Why does the dog I’ve raised keep wanting to run outside lately?
The physician from the southern part of town told Xue Ling that dogs were spiritual creatures. Perhaps it was because the dog was about to die and did not want to die in front of its owner.
Xue Ling’s heart sank.
Her dog, Xiaobai, had been by her side since it was little. How could it suddenly be dying?
Xue Ling begged the physician to save her dog.
Seeing how pitiful she was, the physician sighed softly. “Medicine for dogs costs more than medicine for people.”
In this world, not many people would save a dog. If a prince or nobleman liked the dog, he might spend a fortune to save it. But if it belonged to an ordinary family, they would simply eat it once it died. Even if they wanted to save it, there was nothing they could do, since they did not know what symptoms to treat. And who did not know that Rao Xue Ling from Beidou Village in Bencheng was an orphan? Even her house was constantly being patched up by tearing down one wall to repair another. She could not scrape together more than a few copper coins even when she herself fell ill, so how could she possibly afford expensive medicine for a dog?
The physician advised her that the dog would die sooner or later, and that she should bury it sooner rather than later to spare it the pain.
Xue Ling refused. She temporarily left the dog in the physician’s care and said earnestly, “Uncle Li, leave Xiaobai here for now. Wait a few days for me. I’ll be able to get the money to treat it.”
With that, she kowtowed several times to the physician. She struck her forehead so hard that it turned red.
Xue Ling could not be considered beautiful. Her eyelids were narrow, and the sparse lashes at their ends curled upward, thin and long. Her skin had a honeyed tint rather than being fair, the result of years of labor. Her eyes, however, were so dark and fathomless that they seemed bottomless. Her thin body had barely any flesh on it, and when she fixed her gaze on someone, there was an eerie quality to her, like someone who had just drowned.
Everyone in town said that her plain features were inauspicious and that she was liable to attract evil spirits. Thus, even matchmakers were unwilling to set foot in her impoverished home. Although she had long since passed the age of fifteen and was already in her twenties, she was still unmarried at twenty-five. The older she grew, the harder it became for her to marry.
The physician pitied her, but everyone had their own difficulties. All he said was, “I’ll be honest with you: this dog won’t make it. Either act quickly or get another dog.”
Xue Ling rose from the ground and smiled at the physician. “Thank you, Uncle Li. I’ll be going now.”
The physician watched her leave. Looking at the large white dog lying on the bed and whimpering, he shook his head, then busied himself carrying the dog inside.
The Qi Dynasty strictly controlled the scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, while the lowly-born made up the majority of the population. Thus, the lowly-born had their own way of living. Bencheng was a small town not far from the middle of the route supplying the city. Since the authorities could not extract much profit from it, they turned a blind eye to many things.
Even so, money was still hard to earn, especially for women. They could not do heavy labor, so the work available to them consisted of weaving, sewing, embroidering handkerchiefs, selling flowers, or becoming dancers and singing girls… Otherwise, they could sell themselves to a wealthy household as a maidservant.
She truly knew how to do nothing. She could not embroider; her mother had passed away before she had time to teach her, and the stitching on the patched clothing she wore every day was so ugly that it could hardly be looked at. Selling flowers could not earn her more than a few copper coins. She was not strong enough to do hauling work, and her looks were not outstanding either. Everyone who saw her said she was eerie, so she could not work as a dancer or singing girl.
She wanted to sell herself to a wealthy family as a maidservant, but she was intensely jealous of those who scattered money as though it were water. Naturally, she could not do that sort of work either.
After going back and forth, calculating everything repeatedly, she found that there were very few jobs she could do—and none of them earned much money.
If her dog had not fallen ill, she would not have been so anxious. But what could she do now?
What could she do…
Like a soulless shell, Xue Ling drifted down the street with a light, unsteady step and a heavy head, thinking about how she could earn money. She failed to notice the group of guards ahead, short swords at their waists, driving the crowd away. The waist plaques hanging from their belts bore the words “Beiding.”
As the saying went, commoners did not fight the authorities. Although the surrounding people did not know who warranted such an imposing procession, they all voluntarily moved far away, afraid of disturbing some noble person. The only exception was the utterly unaware Xue Ling.
