07.The massacre

"Yue Er..,are you practicing the embroidery ?" Lady Jiang called her daughter.

Yue Er was indeed practicing the basic embroidery techniques her mother taught her, when she heard her mother's voice. She lifted her head from the embroidery she was doing and looked at her mother.

"yes mother, I'm practicing. Soon I will be able to do embroidery as good as mother" she replied her mother enthusiastically.

After seeing her daughter's enthusiasm, lady Jiang Lin smiled at her happily.

"Then, let me see your work" she asked her daughter, coming into her room.

It seemed her daughter has practiced really hard because her embroidery had turned into a beautiful Peony flower.

"Yue Er…you have done a good job. It is so beautiful. Mother is so proud of you" she praised her daughter.

Yin Yue was so happy.

"Mother…when I'm able to do embroidery like you, I'm going to embroider a dress for my little brother" she said to her mother.

That made Lady Jiang smiled.

Lady Jiang was the only lady of Jiang household because General Jiang had no concubines. And Ying Yue was the only child of Jiang family and now that lady Jiang is expecting, that made her the eldest daughter of the family. Yin Yue had two close friends and they both had brothers. Therefore Yin Yue also wanted a brother. She always called her unborn sibling "brother". She loved her unborn sibling so much.

Remembering those, Lady Jiang smiled happily and gave her a warm hug.

After releasing her, mother took a beautiful little box in her hand and gave it to Yin Yue.

"Mother, what is this? why are you giving this to me?" Yin Yue ask curiously.

"My Yue Er has worked hard to practice embroidery. This is a gift from mother" lady Jiang replied and asked her to check whether she liked it or not.

Yin Yue opened the box carefully and saw a beautiful hairpin in it. She was happy. She took it out and exclaimed with joy.

"Mother, it is same as yours."

"Yue Er , do you like it? Lady Lin asked her daughter.

"of course mother. Yue Er like it very much. Yue Er thanks mother" she replied happily.

After a moment, she looked at her mother and asked this.

"Mother…Yue Er wants to wear this after doing hair like mother does"

Lady Jiang Lin approved it with a smile. Therefore Yin Yue called her assistant Xin Er and asked her to do her hair exactly like her mother. Xin Xin did her young miss’s hair beautifully and wore the hairpin. Yin Yue looked herself in the mirror and was so happy.

"Xin Er, aren't I look like my mother?" she asked joyously looking at Xin Xin and her mother at the same time.

"Yes, our young miss exactly takes after our madam" Xin Xin said politely.

Indeed, Yin Yue was a real living image of her mother. She had a pair of long bright eyes, with long jet black hair. Lady Jiang was a tall lady with elegant, slender figure. Her every move, every word she speaks, even her glance was graceful. Yin Yue was tall for her age, although she was merely nine years old, she was tall as much as her maid Xin Xin who was twelve years old.  She had a petite figure with a cheerful smile always on her face.

Although she lacked the matured elegant aura her mother had, she was adorable in her own way.

"Daughters are the pride of a family While sons are the strength and foundation "General Jiang always used to say that.

"Xin Xin,let us have some tea" after watching her daughter, Lady Jiang asked Xin Xin.

Both mother and daughter enjoyed their tea together.

*                                   *                                   *                                *                               *                          

It was evening. The sun beaming in crimson color, was setting in the western sky coloring the sky with various colors.

The servants were getting ready to light the lights around the house because the night was about to invade the surrounding. It was not just the darkness of night, It seemed it was about to rain heavily. While the sun was setting in western sky, the eastern sky was filling with dark clouds.

Yin Yue was reading a book while lady Jiang was having a rest. All of a sudden, the leader of the guards, protecting the Jiang household came in, asking an immediate audience with the lady. He was allowed to meet the lady.

"My lady, some of our guards have been assassinated by unknown assassins. We are taking actions about it. We tightened the security by increasing the guards. Mu Qi came here to inform our lady just in case"

Lady Jiang nodded and let the guard leave. But since the moment she heard that news she felt uneasy. She lost the peace of her mind. But she tried to be calm.

After some time, they heard the noises of weapons clashing, shouting of soldiers, running sounds, neighing of horses...around the house.

Another message came informing that a large group of masked soldiers are attacking the guards of Jiang household; lady and the others were asked to prepare for an emergency just in case.

