Author's Note
Oh my goodness, guys, look who it is! It's an perspective switch! ٩(◕ヮ◕)۶
We are officially diving directly into the mind of our little resident ex-spy, Xiaofan! Get ready to see what she *really* thinks about her crazy situation, the incredibly dramatic Tang family, and our favorite "heroic" beggar, Xiu Liang.
Grab your popcorn, don't forget to **Comment, Follow, Share, and Like**, and let's get right into the story!!!(♥ω♥*)
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Hello, everyone. I am Xiaofan. I am fourteen summers old, and until approximately three hours ago, I was a highly trained, deeply stressed spy for the prominent Tang Family of Yang City.
For the past two years, I have done my absolute best to follow every single rule, regulation, and standard operating procedure in the *Official Tang Spy Handbook*.
Rule Number One:
Never show emotion.
Rule Number Two:
Blend into the background.
Rule Number Three:
Try very, very hard not to get murdered by your employers' ridiculous extended family.
To help you understand why I decided to abruptly quit my job without giving a two-week notice, let me introduce you to the lovely, utterly terrifying household I used to work for.
The Tang Family Directory (Or: Why I Needed Therapy)
The Tea (Spy Intel)
**General Tang Gong Weiyuan**
*(47 summers)*
Head of the Tang Family.
Name means: *"Strong Pressuring Depth"*
The greatest General in Yang City. He radiates an aura so heavy it feels like gravity multiplies by five whenever he walks into a room. He rarely speaks; he just *pressures* you with his depth.
**Madam Qiao Daiyu**
*(43 summers)*
First Wife.
Name means: *"Black Jade"* The favored granddaughter of the powerful Qiao Family Head. She treats everyone like they are dirt beneath her silk slippers. Her glare can curdle milk at twenty paces.
**Tang Gong Rong**
*(18 summers)*
First Son & Eldest Heir.
Name means: *"Strong and Honor"*
**[Author's Note: He is the literal villain of this world! Or at least, the ultimate antagonist of the main plot.]**
He is aggressively handsome, intensely brooding, and completely, pathologically obsessed with Lady Jiao Shu (*"Delicate and Pure"*) of the Heng Family. Too bad for him, Lady Jiao Shu is the Female Lead of this universe and wants absolutely nothing to do with him!
**Tang Xiaojian**
*(16 summers)*
Second Young Master.
Name means: *"Little Healthy"* **Irony at its absolute finest.** He is the immense, gluttonous fatty who just tried to have me publicly executed in the marketplace. He is about as "healthy" as a bucket of lard, and his temper is worse than a toddler missing naptime.
**Tang Wen**
*(14 summers)*
Third Daughter (Legitimate).
Name means: *"Warm"*
She is not warm. She is a spoiled, shrieking brat who spends her entire day sighing over Young Master Huang Jinhai (*"Majestic and Golden Sea"*) of the Lao Family.
**[Author's Note: Huang Jinhai is the Second Male Lead of our main story, which means Tang Wen is destined to have her heart brutally broken. Sucks to be her!]**
**Concubine Xiu Guang**
*(40 summers)*
First Concubine.
Name means: *"Light"*
A master of passive-aggressive embroidery and spending the General's money on fancy hairpins.
**Tang Meixiang**
*(12 summers)*
Fourth Daughter.
Name means: *"Beautiful Fragrance"*
Concubine Guang's daughter. She spends 90% of her time practicing the zither terribly and the other 10% judging everyone's fashion choices.
**Concubine Wen Xioli**
*(37 summers)*
Second Concubine.
Name means: *"Intellectual"* Actually reads books, which makes her an anomaly in this family. She mostly tries to stay out of the First Wife's way.
**Tang ZhenZhen**
*(8 summers)*
Third Son.
Name means: *"Very Precious"* Okay, let's clear something up: **ZhenZhen is a boy's name, but it sounds exactly like a girl's name.** Because of this, he is incredibly defensive and throws temper tantrums by throwing expensive jade vases at servants' heads.
