The Half-Spirit Princess - Chapter 2

Before dawn the next day, Mother turned into a fox and escaped from Qiao Yun’s house.

She ran through the wind, accompanied by the morning light and dew. The scent of magnolias washed over her, sweet and refreshing.

It was the smell of freedom.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t been free for long when an arrow whistled out of nowhere and pierced the red fox’s foreleg.

Father had shot it. He thought he’d hit a fox, but when he went over to look, he found a beautiful young woman instead.

Mother was already in a foul mood. Being shot made her erupt into furious curses on the spot. “Have you got fucking eyes or not? You can’t even tell a person from a fox? If those eyeballs don’t work, dig them out and let me stomp on them for fun!”

“Look at your ugly face. Ugly and blind. If I were you, I’d stop living altogether.”

“What? You’re calling him ‘Your Highness’? Fine! Come and look, everyone! A prince is amusing himself with ordinary folk, shooting me like game! If you don’t pay compensation today, I’ll take you to court until you’ve lost everything you own!”

When she’d finished, she lay down, shut her eyes, and tilted her head, pretending the arrow had killed her. No amount of pushing could make her get up. Father had no choice but to ask a servant to wave a large-denomination banknote in front of her eyes.

Mother opened one eye and fixed it on the note as though taking aim. Once she’d checked it, she snatched it away and stuffed it into her clothes. Color returned to her face instantly.

Father didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He asked if she would come to his residence for treatment.

Seeing his fine clothes and attendants, Mother decided that staying at his house would mean a few days of comfort. She agreed without a second thought.

At the princely residence, her days were filled with abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, and fish maw. She slept on a high bed with soft pillows, rode out in a carriage drawn by four horses, and had eight maids to wait on her. Life was wonderful.

She gradually discovered Father’s many good qualities, too.

He wasn’t handsome, didn’t harbor grand ambitions, and didn’t know how to coax her with sweet words. But he never used his rank to overbear anyone. He was open, composed, and thoroughly dependable.

Born into a noble family, he conversed with distinguished scholars and associated with educated men.

Mother, meanwhile, had spent six months with Qiao Yun and learned coarse manners from the village women. She swore constantly, ordered Father around all day, and would kick up unreasonable fusses at the slightest opportunity, spraying people’s faces with spit as she ranted.

Even so, Father never showed the slightest impatience. Whatever she got up to, his temper remained remarkably steady, and he watched her with a smile.

Later, he confessed his feelings and asked her to marry him.

Mother’s eyes darted about again. She decided to marry him first and observe him for a while. Was he really this good? If he wasn’t, there would still be time to run away.

That observation lasted eighteen years.

At last, she understood that Father truly was a rare good man. He was devoted to her alone. In eighteen years, he had taken neither a concubine nor even a maid to share his bed.

When my parents first married, every powerful family in the capital was astonished that the reigning emperor’s only full younger brother would make a twice-married commoner his principal wife. What on earth could he be thinking?

They weren’t the only ones puzzled. I couldn’t make sense of it either and once asked Father.

His answer was, “Your mother has the purest, kindest heart and a most entertaining disposition. I fell for her at first sight, and I shall never free myself from it. All those supposed shortcomings people mention are merely tiny flaws in fine jade. To us, they are the little pleasures of married life.”

All right. Fine. Wonderful.

I also once asked Mother why she hadn’t given me an older brother or sister after nearly six months with that scholar.

Mother gave a disdainful snort. “He wasn’t up to it!”