A/N: Added in the missing english dialogue and translated the first chapter. Enjoy!

The Empress Dowager was enjoying her evening stroll as usual around the spacious and extravagant gardens in her own backyard, her maids and eunuchs naturally walking ahead of her leading the way. The setting sun was dyeing the sky an endless mirage of soft pink against the vibrant red and orange, painting a beautiful backdrop against the colourful, flowering bushes and trees of her garden.

Yet, in all of this beauty, the Empress Dowager had only sighs to accompany her silence as her meek servants waited on her in solemn quiet. No one dared utter a sound in fear of disrupting the Empress Dowager's thoughts, choosing instead to focus all of their energy onto clearing a safe path for the mother of the ruler of their country.

However, in all those watchfulness, these numerous pairs of eyes failed to spot the thin thread of wire that plotted out the entire greenery and path in a wicked little grid.

And that was their downfall.

"哇呀!/ Ahh!"

Astonished cries escaped lips, breaking the once heavy silence that weighed in the garden.

Maids and eunuchs suddenly tripped and were sent sprawling all over the gravel path, toppling and off setting each other in their closely spaced parade, creating an entire chain of dominoes, narrowly missing the Empress Dowager who stood grounded in shock.

Clutching at the rough bark of the branch, laughter wrecked her tiny frame as her entire body shook with the force of her mirth, threatening to loosen her hold or put her off balance, at the sight of the maids and eunuchs toppling like bowling pins straight through the Empress Dowager's garden and right in front of the lady herself.

Moans and groans echoing through the open space only served to push her amusement one step further.

Finally, the young girl decided that her anonymous torment was past necessary and that it was time to reveal her makings behind this mess.

Never one for giving up a chance at dramatic entrances, Qiu Xin dropped down from above at the last moment, while the Empress Dowager was staring in speechless horror at the chaos about her.

A mischievous smile stretched across her face as she said, hand resting on her little hip, "姥姥，你可否想念秋心呀?/ Have you missed Qiu Xin, Nana?"

The Empress Dowager pointed at the source of the disruption who was grinning wickedly at the mess she had made, holding her handkerchief over her heart.

"你… 你…/ You… You…"

Finally she sighed, relenting as she shook her head with a resigned smile lighting her wrinkled face.

"我可是真服了你这小精灵了. 你们全都给我退下吧./ I take my hat off to you, you little rascal. You all are dismissed."

She gestured at the groaning and moaning servants around her who answered her order weakly before picking themselves out and scrambling out of reach of the havoc wreaking princess.

Turning her sharp gaze on the young girl, she invited,"来，配奶奶坐着./ Come, sit with Granny for a while."

The Empress Dowager patted the spot beside her and Qiu Xin eagerly bounded over to occupy it.

Beaming, the young girl preached hilariously, "看，姥姥，只要笑一笑，心情就可变多好了!/ See, Nana, you look so much better already! Like they say, a smile a day keeps the doctor away!"

Sighing again, the Empress Dowager reminiscenced, "哎，这皇宫呀，这几年来，都没什么可欢笑了. 看阿玛那样，你额娘也那样，真是让人心疼呀./ Well, there hasn't been much reason to smile in this palace these recent years. Look at your Father and Mother. What a pity…"

Huffing self righteously, Qiu Xin remarked angrily, "哼，他们有什么好可怜那的! 他们不是不理我，就是怪罪我，骂我，从来都没对着我笑过! 尤其是阿玛! 他整天都呆在那房间里，在哪儿发呆. 然后额娘见了也变得情绪恶劣，反正最后就是搞得每个人都不开心啦!/ Pity? How are they pitiful? They either ignore me or lecture me and they've never even smiled at me! Not once! Especially Father! He only sits in that room all day in a daze! And when Mother sees him like that, her mood worsens and then everyone's unhappy in the end!"

A melancholic smile carved the soft planes of her aged countenance.

Stroking her lustrous black locks gently, she began tiredly, the resigned words that left her lips draining more strength out of her than possible, "你阿玛和你额娘啊...他们不是坏人，只是两个心碎的人罢了./ Your Mother and Father... They're not bad people, just two heart broken souls."

