Chapter 2
Time slipped past, second by second.
Sweat poured from the elderly servant’s forehead. She flung herself at Ji Furong’s feet and kowtowed desperately. “My young lady is too ill. Let me beg forgiveness on her behalf, Concubine Ji. Please be generous. My lady—her medicine cannot wait!”
She knocked her forehead against the floor until it was a bloody mess. When Ji Furong ignored her, she scrambled over to cling to Xiao Zhuye’s leg, weeping with tears and snot streaming down her face.
“Young master! It’s almost midnight! If she doesn’t drink it soon, the medicine will wear off! Please, persuade your concubine. Spare my lady this once! If she doesn’t take her medicine, I’ll die! We’ll all die!”
“There’s only the Xiao family’s young madam here. What young lady of the Weis are you talking about? You madwoman!”
With a cruel smile, Xiao Zhuye kicked her aside. She struck a pillar; blood streamed from her head, and she fainted.
He bent down and gripped my chin.
That face truly was beautiful: dark, lustrous eyes, a finely shaped nose, and long, curved outer eye corners like a little bird’s pointed beak. If a red mole grew beside one eye, it would be more exquisite still.
And more like that person.
The words from that handsome mouth, however, were foul.
“Did you hear me? You’re the daughter of a mere eighth-rank county official. You were lucky to marry into this house. You’ve taken Rong’er’s place. If you can’t kowtow, at least humble yourself before her. I promise I can spare your life.”
I lowered my lashes. My gaze passed over the servant lying motionless on the floor, over the jealous Ji Furong with the medicine bowl, and settled on the hand with which Xiao Zhuye was caressing my face in sudden desire.
I spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto it.
“How dare you!”
His face darkened, and he slapped me hard.
The taste of blood filled my mouth. My chest seized, and I vomited fresh blood.
Xiao Zhuye took the bowl and turned his wrist, pouring all the black liquid onto the floor.
The candlelight distorted that face celebrated as the Jade-Faced General’s until it looked demonic. His thin lips moved in a mocking smile.
“Want to drink it?”
“Then crawl over.”
Ji Furong took out a handkerchief to wipe his hand. She spoke tentatively:
“Madam really does look unwell. Shall I open the storeroom and fetch that hundred-year-old ginseng? If she dies the very day she arrives, your father may scold you again.”
Xiao Zhuye scrubbed at his skin, his face black with anger. “That ginseng is for when you give birth. She won’t live long anyway. Don’t waste good things on her.”
“Then Madam…”
“She’s brought this on herself.”
Still furious, he said, “Send all the servants away. No one is to enter this courtyard. We’ll set a fire in a little while and say it was an accident.”
Ji Furong beamed. “How clever you are, my husband.”
My eyes remained open. I watched the water clock in the room and felt strength welling slowly through my body.
I sank my breath into my lower belly and forced the blood through my channels, until my palms grew warm.
Midnight had passed.
They piled the flammable bed curtains beside me. Looking longingly at my kingfisher-feather headdress, Ji Furong reached to take it.
In the next instant, a gold hairpin flashed into her eye socket. I levered it hard and tore out her entire eyeball.
“Aaaah!”
Ji Furong screamed.
“What’s wrong, Rong’er?” Xiao Zhuye turned at the sound. Seeing half her face drenched in blood, he recoiled. “Your—your eye!”
When he saw me holding the hairpin with her eye skewered on it, fury overtook him. He snatched up a vase and rushed at me.
He had gone to war with the Marquis of Wuguan since childhood; he struck to kill. I shoved Ji Furong at him. His hand faltered. While she blocked his view, I ducked beneath her like a slipping fish and kicked his ankles in rapid succession.
He started. “The Swallow’s Chain Kicks? That’s a Xiao family technique. How do you—”
Before he could finish, I thrust the hairpin into his groin.
Xiao Zhuye screamed and instantly lost consciousness.
I pinned him beneath my foot and yanked hard. In the candlelight, two bloody balls hung together.
I raised them to examine them and burst into laughter.
“Ha! Roasted bird’s eggs!”
“You… you lunatic…”
Astonishingly, Ji Furong hadn’t fainted. Clutching her eye socket, her face full of terror, she screamed in desperation, “They said he’d married a sickly beauty!”
“He did.”
I pulled down length after length of silk and knocked over the candlestick. Amid the soaring flames, I smiled.
“Father and my stepmother both say there’s something wrong with my head!”