As a spy placed inside the city's premier pleasure house, my job was to collect every single scrap of political gossip, blackmail material, and military movement I could get my small hands on. I was a professional. I was a ghost.
But one day, I hit a massive, metaphorical brick wall.
During my routine surveillance, I accidentally intercepted a piece of information belonging to a faction far, *far* stronger than the Tang Family.
They weren't just city-level nobles; they were imperial-level players. And the worst part?
*They knew I was a spy from the Tang household.*
They didn't kill me immediately. Instead, they gave me a single, terrifying option. And when you are a fourteen-year-old girl staring down the barrel of an imperial execution squad, you choose whatever option keeps your head firmly attached to your neck.
I chose to cut my ties with the Tang family. Permanent retirement.
Now, I know what some of the readers might be thinking.
*"Xiaofan, aren't you being an ungrateful person? The Tang Family literally picked you up off the streets when you were a dying, starving orphan!"*
Listen to me. Yes, they saved my life. But I have more than paid them back with two years of psychological trauma, sleepless nights, and putting my life on the line every single day in a shady pleasure house!
I risked my neck to bring them secrets, and the moment I became a slight inconvenience, Second Young Master Fatty tried to chop me into pieces! We are square!
Besides, the person who offered me an escape route wasn't just some random underworld thug.
He was none other than **Prince Longwei Zian**, the Crown Prince of the Land of Minzhu and the future King!
He casually walked up to me and offered me a position as a personal maidservant in the royal palace.
A safe, secure imperial job with a steady dental plan! Who in their right mind would say no to the future King?! I accepted it without thinking twice.
But there was a catch: I needed to actually *reach* the Crown Prince's entourage before the Tang Family's assassins realized I had defected.
Which brings us back to my current situation: sitting by a riverbank in the middle of a dark forest, relying entirely on a very strange, very dirty beggar boy.
=====°°°°°
The Boy with the Magic Legs
As the crackling campfire warmed my freezing hands, I watched the beggar boy scramble around the forest brush.
What was his name again? Right! **Xiu Liang**.
He told me he was sixteen summers old, making him two years older than me.
Honestly, he is an absolute enigma. For someone who looks like he hasn't seen a bar of soap since the previous imperial dynasty, he is incredibly kind.
Normal people in Yang City would have stepped over my bleeding body to avoid getting their shoes dirty, but he literally jumped right in front of five broadswords for a stranger.
*Though, his vocabulary is very bizarre,* I thought, chewing on a piece of sweet grass.
*What is a 'f*ck*r'? And what does it mean to curse a system to the 'tenth power'? Is he a rogue mathematician?*
"Hey, Xiaofan!" Xiu Liang's voice called out from the dark foliage.
A split second later, he literally *blurred* through the bushes, moving so fast that a gust of wind ruffled my hair.
He dumped a massive pile of firewood and three glowing yellow spirit fruits onto the ground, panting lightly.
I blinked in utter shock.
*How is his movement technique so advanced?!* I have seen high-level martial artists from the Tang Family execute agility forms, but Xiu Liang didn't even use any spiritual energy!
He just... ran like a frightened rabbit at Mach speed!
"Here, eat up," Xiu Liang wheezed, tossing two of the yellow fruits into my lap.
I took a bite, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head.
"Mmm! It's so sweet! It feels like... warm energy is flowing into my chest!"
This wasn't just ordinary wild fruit; this was a **Golden Sun-Drop Spirit Fruit**!
Cultivators spend dozens of silver taels in auction houses to buy these to replenish their core energy, and this beggar boy just found three of them growing in a random bush like they were common apples!
I looked at him with newfound reverence.
*He must be a hidden master,* I concluded silently.
*A brilliant, eccentric genius who chooses to live as a beggar to test his mental fortitude. Yes, that makes perfect sense!*
As we ate, I decided to show him the portrait of my older brother, Lu Chen, the Ghost Blade.
