Chapter 1 A Fishing Head's Daughter

Zhang Lihua's father was a fishing head.

Zhang Lihua was a little terror of Yun County since she was a child.

Zhang Lihua eventually married a *tanhua* (third-ranking scholar).

...A real *tanhua*, not from the Liao Dynasty. The Liao Dynasty had long gone. This *tanhua* was the kind who would parade through the streets of Dongjing.

Do you believe it?

Zhang Lihua certainly didn't. When some old fortune-teller, who appeared out of nowhere in Yun County, started babbling such nonsense to her, Zhang Lihua clutched the basket half-full of fish, the veins on the back of her hand throbbing. Finally, staring at the wrinkles on his face, she remembered what her father had said about respecting the old and cherishing the young—or rather, her father couldn't utter such elegant words—anyway, something to that effect. She stared at him darkly for a moment with her small face, then turned her head and spat loudly to the side—

Ptooey!

She was young and illiterate, but she wasn't stupid. What *tanhua* would marry a fisher girl like her? Yours? If you want to lie to people to scam them, at least make it believable. If you want money, just say so. Anyway, she, Zhang Lihua, was poor, so she wouldn't give a single copper. Feeling like she'd been played, Zhang Lihua carried her half-basket of fish home angrily. When she mentioned it to her father, she didn't expect him to just laugh for a bit like he was enjoying a joke, then pout and glare at her: "Why can't Zhang Rong's eldest daughter be a minister's wife?"

"Huh?" Zhang Lihua's muddy little face was a picture of disbelief. "Has Minister gone mad? What could he see in me?"

Her father pondered for a long time: "That's true."

Zhang Lihua was infuriated by her father again.

How did those operas and storybooks put it? Oh, coincidence, nothing is impossible. Zhang Lihua felt a sense of kinship when she heard those words. Why? Because she felt like she, like the fairy ladies in the stories, had a beginning, development, twist, and conclusion. She really did marry a *tanhua*, just like that old man's nonsense, ptooey, the result of his fortune-telling. At that time, her father was already a majestic general.

Zhang Lihua never thought she could hook a golden turtle (rich husband), just like she never expected her father to become a general, wearing carved leather boots, clattering around importantly. Zhang Lihua's greatest expectation for her father was that he wouldn't just show off in the southwest of the *Shui Po* (Water Margin), but would find a way to suppress those fishing bullies. Later, her expectation for her father was that he would quickly find a wife. It was said that the previous emperor wanted to transport something called *hua shi gang* (exotic rocks and plants), and as a result, her father was made some kind of headman, which led to his imprisonment, and her mother died of grief.

When her father was rescued by those uncles and rebelled against the officials and went to Liangshan, Uncle You, the scholar, grabbed her and hurried to catch up with her father, so she wouldn't be left behind. Zhang Lihua stared for a long time at the bloody mess on her father's clothes, and then listened for a while to the layers of shouts echoing, "My grandfather was born and raised in Liangshan Marsh, his nature is to kill."

Zhang Lihua said to her father, "Mother is dead, just died a few days ago. Uncle Xiao and Fifth Uncle borrowed some silver and helped bury her. Remember to pay them back."

Zhang Lihua's throat was a little dry. She licked her lips and then said, "I haven't rested. Find a place where I can sleep for a while."

—After a sleep, she, Zhang Lihua, would once again be the lively, energetic little terror of this place.

Her father led people in singing "Not afraid of the imperial court, not afraid of officials," and Zhang Lihua wasn't afraid either, not even of her father. Her father even sang something like "Heroes can't read poetry, they only live in Liangshan Marsh," which she found quite contemptible. What? You're proud that you can't read poetry? You can't read poetry, so you were imprisoned by those who can, and you still say you killed the officials in Dongjing. Ptooey, does he think his daughter doesn't know his background? Who knows what year he took a trip to Dongjing, and when he came back, he kept talking about the "rich and noble atmosphere" he learned from some bird in Dongjing, envying it as if it were something special. Does he think she, Zhang Lihua, doesn't know that her father wants to live in Dongjing more than anything?

She, Zhang Lihua, wants to too!

Zhang Lihua understood very well: Dongjing is full of wealth, so why should only the officials enjoy it, and not those who transport *hua shi gang*? Doesn't he know that because of the *hua shi gang*, they can't even fish? In the past, Zhang Lihua could disappear without a trace, taking a bunch of kids out of Yun County to run around in the mountains and rivers. Why can they only stay in Liangshan Marsh now? Her father said that Dongjing has everything, but Liangshan Marsh has nothing but water and grass. What is there?

