Murong Zhining"s eyes were tightly closed; she had been unconscious for two days so far. From a glance, the girl seemed completely lifeless. The only proof that she was still alive was the occasional fluttering of her long eyelashes.
Murong Zhining had been wandering inside her own dream all along, unable to escape. In the dream, there was a young woman who she"d been calling "nanny" since little. As long as she could remember, she and nanny had been pursued by people with murderous intent towards them. During their run, nanny was once sold to be some old farmer"s wife in the mountain, then s.n.a.t.c.hed away by the brigands and forced to be their leader"s wife. No matter how much hardship she had to endure, nanny always kept Murong Zhining by her side and treated her like her own daughter. In the end, nanny led her away from the brigands" lair.
Escaping the brigands, they arrived at a place called Horsefarm Village and lived incognito there. Murong Zhining didn"t know what her name was back then; the nanny had always called her Little Ling"er.
Nanny was a skilled seamstress, evidence that she had once lived in a wealthy family. With this skill, nanny provided for Little Ling"er and even taught her to read and write. Just like that, they pa.s.sed two years in Horsefarm Village in peace.
Nanny often brought Little Ling"er to the river and washed their clothes. That was the happiest time of the little girl"s life.
Nanny would squat down on the bank to wash the clothes. Breezes blew across the river, creating ripples that looked like fish scales. When the gentle sunlight shone on the waves, a swaying halo would stop upon nanny, making her look to a G.o.ddess in an old tale. That was the most beautiful scene that Little Ling"er had ever seen. She wanted so badly to call nanny "mommy."
Mischievous Little Ling"er would chase after little shrimps in the river bare-foot at one moment and be up on the sh.o.r.e pouncing b.u.t.terflies in the next. Nanny would often look at her with eyes full of love and kindness while she washed the clothes. Their joyous laughter lingered about like bell chimes.
When nanny had finished, she pulled up a bamboo basket from the river that was put in earlier. Numerous fish and shrimps varied in sizes jumped back and forth in it. Little Ling"er happily waved her arms in excitement knowing that nanny would make her delicious food tonight.
On their way home, Little Ling"er bounced at the front. Suddenly, two men with covered faces, one tall and one short, jumped out from a bush. The tall one directly grabbed Little Ling"er and gripped her neck with his thick arm, then ferociously threatened nanny, "Hand the object over, or I"ll strangle her to death!"
The short one slowly approached nanny with a blade. Nanny could have fled by herself, but she didn"t. She slowly moved back, still staring fixedly at the man who held Little Ling"er, and calculated for a way to escape.
Nanny pretended to be afraid. "Heroes, please don"t hurt my child. I still have some silver with me, please take them all."
The tall man viciously shouted, "Don"t play a fool with us!" He put a little force in his arm, and Little Ling"er little face instantly turned red. She started coughing violently.
Scared that the man would hurt Little Ling"er, nanny anxiously pleaded, "The thing that you want, I"ve already hid it. Release the girl and I"ll take you to it."
The tall man sneered, "Cut the c.r.a.p. I can just kill her right then and there."
Nanny didn"t falter. "If you hurt a single hair on her head, don"t even dream about the blueprint. Even if I hand it to you now, you wouldn"t let us live anyway. Let her go, or it will be a life and death struggle between us."
The tall man didn"t dare to push nanny to hard, so he loosened his grip. Nanny blinked at Little Ling"er. The little girl instantly understood the secret message and ran towards the village with all her might.
Nanny had taught her to stay calm under all circ.u.mstances. Little Ling"er was a good child. She had no time to panic or cry. She ran as her life depended on it, wanting to call people to rescue nanny.
When Little Ling"er returned with reinforcements, the men had already escaped in the wind. Nanny had taken two blades and was lying in her own blood. The villagers carried nanny to their house and invited a doctor to cure her. However, nanny had lost too much blood. The doctor was powerless and could only shake his head with a sigh.