She had been walking along in a daze when someone suddenly shoved her hard, knocking her to the ground. Her elbow was scraped red, but before she could cover the wound and cry out in pain, she instead lifted her head with some delight to see who had injured her.
But when she saw the tall guard before her, a man who could probably smash her into the ground with a single fist, she timidly swallowed.
It seemed she could not afford to provoke someone like him, but she still wanted to ask him for money.
Summoning her courage, Xue Ling tremblingly raised a hand. The next moment, the guard impatiently roared at her.
“Are you blind? Move farther away. If you disturb my master, even several heads won’t be enough to cut off.” The guard glared at her coldly.
C-Cut off her head!?
Xue Ling instantly came to her senses and caught sight of the waist plaque at his belt.
Unfortunately, she could not read. All she saw was something glittering gold. She did not know whether it was made of actual gold, but if it was, then scraping off just a little would be enough to keep her fed and clothed, and Xiaobai could be saved too.
“Get lost.” Seeing her standing motionless and staring at it, the guard added viciously.
Reluctant to tear her gaze away, Xue Ling slowly climbed to her feet and went to stand at the very edge with everyone else.
The guards left. Soon, everyone along the entire street had been driven to the sides, leaving an extremely broad road in the middle. Before long, a magnificent carriage slowly entered from outside the city. Its curtains hung low, concealing the person inside.
Like everyone else, Xue Ling craned her neck to stare. However, she had no real interest in the person inside. Her entire heart and mind were fixed on the beads hanging from the carriage’s upturned eaves.
They reflected a multicolored glaze beneath the light. They looked so expensive. If only one accidentally fell, happened to land by her feet, and no one except her noticed…
The carriage passed through her field of vision. The person inside did not show himself from beginning to end. Xue Ling did, however, learn from the two people whispering beside her that this was the carriage of the Marquis of Beiding’s Residence, and that the person inside was probably the Heir of the Marquis of Beiding.
The Marquis of Beiding was an extraordinary-grade noble personally enfeoffed by the late emperor. His fief was Jinyang, the wealthiest place in the north. The mountains and rivers east of the Yellow River were rugged and secure, and the region had many soldiers and warhorses; it was the arms and legs of the Yu Dynasty. Not long ago, the Marquis of Beiding had suffered a great bereavement. The young emperor had been deeply shaken and had specially summoned the heir back to the capital.
The common people did not know what the court intended to do, but… the Heir of the Marquis of Beiding.
Xue Ling’s ears sharpened when she heard that, and her heart gave a heavy leap. Her jealousy was instantly suppressed.
Someone that unimaginably important was too expensive even to envy. She was afraid that if anyone saw through her jealousy, she would be seized and beheaded.
Once the carriage had gone far away, the street returned to normal. Xue Ling had also thought of a way to earn money, and she headed toward the narrow, damp alley.
The damp alley was the place in town for under-the-table labor. There were highly paid jobs available, but they were all things other people were unwilling to do. Occasionally, though, if one was lucky, one could still find a good opportunity.
Xue Ling had not arrived particularly early today. When she got there, only two kinds of work remained to choose from.
Becoming a night watchman or hauling manure for a wealthy household.
If there was clean and easy work, she naturally would not choose to haul manure.
However, the night-watchman job that had once paid five strings of copper coins a month was already gone by the time she arrived. This time, the pay had risen to seven or eight strings of copper coins, yet no one had taken it.
Xue Ling raised her head and asked the man in front of her, “Has something happened lately?”
The man introducing the jobs was the manager here. Everyone called him Wang Yi. His ancestors had come from the same village as hers, but the two of them had never had much of a relationship.
She had only hesitated for a few breaths before Wang Yi snatched the wooden plaque from her hand. “If you’re not doing it, leave.”
How could Xue Ling let such a lucrative job go? She hurriedly took it back from Wang Yi and clutched it tightly in her hand, nodding so fast her head blurred. “I can do it. I can do it.”
Wang Yi looked her up and down, as though measuring something. “You start tonight.”
That suited Xue Ling perfectly. She nodded hurriedly, then asked with a bashful expression, “Brother Wang, could you pay me half a month’s wages in advance?”
