She Called Herself a Fool
Everyone in the capital knew that Lu Heng, the powerful General Who Guards the North, kept a foolish beggar girl in his manor.
He had picked her up from the mud and pampered her with fine clothes and food. Everyone said the general was kind. Only A Nuan knew the truth: she was a substitute, a tool meant to provoke his first love. The general would gently comb her hair and teach her to write, but there was always someone else in his eyes.
Then his first love really did come back.
The man pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on her head, coaxing her softly in a tone she couldn't understand. “A Nuan, help me seduce someone, all right?”
A Nuan obediently did as he asked.
She knew nothing of love. To her, the general's word was everything. She would smile clumsily at another man, sweetly serve him food, and use everything the general had taught her, exactly as he had taught her.
But she couldn't understand why, whenever she came back from going out, that lofty man would pin her against the wall, eyes bloodshot and voice so hoarse it sounded as if it might break. “A Nuan, don't smile at him like that. Don't.”
Later, when Lu Heng finally understood his own heart and wanted to keep his A Nuan by his side forever,
A Nuan tilted her head, her eyes clear and bewildered. She wiped the tears from his face and asked innocently, “General, why are you crying? Wasn't this what you told A Nuan to do?”
