Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When I arrived, I came in grand style, with a magnificent steed and an eight-bearer bridal sedan. When I left, I had nothing but a letter of repudiation and a bundle of personal belongings as I walked out of the Xuan Residence alone.

Yu Miaoren, the Female Grand Tutor of the current court, had received a letter of repudiation on the very day of her wedding. From that moment on, I became the greatest laughingstock in all of Lu State.

My fellow officials at least had the decency to shut their doors before laughing in private. The one who laughed hardest was Grand Preceptor Chu Lingfeng. I heard that on the day I was repudiated, even with the doors of his residence tightly shut, his servants could still hear him roaring with laughter. He made such a racket that none of them got to sleep until after midnight.

Then again, Chu Lingfeng and I had never gotten along. What right did that crusty old bachelor have to laugh at me?

He might have found it funny, but the emperor certainly did not. The next morning, after dismissing the court, the emperor asked me to remain behind. With a deeply troubled expression, he said, “Teacher, it took Us no small effort to finally marry you off. Just what is the meaning of this?”

I replied to His Majesty, “Lord Taibai said it best: ‘The immortal waits to ride the yellow crane; the seafarer, free of worldly cares, follows the white gulls.’ It took getting married once for me to appreciate the joys of freedom. After that, I couldn’t bear to remain married for another moment.”

The Young Emperor waved a hand at me. “Teacher, you always have an answer for everything.”

After taking my leave of the emperor, I was about to ride my sedan back to my residence when Chu Lingfeng’s sedan appeared directly ahead of mine.

“I’m not moving,” I said lazily from inside my sedan.

A soft chuckle came from the sedan opposite me, followed by the words, “Neither are we.”

The palace road was plenty wide. Our sedans could easily have shifted slightly and passed each other, yet neither of us was willing to yield.

Taking pity on the sedan bearers, we both had our sedans lowered to the ground.

It was July. Even the birds in the palace were too hot to sing, and the servants were sweltering as well. Only the two of us remained perfectly cool.

Grand Protector Song never rode a horse. Every day after court, his wife came to meet him. The two were famously devoted to each other, much to everyone else’s envy.

As they passed us, Madam Song asked softly, “My lord, what are they doing?”

“Those two old foes are at it again.” Grand Protector Song was a steady, sensible man. He shook his head and summed it up in two words. “Too idle.”

The Grand Tutor, Grand Preceptor, and Grand Protector were the esteemed Three Excellencies of the Realm, yet the first two bickered every single day. The Young Emperor must have found it all very trying.

As noon approached, the heat grew increasingly oppressive. The servants could no longer endure it, so the two of us dismissed them to cool off beneath the trees. They soon gathered in little groups and started chatting away, mingling freely regardless of which household they served. They were clearly well acquainted.

Grrrrowl.

My stomach rumbled, but surrender was out of the question.

I was in the middle of tempering my sinews and starving my flesh when the curtain of the opposite sedan lifted.

“Xiao Yu’er, aren’t you hungry?”

“Lord Chu, addressing me with such intimacy is highly improper. I will most certainly submit a memorial to impeach you tomorrow.”

I heard him come over, his footsteps scuffing against the ground. A moment later, someone lifted the curtain of my sedan.

“Grand Tutor Yu, aren’t you hungry? Why don’t we go to Jincui Tower and have something to eat together?”