Seeing how desperately short of money she was, Wang Yi frowned and waved a hand. “Let’s see how you do first. We’ll discuss it afterward. Come find me tomorrow.”
Xue Ling was about to bargain with him a few more times, but another pockmarked man squeezed in behind her and took the last remaining job. Wang Yi began explaining the work to him and stopped paying attention to her.
Afraid that someone else would take her lucrative job, Xue Ling tucked the wooden plaque away and hurried out.
Just after she left the alley, Wang Yi, who had given her the job, was questioned by the newcomer.
“Brother Wang, was the job that young lady took just now the night-watchman job?”
Wang Yi raised his head and glanced at him, displeased. “Why ask so many questions? Are you still going to do yours or not?”
The pockmarked man took the wooden plaque with his name hung on it and smiled ingratiatingly. “I am, I am. I was just curious, that’s all. I heard that ghosts have been haunting the town at night lately, and several night watchmen have been frightened to death. That young lady actually isn’t afraid. But she looks so eerie that maybe even the ghosts can’t tell she’s alive. Hahaha.”
Wang Yi lowered his head. “Do you have to run your mouth so much? If you’re not doing it, put it down.”
Seeing that, the pockmarked man said no more. He took the plaque and left.
Elsewhere.
Xue Ling only learned why the pay was so high, and why the job had been left until last without anyone claiming it, when she went to the government office to submit the wooden plaque. It turned out that ghosts had been causing trouble at night recently, and several night watchmen had been frightened to death. Thus, no one was willing to do the job anymore.
She had not left the house lately because of Xiaobai and had not known about this.
Which was more important, her life or money?
Xue Ling hesitated for only three breaths before decisively choosing money.
In the realm of the living, a poor ghost was more frightening than a dead one.
The constable took down her name and hung it in the night-watchman section, muttering, “This is the first time I’ve seen a female night watchman.”
Although Great Qi was not harsh toward women and some jobs did not specify a gender, most women stayed home to tend to their husbands and raise their children. They occasionally did scattered odd jobs, but there had never been a female night watchman.
Xue Ling watched her name sway in the wind from the iron hook. Pressing her lips together with restraint, she said, “This job pays more.”
The constable said, “It isn’t safe for a woman to do this. You’ll have to be careful.”
The crease between Xue Ling’s brows relaxed. The raised corners of her eyes pressed downward into a smiling curve. “Thank you, Constable. I understand.”
Unfortunately, no matter how bright her smile was, her naturally narrow eyelids and the large amount of white showing beneath her irises gave her an eerie, hair-raising appearance.
She had such a delicate, pretty face—how had she come to possess such plain eyes? And her irises were especially black. If she encountered a ghost at night, she could probably fight it to a draw.
The constable met her gaze. Unable to bear it, he shifted his eyes away first and rubbed both arms.
Xue Ling had long since grown used to people reacting this way. Her face showed no response. She merely lowered her head, allowing her thick, straight-across bangs to cover her eyes.
In early spring, night fell fairly early. By the hour of the Rooster **(5:00–7:00 PM), the sky was already dark and heavy.
The first watch began during the hour of the Dog **(approximately 7:00–9:00 PM)**. The night watchman would call out: “The weather is dry, so beware of fire and candles.”
Xue Ling walked all the way along South Street, where the lights of a thousand households glimmered in scattered candlelight.
At the second watch, the hour of the Boar **(approximately 9:00 PM–11:00 PM (China local time)**, she called out: “Close the doors and windows; guard against thieves and burglars.”
Several households had already extinguished their candles. Now and then, soft murmurs drifted from someone’s dreams. The night had begun to grow cold. She tightened her grip on the clapper, breathed warm air over it, and continued onward.
Whether because the night was cold to begin with or because ghosts had been causing trouble lately, Xue Ling constantly felt that something was following behind her.
She looked back. The road behind her was empty.
Could there really be a ghost?
She turned her head back fearfully, never expecting to see a figure dressed in white standing rigidly in the corner directly ahead. Beneath the bleak night wind, it swayed faintly.
