Chapter 1

At the Lantern Festival, I fell into the water. By the time someone pulled me out, the crowd had seen my face.

“Isn't that Miss Cui?”

“What a fortunate young man! Marry her after saving her, and there's no telling how far you'll rise.”

I lowered my head in embarrassment. I was done for.

My parents had planned to send me into the palace as a prince's consort. Now I'd fallen into the water and been touched by a stranger.

Their dream lay in pieces.

My masked rescuer pitched his voice high and sniffled.

“How dreadful! I'm a young lady myself. Why should I have to marry Miss Cui?

“You gawkers are no good at all!”

Nine chi tall, yet speaking in such a soft, coquettish voice, my rescuer left everyone unsure whether they were looking at a man or a woman.

I stared at the wrist guard.

I'd given it to my brother's fellow student, Ji Yunqing, now the third-place laureate.

At seventeen, I had loved him in secret for five years. But a daughter of the Cui family and a man like Ji Yunqing were no match in social standing.

01

One girl rescuing another made the situation seem rather less compromising.

Xiaotao, whom I'd sent to buy candied hawthorn skewers, finally squeezed through the crowd. Seeing me still shaken, she burst into tears and rushed over.

“Miss, are you all right?”

An unseasonable spring chill lingered. A gust of wind made me shiver.

I shook my head.

“Buy two thick cloaks and hire a carriage. Take me and...”

The crowd streamed past. Now and then, a seven-chi-tall man glanced at this nine-chi-tall lady.

I looked her over and swallowed what I'd been about to say.

“Take me and this young lady home first.”

Xiaotao soon arrived with a carriage.

Once I was inside, Ji Yunqing turned to leave. I caught his sleeve.

“You spent quite a while in the water saving me. At least come home with me to change and have some ginger soup. If you catch a chill and your head starts spinning, you won't be able to embroider flowers or knot tassels.”

Faced with such earnest hospitality, he had little choice but to join me.

Outside, lanterns glittered. I had eyes only for the person before me.

Wrapped in his cloak, he sat stiffly.

“Miss Cui, why do you keep looking at me?”

I pressed my lips together, smiling and smiling.

He was hiding his identity for my sake. I appreciated his kindness.

“I was wondering what you look like beneath that mask.”

“We're only strangers who happened to meet. Don't dwell on it.”

The man I'd secretly liked for three years was sitting right in front of me. He'd even saved me from drowning.

How could I not dwell on it?

Ji Yunqing was an exceptionally good person.

Once, being fond of play, I'd insisted on using a delivery of mung-bean cakes as an excuse to visit my brother at the academy.

He had promised to weave me a grasshopper. I'd waited three days, and every time he said he was busy.

I had to see for myself just how busy this academy was.

Could he really not spare the time for one grasshopper?

But I'd rushed out without a maid and lost my way.

Round and round I went in the garden outside the academy. Spring filled it with color and fragrance, but I had no mind for the view. I only wanted to find my brother.

After all that walking, I ended up where I'd started.

Frightened, I began to cry.

A student in purple saw me and frowned deeply.

“I've never seen such a stupid girl. Whose daughter is she?

“Other girls delivering things are graceful, composed, and thoughtful. This one just comes running with a box of cakes. No Xuan paper, not even Huizhou ink.”

Ji Yunqing appeared just then.

He gently interrupted before the other student could mock me further.

“The academy supplies paper and ink. Ordinary households have no use for Xuan paper or Huizhou ink. It's perfectly natural not to bring any.”

He didn't dismiss me because I was young.

He cupped his hands and bowed properly. Taken aback, I hurried to return the courtesy.

“Young lady, who are you looking for?”

At once, I felt I had someone to rely on. My panic subsided.

Clutching the cake box, I answered, “I've brought mung-bean cakes for my brother, but I can't find him.”

“What's his name?”

“Cui Ling.”

02

The student in purple roared with laughter. The sound frightened me.

“So you're Brother Cui's sister. He competes to be first in everything here, and his sister turns out to be an idiot. This should be fun.”

My face burned.

I wasn't stupid.

I read books and wrote poems. Even experienced matrons had praised my needlework and arithmetic.

I simply couldn't find my way.

But in that moment, I panicked.

What if my brother's classmates laughed at him for having a sister like me?

It was only a grasshopper. I could have done without it.

Why had I been so stubborn?

Ji Yunqing spoke softly.

“I'll take you to your brother. That fellow has no filter. Even an immortal couldn't come down here without enduring a few jibes from him. Don't take it to heart.”

I asked just as softly, “Will people laugh at my brother because of me?”

He smiled gently, his eyes curving into crescents.

He looked like someone out of a storybook.

“Certainly not. We all envy the students whose sisters and mothers bring things for them. When someone at home is thinking of you, studying here never feels lonely.”

His words were like a leaf falling onto the little lake in my heart, sending ripples across it.

“Your sister and mother must be very kind.”

His lips pressed together. He trembled slightly.

“I have neither a sister nor a mother. Brother Cui must be very happy to have a sister as kind as you.”

I immediately regretted it.

Saying that to someone with no sister or mother must have hurt him.

I apologized.

He didn't blame me. I hadn't known, he said; there was no fault in that.

He took me to my brother.

My brother hadn't lied. He really was busy.

Reading as he stuffed a rice cake, half-ringed with ink, into his mouth.

I called to him and handed over the homemade mung-bean cakes.

I didn't mention the grasshopper. Seeing that I'd come especially to find him, he remembered it himself.

“Oh dear! I still haven't woven the grasshopper I promised Yingying.”

I looked up and said sensibly, “Your studies are more important. I'm not in a hurry for it anymore. Just give me two of the academy's rice cakes.”