“Do you want to hear a story of a princess and a brave scholar?” she asked the children. “It has monsters and a dragon,” she added to get the attention of the boys, who preferred swords and scary things.

 “Yes!” all the children shouted, and Mîn Jíng began.

“There was once a king who only had one child: a beautiful daughter. The princess was good to her father, but no matter how much he begged her, she always refused to marry. 

No one was good enough for her. Some were too poor, some were even too rich, some were too cruel, some were too kind, some were warriors, some were poets, and all were not to her liking.

One day, when the aging king was thinking of who would inherit the throne, he decided he would force her to marry. He sent out an edict to every palace and every village of his land. He said that the man who could slay the three monsters wreaking havoc on the world would marry the princess.

Many men accepted the challenge, and the king awaited the arrival of his new son.

Among the noble and gallant warriors was the scholarly son of an old retired official. He set off on the long journey to become a hero and have a royal wife.

He first went to a village terrorized by a lütoulang. It was fierce and devoured children straying too far from home. After setting a clever trap, he killed the monster with his sword.

His next task was a seaside town being starved to death by a yaomo. The insatiable water beast would destroy fishing boats and eat all the town’s fish. The wise scholar set another clever trap and once again, slayed the bothersome beast.

Along the way to his third and final test to win the princess, he heard tales of the ferocious dragon that was almost as crafty as him. Not only had innocent maidens gone missing, but armed soldiers and idle princes, as well. The stories were so varied, the scholarly hero was baffled about how to set up a proper trap. 

As he was walking down the path to the town, he came across a small dragon. He stopped and stared as the dragon played with a leaf blowing in the wind.

         ‘This couldn’t be the dangerous dragon,’ he thought to himself.

Looking around in fear of a bigger one, he saw there was nothing else around them. He looked once more to the dragon and drew his sword.

 ‘I am here to seek justice for your victims!’ he said in a deep, loud voice.

 The little dragon stared at the scholar for a moment before speaking.

‘You must have heard the stories of my deadly crimes,’ he said.

The scholar raised his sword and was about to slash down when the little dragon said, ‘That wasn’t me.’

          Setting his sword down, the scholar asked nervously, ‘Then who?’

‘No one,’ answered the baby dragon. ‘Listen,’ he said as he hopped onto a big rock, ‘maidens fall in love with men their parents forbid them to marry. They elope and their parents blame me. Warriors bring shame to their kings when they lose a battle, so the kingdoms blame me. Princes become unfilial and waste away their lives in brothels and gambling houses. Everyone blames me.’

         The little dragon plucked a flower and ate it as the scholar thought on his words.

‘Is this true?’ he asked in doubt, worried this little dragon was more dangerous than his stature would appear. 

         ‘Every word,’ replied the baby dragon.

‘What about all the stories that have been told for generations?’ wondered the scholar. ‘You’re just a baby. You weren’t around then.’

         ‘Oh,’ said the baby dragon. ‘You must mean my father.’

         At that, the scholar once again became frightened and held up his sword.

         The baby dragon laughed and told him, ‘He’s been dead for many years.’

And once again, the scholar set down his sword. He breathed a sigh of relief and wiped his brow of the nervous sweat. He watched as the dragon ate another flower and looked him over carefully.

          ‘You didn’t get that plump from just eating flowers,’ the scholar noted.

          ‘Of course not,’ the baby dragon laughed. ‘I’m fed well by my mother.’

Before the scholar could lift his sword a third time, the gigantic mother dragon dropped from the sky and burned him to a crisp!”

 As Mîn Jíng ended the story, she let out a growl and pretended to grab at the children. They shrieked and giggled when she captured two of them in her arms.

 “What happened to the princess?” asked a little girl, followed by other children wanting to know the same.

 “She ran away with the matchmaker’s husband,” Mîn Jíng replied with a wink.

 The children laughed again, rolling on the steps around her. The adults watching laughed at their infectious giggles.

 Jié Qiáng watched Mîn Jíng pull each of them closer for another hug. He could see the change in her expression as it appeared and then vanished just as quickly. She tried to conceal her sadness through tickles and smiles, and he knew she was going to miss this very much. It pained him that, in essence, he was taking from some of them the only mother they had.

 He began to wonder what was going to happen to the orphans when she was no longer there to care for them. His thoughts started to race with a solution as Féng Wěi approached him to speak.

 “We’ve placed our purchases from the market in the carriage,” Féng Wěi told Jié Qiáng as Yǒng Wěi hopped down. “Yán and Wén can rest inside so you can have some time with Mîn.”

 Jié Qiáng looked around to see everyone preparing to depart. He looked back toward Mîn Jíng and saw that she, too, was standing to leave. He waved Yáng Ning over from where he stood keeping a watchful eye on his prince.

 “I’ll walk back with my wife,” he told his guard.

 Yáng Ning nodded in acknowledgement and grinned at Jié Qiáng’s impatience for a wedding to make her status official.

 “I’ll keep to a respectable distance,” he replied.

 Jié Qiáng nodded in return and walked over to the steps to meet Mîn Jíng. As he neared the children, she met his gaze and smiled adoringly. The look he gave her was full of so much love, her heart swelled.

 The reaction of their princess made the children turn to look. As soon as they saw him, their eyes grew large and they stared in awe. He was tall and handsome, shoulders broad and raven hair thick and long. He cast an imposing shadow across the steps as the sun moved slowly behind him.

 The boys were particularly interested in the well-crafted sword hung from his belt, while the girls only stared at his face and fine clothes.

 “Uncle Qiáng!” shrieked Wén Mĕi as she broke through the children to stake claim to her uncle.

 She reached up and he lifted her, cradling her bottom with her arms around his neck.

