Summary
Everyone in the Cheng family was good to the bone.
Then there was me: the ruthless exception.
My parents worried themselves gray.
“Behave like this, and what will become of our ancestors’ good name?”
I waved a hand.
“It’s fine.
Every time I do something wicked, I light a lamp in the ancestral hall.”
“If our ancestors don’t put it out, that means they approve.”
My parents hesitated.
“Is that really how it works?”
Why shouldn’t it?
Still, to spare their consciences, I balanced every wicked deed with ten good ones.
Before long, the common people were praising me as a living bodhisattva, beautiful and kind.
Just then, the crown prince decided he needed to win the people’s hearts.
One look at me, and he chose his crown princess.
Poor man.
He’d mistaken a steel plate wrapped in fur for something soft.
