Chapter 4
The eldest young lady and General Li seemed to be growing closer and closer. General Li and I, on the other hand, were getting along worse and worse.
I don’t know if you’ve ever felt the same way: a man can be perfectly outstanding, yet somehow you still feel he isn’t good enough for the eldest young lady.
Worst of all, the man couldn’t beat me, so he found himself a helper!
His helper was four years younger than I was, as skinny and stunted as a bean sprout, and not the least bit handsome.
“His name is Ah Yu. He’s the most promising of my secret guards,” General Li said.
I stared at him in horror. That bean sprout was a secret guard? I could stab him to death with a single chopstick!
My opinion of General Li sank even lower. He actually employed child labor.
What? I was a child laborer too?
No, I wasn’t. I might have been young, but there was nothing small about my fists.
When the eldest young lady hired me, that was called having an eye for talent!
In any case, for the next half year, I was no longer the only third wheel on the eldest young lady and General Li’s outings. Now there were two of us.
When the eldest young lady and General Li went boating, Ah Yu boiled water and brewed tea while I ate the fish.
When they went to see the lanterns, Ah Yu paid for everything while I ate candied hawthorn.
When they climbed into the hills, Ah Yu carried the bundles while I ate green rice cakes.
General Li said that for a senior maid, I did nothing but eat.
The eldest young lady said that my hearty appetite was my good fortune, and not needing me to work was hers.
Ah Yu asked why, when he trained every day and I did nothing but eat, he still couldn’t beat me.
Smug beyond measure, I told him it was because I had the physique of a born martial artist and unparalleled natural talent!
Then, without my noticing at all, time slipped away. I had never known it could pass so quickly.
Back at the manor, I had spent every day practicing swordplay, spearwork, and footwork. It was unbearably dull.
Now each day brought something new: listening to the eldest young lady play the zither, eating with her, letting her dress me up, and going into the city with her.
Oh, and keeping watch while she went on dates.
Apart from that last part, my days were full and fascinating.
Little by little, I forgot my plans to run away and lost myself in the pleasures of everyday life.
But I also forgot something Father had once told me: the capital was never a peaceful place.
The imperial court changed without my knowing it. Ordinarily, that would have had nothing to do with me. I was only a maid. But it affected General Li, and it affected the eldest young lady, which meant it concerned me too.
That day, the master and Madam summoned the eldest young lady and spoke with her for a long time. When she returned, she no longer knew how to smile.
She sat at the long table all day, unmoving even when silver moonlight spilled over her.
She neither ate nor drank nor spoke.
Nor did she shed a tear.
Something must have happened. I simply didn’t know what.
I turned and raced straight to the general’s estate.
The estate had more than a hundred visible guards and over twenty hidden ones, but if I wanted to enter, none of them could stop me.
When I told Ah Yu that I had the physique of a born martial artist and unparalleled natural talent, I hadn’t been boasting. It was the truth.
When I left the manor at fourteen, no one there—from my senior uncle down to my martial nephew—could defeat me.
So I was rather surprised when Ah Yu’s sword grazed my arm. It seemed General Li hadn’t lied after all. Ah Yu truly did have potential.
“Why have you trespassed into the general’s estate? What are you plotting?” Ah Yu demanded, gripping his sword with its point aimed at me.
“I’m Young Lady Jiang’s maid, the future general’s wife’s maid. What could I possibly be plotting?”
Ah Yu’s expression hardened. Despite his young age, he suddenly looked quite imposing. “Young Lady Jiang is no longer the future general’s wife. His Majesty has bestowed a marriage upon the general and Princess Rouyi. Princess Rouyi is the future general’s wife.”
My head felt as though it would explode.
No wonder the general hadn’t visited the eldest young lady lately. No wonder she had been so heartbroken today.
And it was all because of that faithless scoundrel Li!
I darted past Ah Yu and charged into the room.
How absurd! He was only a general, yet he dared betray the eldest young lady. I would take his miserable life today!
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that before I could kill him, I would find him sprawled on the bed looking half-dead already, his face ghastly pale.
The room reeked of medicine, mingled with a faint trace of blood.
What was going on? Who had injured that wretched man before I could?
General Li was awake, but in terrible condition. He struggled to sit up, only to collapse onto the bed again.
Fine beads of sweat covered his forehead, and the veins in his neck stood out. Slowly, he asked, “Did Wanying send you?”
I pressed my lips together, unsure whether to tell him the truth or lie.
General Li didn’t seem to mind. “I meant to explain everything to her in person, but His Majesty’s punishment was so severe that I truly couldn’t get out of bed. I made her worry.”
He paused, then added, “And I made her… grieve.”
“Xiaozhu, please tell her for me that I will not give up. I will—I will marry her.”
“She is the only woman who will ever be my wife.”