First Night at the Bureau
The Strategy Bureau revealed its true nature on my very first day—a battlefield of ink and implication, where every brushstroke could be a dagger in the dark.
Mountains of documents loomed like fortresses to besiege. A single misplaced phrase might trigger censure, impeachment, or worse. Here, men smiled with scholar's grace while their eyes calculated like merchants at auction.
I recognized this game. It mirrored the imperial court—no, surpassed it in treachery. No crown prince to shield me here. No allies. Only myself.
When I returned to the academy at dusk, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't scold my neglected studies.
"You never truly belonged here," he said simply.
At my chamber door, a shadow detached from the wall—Li Jun, leaning against the bricks with a paper bag in hand.
"Finally caught you," he grinned. "Your celebration dinner. My treat."
The night market unfolded around us in a riot of lanterns and laughter. Li Jun thrust a stick of candied hawthorns at me, then a steaming bowl of spiced soup. "Scholar types need heat to thaw those frozen expressions."
The broth burned my tongue, brought unexpected tears to my eyes.
"There!" He pointed at my face, delighted. "That's the look I've been missing."
We wandered past fortune-tellers and fire-eaters, paused at a ring-toss stall where Li Jun's spectacular failures drew cheers from children. For hours, I forgot the weight of my disguise, my mission—laughed freely for the first time since fleeing the palace.
At parting, he turned suddenly serious.
"When you're some grand councilor or even城主 one day," he said, "remember—a spice merchant once made you cough over cheap pepper soup."
The moonlight caught his smile, the lingering smoke of festival fireworks between us.
"I'll remember."
That night, for once, the darkness didn't feel quite so vast.
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and then Add to home screen.