I was a plaything Xiao Zhulu bought in Nanjiang.
He named me Nanjiang Yan because I look seven parts like the woman he loved, who died long ago.
Xiao Jianli often jabs my waist with a hairpin. “My brother only likes your face.”
Qu Di grabs my chin and sneers. “You’re not even worth one of her hairs.”
Later, I crush the Gu worm, and Xiao Zhulu spits up blood as he asks who I really am.
I crush his breastbone beneath my foot and smile. “When you said you’d wipe out all eighteen strongholds in Nanjiang, did you ever ask if anyone had escaped?”