During the Lantern Festival, a light snow fell, and the thirteen main streets facing the Vermilion Bird Gate were ablaze with lights.
If someone stood atop the Sky-Reaching Tower within the imperial city and looked down, they would see the vibrant energy of the bustling crowd blending with the radiant lantern light, forming an intricate tapestry that illuminated the heavens and awed the nine provinces. Beneath the glow of this tapestry, the demons and spirits lurking in the shadows scattered in all directions.
Some spirits desperately fled the city, while others, even at the cost of their lives, rushed to enter.
The city gates, meant to close at the start of the xū hour (7 PM to 9 PM), remained wide open. The gatekeepers, distracted and restless, gazed toward the thirteen streets, calculating whether they could still make it to the lantern festival with their families after their shift.
In their moment of distraction, a shadow flashed by. The nine dragon lanterns hanging on the gate flickered briefly, and when they lit up again, no trace of the shadow remained within the reach of their light.
Only in the shadow of the gate, a few drops of dark blood stained the ground.
At the same time, a young girl in a thin, plain white robe stood alone at the side entrance of the Jinyang Marquis Estate. Tiny snowflakes fell, dusting her eyelashes with a thin layer of snow, concealing the panic and unease in her eyes.
The gatekeeper returned after about half a quarter-hour, accompanied by a stern-faced middle-aged woman.
Upon seeing Ji Chan, the woman frowned slightly and stepped forward, her tone cold and unyielding: “Eldest Miss, why are you here?”
“Mother Qian, today is my father’s birthday, and I thought…”
Before she could finish, Mother Qian cut her off, her voice tinged with clear impatience: “Eldest Miss, you know today is the Marquis’s birthday. Why would you come to disturb him? Are you trying to ruin his birthday banquet?”
Ji Chan faltered, then said softly, “I just want to see my father and say a few words to him.”
“No need for that. You should remember your place. You have no connection to our Marquis Estate, and the Marquis will never see you.” With that, she turned to leave, but at that moment, a round-faced maid approached from the opposite direction.
Ji Chan recognized the maid as Chunhe, the personal attendant brought by Lady Xue, the Marquis’s second wife.
Chunhe studied Ji Chan for a moment before turning to Mother Qian and asking, “What is Mother Qian doing here?”
Mother Qian forced a smile and explained, “It’s the Eldest Miss. She insists on seeing the Marquis, but how could the Marquis have time for her now?”
“I see,” Chunhe said, glancing at Ji Chan from the corner of her eye before continuing, “The Marquis is indeed very busy today. However, I can take the young lady into the estate and report her arrival. If the Marquis is unwilling to meet, you may only catch a glimpse of him from afar and pay your respects with a kowtow. That way, the bond between the Marquis and you, as father and daughter, can be considered fulfilled. How does that sound?”
Ji Chan bit her lower lip, feeling no pain. She heard herself reply, “Alright.”
Chunhe smiled, but as she turned, her tone grew stern as she addressed Mother Qian: “The Eldest Miss of this estate is our young lady, not anyone else. Mother Qian, you must be more careful in the future.”
“Yes, yes, look at this old servant’s foolish mind,” Mother Qian said, bowing repeatedly with a forced smile, not daring to say more.
Ji Chan watched the scene in silence, still unable to comprehend how she had fallen to this point.
Just ten days ago, she was the legitimate eldest daughter of the Jinyang Marquis. But in an instant, a woman claiming to have been her mother’s personal maid eighteen years ago appeared, declaring that Ji Chan was not the Marquis’s blood but the illegitimate child of her late mother’s affair.
At first, her father refused to believe it and had the so-called maid driven away. But then Lady Xue persuaded him to investigate the truth to protect the late Marchioness’s reputation.
They first verified the maid’s identity, then, under her guidance, found the midwife who had delivered Ji Chan’s mother. The midwife insisted that Ji Chan was born prematurely but showed no signs of prematurity.
Based on these questionable accusations from unknown sources, her father’s expression changed instantly.
He never considered that her mother’s premature labor was caused by distress upon learning of his injury during a military campaign.
Later, they somehow found several servants who had worked for her maternal grandfather’s household before its downfall. Those servants swore they had seen her mother meeting privately with another man before her marriage.
Like actors in a play, one after another, they took the stage, each adding a line that effortlessly destroyed her mother’s reputation.
And Ji Chan, the legitimate daughter of the Marquis Estate, became the evidence of her mother’s infidelity.
Five days ago, she was expelled from the estate. Before she left, Lady Xue looked down at her and said that her father, out of consideration for years of upbringing, would not pursue the matter further, but she must remember the Marquis Estate’s kindness.
No matter what, Ji Chan could not accept such a grave accusation against her mother. She thought that today, her father’s birthday, might remind him of the bond he shared with her mother, prompting him to reinvestigate the matter.
Chunhe led her to wait in the garden corridor before heading toward the brightly lit area of the garden.
Ji Chan gazed at the distant lanterns, suddenly recalling last year when the garden was also adorned with flower lanterns. At her urging, her mother had joined her in solving lantern riddles.