Without thinking, Xue Ling’s face filled with terror as she cried out, “A ghost—”
Xue Ling wished she could throw the clapper at it, but if she lost it, she could not afford to compensate for it. Thus, she could only clutch it to her chest, turn around, and run.
She did not know whether that ghost was truly a ghost or whether it was pursuing her from behind. Gusts of cold wind against her back urged her not to stop, and she ran forward with all her strength, keeping her head down.
Xue Ling ran on, completely unaware that a carriage was proceeding leisurely straight ahead. It looked like the sedan chair of Yama himself, emerging from the underworld, with several towering warhorses and sinister soldiers accompanying it. Every one of them wore a sword at his waist, their eyes sharp and severe.
And so, terrified out of her wits, Xue Ling staggered straight into the carriage.
The horse shrieked and stamped wildly. In the ensuing chaos, the person inside the carriage was nearly thrown out.
A pair of long fingers wrapped in black leather gloves suddenly came to rest on the edge of the carriage from behind the gauze curtain. The long curtain swayed open, and Xue Ling seemed to glimpse the face of the person within, as clear as moonlight spilling across the earth. When he turned his eyes toward her, his dark pupils resembled beads rolling across an icy, untouchable inkstone—black enough to seize the soul.
Xue Ling had never studied, and did not know how to describe things. Her first thought was that he was so extraordinarily noble, with a face as white as flawless jade untouched by any impurity.
She was captivated by the young man’s outstanding features. Before she could recover, a cold, chill-radiating sword had already been laid against her neck.
The guard holding the sword before her was the man she had encountered during the day. The token of Marquis of Beiding’s Residence hung at his waist, shining goldenly before her eyes.
Xue Ling came to herself at once and hurriedly tried to rise and kowtow to him several times. But before she could even stand, the iron sword pressed against her neck, and she was dragged forward like a dead dog. Her shoulders were forced down, leaving her sprawled on the ground in a deeply servile posture.
“Honestly explain. Who sent you here?”
The one questioning her was not the noble person in the carriage, but the guard driving it.
Kneeling facedown on the ground, Xue Ling trembled, her voice shaking. “I’m a watchwoman sent by the constables of Bencheng’s government office. It’s my first day on the job. I had no intention of offending you, my lord. Please—”
Before she could finish begging for mercy, she was cut off. “Enough. Answer only what you’re asked.”
Xue Ling did not dare speak again. Her thin shoulders trembled faintly.
The man seemed to glance toward his master before asking, “You said you were sent by the constables of Bencheng’s government office. Do you have any proof?”
Proof…
Xue Ling thought of the fact that her name was still hanging at the government office, but clearly, this was not the right situation to bring that up. Instead, she raised the clapper and gong she had been protecting in her arms with both hands. They were her lifeline now.
“Please look, my lord. These are the things I use for making the rounds.”
The moment her voice fell, a light, elegant, alluring voice vibrated from the throat above her. Even the cold air of the winter night seemed to be pushed upward by it, making her cochlea tingle.
“A watchwoman? Bring them here and let me see.”
“Yes.”
A servant stepped forward and took the items she offered. He carefully wiped them over and over, and after confirming that they bore no filth, wrapped them in a clean white cloth before presenting them to his master.
The surroundings seemed to freeze. Xue Ling did not dare raise her head, unsure what the noble person in the carriage was examining.
After a long while, she heard a bang. It seemed that the clapper had been snapped and the gong bent out of shape. Someone casually tossed them in front of her.
“She really is a watchwoman.” The noble person in the carriage spoke in an even tone. “Mushan, take her to the constables and see whether her name is there.”
“Yes.”
The guard called Mushan climbed down from the front of the carriage and yanked Xue Ling to her feet.
Xue Ling did not dare complain. Before leaving, she could only stare blankly at the damaged gong and clapper on the ground.
The job she had been counting on to earn money was gone. She might even lose her life for offending someone powerful.
The carriage passed eerily through the streets in the dead of night, heading toward the city gate.
Mushan dragged Xue Ling to the government office. It was the first time in her life that she had seen the prefect.
The prefect hurriedly rose in the middle of the night, so flustered that he had not even managed to put on his official robes properly. He personally found the wooden plaque bearing Xue Ling’s name on the rack, then knelt and offered it up.
