Ruby

"Ruby, go catch the kite!" When the string broke, all the children at Heaven's Pier panicked as they watched the kite drift further away, landing in a distant hillside tree. Ruby had broken the string. Biting her lip, she ran toward it. "Wait here! I'll fetch it back." She raced toward the kite as twilight deepened. By the time she had climbed the tree and retrieved it, the sun had completely set. Looking down toward where the children had been, she saw no one—all had been taken home for dinner by their mothers. By now... her father should still be working at the winery, not yet finished for the day. Ruby clutched the kite tightly, afraid the wind might take it again. But the tree was so tall—climbing up hadn't seemed difficult, but now, holding the kite, she dared not descend. The night grew thicker, the air turned cold with dew, and Ruby sat alone in her lofty perch, watching as lanterns lit up one household after another below. She deliberately widened her eyes, letting the wind dry them completely. She was going to be a heroine someday—this was nothing! Even if nobody knew she was here, even if no one came looking, even if she had to... had to spend the night in this tree alone, she wouldn't be afraid. She, Zhou Ruby, feared neither darkness nor solitude! After what seemed an eternity, Ruby had counted the evening lanterns of Heaven's Pier three times: two hundred and sixty-eight in total. Cold and hungry, she curled into a tiny ball against the biting wind, drowsily thinking that she really would spend the night in this tree after all... In her daze, she spotted a small lantern in the distance, seemingly the only light in these hills, bobbing closer and closer toward her. "Ruby! Ruby!" The lantern approached, somehow speaking. "Ruby!" ...Hmm? The lantern illuminated the kindest, gentlest face in the world, looking up at her with worry and care. ...Was this a dream? Ruby let go, and the kite floated down, caught firmly by the person below. "It's you!" She finally called out, her voice breaking with tears.

Uncle Zhou once believed his daughter Zhou Ruby was the Literary Star descended from heaven. After all, who else's child would mumble in their sleep, murmuring about Confucius, Laozi, and classical phrases? Overjoyed, Uncle Zhou spent twenty valuable coins to buy two fresh yellow fish, secretly delivering them to Cen Fuzi and asking him to give special attention to his daughter. Cen Fuzi looked at the fish, then at Ruby's utterly bewildering schoolwork, and was baffled. Ruby was equally confused. Her father had suddenly placed strange expectations upon her. Storybooks were replaced with the Analects and Classics of Poetry. She had to arrive at school half an hour earlier than others to stare awkwardly at the teacher, and her time for playing with the her elder cousin was cut in half... When Ruby finally couldn't bear it anymore and cried out in protest, her father was surprised: "Don't you love these texts? Just days ago, you were reciting them in your sleep." Ruby suddenly remembered copying texts for her cousin, who had once again been caught trying to escape, and fell silent. In the end, Uncle Zhou concluded that a ghost had possessed his daughter in her dreams. He had some Daoist sprinkle holy water on Ruby for three days, and considered the matter closed. As for Ruby, she naturally kept quiet. The task of copying texts became a secret known to no one.

To Ruby, "jianghu" had once been just a distant word from storybooks. She'd heard merchants passing through Qinghe talk about jianghu affairs—heroic warriors, secret manuals, enchantresses... The heroes were always dashing and handsome, while the enchantresses were always to blame for everything. She thought these stories entertaining, but wondered how could one person be behind every bad thing. It didn't make sense, just like how her father always blamed her whenever something went wrong at home. And she also had one big question: What exactly was this jianghu? It must be some enormous place to fit all those people and all those stories. She used to imagine it as a massive, magical lake somewhere far away. Qinghe had lakes too, of course, but they just had ducks and fishermen. So in those days, Ruby never dreamed of venturing into this "jianghu." A small girl from a small place like her would be better off focusing on practical matters—like how to sneak past her father and climb Moonveil Mountain alone. Three years ago, on the night Madam Han left home, Ruby finally accomplished her great challenge, secretly climbing to Moonveil Mountain's peak. But someone was already keeping watch at the summit—a person as mysterious as the night yet gentle as the breeze. That day, Ruby witnessed the true jianghu. She realized that Qinghe wasn't so far from the jianghu after all. Perhaps she too could explore this world? From that moment, Ruby resolved to make her way in the jianghu, never backing down even after her father gave her a thorough thrashing upon her return home. Next time, given the chance, she would go again! A hundred times, a thousand, however many it took, she would sneak out again on that same night. No matter how hard it got, she'd become a true hero of the jianghu... or rather, a twin hero! Why "twin"? Because she would bring the her cousin along, of course. Her most beloved, most cherished elder cousin.