Nanny was on her last breath. Barely forcing out the strength, she told everyone to leave as she had something to relay Little Ling"er alone.
Nanny took out a sheet of yellow paper from her chest and handed it to Little Ling"er. The paper had nanny"s blood on it; Little Ling"er was so distressed that she sobbed. In a weakened voice, nanny told Little Ling"er that no matter what, she must preserve this paper well. Nanny also said, "Your name is Murong Zhining. Remember, it"s "an zhi ting lan1" Zhi, "fu ru ning zhi2" Ning. Your mother will come to you someday. Your mother is Shang… Shang…" Nanny voice grew smaller and smaller until her head dropped to the side. No matter how hard Little Ling"er cried and called her, she didn"t wake up.
Old man Chu living at the east end of the village took in nine-year-old Little Ling"er. The two robbers didn"t stop there. They carried out several night raids at Horsefarm Village with the intention to take away Little Ling"er, but were stopped by the villagers. The short man was wounded by a shovel. On his way to escape, he died on a lane not far from the village. Everyone thought that the robbers had finally learned their lesson and wouldn"t dare to come again.
On a night, the tall robber once again penetrated old man Chu"s house and slaughtered his family of five. The robber threw Little Ling"er into a gunny sack and put the sack on horseback, then galloped straight towards the south.
Situated at the south was Huayan"s capital, so there were heavily guarded pa.s.ses on the way. The robber didn"t dare to invade those pa.s.ses in broad daylight, so he hid inside a small forest on the mountain and rested while waiting for a chance.
The men tied Little Ling"er to a tree, then sat down under another one hugging his broadsword. Perhaps too tired, he took his shoes off and fell asleep. Little Ling"er took this chance to observe his appearance. While his face was covered, she clearly saw a visible blade wound on his left eyebrow and a fleshy nevus on his right earlobe.
With her hands tied behind her back, Little Ling"er touched around and found a little stone shard. She grabbed it and rubbed it against the rope binding her hands. After a tremendous effort and cutting several wounds on her hands, she finally severed the rope. Before she fled, Little Ling"er untied the horse"s rope and set it free, then threw the robber"s shoes down the valley. She also knocked down a patch of gra.s.s at the western direction and smeared her blood on it and then, decisively, ran in the opposite direction.
She didn"t dare to stop and kept running. It was nighttime; tired and scared, she ran into a cattle barn and slept for a night. The next day, she continued running.
The robber didn"t give chase, but Little Ling"er didn"t dare to stop moving. When she was thirsty, she drank from small streams. When she was hungry, she stole from local G.o.d shrines" offerings. Without a destination, she only knew to keep moving forward like a puppet, until she fell down by a paddy field from cold and hunger.
When Little Ling"er regained her consciousness, she was surrounded by several people. They were villagers of Lotus Pond Hollow.
Lotus Pond Hollow was a small town adjacent to the capital, where the people were simple and honest. Zealously, one person poured a cup of warm water, another provided a fried pancake. A farm woman fed Little Ling"er the warm water and the pancake bit by bit.
The farm woman said that her family wasn"t rich, but if Little Ling"er was willing, she could stay at her house as a home raised daughter-in-law. Little Ling"er didn"t know what a home raised daughter-in-law was, but since she had no home and the other was willing to take her in, she naturally wouldn"t be choosy.
So, Little Ling"er followed the woman to her house.
The farm woman was called Mrs. Yin. Her husband was a butcher who had a very fiery temper and always beat her.
Seeing Mrs. Yin brought a skinny little girl home, the butcher shouted, "Are you crazy? Our house didn"t have any spare food, yet you brought an extra mouth home? Throw her away! Throw her very far away!"
Little Ling"er knelt on the ground and pitifully hugged the butcher"s leg, begging, "Uncle, please take me in. I won"t eat for free, I will do anything. I once worked as a maid for a wealthy family. I can do a lot of things."
The butcher pushed her away and said to Mrs. Yin, "Keep her for the time being and feed her for several days. After her body looks a little stronger, send her to Landlord Ge"s residence to be a maid."
