Those Years I Served as Fourth Master's Shadow Guard

Jiang Xiaoyu transmigrated. Her father did odd jobs at the Third Southern Compound, her mother chopped vegetables there, and ever since she was born, Xiaoyu had been feeding chickens in its back courtyard.

Feeding chickens was a safe job, but then an accident happened.

Her chicken startled the Crown Prince's dog. The dog bit the chicken. The chicken died. Before she could even cry, she found a letter plotting rebellion underneath its belly.

Xiaoyu, who hadn't been fired, was brought before Yin Zhen.

Fourth Master: What can you do?

She pointed at the dead chicken. It was plump and glossy, a delicious-looking bird.

Fourth Master: ...You have a chance to make up for your crime and earn a pardon.

She thought it over, then snatched a guard's sword with her bare hands. "I know martial arts. I'm really good at it. How about I become your bodyguard?"

The young, suspicious Fourth Master spent three days thinking it over, then let Xiaoyu out of the woodshed, where she'd been locked up and nearly starved to death.

"Be my bodyguard. My personal one."

-

She stayed by his side from the palace to the outside world, from Beijing to the northern frontier. She helped him fend off assassins and plots, and took punishment and blame for him.

He helped her go into business, hired tutors for her, and got her out of servitude so she could have a new identity.

He watched as her wings grew stronger, just as she had once stayed by him while he gradually established himself at court.

But one day, she actually said she wanted to leave.

"I want to live my own life. You promised me."

The day she left the capital, she wiped away a tear. She was going, but she couldn't bear to leave the chickens she raised in the back courtyard.

But when she turned around, she saw Fourth Master rushing toward her, covered in dust from the road.

"You can't leave. If you do, the residence will be having fried chicken tomorrow."

Xiaoyu: ...

"Or, wherever you go, I'll go with you."

*

Childhood sweethearts. The leads interact a lot, but before they leave the palace as adults, it's absolutely not romantic.

My own take on a Qing dynasty transmigration story, written just for me. Slow burn and melodramatic, so please be gentle. A deep bow to you all =3=

Theme: Fourth Master's journey toward a modern understanding of love