The Last War

19. The False Letter and Old Memories

Please note: This chapter includes some intimate words and a little erotic.

Po rubbed his ear, just to be sure that he had heard right. But it seemed that Xinxin told what he had heard. In confusion, he stared around and watched how Shen stood up abruptly. His tears had gone, his anger had stayed. He made a hard step up to her.
"That's impossible!" he retorted bitterly. "Nobody beside us knew about us."
"And beside of me," Xinxin added. "Despite she told me everything after she realized that she has pregnant. But shortly after, another person knew about her situation. A black day for her."
Shen hissed. "Put your lies somewhere else..."
"Shen!" Po admonished. "Listen." The panda put his palms together. "Please!"
The peacock turned around. He didn't want to look in her face.
Xinxin didn't mind and began.
"After she came back home, she was silent the most time. It wasn't new for me. I know her since she was a child. But on the following day, she became nervous and very troubled. She asked me to examine her. I had been a midwife before I became a servant. And we found out, she was pregnant."
She made a pause. Shen meanwhile still didn't look at her.
"What was her reaction?" Po asked curiously.
The vixen continued calmly. "Well, first, she was happy, but in the same moment, she had shocked."
"Why?"
"Her parents didn't know about all. She never told them what happened in the mountains."
"Again a lie," Shen's voice muttered darkly. "She claimed her parents had died."
Xinxin sighed. "For her, they died a long time ago. They didn't exist for her anymore. They never accepted her as their daughter."
Po rubbed his head. "Why?"
"Because she is a girl."
Po made big eyes. "Only for that reason?"
"They had wished a boy, but instead they've got a girl. She never wanted to do the same with her child. But she panicked. "Who will take care for my child?" she asked herself repeatedly. She was sure, if her parents knew about it, it would be the end of all. By this time, she didn't know that it would be two children. Finally, she came to the resolution to write you a letter."
At this moment, the peacock turned around. The female fox stepped backwards and raised her paws when the wrathful eyes met her. Po tensed his muscles. Just to be ready for a fight. But Shen held back his blaze of anger.
"Believe me, my lord," Xinxin said. "She needed several tries to write a letter start. I stood next to her. She cried while she wrote. But before she could finish it, her mother came in without warning. She used to control her whenever she wanted. But this moment couldn't have been worse like this moment. She snatched the letter from her. I thought my heart would stop, knowing vaguely what she wanted to write. I was forced to leave the room, but I will never forget how angry she had been. I remember like it was yesterday."

17 years ago...

"Give me the letter back!"
But her mother held it up and avoided that the young peahen could reach it.
"You will never meet him again!" Her mother shouted. "Shame on you! Messing around with some fellow who just happened along and slanders your future husband?! I'm ashamed to call you my daughter! You are a disappointment to your family! And that brat, I will take care that nobody will know about it!"
The young peahen crossed her wings over her body. "That's my child! I will never take it away!"
"Don't you know what will happen if it comes out, that you have bastards from an unmarried lover?"
The girl kept silent, while her mother walked back and forth.
"No one will hear about your illegitimate child. It will happen before it hatches. It will be painless. Don't worry. It will feel nothing. You will be safe, and we avoid that it wastes the place on earth."
Yin-Yu couldn't believe what her mother said. "Y-you can't do this!"
"Interspecific hybrids have no place in the royal line!"
The girl gasped for air. She turned around and covered her face with her wings.
Her mother came closer. "Daughter, I only want the best for you. Think about what could happen if someone knows that you wear monstrosities in you from another man. You know what you have to expect. I only want to protect you from the death penalty. Better it than you."
The young girl had no force to stay on her feet. She sank to the ground, her trembling wings had effort to keep her up. But her mother showed no sympathy and crumpled up the letter.
"You will travel to Xiang today," she said icily and turned around. "Take care that he doesn't get to know about that. And if the time has come, I will take care for the rest."
With that, she threw the letter into a flame-filled fire bowl.