“To establish the righteousness of our generation by learning from the changes between past and present is to live up to the teachings of the Sage Confucius. Now, I sacrifice myself for this path. I shall go.”
In the reeking bandits’ den, Yun Chuji softly recited her grandfather’s last words.
This was the first time in her sixteen years of life that she had seen so many men. And all of them enveloped her in a gaze even more disgusting than their own stench, as if she were a piece of meat they had just laughingly carved up to share.
But what difference was there, really?
Her maids, Qingye and Liu Yu, had already been devoured on the road. She hadn’t even been able to see them one last time. Their final words were not soul-stirring like her grandfather’s—just meaningless howls, filled with pain and fear.
As a sheltered young lady awaiting marriage, Yun Chuji could not fully comprehend what Qingye and Liu Yu had endured before their deaths. But based on the education she had received and the things she had heard growing up, Yun Chuji knew that even if they had survived, they would no longer be worthy of being called women in this life.
Just then, the most ferocious-looking of the bandits stepped forward to size her up, much like she used to examine the color combinations for her embroidery. The man clicked his tongue in satisfaction, his coarse, large hand reaching out to slowly stroke her chin. “Little lady, how about you be my wife from now on?”
There was still grease on his hand from the meat he had eaten, not yet wiped clean, and it smeared across Yun Chuji’s chin. She couldn’t help but think that now, even she smelled like a piece of meat.
To avoid being completely devoured, Yun Chuji pinched her palm, raised her head, and awkwardly imitated the fawning expression her father’s concubine used. She offered the bandit chief a smile. “To become your wife would be the greatest fortune of my life. It is just that I have been kneeling for so long my legs have grown tired. Sir, would you permit me to stand for a moment?”
The bandit chief was bewildered by Yun Chuji’s words. He was still too captivated by her smile to think clearly. That old storyteller was right, he thought. These women from scholarly families are completely different from the ones in the brothels. Not only are their smiles beautiful, but they speak so eloquently too. If I have her teach our children, maybe our family could even produce a scholar.
Seeing that the bandit chief did not object, Yun Chuji rose to her feet. She then gave a slight curtsy in the direction of Qingling County, her eyelashes trembling imperceptibly. Suddenly, Yun Chuji rushed forward and slammed her head against the huge tiger-skin chair, her head split open and bleeding, just as her grandfather had done.
But her grandfather had died remonstrating with the emperor, urging him to stay away from treacherous eunuchs, while she was dying to preserve her chastity.
Her grandfather’s path was that of a gentleman, the Way of Confucius and Mencius. What, then, was her own?
The passages she had recited day and night flooded into her fading consciousness. It must be the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, she thought.
Father, Mother, in the end, I did not bring shame upon the Yun family.
Then darkness descended, carrying the scent of ice.
