Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The smell of blood thickened in the night.

I no longer remembered how I escaped the assassins’ encirclement.

I only remembered that, as the last assassin pursuing me fell, flames rose in the direction of the Chancellor’s residence.

Chancellor Su had mobilized his private soldiers. Realizing that his plot against the Eastern Palace had been exposed, he had chosen open rebellion as his final gamble.

Fighting erupted across the capital, mingled with the terrified cries of its people.

Taking advantage of the chaos, I returned to the Shen residence and climbed over the courtyard wall.

“Dangui, what happened to you?”

I heard my young mistress cry out.

I tried to answer, but whether from my wounds or sheer exhaustion, my vision went black and I collapsed.

I dreamed a very long dream.

In it, Father was still strong. He took me from street to street, demonstrating martial arts for coins.

I told him that someone wanted to take me to enlist on the frontier.

His wrinkles unfolded in a broad smile. “Good! My girl will surely become another Hua Mulan!”

He said that in his youth, he too had dreamed of using his skills to serve the country, but never found the chance. By the time the nation was in peril, he was old and ill and could no longer enlist.

“I have taught you everything I know. Take my place, fight on the battlefield, and win honor!”

But I had won no honor in my previous life.

I had spent my days carrying tea and water and waiting upon my mistress.

Perhaps that was why her words persuaded me to go to the frontier. They had been a spark that ignited a buried seed within my heart.

The dream faded, and I woke.

My young mistress sat nearby. The moment my eyes opened, she rushed over with an anxious expression.

“Dangui, you are finally awake! I was worried to death.”

“I had someone buy this wound salve. It cost six months of my allowance, but it is worth it if you recover faster.”

“Here, the kitchen sent me bird’s-nest porridge. I could not bear to drink it and saved it especially for you, so you can rebuild your strength.”

Her solicitude only made me suspicious. She had never treated me this well. Such unusual kindness could only conceal a scheme.

Without showing anything on my face, I felt beneath my clothes and discovered the problem.

The jade pendant the Crown Prince had left me was gone.

“Where is my pendant?” I asked.

She hesitated, then smiled. “It looked precious, so I am keeping it safe for you.”

My heart sank. I already understood what she intended.

Sure enough, she sat beside my bed and applied medicine while smiling sweetly.

“Dangui, that pendant bears the Eastern Palace’s python emblem. It clearly belongs to the Crown Prince.”

“Will you tell me what happened last night?”

My hands tightened beneath the quilt.

“Nothing happened,” I whispered.

She laughed. “There is no need to hide it. The Imperial Guard is searching the city today for the woman who saved His Highness in an alley near the slums last night.”

“The pendant must be the token by which he will recognize her, correct?”

While I was unconscious, she had already deduced almost everything.

“If you know His Highness gave it to me,” I said, gripping the quilt, “then please return it.”

“There is no hurry.”

She took my hand. “Dangui, I am your mistress. Strictly speaking, what belongs to you belongs to me…”

I cut through the pretense. “Do you want me to give you the credit for saving him?”

“What an ugly way to put it. Mistress and maid are one; there is no question of giving anything away.”

“You are young and do not understand the world, so as your elder sister, I must explain.”

“What could the Crown Prince give you if you were his rescuer? You are a slave. At best, you might become a concubine.”

“Then you would waste your life scheming against women in the depths of the palace. How miserable and worthless!”

“But if I saved him, I could become Crown Princess and later Empress. I would adopt you as my sworn sister, make you a commandery princess, and arrange a glorious marriage in which you could be the lawful wife of the man you loved. Would that not be better?”

After a long silence, I said quietly, “Claiming another person’s merit would deceive the Emperor. If discovered, the entire clan could be executed.”

Believing I was wavering, she squeezed my hand eagerly.

“Dear Dangui, if neither of us speaks, who will discover it? The alley was pitch-black. The Crown Prince could not have seen your face, and you and I are similar in height and build. Nothing can go wrong.”

“But you know no martial arts. What if he asks you to demonstrate how you fought?”

“I have already thought of that. I will stab my dantian and say I was gravely wounded in the battle and have lost all my inner strength.”

I fell silent.

Throughout our conversation, I had been studying the room. It looked ordinary, but iron plates had been nailed over the windows and the door was locked from outside.

If I refused to cooperate, she intended to kill me.

While I lay unconscious, she had resolved to replace me and prepared every excuse. If I agreed and told her every detail, so much the better. If I refused, she would silence me and take the pendant to the Crown Prince. Since she could explain her lack of martial arts with a wounded dantian, she could just as easily claim a blow to the head had erased her memories.

I was badly injured. If she had prepared to murder me, I might not escape.

After a long pause, I whispered, “If you become Empress, will you truly make me a commandery princess?”

Her face lit up. “Of course. I have always regarded you as my own sister.”

“And find me a good marriage?”

“Certainly. You may choose from any duke’s or marquis’s household you wish.”

I made myself look tempted. “Then you must keep your word.”

She hooked her little finger around mine and beamed.

“Now tell me exactly what happened that night. The more detail, the better.”

I nodded and recounted everything.

She listened carefully. Just as she was about to leave, she thought of something and turned back, suspicion rising in her eyes.

“Dangui, are you certain every detail you told me is true?”

“Of course. Why would you ask?”

“It occurred to me that you might be deceiving me because you still want the credit. You could tell me a false story so I expose myself before the Crown Prince.”

“No! I am truly loyal to you…”

She patted my hand soothingly. “I know. Swear on your father that if you lied, his illness will return and he will suffer terribly before he dies.”

She knew Father was my only family and that his health mattered more to me than anything.

With a show of reluctance, I raised my hand.

“If any part of my account was untrue, may my father’s illness return and may he suffer before his death.”

At last, she was satisfied.

“Good sister. I believe you.”

She told me to rest and left with the pendant.

She never noticed the strange smile on my lips as I watched her go.