Lifting her free hand, she placed it over her small hand, patting it lightly as she looked the pouting girl in the eye, soothingly persuading, "所以啊，秋心，你也别太怪罪于他们./ So, Qiu Xin, don't be so quick to judge them."

Still sulking, the child determinedly avoided her wizened gaze, content in letting her own gold flecked irises drift until they fell upon a chess board nearby. A bright idea struck her as brillant chestnut orbs lit up.

Bounding off her sit, she pounced upon her savior. Skipping back to the Empress Dowager, she carried the bamboo board with ease, an impish grin painting her childish features, which the Empress Dowager returned with a knowing light in her aged eyes.

"姥姥，有兴致和秋心来一盘围棋呢?/ Nana, are you up for a game of chess?"

Chortling merrily, the Empress Dowager met her playful eyes with a mock stern gaze, declaring her stand, "是想挑战奶奶是吗? 好啊，随时奉陪. / Is that a challenge? Alright, give it your best shot."

Giggling, Qiu Xin set down her playing piece confidently, making the first move, teasing slightly, "姥姥，输了可别赖账喔!/ No backing out, alright, Nana?"

Laughter continued to escape her like bubbles as she followed and matched her granddaughter's moves step by step, choosing to nod her head simply without uttering a single word.

A devilish glint lit her doe like russet orbs as Qiu Xin mapped out her winning move cunningly.

Spying a scheme in the works, the Empress Dowager went overtime trying to beat the youngling into admitting defeat, coming down hard and heavy on her.

Always the persistent one, Qiu Xin resisted till the end.

Just a little bit more… Just a little…

Ah ha!

Grinning victoriously, Qiu Xin relished in triumph as she watched her grandmother fall into her trap.

Turning, her devious gaze on her, Qiu Xin announced proudly as she made her final success official, "姥姥，您输了! 认赌服输吧! 将!/ Nana, you've lost! Admit it! Checkmate!"

Staring incredulously at the chess board, the Empress Dowager blinked owlishly. Since when had her little granddaughter improved so much?

Pinning her awed gazed back on the exultant girl, she realised she should not have been surprised. After all, this was Yong Qi and Zhi Hua's daughter in question. It was a given that their genius had been passed on.

Laughing resignedly, she admitted her loss graciously, watching as the young girl danced her way across the room in her boundless joy at finally having beaten her long time opponent.

The Empress Dowager could not stop the lament from leaving her lips, "如果你是个男孩儿，那该多好呀. 可惜呀，可惜…/ If only you were born a boy… Such a pity…"

Nothing escaping her sharp ears, Qiu Xin swiveled back onto her grandmother, questioning quizzically, "姥姥，你刚刚又说了些什么吗?/ Did you say something, Nana?"

In the face of her adorably confused expression, the Empress Dowager denied convincingly, "没什么，没什么…/ Nothing, nothing much…"

*PR*

"为什么，为什么，为什么?/ Why, why, why?"

A soft sigh escaped her lips as she looked up from the doodle that she had been entertaining herself with as she replied monotonously, a thoroughly bored expression drawn upon her youthful countenance, "我不知道，我不知道，我不知道./ I don't know, I don't know, I don't know."

Pouting, the sulking child kick at the air before him, whining, "可是为什么吗? 姐姐每次出门也都不带我出去的… 怎么老是这样吗!/ But whyyy? Jie Jie never brings me along when she goes out… It's so unfair!"

Still not completely attentive, she agreed dazedly, "是啊，怎么每次这样吗… 总是雨蝶有机会出去逛逛，而我都得呆在府上照顾小少爷…/ Yeah, it's so unfair… Why is always Yu Die who gets the chance to go out and have fun while I'm always stuck taking care of the young master…"

Huffing, the child lamented loudly, little cheeks puffing out in irritation, "晚霞姐姐! 你根本就没有再听我说话嘛!/ Wan Xia Jie Jie! You're not even listening to me!"

Waving a hand dismissingly, "有，有，我有在听嘛./ Yes, yes, I am listening."

Turning to examine the book laid out before the young boy, she lectured, "少爷，您还在摸索什么? 您才读到第几页! 等会儿小姐回来了又要怪罪晚霞没好好让小少爷念书了! 您还不尽快!/ Young Master! What are you dallying for? You've hardly even touched the book! When Young Lady comes back, she is going to blame me for not helping you study, Young Master! Focus!"

