Xiao Xia

"Where are we going next? To bathe in the river? To eat something delicious? Or to rob people?" Zhongli Chun could barely contain her excitement and kept trying to strike up a conversation with Du Yu.

Seeing how happy she was, Du Yu found himself deeply infected by her joy.

"Little Zhongli, how about we... go home?" Du Yu asked.

Du Yu remembered that, according to legend, Zhongli Chun had stayed at home awaiting marriage after completing her studies on Ghost Valley Mountain. Taking her home now was the sensible choice, though it might take some effort.

"Home? What is home?" Zhongli Chun asked.

"I mean... taking you back to your mother and stepfather."

Zhongli Chun froze slightly at those words, as though carefully recalling something. Soon, her expression turned cold. Those long-buried memories all came flooding back-the days without a glimmer of light, living among pigs and eating rotten food. All of it came back.

"The last time I saw you, you rescued me. This time, are you going to send me back?" Zhongli Chun murmured. "Although it makes me very sad, if that is your decision, I'm willing to go back."

"Huh?" Du Yu hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, no, you've misunderstood! Little Zhongli, I'm not sending you back to the Pigsty! This time, no one will be allowed to bully you! Not only have you learned real skills, you've gained a half-immortal body. No one will dare bully you again!"

"Hmm?" Zhongli Chun looked at Du Yu. "Is that really true?"

"It is." Du Yu nodded. "Even if they do try to bully you, I'll never stand for it!"

It took the two of them nearly a full day to return to Wuyan City. Fortunately, Zhongli Chun still remembered the route from all those years ago.

From a distance, Zhongli Chun spotted the little river. It held the happiest memories of those ten years of her life.

In the light of the setting sun, they walked along the riverbank and into the city. Zhongli Chun had blossomed into a lovely young woman, and men and women, old and young, stopped in the streets to gaze at her.

After all, Zhongli Chun's face was stunningly beautiful, though she was much too tall.

They arrived at the place that had caused Zhongli Chun so much heartache. They had intended to ask a servant to announce their arrival, but unexpectedly, there was no one at the gate. Although the residence was brightly lit, not a single servant was in sight.

"Strange. Where did everyone go?"

"There's noise." Zhongli Chun pointed at the main hall. "Over there."

"Oh?" Du Yu had heard nothing at all, but if Zhongli Chun said so, she certainly wasn't lying.

"Let's go have a look."

They slowly approached the main hall. Heads crowded together inside; quite a few people seemed to have gathered. As soon as Du Yu pushed open the door, the clamor spilled out.

Looking closer, he saw a group of servants and maids standing around as though watching a performance. In their midst, a frail woman knelt on the floor wearing only her underclothes. Her body was covered in wounds, and despair filled her face.

A middle-aged woman stood beside her. On closer inspection, she was Zhongli Chun's birth mother, Hua, who had aged considerably. Holding a rattan switch, she lashed the frail woman again and again.

"You shameless slut!" Hua cursed. "You want to fly up onto a branch and become a phoenix, do you? You want to kick me out of my place!"

The blows rained down, striking the woman's body.

Du Yu took a closer look. Zhongli Chun's adoptive father, that sleazy scholar-official, sat in the seat of honor in the main hall, watching it all coldly.

"You think having a pretty face gives you the right to be this shameless? Fine, I'll let everyone see today! Let them see that slut's body!" As she spoke, Hua tugged at the woman's underclothes. Only by hugging herself tightly did the woman keep Hua from succeeding.

"I knew it. That Xiao Xia looks just like a fox spirit," a maid beside Du Yu said. "Who knows how many men she's seduced?"

"Exactly!" another maid chimed in. "What's so great about being pretty? She still came here to work as a maid, just like us!"

Du Yu glanced at the male servants beside him. Their faces were flushed as they stared fixedly at the body of the maid called Xiao Xia. It seemed they didn't care what she had done wrong; they only hoped their mistress would be even more ruthless. They were waiting for the moment Xiao Xia's underclothes came off.

"Say something!" Hua jabbed a finger hard against Xiao Xia's forehead. "Have you gone mute?"

Xiao Xia raised her head and said, "Madam, I truly have been wronged."

"Wronged?!" As though she had lost her mind, Hua grabbed Xiao Xia by the hair, slapped her hard twice, then flung her to the floor.

Xiao Xia gave a muffled groan, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

She slowly lifted her head and looked despairingly at the scholar-official in the seat of honor. "Master, speak with a clear conscience. Did I seduce you, or did you molest me?!"

