Pitter-patter~~
As the eastern sky turned fish-belly white, a misty rain quietly fell upon the rooftops in the late summer and early autumn of the tenth year of Xuanhong.
Ye Jingtang opened his oil-paper umbrella over the person in his arms. The fluffy Niao Niao was curled up in front of him; both woman and bird were sound asleep.
Last night, he had drunk, practiced martial arts, and chatted with Silly on the rooftop.
He had spoken of his daily life in Red River Town, from the martial training that earned him three beatings a day, to going out alone to walk his bird and catch fish, to dodging ravenous young women and wives everywhere he went. He had talked all the way up to the New Year when he was eighteen.
He had said nothing of what came afterward. After all, he had left Red River Town on the third day of the first month, and when he returned home after completing an escort job, what awaited him was no longer the adoptive father who had raised him, but a letter and an old saber.
Dongfang Liren had also spoken of many things from her childhood.
When the sisters were still young and innocent, their mother had taken them to see Paulownia Street at night.
When they learned to read and write, she learned faster, while her elder sister was often punished by their imperial father with copying books because of her poor handwriting.
When they practiced martial arts to strengthen their bodies, her sister left her far behind, while she was clumsy and was made to hold a horse stance by their imperial father every day.
The seeds of their dispositions-one favoring scholarly pursuits, the other martial ones-had been planted then. Both sisters were competitive by nature, after