A flock of birds carved from green stone—what would you call this? Emerald? Jade? Nephrite? And these fish with swaying heads and wagging tails carved from white stone—what were they? White jade? White crystal?
If it wasn't birds, it was fish. It wasn't as if our family was opening a zoo...
I rummaged further and found pearl jewelry and gold ingots. How tacky!
Then again, gold ingots were good things. How much silver could they be exchanged for? How many copper coins?
A burst of laughter sounded behind me. I turned around to see Madam Zhang, my birth mother, and Wu Xiu all looking up from their embroidery to watch me. Even the nearby maidservants were wearing wide grins.
"What are you all laughing at?" I asked curiously. Ever since Father Ji mentioned I was in a foul mood, the three of them had been coming to my room every day to keep me company. They had even moved all the betrothal gifts sent by the Sixth Prince into my room for me to inspect.
Madam Zhang said with a smile, "You’ve been muttering to yourself this whole time, child. One moment you’re frowning, the next you’re beaming. What on earth are you thinking about?"
I brandished a gold ingot at her. "Calculating the accounts! With all this, won't we have enough for Minzhi’s future bride-price?"
Madam Zhang and my mother exchanged a look and laughed.
I had heard the news as soon as I returned: on the very day Luo Jin took me away, the Sixth Prince had come to our house with the Second and Seventh Princes to formally propose the marriage. There were many complex procedures involved—for instance, taking Wu Chao’s birth dates and times to be recorded in the Palace alongside those of the young prince, Ming Shao. Then, Father Ji had prepared some valuables to give to the Sixth Prince in return as tokens of the Ji family’s commitment, including that farewell poem the Sixth Prince had written, which Father Ji had specifically sent out to be mounted and framed.
Madam Zhang sighed softly. "I only hope Xiu’er can find as good a match as Chao’er has in the future."
Wu Xiu lowered her head, her face flushing crimson instantly.
I asked in surprise, "Does this count as a good match? I haven't even seen if that little prince is round or flat yet."
My mother gave me a sidelong glance. "Young Prince Ming Shao is the eldest son of the Prince Jing Estate. According to the customs of the Imperial Clan, the marriage of an eldest son must be arranged by the Palace because they are the heirs to the princedom; the Emperor himself must issue the decree. Why else do you think the younger sons of the Sixth Prince’s estate were the ones to get engaged first?" At this, she looked me up and down, muttering to herself, "For the Sixth Prince to overstep protocol and arrange his eldest son’s engagement himself is unprecedented. What exactly did he see in you?"
That comment left me speechless—was I really that unpresentable?
My mother continued to wonder aloud.
I huffed and buried my head back into the gifts, only to find something quite unexpected: a zither. It was a black-lacquered instrument made of an unrecognizable wood, and it was a thirteen-string zither. The moment I saw it, the flowing, rhythmic melody of *Moonlit Night on the Spring River* echoed in my mind.
Suddenly, I felt a strange sense of displacement.
In my past life, my father’s favorite piece had been *Moonlit Night on the Spring River*. When I was little, I had been forced to study the instrument for a time. He used to say to me with infinite longing, "How happy I would be if I could hear my daughter play this piece with her own hands."
My vision blurred before I realized it.
I gently plucked the strings, and clear, ethereal notes leaped out like tiny spirits.
My mother’s voice came from behind me, though she was speaking to Madam Zhang. "I heard no one recognizes this instrument. No one knows where it came from."
No one recognizes it? Then perhaps Heaven arranged it specifically for me. Perhaps one day I truly could fulfill my father’s wish and play a rendition of *Moonlit Night on the Spring River* for him.
I suddenly wondered if this time and space had once mysteriously overlapped with my original world. Whether it was the state systems, folk customs, or language... so many aspects were similar. It couldn't all be a coincidence, could it?
I couldn't wrap my head around it.
Regardless, it was love at first sight. This instrument... it felt like a fellow countryman.
After my dream of joining the Constabulary to champion justice and eradicate evil was cut short, I spent a long time cooped up at home. When I wasn't studying with the tutor, I was practicing martial arts with Minzhi and the two dogs, Big Black and Little Black. Any remaining time was spent tinkering with that zither. Since no one here knew what it was, I couldn't find a teacher; I could only rack my brain to recall what I had learned at the Children’s Palace twenty years ago.
It was hard. I had discarded those lessons twenty years ago—and I had discarded them quite gleefully, too. Trying to remember them now was easier said than done. In moments of discouragement, I felt that I simply wasn't cut out for this, not in my last life and not in this one...
But when I was in a better mood, I comforted myself: even if I wasn't "cut out for it" across two lifetimes, I still had more of a foundation than these people who didn't even recognize the thing. At the very least, I knew its name.
That was already something.
Back at Hongyan Tower, in Yan’s courtyard, I had narrowly escaped death thanks to a cat. After returning, I naturally pestered Bao Fu every day, wanting to learn kung fu from him. I drove him so ragged that he eventually stopped coming into the inner courtyard altogether.
To my surprise, after half a year had passed, he came looking for me, looking quite pleased with himself.
The New Year was only two months away, and the household was busy. He and his wife, Sister-in-law Fu, were at their busiest, so I couldn't imagine what he wanted with me.
I toyed with the zither strings, looking up at him lazily. "Aren't you afraid I'll pester you again, Uncle Bao?"
Bao Fu’s smile made him look like a cunning fox. He looked at me with a half-serious expression, one hand stroking his short beard in a theatrical manner. "Do you truly wish to learn martial arts?"
I gave him a flat look. I had been rejected for half a year straight; I had lost enough face already.
Bao Fu shot me a sly glance. "My skills are mediocre. However, I have found a suitable candidate. If you are sincere about learning, I shall go and speak with the Master immediately."
I looked up in shock, unable to believe my ears.
That was how I eventually met Rong Qin.
Rong Qin was a woman of few words, roughly forty years old. She had a delicate, refined face, but she always looked as though she were burdened by heavy thoughts and never smiled.
The first time I met her was when Bao Fu and Sister-in-law Fu took me to Qingshui Nunnery on the outskirts of Mount Chan. They called her "Senior Sister." She was neither warm nor cold, asking me only one question: "Why do you want to learn martial arts?"
I replied righteously, "How can one champion justice and eradicate evil without martial arts?"
I had expected her to be moved or to offer a smile of approval. Instead, Rong Qin merely looked me up and down with a strange gaze before saying flatly, "Then stay."
From then on, I had a master.
And from then on, I began a life of split residences. I spent the first half of each month at home receiving a conventional education and the second half living in the mountains with her. Fortunately, though my master had a cold personality, she wasn't difficult to get along with.
Sister-in-law Fu was always praising my endurance in front of my parents. In truth, I didn't find it that bitter. When I was a police officer, I often underwent various types of special training. Once, they dropped us in the wilderness; we ran out of food in the final days and were so hungry we had to pull up wild weeds and catch insects to eat. By comparison, this was nothing.
Besides, in my heart, I, Xi Xia, was an adult. Even when I reached the point where I felt I couldn't go on, I could only grit my teeth and endure. I couldn't use the excuse of being in Wu Chao’s small body to act fragile.
However, Sister-in-law Fu’s words made Father Ji very happy. As the New Year approached, he allowed me to make one request. I immediately told him the idea I had been weighing in my mind for a long time.
"I want to find the best swordsmith to forge a set of weapons for me. I’ll provide the designs. Father provides the silver."
Father Ji agreed readily.
