In the northeast corner of the An Qing Palace, a small three-storey in the middle of the forest was brightly lit and not a sound could be heard in its surroundings. Legends say that there was once a curious maid in the palace who saw a little rabbit as she passed by the forest of the Song Feng Hall and chased it in, then she never came out again. Everyone in the palace took detours around this place, treating it as a forbidden area.
The young prince once invited the most popular girl in a courtesan house, Miss Hong Yu, to come and sing in the Song Feng Hall. When Miss Hong Yu went back, she spoke of how the prince’s residence was peaceful and elegant, and the hospitality was refined and polite. Hence, the Song Feng Hall became the goal for all young girls, dreaming of spending a life of love with the young prince.
At this moment, Liu Jue was painting. The maid, Si Hua, was carefully grinding ink, her eyes focused on the ink stick in her hand and the ink stone, doing her best to apply even pressure, neither fast nor slow, being careful not to let the ink splash nor create any grating sounds.
Liu Jue slowly sketched an outline of a girl on the paper. Her silk skirt seemed to be fluttering yet weighed down by the jade token tied at her waist. Her figure was slender with a slim neck and shoulders, hair styled into a cloud bun that was decorated with jade orchid hairpins, graceful and elegant. It was the figure of the Gu Family’s Gu Tian Lin.
Liu Jue looked at it with satisfaction, then smiled and turned his concentration to drawing the eyes on this beauty. It was said that a painted dragon can be brought to life by adding the pupils of its eyes. With Liu Jue’s single stroke, it was like Gu Tian Lin herself had come out of the painting. A pair of crystal clear eyes flashed in Liu Jue’s mind. He closed his eyes and imagined Gu Tian Lin’s eyes before opening his eyes and quickly drawing them in, completing the painting. Looking at it again, he was stunned.
Si Hua stole a peek and thought that it was a beautiful lady, yet her eyes had such unruliness. She was lively and talkative which didn’t seem like they belonged to a dignified and charming lady.
Out of the corner of his eye, Liu Jue noticed the expression on Si Hua’s face. Seeing that a good painting had been ruined by a pair of eyes, Liu Jue reached out to crumple the painting. When his hand touched those eyes, he stopped. After looking at it for a while, he instructed Si Hua, “Frame it well.”
Si Hua lowered her head in compliance.
Liu Jue gently tapped his finger on the painting for a long time, then said, “How many people are there who can attend the Peach Blossom Banquet with maids? Hm?”
Liu Ying had been kneeling outside for a full two hours. When he heard the Young Prince speak, he replied quietly, “The princess invited the relatives of seven households from the Ning Empire, and female members of 14 imperial ministers’ families who brought 57 maids. She also invited 23 noble sons of Feng City, none of them brough maids. All 57 have been carefully checked one by one, but none of them was that young girl. The princess herself brought 8 maids. Altogether, there were 146 maids in the villa, yet none of them was her.”
The more Liu Jue heard, the more unpleasant his expression became, thinking of how that young girl had harmed him twice in one day, yet he was actually unable to find her? He was the dignified Young Prince of the An Qing Palace and she had knocked him out, tied him to a tree, and stole his silver. If this matter became known, it would be better to simply jump into the Ning River and drown.
Liu Ying saw blue veins twitching on the Young Prince’s hands and understood that this was deeply humiliating for him, yet Liu Ying himself had actually hesitated and thought that the Young Prince had other plans. With the Young Prince’s skill, how could a mere young girl knock him out, and a girl who couldn’t be found at that. Liu Ying hesitated, then said boldly, “Your Highness, could she be a daughter of a hunter from a nearby village?”
Liu Jue widened his eyes, “Find her!”
Liu Ying saluted and hurried away.
Every month, Seventh Mistress and Qing Luo’s allowance amounted to only three silver notes in total, barely enough for their living expenses in the Begonia Garden. Ever since Li Xiang learned that Qing Luo had skills, their monthly allowance soared to ten silver taels. Seventh Mistress carefully inspected the silver notes stolen from Liu Jue and saw that there were no special imprints on them. She gave them to Madam Zhang to secretly find someone to exchange at the bank, resulting in as much as 400 silver taels. It was depressing to make comparisons, Liu Jue casually carried several hundred taels in his pocket, enough to cover the living expenses for the four of them in the Begonia Garden for several years. Ah Luo firmly believed that money was the answer to everything and no matter where one went, Brother Copper Coin was the best diplomat.
