When I Was Young, I Was Even Prettier Than You

Outside the Hall of Blossoms, camellias bloomed in a riot of color.

Pairs of maidservants in green stood with swords in hand, their ranks extending down the steps, their murderous presence striking terror into the souls of the flowers.

"A toad lusting after swan flesh. Seventeen years, and she still hadn't repented..."

The beautiful woman wore her cloudlike hair in a high, loose coiffure. Her features were as exquisite as a painting, her bearing noble. Her low-cut silk dress held two full moons such as only appeared on the fifteenth night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, their dazzling white glow threatening to spill free. Judging by her face alone, she looked no more than twenty-seven or twenty-eight, in the prime of her beauty, yet she also possessed a rich fragrance mellowed by the years.

"I said long ago that all paintings of that man were to be burned. Not only did she hide one, she even painted herself on it. What a creature! A shameless slave, an ugly woman nobody wanted, the lowliest maggot..."

Madam Wang sat in an embroidered chair, her bosom trembling with rage. Furious beyond measure, she glared at the old painting Granny Sun held open.

On the front was a charming young girl, carrying a flower basket and smiling sweetly.

On the back was a handsome, dashing young man, with swordlike brows and starry eyes, possessed of an innate nobility.

The figures on the two sides differed in size and posture, yet their hearts aligned precisely. That was the ingenious part. More than a decade ago, such paintings had swept through Jiangnan, known as "heart to heart."

Some time afterward, all the painters in Jiangnan who could paint such pictures were killed.

They all died the same way: a sword through the heart.

Crash!

Beside herself with fury, the mistress hurled her teacup out of the hall, sending shards flying. A hole instantly appeared in the painting its previous owner had treasured for more than a decade, leaving the young girl of those days disfigured beyond recognition.

"Her punishment back then was too light, far too light... Did she think she could settle everything now simply by dying?"

Granny Sun said, "Please give your orders, young miss!"

Madam Wang sneered. "Didn't she like making flower fertilizer? Chop her into a fine mince, mix her with filth, and heap her up into fertilizer. But don't use it on the island. She'd sully my camellias."

"Yes!"

Granny Sun accepted the order and withdrew with the ruined painting. Looking at the camellias blooming so beautifully outside, she recalled some events of the past.

Seventeen years ago, the master of the Wang household had died of a sudden illness. His wife was newly widowed when the man in the painting heard the news and hurried over from Dali to comfort her most intimately, in all manner of ways: before the funeral altar, atop the well, beneath the pines, beside the fields...

Since the initial mourning period had not yet ended, they feared gossip would spread. To avoid the eyes and ears of the Wang household and the Murong Family as well, they arranged for him to stay in a wooden cabin on the mountain behind the manor. Whenever Madam Wang had a little time to spare, she went there for a tryst.

"Every man in the world is a cat that steals fish!"

"Even with a peony of unrivaled beauty in his arms, let his guard slip, and he'll still be unable to resist plucking wildflowers..."

A personal maid called Xiaohua, clever and sensible, took advantage of the mistress being busy in the front hall for those few days, with no time to spare. Using the delivery of meals and tea as her opportunity, she secretly climbed into the bed in the cabin.

Who had seduced whom was no longer clear.

In any case, when the affair came to light,

Madam Wang flew into a rage and gave the maid Xiaohua two choices.

Be executed immediately.

Or swallow a poison purchased from the Miao Frontier and remain in the manor as a slave.

To everyone's surprise, Xiaohua chose to cling to life.

By the time the man in the painting learned of it, it was too late. Deeply remorseful, he had a furious quarrel with Madam Wang and left Suzhou, never again setting foot in the Lake Tai region. After the little maid swallowed the Leopard Embryo Tendon-Altering Pill, her appearance changed drastically, but it also unexpectedly strengthened her foundation for martial arts.

Through heat and cold alike, she trained even more desperately, gradually developing considerable skill.

More than a decade passed in the blink of an eye.

Xiaohua was dead.

Everyone remembered only Old Woman Yan of the fertilizer room, short and round as a ball, hideously ugly and vicious at heart, the most loyal savage hound in Mantuo Manor. To Madam Wang, seeing her like that was a hundred times more satisfying than killing her outright.

"Young mistress."

Granny Sun walked out of the Hall of Blossoms and had just picked up her iron staff when she encountered the girl and bowed.

"Is Mother in a good mood now?"