Lady Jiang Lin was anxious and curious at the same time. She couldn't guess who would be dared enough to launch such an attack to Jiang household.

Therefore she issued some quick orders to prepare for an emergency. She asked her maid to make their young miss change into normal clothes and lead her towards the hidden path which leads to the outside of the house. Then she called for the female fighting team.

In Qing empire, females were not allowed in army. Practicing martial arts for females were not encouraged but it was not prohibited either. Therefore throughout the Qing empire, there were some concealed female fighters.

This team consisted of twenty-five female maids who worked in Jiang household. As a daughter of a master who taught about art of war to thousands of students, Lady Jiang herself was a martial arts practitioner. She trained the team herself and then a higher training was given to them by General Jiang.

The female fighters team also were sent as reinforcement. But after a critical fight, all male guards were severely wounded or dead and female fighters were wounded and were surrendered with their hands tight behind. The assassins stopped for a moment and the leader of them asked to bring the rest of family to the front and made them kneel.

All remaining attackers rushed to get the remaining servants and the lady of the house. Two soldiers get the lady by two hands and tried to bring her to courtyard while remaining servants were trying desperately to defend the lady. Lady Jiang was furious. She shook those soldiers' hands off. Trying to maintain her patience, she demanded for a reason for this unruly act.

The leader of the attackers, a general according to his appearance, presented a document looked like an imperial decree. He started reading it aloud,

"General Jiang Lin, who was in-charge of protecting the western border of The great Qing empire, has colluded with the enemy against our great empire betraying the emperor. Including him, all the members of his family are to be assassinated by beheading.

                                                       -The emperor himself-"

The lady couldn't believe her ears. This is definitely a false accusation or someone's conspiracy. She vehemently denied the accusation asking for an investigation but was of no use.

All of them were brought to the court yard and were knelt. Execution orders were about to be issued, but stopped by the general .

"Are all the alive personnel of Jiang household here? isn't there anyone hiding inside? did you search well?" He asked his men.

"Yes General, we searched the house thoroughly but no any other one could be found" his men replied.

"It is said that General Jiang has a really pretty wife and a daughter. wife is here but where is the daughter?" he asked again. His men had no answer and he became furious.

"I want every inch of this house to be searched and find the culprit "he ordered. His men dispersed for the search.

This complete situation was seen by Yin Yue, Xin Xin and Zhu Li, the maid of lady Jiang. Zhu Li was leading the young miss and her maid towards the secret path to escape from the house and on their way, they were hiding in the stable, behind a pile of hay which were stored for horse food. Yin Yue wanted to go to her mother but Zhu Li managed to keep her hidden.

After hearing that order, Zhu Li understood that until they find young miss, they wouldn't stop the search. If they want to protect the young miss, they should distract the enemy. Therefore, thinking of a plan to distract enemy, Zhu Li whispered something to Xin Xin's ear and turned to Yin Yue.

"Miss, we thought of a plan to escape. To act on our plan, Xin Xin and I need to go out for a while.

Please...promise us no matter what you see or what you here, you should never move out from here until one of us come back." she asked Yin Yue.

What Yin Yue wanted the most was to escape from those cruel people with her mother. Therefore she promised Zhu Li. Then Zhu Li and Xin Xin covered Yin Yue totally with the pile of hay and left her in the stable.

After a while, the soldiers who were searching for the daughter of the General Jiang, found her hiding in an inner chamber with a maid. They brought her in-front of their General.

The panic striken eyes of the lady Jiang, after hearing that her daughter is caught were immediately changed after she saw the daughter. Quick glances were exchanged and some messages were shared between the lady and Zhu Li with their eyes which others couldn't notice.

Finally…everything was ready according to the general and he gave the orders to execute the death penalty.

The rain which was preparing to pour down, suddenly started.

While waiting for the death, kneeling on the ground, Lady Jiang had taken one final decision. She had released the female fighters’ hands who were kneeling beside her while the killers were searching for her daughter. She issued the final order secretly.

“Let’s not die without giving a fight.”

All were ready to give their all for the final blow. With the signal of their Lady, all the people who were kneeling on the ground attacked the assassins together. While the rain was pouring down heavily, they carried on the fight until all the people were killed down ruthlessly.