4.
I sat on a tree branch waiting for my older sister. After he finished practicing his sword in the courtyard, he had nothing else to do, so he would sit on the wall and talk to me.
I was always the one doing most of the talking. He just listened, answering every so often.
Outside the wall, a boy I didn't know pointed at me and said to the younger girl beside him, “Don't copy her, little sister. What respectable girl climbs trees? Mother says she's an idiot.”
As it happened, I had a pear in my hand. I remembered what my older sister had told me: if anyone called me stupid, I had to fight back.
I threw the pear, and it hit the older boy right in the shoulder.
He looked at the smashed pear on the ground, then at me. I lifted my chin and looked him squarely in the eye. It wasn't my fault.
He burst into tears, wailing loudly.
When the younger girl saw him crying, she burst into tears too.
Before long, a fairly young woman came rushing out through a small gate at Grand Academician Tống's residence.
I knew just about all the adults in Grand Academician Tống's household, but I didn't know her.
In a shrill voice, she asked the two children what had happened.
The boy pointed at me and said I'd thrown a pear at him for no reason.
The young woman turned and looked up at me. She wasn't very pretty: she had small eyes, a pointed chin, and hollow cheeks.
“Why did you throw a pear at my son for no reason? Whose child are you? Have you no manners at all?”
She planted her hands on her hips and put on a fierce expression.
I was a little surprised. How dare she say I had no manners? My older sister had raised me. Saying I had no manners was the same as saying my sister hadn't taught me well.
“That's nonsense! My older sister raised me. How could I have no manners?” I shot back.
She seemed not to have expected me to answer that way. Her mouth fell slightly open, revealing somewhat yellow teeth.
We were only separated by a wall, so she was very close. She really didn't look good like that.
For some reason, she just kept on scolding me.
I grew up with my older sister among the market streets. What kind of nasty people hadn't I met?
She was nothing to me. I simply didn't want to waste my breath on her.
I climbed down using the ladder. The small gate wasn't locked; only an old woman was watching it, and she was a little hard of hearing.
I opened the small gate and stuck my head out to look at her.
She was squatting on the ground, pulling the boy this way and that to inspect him, as if afraid a pear might have damaged him.
She wasn't likable, but she devoted herself to her son.
My older sister said you couldn't judge people by just one side of them. Everyone had their troubles; where there were strengths, there had to be weaknesses, and where there were weaknesses, there had to be strengths too. It all depended on how we chose to see them.
So I forgave her for scolding me just now!
It was only then that I noticed Triệu Thập An standing behind me. He was naturally serious and handsome, and when he didn't smile, he could look a little frightening.
“Why didn't you scold her back?” he asked.
“My older sister told me, ‘If they throw mud at you, use it to grow lotuses!’ Besides, she isn't completely bad.” I beamed at him.
He handed me a paper packet. I recognized it by the smell alone: flaky pastries made by the prince's household cook.
I'd tried flaky pastries from countless shops, but his family's were the best.
Time flew by, and before I knew it, autumn had arrived. Chrysanthemums were blooming all over the city.
The empress was hosting a chrysanthemum-viewing party. I didn't want to go, but Mother wouldn't let me stay home. First, the empress had personally sent someone to invite us. Second, I was already past the usual age for marriage.
Since my eldest brother was a minister, many people came to our home to ask for my hand. But Father would send them away after barely three sentences, saying they weren't sincere.
If they weren't sincere in asking for my hand, Father said, he'd rather keep me at home until I was old.
Ever since our family fell on hard times, Father, Mother, and my brothers had seemed to care a great deal about marriage. They all placed great importance on sincerity.
Mother said I absolutely had to go, so I had no choice. But the empress had invited only unmarried young ladies and gentlemen.
Mother repeatedly reminded my three brothers to keep an eye on me.
5.
It had rained constantly this autumn, day after day, almost enough to make a person feel moldy.
Today was the rare exception: the autumn sky was high and clear, and a cool breeze was blowing.
The empress chose an estate outside the city for the gathering. I heard it was part of her dowry, but Mother said the empress hadn't come from a good family, so the estate was probably a gift from the emperor.
Mother said the emperor was somewhat sincere in his feelings for the empress.
My older sister said sincerity was the hardest thing in the world to find.
The empress was hosting a flower-viewing party, and all the young ladies and gentlemen in Đông Kinh who could attend had come. I didn't know many of them, but the estate was huge and crowded with people everywhere. There must have been a lot of guests.
I wasn't fond of looking at flowers, but the young ladies were prettier than flowers. Their many kinds of clothes and fragrances mingled together, and I sneezed several times in a row.
I didn't know anyone, and my brothers couldn't stay by my side all the time. My second elder brother was mild-mannered and was preparing for the examinations. It was rare for my eldest brother to be out, and he ran into several talented young men who wanted to talk with him.
My eldest brother went to pay his respects to the empress. She invited him to stay for the party, but he said he had business at the Ministry of Revenue and left at once.
I knew perfectly well he was lying. It was a day off, and the emperor was free too. What business could he possibly have? It was just an excuse!
If he had such a good excuse, why hadn't he taken me along?
Hadn't Mother told him to keep an eye on me?
My eldest brother couldn't be trusted anymore, either.
This party was really pointless. Poetry, painting, music, chess—I couldn't do any of them.
Only polo was any fun.
A group of young ladies sat beside the polo field. A pavilion had been set up, with rugs spread out and tables arranged inside, laden with all kinds of pastries and fruit. The weather was lovely, and I didn't want to sit in the pavilion, so I stood nearby and watched.
The match had begun. One team wore white riding clothes, the other black.
Only the rider on the reddish-brown horse looked familiar. His horse was much taller than the others, and he was tall too, with long legs and a dark complexion. Holding the reins in one hand and a mallet in the other, he swung once, and the ball flew into the goal.
His horse was still so far from the goal! His strength and riding skills were both impressive. No wonder all the young ladies on the field were watching him intently!
Triệu Thập An really was good.
I shaded my eyes with one hand and watched him closely. His horse was strong and beautiful; there probably wasn't another one like it anywhere in Dongjing.
I wanted to try riding, too, but Mother wouldn't let me. She was afraid I'd fall.
Triệu Thập An played only half the match before dismounting. Perhaps he thought the gap was too great and had lost interest.
He led his horse over to me at an easy pace, and I felt a little nervous.
The horse before me snorted, and I reached out to stroke its head.
“How majestic!” I walked around it once, examining it closely. Its coat was brown all over, without a single hair of another color.
“Why aren't you in the tent? It's so sunny out here,” Triệu Thập An asked.
The hair on his forehead was still a little damp. He looked less stern than usual, with all the freshness of youth about him.
“It's so rare to have a beautiful day. It'd be a shame not to enjoy the sunshine. Does it have a name?”
“Lưu Quang. That's its name.”
“Its name is as majestic as it is.”
We hadn't had time to talk for long before the empress sent someone to look for him. I may be slow-witted, but with so many young ladies around the empress, she must have wanted to introduce them to him.
“Wait here for me. I'll be back shortly.”
He handed the reins to a servant and hurried away.