She really was a watchwoman. She had merely collided with the heir’s carriage by accident.
Mushan frowned as he looked at the woman kneeling before him. Her face was deathly pale, and her body was so thin she seemed almost as fragile as a sheet of paper. He turned to the prefect and said, “Since it was a misunderstanding, let it pass. The heir has not blamed her, either.”
“Yes, yes, yes. This subordinate will remember the heir’s words.” The prefect understood the implication in his words and hurriedly lowered his head to indicate that he understood.
Xue Ling also lay prostrate on the ground, expressing her gratitude for such leniency. “Thank you for your great kindness, Heir of the Marquis of Beiding.”
Her posture was utterly servile, but she felt no gratitude toward the Heir of the Marquis of Beiding. Instead, her heart was full of resentment.
If he had not inexplicably driven through the streets in the middle of the night, how could she have crashed into him?
By rights, they had broken her clapper and gong for no reason and caused her to lose her job. They should have compensated her. Why was she the only one expected to bear the consequences?
She truly, truly hated these people with power and influence. If one day he fell into her hands…
Xue Ling imitated the actors from the local theater, pulling her lips into a vicious smile. Her cold, indifferent face already looked gloomy and difficult to approach, and now it revealed a trace of malice.
Because her head was bowed so deeply, no one noticed the expression on her face.
Mushan tossed the plaque in front of Xue Ling and was just about to speak when someone covered in blood suddenly burst in through the door.
“Commander Mushan, the heir has been attacked!”
The words “the heir has been attacked” struck the prefect’s ears. How could he remain kneeling? He hurriedly scrambled to his feet.
Mushan’s expression also changed drastically. He took a step toward the door, then suddenly turned back to the prefect.
“Do not summon anyone. What happened tonight must not be spread.”
Though the prefect did not understand, he still nodded and agreed.
As Mushan passed by, he saw that Xue Ling was still kneeling on the ground. He ordered her to rise and leave, then sternly warned her once more not to tell anyone about what had happened that night.
It seemed they intended to conceal the fact that the Heir of the Marquis of Beiding had encountered danger. Xue Ling agreed.
Mushan ordered the prefect to bring men and search for him. No one had time to pay any more attention to Xue Ling.
By the time Xue Ling left the government office again, it was already midnight. Not only had she failed to earn any money, she had nearly lost her life as well.
Xiaobai was beyond saving, too.
It was not because she lacked the money. On her way home after leaving the government office, she saw Xiaobai, who had run away, lying dead by the roadside. The dog’s body had already gone rigid.
Xiaobai had been run over at the city gate, his head crushed flat beneath a wheel. And the carriage that had passed by not long before had belonged to the Marquis of Beiding.
The night was so cold that she trembled. Carrying Xiaobai’s stiff corpse in her arms, she returned home as though she were a wandering spirit, her head heavy and her steps unsteady.
She lived in the desolate southern outskirts of the city. Almost everyone there had moved to the prosperous areas near the main street. Only a few scattered, impoverished households remained, with no choice but to continue relying on farming for their livelihood.
Xue Ling’s residence looked rather large, but years of neglect had left it in disrepair. In truth, only the main gate was sturdy. Everything inside had long since fallen apart, been patched, and fallen apart again.
Xiaobai had once guarded the entrance, so no one had coveted her impoverished little courtyard.
But when she returned that night, she discovered that the lock on the door was loose.
Xue Ling stared at the half-closed door, thinking that she must have been in too much of a hurry when she left that morning and forgotten to lock it.
After all, the house was so poor that even a thief would have spat in disgust and left. She had never been robbed all these years, so it never occurred to her that anyone might have come.
When she pushed open the courtyard gate and saw someone lying in the courtyard, she was so frightened that she hugged Xiaobai and stumbled backward.
Xue Ling instinctively wanted to report it to the authorities, but after taking one step, she suddenly stopped.
She turned her head and looked at the motionless figure lying in the dilapidated courtyard. The white robe on his body was clean as a heap of snow, while the golden crown on his head shimmered beneath the moonlight, dazzling her eyes.
He seemed to be unconscious.
Many thoughts flashed through Xue Ling’s mind. In the end, she drew back the foot she had started to move and cautiously approached the person in the courtyard.
