Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I was reborn that day, Xie Wujiu was squatting under the locust tree outside my family’s private school, gnawing on bark.

Autumn rain had just stopped, the bark was damp and soft, his nails were filled with mud, the corner of his mouth was cut, and there were fresh slap marks on his face.

From inside the school came the sound of reciting voices.

My father stood at the lectern, tapping a discipline ruler, teaching the students to recite word by word:

“Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.”

Hearing these eight words, cold sweat broke out on my back.

In my past life, the day Xie Wujiu stormed into the capital, someone also recited these eight words in front of the palace gate.

It was the Minister of Rites.

He knelt in blood, his white beard trembling fiercely, and said, “Your Majesty, do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.”

Xie Wujiu sat on his horse, his cloak stained with blood, and gave a slight smile.

“We also recited that in our youth.”

He raised his hand, and the minister’s head rolled down the steps.

That year, he was twenty-six, already called a tyrant by the people of the world.

But now, he was thirteen, thin as a stick that hadn’t burned through, squatting at the door of my family’s school, pelted with stones by the schoolchildren.

“The wild dog is here again.”

“He stole the steamed buns from the offering table.”

“My mother says his mother is a madwoman, so he’s a madman too.”

A young man in a lake-blue silk robe came out of the school door, holding half a cake in his hand, and deliberately dropped it into the muddy water.

“Xie Wujiu, crawl over here, and I’ll reward you with this.”

That person was called Zhou Cheng’an, the son of the county magistrate.

In his past life, the first ones Xie Wujiu killed were the entire Zhou Family.

I saw Xie Wujiu raise his eyes.

His eyes were very black.

Not the black a youth should have, but the black that, after being frozen, starved, and trampled, still hadn’t been extinguished.

My heart tightened, and I pushed the door open and walked out.

Zhou Cheng’an saw me and laughed, “Lin Wanzhao, are you playing the bodhisattva again?”

I ignored him and walked straight up to Xie Wujiu.

He shrank back a little.

I squatted down and grabbed his wrist.

Very thin, the bones sharp.

“Come inside and study with me.”

Xie Wujiu stared at me as if he didn’t understand.

Zhou Cheng’an laughed even louder: “Him? Study? Lin Wanzhao, are you crazy? He can’t even afford the tuition.”

I turned back to look at him.

“You stole your mother’s gold hairpin last month and pawned it at the gambling den in the west of town.”

Zhou Cheng’an’s smile froze on his face.

I continued, “Do you want me to go tell Madam Zhou right now?”

His face changed: “You’re talking nonsense.”

“The gambling den manager has a missing chunk from his right ear, and under the counter is a black wooden box with your IOUs pressed inside.”

Zhou Cheng’an shut up.

This incident, in the last life, caused a stir that the whole town knew about, but by then it was half a month too late.

I pulled Xie Wujiu up.

He didn’t cooperate, his body heavy.

“I won’t study.”

These were the first words he said to me.

His voice was hoarse, with the thinness of a boy before his voice breaks.

I said, “Whether you want to or not, you’re studying.”

“Why?”

Because in the future you will kill many people.

Because you will personally cut off my father’s head.

Because you will throw many innocent people into prisons to freeze to death in the cold winter.

Because after you sit on the dragon throne, everyone will say you were born evil, but only I know you weren’t bad from the start.

I couldn’t say any of these words.

I had to change my approach.

“Because I need a study companion.”

Xie Wujiu looked at me.

I added, “Lunch included.”

His gaze flickered.

I knew I had won.