Reputation

Zhang Tie spent that night in Shabalina's tent.

Early the next morning, he woke with Shabalina in his arms. It was the first time in his life Zhang Tie had held a woman while sleeping through the night—and done nothing at all.

When he had arrived at Shabalina's tent the night before, several of her maids had attended him while he bathed. Then he lay on Shabalina's bed, chatted with her for a while, and eventually fell asleep.

Although Zhang Tie knew that if he went around saying he had held a woman all night and done nothing, probably no one would believe him, and even he found it rather unbelievable, that was indeed the truth.

In the eyes of the Wild Bear Tribe and many others, Shabalina was a loose woman with countless rumors and men surrounding her. Countless men had entered and left her boudoir and tent, and some had even slept in her bed. Yet in truth, Shabalina had never been touched by a man.

Shabalina's secret lay in a colorless, odorless hypnotic incense given to her by the tribal priest, as well as the maids who served her. Those men who believed they had gained Shabalina's favor would unknowingly inhale the incense after entering her chambers or tent. It would make them hallucinate, and they would helplessly spend the night making love to Shabalina's maids, ultimately cementing Shabalina's reputation as a loose woman.

Few women would like having such a reputation, but Shabalina was an exception. In her words, only this way could she have any say over her own marriage. Otherwise, she would have become another marriage pawn between powerful tribes of the Ice and Snow Wilderness at the age of eighteen—becoming the fifth wife of an old man in his fifties who already had