Only after drawing near did she realize that the figure on the ground was a man. His long hair covered his face, making his features impossible to see. He must have encountered some misfortune; blood stained the white robe on his body.
Xue Ling crouched before him and carefully set Xiaobai down. She first pulled open the bloodstained clothing on his body, then brushed the long hair away from his face.
When she saw his features clearly, Xue Ling covered her astonished lips. Her narrow, weary eyes widened slightly.
It was him!
Not long ago, while making her rounds, she had knelt humbly before his carriage and begged him to forgive her for offending him by accident, terrified that she might not live to see the next day.
But now the young man was not wrapped up as thoroughly as before, with even his hands covered in black leather gloves. Perhaps, while fleeing along the road, he had found them inconvenient and simply taken them off and thrown them away. His collar was disordered, and only one black leather glove remained. The skin exposed beneath it was as pale as white bone that had not seen sunlight for years—a sickly pallor.
Without all those layers of clothing covering him, she was just close enough to smell the clean fragrance emanating from his body.
Unable to resist, Xue Ling leaned over and knelt beside him, slowly burying her face in the hollow of his neck.
So fragrant…
It was like the enticing fragrance of a night-blooming flower spreading through the silent night.
Xue Ling became intoxicated and wrapped her arms around his neck. The tip of her nose pressed against the pale skin exposed at his throat, rubbing against it involuntarily. The more she rubbed, the more she felt as though she could not breathe, as though she were suffocating.
Her entire body was submerged in that enticing fragrance. She did not notice the young man in her arms move his long, thick eyelashes ever so slightly. All she noticed was that the fragrance seeping from his skin grew increasingly intense.
Moonlight fell upon the two of them. Xue Ling frantically buried herself against his body and breathed him in, like a female ghost clinging to a man and greedily sucking away his vital energy.
Xue Ling could not stop. Only when she was nearly suffocating did she come to herself. Her eyelids were half-lowered, damp with mist, as she glanced at Xiaobai lying to one side.
Xiaobai’s snow-white fur was exactly like the face of the young man in her arms—pure and harmless. The only difference was that the young man smelled so good, so good that for that moment, she seemed to have forgotten her pain.
She turned her head and looked at the man who had once been as distant as snow on a faraway mountain. Now he lay in her ruined courtyard, his long hair black as ink, his skin white as luminous jade, his entire body emanating an alluring fragrance. He seemed like a gift from heaven for all the poverty she had endured over the years.
In the darkness, a sinister thought surged up from her heart.
It was all because of him that she had lost a newly acquired job with a decent income. And now Xiaobai was dead, too.
No one knew that he had been rescued by her. Everyone would only assume that he had met with an accident and been abducted.
Why not hide him?
Hide him in the bedroom whose roof leaked whenever it rained.
Just like raising a dog.
Author’s Note:
Ding-dong, your dog has arrived.
The novel is finally open! I chose an auspicious day to begin, and there will be three updates today in total. Now, a few content warnings:
1. Readers with an intense preference for male leads may want to consider this carefully. From the synopsis to the title, the male lead is going to be bullied in the early chapters.
2. The male lead has a severe case of Stockholm syndrome, but he is perfectly lucid. He will love the female lead obsessively, be deeply insecure, be skilled at mentally manipulating himself into pleasing the female lead, and she will love him too, blah blah blah.
3. The female lead is not a traditionally beautiful woman. She is accustomed to using her gloomy demeanor to hide her beautiful eyes, so in many people’s eyes, she seems ordinary, plain, and honest. Of course, her nature is not bad either. Because she grew up severely deprived of affection, she is prone to jealousy and fantasy, and her first reaction to anything is always to think of herself.
3. In the early stages, the female lead will bully the male lead a little. Later, the male lead will have the attributes of a male ghost, with an extremely forceful and obsessive love. No matter how the female lead tries to escape, he will cling to her like a bone-deep affliction, sticking to her and impossible to shake off. It will get rather twisted.
4. I haven’t thought of anything else yet. I’ll add more later.
PS. I left the full Author’s Note because i feel like you gusy sould read it too.. Enjoy reading everyone 🙂