"We have searched for him all over the village", said Wang Lii sounding dismayed. "Still we haven't found him".
"We must keep searching", insisted Zhang Mei.
The two girls walking on throwing glances at the people they were passing. Taking care not to let the people they encountered all the way not realise that they were studying their faces intently.
"Look Zhang Mei, we have only being meeting villagers, also it's getting late", moaned Wang Li. "Plus my feet are hurting from all this walking. Let's at least take a break".
"No!", declared Zhang Mei forcefully before adding more softly, "We can't afford to stop now. The fact that we haven't found him yet means that he is still out there. We must make use of the few hours of daylight left".
,"But what if he simply doesn't want to be found. Think about it Zhang Mei. Why else would he sneak out without letting you know. How ungrateful of him after you took the trouble you took to bring him home".
"He is not that type of person, I know", Zhang Mei replied almost subconsciously thinking of last night when she had set by his bedside looking at his face, studying him closely. Though he had not said a word, his expression had spoken to her even in that unconcious state.
"How do you know?", Wang Li asked.
"I saw it in his face", Zhang Mei promptly replied.
"Zhang Mei", Wang Li said calling her out of her temporary day dream like state. "You have only known the celestial being for less than a day".
"Yet I feel I have known him much longer", replied Zhang Mei.
"Look Zhang Mei, he is thousands of years old yet his face looks very young. That is a lie already. What makes you think you can believe anything else his face may express?"
My heart just knows...", dreamily replied Zhang Mei with a subtle smile.
"Look how far your dreaming has got us from the village", teased Wang Li.
The girls had walked far beyond the boundaries of the village before they even noticed.
While previously they had been meeting with other people along the way, the stretch of road on which they were on was mostly deserted. While they had been meeting one or two people on occasion. The road was now completely deserted with the last rays of the sun were fast receding.
"I hate to admit defeat but we better turn back and go home", said Zhang Mei.
"There is no point in continuing the search", agreed Wang Li."The celestial being has probably gone back to jade heaven while we have been running around down here looking for him".
As Zhang Mei and Wang Li were turning back to go home, Zhang Mei caught sight of a lone figure dressed in typical peasant's clothes, at a distance.There was something about the man, in the way he carried himself as he walked away that attracted Zhang Mei's attention.
"Mister!", hey mister!", Zhang Mei called out jogging towards him.
"What's this about Zhang Mei?", Wang Li asked closely following behind her friend. "I thought we were going home!?"
"Mister wait!", Zhang Mei called ignoring Wang Li.
The man stopped enabling, Zhang Mei and Wang Li were able to catch up with him.
"You!?" exclaimed Zhang Mei, the statement both a declaration and acknowledgement. There was a moment of suspense as if time itself had temporarily been frozen. Where Zhang Mei and crown prince Wang Wei just stared at each other in complete silence. Neither one of them so much as blinking. Wang Wei realized that she was witnessing an odd situation. The tension she sensed between them, feeling natural, like it belonged. Like the kind that was to be expected to between a couple.
"Why are you here?", Zhang Mei asked crown prince Wang Wei, breaking the silence.
"I came to look for my sword", replied crown prince Wang Wei.
"We didn't find any sword on you when we found you", said Zhang Mei.
"You wouldn't have", crown prince Wang Wei confirmed.
"Are you trying to confuse me?", asked Zhang Mei.
"It was knocked out of my hand while fighting", prince Wang Wei explained recalling the scene in the celestial realm when he had been struck by on the wrist by a rebel soldier's blade. He had let go of the hilt of his sword, wincing in pain. Liu Chang pushing him out of the way just in the nick of time as another rebel soldier swung at him. The sword's blade only managing to graze his shoulder as he was falling over the edge of the celestial realm.
"And it fell to the Earth?", asked Zhang Mei
"Yes", promptly replied crown prince Wang Wei. Recalling seeing the sword out of his hand and over the edge of the celestial realm.
"But wait, where do you think it fell from?", crown prince Wang Wei asked.
"The celestial realm", Zhang Mei announced as she and Wang Wei locked eyes. A brief pause of silence passed.
"You believe I am from the celestial realm?", asked.
"Don't try to deny it", Wang Li charged accusingly. We know".
"Anyway what happened to your clothes?", asked Zhang Mei.
"I needed a disguise, that would make me blend in with the locals", replied crown prince Wang Wei.
"You admit it, you are a celestial being and your clothes would have given you away", charged triumphantly.
"Did you steal the clothes you are wearing?", asked Zhang Mei.
"I would never do that. I am wearing the same clothes as before. What you see is only an illusion designed to make me look like one of the peasants", replied crown p
rince Wang Wei.
"There was fighting in jade heaven?", Zhang Mei asked in disbelief.
"Yes", crown prince Wang Wei replied honestly.
"But I was told growing up that jade heaven was a place of perfect peace. That everything in jade heaven was a hundred times better than here on Earth", said Wang Li. "So how could fighing break out in jade heaven, how is it even possible?"
"What you heard growing up about jade heaven was absolutely correct ", crown prince Wang Wei confirmed. "Until recent events. Everything changed, jade has become a desolate shell of its forner self".
"But I still don't understand, what exactly happened?", asked Zhang Mei.
The thrown of jade heaven was taken through an act of treachery by the celestial nobles. They murdered my father, the emperor of jade heaven".
"But how is it possible. Aren't you celestial beings supposed to be immortal?" asked Zhang Mei.
"We live for thousands of years but we are not immortal. Our lives are long and full of satisfaction. We go from this life without any regrets. In thousands of years we fulfill all our desire. But we are not immortal", crown prince Wang Wei assured her.
"The emperor of jade heaven is your father", Wang Li exclaimed her face lighting up. "That means you must be..."
"Crown prince Wang Wei of Jade heaven, the peace of the jade palace", he formally introduced himself".
"What happened to jade heaven?", asked Zhang Mei.
After the emperor was murdered, the balance upon which the harmony of jade heaven depended was disturbed. The green vegetation became dry and ashen Trees turned into leafless, dry logs. Death and desolation were everywhere.
"In the absence of the pure heart of the jade dragon, the harmony of the celestial realm can not exist.
"Who has taken over the throne of jade heaven and brought such terrible calamity.", Wang Li asked.
"The red dragon, Li Yan, my betrothed but not my beloved", said crown prince Wang Wei.
"Your wife!?", both Zhang Mei and Wang Li exclaimed.
"Why don't you simply control your wife?", Zhang Mei asked.
"The matter is not as simple as you imagine", said crown prince Wang Wei.
"Tell me ?", asked Zhang Mei.
"While it is true that the emperor, my father and her father the field marshal Li Keng had agreed this wedding, My opinion had not been sought, and I never had any feelings for Li Yan" , crown prince Wang Wei explained.
"Why would the emperor want to get you into a loveless marriage?"
"The emperor only wanted to strengthen his position as ruler of jade heaven. There had been rumours of a rebellion against the crown by a number of the celestial realm's nobles. The emperor had chosen to be clever instead of going to war against the nobility, he had sought to neutralise them by uniting the house of Wang with the house of Li".
"Sounds like a smart move to me", said Wang Li.
"Wang Li", Zhang Mei reproached her friend.
"I 'm only saying it sounds like a far better option than going to war", insisted Wang Li
"Wang Li is right", said crown prince Wang Wei. "War would have been avoided, the celestial realm would not be lying in desolation", said crown prince Wang Wei.