn't do the same things as her. I couldn't burn an ancient tree to ash in a second, or move at the speed she did, but I could bring a scorching heat to a place. I could cook a rabbit as it tried to run.”
Zéyì's heart beat painfully against her throat. “No... It... The curse of Zyu?”
“Oh, yes, that was... A mistake? I think I was sick of seeing things that needed fixing and not being able to do anything because I wasn't in charge. The Mun Family were only lesser nobles, after all. I don't remember what I was thinking exactly... These details get hazy, don't they, after so many years? But it just got out of control... ah, I think maybe that was when my arranged marriage was announced everyone. Me included, I had no idea. I kept having nightmares about how my life was going to fall apart, so I just had to do something about it. After one of the dreams, I woke up feeling so strong, and I thought I'd better take advantage of it.”
“And you didn't question it? You didn't question this strange woman who taught you... the sudden strength you developed after having nightmares... You didn't...”
“Why should I have? Qiān lǐ sòng é máo, Lián. A swan's feather from far away. I'm not going to look down on a gift. And although things went wrong in Zyu, I was able to escape and set up a good life in Chūn. I sought asylum from Shénzhī, and he made me one of his concubines... and then, of course, his Queen, as it should be.”
“And the flood?” Zéyì quietly, although she thought she knew the answer.
“Well, I guess all the water that was lost from Zyu had to go somewhere. It was annoying that it has to come down on Chūn, but I guess it made sense, given the proximity and topography. So are you going to go running off to tell that pet loong of yours now?”
“How are you still alive?”
“The Gods must like me.”
“How did you become strong enough to dry an entire country?”
“The Gods must like me.”
Zéyì stared at Chūn Yīlì, her demonic and divine powers settled into almost perfect taijitu in her eyes.
“Your eyes look so beautiful, Lián. Taijitu eyes? What can they do?”
“... I can see all good, and I can see all evil. I can see all light and all dark. I can see happiness and sadness.”
She could see the figure of the woman Chūn Yīlì, who had once called herself Mǎn Jiāng. A grey and red fog hung around her, resting over her mouth like a mask. The youthful appearance was stripped by Zéyì's vision, leaving only a withered creature little more than an animated corpse. The red and grey fog seeped continuously from its seven orifices.
“I... I can see what you truly are.”
“Will you kill me, Lián?” Mǎn Jiāng asked her daughter.
“No. No, because... there is someone else... There's someone else who I believe... Please, don't struggle, Regal Mother. I will not show kindness if you do.”
Mǎn Jiāng stood, flicking the whip she held in her hand, the metal segments rattling viciously across the throne room floor. “Kindness is for the weak, Lián. You're not weak. I'm so proud of you. You're not weak.”
“But you are, Regal Mother. You let the demons of hatred and envy eat you away until you're nothing but a desiccated shell powered by those negative feelings. That whip doesn't even belong to you. This can't keep going.”
“You even remember that?” Mǎn Jiāng looked surprised, then a sly smile crossed her face. “Zéyì! You remember more than you have been admitting. And yet you shamelessly have charged into this palace claiming to be the rightful heir. How interesting!”
“I have claimed nothing. Except that I will bring you to justice. For the last time... Mother... Please... Please just come with me.”
“No, Lián.” Any semblance of humanity fell away like a cicada shedding a skin. Mǎn Jiāng leapt forward, the nine-segment whip screaming towards Zéyì.