Chapter 1

A brothel madam had her arm around a fool, talking about killing the legitimate son of the Capital Magistrate.

If word got out, everyone would call it a fool’s dream.

But my aunt had said it, so I believed her.

To me, my aunt was the stuff of legend.

Back then, my mother had worked herself to the bone to support my father through his studies. Even when she was eight months pregnant, she still took embroidery work.

All she wanted was to save a little more silver for him.

Then my aunt came rushing home from the capital, worn out from the journey.

Furious, she said, “Zhao Wenqin has been married to the vice minister of rites’ daughter for a whole year, and you’re still in the dark, scrimping and saving for him. Come to the capital with me. We’ll make a scene and send that faithless dog straight to hell!”

My mother heard her out, then sat in silence all night.

At last, she said very seriously, “Little Sister, will you do something for me?”

My mother wrote Zhao Wenqin a letter.

My aunt delivered it and came back with a banknote worth a thousand taels.

“I poisoned that dog Zhao Wenqin until his manhood withered,” she announced, “and stole a thousand taels from him.”

My mother did not know whether to laugh or cry. She held me up for my aunt to see.

My aunt stroked my chubby little face. “Good thing she takes after you, or I might not be able to stop myself from strangling her. Since you’ve made up your mind to sever all ties with that dog and never bother him again, fine. You’ve always been a soft lump of dough who would rather keep the peace. There’s nothing I can do with you.”

Every New Year, my aunt came home.

“Oh, look at that. Little Dumpling’s grown taller again.”

“Eight mistakes in ten characters. Maybe you shouldn’t study after all.”

“Uh… tripping over your own feet? Maybe martial arts isn’t for you, either.”

“Sister! Sister! I think there’s something wrong with Dumpling’s head. What are we going to do?”

My aunt fussed and fretted as she watched me, calling me her little fool.

My mother would look at her, speechless. “She isn’t foolish. She’s only a little slow. She understands more than you think.”

In winter, my aunt would hold me under the warm blankets and tell me all kinds of stories.

I once whispered, “Auntie, Mother says you’re a swordswoman. Is that true?”

My aunt arched a brow. “Did your mother really say that?”

“She did! She said you rob the rich to help the poor, right wrongs wherever you go, and come and go without a trace—the greatest swordswoman in the world.” Lowering my voice, I added, “Auntie, take me wandering through the martial world with you.”

My aunt only held me closer and gave an inscrutable little laugh. “Your aunt is nothing but a ghost hiding in the dark, forbidden from ever seeing the light. My little Dumpling, you mustn’t learn from me. You should be someone who walks beneath the sun.”

“Enough of this talk about people and ghosts!” My mother came in carrying a bed warmer, shoved it beneath the quilts, and glared at us. “Whispering under the covers instead of sleeping! If you can’t get up tomorrow, I’ll spank both your bottoms raw.”

My mother blew out the lamp, lay down between us, and wrapped one arm around each of us.

My aunt muttered, “Sister, I’m all grown up. Why do you still treat me like a child?”

“No matter how old you are, you’ll always be my little sister.” My mother tucked the quilt around her.

I yawned sleepily and heard my aunt say, “Sister, you refused to make trouble in the capital back then because you were afraid people would discover I still had family, didn’t you?”

I had not understood those words at the time.

Now I did.

My aunt was a shadow guard of the imperial family.

Shadow guards were forbidden from having families. They were wandering ghosts among the living.

“Auntie, what would it take for you to stop being a shadow guard?” I asked her.

She drawled lazily, “Who knows? Perhaps one day my master will be in a good mood and grant me that favor.”

I lowered my head and tucked those words away in my heart.

My aunt tapped me on the head and told me to look through the peephole at the room next door.

The man appeared.

Zhao Mingli, legitimate son of the Capital Magistrate.

Smugly, he said, “My sister’s idea was brilliant. She told me to ride a crazed horse and have it kick that wretched woman to death. Even if anyone finds out later, I’ll have an excuse to escape the blame.”

“Miss Zhao is about to become Crown Princess. Even if the truth comes out, no one would dare put the Crown Prince’s brother-in-law on trial.”

Zhao Mingli burst into loud laughter.

I glanced at my aunt and covered her hand with mine.

Her nails had torn the flesh of her palm to shreds.

