The Fourth Daughter of the Lü Family (1)
The morning meal had fallen into its usual quiet rhythm when my mother’s bright voice shattered it.
“Zhi, I have wonderful news.”
The chopsticks halfway to my mouth froze in midair. I forced my tone to remain even. “What is it, Mother?”
Even as I spoke, my stomach clenched. Whenever she wore that girlish, sparkling expression, it almost always meant trouble.
“Your father has decided to host a grand banquet! Now that our life in Peixian has settled, he wants to invite all the county’s most respected figures and extend them proper hospitality.”
“A banquet…”
Of course. The very thing I had been waiting for had arrived. This was the legendary opening act of the Chu-Han contention, the unforgettable episode always mentioned when people spoke of Liu Bang’s extraordinary character. The fateful day when the penniless loafer Liu Bang would crash the gathering of Peixian’s notables by brazenly claiming he had brought a “congratulatory gift of ten thousand coins,” then proceed to steal the heart of the physiognomist Lü Gong in a single stroke.
“It will be held in two days. Make sure you dress neatly, Zhi. Who knows? There may be a fine marriage prospect waiting.”
Mother beamed, utterly unaware of the storm inside me. A fine marriage prospect. Oh, there was one, all right. The only problem was that the prospective groom was a local layabout pushing forty who also happened to be the future emperor.
“Yes, Mother.” I bowed my head obediently, clenching every muscle in my tongue to keep my voice steady.
Calm down. You’ve spent the last six months preparing for this.
My hidden hands trembled faintly beneath the table. Liu Bang was not my enemy. He was the lifeline I had to seize if I wanted to survive this era and secure a peaceful old age. Whether that rope was rotten or solid gold would depend entirely on how well I could train the man.
I can do this. No—I must do this.
I drew a deep breath and forced another mouthful of the gritty porridge down my throat. The wheel of the Chu-Han contention—no, the wheel of Lü Zhi’s fate—had finally begun to turn. Once again, choice was a luxury I did not possess.
After the meal, I did not return to my private room. Instead I crossed the corridor and stopped before my younger sister’s door.
“Su?”
Lü Su. The youngest daughter of the Lü family and my only sister. Two years my junior, bright, cheerful, and above all, a walking encyclopedia of every piece of gossip in Peixian.
Use every resource available.
In two days I would step onto a battlefield. Know the enemy, know yourself, and you will never be defeated. I cleared my throat lightly and called again.
“Su, are you awake?”
“Oh, Sister? Yes, come in!”
The moment the door opened, a wave of floral perfume washed over me. Su had already finished dressing and was standing before the mirror, trying on one hair ornament after another.
“Going out today?”
“Yes, Mother and I are visiting the market. We need to look at new fabrics for the banquet. Would you like to come?”
“No, I’m not feeling quite myself. I only came because I wanted to ask you something.”
I lowered myself onto the cushion in the corner of the room. My thigh muscles screamed in protest, yet I kept an elegant smile on my face.
“Su.”
“Yes?”
Her hands never stopped adjusting the ornaments as she glanced at me through the bronze mirror. A sweetly rounded face, large sparkling eyes, and skin as fair as my own—yet the vivid range of her expressions set us completely apart.
“Have you heard anything about the guests coming to the banquet?”
“My, Sister, I never knew you cared about such things.”
“I need to prepare. It would be terrible to make a mistake.”
“Oho.”
Her eyes glittered as though she had guessed my thoughts. Once the stage was set, she launched into eager chatter.
“Lord Xiao He is certain to attend. He is the county magistrate’s right-hand man, after all. Lord Cao Shen will come too. They say he’s extremely strict in his duties as prison warden. Oh, and there’s a man named Xiahou Ying who is supposed to be incredible with horses…”
Xiao He, Cao Shen, Xiahou Ying…
I repeated the names silently. Every one of them was familiar. They were Liu Bang’s most trusted inner circle, men destined to become the founding pillars of the Han Empire. Xiao He would support the administration as chancellor; Cao Shen would succeed him. Xiahou Ying would serve as Liu Bang’s personal charioteer, saving his life time and again in moments of crisis.
So history has not yet diverged.
That was reassuring. It proved my future knowledge remained a valid cheat. Yet the relief came wrapped in razor-sharp tension.
