Snow fell outside the house last night.
The plaque reading "Min Mansion" dripped with snowlt, the flagstone path washed clean of so mud. Leaning against the doorfra, a spirited young hero clad in a flying fish robe idly watched droplets fall.
The streets and alleys bustled with morning’s arrival. It was yet another day of holiday rest, coupled with the year’s end drawing near, filling the air with lively festivity. Nobles and officials seed to crowd the streets, flocking to Chunhe Restaurant for steaming lamb stew, or perfuming themselves aboard painted pleasure boats with the scents of rouge and powder. The colorful official robes coming and going made the Capital City resemble the Emperor’s Shanglin Garden, teeming with birds and beasts at a single glance.
Min Ning exhaled deeply. Over the past few days, she’d been aning to visit Chen Yi’s residence to see him, but after days of repeated efforts, she only t with disappointnt. She couldn’t help but muse—if her life were a novel, she had already been absent from the story for dozens of Chapters.
No amount of thinking could change her situation. Despite inquiring everywhere, Min Ning still couldn’t determine Chen Yi’s whereabouts and had no choice but to temporarily give up. Thoughts of recent events weighed heavily on her heart, her unease not only tied to her sister, but to herself as well.
Her grandfather, Min He, was nearing the end of his life and had been urging her to leave the Capital City while she still could. Min Ning had once seen glorifying the Min family’s na as her duty; if anyone else had urged her, she would surely have ignored them. But now that Min He himself had spoken plainly, asking her to relinquish this responsibility, she couldn’t defy him—especially as she had long harbored a desire to leave the Capital City.
Min Ning’s heart had never belonged to this city. In her youth, learning martial arts and practicing swordsmanship had been dictated by family tradition. No one had ever desired for her, a woman disguised as a man, to shoulder such burdens. Even she had awaited the birth of a younger brother to inherit the hereditary military rank so that she could escape the constraints and travel the world.
But the twists of fate were cruel. To prevent the military position from slipping away, she had no choice but to disguise herself as a man.
"If I hadn’t disguised as a man... would things have turned out differently?"
Min Ning sighed and asked herself.
The treacherous scheming in the Capital ultimately wasn’t suited for her. She already felt stifled here, and her grandfather’s words stirred her thoughts even further. Should she follow the cryptic prophecy and make her way to Mount Shu?
Traveling through Jianghu with sword in hand and wine in tow—eastward with one strike, westward with another, closing the journey with song.
Upon her return, could she have already achieved the status of a fad hero?
Min Ning knew Jianghu wouldn’t be as romantic as imagined. It might even be worse than the imperial Capital beneath the Emperor’s reign—to be bad in different ways. Yet she still felt the urge to take the road less traveled.
Once the path was taken and she looked back, she would have realized she’d entered Jianghu after all.
The only issue was...
"Chen Zunming." Min Ning softly bit her lip as she spoke his na aloud.
Whenever he was ntioned, a torrent of emotions welled up in her heart. He had clashed with her grandfather, pressured her sister, and yet he had also assisted her—not too much, not too little, but assistance nonetheless.
If she were to leave the Capital City, he would never let it happen unchecked. Let alone now, when his martial arts skill far exceeded hers; if he chose to force her hand, she wouldn’t even have the strength to take her own life.
His current slow-boiling approach was simply out of his lingering sentint for the past.
Min Ning deliberated for a long ti, considering whether to seek him out and clarify matters. But her thoughts circled back upon themselves, leading her to abandon the idea again.
She despised tyranny but wasn’t naïve. She knew Chen Yi wasn’t one to speak without action. If a woman crossed his path, he’d act upon it.
No, wait, in his eyes, she was a man... No, that wasn’t quite right either; he seed intent on her regardless of the pretense.
It didn’t matter anymore—he wouldn’t simply let her leave the Capital, nor would he spare her sister if she did.
Thus, the predicant facing young hero Min Ning was this: how to make Chen Yi relent, letting her and her sister leave unhard.
As for him reconciling with her grandfather, Min Ning had stopped hoping for such a miracle.
