01
Hearing this, I froze for a moment.
“A Mi, are you talking about His Highness the Crown Prince?”
This morning, Prince Xiang, Triệu Thư Diệu, had just been installed as Crown Prince, though he had yet to move into the Eastern Palace.
He had always treated me well.
The manor was bustling at the moment. Only the corridor near Triệu Thư Diệu’s study was quiet and undisturbed, with nothing but A Mi’s chirping to be heard.
It said:
“I heard it with my own ears. The Crown Prince told someone I don’t know that A Triêu may come from a lowly background, but has a rare talent, and that he and A Triêu are only…”
It tilted its head and thought for a moment, then continued.
“Only pretending, like snakes. He didn’t want to hurt Commandery Princess Lạc An, either, so he went out of his way to explain.”
I stood there stunned for a moment, opened the cage, and poured caterpillars and grass seeds into its food tray.
A Mi pecked at a seed, then looked up to remind me:
“You have to run away soon.”
I murmured, “I will.”
I finished cleaning its cage and turned around to see a procession of a noblewoman’s attendants.
I hurried aside, knelt, and bowed my head in greeting.
My view was limited.
She walked lightly, the peach-pink hem of her skirt gliding past like a little boat.
That little boat suddenly stopped in front of me.
Her voice was clear and bright.
“Are you Vệ Triêu?”
The maid beside her said coldly, “The Commandery Princess asked you a question. Look up at once!”
02
I raised my head.
Commandery Princess Lạc An bent down and gripped my chin.
Her sharp nails scratched my face.
She studied me for a moment, then curled her lips into a smile.
“So that’s all there is to you.”
“A beast-tamer servant dares to enter the Eastern Palace with me?”
I clutched the hem of my robe and replied humbly, “Vệ Triêu wouldn’t dare.”
I had never thought of becoming Triệu Thư Diệu’s secondary consort.
Even though I had served him for three years, and stayed by his side through both his lowest and highest moments.
Sometimes, in his confusion, he would promise to make me his secondary consort one day.
But I could only refuse in alarm, not daring to believe him.
Of course, Commandery Princess Lạc An didn’t believe me.
“Who doesn’t know your tricks? All these years, every servant who attended him has been replaced, yet you’re the only one still here.”
“It’s time I taught you a lesson.”
She looked at me, her gaze icy.
A Mi suddenly called out.
“A Triêu, don’t be afraid! I’ll go get the Crown Prince!”
“He still has to pretend with you a little, so he definitely won’t let you suffer!”
Triệu Thư Diệu hated being cooped up.
He always left a narrow crack open in the study window.
If A Mi called a little louder, he could hear it from inside.
My heart suddenly began to pound.
It didn’t understand.
I gave a soft whistle to signal it to be quiet.
The maid beside the Commandery Princess suddenly raised her foot and kicked me hard in the knee.
“The Commandery Princess asked you a question, and you dare tame a bird?”
The kick was vicious.
I groaned in pain and toppled to the side.
The cage door was open.
A Mi spread its wings and flew out, viciously pecking the maid on the forehead.
Commandery Princess Lạc An screamed and hurriedly covered her face with her wide sleeve.
The maid waved a round fan to drive the bird away.
A Mi wheeled through the air, shrieking as a few feathers fell.
Triệu Thư Diệu came over and saw the scene.
03
I panicked, cold sweat pouring from me like rain.
In three years of taming beasts for Triệu Thư Diệu, I had never made a single mistake.
But today, A Mi had pecked someone on my behalf.
It didn’t understand worldly etiquette, nor did it know what it meant to “pretend like snakes.”
It simply didn’t want me to be bullied.
Commandery Princess Lạc An had clutched Triệu Thư Diệu’s sleeve, weeping bitterly.
“Crown Prince, dear brother, I only said a few things to her, and she had her bird peck me!”
Triệu Thư Diệu looked down at me, his gaze cold.
“You’re getting bolder by the day.”
“A bird that injures someone must die. As for you, go back to your room and reflect on your actions.”
He was giving me a way out.
Commandery Princess Lạc An frowned slightly and tugged at his arm, about to say something more.
But I spoke first. “A Mi, fly away!”
Fly away.
All these years, because I raised it, Triệu Thư Diệu had never clipped its wings.
Sometimes I let it loose in the garden to find its own food.
It could survive on its own.
At least, that was better than staying here.
A Mi called out to me once, then flapped away.
Triệu Thư Diệu frowned, anger filling his eyes.
“You still haven’t learned your lesson?”
Commandery Princess Lạc An gave a soft, mocking laugh.
“You really do treat that bird like its servant.”
She didn’t care about her maid’s injury; she only wanted to see me humiliated.
I knelt for a long time with my head bowed, offering not a word in my defense.
Triệu Thư Diệu no longer looked at me.
He slowly turned the jade thumb ring on his finger and said coldly:
“Vệ Triêu was disrespectful to the Commandery Princess and shows no remorse. But today isn’t a suitable day for bloodshed. Give her ten strokes of the rod.”