Wang Yuyan lowered her eyes to the broken porcelain outside the hall and asked softly. For as long as she could remember, her mother's moods had been like the weather over Lake Tai, often thick with dark clouds and seldom showing any sunshine.

"Madam..."

Granny Sun sighed softly, pity showing in her eyes.

The young mistress had only just survived a brush with death. Whether it was Yan Ruhua, whose hatred ran bone-deep, or the two assassins who had broken into the manor, the slightest malicious intent from any of them would have snuffed out this fairy-like beauty's life on the spot.

Yet after the upheaval, few had shown any concern for her.

Granny Sun smiled. "With you coming to visit her, young mistress, Madam is sure to be in a good mood. Go on in."

"Thank you, Granny."

The girl smiled radiantly and walked into the Hall of Blossoms with light steps.

Madam Wang reclined on a chaise longue, her cheek resting on her right hand. Years of sorrow and resentment had knotted her spirits, leaving her frequently dizzy and faint. Over time, it had become a chronic ailment. She had consulted every renowned physician in Jiangnan, but none could prescribe a remedy suited to her condition.

She had already heard the conversation outside. Raising her head slightly, she saw the white-robed girl glide inside.

"There was a security breach at the manor last night. Were you frightened, Mother?"

"I'm quite well."

Madam Wang spoke coolly, suppressing her discomfort and striving to sit upright. She lifted her chin and looked at her daughter, so full of youthful vitality.

She had a peculiar state of mind.

She did not want her daughter to see her looking sickly. Illness meant aging, youth departing and beauty gradually changing. It meant putting on dark clothes, behaving with dignity and propriety, and becoming like that old widow of the Murong Family, clinging to rules and restrictions like a living corpse, counting the days until death.

She did not want that at all.

Besides, time was indeed especially lenient toward the women of her line.

She was only thirty-seven, not eighty-seven, was she? Even her eighty-eight-year-old mother, a dowager consort in the Western Xia palace, had a maiden's figure and skin so delicate a breath might break it. A frown or a smile from her could still make young men blush.

But after living in Mantuo Manor so long, while she did not fear comparisons with anyone else, she was quite afraid of being compared with her own daughter. Especially in recent years, as the girl had begun to blossom, revealing a peerless beauty that gathered all the radiance of heaven and earth into one...

Unaware of her mother's thoughts, the girl stood in the hall, hoping a few words of concern would descend upon her.

A long while passed.

Madam Wang said indifferently, "How are you? Did those two assassins mistreat you?"

Wang Yuyan instantly felt as though spring had warmed and the flowers had bloomed. She answered with a smile, "Thank you for asking, Mother. They merely held me hostage. They never intended to harm me."

Madam Wang glanced at her. "Did you discover where they came from?"

After a moment's hesitation, Wang Yuyan said, "I only know that they were a man and a woman, both wearing veils. When they fought, it was inside a dark chamber, so I couldn't make out the martial techniques they used."

"Judging by Chen Ping's injuries, that old swine had secretly practiced the Star Sect's martial arts. Though those two had the advantage of a surprise attack, anyone who could kill her so cleanly and swiftly was no ordinary fighter."

Madam Wang secretly wondered whether another of that wretched man's women had brought his bastard offspring to kill her. She lived year-round on the lake island and had made Mantuo Manor as impregnable as an iron barrel partly to counter threats of this kind.

"The martial world has been very unsettled lately. Experts from the Beggars' Sect, First Rank Hall, and the like are all flocking to Suzhou. There may well be people hoping to fish in troubled waters, coveting our Wang family's holdings. Be careful. Don't associate with dubious people and let them deceive you with a few words."

"Yes."

Wang Yuyan sat in a red sandalwood chair, raised her exquisite face slightly, and spoke softly.

"If Cousin returned, those petty villains wouldn't dare invade."

Madam Wang sneered. "Hmph. The men of the Murong Family aren't necessarily all that dependable either."

She saw the attachment unconsciously revealed in Wang Yuyan's eyes as she mentioned Murong Fu. That young lover's manner, so pure and sincere, had once been hers as well. Only afterward had it been driven into sorrow, venomous resentment, and jealousy...

"You may go."

"Yes. I'll take my leave, Mother."

Wang Yuyan was not disappointed. She bowed respectfully and withdrew. For mother and daughter to sit together for a while like this and exchange words of concern might not happen even once in six months. In her heart, she felt only that although her mother seemed cold, she still cared about her.

Madam Wang watched her daughter's retreating figure with a complicated expression. After a long while, she murmured a single sentence.

"When I was young, I was even prettier than you..."