Before the Cicadas Sing

In the seventeenth year of the Jian Yuan era, a remarkable young woman appeared in the capital, Shangjing.

Her name was Shen Yiyi, the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Anyuan. She had bright eyes, pearly teeth, and a pretty little face, that is, as long as she didn't open her mouth.

At that very moment, the young lady of the marquis's household was riding a black pig down Vermilion Bird Street at full speed.

“Make way! Everybody, get out of the way!” Shen Yiyi clutched the pig's ears for dear life, her legs clamped around its belly. “The brakes have failed! No, the pig's gone haywire! Oh no, don't ram the sugar figurine stall, ”

The black pig charged wildly through the street. The sugar figurine stall toppled with a crash, and the old man who ran it chased after them, ladle in hand. “My Guan Yu! My Zhao Yun! My eighteen weapons, ”

Shen Yiyi couldn't spare a glance behind her, because she'd spotted something even more terrifying.