4. You're free to kill me.

"Sir, I don't think that it's a good idea meeting him alone like this. We can set up a conference meeting but not like this. He is very dangerous-" The man stopped talking when his master raised a hand, motioning him to stop his ramble.

"Beihong." His master called his name and in a lazy manner, asked,"How long have you been working for me?"

The man named Beihong, not knowing how the question is related to this situation, gave the fastest response,"Three years, sir."

"I see..well that's quite long, isn't it?" His boss hummed in a fake speculation, above his head rested an elegant hat which hid his eyes perfectly. "I thought you knew me by now."

Hearing his master's ridicule, Beihong couldn't help but nod in defeat.

Meanwhile, inside a distinguished car, sat a prominent man as he read the newspaper article with great interest.

Outside the car were men in black suits, guarding the person inside the car in the middle of a political protest rally. Public people raising their high ends protest to the officials as if their lives depended on it.

Their echoing protests shook the air as they kept on raising the written board on their hands. 'We want justice, you can't shut us up.'

Anti-capitalist enraged by the rising poverty of the poor. The world was never fair to begin with. Who are they trying to stop? The wealthy officials or the world which was their greatest enemy.

At the end of the day, that is how their society worked, by taking whatever the world gives them.

Yang's eyes narrowed when his man, Zhou Shwan informed him about the arrival of a certain someone.

"He is here, master."

"Let him in."

The mysterious man came inside the car, not even a slightest bit affected when he came face to face with one of the most fearful men of today's society's rule, Liang Yang.

"Never thought that I'll get to meet the young master like this." The younger man spoke, his hat still shadowing the emotions in his eyes.

The different blood of the nobles inside the same car.

Yang chuckled and hummed in acknowledgement as he called out the man's name in a leisurely manner.

"Sicheng."

"I must say.." He put the newspaper down on the seat as he complimented,"You've trained your dogs quite well."

"Yeah, right." The man named Sicheng playfully responded,"After all, they only bite the thieves."

Naturally as if they were friends of the old times, the man relaxed on the seat and picked up the newspaper which was placed beside him while muttering to himself as he read it. "Public can be fools sometimes, they don't realize that the innocent ones are being portrayed as evil and the real evil ones are being worshiped by them."

Yang could only lift the corner of his lips at the underhand meaning. He knew who was being referred to as an evil one in that casual made statement.

His eyes narrowed dangerously as he spoke after a brief silence. "A man who seeks power has to often choose the path of evil," Yang said and further continued in a serious tone,"Stop meddling with my business, Sicheng. The reason why I'm warning you to not go any further with this is because I've taken a liking to you. Rest you're smart enough to know how I deal with people."

His words were uttered as if he was talking about today's weather but the tense atmosphere in the car was anything but normal. "The Li family has raised you quite well and I can see how smart you are but even you know that you're embracing something which can take your life.. '' Yang paused for a moment before he continued further,"..even worse end your whole family."

"Just like it took your father's?" An eerily icey voice mocked after a brief moment of silence. The playfulness in Sicheng's aura was long gone, exchanged with something really coldblooded.

Yang didn't react to the sudden change as he had expected it sooner or later and sighed out helplessly.

"So this is how you're going to play."

"So what? Do you expect me to hand over my city under your evil tyranny?" Sicheng sneered and waved the newspaper in the air.

Almost all the articles in the newspaper were about Yang's evil deeds that were done just the day before but the ironic part was that all of these were being glorified by the media.

Six officials murdered in the middle of the road in broad daylight, in front of thousands of eyes watching the men in black fearfully but nobody dared to stop them, thinking that it was right and was an act of justice to the poor.

Fools they were, imbeciles!

"Tyrant?" Yang closed his eyes tiredly. "I've no intention of ruling over this city. Your men made a mistake of taking things lightly. What I did was inevitable.."

"What about their family then? Why didn't you just kill them too?" Hearing the nonchalant way he was speaking, Sicheng couldn't bite down his anger and asked,"What about those orphans, mothers and widows whose fates you'd sealed? What will you do about them?"

"You know better. I don't kill women, children or elders." Yang leaned on the seat, answering nonchalantly as if things were quite obvious. "They'll be compensated, you don't have to worry. I know that you're agitated but try seeing things through my eyes."

"What a joke." Sicheng scoffed,"How about I kill you and make your newly-wedded wife a widow?"