"Molest you?" The scholar-official curled his lip. "Ridiculous. With my position, what sort of woman couldn't I have? Why would I molest you?"

Du Yu snorted coldly. "Scum. Ten years ago, I saw you harassing a maid with my own eyes. This girl Xiao Xia really has rotten luck, running into a couple like you two."

Xiao Xia silently stood and wiped the blood from her mouth.

"Though I was not born into a wealthy household, I have understood propriety since childhood and would never commit such a disgraceful act. Now that Madam has falsely accused me of adultery, I have no power to resist. I can only prove my innocence with my death."

Before anyone could react, Xiao Xia charged straight at a pillar.

Bang!

At the thunderous impact, everyone stood dumbstruck.

A tall woman had suddenly appeared from nowhere, extending a pale hand between Xiao Xia and the pillar.

Zhongli Chun frowned. This girl rammed into it far too hard. Even the back of my hand hurts against the pillar. If I hadn't blocked her, she would certainly have died.

"H-hey?!" Du Yu froze. "Little Zhongli, when did you rush over there?"

"Was it worth it?" Zhongli Chun asked Xiao Xia.

Xiao Xia felt dizzy. Although her head had struck a palm, she was still dazed.

"Who are you...?"

"What? Who's there?!" The scholar-official abruptly sat upright. "Breaking into an official's residence at night is punishable by death!"

Several guards came running over with wooden clubs.

The scholar-official looked at Zhongli Chun and gave a lecherous smile. "Wait, wait! Take this one alive!"

Hua looked at the tall woman before her. She seemed familiar, but Hua simply couldn't remember who she was.

Zhongli Chun surveyed the guards coldly, a trace of disdain appearing on her face.

One guard shouted and swung his wooden club at her. Zhongli Chun didn't even dodge. She extended two fingers and flicked them lightly. The instant the club touched her fingers, it snapped in half, and the guard flew backward. The boundless divine strength unleashed by that flick stunned everyone. Not another guard dared approach.

"The old man told me not to take lives unless I had no other choice." Zhongli Chun looked around. "If anyone still wants to fight, I won't be able to hold back."

"Wait! It's a misunderstanding!" Du Yu thrust out a hand and jumped out of the crowd. "We're all family! Don't fight!"

"A-Wu?!" A heart-rending cry suddenly rang out, and another burly man sprang from the crowd. Du Yu looked over and recognized his "big brother," A-Da. He was no longer in his prime, and his face had aged considerably.

"Big Brother?!" Du Yu cried.

A-Da rushed up and kicked Du Yu in the backside, making him howl.

"Where have you been these past twenty years?!" A-Da asked anxiously. "Do you know how long I've been asking around for news of you?! You brat... why haven't you changed at all in twenty years?"

"Hey! Big Brother, calm down. I came back to explain all of this!" Du Yu smiled and nodded at everyone, then turned to Hua. "Madam, I've spent these past twenty years with the young lady on Ghost Valley Mountain! Today, she completed her studies under the Master of Ghost Valley and came down the mountain. Now she's not only versed in politics, military strategy, and the Vertical and Horizontal Arts, but her martial skills are also unrivaled!"

"The young lady?!" The servants exchanged bewildered looks. Hadn't they heard that their master had no children? Since when did the household have a young lady?

"Ah!" Some servants suddenly remembered. Who said this household had no young lady?

"Pig...!" Someone started to call something out, then hastily swallowed the words. Saying that now would be courting death.

Although no one said it aloud, the servants all seemed to remember those days. They simply didn't dare mention them.

"Has the young lady really returned...?" one servant whispered.

The most remarkable expressions belonged to the master and Hua. Hua first forced a happy look onto her face, then picked up a handkerchief and pretended to wipe away tears. Ironically, she still held a blood-soaked rattan switch.

She had assumed that the wild child she had abandoned on the mountain must have died long ago. She had never expected her to return so suddenly.

"You're that girl surnamed Zhongli..." The master slowly stood as well. His gaze was complicated, carrying both disbelief and a trace of lechery.

Hua hurried to his side. "Master, back then, you were promoted as soon as we sent this girl up the mountain. Do you think everything the Queen Mother of the West said could have been true?"

"Hmph. There's no such thing as a Queen Mother in this world." Though the master said that, his heart was beating like a drum. The day after they sent Zhongli Chun away twenty years ago, King Wei of Qi had promoted him. His household had remained safe and sound for ten years, and he could do practically anything he pleased. When it came to ghosts and gods, better to believe they existed than insist they didn't.

