Reminder

紫薇 - Zi Wei. 'Myrtle,' 'flower.'

小燕子 - Xiao Yan Zi. 'Swallow,' or 'little swallow.'

金锁 - Jing Suo. 'A brass lock.'

梁大人 - Liang Da Ren. (Administrator Liang)

紫薇 gazed wistfully at the palace from afar, with nothing but her parcel clutched tightly in her hand and her faithful maid close by her side. The wind was blowing a hole in her but she didn't seem to care. Her sorrowful eyes dangerously glistening with tears were fixated on that pavilion, where she could never be. The thick foliage was behind her. It took the pair of them an age to fight through the thickets that had grown along the stone path to get atop this hill so as to get a glimpse of her destination. "We've finally reached Beijing," she said slowly, "but why is it that fate refuses to let me enter the palace?"

"Miss," 金锁 replied, "every day you'd come here, and spend hours staring at the imperial palace. But what good will it do? Those guards, they're everywhere, flooding every entrance to the place. How are you ever going to meet the emperor?" Her face bore the same sorrow, for they both knew how hopeless the sojourn was.

"I know...but what else can I do? We traveled for such a long time to arrive at China's heart, but now that we're here, it seems the entire journey was a joke. What am I going to do now?" From the way she spoke, the way she dressed, everything she did, it was easy to tell she was a delicate girl with a good amount of education and a warm heart. Suddenly finding the courage to smile, she pulled herself together and said, in a reassuring tone, "I won't give up. I can't, not this easily. I promised my mother. I believe the Heavens will look after me, that in the end, everything will fall into place." After her pep talk, she turned to 金锁. "Let's go. Tomorrow, we'll continue looking for that 梁大人 (a minister)."

金锁 assented, and they headed back to the tavern down a barely distinguishable dirt path.

紫薇 could only suppose, as they reached the busy Beijing streets, that luck was with them. A few blocks from the inn, came a sudden pounding of horse hooves. Civilians turned their head from their vegetables and weekly shopping and tables displayed with trinkets. Suddenly, the street was teeming with sentries holding people back so the horsemen had a pathway among the people to gallop by. Approaching was a sedan chair carried by four men with an obviously significant personage within. Very quickly, the air was filled with, "Out of the way, out of the way!" and the buzzing of the puzzled people, exchanging questioning looks and far-fetched rumors.

Her heart pounding with excitement, 紫薇 tugged 金锁 by the hand and shoved her way through the crowd, whilst exclaiming, "金锁, quick. Maybe luck is with us, maybe we can meet this 梁大人, maybe he'll be willing to listen to my story." The pair rushed past a couple of sentries not paying attention and knelt in front of the sedan. 紫薇 held her parcel above her head with both hands. She knew they were wrapped in a brown, ordinary-looking cloth, but what that cloth contained was her life. She also knew that to halt a minister's sedan was considered extremely disrespectful, but all she could think of was her mother on her deathbed, her face pale and clammy, dragging that promise out of her...

One of the men lifting the chair looked at her as if she were a bug on his sleeve. "What do you think you're doing?" he demanded. "Hurry up and get out of the way!"

Biting her lip, she forged ahead as if she hadn't heard. "梁大人! I, 夏紫薇, have something very important to tell you sir! Please, if you could find some time in your schedule to listen to what I have to say." She could feel the crowd's murmuring, and 金锁's large fearful eyes on the sedan chair.

A group of sentries gathered around. "What are you doing? Take them away!" They coarsely grabbed onto the pair and forcefully tugged them from the middle of the street. "Come on, let's go!" Two were holding tightly onto each of her arm and roughly dragged her up from the ground. She felt another pull at her sleeve and a fourth yelling something obscure. Somewhere nearby, she could hear 金锁's repetitive, 'miss,' 'miss.'

The entire day suddenly felt like a dream. 紫薇 struggled in their grips, screaming, "梁大人! 梁大人! We've been to your headquarters a hundred times, but you never leave your doorstep! Whoever's always there, telling us he'll inform you doesn't ever meet his word. The days are going by faster and faster, and we're running out of money. You don't understand. 梁大人!"

One of the sentries took the time to notify her, "Our minister's been organizing his son's wedding, which is tomorrow. He's incredibly busy, so how do you expect him to find time to worry about your business? He's not exactly as selfless and open-hearted as you might hope. You're better off with another minister."

But she couldn't hear a word of what he said. Despite all the staring, a guard yanking ferociously at her left arm and 金锁 screaming with her by her side, all she had eyes for was that sedan chair. She gave a final yell, "梁大人! If I hadn't tried everything else, I wouldn't have disrupted this out-going. I know you're in there, please, answer me me!"

