“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just think it’s not a good thing for Your Highness to have lost so much of your memory that you even forgotten such basic knowledge…”
The wastrel he was in the eyes of outsiders had instead become the tutor.
Though he was a thousand times reluctant, he didn’t hide the story from him.
Instead, he told it slowly and carefully: “There’s an ancient legend. Not long after Heaven and Earth were created, the stars hung high above, watching over all living things. One day, a sudden calamity struck, and the stars fell to earth, bringing disaster in their wake. All living beings perished. In those days, the Six Realms were incomplete, and countless souls could not be reincarnated. They wailed like ghosts day and night, accumulating endless resentment. So the stars used their light as energy and their soil as bodies to reshape all things. Since all newly created things shared the same origin as the stars, ever since then, everyone has been born with their own [Stars], and a rare few may gain a certain [Talent].”
Zhang Yang declared with certainty, “That legend has to be false.”
Shen Zhi’s explanation was cut off just like that.
“Why?”
“My human-observation samples tell me that everything shining in the night sky is a star. Which one of them isn’t bigger than the ground beneath our feet? And stars falling from the sky? If one came down and so much as grazed this mud ball beneath our feet, it could tear it apart. So it’s fake.”
Shen Zhi was utterly baffled.
She also got to experience firsthand what it felt like to have words slide right through her brain.
“Those so-called samples of yours are teaching people nonsense.”
Shen Zhi assumed Zhang Yang was talking gibberish.
Unless she hadn’t actually lost her memory, this noble lady had at most two days’ worth of memories.
Where could she have gotten “human-observation samples” to teach her such false common knowledge?
“You said everyone has one. Do I have one too?”
“Supposedly, yours is Nüchuang of the Purple Forbidden Enclosure.”
“What about my Talent?”
“Ordinary Nüchuang have no Talent, unless—” Meeting Zhang Yang’s furrowed brow, full of confusion, Shen Zhi hurriedly spoke before she could ask, “Many years ago, the Star Official Nüchuang was defeated in a struggle. Ever since then, anyone who obtains the Nüchuang Star is born with a congenital defect. It’s not impossible to defy fate and change your lot, but the price is enormous. With Your Highness’s noble constitution, naturally, you needn’t suffer through that.”
All of this was too complicated for Zhang Yang.
“How do you check what your Star is?”
The game interface only said “Not yet available,” not that there was nothing there.
For some reason, Shen Zhi abruptly looked away, his tone turning a little awkward.
“Your Highness, that’s truly improper!”
Zhang Yang: “…”
Shen Zhi had no choice but to undo the bracer.
He pulled away the neatly wrapped strips of cloth around his wrist.
Beneath the skin of his wrist was a small mark, something like a tattoo.
It shimmered with shifting colors and took the overall shape of a bird with its wings spread.
Shen Zhi let Zhang Yang look for a moment, then wrapped it back up.
“Everyone’s Star Totem is in a different place. Mine is relatively easy to spot; some people have theirs in more concealed places. If Your Highness asks about it so rashly, people might take you for a lecher.”
Zhang Yang nodded.
“Oh, I get it.”
I’ll keep an eye out while bathing to see if I’ve sprouted a new tattoo.
“Wasn’t it supposed to be harder to pass the civil service exam if you had a tattoo?” She’d gotten that idea from one of her observation subjects.
The game’s designers had perversely followed through on it, forbidding players from getting tattoos and forcing every tattoo parlor in the game to switch to selling temporary tattoo stickers instead.
“If the Star Totem’s position is random, could someone get one right on their asshole? What if they get hemorrhoids there? What would they do?”
Shen Zhi: “…”
He suspected Zhang Yang was deliberately messing with him.
But when he met her peach-blossom eyes, she really did seem serious.
She genuinely wanted to know what would happen if a Star Totem appeared on the fleshy bit where someone had hemorrhoids.
The answer was, Shen Zhi didn’t know either.
He was a spoiled young master, but one born into a respectable family.
Why would he be as curious as she was about hemorrhoids and Star Totems?
Crude, vulgar, utterly tasteless!
“Your Highness, mind your words and conduct!”
“I’m being perfectly civilized.”
See?
She hadn’t even triggered the game system’s censorship.
Zhang Yang watched the troops below, thinking over how to make her move, while sparing a little attention to ask Shen Zhi, “What’s your Talent?”
For some reason, Shen Zhi seemed even angrier.
His face practically spelled out, “Why bring that up?”
Zhang Yang pulled a knife from her game inventory and said flatly, “Forget it. If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. They have the numbers. If I charge into their formation alone, I won’t be able to look after the prisoners. If we can take the high ground, the clear view might help a lot. For now, take my head and stay here. We’ll split up. I’ll make a big enough commotion to draw their fire.”
Shen Zhi froze.
He understood the first few sentences.
But how had the rest suddenly become so outrageous?
“Take… your head? You—”
Before he could finish, blood sprayed across his face.
Zhang Yang deftly caught her flying head and tossed it into Shen Zhi’s arms.
He caught it instinctively.
In his palm, he could clearly feel the muscles in Zhang Yang’s head moving as she spoke.
“Sss-ha, that hurt a little. I’ll be more careful next time.”
Shen Zhi: “My lady!”
Zhang Yang said, “What are you standing there for? Climb somewhere high.”
The smaller the blind spot in her field of vision, the better.
Of course, if blind spots really couldn’t be avoided, Zhang Yang could also fight blind by sensing the airflow around her.
But that might lead to accidental injuries.
His molars ground together.
“Can you stop being so used to cutting your head off?!”
Just because she had once had her neck chopped through with an axe didn’t mean she should become completely used to being separated from her head.
Shen Zhi truly didn’t like this noble lady, but he had never wanted her head to keep coming off over and over.
Zhang Yang mumbled an assent.
“Fine, fine, fine. Next time, for sure.”
Carrying Zhang Yang’s head, Shen Zhi found a concealed spot with a relatively clear view.
Zhang Yang’s head reminded him, “I saw a pine tree growing out from the cliff. Want to climb up and give it a try?”
“Try what?”
“Hanging my head up there. The view’s amazing!”
That way, she could take in the entire battlefield below.
Shen Zhi: “…”
His face had gone pale.
So much so that he forgot one thing.
This noble lady was useless at all physical labor and knew nothing about farming.
From what her elder brother had told him, she disliked the martial instructors at the residence most of all, and would shirk horseback riding and archery whenever she could.
While her fellow clansmen of the same age had already made names for themselves, she still only knew how to throw her weight around.
Clearly, her arms and legs showed not the slightest trace of training or hard work.
Even if she had unexpectedly gained a Talent, there was no way she could turn the rotten into something miraculous in such a short time.
Charging down there so recklessly was suicide!
“Oh no!”
Worried, Shen Zhi stuck his head out over the cliff edge, apparently wanting to see where the headless noblewoman had fallen to her death.
The Four Battalions below were in perfect order.
“Your Highness, where are you? No, where’s your body?”
At Zhang Yang’s insistence, Zhang Yang’s head, finally dangling from a tree branch, edged closer to him.
“Three, two, one!”
A beam of golden light a zhang thick, accompanied by a surging torrent, shot straight toward the Four Battalions.
With a rumble, the golden light struck the ground, sending yellow sand billowing everywhere.
The nearby warhorses were startled, but as well-trained steeds, they didn’t panic or break ranks.
After only a breath or two, they had settled down.
“What was that? We’re under attack!”
As the thick mist cleared, it revealed a small pit a little over a chi wide.
Inside lay nothing but a gold brick the size of two palms.
“Hey, you little brat! Where are you looking?”