Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The curtain fell, and Wang Shiguan looked me up and down, clicking his tongue in admiration.

“My lady, your features… they are of a nobility beyond words!”

I waved a hand dismissively.

I had long since grown tired of such polite pleasantries.

Back when I was hunting rabbits in the mountains, I saved Meng Cijun’s life. I remember his grandmother, who was a face-reader, saying the exact same thing:

“This girl is destined for greatness! A face of supreme nobility!”

At the time, I had hoped to trade the debt of saving Meng Cijun’s life for a jar of fine salt or a roll of good brocade.

But because of that one sentence, well, the salt was gone, and the brocade was gone too.

Meng Cijun’s grandmother insisted on betrothing me to him. She said that once I had been taught proper etiquette and an auspicious day was chosen, Meng Cijun would marry me.

I thought about it and figured it was fine. Getting married was fine.

After all, no one in Dazexiang spared a second glance for a wild girl like me.

And when my father was gravely ill, he said his greatest regret was not seeing me married off.

But Meng Cijun was always busy, too busy to marry me.

During the first year of our betrothal…

He said the King had suddenly granted him a position of great responsibility-how could he indulge in matters of the heart?

That seemed reasonable enough, so I nodded and waited for two years.

In the third year, he said the position of Queen remained vacant and undecided, so how could a mere official like him start a family first?

I got angry then. I felt the King he served was being quite unreasonable. I was already becoming an old maid; why wouldn’t he allow Meng Cijun to marry me?

It wasn’t until this morning, on my birthday, when Meng Cijun insisted on going to the palace to select the ceremonial robes for the Queen’s coronation, that I reached my breaking point.

I wanted to throw a tantrum.

I stood there with my hands on my hips, cursing the King’s ancestors back several generations.

But Meng Cijun was indifferent by nature. He merely gave me a weary look and dropped a single sentence before heading out the door:

“Is it hanging yourself, jumping in the river, or running away from home this time? Stop your tricks.

“No matter how much you fuss, come back before dinner to eat with Grandmother, and I won’t hold this against you.”

Thinking of this, a sense of grievance welled up in my heart. I lowered my head, my eyes rimming with red.

“Oh dear, what’s the matter? Did I strike a chord?” Wang Shiguan hurriedly handed me a handkerchief.

Embarrassed to let him see me cry, I turned my head to look at the tassels on the curtain and muttered gloomily, “Ah Wu isn’t sad. Ah Wu doesn’t have anything to be sad about!”

Pah!

Meng Cijun, this time is different!

I won’t be as pathetic as before, crying by myself until dark and then slinking back to the Meng household just because my stomach was growling.

I’m going to the King you care about so much and I’m going to lodge a complaint against you!

“Since you are entering the palace today, I will send a letter to your home tomorrow to put your family’s minds at ease.”

“No need, no need. Xiao Tao will tell him.”

“But won’t your family worry if you’ve left home?”

I shook my head.

Meng Cijun wouldn’t worry.

The last time I left home in a fit of pique for a day, I came back pathetically that evening with an empty stomach.

I wanted him to coax me, so I said, “Meng Cijun, Ah Wu ran away from home today.”

Meng Cijun was reading a book and didn’t even lift his head.

“Is that so? Since you ran away, why did you come back?”

Why did I come back?

Because Dazexiang was too far away, and Ah Wu had nothing to eat. I walked for a long time on an empty stomach and couldn’t find the way home.

So this time when I leave, he won’t worry either.

There’s no need to tell him, lest he thinks I’m trying to blackmail him.

Once I’ve complained to the King and Meng Cijun finishes his morning court session, I’ll go back with him.

But what kind of person is the King…?

Will he side with Meng Cijun?

Wang Shiguan looked at me with a smile. “The King is extremely filial and benevolent. He is also very compassionate toward his subordinates.”

I didn’t believe a word of it. If that were true, why wouldn’t he let Meng Cijun take a wife, and why would you have tried to jump into the water to end your life?

Wang Shiguan looked away guiltily, unable to meet my eyes.

I could roughly guess it: the King was a hypocrite who cared deeply about appearances.

Would a King like that speak up for me?

“Then, Uncle Wang, what kind of people does the King like?”

I wanted to get on the King’s good side so he would be biased in my favor.

Guessing what was on my mind, Wang Shiguan gave a knowing smile.

“No one knows what kind of girls the King likes.

“Over the years, the Empress Dowager has exhausted herself for the King’s sake-daughters of commoners, ladies from noble houses, even noblewomen from the Empress Dowager’s own clan.”

“He… he likes all of them?”

Wang Shiguan shook his head mysteriously. “The King didn’t like a single one of them.”

I bit down on a reed stalk, staring blankly at the wild geese in the sky, feeling a bit uncertain.

The Qingcong Horse finished drinking its fill, let out a snort, and nuzzled my face.

Even if I was uncertain, Ah Wu had to try!

It was just like what my father told me when he taught me how to weave fishing nets:

“Everything in this world can be learned.

“Don’t say Ah Wu doesn’t know how; say Ah Wu is willing to learn.”

In the past, Meng Cijun disliked my lack of manners and my ignorance of etiquette-he even complained I couldn’t put on a robe properly.

But Ah Wu was willing to learn, and I learned quickly. Later, even Grandmother praised me for my graceful movements and for how beautiful I looked in my robes.

If the King doesn’t like Ah Wu, then Ah Wu will just learn how to make the King like her!

The wind blew, making the reeds by the water sway back and forth.

I soon cheered up again.

The wind moved the shadows of the trees, and the look in Wang Shiguan’s eyes as he watched me was one of undisguised affection and admiration.

“I am not skilled in the arts of divination or reading auras, and my face-reading is mostly inaccurate.

“But I feel that the King will definitely, definitely like Lady Ah Wu.”