"Madam... I don't mean to criticize you..." Du Yu walked up to Hua. "The young lady's return should be a joyous occasion. How could you beat and curse a servant here in the main hall?"

"Ah... I..." Hua's expression shifted several times before anger flared up. "I didn't want to! But this slut seduced the master!"

"Enough," Zhongli Chun said coldly. "From today onward, this maid will serve me. No one is allowed to bully her."

Zhongli Chun turned to Xiao Xia. "What is your name?"

"My surname is Xia... I don't have a given name..." Xiao Xia answered timidly.

"Xia, then?" Zhongli Chun nodded, committing it to memory.

The servants stared. In the blink of an eye, Xiao Xia had become the young lady's personal maid?! Many turned toward Hua, unsure how this would end.

Although Hua had lost face, Zhongli Chun's presence was truly extraordinary. Her eyes held no emotion, and a faint killing aura radiated from her.

"Well... well..." Hua struggled for a long time before saying, "Since the young lady has taken a liking to you, I shall spare your life... The young lady's personal maid cannot be without a name. I shall bestow one upon you."

Hua considered it. She needed to win over this daughter she had been "separated from for years" as quickly as possible.

So she said, "Let's call you 'Yingchun.' We'll take today's farce as 'welcoming Chun home.'"

"What?!" Du Yu's jaw nearly dropped. "Xia, Ying, chun?!"

"A-Wu, what's wrong?" A-Da asked beside him.

This is bad, Du Yu thought. There had long been a saying: "Zhong Wuyan when trouble comes, Xia Yingchun when all is well." According to legend, Zhong Wuyan and Xia Yingchun were both King Xuan of Qi's women. Whenever the Qi Kingdom faced trouble, he called on Zhong Wuyan to resolve it. But once peace returned, he spent every night with Xia Yingchun in song and revelry. This Xia Yingchun would become Zhongli Chun's greatest enemy.

You couldn't learn that from history textbooks, but it had been shown in television dramas!

But what could he do?

This was history. He couldn't change this part of it.

The master and Hua arranged a very elegant room for Zhongli Chun. Its comforts were naturally beyond comparison with the Pigsty; even the bamboo hut on Ghost Valley Mountain couldn't compare with this refined room.

Xia Yingchun became Zhongli Chun's personal maid, while "A-Wu," credited for accompanying the young lady through her studies, became her guard.

The three returned to Zhongli Chun's room. Her expression was difficult to read. She seemed never to know quite what she was doing; her gaze had neither purpose nor direction. Yet she frequently glanced at Du Yu.

"Young lady." After entering the room, Xia Yingchun slowly knelt. "First, I would like to thank you for saving my life."

Du Yu and Zhongli Chun froze, unsure what Xia Yingchun meant.

But Zhongli Chun soon waved her hand. "There's no need. I simply felt you were very much like me back then, when everyone in this household wanted to beat me. I couldn't bear to watch you die."

"Regardless, I will do everything in my power to repay you for saving my life. However, please allow me to formally decline the position of your personal maid."

Xia Yingchun bowed her head to the floor, her voice steeped in sorrow.

Du Yu froze. Isn't Xia Yingchun the famous two-faced schemer recorded in history? Why does she seem so humble and courteous, and even grateful enough to repay kindness?

"Decline? Why?" Zhongli Chun asked.

"Because I harbor deep hatred for the master and mistress, and I fear I might disrespect you. Although I am grateful to you for saving my life, I cannot serve you with such feelings in my heart. I should leave this residence and burn three sticks of incense each day, praying for your blessings day and night."

"If that's the reason, I don't mind," Zhongli Chun said. "I harbor deep hatred for them too. Stay with me from now on. There's no need to respect them anymore either."

"Huh?" Xia Yingchun froze. She hadn't expected such an answer.

"Xiao Xia, get up." Du Yu couldn't bear to watch any longer either. "Although you... ah, I know you were definitely wronged this time. I know exactly what sort of man that master is."

"You..." Tears streamed down Xia Yingchun's face. She struck her forehead hard against the floor again, drawing blood. "I will remember your great kindness until the day I die..."

"If you don't like the name 'Yingchun,' you don't have to use it," Zhongli Chun said mildly as she examined the furnishings in the room.

"No." Xia Yingchun raised her head and looked at Zhongli Chun with utter seriousness. "From this moment on, my life belongs to you, young lady. For the rest of my life, I will live only for you."