Spring and Autumn's Dream

It all started with national history"s first dynasty, the Xia dynasty. Xia Jie (last ruler of the Xia dynasty) had Mei Xi (his concubine) and with that, the Xia dynasty that had been reigning on for 500 years was eradicated. Shang Tang (founder of the Shang dynasty) raised up the Shang; King Zhou of Shang who was the last king of the Shang dynasty had Su Daji (his favourite consort and she has been depicted as evil). Thus, the Shang dynasty ended. The King Wu of Zhou (first king of the Zhou dynasty), Ji fa Mei, built up the Zhou dynasty; The King You of Zhou (last ruler of the Zhou dynasty) had Bao Si (concubine and was considered one of the most beautiful women) and became the monarch of Western Zhou. After Western Zhou ended, King Ping of Zhou (thirteenth king of zhou but first king of Eastern Zhou), Dong Qian, made the royal household into "Dong Zhou".

Thus, the beginning of the spring and autumn period began.

After "Dong Qian", the royal household, fell and Qi Heng Gong (Duke Heng of Qi) proclaimed himself hegemon (supreme leader). After that, Jin Wen Gong (Duke wen of Jin) also proclaimed himself hegemon. Thereafter, Chu Zhuang w.a.n.g (King Zhuang of Chu) aimed for the throne in the central plains. Soon after came the mi bing zhi meng (diplomatic events that quelled wars).

Time pa.s.sed like that, just like the sound "xiu!"

In the year 496, Yun Chang (King of the Yue dynasty) pa.s.sed away and Gou Jian inherited his position.

Hui Ji, country Yue"s capital city.

"One, two, three, four, five, six…..hei hei hei……seven…..hei hei….I have one more……"

Counting man can benefit the health of people"s mentality, it was Xiang Bao"s favourite thing to do. As for fighting battles, as long as the hits didn"t land on her head, even if the world was to turn upside down, she would not even care. She was a n.o.body after all, the world"s problem should naturally be left to a "somebody" to care about.

She very carefully placed the seven coins into a small cloth bag, carrying it on herself. Xiang Bao"s mood immediately turned happy even with the pent up frustration that she had gotten from Madam Gan (干大娘) vanished.

Once her mood turned good, she immediately became diligent. "Ceng ceng ceng" she ran towards the big door and wiped the door"s signboard till there was not even a speck of dust.

That signboard had three extremely ostentatious words: Liu Jun Zui! (留君醉 keep the men drunk)

Liu Jun Zui was the city"s most prosperous singing and dancing house and the owner of the house was known far and wide, Madam Gan.

Actually, Madam Gan was Xiang Bao"s idol. Xiang Bao"s ideal life was to open a singing and dancing house just like Liu Jun Zui. A house that had ladies who were the pinnacles of beauty and those ladies would call her……..Madam Xiang……..

Ha……haha, just thinking of it made Xiang Bao drool, what a beautiful life……

"Xiang Bao! What are you doing standing at the entrance?!" Chun Xi had just come back from the market and saw Xiang Bao standing at the entrance, daydreaming.

Chun Xi and Xiang Bao were almost the same age, she was also Liu Jun Zui"s servant girl.

"I"m working," Xiang Bao regained her consciousness, waving the cloth in her hands. She laughed happily, "Where did you go?"

"I went to buy some clothes, Madam Gan said that she will let me learn dance from sister Zi fei tomorrow," Chun Xi said while laughing.

"Ah? Madam Gan let you learn dancing?!" Xiang Bao"s eyes were wide, her face filled with envy.

"En." Chun Xi looked at Xiang Bao then at the red birthmark. Faintly, she furrowed her eyebrows, "Standing here with your face, what will you do if you scare away the customers! If Madam Gan were to see this, she would scold you again."

Xiang Bao touched her face, pulled her neck back and rushed back into the house. Yesterday, Madam Gan had let her buy some things for the ladies, but she ended up losing the money and was punished with a day of not eating, she must definitely not make Madam Gan angry again.

But before the time to eat even came, Xiang Bao"s stomach had already started growling, "gululu". A whole day of not being allowed to eat! What a cruel punishment……..

Even Ah w.a.n.g had rice to eat while she did not any! Xiang Bao looked at Ah w.a.n.g in resentment, Ah w.a.n.g"s b.u.t.t was facing her, his small half tail wagging as he happily ate.

Small tail? That"s right, it is a tail because Ah w.a.n.g is a dog.

