1 Prologue (1/2)

Beneath the scorching sun, the small village of Xiang Li was full of life.

The bustle of the village was almost heard from the next village, every single person living in Xiang Li seemed to be so happy doing their everyday life.

Inside a small worn out cottage with roof almost sunken and had holes that made the sunlight glaring through, a young girl at the age of 13, was sitting on a chair surrounded by girls having the same age as her, laughing and talking and one of the girls stared at Jiao Yu for a long time, the girl named Cai Lin couldn't take it any longer and asked, ”I heard from my mother that your father will be coming back soon. I wonder what stories he will tell us when he comes back.”The other girls chorused after her, saying that they are also curious.

”I don't know but father said that he would be back this month on my birthday and also the day of the full moon.” When Jiao Yu's words just landed, silence took over the bustle but recovered as the girls started to squeal in excitement and happiness as they keep on giving best wishes to her.

Jiao Yu knew how much her friend's love her father's stories and she too could not help but be fascinated by the stories her father told them about the places he'd been in Ding capital.

And now that he's about to come back after 3 years of working as a servant in a nobles residence, she could not help but be filled with excitement as she thought of her father.

Jiao Yu's father had been working outside the village, going back and forth from Xiang Li to Ding capital and work there for 3 to 5 years regularly and he could only come back home after some period. Though he was always away, her father would always find some way to spend some time with her and her friends, telling stories or sometimes cook for them when he could come home.

And Jiao Yu could not really feel the loneliness as everyone in the village took care of her when her father is away.

Being daughter of a servant was hard and full of trials, yet the people in the village helped her a lot in times of hardship which she was greatly grateful of, but because of what she had heard and know from what her father told her from his stories, she could not keep herself to feel a little bit ambitious.

She was desperate to learn what the other girls in some cities had been learning and with the help of the village head, she learned to read and write added with the fact that she was born exceptionally beautiful and she slowly gathered the attentions she wanted, like bees attracted to honey.

Until now, she had been living the way she had been living and contented with it but the day before her birthday and before Jiao Yu's father's arrival an occurrence happened, the village's benefactor came to the village for some matters which they told her that greatly involved her father.

She was curious to know what matter it was that needed her father who have not stayed in the village for long that the village's benefactor would seek him, and yet, the villagers only gave her two things to do tomorrow.

First, she needed to wear the dress her aunt will give,

And second, She needed to go to the top of the mountain before the first of the five night watch (19:00-21:00) to meet her father.