Phoenix Rise: XieRong

When night fell and everyone had been called away for dinner, Fa Chun knew it was the time to rescue his mother, sister and Auntie Li who had hugged the soldiers legs to stop them from hurting his mother.

Fa Chun finally pulled the hair pin out of trunk and put it in the supplies. He didn’t care what his mother said anymore. They were going to escape this night.

Fa Chun ran to the small servants graveyard nearby. With masters like Fa Lihua and Fa Mei Lien, it was no surprise that at least one servant was punished to death each week.

Fa Chun dug up the graves of the servants who had similar body shapes to his and his family. Fa Chun praised his mother’s cleverness in his heart. She always sent him away to go look whenever a servant was being buried and memorise their resting places if they had a body shape similar to theirs.

Fa Chun carried Fa Bai’s replacement first. He slowly unlocked the back shed where his family was ordered to be locked in. An advantage of being the limping idiotic master of the An residence was that no one paid special attention to where you were or what you were doing and no one bothered you unless they were looking to vent and you happened to be in their sight.

He dropped the rotting corpse as soon as he saw he saw his mother.

"Mother!"

"Fa Chun, I was wondering why you were late. Looks like I didn’t have to tell you," Fa Hua smiled feebly as she saw her daughter drop the corpse.

"Come here," she said waving her older daughter over.

"Leave this place with your sister and Auntie Li. You know what to do after."

"Mother, why?! We have to escape together! You can’t stay!"

"Fa Chun, listen to mother. Fa Lihua has been poisoning mother for a long time now. I was never meant to escape here. Promise me, promise me, from now you’ll live as Xierong, that you will let Fa Chun die here with mother,that you will look after your sister and no matter what you do you will be happy."

"Mother, no...please, please live. You deserve to be happy too," Xierong sobbed.

"Mommy, don’t go," Fa Bai hiccupped.

"I gave birth to two amazing children and I am leaving saying my final goodbyes to them how could I not be happy?" Fa Hua looked at her sobbing children with pride and promised in heart to look after them from her afterlife.

"Auntie Li, this will be the last request I make of you," Fa Hua grasped Auntie Li’s hand, "Please, help my children escape here safely."

"Yes, Furen. You have shown me mercy and treated me well, I will repay this favour through your children," Auntie Li said as she stood up.

"XieRong, complete the task I have given you. Will you not listen too your dying mother!" Fa Hua reprimanded, when XieRong refused to let go of her hand even after Auntie Li tried to pry her away.

XieRong sobbed. She knew she didn’t have much more time before someone came but her heart hurt so much for her mother who had given up on everything so that she and Fa Bai could keep on going. She could see her mother’s malnourished state. The bones that stuck out from fasting, the pale white skin that was stretched over them. She couldn’t disappoint her mother now.

She stood up and wiped her tears with her sleeve and gave her mother a small smile to show her that she would be fine, that her mother could leave in peace, without any worries holding her down.

Xie Rong and Auntie Li quickly got the two other corpses.

"Fa Bai, from today, I shall name you FeiHong. No matter your ruined fingers, mother believes in you and in your future. XieRong, FeiHong, both my beautiful daughters, these are mother’s last words, always know that mother believes in you. If there comes a time when you have lost faith in yourselves, remember that your mother has faith in you."

XieRong stopped her tears from falling. She knelt and kowtowed to her mother and then hugged her.

"Mother I’m leaving. Please, be well wherever you go next."

XieRong took a whimpering FeiHong in her arms.

"Mother is proud of you, now go!"

XieRong with a steeled heart set fire to the barn and to the hay her mother was laying on and left.

Fa Hua looked to the heavens and prayed for her children’s safety. She didn’t feel the pain or the heat of the fire as it grew redder and redder. She knew a time would come when her children would rise to the top and that she would be watching their entire journey from above.

Fa Hua closed her eyes a small smile on her face.

Outside the walls XieRong held FeiRong in her arms.

"Auntie Li, you’re free to leave. You were my mother’s servant, and she has left this world. I wish for you to live a life my mother would have wanted you live," XieRong gave Auntie Li the money her mother had separately saved for Auntie Li.

"But young miss, this servant can still be of use."

"No, Auntie Li it’s not because you’re of no use to me, but because this journey is our’s to make. I’m sure my mother would want this."

"Thank you young miss. May the heavens watch over you and your sister."

Leaving Auntie Li near the hole they crept out of XieRong carried FeiHong to the tree where she kept her supplies.

"FeiHong, listen to your Jie, in this life trust only yourself and Jie. From now on, it will only be you and me so you should grow up, okay?"

FeiHong nodded her small head and wiped her remaining tears with the back of her throbbing hands.

"FeiHong understands."

"Good, now take this and don’t lose sight of it or remove it." XieRong gave her sister a small bag and took the bigger one herself. The sky was a light purple and was growing darker by the minute. They had to leave.

XieRong took one last look towards the fire which now leapt towards the sky. She heard the clamoring of the servants as they rushed to put out the fire.

’Be well, mother,’ She thought as she lightly took hold of FeiHong’s palm and lead her away towards their futures.

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