When I was seven, I poked the hornet’s nest of Lu Jingming, heir to the Marquis Who Guards the North, with a bamboo pole. He got stung all over his face.
With red eyes, he threatened me: “Shen Zhiyi, just you wait!”
Ten years later, he returned from the border drenched in blood, a young general renowned throughout the capital. At a palace banquet, in front of everyone, he asked His Majesty for an imperial decree.
I shut my eyes in terror, thinking I was done for.
Then I heard him say, “Your Majesty, I ask to marry the daughter of Grand Tutor Shen... the young lady who’s exceptionally good at poking hornets’ nests.”
Amid the laughter filling the hall, he walked through the crowd and stopped in front of me. Bending down, he whispered so only I could hear:
“I’ve waited ten years. Now it’s time to pay me back, with interest. Shen Zhiyi, you belong to me for the rest of your life.”
