Chapter 10 — The General's Wild Daughter

At last, Mother pinched my cheek and said through clenched teeth, "Absolutely not."

I could only let out a small sigh. Taking a child out into the world involved more rigid etiquette than wearing a heavy suit of armor. The carriage rolled steadily forward until it came to a halt right outside the imperial palace gates. When Father lifted me down from the carriage, I looked up and saw towering walls that rose toward the sky like massive mountains. Mother took my hand, her palm feeling slightly chilled. Without hesitation, I squeezed her fingers back.

"Mother, do not be afraid."

Mother looked down at me, the sharp edges of her expression softening for a fleeting moment. "I am not afraid." Then, with a wry tone, she added, "I am only afraid that you will stir up trouble yet again."

I replied with the utmost solemnity, "I have been exceptionally well-behaved today."

Father, standing close by, offered a soft cough. Mother shot him a sideways glance, and he instantly composed his features into a stern mask. We were escorted directly to the antechamber outside the Imperial Study. From within, murmurs of conversation drifted out. I caught the words Marquis of Eternal Peace, alongside references to the remnants of the Northern frontier troops. Father’s expression grew heavy and dark. Mother instinctively pulled me behind her back, shielding me. However, the Emperor summoned us inside almost immediately.

The Imperial Study was far more vast than I had imagined. The golden bricks gleamed like polished mirrors, the writing desk was piled high with memorials, and beside it stood a pristine jade *ruyi* scepter. I lingered for a second glance at the jade artifact. Mother gave my hand a gentle pinch, and I quickly averted my gaze. Seated behind the desk was the Emperor; he was not exceptionally old, but his eyes were piercingly bright. He looked first at Father, then at Mother, and finally settled his gaze upon me.

"Is this the little girl of the Xia household, young Ning?"

I stepped forward and performed a proper bow. "Greetings, Your Majesty."

The Emperor chuckled softly. "I heard that yesterday, with a single arrow, you shot down an assassin."

I glanced at Mother. The expression in her eyes clearly warned me against showing any trace of pride. Consequently, I kept my gaze lowered and answered, "It was an arrow tipped with a soft padded head."

The Emperor was momentarily taken aback, and then he burst into hearty laughter. "How wonderfully honest."

Father cupped his hands in an apology, explaining that the assassin had breached the estate and disturbed the sacred peace of the Emperor solely due to his own lax supervision. The Emperor waved a hand dismissively. "The assassin slipped into the capital city; you are not to blame. Today, I summoned you here specifically to ask this child a question."

I raised my head. The Emperor asked, "Out in the courtyard, why did you not shoot at the copper coin, but instead aimed straight for the top of the wall?"

Silence descended upon the Imperial Study. I pondered the question seriously for a moment before replying, "The copper coin could not hurt Mother." I paused, then added, "That man would have."

Mother’s grip on my hand tightened instantly. Father, too, turned his gaze toward me. The amusement faded from the Emperor’s eyes, though his tone remained calm and measured. "How did you know he would hurt your mother?"

"He had something glittering in his hand," I explained, gesturing with a small hand. "And he was looking at Mother. His eyes were wicked and cruel."

The Emperor fell silent for a short while. He motioned to an attendant eunuch, who brought forward a scroll depicting various weapons—sabers, daggers, and even concealed sleeve-arrows. The Emperor pointed them out to me and asked, "Was it something like this?"

I scanned the illustrations and pointed directly at a short dagger. "It looked just like this one."

Father’s expression grew even frostier. Mother stroked the top of my head, her fingertips trembling slightly. The Emperor remarked to Father, "It matches the weapon used by the spy we caught last night."

I did not understand the intricate affairs of the imperial court, but I could tell the Emperor was displeased. Someone was attempting to use the Marquis's estate as a shield, throwing the military general's household into chaos and dragging Father into the palace. Once Father was detained, Mother and I would be in grave danger. The Emperor asked if I still remembered the appearance of that man. I nodded.

"Gray robes, his left earlobe was missing a piece, and the soles of his boots were stained with red mud."

The Imperial Study fell into a hush once again. Father looked down at me in astonishment. "You even noticed the soles of his boots?"

I explained, "He fell down, and his feet kicked up into the air."

The Emperor struck his desk and let out a laugh. "Splendid! Xia Zhiyuan, your daughter’s eyes are sharper than those of the seasoned investigators at the Ministry of Justice."

Mother, however, could not muster a smile. She spoke in a soft, worried voice, "Your Majesty, Ning is still a child; she should not be subjected to such grim matters."

The Emperor looked at her with understanding. "I know. It is simply that this matter carries far-reaching consequences. I am afraid the young lady must suffer the grievance of identifying one more person."

Before I could ask whom I was expected to identify, a flurry of hurried footsteps echoed from outside. An imperial guard rushed in to report that a eunuch delivering vegetables had been apprehended at the palace gates. The man was missing a piece of his left ear, and his boot soles were stained with red mud.