In just one year, her maternal grandfather’s entire family had been exiled, her mother had passed away, and now she stood in the Marquis Estate, waiting for someone to relay her request.
After hesitating for only a moment, Ji Chan walked toward the lantern-lit area. The closer she got, the clearer the sounds of women’s laughter became.
She stopped by a rockery and saw her father not far away, solving lantern riddles with Lady Xue and her two children.
Xue Zhao, holding a flower lantern, stood to her father’s left.
Xue Ying stood to his right, even affectionately clinging to his arm.
The four of them stood before the lanterns, chatting and laughing. Xue Ying called him “Father” repeatedly, as if they were truly a family.
A family?
Ji Chan’s heart tightened, her gaze fixed on Xue Zhao and Xue Ying standing beside her father.
She had rarely met Lady Xue’s children before and had never paid close attention. But now, she suddenly noticed how strikingly similar their profiles were to her father’s, especially Xue Zhao’s.
And how could Lady Xue allow Xue Ying to be so close to her father unless they were his true daughter and father? Was there any other explanation?
She finally understood why, just three months after her mother’s death, Lady Xue could enter the household, bringing her two children with her.
Perhaps she should also understand why she had ended up in this situation. She even began to suspect whether her mother’s sudden illness and death, following the exile of her grandfather’s family, was truly due to sickness.
Ji Chan felt her body growing colder. She realized she might never have truly known her father.
When she was young and asked him to play with her, he always said he was busy. It wasn’t that he lacked time, but that his beloved daughter was not her.
Ji Chan didn’t linger. She quietly left the way she came.
The words she had rehearsed in her heart for so long scattered. What was there left to say? The accusations pinned on her mother might well have been orchestrated by her father for Lady Xue’s sake.
About a quarter-hour after Ji Chan left, Chunhe returned to the corridor to find her, only to discover she was gone.
She inquired at the gatehouse and learned Ji Chan had already left.
She quietly relayed the news to Lady Xue, who was sitting in a stone pavilion watching her daughter solve lantern riddles. Lady Xue’s eyes flickered, and she whispered a few words to her eldest son, Xue Zhao, who then stood and left.
Ji Chan walked out of the Jinyang Marquis Estate and looked back at the tightly closed vermilion gates, her shoulders slumping.
She asked herself, what use was it to guess the so-called truth? What could she do?
Her grandfather and uncle, who could have stood up for her, were exiled. Her mother was gone. She was alone.
Even if she told the people of the capital the truth, would anyone believe her? No one would, and she had no evidence.
The snow fell heavier that night.
Like a walking corpse, Ji Chan passed through the lively crowd. Her hands and feet were numb from the cold due to her thin clothing, yet she seemed unaware as she walked toward Changping Lane.
After being expelled from the estate, she had been living in a small shop in Changping Lane, a gift from her mother the previous year.
When she left the estate, they didn’t let her take a single item of her mother’s. If not for that shop, officially registered under her name, she would have nowhere to live.
Changping Lane was more than half an hour’s walk from the estate. Fortunately, it was the Lantern Festival, and there was no curfew.
Ji Chan crossed the brightly lit, bustling main street, passed through Yongping Lane, and gradually left the noisy crowd behind. The only sound was the crunch of her shoes on the snow.
At some point, the snow had covered the ground, leaving only her footprints on the long road.
The closer she got to Changping Lane, the sparser the lanterns became. Fortunately, the snow illuminated the path beneath her feet.
Just one more crossing through Anping Lane, and she would reach Changping Lane. Ji Chan paused to rest, cupping her hands to her mouth to blow warm air onto her nearly frozen fingers.
After a brief respite, she continued toward Changping Lane. As she passed a narrow alley, she suddenly heard heavy breathing nearby, as if a beast were panting in the lane.
Before she could think further, a shrill roar pierced the night. From a nearby residence, a terrifying sound erupted, followed by several figures leaping into the air, their blades flashing.
Ji Chan heard someone shout, “The demon is heading east!”
The east side of the residence was exactly where she stood. Her heart raced with panic, unsure of what to do. A foul wind rushed from behind her.
Several meteor-like arrows followed, one piercing straight through her chest from behind before she could react.
The next moment, the demon changed direction, fleeing south. The figures chasing it followed suit.
As she collapsed to the ground, Ji Chan vaguely saw a figure with a bow pause on a rooftop, seemingly looking in her direction.
She heard someone say, “Lord Xue, the demon seems to have escaped…”
The figure vanished in an instant.
Ji Chan lay on the ground, the excruciating pain nearly driving her to despair. The surname Xue… They never intended for her to live. But she didn’t want to die.
Her hands clawed at the ground, her body inching forward. Her mind was blank. She didn’t know what this struggle meant, but she refused to give up her life.
She didn’t know how long she crawled. The pain seemed to fade, but she was so weak she could barely breathe.
As the darkness of the alley enveloped her, she struggled to lift her head and met a pair of blood-red beastly eyes.
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