Zhang Lihua wasn't most concerned about this. In Liangshan Marsh, all the aunties and young women are taken, but what about her father? After her mother died, he only knew how to point fingers at her, saying she sewed worse than her mother and cooked worse than her mother. Was that appropriate? Also, an uncle who helped bury her mother, a young man, had a hole poked in his shoulder. He was haphazardly bandaged, and because there was no way to find a good doctor outside, he died. There were many more things like this. Whether people died or not, Zhang Lihua didn't care much, but her father was a leader, so he had to take care of other people's lives, right? Just like before, when he was a fishing head, everyone recognized him. When the *hua shi gang* made everyone go hungry, if he didn't go and argue with the officials, who would? The fish in the basket?

That doesn't make sense!

Zhang Lihua didn't recognize the reasoning of the officials in Dongjing, and felt that those birds had no sense either. She had her own reasoning, but reasoning couldn't overcome the crooked logic of those who read books. Later, Zhang Lihua added another reasoning: the crooked logic of those who read books couldn't overcome those who wielded knives and swords. Those people—later she learned they were the Jin Dynasty Jurchens—were even wilder than those uneducated "heroes." In the past, they secretly made you feel like the world didn't want you to live well, but now? Now they openly stated that in this world, fishermen, farmers, and woodcutters couldn't survive!

Zhang Lihua was not convinced. The officials were always talking about killing and chopping, so what about the Jurchens? Why shouldn't people live? Why should the people of Jizhou be their targets? Why were a dozen towns in Jingxi slaughtered because they were not up to their standards? Those Hebei people also had two eyes and one nose, so why were they treated like animals? When her father spoke angrily, Zhang Lihua nodded like a chick pecking rice. She had never been to those places, and she didn't know many Hebei people, but she felt that what her father said was right! She picked up the wine bowl and drank it all in one breath heroically, placing it heavily on the table, bravo!

Bravo my ass. Her father's face darkened, and he flicked her forehead.

Her father's dark face wasn't very obvious. Zhang Lihua had never seen her father with a pale face. She and her father looked alike, definitely father and daughter, tall and dark-skinned. She had never understood why her father wanted to call her Lihua (Pear Blossom). Didn't he know how white pear blossoms are? Who was he mocking with this name? Even if that was the case, Zhang Lihua felt that she was not a flower, was she? Flowers sway in the wind, all graceful and delicate. She, Zhang Lihua, would only climb a tree and shake it, making those flowers on the branches tremble even without wind.

Zhang Lihua asked her father about this, and her father glanced at her sideways: "Can't you learn from the wife of that Official Liu?"

Zhang Lihua was impatient. She kicked a wooden board and threw it into the woodpile, chopping the bloody beef into pieces with two loud bangs, and sneered back: "If I learn, will I have a peach red and willow green (maids) to serve me tomorrow?"

Zhang Rong stared at the chipped knife in his daughter's hand and quietly shut his mouth.

Actually, it didn't matter whether she learned or not. It was better to be fierce and not suffer losses. Zhang Lihua knew that her father was just saying that. She was over fifteen, and not a single suitable marriage prospect had appeared. Whose fault was that? It wasn't because Zhang Lihua's fierce reputation was well-known. There were some good young men under her father who liked her, but her father wasn't happy. He thought they had no future, no culture, and their small bodies might not even be able to beat his daughter. This made Zhang Lihua too lazy to persuade him. She didn't care whether she married or not. Looking at how picky her father was, what could he pick out!

...She really didn't expect him to pick out a *tanhua*.

She wasn't there when her father did something as outrageous as kidnapping a *tanhua*. It was said that at first, her father mistakenly kidnapped the wrong person, but somehow, the *tanhua* himself came to her father with an imperial decree. Oh my, Zhang Lihua was so shocked when she heard about this. She hadn't been this scared in her nearly twenty years of life. Now her father was also a high official, and Zhang Lihua also had a mirror that her father bought. She looked in the mirror and thought, oh, looking at her appearance... she was quite a pretty young woman, just a bit dark—but this bronze mirror wasn't very bright either. But could her reputation have spread to Dongjing? Into the ears of that Yu *tanhua*? Impossible, right? So what did this Yu *tanhua* see in her?

Could he be stupid? She wouldn't like a fool who only knew how to read!

The junior officer who came to pick her up was so familiar with her in the *Shui Po* that he could be like a brother to her. He smiled and said, "It's not that Yu *tanhua* took a fancy to you, it's that the Emperor has taken a fancy to your father!"

