Little Purple

Hu Zi was looking absentmindedly at the inkstone in front of her. Ever since Zhi Yu's collapse, she had been thinking about their situation a lot, her purple eyes becoming hollow when she reminded herself of how they had been living in the past ten months.

Although the Hu family was annihilated, the family power still stood. They still had their army, and Hu Zi was admitted as the new Wind Dragon right after she mastered the dancing wind technique, or Wu Feng, the highest leveled technique of manipulating the wind.

Actually, only the Earth Dragon had fully approved of her. The Fire Dragon had never cared for these matters, and a new Water Dragon was yet to be crowned. But she was very strong, and the element council, located at the center of the continent, also agreed that the only disciple of the White Demon had what it took to be the new Wind Dragon.

Hu Zi was very glad that the council didn't require the Fire Dragon, Meng Ru's, written approval or a direct confrontation. She really didn't want to feel indebted to him nor did she think she could hold herself back if she came face to face with him. Though she hated him to the bone and wanted to tear him apart to repay him for all he did during her family's massacre, Zhi Yu and Qing Bo prohibited her from engaging him, saying that they didn't have enough power for that yet. Moreover, his whereabouts were still unknown; there was a rumor about him having survived the cliff fall, but no one had actually spotted him right after, at least no one left alive to tell the tale.

Just like how Shou was called the White Demon, after she got the dragon title, she gained her own nickname, the Flying Tiger, and became one of the most influential women in Jin.

But all of that came with a price.

The imperial family had been trying to keep a close eye on them, and Qing Bo needed to pull a lot of string just to stop Jin Min from touching his hands on the army matter. Qing Bo might be able to keep his health, but his movements were very restrained. They were still on the defense mode.

Even though they had the savings her parents kept, Hu Zi still had a whole household full of guards and maids to feed.

For the sake of bringing in an income, Hu Zi bought a store from a nice old couple that was willing to sell to her cheaply and opened a small restaurant in the market.

Hu Zi was glad that her mother left the family with a full team of professional chefs, as her business had been striving for the last three months. Coupled with Hu Cheng Se's bookselling and Hu Bai's jewelry store's income, they even managed to bring in some money they could set aside for bigger savings.

Hu Cheng Se left the family with shelves full of books that she had written over the years. From all of her sellable books, there were seven volumes that were the most popular; those were the series of books she wrote when she felt depressed about Hu Ye's strange disease.

She managed to finish the seventh and last volume just before she went to that bloody trip.

The bookstore helped them copy and sell the books. Although all the books were sellable, Zhi Shao Yao thought that she should keep some of the best books for the family only because they were special, like the Golden Technique, a book about archery that Hu Chenge Se wrote based on Qing Guang's skills.

Shao Yao kept the important training books inside a sturdy brown chest that was located in Hu Ye and Qing Guang's courtyard so Hu Xiang Yi could study them in the future.

Hu Zi sighed. "At least the money problem is solved," she said as she looked up toward the ceiling of her small restaurant office.

Suddenly, she heard a knock coming from the red door that was located right across her office desk. "Come in," she said.

It turned out that the one knocking was the head chef. A forty-year-old woman who had a very nice fragrance, not of flowers, but rather, foods. Hu Zi liked this woman ever since she was small because she was very kind and skilled at cooking.

Usually, the woman would show gentle eyes and a lovely smile when she met her, but right now, her expression was full of worry.

"Miss, we have a delivery order from the palace."

-----

"The empress invited you to go to the palace?" Zhi Yu's eyes widened. It was his second day of recuperating so he was still on the patient bed. In his hand was a warm medicinal soup that could help him recover faster.

His face was still pale, his voice rough, and his eyes sleepy, yet he still had a gentle smile on his sickly face.

"Yes…" Hu Zi broke into cold sweat. She had a frown as she continued. "She ordered some sweats to be made and for them to personally be delivered by me."

Zhi Yu was quiet before he glanced at Fa Sui.

Fa Sui shook his head, indicating that he didn't know anything. Zhi Yu sighed, unsure of what the meaning of this was either. A few months ago, Jin Min ordered a mass firing of the servants and maids in the palace, causing the spies he had placed in the palace for so many years to be kicked out. Now he had almost no one inside.

But since it was the empress who ordered it herself…

"Zi'er, I think you should go to the palace."

"Ay?" Hu Zi jolted. She looked to Fa Sui who was tending to Zhi Yu.

Fa Sui nodded, indicating that he agreed with Zhi Yu.

Something about the whole situation didn't sit right with Hu Zi, but she knew that Zhi Yu knew more about these things than she did, so she would follow his suggestion.

After getting Zhi Yu's opinion, Hu Zi went outside and looked at the scenery outside of Fa Sui's office. The yellow and red leaves were dancing as the breeze past by; the trees, the birds, the squirrel were all getting ready to welcome the winter snow.

"Winter," Hu Zi whispered. The season she was born in, it used to be her favorite time of the year, as she would celebrate her birthday with her family during the day and experience the falling plum blossom flower with Shou during the night.

But now, this particular season brought up her most painful memories. The ones when her family was annihilated on that cold winter night.

She could still hear her sister's screams, the sound of her father and brother's swords clashing with the enemy's, the smile on Shou's face, the dark voice of the crown prince of Meng, and…

That dragon tattoo...

She clenched her hand so hard that her nails dug into her skin, causing the skin to break and blood to seep out. Lifting her hand to the dim light, she observed it with calm eyes. "Blood... Shou once said that blood was the color red." It really was a beautiful color. Terrible, but still quite beautiful. She looked up in the direction of the palace and solemnly thought of something.

"They dared to invite the angry tiger into their den." Her eyes, which had once been indecisive and hesitant, suddenly cleared out, a new light in them, filling with the flames of determination and promises. "Shou, everyone, I will bring retribution to those who did this to us."

No matter what it would take.