Little Ling"er therefore temporarily settled down in Mrs. Yin"s house. She behaved and always took the initiative to do the heavy ch.o.r.es. While it was difficult and tiring, she no longer had to live a life of fleeing and being cold and hungry.
Mrs. Yin herself had two children. They relied only on the butcher, who would process livestock and deliver them to restaurants in the city to provide for the family. Butchering was a riffraff business. Moreover, Huayan Country had to deal with wars every year, so the tax imposed on commoners was quite heavy. Consequently, the peasants didn"t get to live in stability. Meat became a luxury that only restaurants and wealthy people in the city could afford. Aside from special occasions like weddings and New Year festival, commoner family couldn"t bear to spend their money on meat. Therefore, the butchering business wasn"t a job to earn big money and barely managed to maintain the family"s minimum life standard.
The butcher looked fiendish and always treated Mrs. Yin with shouts and violence, making Little Ling"er extremely scared of him. However, the butcher never beat up his children, nor did he beat up Little Ling"er. When speaking with Little Ling"er, his tone was even more gentle than when he spoke with his own children. After a long time, Little Ling"er no longer felt that he was frightening anymore. Later, she discovered that he only hit Mrs. Yin because Mrs. Yin stole the family"s money to help her good-for-nothing younger brother.
The butcher and Mrs. Yin gradually grew to like the clever Little Ling"er. They didn"t send her away, and instead raised her as their own child. Little Ling"er quickly blended in with her new family. She, who had suffered all kinds of hardships since she was little, finally found a stable and loving home.
One day, Mrs. Yin"s younger brother got beaten up badly by people and ran to her house. He knelt, crying as he begged Mrs. Yin to pay off his debt, or else his creditor would chop off his arms.
Mrs. Yin was angry at his att.i.tude. She replied between sighs and sobs, "Even food has been a problem in our family lately, where would I get the spare money to help you pay your debt? You"ve been taking too much money from my place. If I give you any more, your brother-in-law will beat me to death for sure."
Mrs.Yin"s younger brother, Yin Hua, was a ruffian who was fond of eating but averse to work. He was already in his thirties and yet never once got a proper job. His mind was filled with nothing but the thought of striking it rich from gambling.
Last year, Yin Hua owed the gamble house several hundred silver taels, and was running from paying it back. He was scared that the debtor would beat him to death, so he sold his own wife to a brothel and sold his ten-year-old daughter to another household as a maid. Whenever this was mentioned, Mrs. Yin would become so infuriated. She only wanted Yin Hua to hurry and leave, not wanting to have anything to do with him at all anymore.
Yin Hua then set his sight on Little Ling"er who was drying the corn in the courtyard. His criminal eyes swirled around as he came up with some kind of evil plan. Not wanting him to linger around, Mrs. Yin urgently pushed him towards the door.
Early morning the next day, Mrs. Yin left to deliver pig bones to Landlord Ge"s residence. A little bit later after she left, a young woman entered Mrs. Yin"s house and told Little Ling"er in an urgent manner, "Your foster mother, Mrs. Yin, tripped on the road and sprained her leg. She can"t walk, so she asked me to call you over and help her back."
Hearing this, Little Ling"er was very anxious. She followed the young woman without thinking. Just as she turned at a corner, someone put a sack on her head and tied up her hands, then pushed her onto a horse carriage.
Little Ling"er thought that the robber who killed nanny had come again, so she didn"t shout for help nor did she resist, only quietly thinking of a plan to escape. At dusk, she was taken to the Myriad Blooms House, where that young woman sold her to Qin Meixue for one hundred silver taels.
An zhi ting lan -岸芷汀兰: used to describe a person of high moral standing and proper courtesy. (an zhi and ting lan are beautiful flowers growing near the sh.o.r.e)
2 Fu ru ning zhi - 肤如凝脂: skin like congealed gel (smooth and puffy). Ning means "congealed."