Zhang Lihua understood, although she always felt that something was wrong with those words, it didn't stop her from suddenly understanding. What kind of person was the Emperor? This Emperor was different from the previous two Emperors. This Emperor had taken a fancy to her father, and she was a hundred times willing and relieved!

But that being said, Zhang Lihua still had to get married. The wife her father later married wasn't very suitable, always talking about the *tanhua*, making her nervous. Could the *tanhua* wield a knife? Could he ride a horse? Could he swim? Did he like sour or sweet? Could he drink a jar of strong *lajiu* (preserved wine)? This newly married mother was also very earnest, stamping her feet anxiously: "Why do you keep talking about these things! The *tanhua* is the God of Literature! A scholar!"

Oh! A scholar! What books has the *tanhua* read... no, what books hasn't the *tanhua* read?

Zhang Lihua rolled her eyes and her face fell. Could she live like this? Could it be that he would read while she wielded a knife? Wouldn't he immediately despise her after she married? Her father was at least someone the Emperor had taken a fancy to, so maybe she couldn't get a letter of divorce, but she, Zhang Lihua, had to have a letter of separation, right?

Zhang Lihua sighed and grieved like a young woman... like a pampered young woman... but not quite, because when other young women grieved, they would recite poetry to the sparrows and birds, but when Zhang Lihua grieved, she would wield a whip and ride a horse wildly. She, who used to swim like a fish, was now making rapid progress in riding. On the eve of her marriage, she was reluctantly made up and adorned with hairpins and jewelry. She went out with a head full of pearls and flowers and exchanged glances with her father. They both found her wedding appearance very funny, and also a little caught off guard with embarrassment. On the other hand, her mother cried and sniffled, her lips moving as she hummed for a long time, squeezing out a sentence: "If you quarrel... just come back... don't fight with your husband with knives..."

Zhang Lihua heard her clearly, and her father couldn't help but snort twice. She became angry, flicked her sleeves, turned around and strode out. When she reached the entrance of the *tanhua*'s mansion, she secretly glanced around, and hey, Zhang Lihua suddenly came back to her senses!

She, the only daughter of Grand Commandant Zhang, Zhang Lihua of Yun County, was getting married by imperial decree!

Her back was straight and her breath was strong!

Zhang Lihua instantly perked up and became energetic. She strode into the Yu family's door, becoming the wife of Yu *tanhua*... the wife of Yu Yunwen the *tanhua*...

Zhang Lihua stared straight at the little Yu *tanhua* with her almond-shaped eyes, without even blinking. The soaring spirit that had just been born was instantly cut in half.

Handsome face.

Tall and magnificent.

*Tanhua*, with talent.

And he had burned the Jin people's ships with her father!

Hiss! Zhang Lihua was dazed. Really? This person was going to be her husband? Was she, Zhang Lihua, worthy of such a person?

—She had lived so many years in vain. She never expected that she, Zhang Lihua, was such an extraordinary young woman!

Zhang Lihua refreshed her understanding of herself. On our little Yu *tanhua* Yu Yunwen's side, he was also a little nervous. He didn't know if it was because he had secretly imagined Zhang *xiaoniangzi* (young lady) too much based on Zhang Taiwei (Grand Commandant). Now, looking at her, she had willow eyebrows, almond eyes, and vermilion lips. She wasn't as dark as Zhang Taiwei. She was a bit tall, but not as tall as himself.

She certainly wasn't a heavenly beauty, Yu Yunwen never even thought about it. But she wasn't ugly either. The young woman was also very pretty!

Being stared at by such a pair of dark eyes from the person who was about to become his wife, would he be embarrassed during their honeymoon?

—Of course he would!

After the first night of this auspicious day, Zhang Lihua swept away her dark clouds and became more energetic. Yu Yunwen breathed a sigh of relief and was slightly tired. Zhang Lihua was very satisfied with Yu Lang (Yu Yunwen), and the more she thought about it, the more she felt that her father, who had kidnapped Yu Lang, was amazing. Later, Zhang Lihua was really curious. She cupped her face, lowered her voice, and called him with a rare bit of coquettishness, "Ask you something."

Yu Yunwen looked up: "?"

"Hey," Zhang Lihua said softly, "Why did you think of taking the imperial decree to my father's door?"

There was something wrong with these words. What do you mean by "to the door"? Yu Yunwen immediately wanted to explain the whole story to clear his name, but firstly, the whole story wasn't easy to say, and secondly—

"Why did you think of asking this?" Yu Yunwen said.