Groaning, the young boy allowed his head to hit the book rested upon the table heavily with a loud thud.

*PR*

Throwing her hands out, Xia Ying closed her eyes as she took in a deep breath of the spicy, tangy taste of the marketplace, exclaiming, "啊! 好久都没出门了!/Ahh… It's been too long since I've been out."

Giggling, Yu Die teased her mistress, "晓严，你这样也太引人注目吧!/ Xiao Yan, don't you think you're being a bit too conspicuous now?"

Unveiling her dancing brown eyes, she proclaimed in an airy tone, with a mischievous smile, "我管不着了! 反正我这身打扮也不会被别人认出的，爹娘也知道我今天出门阿，所以我也没什么好担心的!/ Well, I can't care less! No one actually recognizes me in this disguise now and both Mom and Dad know I'm coming out today, so I don't have anything to worry about anyway!"

Walking on with a skip in her step, she took in the sights of the hustle and bustle around her eagerly, like child exploring his or her new toy.

Shaking her head lightly at her mistress's childlike behavior, Yu Die followed along behind in a more sedate manner.

Xia Ying reveled in the simplicity of life around her – the way the widowed lady patronized the long term bachelor shop keeper, shyly peeking at the red washed planes of his countenance while he self-consciously avoided her eyes, both with silly grins decorating them; the way the dirt smudged children with skin as brown as berries weaved in and out of the crowd flawlessly screaming and shouting joyfully; the way the softly giggling young ladies gossiped about the apples of their eye, the honest, down-to-earth men that had caught their eye as they furtively stole glances at them around the corner of the wall.

These were the people that mattered. These were the people that made this empire one. These were the people who deserved best that was possible. And she would make sure that happened.

Yu Die could not resist the tugging of the prideful smile attacking the corners of her lips. She could pretty much guess the thoughts that were occurring her mistress and for that, she felt an immense sense gratification overwhelm her. That soft smile on her delicate features just sent her heart singing.

Hints of a commotion filtered by as strings of people rushed to check out the fuss. Excitement leapt out and soared over her heart, drawing Xia Ying like bee to honey, thoughts of a street performance at the front of her mind.

Feeling the thrill rising up like a tidal wave within her, Xia Ying cried spiritedly with a wild grin in hand as she gestured for her companion to follow, "快! 我们也去瞧瞧吧!/Come on! Let's go have a look too!"

Yu Die sighed helplessly as she chased her wayward charge. How could her mistress seem so mature one moment and childish another? Well, one thing for sure, there was no way of taming her attraction to adventure, even the dangerous kind.

The two wedged into the throngs that had gathered, with Yu Die struggling to keep her hold on Xia Ying in the swimming crowd, who, though absorbed she was, still maintained a firm grip on Yu Die's hand.

A keen wailing stung the air, growing louder and clearer as Xia Ying closed in onto the heart of the turmoil. Fear and horror clutched at her heart as a terrible sense of foreboding tormented her.

"我们的房子呀… 我们的家… 全部就这样全毁了，都没了…/ Our house… Our home… Everything just gone… Burnt to nothing…"

A family of three stood huddled before the flaming ruins, sooty faces lined with wet tear streaks as they grieved the loss of their properties, the mother hugging her two sobbing children as mourned pitifully.

Others of similar wretched state marked the perimeter of the crumbling wreck. The various families basked in the completeness of their members yet their relief was tinted with such similar sorrow for their tangible physical losses.

Xia Ying's heart spluttered disbelievingly in a sea of grief as she watched their unadulterated wretchedness laid out in the open. She was struck hard by the promise she had just repeated earlier and her determination solidified.

She would help these people. And she would do that with her own two hands.

Yu Die was equally as affected by the now homeless people's sorrow and she was sure that her sensitive mistresses would be feeling at least double the emotion.

Spying the expression on her face, however, Yu Die's pride was now tinted with a heavy sense of dread.

She smothered her own countenance in her fingers as she groaned, "又是那眼神! 糟糕，麻烦即将降临了…/ I know that expression… Trouble's coming…"

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