It seemed my aunt had only just learned the truth as well.

She did not say a word all evening. She fiddled with her poisons, lost in thought.

That night, I pretended to be asleep and heard another person’s voice in the room.

“Well, well, Poison Ghost. Since when did you start keeping such a plump, tender little girl?”

“Say what you came to say. Put your claws on her, and I’ll rot the face off your skull.”

The cool presence drew a little farther away from me.

She sighed. “Poison Ghost, if it were only the Capital Magistrate’s legitimate son and daughter, we would have a hundred ways to make them drop dead. But if Zhao Lanxin becomes Crown Princess, things won’t be so simple.”

My aunt’s master was the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince would never tolerate insubordination from those beneath him.

My aunt said bitterly, “I’ll poison her and Zhao Mingli, then take Dumpling and disappear.”

“Once you enter the Hall of Yama, you are a ghost for life. Deserters are reduced to ash, body and soul.”

That cool presence pressed close to me again.

Softly, she said, “The Crown Prince has lost his wits and become like a child. The matter has been kept secret. The Empress is beside herself and wants him married as soon as possible so he can father a legitimate son. But Zhao Lanxin is a woman with ambitions higher than heaven. When she discovers on their wedding night that the Crown Prince is now a helpless fool, will she willingly consummate the marriage with him?”

My aunt’s voice went taut. “Seductress Ghost, what are you suggesting?”

The Seductress Ghost said with a smile, “She’ll certainly find someone to consummate the marriage with the Crown Prince in her place, while she herself watches which way the wind blows and waits for a better offer. Dumpling resembles her so closely. She would make the perfect substitute.”

My aunt answered at once, “Don’t even think about it! You and I have served the Crown Prince for years. His mind is dark, and his schemes run deep. Even we can’t be certain his foolishness is real. If he is only pretending, wouldn’t Dumpling be in terrible danger?”

The Seductress Ghost said meaningfully, “If he is pretending, Zhao Lanxin will die an even uglier death. A man like the Crown Prince gives no one a shred of sincerity, yet demands utter devotion from everyone else. How could he tolerate the woman beside him plotting against him?”

I sat up, threw my arms around my aunt, and said, “Auntie, I’ll do it!”

The Seductress Ghost propped her chin on one hand and looked at me in delight. “Oh? You’ve been eavesdropping all this time and finally couldn’t hold it in?”

My aunt refused to let me take the risk. She said she would find another way to avenge my mother.

I held her tight. “Auntie, trust me. I can do this. Before Mother died, she told me to watch over you and stop you from doing anything foolish. Mother is already gone. If you throw away your life too, I’ll be an orphan with no home at all.”

As a child, I had thought my aunt was an invincible swordswoman roaming the martial world.

Only now that I was grown did I understand that even a swordswoman could be bound by forces beyond her control.

I could not let the heroine in my heart come to harm. I had to avenge Mother and protect my aunt as well.

The Seductress Ghost dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief and sobbed theatrically. “How touching. Truly touching. Poison Ghost, if you won’t let Dumpling go, then go throw your own life away. Leave behind this pale, tender, sweetly foolish little dumpling with no father or mother. When people bully her and beat her in the future, you’ll only be able to watch helplessly from the underworld.”

My aunt nearly died of fury. After a long struggle, she finally agreed.

Before I left, my aunt pressed a pile of medicines into my hands and explained how to use each one.

“This is a sleeping drug. You can put it in the Crown Prince’s water. Dumpling, you must protect yourself.” My aunt could not hide her worry.

I committed every instruction to memory, and the Seductress Ghost tugged me toward the door.

My aunt refused to let go. She eyed her suspiciously. “Seductress Ghost, why are all of you helping me?”

The Seductress Ghost thought for a moment, then smiled. “Every year, you disappear for a month. When you return, you bring a flowered handkerchief I like and a little cloth doll the Weeping Ghost likes. You never say it, but we know your sister made them herself. Every year, we look forward to you going home, and then we look forward to you coming back. We take those gifts and pretend that we have a home, too.”

As she spoke, I felt water fall on my face.

I tried to turn and look, but the Seductress Ghost covered my eyes.

I said earnestly, “Auntie Seductress, I can make everything Mother used to make. As long as all of us are alive and well, our family hasn’t fallen apart.”