Note: A short writing exercise, tragic ending, third-person narration, lots of melodrama and many original setting details
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I was eight the first time I saw the young heir's real face. My master had died after a failed mission, and I was hiding in a cave in the garden's artificial rockwork, crying.
His guard said I deserved to die, but the young master stopped him and said, "Enough. Give the order: no one is to go near the garden."
I timidly peeked at the young master from behind the artificial rock. He held out a sachet to me.
"Take it."
"The garden is all yours today. Go ahead and cry."
My hand trembled as I reached for the sachet. I heard the handsome, dashing young master laugh.
He said, "I thought you were a girl. Turns out you're just some bratty boy. How boring."
Because of those words, I studied martial arts for seven years, all so I could be chosen as the young master's personal guard.
I did it.
But the young master didn't recognize me. He even thought I was a strange-looking man with delicate features.
The day everyone found out I was a woman, I volunteered for a mission and suggested using a beauty trap.
The young master raised an eyebrow when he heard me out. "Can you pull it off?"
"Oh, I forgot. You already look like a woman."
When I appeared before the young master in women's clothing, he froze, then blinked. "You were a woman all along?"
He pulled me into his arms and sat me on his lap. Then he traced my jawline with his hand and started to open my collar. I was so frightened that I shut my eyes.
After a long moment, nothing had happened. I opened my eyes and saw him looking at the old and new scars covering my chest. He said calmly, "After this mission, switch to a different line of work. I'm not so helpless that I need a woman to protect me."
When the young master was caught in an accident, I fought my way through a band of bandits, determined to protect him with my life.
I got him out alive and brought him back to camp.
As he lay unconscious, barely clinging to life, he said to me, "Xiao Jiu'er, I want you to be safe."
Theme: Keep growing, even in adversity