"Oh, isn't that what it is, that, that thing..." Zhang Lihua stammered for a long time and couldn't think of it. "What's that sentence that you courtiers always say?"

Yu Yunwen was at a loss: "...Please execute Yang Yizhong?"

Oh, how cruel. Zhang Lihua slammed the table angrily: "Everything must have a beginning!"

Yu Yunwen understood. He pondered for a moment: "I happened to have no wife..."

Zhang Lihua's face vaguely darkened a degree.

"And I've been wandering for many years, and the Emperor also knows that most of the courtiers don't have *xiaoniangzi* (young ladies) of marriageable age..."

Zhang Lihua's face became more and more like her father's.

Yu Yunwen's voice was faintly tinged with a smile: "So isn't it a coincidence? A marriage arranged a thousand miles away is tied by a single thread. None of the other members of the same class are like us."

Zhang Lihua's face softened and became more like Yu Yunwen's. She savored it for a moment and realized that the good *tanhua* hadn't said at all why he had agreed. She glared with her almond eyes, staring at Yu Lang under the lamp. The more she looked at the beauty under the lamp, the more intoxicated she became. Yu Lang was indeed the jade carving man that Zhang Lihua recognized. She couldn't even get angry for a long time. She snuggled over, wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned against his back, and whispered in his ear. She accidentally breathed on his earlobe, tickling him, like a lecherous rogue: "What was the first line of *Qing Ping Diao* that you told me before?"

—"A branch of red peony, rich with dew and fragrance; compared to you, all other beauties are but fleeting dreams."

The heartbroken Yu Sheren (Official Yu) had to get up early the next day. Before leaving, he stared down at his wife, who was hugging the quilt and sleeping soundly, with a dark face that was very similar to hers. He met a classmate and was asked, "Why are you also holding your belt, learning from the Prince of Yan'an?"

Yu Yunwen thought of Liang Hongyu, the princess of the commandery who could go to battle with the army, and inexplicably felt that he didn't need to be so jealous of that unique jade belt.

Everything must have a beginning. It was probably because Mount Tai (Zhang Rong) kidnapped him, Yu Yunwen, that he was particularly majestic and tall among all his classmates.

Zhang Lihua, who slept soundly until the sun was high in the sky, didn't know her husband's complicated thoughts. She used a full lunch with a contented face. It was said that she had really been sleeping soundly since she got married. After all, he was a *tanhua*. It wouldn't do for Zhang Lihua to always be illiterate. So she looked for books to read. It was okay to read poems like "The life of a goddess is but a dream, and the place where the young girl lives has no lover," but if she wrote "Duke Zhuang conquered Duan in Yan" on the paper, well, even the habit of taking a nap was developed. Furthermore, if she read the news reports about the original learning, what a formula, she would say that it was sleeping pills, specially for people like her.

Zhang Lihua was worried. She said that she was like her father, so if it was a boy, wouldn't he be like his mother? That wouldn't do! So she gritted her teeth and insisted on finishing reading the so-called "basic" books in Yu *tanhua*'s mouth. She started reading the news reports and notes, making clippings that were more detailed than the busy Yu Sheren. Later, when Yu Yunwen taught his son to read and was so angry that he didn't choose his words, he would say, "You're not as good as your mother!"

Zhang Lihua would often stare angrily at her daughter, who was playing tricks and didn't want to learn needlework: "Your patience is not as good as your father's!"

Then the couple would exchange glances, and finally Yu Yunwen would helplessly and amusedly correct, "It's patience..."

Patience is patience, so what's wrong with *nai xing* (another word for patience)? It's just that you, Yu *tanhua*, take it seriously! Zhang Lihua waved away a few noisy children and pulled out a pear blossom from the bottle and threw it over. Yu Yunwen caught it easily and asked her, "What's the reason for this?"

What flower did Yu *tanhua* get back then? Zhang Lihua remembered clearly, it was the rare and beautiful Begonia flower of Bianjing City!

"What reason? The reason of a pear blossom tree crushing a Begonia."

However, Yu *tanhua* was no longer the shy young man he used to be. The handsome face of the *tanhua* was mischievous: "You've used 'a pear blossom tree crushing a Begonia' wrong again."

"I insist on using it wrong, so what if I use it wrong," Zhang Lihua said, justified but loud, "Can't I use it, Yu *tanhua*?"

Yes, a spring night is worth a thousand gold coins, the flowers have a clear fragrance and the moon has shade.

This was still the meaning that he, the talented Yu Yunwen, explained to his wife!