Chapter 1
I was born strong, petty, and ill-tempered.
When my elder twin sister tearfully took my only hairpin, I stormed into her courtyard and smashed her entire dressing case with one punch.
Jewelry spilled across the floor. I brought a stool down on it and crushed the lot.
My elder brother took her side. Pointing at my nose, he scolded me for forgetting the bonds of blood over mere possessions and competing with my sister. Worse still, he said, I had borne her a grudge and destroyed her dressing case and beloved jewels.
“Oh,” I said.
Then I set fire to his study. I stood in the doorway with a club, ready to split the head of anyone who tried to put it out.
The servants in the courtyard knew my prodigious strength. They were too frightened to move.
And so my dear brother could only shriek himself hoarse as he watched me burn a roomful of antiques, paintings, and rare books.
His eyes nearly burst with hatred.
I gave him an innocent smile.
“You were so righteous when you were being generous with someone else’s belongings. Why are you crying blood now that it’s your treasures being destroyed?”
“Don’t forget, I’m your sister too. Why compete with your own flesh and blood over mere possessions?”
Mother heard the commotion and came with a ruler, intending to punish me on his behalf. I looked up and asked:
“Don’t you want to keep the dowry in your storeroom?”
She froze. Whether from fury or fear, her entire body trembled.
In the end, she dared not risk it. She backed down.
That night, however, they put enough sleeping powder to fell an ox into my food and sent me away to the country estate before morning.
They also sent five sturdy matrons to teach me proper behavior.
Over the next few years, I learned my lessons exceedingly well.
So well that when my brother arrived in a rage to bring me home to marry in my sister’s place,
I was reclining with my legs crossed, drinking tea and eating pastries.
One matron sat behind me, all deference, holding a parasol over my head.
Another crouched ingratiatingly in front of me, massaging my legs and lower back.
A third huddled in a corner of the courtyard, washing my clothes.
A fourth was in the kitchen making my lunch.
The fifth held a picture book and read it to me, line by line.
Just as she made me burst out laughing,
the wooden gate was shoved open.
My brother Yun Cimu’s voice struck me full in the face, spoiling everything.
“We sent you here to reflect on your wrongdoing and learn some manners, yet you hide away enjoying yourself and ordering everyone about.
“Your sister was bullied so badly she almost died, and you haven’t even asked after her. Do you have a heart at all?”
“Pack your things. You’re coming home with me at once.”
The matrons’ faces changed. Five terrified gazes turned as one toward Yun Cimu’s eminently slappable face.
My smile faded too. Gently, I put my half-eaten pastry back on its plate.
Then, without raising my head, I asked softly:
“And then?”
His expression stiffened. His eyes darted about guiltily, yet he still lifted his chin and pretended he was in the right.
“You’re a born brute. You’re tough and can take a beating. You will marry into the marquis’s household in Hanzhang’s place.”
I gave a quiet scoff. Before I could say another word,
he lost his composure. Pointing at my nose, he shouted:
“If Hanzhang hadn’t pleaded for you and done her utmost to recommend you to Father and Mother, how would such a fine marriage ever fall to you?
“Besides, if you don’t return to the capital and marry, do you intend to spend the rest of your life on this estate?”
I brushed off my sleeve and slowly rose.