Mother’s face turned pale. Father immediately stepped in front of us, his back forming a protective wall. The Emperor slowly straightened in his seat. "Bring him in."

I saw the fabric of Father’s sleeve ripple as he slipped a small protective jade talisman into the palm of my hand.

When the eunuch was dragged inside, his head hung low. He wore worn gray cloth garments, with a stray vegetable leaf still clinging to his shoulder. True to the report, his left earlobe was missing a small chunk, and the red mud on the soles of his boots was half-dried, leaving small flaky trails across the golden bricks. Mother pulled me tightly into her arms. Father stood steadfastly before us.

The Emperor addressed him, "Which department do you serve?"

The man prostrated himself, kowtowing repeatedly. "This humble servant is a menial worker at the Directorate for Imperial Banquets. Today I was merely assigned to deliver vegetables; I truly know nothing of any crime."

The Emperor remained silent, his gaze fixed on me. I peeked half of my face out from behind Father’s shoulder. The man covertly raised his eyes to look at me as well. At that single glance, I frowned. The man’s expression was frantic and terrified. Yet the man from the previous night had looked at Mother with the cold, calculating gaze of a venomous insect. This was not the same person.

I whispered, "It is not him."

Everyone in the Imperial Study froze. Father turned his head. "Ning?"

I pointed at the prisoner. "The ear is the same, the boots are the same, but the person is different."

The Emperor’s gaze darkened. "In what way is he different?"

I thought for a moment, mimicking the posture of the gray-robed man from the night before, and slanted one shoulder. "The man last night had one shoulder higher than the other. His hand holding the blade had hard calluses. This man’s hands are soft."

The eunuch trembled violently, as if finally exhaled a breath of relief. But the moment he lifted his head, he met Father’s icy glare. Father stated coldly, "You may not be the assassin, but you are wearing his boots."

The color drained from the eunuch's face. The Emperor slammed his teacup down onto the table with a sharp thud. "Speak."

The man wept and kowtowed frantically, confessing that someone had given him ten taels of silver to exchange his own shoes for that pair of old boots and walk a single circle outside the palace gates. He claimed he had no idea the shoes were problematic, thinking only that he was helping someone else ward off bad luck.

In a chilling tone, the Emperor demanded to know who had given him the silver. The eunuch could not provide a name, stating only that the stranger wore a sleeve embroidered with a small blue insignia.

Father’s expression turned utterly grim. Mother let out a sharp gasp.

I raised my head and asked, "What is wrong with a small blue insignia?"

Mother did not answer, but Father spoke in a low murmur, "That is the secret mark of the old Northern frontier army."

The Emperor stood up from his throne. "There are people within the capital sheltering the rebellious remnants of the Northern frontier."

As those words fell, a chilling breeze seemed to sweep through the Imperial Study. I did not fully understand what the rebellious Northern remnants were, but I understood that someone was trying to harm Mother and Father, and even stopping me from going outside to play. That made them very bad people.

The Emperor ordered the guards to take the eunuch away. Then, he conversed with Father for a long time regarding the Marquis's estate, military provisions, and old legal cases. After a while, drowsiness began to overtake me. Noticing me rubbing my eyes, Mother scooped me up and sat with me on a nearby chair, gently wiping my palms with a handkerchief. The red marks left from drawing the bow yesterday had not yet faded. She stared at them, and the rims of her eyes turned red once more.

"Does it hurt?" she asked softly.

"It does not hurt," I replied.

She murmured under her breath, "I would rather you knew how to be afraid."

I shook my head. "If I am afraid, the bad people will still be out there."

Mother was startled. I wrapped my arms around her neck. "If you are afraid, I will not be."

A tear finally escaped her eye. "You foolish child."

Hearing her soft cry, Father immediately turned back, and the Emperor paused his conversation. Mother hastily stood up to offer an apology, but the Emperor waved a dismissive hand. "A military wife grieving for her daughter is only natural."

He looked at me and suddenly smiled. "Little Ning has rendered a great service by protecting her mother. What reward would you like?"

Before I could open my mouth, Mother interceded, "His Majesty is too generous; Ning lacks for nothing."

Knowing Mother feared I would ask for something extravagant from the palace, I thought seriously for a moment before answering, "I want Mother to stop crying."

The Emperor was momentarily stunned. Father’s gaze softened. Mother’s arms tightened around me fiercely.

The Emperor let out a soft laugh followed by a sigh. "That is a reward I cannot bestow. However, I can reward your mother with several bolts of fine fabric, so she may sew you a dress that will never touch the mud."

My eyes lit up. "One that will never touch the mud?"

Mother, too, was caught off guard. The Emperor said with a straight face, "Naturally, imperial brocade is impervious to mud."

The eunuch standing nearby bowed his head, his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. Father, too, lowered his head to hide a smile.