Ah w.a.n.g is a dog that Madam Gan raised, it was dirt yellow, real dirt. But even it has food to eat……

Xiang Bao swallowed her saliva, slowly walked to Ah w.a.n.g and squatted, anxiously looking at Ah w.a.n.g.

Ah w.a.n.g was on guard as he looked at her, he then proceeded to hurriedly eat, afraid that she was going to s.n.a.t.c.h it from him.

"Tch." Xiang Bao sounded out in disdain. She would not be so degraded as to s.n.a.t.c.h food from Ah w.a.n.g. She lifted her head as she stood up, her mood was yet again down. She was preparing to take her money bag out to count money again when steaming pastry appeared in front of her.

Steamed pastry?

It was a steamed pastry.

Xiang Bao"s eyes shone, she opened her mouth and with a "keng chi" she bit it and with this bite, Xiang Bao was so touched that tears could come out. What better than eating a nicely steamed, steaming pastry when she was feeling down!

"Brother Ah Fu, thank you……" Her small cheeks were filled with the pastry and she was smiling so much that her eyes turned to slits. Eating but not forgetting to be grateful.

Ah Fu was Liu Jun Zui"s one and only boy. He was older than Xiang Bao by a year, he turned sixteen and was said to be Madam Gan"s distant relative. His house was very poor so he had came here to work. Even though he was a relative, his place in Liu jun zui was inferior to even Ah w.a.n.g. After all, Ah w.a.n.g is able to do nothing all day but was still able to eat leftovers but as for Ah Fu…..Everyday he worked to the bone like a dog, but ate food that was inferior to Ah w.a.n.g"s.

Thinking of that, Xiang Bao glared at Ah w.a.n.g.

"w.a.n.g w.a.n.g….." Ah w.a.n.g barked out, eyes stuck on the nice smelling biscuit in Xiang Bao"s hands. His eyes were shining brightly, he was even wagging that short tail of his, just to curry favour.

Xiang Bao pulled a face and stuffed the whole piece of biscuit into her mouth.

Ah w.a.n.g saw that his begging for food was useless, he immediately withered and whimpered before collapsing back onto the floor.

"Gulu~"

Whose stomach was grumbling? She was obviously not hungry anymore. Xiang Bao blinked, looking at Ah Fu.

One of his hands was holding onto his stomach with his face red, he awkwardly laughed, "It"s nothing, just ignore me."

She dazedly looked at Ah Fu, as half the biscuit got stuck in her throat, unable to come out and unable to go down. Xiang Bao raised a hand, trembling.

"I"m really fine, you eat," seeing her like this, Ah Fu was a little frantic, he rose and broke into a run.

"Ah….Ah……..Ah Fu……" Xiang Bao"s hands were trembling. Looking at Ah Fu"s back she said, "Water……water……"

She was choking.

Who would come and save her…….

"Xiang Bao, what"s wrong?" Chun Xi ran in and was frightened when she saw Xiang Bao"s extremely red face.

The sounds of nature…..the sounds of nature…….

"Water…..water…." Xiang Bao pointed towards her throat, her face really, really red.

Chun Xi hurriedly poured a cup of water. Xiang Bao gulped the water down and was finally at ease.

Her beautiful life had not even begun yet, how could she possibly die at the hands of a steamed pastry?

"Lady Mo Li is looking for you, what are you doing here?" Chun Xi asked, seeing that she had regained her breathing.

"Oh oh, I"ll go now!"  Xiang Bao hurriedly ran off.

"Deng deng deng" Behind the arabesque corridor, there was a quiet little courtyard. From the moment she stepped into the courtyard, she could smell a burst of perfume.

Full of colours of spring, the flowers were vying for colors.

But no matter how beautiful the flowers were, there were not as beautiful as the person standing amidst them. She was dressed in white and even her looking around looked graceful. She was so beautiful that she could outshine the all of earth"s fireworks.

"You must be hungry, I left some food for you," the beautiful person said, turning her direction.

Looking back with a smile, even the spring colours were inferior to her.

"Is there meat?" Xiang Bao laughed, coming up, acting just a tad bit like a spoiled child.

This "is there meat?" immediately ruined the the beautiful scene, even the beautiful person who was not inferior to earth"s fireworks was also brought down to ruins.

"There is," the beautiful person smiled.

"You"re so nice, sis……"

That"s right, this beautiful person whose looks were not inferior to the earth"s fireworks was Xiang Bao"s biological sister, Mo Li.

Mo Li was Liu Jun Zui"s top leading lady. She was Madam Gan"s favourite, in fact, she liked Mo Li so much that she was able to accept Mo Li bringing a tuo you ping (a child brought from first marriage to second marriage) with her to stay.

