Chapter 1

The noise on the riverbank went on all night.

At last, unable to sleep through it, I rowed over to see what was happening. I heard two hulking men speaking in low voices.

“Is she dead?”

“Dead as can be. We can take this keepsake back and collect our money.”

“Damn, rich people pay well. All that silver just for killing one little girl!”

“Pity she was made of paper. A few blows and she died before I’d even worked off my anger.”

“Skinny as a stick. What was the point of tormenting her? With that silver, couldn’t you have your fun at Cuixian House?”

“Ha! You’re right. Let’s go get paid!”

I waited until they left before coming out.

A frail body lay in the grass by the bank.

Her clothes were in tatters. The bruises covering her body were hard to look at.

Judging by her face, she was a girl who had only just turned fifteen.

After years on a pleasure boat, I had seen enough cruelty and filth among the dregs of society. My heart had long since hardened to stone.

“Forgive me,” I muttered, already searching her.

Those two villains had mentioned a “rich household.” Surely there must be something worth taking.

But after a long search, I found nothing of any value.

More than that, the dead girl was little more than skin and bones, her hands and feet covered in thick calluses. Nothing about her suggested wealth.

Only her dress looked newly made, though it was crumpled and covered in mud and weeds.

“What rotten luck!”

I turned the body over in disgust, silently cursing the two greedy thieves.

An embroidered pouch was half buried in the mud beneath her.

The men must have been too busy tearing at her clothes to notice it fall.

I hurriedly opened it. Inside were only a few thin sheets of paper.

A letter, and a travel permit.

I struggled to strip off her clothes and dress her in my own.

It was still early, with no one around. I dragged her onto my boat.

By the time I finished, my back felt ready to break.

But the thought of escaping my wretched station and embarking on a new adventure filled me with excitement.

Who would have guessed that the unfortunate girl murdered among the reeds was the daughter of the current Minister of Personnel’s first wife?

From the letter, I gathered that she and her mother had been living away from him since her birth. Their whereabouts had only recently been discovered.

The minister’s household had sent for her to come to the capital, but someone had attacked her on the journey.

Which meant that the people in his household might never have seen her.

“Blame your own poor luck. You couldn’t bear all that wealth and honor, so your big sister will have to enjoy it for you.”

I kept chattering to the corpse.

Yet for all my efforts, those terrified, despairing eyes would not close.

“What? You can’t let it go?”

I frowned at her.

“Don’t worry. I won’t take your place for nothing. I’ll avenge you!”

I passed a hand over her face. This time, her eyes closed.

“I’ll take that as your consent. Then you’d better watch over me and see that everything goes smoothly.”

I touched the travel permit in my bosom, with its record of her identity, and whispered her name.

“Li Jinshuang!”

The blazing boat on the river drew people’s attention.

“Qiao Sanniang’s boat is on fire! Hurry, put it out!”

“What for? A woman like that can die for all I care!”

“Those whores are always luring disreputable men aboard. Trouble was only a matter of time!”

“Good riddance. Always hanging about the riverbank—we had to worry she’d corrupt our men!”

From a hiding place some distance away, I listened to their cold words without expression.

At last the fire alerted the pleasure boats’ owner.

Several men rowed over to put it out. They were the owner’s pimps and hired muscle.

They watched us boat women as we took customers, then stripped us of every coin the men paid to stay the night.

When the fire was out, they dragged the charred body from the cabin and examined it.

“Tell the master Qiao Sanniang burned to death!”