Seventh Mistress looked at Ah Luo worriedly, “You will turn 13 next month and you hardly ever go outside, how can mother be at ease?”
Ah Luo said, “I have heard a lot about Feng City’s local customs and practices, and I have secretly read many books. At the very least, it’s not like I know nothing about the Ning Empire. Besides, does Ah Luo’s intelligence really resemble that of a 13 year old child’s?”
Seventh Mistress still felt uneasy. Ah Luo was left with no choice, she pulled Seventh Mistress into the bamboo forest. In front of her, she split a thick bamboo stem with her hand in the form of a karate chop and showed several more moves, her fists and feet moving about and causing the bamboo leaves to fly around, displaying some degree of grandeur. Seventh Mistress was instantly stunned. Ah Luo smiled and held onto her, “When I was little, I couldn’t sleep and ran into the garden to play. I met an uncle who knew martial arts, he taught me the movements and then left when he finished. He instructed me not to mention this to anyone. Mother, you are the only one who knows in this household. That prince from the An Qing Palace was knocked out by me.”
Seventh Mistress covered Ah Luo’s mouth with her hand. Seeing Ah Luo’s triumphant expression, she felt angry, amused, and surprised all at once, “Ah Luo, this is good. If all else fails, you can save your life and escape from the Li Xiang residence.”
Ah Luo hugged her, “If I leave, then we will leave together. I won’t leave you here alone.”
Immediately, Mother and daughter began to discuss this. They sought an opportunity to leave the residence, escaping by going over the wall of the residence behind the bamboo forest. Ah Luo went to look around the city first.
Xiao Yu was already 16 years old. Seventh Mistress took out fifty silver taels, telling her to leave the residence and find someone to marry, yet Xiao Yu refused and cried, “Xiao Yu has no relatives left in this world. Back then, it was all thanks to Mistress giving Xiao Yu some taels that she was able to bury Mother, but where can I go now?”
Seventh Mistress said, “Staying in the Xiang residence will cost you your marriage and future.”
Xiao Yu simply shook her head, “Mistress and Young Miss has treated Xiao Yu like family. Please let me stay, the Young Miss is still little.”
Helping Xiao Yu up, Ah Luo said, “From now on, you’ll be my sister and we are a family. No matter where we go, we won’t leave you behind.” From that day on, Seventh Mistress also taught Xiao Yu how to play the flute so that she can play in the bamboo forest as a substitute in case Ah Luo left the Xiang residence one day.
Ah Luo went to the bamboo forest behind their house and practised playing the flute. The early morning air in the bamboo forest was crisp, birds chirped and not a single person came to intrude. She blew the flute for a while before hearing the sound of a xiao outside, harmonising with the flute’s melody. Ah Luo’s mind felt refreshed and she again played through the whole piece slowly. Then she put down the flute and outside, the sound of the xiao also gradually lowered until it ceased completely.
The xiao sound had appeared about a month after Qing Luo first started playing the flute in the bamboo forest. Every morning, Qing Luo would go there and as soon as she began to play the flute, the xiao would harmonise with her. In the beginning, Qing Luo’s skills were not quite proficient. She slowly followed the xiao sounds and eventually grew better and better. Satisfied, Seventh Mistress said, “San’er, the zither, xiao, and flute are all in the same family. You can already play the zither better than your mother used to and you have learnt the flute very quickly. You have fulfilled your duty and can report back to your father.”
After that, Ah Luo no longer cared about playing the flute. She wanted to go out to take a look instead and become acquainted with Feng City as soon as possible, so she could arrange an escape route.
Xiao Yu guarded the outside of the bamboo forest, the two of them having discussed using the flute’s sound to notify each other of the situation. Ah Luo slowly walked along the wall that surrounded the bamboo forest.
The wall of the Xiang residence was eight feet tall, made of azure coloured bricks without a single gap anywhere. Ah Luo inwardly cursed, why couldn’t this be a shoddily constructed wall?! She carefully walked along the entire length of the wall, yet found no openings. Just when she was feeling disappointed, she suddenly saw several intricate ornamental large rocks that she guessed had been left over from when the garden had been decorated. They appeared to have been piled up for a long time as their surfaces were covered in moss and weeds.