“Anyone else? No one… unusual?”
“Unusual?” Su tapped a finger to her lips, then clapped. “Ah, of course! That person will surely come. You know—the famous character of Peixian.”
“Famous character?”
“Liu Ji. The pavilion chief of Sishui Pavilion.”
The name struck like ice down my spine. I deliberately steadied my breathing to keep my face neutral. My fingers tightened unconsciously on my knee, nails biting into soft flesh.
“Liu Ji…”
“You know of him? Everyone does. And not in a good way.” Su spun her chair to face me fully. “There isn’t a soul in Peixian who hasn’t heard of him. The greatest drunkard under heaven, a notorious womanizer who hates work with a passion. Yet somehow he’s strangely popular. It’s a mystery.”
Exactly the same.
I nodded without expression. “What is your personal impression of him?”
“His appearance isn’t bad. Tall, straight nose, a rather impressive beard. But he’s already close to forty, isn’t he? And he has a concubine, plus rumors of a son.”
Late thirties. Possesses a concubine. Secret son. The details matched my knowledge perfectly. Before marrying Lü Zhi, Liu Bang had already fathered a boy named Liu Fei with a woman named Lady Cao. It had not been a formal marriage, merely a common-law arrangement.
Lü Gong, you insane bastard.
Fury blazed through me. Ancient era or not, how could any father marry his beautiful nineteen-year-old daughter to a nearly forty-year-old layabout with a child? I almost wanted to salute the sheer audacity of betting an entire daughter’s life on nothing but physiognomy.
“Sister? You’ve gone pale.”
“It’s nothing. I just felt dizzy for a moment.”
A lie, of course. But I could not reveal my true feelings to my sister. She was not malicious, yet her tongue was loose. The moment she sensed anything, she would run straight to Mother.
“He will attend the banquet, won’t he?”
“Obviously. There’s no chance he would refuse free wine and meat. Besides, I hear he’s been working hard to build connections lately. He may be only a low-ranking pavilion chief now, but he openly declares that someday he will accomplish great things.”
Of course. The man already has Qin Shi Huang as his role model.
The famous anecdote in which Liu Bang witnessed the First Emperor’s procession and cried out, “A real man should live like that!” was known to everyone. A mere neighborhood watch captain already dreaming of the imperial throne—that was Liu Bang.
“Su.”
“Yes?”
“How do the people of the county generally view him?”
She folded her arms and tilted her head. “Opinions are divided. Most officials dislike him; they call him arrogant. But the local toughs and housewives adore him. They say he has spirit, never puts on airs, and will even go into debt to help someone in need.”
Su looked me straight in the eye.
“And above all, people say he possesses extraordinary luck.”
Luck. The word sent a faint shiver across my skin. Even in the historical records, Liu Bang was always portrayed as a man blessed by heaven. No matter how dire the corner he was backed into, someone always appeared to save him, as though the heavens themselves had chosen him.
And part of that heavenly fortune will be me…
The marriage between Lü Zhi and Liu Bang had been a life-changing jackpot for him. With Lü Gong’s vast wealth and connections, he could finally build real power. Lü Zhi’s political acumen and devoted support would continue even after the empire’s founding, laying the very foundation of Han. In the end, I too was merely a cog in history’s great machine, created to make Liu Bang emperor.
No. It will not end that way.
Something hot surged in my chest. I had not been born merely to be consumed for another’s destiny.
I am…
Who was I? The thirty-year-old Korean salaryman named Choi Dae-ri? That body no longer existed. Lü Gong’s daughter, Lü Zhi? That was only the shell I inhabited. Then who, exactly, was I now?
My vision suddenly blurred.
“Sister?”
Su’s worried voice snapped me back. I blinked rapidly.
“Sorry. I was lost in thought.”
“Are you truly all right? You look unwell…”
“I’m fine. I must have eaten breakfast too quickly; my stomach feels a little heavy.”
Lie piled upon lie. For the past six months I had lived exactly like this.
“Tell me a little more. What sort of people surround this Liu Ji?”
I changed the subject. There was no time for sentiment. Information was survival. Su looked doubtful for a moment, then recovered her usual cheer and continued.