04
All ten strokes.
The man wielding the rod had taken silver from the Commandery Princess, and he struck much harder.
I lay facedown on the bed, unable even to turn over.
Triệu Thư Diệu locked me in my room and forbade me to leave or let anyone visit.
The room was dim, with only a few slivers of light slipping through the window.
I bit down on the corner of the quilt, half-delirious with pain, tears soaking my pillow.
I should have left, like A Mi told me.
Back then, I chose to enter Prince Xiang’s manor for only one reason: to survive.
…
Three years earlier, the family rooster crowed to warn me that my father—a gambler—planned to sell me to a brothel.
I took the ten coins I’d managed to save and quietly left home.
I walked from the third watch until dawn, then entered the city.
I stopped at several shops, but none would hire me.
After all, no one knew where I came from, and everyone was afraid of trouble.
The sun climbed overhead. I squatted at the mouth of an alley, watching people pass and clutching the last ten coins in my hand.
Then someone chased a white cat out of a kitchen.
It bolted in a panic and ran straight into my arms.
It was a scrawny cat, looking utterly miserable.
It was so thin that I could feel its bones against my hands when I held it.
I gently ran my fingers through its matted fur and asked, “Whose cat are you?”
The cat replied weakly:
“My master was exiled and didn’t take me along.”
I used to bring stray cats home.
But I couldn't do that this time.
I didn't have a home anymore, either.
I was silent for a long while, then asked softly,
“Are you hungry?”
It licked its lips.
I walked over to a roadside stall.
A meat bun cost three wen.
I bought three.
Squatting on the ground, I unwrapped the buns from their oiled paper.
The white cat wound around my legs, meowing nonstop.
I took a bite of a piping-hot bun.
There wasn't much salt in it.
I broke the bun in half, took out the meat filling, and offered it to the cat.
It hurriedly gobbled it down.
As I watched it eat, my thoughts began to drift.
I had only one wen left.
What would happen to it tomorrow?
And where would I go?
05
When the little cat finished eating, it meowed twice and said to me, “Human, follow me.”
It led me to the gate of Prince Xiang's manor and said,
“Yesterday, I snuck in here to steal some food and heard them say they were looking for someone who could tame a wild horse.”
“Human, go with them and you'll get plenty of good food.”
I didn't hurry inside. Instead, I crouched down and gently stroked its fluffy head.
“Can you wait here for me? Once I find a job, I'll take you with me.”
It replied, “No need. It'll be a hassle if you take me along.”
“I still have to wait here for my master to come back.”
A guard from the prince's manor held a sword and asked me coldly, “What are you doing here?”
I wiped the corner of my eye, stood up, and answered.
“I can tame horses for the prince. I'm an animal tamer.”
The guard replied without a trace of sympathy, “Anyone can say that. The prince has met too many useless incompetents already. Leave.”
The little cat meowed, “Tame me.”
I gestured to it. “Cat, do a somersault.”
It did a somersault.
I continued, “Cat, do a backflip.”
The little cat meowed, “Human, don't make things so hard for a cat.”
Reluctantly, it did a backflip.
And that's how I got into Prince Xiang's manor and became an animal tamer.
Just as the cat had said, going with them really did mean getting plenty of good food.
Triệu Thư Diệu paid me a generous monthly stipend.
It was enough to let me live comfortably for a whole year, the way I used to.
My father, the gambler, once came all the way to the manor and tried to demand me back from Triệu Thư Diệu.
Triệu Thư Diệu tossed him fifty taels of silver to get rid of him.
My only regret was not taking the little cat with me.
After that, I often left scraps of boneless meat and fish, along with discarded chicken giblets from the kitchen, beneath the wall.
They usually disappeared within an hour.
06
I drifted in and out of consciousness.
When I opened my eyes, a cat was crouching beside my bed.
A pile of medicinal herbs lay at its feet.
“Human, this is good medicine.”
I wondered if I was dreaming.
I looked at it carefully in the moonlight.
It was an orange cat.
I recognized it. It was the orange cat the manor's cook kept, and its name was Quýt.
I was a little surprised and asked softly, “Why are you here?”
It said, “Before Tiêu Phi Luyện left, it traded ten egg yolks for my promise to take care of you.”
I froze. “Tiêu Phi Luyện?”
Quýt said, “It's the cat whose master abandoned it. But now its master has come back and taken it away to live happily ever after.”
It rose onto its toes and circled the pile of herbs.
“Human, some of these herbs need to be chewed to release their juice. Will you chew them yourself, or should a cat do it for you?”
I propped myself up on my elbows and tried to sit up.
“Thank you, Cat. I can chew them myself.”
After explaining how to use the medicine, Quýt leaped onto the windowsill and sprang away.
The medicine felt cool on my wound, and the pain eased by more than half.
I began to slowly consider how I should leave.
I hadn't signed a deed of servitude with Triệu Thư Diệu; I was still free.
There was only one other agreement between us.
We had signed it for three years.
By my count, the term was nearly up.