After standing at the doorway for quite so ti, feeling increasingly agitated, Min Ning turned and entered the main hall. After considering her options for a while, she left again without saying a word to her grandfather and strode toward Baihua Building.
Min Ning needed to et her sister.
The aftermath of their previous encounter had left the two in a cold war that lasted quite so ti.
......
Not long after, a flying fish robe-clad figure appeared in the elegant bedroom of a courtesan. It was still early in the day, and the brothel—whether tied to physical trade or not—remained largely asleep.
Min Ning knocked on the door and waited patiently for a while but received no response.
She pondered montarily before retrieving a key from her pocket. Min Ming’s bedroom was equipped with a double spring lock, capable of being secured both inside and out—a fine piece of craftsmanship and notably expensive, installed here due to Min Ming’s role as a spy.
Gently pushing the door open, Min Ning murmured, "Sis, I’m coming in."
Upon entering, she saw no trace of Min Ming. Lifting the bed curtain, she failed to find the figure whose curves bore an uncanny resemblance to their mother. She looked around thoroughly but still found no sign of her sister.
Unable to locate Min Ming, Min Ning ought to have left. Though the sisters shared little sense of personal privacy, she typically refrained from ddling with her sister’s belongings.
But as her gaze swept the room, it caught on sothing—a faint disturbance. Her eyes landed on the table where a white jade porcelain bottle sat, its stopper in place, resembling a jar of ointnt.
Min Ning’s heart sank.
Could her sister be scheming once more?
In the past, Min Ning would have dismissed the thought, but given prior events, she couldn’t help but remain wary.
With this concern in mind, she took a slow step forward, reaching out to lift the porcelain bottle. After examining it closely for a mont, her suspicions deepened further. As a hereditary military officer accustod to investigations, she began searching more thoroughly.
Eventually, she found a note tucked inside a drawer.
"Jade Spring Ointnt..."
Min Ning’s brows knitted tightly.
It was... an aphrodisiac?
Intended for whom...
Min Ning arrived at the answer almost imdiately.
Who else but him?
Young hero Min clenched her fists, as if ready to crush the white porcelain bottle in her grip. She had worked hard to keep that man montarily subdued, yet here her sister sought to add fuel to the flas. What was the point of pushing things to such extres? Did she want to force her into an irreversible decision?
The heat of anger surged within her, roiling and growing. Yet, recalling her sister’s tear-stained, desolate deanor from before, Min Ning exhaled deeply and reined herself in.
She couldn’t let her sister’s plan succeed...
Min Ning tightened her grip further, ready to crush the porcelain bottle to powder.
Nor could she let him succeed...
No one could have their way...
Wait... must no one succeed? Was there soone overlooked?
If neither of them could have their way...
Then why not let herself prevail instead?!
A sudden thought sparked through her mind like a flash of lightning.
Min Ning’s eyes lit up abruptly. Her palm loosened, causing the porcelain bottle to fall, and she swiftly caught it mid-air, noticing only a small crack along its surface. She let out a sigh of relief.
The young hero’s gaze settled on the porcelain bottle, as if deliberating.
If he desired her, and she could embrace the idea...
Why not take the initiative and pin that damned Chen Zunming onto the bed herself?
Min Ning squinted slightly, feeling her cheeks flush. Though there was a hint of embarrassnt, she couldn’t shake the thought away.
"Besides... now that he believes to be a man, discovering the truth would only give him an excuse to act out."
Slowly, Min Ning stashed the porcelain bottle and note away, gritted her teeth, and muttered to herself: "If that’s the case... it’s better to turn passive into active."
With his personality, witnessing the aftermath of consummation—no matter his outward indifference—would leave him indebted.
Plus, her sister’s sche would fail.
And lastly... before leaving the Capital, she could leave behind a fragnt of sentint.
Three birds with one stone.
Min Ning’s eyes narrowed slightly as she murmured faintly: "Chen Zunming, you’ve toyed with for too long. This ti, it will be your turn to fall."
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