The next day.
Dawn clouds glowed in the east. Cooking smoke curled among white walls and blue tiles, and the clamor of the streets rose beyond the walls.
In the Guest Courtyard, Zhe Yunli climbed out of bed, bleary-eyed, rubbed her slightly hungry belly, then spread her arms and stretched.
"Mmm..."
Halfway through her stretch, she felt some tightness around her chest. She opened her eyes and looked down, only to discover that the Niao Niao bellyband Master’s Wife had embroidered for her was getting a little tight.
Zhe Yunli blinked, rose, and went to the dressing table to look in the mirror. Then she planted the long saber Ye Jingtang had given her against the floor to measure her height, and disappointment appeared on her face.
"Sigh..."
As a martial artist, the person Zhe Yunli admired most was her master. Ever since childhood, she had dreamed of growing up to be like her, and after arriving in the Capital City, she had added the Female Prince as another model for that dream.
After all, although the Female Prince's martial skills were mediocre, she had a slender waist, long legs, a large bust, and an imposing presence. Even though Yunli did not particularly like her, she still thought she and Jingtang made a splendidly matched couple when they stood together.
To grow faster, Zhe Yunli had eaten plenty over the past six months and trained diligently. Unfortunately, Heaven refused to grant her wish. She had barely grown taller, while her figure had only become increasingly delicate, like a frail young lady who lacked the strength to truss a chicken.
Zhe Yunli studied herself in the mirror for a while and sighed, feeling the melancholy of someone whose heart reached higher than the heavens while her fate was thinner than paper.