Phoenix Rising

025

There was much excitement going on within the capital city of Huangcheng this spring because following the return of the Shadow Lord, the envoys from the kingdoms of Hua and Shon entered the city bearing gifts of goodwill for the king. It was a yearly affair—the exchange of gifts—and it took place at the different kingdoms at different times of the year. The envoys would visit Duan in spring, Hua in summer and Shon in autumn; a tradition that had been started after the last great war between the three kingdoms which had ended in an agreement to a tentative peace.

During this period of time the capital would open its doors to visitors from the other kingdoms and there would be individuals dressed in the furs and kilts of Shon or the brightly-coloured chiffons of Hua walking the streets, creating a feast for the eyes.

He's Jewellery was bustling with business during this season because the shop's doorway was filled by customers from all across the land. The fame of the jewellery shop had spread far and wide and the pieces on its shelves were desired by women across all the kingdoms. Although the shop had outlets in every kingdom, this particular one in the Duan capital was the flagship and was known to carry rare, exclusive pieces that were not seen elsewhere. Having expected this surge in business, Mr. He had long prepared an entire storeroom's worth of stock to dish out to eager buyers.

Today, He's Jewellery also had two unusual visitors to one of its private upper rooms.

Two men, one dressed in black with a silver mask across his face and the other dressed in dark blue with a tiny scar at his right temple.

A knock came at the door, and when the command was given for him to enter, in came the shopkeeper, He Jun, whose fleshy cheeks were flushed red from handling the day's constant stream of customers. He bowed respectfully to the two men.

"Take a seat," the man in blue said, pushing a cup of water over. "How's business?"

The shopkeeper took the cup gratefully and gulped down the water. "It's always busy at this time of year. We have quite a number of customers from Hua and Shon, but nothing out of the ordinary. There's also been an order from the embassy—the envoy from Hua has requested for a custom-made piece, a necklace that is to be fashioned out of black pearls from the northern sea. He's offered an extremely generous price for it."

"A black pearl necklace?"

He Jun nodded. "They will be sending the pearls over to the shop tomorrow."

"You can use the template I sent over last month—that should work for a necklace made from pearls. Black pearls from the northern sea are extremely rare, I'd be interested to see how that turns out."

"Mingshen, when we get old and can't stay in the army anymore, I'll have to live off you and this lucrative jewellery business of yours," Zhenghuan chuckled. "Imagine what everyone would say if they found out that the fearsome General Zhang is the brains behind all these intricate pieces of jewellery. You'll be every woman's dream man."

"I'm already every woman's dream man," Mingshen replied, giving his friend a cheeky wink.

Unbeknownst to everyone, the owner of the famed jewellery shop was actually this young man—General Zhang Mingshen—who was more commonly known to people as the Shadow Lord's most trusted deputy. When he had first opened the shop it had been with the intention to gather intelligence from the different kingdoms. After all, one could elicit a lot of information from the casual conversations of women. However, in the process he discovered a hidden talent that he never knew he had—jewellery design—and business began to soar, eventually making He's Jewellery the most established jewellery chain across the land.

"Young Master, there is something else I've been meaning to speak to you about," He Jun started. "A while back a young lady came into the shop with a white jade pendant. She asked me if I had seen it before and if I knew its history."