Chapter 12 Spy Training
This young lady was a trained Spy named Yin Xiu. The court had sent her to Hechi to run a chain of schemes.
I was to go with her as her maid and help provoke discord between the ruler and his meritorious subjects.
I turned and ran. That was a blade-licking job. I was only fourteen. I still wanted to live.
Song Dalang blocked the door and spoke gently.
“Hechi lacks resources and survives by raiding our border cities every winter. They burn, kill, and plunder. The people there suffer terribly.
“Zhu Yuan, if we kill Herdanba, we can stop the Hechi iron hooves outside our gates.”
I shouted back that I was just a maid and refused to carry the weight of the nation.
Su Chengyu grabbed the back of my neck.
“I will not make you lick blood. You only need to be a cook and stew various whips for others every day. Deal or not?”
I froze.
You mention this and I was suddenly wide awake.
So I agreed to stay.
Every day I studied writing, poison, and secret codes.
I cursed Su Chengyu thoroughly sixteen times. What kind of cook needed to learn the Thirty-Six Stratagems?
He had tricked simple people with simple feelings.
While I built rapport with Yin Xiu, Mama Wang delivered supplies one day. She quietly asked what relationship the young lady in the Su villa had with the young master.
I asked how to tell.
Mama Wang said if the young master kept visiting and they stayed glued together, they were in love.
I nodded firmly and told her Su Chengyu and Song Dalang were in love.
“???”