Chapter 2

The second time, he pinned a velvet flower in Ah Jie’s hair. “The Xie family is certainly generous. General Xie is getting married, and even the palace maids have received red-plum hair ornaments. I heard plum blossoms are your favorite. How do you like seeing them used for his wedding to another woman?”

Ah Jie tried to hit him again, but this time he caught her wrist. “You may strike me, but not over him. Xiao Baozhu, you have wretched taste in men.”

Ah Jie could not move her hand, so she curled her lip in a sneer. “At least he is a man.”

Xu Cong devoured Ah Jie again, but I did not charge at him. Ah Jie used her own mouth and bit him until his lips streamed blood. It looked much more painful than any kicks I could give him.

Of all the times he escorted Ah Jie home, that was the only time he did not stand watching until she was safely inside.

Ah Jie could no longer go out, but our allotments of food, clothing, and household necessities did not diminish.

Thinking I was asleep, Auntie Tao sighed and urged her, “Princess, since he has kept his word and not cut off our provisions, let the palace gates remain closed. Please don’t put yourself through any more indignity.”

Ah Jie smiled as she painted her brows. “Auntie, do you know where the pleasure between a man and a woman lies? If a man gets his way every time, the day he lets go will not be far behind.”

Her eerie smile frightened me into shutting my peeking eyes, but the rest of her words still slipped into my ears. “Mother Consort is dead. My little brother and sister are caged here like dogs. Do you think I sold myself to a demon for a few mouthfuls of food?”

Ah Jie said she had sold herself. That would not do. I refused to lose her. When she was not looking, I quietly rolled into her wardrobe. I meant to watch over her every moment.

I pinched my own leg and did not dare close my eyes even once. The moon climbed higher and higher, and sure enough, a human trafficker slipped into the room.

I pushed the wardrobe door open a crack, ready to leap out and scream. Then I saw Ah Jie, barefoot, pressing one foot against the intruder’s abdomen. Step by step, she walked it up to his chest and asked haughtily, “Even eunuchs have learned to raid a lady’s bedchamber at night? Suppose you do raid it—what can you possibly do?”

Moonlight fell across the trafficker’s face. It was Xu Cong, the man who could frighten children to tears.

He cradled Ah Jie’s soft, pale foot as though holding a priceless treasure and smiled smugly. “This servant has no other talents, but these hands were made rather beautiful. Would Your Highness care to try them?”

What was there to try about a pair of hands?

I did not understand, so I craned my neck for a better look.

He rolled Ah Jie’s trouser leg up inch by inch and pressed his lips slowly along the skin he uncovered. That did not satisfy him, so he nipped her twice with his white teeth, making her breathing grow heavy with pain.

Damn his grandfather! That filthy demon was trying to eat Ah Jie’s flesh!

I charged forward on my short legs, hating for the first time that they could not carry me faster, and tried to kick him. But his arm was so long that he held me back with one hand on my head, and no matter what I did, my feet could not reach him.

Ah Jie froze. Her whole face turned so red it seemed ready to drip. She glared at me like a steamed bun about to finish cooking.

Xu Cong burst into laughter. “Xiao Baozhu, so even you know how to blush. It seems I haven’t worked hard enough.”

The battle to defend Ah Jie ended with Ah Jie furious and the demon laughing merrily instead.

Before leaving, Xu Cong pinched my cheek. “Little girl, remember this. Always protect your Ah Jie just like that.”

I rolled my eyes. She was my Ah Jie. I did not need a demon like him to tell me that.

Ah Jie was furious this time. She forbade me to tell Ah Xiong what had happened that night and forbade me ever to hide in her room again.

Fine, I would not tell him. Ah Xiong was very busy lately anyway.

After that night, Xu Cong found some way to send an old man to us every evening. The old man came silently and left just as silently.

Later I learned that he was an imperial tutor who taught only princes.

How did I learn that? Because teaching me drove Ah Jie to the brink of collapse. Two days out of every three, she would yank my ear and shout, “Xiao Baoqiong, is that a pig’s head growing on your neck? You must have been switched at birth. No one in Baojun Palace has a brain that stupid!”

Are you wondering whether I studied especially well on the third day? Hee-hee. That was Ah Jie’s day off. She said she was afraid I would anger her to death.

After Xu Cong overheard her shouting a few times, he tossed me to the old man and said shamelessly, “Elder Zhang, herding one sheep is the same as herding two. The little princess is clever. Perhaps she can even motivate the Third Prince.”

Just listen to him. Was that something a human being would say? I was a princess who needed only to learn a few characters, yet he made me sit through lessons on statecraft.

But the demon did not care. All he cared about was whether Ah Jie was happy.