“Around Liu Ji? Well, there’s Fan Kuai first of all. He’s a dog butcher, and he really does look like a bandit. Built like a bear, forearms thick as logs, voice like thunder. Yet they say he becomes completely obedient in front of Liu Ji, calling him ‘Big Brother’ and following him around like a loyal puppy.”
Fan Kuai. The name triggered another flash of memory.
Fan Kuai is the man who will become Su’s husband.
In the records, Fan Kuai marries Lü Su, the younger sister of Lü Zhi. The future husband of the bright girl sitting before me. I gazed at her with complicated feelings. She had no idea what lay ahead—that she would become the wife of a “bandit-like dog butcher,” or that the same man would rise to become a general and receive the title of Marquis of Wuyang.
“There’s also Lu Guan. They say he and Liu Ji were born on the same day, they’re that close. And Zhou Bo, who plays the flute at funerals, though apparently he’s quite skilled in martial arts as well.”
Su’s information was precise. Lu Guan, Zhou Bo—all core members of Liu Bang’s inner circle, future founding ministers.
No further doubt is necessary.
The placement of characters and the skeleton of their relationships remained unchanged. Therefore the events would unfold the same way. In two days the banquet would be held. Liu Bang would appear with his trademark shamelessness. Lü Gong would read his physiognomy, and I would be married off to him as though sold.
You already decided. Don’t lose your nerve now.
Yes, the die had been cast. Hadn’t Anna Komnene said that stories of history are a great breakwater against the flow of time? Knowing history keeps a person from falling into the abyss of oblivion. I knew the future. I knew the great currents this era would follow. And the Liu Bang I remembered was not a narrow-minded man who would treat a capable wife as nothing more than a tool for producing heirs.
“Thank you, Su. You’ve been a great help in preparing.”
“Not at all! I always enjoy talking with you, Sister. Ask me anything else whenever you like!”
I left Su’s room. Outside the corridor window, leaves danced in the wind. The heavy calm before the storm pressed down on my shoulders.
“Big Brother Liu Ji, did you hear? Lü Gong is throwing a huge banquet.”
Fan Kuai clapped a meaty hand on the shoulder of a thoroughly drunk Liu Bang.
“Huh? Banquet?”
“They say it’s to celebrate settling in, and it’s going to be spectacular. All the richest and most powerful people in Peixian will be there. The food will be plentiful and the wine top quality.”
Liu Bang’s glazed eyes had remained dull at the words “rich people,” but they flashed at “top quality wine.” An irrepressible sly smile curved his lips.
“We’re going. Obviously we’re going.”
He lifted the remaining cup to his mouth. With a satisfied sigh, his usual complaint followed.
“Fan Kuai, I’ve always said I have no intention of spending my life as a mere pavilion chief in this tiny rural backwater. A real man should swim in greater waters.”
“Haha, there he goes again. Get a grip, Big Brother. The world for a drunk like you fits perfectly in the corner of Auntie Wang’s tavern.”
Fan Kuai laughed it off as always—an accustomed scene of humoring his drunken elder brother’s boasts. But this time Liu Bang did not laugh. His dark eyes, now fixed on the distant mountains beyond the window, no longer held any trace of playfulness. Only a cold, sharp ambition flickered there.
“Hey, Fan Kuai.”
“What?”
“Now that I think of it, that old man Lü has daughters, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah. Two unmarried ones. Both are said to be peerless beauties.”
“Is that so.”
Liu Bang’s gaze deepened strangely. A sharp light quite unlike his usual demeanor flashed across his face. Fan Kuai, however, noticed nothing. In truth, he had never been interested. To men who lived hand to mouth, Lü Gong’s precious daughters were as distant as stars in the night sky.
“What’s this? Big Brother leaving wine behind for once?”
Only later did Fan Kuai’s surprised voice ring out. Liu Bang chuckled as if coming back to himself and pushed his cup toward his companion.
“Drink it. I’m heading off.”
“What?! You’re leaving already?”
“I have preparations to make. Put the drinks on my tab.”
Liu Bang rose with unusually steady posture. Fan Kuai stared after him in astonishment, but the older man never looked back.
Instead, only his irreverent humming drifted into the dark night path.
“Kings, nobles, generals, ministers—how can there be any predetermined seed for them?”