I told him we needed to travel three days north to the Hidden Bamboo Village to find him. I felt terrible for dragging him into my mess, but he didn't even hesitate. He just accepted it, muttered something about an "interface," and told me to get some sleep.
Watching him tend to the fire with such a serious, focused expression, a deep sense of gratitude filled my heart.
*I need to pay him back for saving my life,* I resolved, wrapping my arms around my knees.
*Once I safely reach Crown Prince Longwei Zian, I will use my new position to convince the Prince to hire Xiu Liang! Surely the royal palace has a need for a hidden master with supernatural leg speed. He could be a royal messenger, a high-ranking guard, or... at the very least, the palace's official head of running away from danger!*
With that comforting plan solidified in my mind, I leaned against the soft mossy bark of the tree, closed my eyes, and let the warmth of the fire drift me into a peaceful slumber.
=====°°°°°
Morning Routine and Malfunctioning Beggars
The next morning, I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the smell of something burning.
I snapped my eyes open, my spy training instantly kicking in. I reached for a weapon, only to remember that my only current asset was a half-eaten spirit fruit.
I looked across the extinguished fire pit and saw Xiu Liang standing near the riverbank, engaged in a bizarre ritual.
He was aggressively waving his hands in empty air, poking at nothingness, and whispering angrily to himself.
"No, you stupid piece of junk!" Xiu Liang hissed at a blank patch of space.
"Why is the map function locked behind a paywall?! I'm trying to navigate a historical wilderness, not buying DLC for a mobile game!"
I tilted my head, completely baffled.
*Is... is the hidden master having a spiritual breakthrough? Or is he just completely insane?*
"Brother Xiu Liang?" I called out softly, stepping toward him.
He froze mid-poke, his hand hovering awkwardly in front of his face.
He slowly turned around, giving me a strained, incredibly guilty-looking smile.
"Ah! Xiaofan! Good morning!" he stammered, dropping his hand to his side.
"You're awake! Splendid! I was just... uh... doing my morning facial exercises. Very important for blood circulation. Keeps the wrinkles away."
"I see..." I said, absolutely not believing a single word.
"You were speaking of a 'map function'?"
"Right! Yes! The... Map of the Celestial Heavens!" Xiu Liang improvised wildly, sweating profusely.
"I was meditating on the cosmic directions. Anyway! Are you ready for our three-day trek to the north? Because according to my internal compass—which is entirely free and doesn't require fifty system points, *cough*—we need to start moving before the sun gets too high."
I smiled gently, deciding to play along with the hidden master's eccentricities.
"Yes, Brother Xiu Liang. I am ready."
As we walked along the river path, heading north toward the Hidden Bamboo Village, I kept a close eye on our surroundings. My spy senses were tingling. The forest was entirely too quiet, and the air felt heavy.
"Brother Xiu Liang," I whispered, pulling on his ragged sleeve.
"We should be careful. The path ahead enters a narrow gorge. It is the perfect location for an ambush."
Xiu Liang stopped dead in his tracks. His face instantly turned a pale shade of green.
"An... an ambush? Like... people with swords standing behind rocks?"
"Precisely," I nodded, admiring his caution.
*As expected of a master, he is already calculating the enemy's positions.*
"Right. Cool. Awesome," Xiu Liang mumbled, his voice trembling slightly.
"Hey, Xiaofan, just a quick logistical question. If I were to, hypothetically speaking, grab you and run at double the speed of sound in the exact opposite direction for the next four hours... how would you feel about that?"
I blinked. *What a fascinating tactical strategy! A feigned retreat to throw the enemy off balance! Truly, his mind works on a completely different level.*
Before I could answer, a loud, mocking laugh echoed from the cliffs above the gorge.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here. The little runaway spy and her pathetic beggar boyfriend."
I looked up, my stomach dropping. Standing on a high boulder, looking down at us with absolute malice, was none other than **Tang Gong Rong**, the first son of the Tang Family. The villain of the world had arrived.