Shortly after, Zheng Huo bid me farewell, stating a family emergency required his immediate return. Though reluctant, I wished him a smooth journey, and thus all three romantic prospects were extinguished.
After my fifteenth year, I rarely encountered An Jin. My family knew little about these romantic episodes, and he surely knew even less, unaware of Yuan Xiang’s origins.
Yuan Xiang, seeing I hadn’t responded, tugged at my skirt. I bent down to kiss her neck. “Where are you taking me?”
She confidently led me to the back of the courtyard, stopping under a large elm tree. She barked excitedly, circling the tree and digging at a specific spot.
I squatted down, unsurprised to see several dead rat corpses in the hole she’d dug. Yuan Xiang sat proudly beside the pit, like a soldier awaiting inspection of her enemy casualties.
“Okay—very good,” I said, pulling out a piece of dried meat to reward her. “Very strong.”
Praised and rewarded, Yuan Xiang looked at the rat pit and then at me, filled with happiness.
The narrative includes family interactions, particularly her return home, sibling interactions, and a warm family dinner.
After dinner, Father called me into the study and asked earnestly, “A Yao, is there something wrong between you and An Jin?”
Chapter Five: Dogs and Men
Father usually buried himself in historical books and rarely cared about my emotional life. This talk indicated he had heard something.
I sat upright, puzzled: “My relationship with Zhuo Yi is very good. Why do you ask, Father?”
Father hesitated, pulled out a scroll, moistened his index finger, and carefully opened a chapter: “During the Zhao Ping era of our Da Qi Kingdom, there was such a beautiful story…”
I felt a sense of impending doom. My siblings and I feared nothing except Father’s historical tales. He believed in the wisdom of history and loved to persuade others using historical references. Whenever he explained something, he would quote classics and start with a historical anecdote, often drifting from point to point and forgetting his original message. Such discussions could last hours, leaving listeners confused and unable to escape.
I was speechless. “Even if Father’s assessment wasn’t tampered with, what about the other things? Mother was robbed, and there’s my elder brother and younger sister…”
