POV: HANFU SONG:General of the han imperial forces
LOCATION: SONG FAMILY MANOR
TIME: LATE EVENING
"You have a lot of heart coming here young man?" He Jin says in an obvious anger.
You are sure that if he still had his sword he would us it.
"Calm down uncle He Jin." The boy responds with a gentle bow
"I did not come here seeking a fight."
"Then what did you come here seeking?" You ask back
"I came here to trade uncle." He answers simply and took a seat at the only available spot on the table
"I spotted a valuable piece of property today and I am hoping we could talk about my acquiring it"
"I see!" You reluctantly add as you all begin to take your seats.
Already, despite the fact that not one of you will say anything, one look at the faces of your comrades and you can tell that you were all thinking the same thing.
How in the heavens is he here when his beloved crannies was facing an attack?
You watch him pull what was left of your meal (which was a lot) and continue to watch as he begins devouring the food with gusto. You all continue to watch in silence for a while until you grew bored of it and say
"Are you going to tell me what you wish to acquire?"
He takes a sip of tea and says
"In addition to your twenty geji slaves,I would also like to acquire your five li of land that is located east of crannies."
Your face twists in fury when you hear those words but you stiffle your resentment
"Those lands are not sale my prince." You say respectfully
He raises an eyebrow
"Not even when I have a good offer?"
"Not even then my prince."
"Well then can you at least hear my offer?" You hear a sort of sly edge in his voice
"I would not come here if I did not have a good offer general believe me."
You consider this for a moment and despite the warning of your instincts, something tells you that he knows something you should hear.
"Go on then." You say
"How much will you offer in exchange for the land?"
"A hundred human heads." He replies casually
You laugh out loud
"Have a taken a good look at my manor?" You ask him
"Do I look to be I need of slaves?"
The warm smile he is wearing slowly disappears and in it's place comes the cold hearted smile that will forever haunt your every waking moment.
"Who said anything about slaves general."
He then points towards the door and two men in red armor walks in with a large chest.
They place the chest on the table, bow only to the prince and take their leave.
This blatant disregard for you and the other generals annoys you greatly but once again you stiffle your resentment.
"I see no reason why even in your wildest dreams, you would assume that human heads would get you anything from me let alone a prized possession such as that land."
"That is because you have not yet seen who those heads belong to yet." His supreme smile is still in place
"Would you mind?" (He points to the chest)
Knowing that the bastard prince could do nothing in your own home, you slowly open the chest and your mind reels back in shock.
In your front is the opened chest and in it are the faces of every single one of the bandits that you hired staring back at you with an expression of horror and fear.
"Are you familiar with this people?" His smile made a strange feeling appear at the pit of your stomach.
"No he is not." He Jin answers heatedly
"Why would you think he is familiar with common bandits?"
"Because the few of them that survived told me an interesting story that I intend to relay to the emperor." The boy counters casually and turns to me
"So are you willing to make a deal now?"
The strange feeling in your chest grows larger but you quickly stem it down and get your shaky voice in order.
"How did you know?" You ask
"I have eyes and ears everywhere general." Came the reply
"It also helps that you are not a very subtle person."
He then takes another sip of tea (which you regret not to have poisoned) and says with a bright confident smile
"I knew you would not let the matter rest so I gave orders to my people to watch your every move. They saw you leave your house, followed you to your meeting and made sure to see and hear everything that was said. So as soon as you left the meeting to take control of the southern gate, I quickly rallyed my men, led them through the western gate, attacked the bandits camp and arnahilated the bandits. As for the hundred that you led in here, well when they came to take over the gate let us just say it was not the guards that they met."
"So now you want me to give you my land in order to buy your silence?" You could hear the hint of resignation in your voice and you reckon he must have heard it too because those cold eyes suddenly grew colder.
"Do you know the penalty for what you done general?" His voice becomes completely cold
"If the emperor gets wind of this, his eunuchs will not only declare you a traitor but they will seize your entire property and they will execute you and your entire family. Is that what you prefer?"
The strange feeling becomes so profound that your right hand begins to shake with out your permission. Noticing this the young prince grips your right hand and says in a gentle tone.
"I have convinced my father to put you in charge of hunting the white wave bandits general so if you buy these heads from me, not only will you avoid this disaster but..."
"I will gain the emperor's favor for a fast and through work." You complete
"Is that not worth all the land in china?" He adds
The strange feeling receeds for a bit and you slowly pull your right hand away from his.
"Just that one land?" You ask in resignation
He nods and pulls out two scrolls from his sleeves.
"Get me an ink pot and a quail." You order
Your servant soon complies and you promptly sign the parchment despite the silent displeasure of your guests.
"Will that be all my prince?" You allow the gathered resentment to flow into your voice.
"For now general, yes." He replies
"Then..."
You stand up, walk to the door and open it wide
"Of course general." He replies
"Thanks again for the nice meal"
He then gives you a slight bow, walks up to the door and take his leave
"First you surrender your dignity and now you surrender your land?" He Jin cries in raw fury
"I am beginning to think you are not on our side Yizhen."
"He had a blade to my throat Sugoa." You cry back
"What did you expect me to do?"
"I expected you to deny all involvement with the bandits, refused his request for your land and should he bring it to the emperor, trust in us to protect you."
"Protect me?" You bark
"You could not even stop the emperor from giving him three tiger cubs. How am I supposed to believe that you would be able to stop the emperor from executing me?"
He Jin moves his hand to a sword that is not on his hip and you equally do the same.
"Enough both of you." Zhu Jun cries
"Don't you see that this is what the bastard wants?"
You both calm down
"Now sit down." He orders and you both complies
"What done is done and we cannot change the past." He continues
"How ever what we can do is use the young prince land grabbing habit against him."
"Do you have a plan Zhu Jun." He Jin asks
"Yes and I sincerely believe that this time we will emerge the victors."
All the planning, scheming and calculation that was done that day, you bearely pay attention to it all. This is because you are too busy trying to understand what that strange feeling in your stomach is.
Was it anger?
Was it rage?
No it fear
Pure naked fear
And you hate feeling afraid.