Of course, that tuo you ping would be Xiang Bao.

After hearing that there was meat to eat, Xiang Bao immediately rushed in at the speed of an arrow. As expected, there was food on the table. There was even meat!

This was too blissful.

Life was truly beautiful……

Xiang Bao unhurriedly walked out the small courtyard, holding onto her full stomach.

"Xiang Bao, are you looking for me?" Ah Fu wiped the sweat on his head and walked over, smiling.

The weather of early spring carried a tad bit of chilliness. Looking at his perspiring self, she was sure that Madam Gan had let Ah Fu ge do two people"s worth of work.

"En. Here, it"s for you." Xiang Bao had just found her conscience and left pastries for him.

Ah Fu smiled foolishly as he took the pastry, embarra.s.sed, "I"m actually a little hungry, but are you not eating it?"

"Mo Li gave it to me, I ate already."

Ah Fu was evidently really hungry, he stopped declining and wolfed the pastry down.

Xiang Bao who was standing at the high flight of stairs, smiled happily as she watched Ah Fu eat.

The sunlight was shining upon her white as snow face, casting a soft glow on her. Even the red birthmark that was on the left side of her face was just… there. Ah Fu was watching on in a daze, forgetting to eat his pastries.

Xiang Bao glared a little at him, "What"re you looking at?"

"You"re really pretty," Ah Fu rubbed the back of his head, with a silly smile.

Pretty? Referring to her? Xiang Bao laughed with a "hei hei", her face slowly turning red, feeling a little embarra.s.sed. Even though her mental state was a little rough, she was still a girl.

Because the left side of her face grew a red birthmark, the only person to call her pretty other than her sister was Ah Fu, there really was no other.

"Xiang Bao, Xiang Bao!" From afar, a small servant ran over.

"What?"

"Madam Gan wants you to go to the market to buy some stuff that the ladies need," she gave Xiang Bao seven coins, "Madam Gan said that if you were to lose the money again, the punishment would not be as simple as not letting you eat."

Xiang Bao very seriously nodded her head, clutched onto the coins and walked down the stairs.

Letting her starve was already very hard, she had little courage, she wouldn"t be able to withstand the torment.

She very carefully clutched onto the frightening coins as she anxiously walked onto the streets.

Must be careful, must be careful, must be careful… She repeated that over and over again, looking left and right as if she was confronting her mortal enemy. All she wanted was to quickly buy the stuff and then go back.

Suddenly, a trace of red flashed by. Xiang Bao"s head was empty for a little while, she touched her waist and found that the money was gone!

Yesterday, it was because of that red flash that she had lost her money.

It actually had happened today as well! Was it because it saw that she had an easy-to-bully face?!

Xiang Bao was enraged and broke into a run, chasing after the red flash, "This is intolerable bullying! Thief! Thief! Stop right there!"

It was true that when a person was in a difficult situation, they had unlimited hidden abilities. Just thinking of Madam Gan"s eyes spilling out fire made Xiang Bao run as if she were flying.

"Stop right there!" She finally grabbed ahold of the thief"s sleeve. Xiang Bao held him by the waist and latched onto him, scared that he would run away.

That thief was just a tad bit taller than her, but he was a youngster.

Even being a thief could also be so arrogant. He was clad in fiery red clothes, wasn"t he scared that someone would recognise him?! Xiang Bao unhappily thought, staring at the red-clothed thief.

The thief who had Xiang Bao latching onto him couldn"t budge and could only stop his steps to look back to stare at her.

Xiang Bao was in a faint daze, so pretty! Even a thief could be so pretty, was there still heavenly justice?

"Chou ba guai (ugly), what do you want to do?" His pretty eyes glared, looking at Xiang Bao arrogantly.

"What did you say?" Xiang Bao"s eyes turned to slits.

"Chou ba guai."

"Say it one more time."

"Chou ba guai. Chou ba guai. Chou ba guai……" the red clothed thief gasped a huge breath.

"Haven"t you said enough? Finished?" Xiang Bao furrowed her eyebrows, her eyes glaring and in one flash, she clutched tightly onto his neck, "Hasn"t your mother ever taught you that stealing from a poor person is shameful behaviour?"

"Heng, I don"t have a father or a mother to teach me!" The thief choked till his face turned extremely red.

"Okay! Then let me be the one to teach you!" Xiang Bao very fiercely clutched his neck, "You"re still so young, it"s fine if you don"t know the action of robbing the rich to help the poor but you actually stole from a poor person like me! Do you know that the last time you stole my money, I was starved and beaten!" Xiang Bao loudly and shamelessly said.

