Little Pink Starfish

On How to Destroy Yongsheng Temple

After hearing Gu Xingnuo’s words, the Old Master gave a snort and said, “You are a future general. How can you crave the worldly prosperity?”

“Yes,” Gu Xingnuo forced a smile at the Old Master and said, “I was just saying that. Grandfather, rest assured, I won’t be blinded by wealth and luxury.”

The Old Master was coaxed into the study by Gu Xingnuo. Seeing his eldest grandson’s seemingly normal expression, he still felt uneasy but couldn’t find a way to ask further. So he returned the conversation to Yu Xiaoxiao and Gu Xinglang. “When will Xinglang and the princess be back tomorrow?”

At that very moment, Yu Xiaoxiao and Gu Xinglang were snuggled under the same quilt. Gu Sanshao was sleeping soundly, but Yu Xiaoxiao, haunted by the tragic love story she had just heard, was unable to fall asleep. Feeling sorrowful and restless, she decided to write up a plan.

The study here had no shortage of writing materials. Yu Xiaoxiao plucked off the soft tip of a calligraphy brush and shaped it into a pen that could dip into ink, mimicking a fountain pen. After contemplating for a moment in front of the blank paper, she boldly wrote a big title: On How to Destroy Yongsheng Temple.

She spread out an old map on the ground and studied the route from the capital to Yongsheng Temple, discovering that Fengtian was still the closest country to the temple.

“Quite close,” Yu Xiaoxiao muttered, then turned and began drafting a detailed action plan. Since she wasn’t familiar with this world, she mapped out every step from the capital to Yongsheng Temple meticulously, even including where to replenish supplies along the way.

When Gu Xinglang finally woke up, the first thing he saw wasn’t the sunlight outside the window but his wife sitting at a desk, absorbed in writing. It was the first time Gu Xinglang had ever seen Yu Xiaoxiao like this, and he stared at her for a while before softly calling, “Xiaoxiao?”

Yu Xiaoxiao turned her head toward the bed and, though her face was expressionless, she greeted Gu Xinglang cheerfully, “Morning, Little Gu.”

Gu Xinglang propped himself up, sitting half-upright, and tucked in the quilt around Yu Ziyi before asking, “What are you writing?”

Yu Xiaoxiao didn’t hide it. She brought the half-finished plan over and placed it before Gu Xinglang.

Seeing the document, Gu Xinglang was dumbfounded and blurted out, “What… what is this?”

Just then, Xiao Wei called softly from outside the door, “Princess?”

“Come in,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied.

Xiao Wei entered carrying a tray of breakfast. Seeing Gu Xinglang holding a paper full of writing, he smiled and said, “Is the Prince Consort reading a letter?”

“I wrote it,” Yu Xiaoxiao said. “It’s called On How to Destroy Yongsheng Temple.”

Startled, Xiao Wei quickly put down the tray and came to peek at what his princess had written. Destroy Yongsheng Temple? Xiao Wei truly felt that his princess’s bravery had reached a new height.

Yu Xiaoxiao ran to the desk, grabbed a thin-skinned, juicy meat bun, and took a bite. As the savory juices filled her mouth, she squinted in bliss. Despite Yongsheng Temple being a rotten spot in this world, as long as there was delicious food, life here was still as sweet as heaven.

Meanwhile, Gu Xinglang and Xiao Wei were both still in shock. Though Xiao Wei had some literacy training, he could barely recognize half of what Yu Xiaoxiao had written.

Yu Xiaoxiao’s handwriting, learned from her military instructors, was bold and beautiful — fluid, swift, and full of energy. It was a visual delight. However, neither Gu Xinglang nor Xiao Wei recognized the simplified characters, nor could they understand the strange symbols sprinkled throughout the text. Even more confusing, Yu Xiaoxiao wrote horizontally instead of vertically!

“Uh,” Xiao Wei glanced at his princess, who was happily munching on the meat bun, and whispered to Gu Xinglang, “Is this a royal writing style?”

Gu Xinglang opened his mouth, organized his thoughts, and said, “The imperial edicts are also written like this.” He gestured vertically across the paper.

Xiao Wei’s mouth twitched. Sure, imperial decrees were written vertically — so why was their princess so different?

“The handwriting is very beautiful though,” Xiao Wei still complimented the princess despite not understanding a thing.

Yu Xiaoxiao then asked Gu Xinglang and Xiao Wei, “Finished reading? Anything to add?”

“You…” Gu Xinglang hesitated, “What script style is this?”

Yu Xiaoxiao paused mid-bite. Script style? There had to be a specific style to writing?

Xiao Wei quickly chimed in, “Princess, your writing is truly beautiful.”

Yu Xiaoxiao walked over to the bed and glanced at her own writing. Then she remembered — the people of this world probably couldn’t understand her handwriting.

Gu Xinglang said, “Yes, it’s very beautiful.”

“I just thought,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, holding up her plan, “since destroying Yongsheng Temple is a serious matter, we must maintain secrecy. If Mo Wen found out we were planning to kill him, he might kill us first. So… I invented a new script.”

…

Gu Xinglang stared at the gauze canopy above the bed. Xiao Wei looked at the floor. Creating a new script just to destroy Yongsheng Temple — normal people wouldn’t even think of this.

“What’s this?” Xiao Wei pointed to a comma-like symbol and asked Yu Xiaoxiao.

“Oh, that’s a comma. It’s a punctuation mark,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied.

Xiao Wei blinked at it. “You invented this too?”

Yu Xiaoxiao hesitated but shamelessly nodded. In truth, she had no idea who invented punctuation; by the time she was born, everyone just knew about it.

Fine. Xiao Wei decided to stare at the floor and pretend he hadn’t asked anything.

“I’ve planned out the route from the capital to Yongsheng Temple,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, pointing at the map she drew for Gu Xinglang.

Maps had commonalities across worlds. Although Gu Xinglang wasn’t used to Yu Xiaoxiao’s style, he could understand the route.

Yu Xiaoxiao asked, “Do you think this route will work?”

Looking at the route his wife had planned — a path he had never taken before in his many trips between the capital and Wangxiang Pass — Gu Xinglang saw that it avoided official roads but stayed close enough to settlements for resupply. It was an excellent path for a secret march. “Well,” Gu Xinglang said, “it might be a bit tough for troops and horses.”

“Troops and horses?” Yu Xiaoxiao said, “We don’t need to bring an army. Just a small team of ten or so people will do.”

Xiao Wei asked cautiously, “Princess, you’re planning to storm Yongsheng Temple?”

“Yep,” Yu Xiaoxiao nodded vigorously.

“With just a dozen people?” Xiao Wei was stunned.

“Yep,” Yu Xiaoxiao nodded again. In fact, she thought she was being polite about it. In her opinion, she alone would be enough.