"Go away already," said another guard, spear in hand. But she stared back valiantly, all dangers forgotten. Why couldn't they see how desperate she was? Why wouldn't the minister just let her speak to him? "梁大人, you're supposed to serve the people, that's your duty! How can you turn me away like this? You don't look after us citizens, you're wrapped up in your personal life. Don't tell me the only thing you care about is your son's marriage..?"

These words seemed to strike a nerve. The drapes of the sedan rippled and for a split second, 紫薇 had hope. Until she saw that the sedan revealed nothing but an angry and aggravated 梁大人. "Where did these impudent commoners come from?" he roared at his guards. "Spitting insults, telling lies." He took one look at her and 金锁, and exclaimed with a wave of his hand, "Go away, far away."

Despite the blatant disrespect, 紫薇 said, "Please, 梁大人. Listen to my story and you won't regret it. I swear it. Just give me a little time; five minutes would be enough."

"Who has time to go around hearing stories? I have better things to do." He turned to his men. "Go. Back to the manor."

"梁大人!" But they carried on without a word, side-stepping her, and she knew as she melted back in the crowd that it would be no use. "What's wrong with him?" 金锁 exclaimed, mourning with her mistress. "Just because of a wedding, he can abandon his work for a month. And you saw his attitude toward us today. He doesn't care at all. Why don't we try someone else? In Beijing, I'm sure there are other officials. We just have to find them."

紫薇 looked as though she was truly considering it. 金锁 was every bit right. They had no chance if they were putting all of their hope on 梁大人. But then her eyes lit him, not with hope, or joy, but a triumph, a fierce determination. "His son is getting married tomorrow," she said in a steely voice. "There's going to be a grand wedding. He can't turn away his guests on such a big day, can he?"

The moon was a thin sliver of milky white that night, as it poured all its strength down on a rich family's manor. All was still, not even eunuchs wandered about, and not even crickets seemed to make a sound. A shadow flickered somewhere, with a strange powerful and dreadfully loud gust of wind that could only be created by someone with experience in martial arts. It is very apparent that whoever it is is not supposed to be there. Armed with a large empty sack and a mischievous smile, 小燕子 poked her head out from the bushes she landed behind, and peered at her surroundings. A few yards away was a small building, obviously one of the 程's (Chengs') rooms. Contemplating for a split-second, she leaped out from her previous hiding place so she was right next to it.

That 梁贪官's got a big wedding festival tomorrow. I'll bet the unlucky bride has a lot of dowry stored in her parents' house. Those rich types won't ever need it. But we do. If I could just sneak a few pearl necklaces or silver coins, they wouldn't even know it's missing.

Squatting down with another impish grin of pride and anticipation, she pressed her ear to the thin paper that covered these walls so as to make sure no one was awake. Very carefully, she poked a small hole with her index finger so she could fit her eye through.

What 小燕子 saw inside was a room that could make her cry with joy. The softest lime green curtains framed the bed, where a pink and white cotton quilt lay folded, with floral patterns all over and a mattress as thick as her head. Dark polished wood gleamed from the armchair, table, and armoire, and a devastatingly elegant oil lamp. The bride-to-be was sitting on her bed with clothes the same color as her drapes. An older woman - who must have been her mother - was by her side with a hankerchief, one arm around her and saying, "I already know how much you detest the idea of this marriage, but it's too late to back out now you've gone this far." Now that 小燕子 thought about it, the bride did look quite unhappy. But who could blame her? Those 梁s were the scum of the earth. "Now why don't you get a good night's sleep. They'll be here to pick you up in the morning."

As the mother tucked the girl in bed and left with her oil lamp, 小燕子 smiled wistfully. Sometimes, she wished she had a mother too. It wasn't a thing she'd often dwell on, but the thought creeps up unexpectedly in the littlest of reminders, from watching someone walking the streets with their parents in tow to a begging girl asking around for a slice of bread. Focus, she told herself. You're here for the silver, and the jewels that can get silver.

She peered back into the room, and met a sight that drained all color from her face. Her eyes wide, without pausing for a second to think, she yelled, "Somebody come quick, the bride's about to hang herself!" and leapt in, splintering the wood and tearing the papyrus, crashing down into the room.

梁贪官 - Liang Tan Guan. '梁' is the man's last name, and '贪' means (loosely) greedy. So in a nutshell, '梁贪官' is an unflattering nickname the citizens have given 梁大人 for his selfishness.