The Pearl Diver

Before leaving, Chu Ji asked me to wait for him for five years. He promised he would return within that time.

Five years passed with no word from Chu Ji. Even the pearl mussel he had entrusted to my care had disappeared. Perhaps this was fate! He and I were simply not meant to be.

But then, that very night, he came back.

I asked if he had come to retrieve his pearl.

Without a hint of worry, he took a pearl hairpin from his robes and held it out to me. "Zuo County has been forced to pay tribute in pearls for decades. The people have suffered terribly. I have explained the situation to His Majesty, who has ordered that Zuo County no longer needs to pay tribute in pearls.

"You have raised pearls for many years, and you have rendered a service. I obtained this pearl from His Majesty for you. Take it as my betrothal gift. We will be married soon!"

Only then did I understand: I was the pearl he had been trying to reclaim all along.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.