Ah Luo rolled up her sleeves and went to move them. Although these types of ornamental rocks were light, it was possible that they would weigh more than a hundred kilograms due to the size of them. Breathing in, Ah Luo put all her strength into lifting the ornamental rock and was able to move it slightly, making her feel overjoyed. She made a note of the location. Then she walked out of the bamboo forest and smiled merrily at Xiao Yu.
The next day, Seventh Mistress personally stood outside the forest to keep watch while Ah Luo and Xiao Yu carried two thick sticks to the place she remembered from yesterday. Xiao Yu looked at the ornamental rocks and was at a loss, “Miss, normally this would take several strong men to move. Can we do it?”
Ah Luo smiled, “We will use the lever method so we won’t need to use too much force. Archimedes said ‘Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world’. These rocks are nothing in comparison.”
Hearing this, Xiao Yu became even more bewildered, “What ball(1), what chicken virtue, what are you talking about Miss?”
(TLN (1): Ball = World/Earth)
Ah Luo chuckled, “No need to understand it, you just need to follow what I do.” With this, she taught Xiao Yu to insert the stick into a crack underneath the rock. Ah Luo pressed down hard and the ornamental rock was raised up. Xiao Yu stepped forward and the ornamental rock rolled bit by bit towards the wall.
Xiao Yu clapped happily and Ah Luo let out a long breath. The two of them lifted up all the smaller rocks and arranged them.
When Seventh Mistress came to the wall a few days later, all she could see were a few groves of tall, thin bamboo and a couple clusters of vines, no route that led outside the residence. Just as she was feeling puzzled, Ah Luo led her around to the back where the ornamental rocks were piled in a disorderly manner. It would be easy to climb over the wall by using the rocks.
Seventh Mistress’ and Ah Luo’s heads peeked discreetly over the wall. There was a small street outside, and a small river further past that. There was no one around. The two of them climbed back down from the wall. When they headed to the front, Seventh Mistress praised, “You can’t see an inkling of this from the front at all.”
Ah Luo smiled proudly, “Xiao Yu and I spent a lot of effort to move the vines over to cover it.”
When they returned to the house, Seventh Mistress carefully recalled and drew the location of the Xiang residence. She guessed that the river outside of the wall was flowing from the Yu Xiang Mountain in the Imperial City. The river merged with the Ning River when it left the east gate. Based on her memories, she drew a general picture of Feng City.
Seventh Mistress’ drawing combined with her knowledge from the books gace Ah Luo a general understanding of Feng City.
The south side of Feng City faced the Ning River. To the west were plains, stretching all the way to the Qi Empire. To the east was Yu Cui Mountain where Princess Hu Guo’s Shi Cui Mountain Villa and imperial garden were located. On the other side of the Yu Cui Mountain lay the endless, boundless primeval forest of the Hei Mountain. Further along were the Mang Du Plains, which bordered the Ning and An Empire. Continuing east would lead straight to the sea.
To the north of Feng City was Yu Xiang Mountain. The imperial city was built along the contours of the mountain with the peak of Yu Xiang Mountain rising high into the sky, clad in snow all year around. The spring formed by the melting of this snow never dried, flowing through all four seasons and distributing water to all parts of the imperial city. Behind Yu Xiang Mountain was also the Hei Mountain’s forest and beyond that was the border of the An Empire.
The Ning River was on the south side, beyond that were around 30 villages. Further than that was the Chen Empire.
Feng City only had three city gates and its position was strongly fortified between mountains and the sea. There was no fear of an attack from the An empire in the rear due to the vast forest. This was the Ning Empire’s last line of defense and it had been peaceful and prosperous for hundreds of years.
Inside Feng City, a straight road ran from the imperial city all the way to the south gate. In the middle was an intersection with the main road that ran from the east to west gates. The city was naturally divided into four districts. The northwest was the area for the officials, the Government District. Northeast was for the residences of the imperial family and ministers, the Wealthy District. The southwest was the Poor District where the commoners live, and the southeast was the Commercial District.
There were various tea stalls and restaurants all over each district. In the Commercial District, there was a red light area and merchant shops. The most upscale inns and brothels. The most upscale foreign trade office. Outside of the east gate, there were countless pleasure boats on the Ning River. Overall, this was a bustling city that was clearly divided into different functions.
The first thing Ah Luo went to was the Commercial District. She needed to make money, needed information and needed to understand this strange land. Undeveloped places would always conceal some form of paradise. Ah Luo firmly believed that she could find it.
