The year Jianjian was born, the village harvest failed completely. Her mother drank a village remedy, forcing down two bowls of medicinal broth, but Jianjian still came crying into the world in the twelfth lunar month.
The midwife smacked her lips. “This girl’s got a wretched fate. Even beating her won’t get rid of her.”
And so she was named Jianjian, a wretched life that wouldn’t go away.
When she was six, she was sold to the Fu family. Madam Fu was kindhearted. Seeing that the girl was young and fairly presentable, she said, “Let her stay by Second Young Master’s side as a maid.”
Fu Jingbai was only seven that year, at the age when even dogs found him annoying. The first time he saw Jianjian, he was lying beneath the veranda teasing crickets. He glanced up at her. “What’s your name?”
“Jianjian.”
Fu Jingbai frowned. “That doesn’t sound nice. From now on, I’ll call you Jianjian. It sounds bright and lively.”
It was the first time anyone had given her a new name, as if they were taking her life back into their hands for her.
Only it was his hand...