The red-clothed thief dazedly looked at her.

"What"re you thinking!" Xiang Bao raised her arm to smack his head.

"Heng." The red-clothed thief actually flung his head back and ignored her.

Xiang Bao was so angry that she could faint, "Give me back the money! Give me back the money! If you don"t return it, I"ll go and report you to the officials!"

The red-clothed thief softly "heng" before suddenly pushing her away and breaking into a run.

"Hateful! You stop right there! Stop!"

That thief was obviously no fool, of course, he wouldn"t stand still to let her catch him.

This time, Xiang Bao was not able to chase up to that thief.

"Don"t ever let me see you! If not… I see you one time… I"ll beat you one time!" Xiang Bao shouted, panting with her hands on her waist. That caused many onlookers to cast sidelong glances.

That"s why there was a saying that when someone has bad luck, even drinking water can get stuck in their teeth (人倒霉时连喝口凉水都塞牙). Xiang Bao was lost, Xiang Bao was actually lost! She was famous for being Liu Jun Zui"s smartest person, yet she was actually lost. It was all that useless thief"s fault, all his fault for that she did not even know where she is.

Conveniently saying, that "Liu Jun Zui"s smartest person" was just a self-proclaimed t.i.tle.

In an unfamiliar street with unfamiliar faces, Xiang Bao cursed that scoundrel thief a hundred times inside her heart. Xiang Bao walked slowly, with her head hanging dispiritedly but suddenly someone knocked into her. Xiang Bao subconsciously grabbed onto the person"s sleeve, struggling as if she were about to die. But the cloth wasn"t strong enough and with a "si la", it tore off. Xiang Bao tightly held onto the cloth but still fell down, four legs facing the sky and her eyes dazedly seeing stars.

"Pei!" She hadn"t even regained her consciousness when saliva was spit onto her, landing on her face.

Xiang Bao was turned stupid by that spit of saliva and only after a while did she then come back to her senses. Only then did she see that it was a sloppy old man.

"Wei! You"re the one who knocked into me, why would you spit saliva on me!" Xiang Bao was enraged.

"Huo shui! (祸水 calamity)" the old man scolded with furrowed brows and blazing eyes.

"What?" Xiang Bao blinked and blinked, the old man used such a deep word to scold her, she couldn"t understand it.

"Huo shui! There is Mei Xi, Da Ji, Bao Si (flashback to the start; foreshadows) and now here comes such a… huo shui. The country is going to face misfortune!" The old man grieved, weeping bitter tears.

The country is in misfortune? How was that supposed to be any of her business? Xiang Bao was baffled, could it be that this old man was actually crazy?

"The country is in peril…..There descends a huo shui! (calamity)" The old man walked, all the while moving his hands and legs, almost as if he was dancing.

Xiang Bao sat on the floor, confused.

What was this?

"Young lady are you okay?" A gentle voice sounded out.

Like a breeze to the ears.

Xiang Bao slowly raised her head and saw a young man dressed in white.

Spring"s afternoon rays shone till it made people dizzy. Xiang Bao was sitting on the floor, all the while dazedly looking at the young man. Sunshine was gently resting on him and to her, it seemed a lot like the young man was emitting a golden glow………

"Wipe away the saliva," the young man handed her a handkerchief, all the while smiling.

Saliva? Was she drooling? Xiang Bao immediately took the handkerchief and blankly wiped her mouth.

That young man suddenly smiled, he squatted down and took the handkerchief from Xiang Bao"s hands and wiped the left side of her face.

Ah! It was the saliva that that old man had spit on her.

Xiang Bao"s face immediately started to burn up – it was red, just like a monkey"s b.u.t.t.

His gentle way of wiping caused Xiang Bao"s face to burn up even more.

That young man"s hand faintly stopped, "Your face…….."

She noticed that the handkerchief on his hands had been dyed a little red and suddenly remembered the red birthmark on her face. She hurriedly covered her face.

The young man looked at her with much thought before putting the handkerchief away.

"Are you able to stand up?" He stood up, stretching out his hand for her to take.

His hands were fair, well-proportioned and slender, it looked very nice.

Xiang Bao dazedly took his hand into the hollow of her palm, like she had already lost her ability to think.

The dry and warm hand pulled her up.

"What is huo shui?" She suddenly asked, still in a daze.

"En?" The white-clothed young man stopped for a moment.

"What is huo shui?"

