Introduction

"Miss, your father requests your audience at the pavilion," said Xiao Fei, her personal maid. Anya knew they would come for her, she had just settled into her room and pretended to be reading scripture when the maid knocked.

"I will be right there," she replied and made her way out to see not one but six hefty men waiting for her. She didn't think her father would take such extreme measures just to get her to attend to his guests. It's not like she will run away, or will she? Seeing the men, ready to bundle her if she tried any trick made her even more determined to do just that. From all indications, the intention of the meeting was clear. Her father was trying to match her up with another son of a prominent person again and this time, they planned to force her to attend the introduction by any means necessary. Anya tried to test the men's speed by suddenly breaking into a run, only to get surrounded at once. She was now standing between them as if she were a criminal, with nowhere to turn, she let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Relax guys, I wasn't trying to run or anything, I just want to see if you could catch up," she said cheekily, but nobody was laughing. They escorted her to her parents' courtyard where it seemed as though a party was in procession.

"Father," she greeted meekly, and his face lit up, he was worried that she might get away again and miss the chance to meet her future in-laws.

"Come, my dear," her father said in high spirits and in a much lower tone he whispered to his wife standing next to him,

"See, I told you sending those guys to fetch her wasn't a bad idea." But Mrs Guo wasn't convinced, she knew her daughter all too well and knew what she was capable of regardless of what anybody says. When her husband suggested getting their little girl married, she immediately agreed. This was the third time her parents had set up her marriage and this time, they planned to succeed. Whatever it took, after all, she had attained adulthood, most of her age mates were all married and possibly nursing their first child.

"Ma Hua, my friend, this is Anya," he said, introducing his daughter and turning to Anya, he said sternly,

"Pay your respect to the elder," he had to be stern for his daughter to understand that Hua was not someone they could offend. Anya, being the perfect daughter, paid her respect humbly and acted like she had no clue what was unfolding.

"Come closer child, I have no doubt that my Tianyue would like you very much," an elderly round woman standing beside the old man said in appreciation, even though Anya was repulsive of their fake show of affection, she didn't show it and just did as she was told. The party went on for another hour and during that hour, the old couple kept loading her plate with extra food.

"You need to eat more to grow more flesh," the woman said,

"Don't worry, once you join our family, we will make sure to feed you well, you won't have anything to worry about." She said and Anya managed a little smile. Anya struggled to remain seated as she was constantly reminded of the trauma of the previous night, everything she went through was still fresh in her memory and she couldn't wait to soak in hot water one more time. By the time the last guess left, she didn't wait for a chat with her parents and just went back to her yard. After her bath, she planned to go straight to bed. Commander Xu hadn't sent for her, which meant she could catch up with her missed sleep.

"Miss, I would like to go serve you when you get sent to your new family after the marriage," her maid said dreamily as she helped Anya with her night dress. Anya didn't have to discuss her plan with the maid, who would go right back to her parents to report everything. She had learned the hard way never to trust anyone but herself and that was why she kept everyone at arms' length. If she wants to get anything done, then it was better to keep it to herself and let the results speak for themselves. She understood that her parents were already familiar with her old tactics of acting out of character in front of her future in-laws. Doing the same wouldn't work this time. But Anya has a couple of more tricks up her sleeve. Her parents were doing everything it took to ensure the wedding this time would take place. They had also chosen an auspicious date for the wedding. Anya knew what she had to do to get her future husband to hate her enough to break off the engagement. She only needed to find him first. Satisfied with what she needed to do, she hummed a happy song and got into bed. She wasn't going to think about anything and only focused on sleeping. But her night was restless, and she only dreamed of general Iroh's body.

*************************

Somewhere offshore, Iroh, adorned in his military regalia, halted his men. They would set up camp in the woods and rest for a bit. They had been riding their horses for hours now. Even the poor animals needed rest. The journey would resume again the next day.

"My lord," Ké knelt on one leg in front of the general, he had brought some snacks and water for him. But Iroh declined the snacks and went for water instead. He had gone days without food, and today is just the first day.

"See to it that the horses are well-fed and watered," he said, and dismissed the private before going back inside to face the third platoon soldiers. He had called them all into his tent for questioning. The sergeant, Shang Li, was the leader of the group and the one Iroh directed his questions. But the more he asked questions, the weirder it gets.

"Who else came near my quarters last night?" He probed, since no one had permission to go near his room, let alone go into it, except Ké and two others. While packing up for his trip, he notices a tiny hole in one of the screens. Somebody had poked a small hole there and the remnant of the incense stick was stuck there. From all indications, it was an inside job, but then again, could the girl have done that and come around sneaking in? Where were all the guys then?

"As far as I can tell, I didn't see anyone go in or out of your room last night except Ké," the soldier said, trying to remember if he witnessed anything out of the ordinary.

"My lord, was something missing?" Shang managed to ask because he was the first one on watch last night, he didn't see any burglar getting in.

"Yes, someone took something from me last night," as soon as he said that, there were gasps of shock from the soldiers, who all looked at each other in surprise.

"Tell me what it was, and we will find it," now that Iroh heard that, he knew he hadn't given them much to work with. What happened last night doesn't feel like they took something from him, it was more like he did all the taking, but the guys don't need to know that, as a matter of fact, they don't need to know anything. The lesser they knew, the quicker it would be to fish out the main culprit. He wasn't going to tell them that the thief was a woman either.

"If I knew this earlier, I would have checked the surroundings for clues," the sergeant said confidently, but Iroh shook his head. No need, he would catch the culprit himself. There was no doubt in his mind that the one who led the girl into his room was one of the guys staring at him, he just had to figure out the shiftier one out of the group.

"Don't worry about it, I will find it myself, you are dismissed," he said, and they all saluted before filing out of the tent. Iroh had gotten what he needed.

"Zhi Feng," he called into the empty space and a man clad in black suddenly appeared before him.

"I need you to follow Yang, if he as much as breath too loudly, I want you to report to me immediately,"

"You humble servant obeys," the figure said and went away as if he had just disappeared. Iroh had such capable servants, he just never called for them. When he awoke in the morning and was preparing to meet the men, he had questioned what Zhi was caught up with to allow his master to get drugged. But in Zhi's defense, Iroh had personally given him the night off before going to meet the king. He had such great confidence in himself and certainly didn't think anyone would play such tricks on him. Iroh sat on the chair to think. He wanted to discuss his plan for attack tomorrow, but instead the image if a rather fragile girl appeared before him and he had to slap himself back to reality. In all his years of fighting war, this was the first time he is thinking of something other than killing the enemy.

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