Volume 1, Chapter 10: The Spy

"He believes you're a Japanese spy! He wants to find evidence against you, drag you onto the grand stage, and hold a struggle session!"

Auntie Du squinted at Master Liu, who had been called out for his hidden thoughts. His face turned a deep shade of crimson, as if he wished to find a crack in the floor to crawl into and hide. While Auntie Du was focused on the mortified Master Liu, she failed to notice Dong Qianqian, whose expression was the polar opposite.

Dong Qianqian, in a weak tone, asked why he thought she was a spy. Auntie Du replied subconsciously, "It's because of how you walked in, one small step at a time, with your hands crossed over your stomach. He thinks you're like those Japanese women. He once claimed that a Japanese female spy he caught walked exactly like that, speaking in a soft, whispering voice, always saying 'please,' 'hello,' 'thank you,' and 'sorry.' I told him that such things don't fly anymore—everyone talks like that now, and the Leader teaches us to be polite! But he wouldn't listen and insisted you were a spy, which is why he kept circling you."

Dong Qianqian felt as if she had been struck by lightning. The man had also mentioned the word "spy." Only then did she realize that her way of walking was completely different from the people here. In her previous life, she loved to skip and jump when she was young, but her nursemaid would warn her that if she were seen acting so boisterously, the master would have her feet bound early; a girl should be demure and virtuous. To avoid foot-binding, she had always played the part of a fragile, submissive girl in front of others.

By the time she reached the age when foot-binding was mandatory, her family home had been raided, and because she had large feet, she was sent into the palace as a maid. There, she underwent strict training in etiquette: walking with hands crossed over the abdomen, head slightly bowed, and feet moving lightly, as if a lotus kissing the surface of the water without creating ripples—the so