A smirk stretched over Yang's facial, his kohled eyes opened and he responded with no remorse.

"You're free to kill me."

If he was afraid of death, he wouldn't have chosen the path of evil. He had no family, no weakness and no one to protect. If there has to be a weakness that God has sent for him, he'll end it himself.

But he was forgetting about someone, the wife he'd married.

Little did Yang know that God hadn't shown any mercy while making his weakness. The weakness that'll get him down to his knees, bow his head and suffer through the end.

His cruel fate has already been sealed since the day he married her.

Sicheng was beyond enraged. His eyes filled with fury and fist clenched, turning his knuckles pale as he uttered out coldly,"I would've killed you if not for the respect I've had for your late father. Since you're so blind that you couldn't even see your own sins, then I hope one day, you shall regret this all, seeking for the mercy that you never spare to the ones whose lives you have taken. You shall regret this and I'll make sure of it."

Yang didn't seem to mind Sicheng's almost curse-like statement and took out a cigar from the car's apartment before he asked,"Have you got a lighter?"

Getting no response, he raised his eyebrows and went out of the car to have a stress relieving smoke.

Sicheng was about to leave the car when Yang got out first. Quite unsettled, Sicheng followed out only to witness a scene that showed the power this formidable man held in his own city.

When the people who were protesting saw who had come out of the car, a sudden silence enveloped the whole place. Even the sound of wind blowing the papers on the street could be heard.

Phew! Rustle!

Rustle!

And it didn't even take a moment of realization for them to bow their heads to the man they feared and respected. Not a single soul made a sound as Yang let his aid, Zhou Shwan, lit his cigar.

After taking a puff of it, he sighed and his brows playfully cocked when he saw the people bowing at him. "Am I not supposed to be a hateful person?" He turned toward his aide, asking,"What do you say, Shwan?"

"Yes, master."

Yang chuckled and nodded after a brief moment before facing Sicheng as he asked while raising the cigar in his hand playfully.

"Want one?"

Sicheng pursed his lips and could only watch the people in helplessness. And from this day on, he swore to change this all.

Change the rule of this unruly tyranny.

...

She waited, but he never called.

Days passed like ages for her. Her heart was numb from the waiting but she never gave up.

The little girl grew up, becoming more and more beautiful as she came of her age. However, she has yet to grow into a woman who is loved by her one and only.

The servants could see that their mistress's beauty was never-ending. She gets prettier and prettier by each passing day. Her beauty is as if a curse that has no cure nor any end.

She was blessed with all, a good heart, a kind soul and bewitching beauty that will get any male on their knees for even a quick glimpse of her.

Fei waited and waited.

However, another year passed just like that.

So what? He'll come back.

After all, she was his wife.

He'll surely come back someday and then maybe apologize to her?

He will, right?

She'd pray to God for his well being and prosperity. Does he think about her like she does.. almost everyday?

Was it being a fool falling for someone she has never met? She was a fool, perhaps.

Ever since she was a child, she grew up hearing that she'll be a bride to someone who'll take her away from her home; a cage-like home.

And just like in the fairytales, she'll become his wife. Fei grew up in a cage, learning how to be a graceful woman and learning the important roles of being a dutiful wife.

That is how her childhood was..

She grew up hearing his name but now that she has finally married him, it felt as if the pain she went through was nothing compared to this.

Why was God testing her in this manner?

...

Two years later, at the main Master's courtyard, sat a lithe figure beside the hall window, enjoying her embroidery activity.

She sat there, unknown to the surprise she will be facing today, meeting the one she has been waiting for two years.

It's been two years already. Fei had been caged just the same way as she had been in her childhood days.

The only difference was that she had her mother to love her back then and that was enough. It was enough, just a little amount of affection was enough for her but maybe she took it for granted, so God decided to test her.

Rumble! Boom!

Fei peeked through the window when she heard the thundering roaring above the sky.

Seems like it will rain today, she thought.

Her eyes flashed with a sudden thought and she hurriedly went to the backyard to get her birds inside the home. The birds are afraid of the sound of thunder claps and she was aware of it.

Seeing them restlessly flapping their wings inside the cage, she smiled and put the cage down from the holder and took it inside the manor.

Creak! Thak!

A sudden noise caught her attention. Confused, she went to the source of it. Was it the head maid? Who opened the house door?

...