"I'm Ruo Ruo. I am a librarian and I just started working in this huge library. Shortly after I moved to the capital, I became penniless and did not know how to pay my rent but luckily for me I have met good people and they recommend me to this institute. Now I am a full employee.

I love reading books. This was a hobby of mine since I was still a small child. I was stealing my big brother's books (more like borrowing them for a while), hiding somewhere and reading them.

I was secretly borrowing them because they wouldn't give advanced literature to a five years old child. My family thought that I won't understand the message and they were right about that but I didn't care back then. Later, after many years , I realized that fact too. My life is not that simple. I have left my small home and came to Beijing to pursue my dreams. I can't count on my family (we were always a poor country side family) or on a charming prince because the heroes exist only in these books, that's why I can only count on my own strength. I know that I will make it one day, this is just the beginning."

(shushhhhhhhhh.....a strong wind blows through the open window)

(It was summer, warm and pleasant, the birds were happily singing.)

(Suddenly a pile of books fall on the floor from their shelves. Ruo Ruo goes to pick them up and put them back in their place but she doesn't place the last one. Her eyes are glowing while she reads its title, "Ruo Yi".)

"Oh my God! This book has my name on it, what a big surprise! My full name is also Ruo Yi! Nice, it makes me curious now! I want to read this book."

(Then, the time starts running slowly in that library.)

It's morning...

"The sun's rays are illuminating my pale face. I am still in the study room copying the ten rules of virtue as punishment for not attending concubine Qin's birthday (my father's second wife).

By the way, I am Ruo Yi, the daughter of the first wife of minister Yi. Mang Yi, the great minister of war.

The time is up. It's all done, all the pages are ready to be presented to my father."

She rises from the chair and heads out of the room. Ruo Yi passes the first quarters of the mansion, the kitchen and the rooms of the servants and ends up in a beautiful garden full with peach trees. There were the minister's chambers, a huge library and a private meeting room.

When she steps inside his study room, the tall and robust body who was facing the outside view through the huge window turns to confront the intruder.

"It's you? Have you finished? Come closer, let me see it! "

Ruo Yi slowly approaches his father and bows in front of him.

"Greetings to father! Yes, I did. These are the pages you asked me to copy and translate. It's all here!"

"Good job! It's well done. I'm lucky to have such a smart daughter but you're lacking compassion. You must learn to be more kind toward the rest of the family's members. Concubine Qin is your little brother's mother, you must treat her as your own mother. "

"But father....that's too much! She can never replace my mother or compare with her. I'll be respectful to her as long as she doesn't asks me to call her step mother and don't worry, I really love Zishu."

"Fine, fine! Let's not fight over this! You can go now."

"Thank you father!"

She bows again and leaves the room.

The first daughter of the Yi family was a very clever, beautiful and strong young lady. All the servants were respecting her because of her benevolent heart and wise decisions. She was running the residence's internal affairs in her mother's absence. The first lady Yi's health got worse in the last years, so she left the mansion to recuperate. In her absence concubine Qin,the second wife, tried several times to take over the management of the house but her request was rejected by minister Yi. Since then, Ruo's relationship with her became very distant. This was also one of the reasons why Ruo Yi refused to attend the concubine's birthday banquet.

She said that as long as her mother is still safe and sound, no one can take her place as the first lady. This was the first collision between her and concubine Qin, one of her future calamities.

I am going to tell you a story from a long time ago, back when Ruo-er was ten years old.

It was the beginning of the summer and Ruo Yi had a stomachache, so her tutors gave her a day off from lessons. It wasn't that serious but her nanny exaggerated a bit and the situation got a bit out of control, that's why everyone in the mansion was gossiping that the young lady was seriously ill. These rumours also reached her father's ears. He immediately decided to visit her daughter to check her condition. As she was taking advantage of these rumours to gain more free time, Ruo-er turned the gossip into reality by eating a mushroom that can cause diarrhea and fever. This child was very smart, so she did it because she already had the antidote for this problem. It was a piece of cake for her to get rid of the bad symptoms. The minister visited her together with the family's doctor and confirmed what the others were saying. "This kind of discomfort will disappear after some rest and good medication, it's nothing severe", said the doctor. Her father breathed a sigh of relief and told her maids and tutors to postpone all the young lady's activities for the entire week.

She succeeded, her plan was perfect! Ruo-er took advantage of her nanny's bustle and worsened her condition on purpose just to obtain some days off from studying. She ordered the maids not to step into her room and to leave the food at the door. After she took the antidote and her body became healthy again, she sneaked out on one of her room's windows and ran to the nearby forest where many unexploded things were waiting for her. She was returning home only at the hours when the maids had to bring her food. No one noticed a thing.

In one of these days Ruo-er found a nice river in the eastern part of the forest, so she decided to take a bath. Unexpectedly someone stole her clothes. When she searched for them in the place where she left them, the place was empty. The little girl was desperate. How can she return home like this? What if someone sees her *****?

She wrapped herself in big leaves and started to search around the bushes again, thinking that maybe she putted them in a different place.

"How can I be so clumsy, how can I forget where I left my clothes? "

After minutes of desperate searches, a laughter resounded from above, a boy's laughter.

Ruo-er screams as loud as she can and looks up at the nearby trees. Up on a branch a boy about her age or maybe a bit older was comfortably sitting with her clothes under his head.

"What a nice pillow!"

"You..., are you human or devil? You give my clothes back right now or I'll shoot you! Do you hear me, get down jerk!"

"No way! I am sleeping too well up here! Be quiet girl! Humph...countryside girls are so mannerless. Who told you to scream so loud? Uncultured countryside pumpkin!"

"Countryside pumpkin? Uncultured? Who me? Who the hell do you think you are you thief? You stole my clothes and still have the guts to call me mannerless! Get down you pervert or I will shoot you with my sling , I want my clothes back!"

"Shut up girl! All the things in this country are the emperor's possessions, including you. Of course I can use what's mine as I please. Now be quiet, I want to sleep."

"Hey, who do you think you are, the emperor? You're just a thief! Or devil..."

She threw some stones toward the tree but they missed the target. Into an end Ruo Yi gave up and returned home without her clothes.

When she left the boy turned his head to look at the girl that was running toward the forest. On her tiny back he noticed a cute birth sign, a pink lotus flower.

"Hmmm...silly girl! One day you will kneel in front of me. Let's see then what face are you going to make!"

Ruo-er gets back home safely and unnoticed by any servant or guard. That was a hell of a day!