Incandescent lightning tore the night sky apart. Heaven and earth blazed bright, then plunged at once into deeper darkness. Deafening thunder crashed and clattered, as though some enormous iron vessel high in the heavens had cracked beneath the Thunder God's hammer. A mighty wind howled, and the surging clouds seemed about to press against the earth-
Sixteen-year-old Ran Sheng raced east along the familiar northern bank of Gushu Creek. He had learned his origins, and he believed what Uncle Jing had told him. Uncle Jing had spoken so solemnly that he could not have been deceiving him. He had been late to speak, only learning at six, but he still remembered fleeing disaster on Uncle Jing's back as a child. Countless refugees had fled from north to south. Some traveled south in whole clans hundreds strong, in vast processions; others came as families of several people, brothers and sisters, parents and children. Only he and Uncle Jing had fled as a pair. Unable to speak clearly, he could not ask Uncle Jing about the past or understand why a comfortable life of fine clothes and rich food had suddenly become a flight for their lives, day and night. After years of wandering, tossed from place to place and enduring much hardship, his memories of life before their flight had faded. Uncle Jing had told him vaguely that his parents and relatives were all dead-
Since settling at Chen Family Cove at twelve, Ran Sheng had come to know the warmth of a home. Mother Chen Lady Li was very loving, the young master treated him well, and the West Tower Chen Clan did not regard him as a servant. His position was rather like that of a clan retainer. As for Little Lady Run'er, he both liked and stood in