"Hong yan huo shui?" (红颜祸水 beautiful women are sources of calamity) The white clothed man thought for a while and asked with a little uncertainly.

"What is hong yan?"

"Oh, it means beautiful women."

"What, so he was actually praising me." Xiang Bao said, immeasurably satisfied and her mood started to turn happy.

When she raised her head up to look, the young man had already walked far away.

"Wei, that… what"s your name?" Xiang Bao hurriedly shouted out but it was a pity, that man could no longer hear her.

Xiang Bao turned dejected, she should have asked for his name earlier and also… what was the direction Liu Jun Zui was in?!

Only until day turned to night had Xiang Bao slowly made her way back to Liu Jun Zui. She had just entered the entrance when she was already blocked.

"Gan… Madam Gan…" Xiang Bao said smiling, trying to curry favour. Madam Gan was very angry, the consequences were very serious ah. Her face was ashen, she had rubbed so much powder on her face and yet her face still revealed an ashen colour. Does that mean that if she had not applied so much powder, her face would have been green? She must be so angry that her face had turned green.

"Have you bought the things?" Madam Gan had her hands on her waist, staring at her.

"No……." Xiang Bao hung her head.

"No?!" Madam Gan was so stunned that her voice went up a pitch, "Then where"s the money?"

"The money…….." Xiang Bao sneakily snuck a peek at her but this peek caused Xiang Bao"s little heart to tremble. Madam Gan"s face right now could rival even a yaksha (malicious spirit). If she were to say that the money was stolen again, Madam Gan would definitely peel her skin off.

With that thought, Xiang Bao"s hands started to tremble and a small wallet dropped out from her clothes.

Madam Gan raised an eyebrow, "Pick it up for me."

Xiang Bao hung her head while picking up the wallet, even her hands were trembling. That was her money ah……

"What"re you dawdling about for? Give me!" Madam Gan stretched out her hands.

Looking at the pair of hands that looked just like chicken claws, she couldn"t help but think of that white-clothed man"s clean, pale and slender hands. They"re all hands so how come there was such a big difference?

"Give me!" Madam Gan raised her voice.

Xiang Bao was frightened and yieldingly put the bag of money onto Madam Gan"s hands. The only lacking thing was that she did not shout out, "Spare me, king."

Taking the wallet, Madam Gan counted the money and just right, there were seven coins, not one was missing. "Heng, you can"t even properly do such a small matter. For Liu Jun Zui to take care of you is to just let you be taken care of for nothing ah!"

Xiang Bao hung her head, not uttering a sound.

The silver coloured moonlight shined on her gently, the night breeze softly blowing away the hair on her forehead, revealing a bright and clean forehead. The red birthmark on the left side of her face also seemed to have faded a little. Madam Gan stared at Xiang Bao dazedly, she had even forgotten to scold Xiang Bao. In actuality, Xiang Bao was not ugly at all. If it were not for the fact that the red birthmark on her face which was much too unsightly, she would have perhaps been even more beautiful than her sister, Mo Li.

What a pity, what a pity. Madam Gan did not continue scolding, instead took the money and walked away, shaking her head.

Her money! Her money! That was her money! That was her blood sweat money ah…..Those was her steps of trying to improve towards Madam Gan…..That was her life"s ideal dream…….

Looking at the back of madam Gan, Xiang Bao clenched her small fists.

Evil thief, evil Madam Gan! Xiang Bao shouted in her heart, extremely grieved.

Raising her head, Xiang Bao stared at the moon, crying without tears.

"Xiang Bao? What"re you looking at?" Mo Li had just walked out the courtyard and saw Xiang Bao raising her to look at the moon.

"Such a big coin….." Xiang Bao said, looking at the big white moon with a tilted head. She signed lamentably.

Mo Li laughed, "Lost the money again?"

Xiang Bao threw herself into Mo Li"s arms, she looked at Mo Li, tears swirling in her eyes. "Sis…….."

Mo Li did not know whether to laugh or cry. She caressed her head, "How much did you lose?"

"Seven coins!"

Mo Li took out a silver hairpin from her hair and put it into Xiang Bao"s hair, "Okay, be good, go and sleep."

Silver! Silver! Silver!

Xiang Bao very carefully touched her head, happily and diligently went back into her room to sleep. Her head had silver ah…..

Looking at Xiang Bao"s happy self, Mo Li couldn"t help but start to laugh.

This particular night, Xiang Bao slept soundly, she even had a dream. She dreamed that she had opened a place just like Liu Jun Zui and also had a big dancing room. The ladies were surrounding her, all of them calling her Madam Xiang…….