A Man

My father was a regent with immense power, but he hated me. He said my mother had caused the death of the woman he loved most. He let the child his beloved had borne torment and beat me, treating me like a dog or a pig. The joke was, his beloved had been unfaithful from the start. I was the only one of his children who was truly his; the two children he had doted on during the first half of his life were both the bastard's blood.

1. Today is the third day of the twelfth lunar month, the birthday of Princess Changning. Her happy day is my day of suffering. Princess Changning is sixteen this year, the same age as me. To her, the best birthday gift every year is nothing less than humiliating...