Chapter 3

The Wei family’s second young master, Wei Shu, was a reckless, unruly fool with no subtlety at all.

When I went to a temple to pray, he had someone lure me to the rear mountain.

Seeing me alone and apparently frail,

he folded his arms and sneered at me with the vicious delight of a starving wolf facing a wounded lamb.

“No one comes to the rear mountain. Now that you’re here, don’t think you’ll leave.”

“You dare bully someone while living beneath my family’s roof? I’ll show you what the Wei family is capable of.”

He pointed to an ancient tree beside the path and curled his lips in amusement.

“If I tie you up there and leave you hanging overnight, do you think the wolves will eat you?”

“You damaged my sister’s reputation. It isn’t too much for me to vent her anger, is it?”

He bent until his face was level with mine.

“Kneel and beg. Go home and serve my sister as a maid for three months to make amends. For my aunt’s sake, I may show mercy and let you down before dark.”

I glanced at the great banyan tree behind me,

then at the rope he had prepared on the ground,

and finally at the empty space behind him.

I faced his loathsome expression, the corner of my mouth lifting.

“All right.”

Before the words had faded,

the large stone hidden in my sleeve struck Wei Shu’s forehead with a solid thud.

As he crashed to the ground, his shocked eyes reflected my half-smiling face.

“Your idea is excellent.”

I granted his wish by binding him tightly and hanging him from the banyan tree.

As he whimpered in terror around the cloth stuffed in his mouth, I looked up at him.

“My father commanded the imperial guards. He was powerful, invincible, one man in ten thousand.

How do you know I inherited none of his courage?

And why are you so certain he never taught me a move or two to save my life?”

I wiped nonexistent dust from my hands with a handkerchief and gave a quiet scoff.

“You are a decent fellow. You even offered to let me kowtow and beg.”

“I am different. I make sure people get exactly what they want.”

I drew out my hairpin and grasped his ankle, smiling with angelic innocence.

“If I let a little blood to lure the wolves you wanted, would that not be another way of fulfilling your wish?”

“You have only three legs. Which one should I choose?”

I deliberately swept the hairpin toward his groin.

His entire body jolted. He thrashed in terror, his muffled sounds impossible to distinguish as curses or pleas.

Cold sweat beaded on his brow.

The fear on his face was genuine.

I watched him with a bright smile.

Only after I had enjoyed enough of his panic and wretchedness did I speak softly.

“I’ll put it on your account this time. Provoke me again, and I promise the pin will go straight through your manhood.”

“But this wound is the price of provoking me. You have earned it.”

With that,

I tightened my grip on his ankle and drove the hairpin into his calf with a wet puncture.

He whimpered and struggled in pain.

The malice in his eyes had become naked terror.

Blood dripped onto the stones, leaving a vivid red stain across the ground.

I smiled with harmless sweetness.

“Everyone in the capital knows I take after my delicate mother. I am too weak to truss a chicken and far too helpless to care for myself.”

So the second young master being abducted by bandits naturally has nothing to do with me.

Wouldn’t you agree?”

I did not wait for his answer. Laughing, I strode away.

Wei Shu swayed lightly from the branch,

like a leaf that might fall at the slightest tremor.

The ghostly howls echoing across the mountain nearly frightened the swaggering second young master out of his soul.

He could cry to heaven or earth, but neither would answer.

His arrogance could not save his life.

Through the long wait, the torment, and the fear, he learned the meaning of despair and helplessness.

That was my warning and my lesson.

Of course, I did not truly let him die.

Only after the wolves’ howling had terrified him senseless

did I lead the Wei family’s servants to rescue him, carrying a torch and feigning panic.

Wei Shu was deathly pale and trembling.

The Wei family questioned him frantically.

“Who did this? Whoever dares attack the Wei family must be reported to the authorities.”

I straightened.

When Wei Shu looked up at me,

I casually adjusted the hairpin at my temple.

His pupils shook. He shrank back instinctively, his voice trembling.

“I provoked bandits I should not have crossed. They have fled far away. Pursuing the matter may invite revenge. Let it end here.”

My lips curved in satisfaction.

As I raised my head, I met the Wei family’s eldest young master’s cold, appraising gaze.