Chapter 2

I lied and said I already loved someone. The object of my affection, I claimed, was Eldest Young Master Gu, who had written me a love letter beside the spirit wall at the examination compound.

The eldest son was studying away from home. Gu Zheng could hardly verify the story.

He gave me a cold look that lasted a very long time, lashed his horse, and turned it away.

“Just wait. Don’t come begging me later.”

Beg him to make me a concubine? I would have to be insane.

I had not even finished rolling my eyes when disaster struck the Gu family.

A vast military-provisions corruption case had caused two border cities to fall. Minister Gu was implicated.

The residence was seized overnight.

Constables and guards surrounded it as tightly as an iron barrel. Some chained the inhabitants while others searched for stolen assets. Account books hidden in the most secret corners were dug out, and wailing filled the estate. Before long, word came that Minister Gu had hanged himself in prison.

The embezzled money could not be recovered in full, so the women of the household were to be seized and sold against the debt.

I immediately gathered my belongings and prepared to run—only to find Madam Gu approaching with an old matron.

She studied me for a moment. “Wretch. Now is the time for you to repay your masters.”

They forced a bowl of drugged liquid down my throat.

As the world spun, I heard her cold voice. “This is your fate, you little slut. Consider yourself lucky. I’m giving you the chance to become my daughter.”

Lucky, my ass.

She meant to make me take Gu Zhilan’s place. Her precious daughter had been sentenced to become a state prostitute.

When I woke, I was being marched north under guard. I still wore my old clothes. My hair had been pulled loose and covered half my face.

Madam Gu watched me with a hard smile. Beside her stood two of Minister Gu’s beautiful concubines.

They had just been forced to swallow two chunks of gold.

Madam Gu said she wanted to preserve their dignity. They must not shame the minister’s household.

Then she turned around and informed the two escorting soldiers that the women had gold in their stomachs.

Ruthless.

And she had worse in store.

Halfway through the journey, she sold me—still passing me off as the Gu family’s legitimate daughter—to one of the escorting soldiers in exchange for a chance to escape.

“Look for yourself. No man’s touched her yet.” She smiled ingratiatingly, pinched my face, and wiped it clean for their inspection.

The squad leader laughed. “You’re a fine mother, aren’t you? Let’s be clear—don’t cry if she dies.”

They were not afraid of losing a prisoner. At least half the female slaves sent to the frontier died every year. One or two fewer could always be written off as natural wastage.

The carts went on until we reached a stretch of wasteland. The junior officer chuckled and announced that he needed to relieve himself. He ordered the convoy to rest and told me to come along.

I closed my hand around a fistful of dirt and rose. Madam Gu watched without expression.

By selling me, she had removed the danger of her substitution being exposed and bought herself a chance at freedom.

What an excellent bargain.

Behind a jagged boulder lay dry grass and sandy earth. The squad leader dragged me there. A line of soldiers waited behind him.

If they wanted to share a secret, every man needed a share of the spoils.

He removed his hat and said, “If you run, I’ll cut off your feet. If you hit me, I’ll chop off your hands. Understand, little lady?”

When I did not move, he smiled, began untying his belt, and set the saber at his waist on the ground beside him.

“You’re really going to let my mother go?” I asked. “My little stepmother hid such a large lump of gold. Didn’t it occur to you that my mother might have more?”

His face changed. He immediately turned and sent two soldiers after her.

The instant his back was turned, I ran.

He swore after me, laughing as he gave chase.

I was no delicate sheltered miss. I was fast. I had not wasted a single day of all those years.

The squad leader was panting by the time he caught up. Then, just like some idiotic scene in a television drama, I stepped into a hollow and fell.

He came after me cursing. As he bent to seize my collar, I kicked hard and true.

He howled.

The earth shook.

No—not the earth. Hooves.

I twisted in the grass and saw a mass of horses bearing down on us. The riders wore the garb of northern tribesmen and swung curved sabers as they charged.

The soldiers panicked and quickly broke ranks.

The squad leader who had dragged me away looked frightened, but still tried to seize me. Perhaps he thought he could trade me for his life.

There was a wet slice.

A blade opened his throat.

Blood covered my head and face. For a moment, I could see nothing through the warm, sticky, nauseating flood.

A hand closed around my collar.

I was flung over a saddle.

Captured again.

When they threw me into the prisoners’ pen, the first person I saw was Madam Gu.