Xiao Yin’s men stumbled upon that zither and brought it to him as a present. It was said that it was Southern Dynasty’s famous zither. He could see this zither was indeed not ordinary, but could not tell what was special about it.

  He once fiddled with the zither, felt the sound produced by each string was about the same, frankly speaking, it was not as good as their Northern Dynasty’s huqin (a type of chinese bowed string instruments).

  However, hearing Hua Zhu Yu’s zither-playing at this moment, his impression completely changed, did not thought this prost.i.tute could actually play zither.

  “Zheng zheng” the sound of the zither, Hua Zhu Yu closed her eyes, unexpectedly the scenes of her wedding night, the captivating red moonlight on Mount Yu, Jin Se’s miserable cries and Da Qi’s attempt to a.s.sault her emerged before her. She was overcame with emotion, the tune of her zither-playing abruptly changed, it was no longer that mellow “转应曲”.

  Xiao Yin’s pupils shrunk, the bright pupils kept staring at Hua Zhu Yu’s hands, finding it somewhat incredible. The tune could not be said pleasant to hear, but made him feel unexplainable tremor and melancholy.

  The rhythm gradually got louder, it rose momentarily and then suddenly it fell dramatically.

  “Pa” the zither’s string unexpectedly snapped, catching people off guard. Hua Zhu Yu’s mind momentarily went blank. Blood dripped from her fingers, yet she did not feel even a little bit pain. Da Qi yelled at her for playing a bad tune and broking the zither. Hua Zhu Yu snapped out of her trance at Da Qi’s voice. She quietly smiled at these people’s ignorance.

  She lifted up her eyes and looked at that cold-blooded, ruthless man, Xiao Yin. Surprisingly he was not angry at all, looking at her with interest, he asked: “What is your name?”


  Hua Zhu Yu felt a chill run up her spine. She casually replied “ Liu Yun.”


  “Starting tonight, you do not need to be a prost.i.tute anymore, just be Ben Dian Xia’s personal zither prost.i.tute. Go ba, Hui Xue, you take her withdraw ba.” With a wave of his hand, he instructed a maid who was standing in attendance.

  “Thank you, Your Highness!” Hua Zhu Yu saluted, thanking him.

  zither prost.i.tute?!

  Still could not evade this ‘prost.i.tute’ word!

  Hua Zhu Yu was then brought by that maid into a small, private red tent.

  The next morning she woke up, the whole army‘s soldiers all were packing up. The air inside the camp was cold, solemn and heavy.

  Hua Zhu Yu learned from Hui Xue that the army wanted to march southwards. Since they had decided to start a war, naturally would not take the prost.i.tutes along. Yet, Xiao Yin ordered her to go with the army.

  If she were staying behind with those prost.i.tutes, she would be able to wait for a chance to escape. Now that she had to go with the army, the chance of escaping was not that big, but she might be able to catch a glimpse of her father and to find a way to let him know that she was still alive.

  Early spring, the sun hanging high in the sky, sent out galvanic radiance, although bright and beautiful, dazzling, but it was cold without temperature. The army set out at Xiao Yin’s command. The earth shook with the beating of horses’ hooves.

  Neither carriage nor horse was prepared for Hua Zhu Yu. She was wrapped in a sack with the upper part of her body being left exposed. The ropes that held the mouth of the sack were tied to the waistband of the man who rode the horse, so she was in half stood, half crouched position alongside the horse. The sack was pulled along as the horse was running.

  In fact, she could endure all of these, the only unbearable thing was that the rider was that hateful Da Qi.

  Along the way, constantly there were long, dry, celery wormwood hit her face and body. The pain was like being whipped. This journey undoubtedly was a torture for her.