Hou Jingshu wandered the streets and looked at the small buildings, so different from what she was used to. The architecture was unlike anything she had seen before. They did not have the majesty of buildings found in the capital. Her brothers would have called this place dull and small, but she found the quaint buildings charming. She would have said they were rustic. The only building that held anything resembling the aesthetic of the capital was the auction house.

Perhaps it was because they were surrounded by forest, but there were a lot of trees spaced throughout the city, making her wonder if they were placed half-hazardly like this on purpose. There were trees inside the capital, too, of course. However, all of them lined the streets and parks and were evenly placed at exact intervals to be symmetrically pleasing to the eye. This was comparatively chaotic.

“Ha ha ha! Look at this pathetic creature!”

“Come on! Cry some more!”

“Stupid animal! Do you think you can get away from us?!”

Hou Jingshu was jerked from her musings by a loud cry, followed by several voices. The cry was not human. She looked around. Several young boys were running into an alley. It seemed like they were chasing after something. She frowned and, curiosity getting the better of her, followed the group of boys into the alley, which eventually emerged into a clearing surrounded by several trees.

There, she saw something that made her blood boil.

Five boys were surrounding a small black cat that had pressed its back against a large tree. The cat was shivering. It cried and meowled in fear as the boys jeered and threw rocks at it.

“Look at how it hisses!”

“You’re a mangy thing, aren’t you?”

“Take that! And that!”

Hou Jingshu fumed as she watched the boys torture the poor animal. What sort of cruelty was this?! Why were they picking on that poor kitty?! Perhaps it was her propensity as a princess, or maybe she just couldn’t stand to see such cruel acts take place before her eyes, but she was unwilling to remain on the sidelines.

“What do you people think you’re doing?!”

The boys stopped taunting the cat at her shout. She rushed past the group, interposed herself between them and the cat, and spread out her arms as though to protect it. Eyes fiercely narrowed, she glared at the boys.

“How dare you harm this innocent kitty!”

None of the boys looked like they knew what to do right away. They glanced at her, noticed her clothes, then turned to each other.

“Who is this? I don’t recognize her,” said one of them. He looked like the leader. His black hair was mangy and dirty. He wore plain brown trousers and a white shirt, letting her know that he was of common birth. All of them were wearing similar clothes.

They couldn’t have been much older than her. She guessed their leader was maybe two or three years older than she was, but the rest seemed closer to her age, though it was hard to tell with all the dirt covering their faces.

“I don’t know, but check out that getup. It’s super fancy. She must be a noble,” another one said. His hair was a lighter brown and he had gray eyes. His two front teeth were larger than normal, which made him look like a rodent.

“What should we do, Lin?”

“What do you mean ‘what should we do?’ We can’t let this brat ruin our fun!”

“But… if she’s a noble…”

“Don’t be such a coward, Mink!” The leader—she guessed his name was Lin—turned back to her and sneered. “Listen, girl, you had better leave here right now or I will put you in your place. I don’t care if you are a noble. You’ll be calling me father by the time I’m through with you.”

Hou Jingshu narrowed her eyes. “Are you… threatening me?”

The boy’s sneer widened. “That’s right. What are you gonna do about it?”

Having lived in the palace her whole life and been spoiled rotten by her father, Hou Jingshu had never had threats directed at her like this. Of course, she did get the occasional threat on her life, but those were rare and usually dealt with by the guards before they ever got to her. She only heard about some of those incidents after the fact. This was the first time someone had ever threatened to “put her in her place.”

“How dare you. Do you not know who I am?” asked Hou Jingshu, drawing herself up as though to intimidate these boys.

“I don’t know, and I don’t know why you think I should care,” said Lin with a fearless grin.

It was a bold declaration, one that only served to further piss off Hou Jingshu. She opened her mouth to let this plebeian know that she was the princess of the Shang Kingdom, and that he, as one of her citizens, should have been getting on his hands and knees to beg for her forgiveness. Yet just before she said something that could harm her father’s position, she remembered that she and Father were traveling incognito.

