Slay Spring and Return

[A practice work. Updates whenever inspiration strikes, but the story will be completed.]

The whole capital praised Third Miss Xu for her good fortune.

She was the daughter of a minor seventh-rank official, born to a concubine, yet she had married the legitimate eldest son of the Minister's household as his legal wife.

Though the eldest young master had been ill since childhood and was confined to his bed, looking as if he wouldn't live much longer, even the wedding procession and ceremony had been handled by the household's second young master on his behalf.

Along with envying her, the whole capital was waiting to see Third Miss Xu make a fool of herself.

-

Less than half a month after the wedding, Chen Yan'an heard rumors about his new wife from the servants.

For example, she had brought soup to his second brother the day before yesterday, tea and pastries yesterday, and had then "happened" to run into him in the front garden that morning.

Everyone said that he was gravely ill and had little time left. Chen Yan'an thought so too.

So that night, he went to their bedroom despite his illness, though he and his new bride had never shared a bed.

Between the sheets, his face, pale as moonlight on fresh snow, was flushed from coughing. The handkerchief he used to wipe his lips was stained with blood, yet his eyes were gentle as he looked at his new bride.

"I know I've wronged you. I'll write you a letter of divorce. After I'm gone, you won't have to remain a widow..."

Standing with her head bowed a short distance away, the new bride's heavy, tousled bangs hid her eyes. Her hands were clasped behind her back, and her fingers slowly turned a cold blade that had just tasted blood from someone's throat.

-

Jing Li was a blade the emperor kept hidden in the dark.

Three months ago, the trail in a case involving the orphaned heir of a rebel prince, whom the emperor considered a thorn in his side, had gone cold at the Ministry of Justice.

An imperial secret order was issued. Under the identity of Third Miss Xu, she married into the Minister's household, suspected of having ties to the rebel prince's case, and was tasked with deciding the fate of everyone under its roof.

-

At first, Jing Li also thought Chen Yan'an was a pure lotus untouched by the mud of the world.

Only later did she learn that he was a demon born at the feet of the Buddha.

On a rainy night, she was surrounded and attacked. Her embroidered-spring saber was battered with notches. As blood and rain ran across her eyes and blurred her vision, this man, who seemed at once like Buddha and a demon, came leisurely toward her with a sword in one hand and an umbrella in the other. He tilted the umbrella three degrees toward her and asked:

"Will you work with me?"

Note: The setting is entirely fictional. Only a few elements of the official system are based on the Ming dynasty.

Theme: Though we walk through the dark of night, dawn will come at last.