 The other children turned toward Mîn Jíng at the mention of him as Wén Mĕi’s uncle. She wasn’t sure what to do as passersby had stopped to inspect the children’s reaction to this stranger.

 At that moment, Yán Mĕi ran up to Yáng Ning and called out, “Uncle Ning!” with his arms stretched upward.

 Yáng Ning lifted the little boy in his arms and smiled at the children as they stared at him, too.

 “Our father’s friends,” Féng Wěi quickly explained to those waiting around to hear.

 He quickly took Wén Mĕi from Jié Qiáng and whispered to her, “No one is supposed to know they’re married yet. It’s a surprise.”

 Wén Mĕi clasped her hands over her mouth at being told she almost revealed something important.

 She leaned into her father’s ear and whispered, “I’ll keep Aunt Mîn’s secret!”

 “Good girl,” he whispered back and set her to her feet. “Take Yán to the carriage and wait for us inside,” he ordered and his daughter hurried to do as she was told.

 Féng Wěi took notice of the way Jié Qiáng had watched Mîn Jíng with the children.

 He rested his hand on the younger prince’s shoulder and said, “Thinking about that oath?”

 Jié Qiáng laughed at the insinuation he was daydreaming about being a father. His mood turned somber, though, as he watched her send off the last of them.

 “This is going to break her heart, isn’t it,” he said to Féng Wěi, regretfully knowing the answer.

 Féng Wěi sighed deeply as he watched his little sister try to pretend she wasn’t wiping her eyes with her sleeves. Leaving them behind would, indeed, be the hardest part of the marriage.

 “What will happen to them?” Jié Qiáng asked.

 Féng Wěi looked at Jié Qiáng, impressed and pleased his sister’s husband would care.

 He patted his shoulder before taking his hand away and answered, “Let’s talk about this another time.”

 Jié Qiáng saw the way Féng Wěi glanced over his shoulder and turned to see Mîn Jíng walking up to them. He nodded and put on a smile so she wouldn’t know they were having a serious discussion. He knew the answers to what he had asked. He, also, knew what he wanted to do to solve it. He would go to the king when they returned and speak of it with him.

 “What are you talking about?” Mîn Jíng asked as she wrapped her hands around Jié Qiáng’s arm. “Was my brother being rude?” she asked and gave Féng Wěi a serious pout.

 Her brother laughed at her teasing and returned to the carriage to ready the driver. 

 “Not at all,” Jié Qiáng answered.

 He patted her hands and kissed her forehead before guiding her toward the awaiting group.

 “Walk with me,” he said.

 They followed the carriage as the group set off to return to the palace. Along the way, Jié Qiáng stopped at several vendors to spoil Mîn Jíng as he had her niece and nephew. By the time they arrived back at the palace gate, he had bought her hairpins, scented sachets, candy, pastries, a jade bracelet, a beautiful belt tassel, and even a new brush set for her painting.

 In turn, Mîn Jíng had bought him a stick of candied hawthorn, a dragon statue, and an ink stone with a beautifully carved crane. She, also, bought candied hawthorn and a small dagger for Yáng Ning.

 Féng Wěi motioned for the servants that had accompanied them to help unload the purchases, and then turned to Mîn Jíng and Jié Qiáng.

 “We’ll get these inside,” he told them. “If it’s no trouble, Mîn, take Yán and Wén to Father’s banquet hall for dinner. I know he’ll want to see them before I bring them home.”

 “Of course,” Mîn Jíng agreed and they left with the children running ahead of them.

 As they walked through the palace, Yán Mĕi and Wén Mĕi ran around with some of their new toys: Yán with his new wooden sword and Wén with her lantern.

 Jié Qiáng couldn’t take his eyes off of Mîn Jíng. The short time he had known her kept repeating in his mind. He had thought he had loved her before when he became obsessed with finding his little crane. What he was feeling at that moment holding her hand as her husband was at least ten times more powerful. He knew he would never let her go again, and he knew if anyone harmed her, he would make them suffer as fiercely as his love for her raced through him.

 Mîn Jíng looked away from her motherly observation of her niece and nephew to see Jié Qiáng staring down at her intently.

 “Are you all right?” she asked as she stopped them from walking.

 He smiled and pulled her into his arms.

 “I’ve never been better,” he answered honestly.

 He bent down and gave her a deep kiss, only pulling away when the children called out for them to hurry. He gave her one last kiss on the nose and took her hand in his before continuing toward the banquet hall.

 “You were wrong about something,” he told her before they entered. They stopped before stepping inside so they could face each other as he spoke. “You’re going to be a wonderful mother.”

 He smiled as tears welled up in her eyes and then wiped them away with his thumb as they fell. He kissed her forehead and walked inside with her to their table, this time refusing to let her save a seat for Sī.

 He leaned in close and pressed his cheek against hers.

 “You’re all mine this time,” he whispered.

 She blushed at the seductive way with which he spoke and the heat from his breath against her ear. He smiled at her innocent reaction and took her hands in his.

 “I need to speak with your father and brothers after dinner,” he told her. “I’ll walk you to your courtyard first and tell you goodnight.”

 “You’ll take that long?” she wondered. “What do you have to speak with them about?” she worried.

 He kissed her hands and squeezed them reassuringly.

 “Nothing terrible,” he answered. “Ideas I have about the travel arrangements that have to be implemented as soon as possible.”

 “Oh,” she replied, feeling relieved there wasn’t a conflict between them.

 Everyone began entering the room at that moment, including King Yīng.

 Dinner began and family anecdotes were shared with their newest family member. Jié Qiáng enjoyed the inclusion by her family but could barely focus on anything other than his plans. He smiled and silently waited for dinner to be over, eager to begin.