No one was supposed to know who she was.

There was also a high chance these boys wouldn’t believe her anyway since the Imperial Princess coming to a small city in the boondocks was unheard of.

Hou Jingshu bit her lower lip.

The boys saw her hesitation and grinned. They didn’t know why she had stopped talking so suddenly, but they weren’t going to miss out on this opportunity. As the boys closed in, Hou Jingshu backed up, though she made sure to keep herself between these boys and the cat. She tried to think of a way out of this situation. Surely, there was something she could do, and yet no matter how she thought about it, not a single idea on how to escape from her predicament came to mind.

After all, Hou Jingshu didn’t have any strength.

She was just a young girl who had never trained a day in her life.

One of the boys reached out to grab her arm, and Hou Jingshu froze as she watched his hand close in. Yet just before he could grab her, a blurring figure appeared and checked him hard in the side, sending him to the ground with a cry of surprise. Hou Jingshu could only blink as a young girl around her age appeared in front of her. The girl turned her head to look at Hou Jingshu and smiled.

“I’m glad we got here in time. Are you okay?”

“Uh… ah… yeah…”

Hou Jingshu was stunned by how pretty this girl was with her pure white skin, raven black hair, and vivid blue eyes. She didn’t want to admit it, but she felt somewhat inferior to this mysteriously beautiful girl.

“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of this,” the girl said with a grin.

“We?” asked Hou Jingshu.

While the girl was talking to her, the boys who had been bullying the cat started shouting.

“What the heck?!”

“Who is this?!”

“Who cares! Let’s get he—AAAARRRGHHH!”

One of the boys tried to attack the girl, but then another figure appeared before them, a young boy with black hair and fair skin. The sleeves of his hanfu traced a swift arch through the air as he slapped the boy’s hand away from the girl, grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, and tossed the other child like he weighed less than a feather. The boy flew through the air and hit the ground hard.

Once the boys who had been closing in on her were pushed back, the two who came to her rescue presented a defensive barrier between her and them, as if to say these ruffians would have to go through them if they wanted to get to her. Hou Jingshu would admit that she felt a little star struck. Her heart was beating fast.

“You people are pathetic,” the girl said.

The boy nodded. “Ganging up on someone five to one is just sad and shows how weak you are.”

“Not to mention you were picking on a girl. Are you men or mice?”

“It seems there is no honor among brats.”

As the two began ridiculing the boys, Hou Jingshu held a hand to her mouth so no one would hear her giggle. She must not have been quiet enough. The two who rescued her turned to look back. She let out a squeak, but they just smiled and looked back at the boys as they picked themselves off the ground.

The five boys now looked angry as they stood to their feet and surrounded her, the two who rescued her, and the cat. She could see the viciousness in their eyes. Hou Jingshu became surprised, however, when one of those kids took a glance at her rescuers and balked.

“L-Lin! Check out their robes! Their robes!”

“Huh? What about their robes?” asked Lin.

“Look at the crest! It’s the Wu Clan crest!” the boy shouted.

Lin’s head snapped around so fast that Hou Jingshu thought it might break. He stared at her rescuers, the blood rapidly draining from his face. All the pride and arrogance he had worn when confronting her disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Ah… are you, um, by chance… Master Jian?” asked Lin, a nervous sweat rolling down his cheeks.

The boy who rescued her tilted his head. “That’s right. You’ve heard of me?”

“So you are. So you are. I see. I never expected to meet the Wu Clan’s strongest youth here.” Lin wrung his hands together. A cold sweat had broken out on his forehead. “Listen, um, we don’t want any trouble with you and the Wu Clan. This is… all of this was our mistake. We apologize for causing problems, so could you let us go? I promise you won’t see us again.”

Hou Jingshu watched the boy as he studied the five around them. They called him “Master Jian” and “the Wu Clan’s strongest youth,” which meant he was a noble from a clan. Since his clan’s name was Wu, she guessed his full name was Wu Jian.

She studied the boy a bit more. He had black hair that went down to his shoulders, pale skin, and his face was somewhat feminine, which gave him the appearance of a very pretty boy. However, his eyes held a confidence that few people his age possessed. They drew Hou Jingshu in and refused to let go. There was just something captivating about his eyes as he stared down at the group.

“Hmmm. I will let you all go,” Wu Jian said. The expression of all five boys grew so relieved it looked like they might start crying. “But first, you must apologize to the young lady here.”

Had this been before these two showed up, she was certain they would have been aghast at the idea of apologizing, but now all five boys got down on their hands and knees and kowtowed to her. They bowed so low they had pressed their heads into the dirt.

“We’re sorry! Please forgive us, young miss!” they said in unison.

Hou Jingshu had no idea what to do in this situation. She looked at Wu Jian, but he just looked back at her with a smile and tilted his head toward the five. It was clear he was telling her that she could decide their fate.

“Ahem.” Hou Jingshu coughed into her hand and tried to imitate her father’s imperious nature as she looked down at the groveling boys. “You are forgiven, but don’t let me catch you picking on a poor animal like this again. Have I made myself clear?”

“Perfectly clear!” the boys all shouted.

“All right. You can leave,” Wu Jian said.

The boys couldn’t get away fast enough. They scurried down the alley like their lives were on the line, leaving Hou Jingshu alone with her two rescuers.

“Um, thank you very much for coming to my aid.” Hou Jingshu folded her hands in front of her and bowed like she had seen some women do at the restaurants she had eaten at with Father during their travels. “I greatly appreciate the help.”

“It’s no trouble. We’re just glad you’re alright,” the girl next to Wu Jian said with a vibrant smile that caused Hou Jingshu to also smile. While the boy captivated her, this girl was no different, and she found herself wondering how someone her own age could be so enchanting. Hou Jingshu felt like a spell had been cast on her.

“Though I do have to wonder what happened. How did you and those five end up in such a situation?” asked Wu Jian.

“Oh, I was protecting a—ah! Where’s the kitty?!”

Hou Jingshu turned around toward where the kitty had been hiding behind her, only to discover that it was no longer there. She twisted her head around to look for the cat she had been protecting. It wasn’t anywhere to be found, however, making her shoulders slump.

“I see. You were protecting a cat,” Wu Jian said with a nod.

“Cats are very smart. It probably slipped away while you were busy confronting those boys,” the girl said.

“Oh. Yeah, I guess that’s what happened,” Hou Jingshu muttered in a low, disappointed voice.

The two must have sensed her despondency because the girl’s smile became several decibels more vibrant as she introduced herself. “Anyway, I’m Wu Meiying and this is Wu Jian. It’s very nice to meet you.”

So his name really was Wu Jian? She was glad to know she had gotten his name right. It would have been embarrassing if she had been wrong.

“It’s nice to meet you, too. My name is Ho—it’s Jingshu. Just Jingshu.” The two looked at her with raised eyebrows. She flushed and tried to change the subject. “Um, so you are both from the same clan? You don’t really look alike…”

Clans were not like sects, which were composed of dozens if not hundreds or even thousands of individuals with no blood relation. Clans were all family by blood. There was some variation in appearance as new blood was brought in to keep the clan from going extinct, but it was never enough to change the generally homogenous appearance that all members of a clan possessed.

“I was adopted into the clan,” Wu Meiying admitted with a bright smile.

“Oh. I see.”

“Anyway, since fortune and fate had us meet, why don’t we spend some time together?” Wu Meiying suggested as she reached out and grabbed the now startled Hou Jingshu’s hand. “Jian and I can show you around Zahn City. We know this place like the back of our hands.”

“Oh… I don’t know… my father is probably really worried about me by now…”

It was only now that Hou Jingshu realized how much time had passed. The sun had been steadily climbing in the sky when she snuck away from the carriage, but now it had reached its peak and would begin descending.

“Don’t worry about your father. You’ll see him again soon anyway,” Wu Meiying assured her.

“I will?” asked Hou Jingshu.

“Of course. After all, we’re the ones your father came here to see.”

“… Huh?”