In the fortieth year of Yuanqi's reign during the Dasheng Dynasty, the autumn sun bathed the croton fields of the Prince's Palace in a flowing sea of gold. The plump pods crackled in the evening breeze, their dark brown seeds cascading onto the bluestone pavement, like a natural red carpet for the grand ceremony. Chen Weiwan stood beneath the newly inscribed plaque "School of Tricksters," her crimson skirt sweeping across the stone steps carved with croton patterns. The croton powder bag she held in her hand leaked through the tiny cracks, creating a distorted smiley face at her feet.
"Mom! Look at my improved 'Super Itch Powder 2.0'!" Kenkeng rushed over with a glazed pottery jar in his hand. The twelve-year-old boy already had the tall and straight figure of Xiao Yu, but he was still as reckless as a child. The pink smoke floating out of the jar's mouth accurately choked Wa Wa behind him.
"Stupid brother!" Wawa rubbed her eyes, which were squinted by powder. The thirteen-year-old girl had a double bun with a homemade silver hairpin made of croton flowers. "My 'honesty flag' is the trump card - look at the croton vines embroidered on this flag, they will ooze croton oil when I lie!" She raised the small apricot-yellow flag, and the copper bell tied to the corner of the flag made a "ding-dong" sound, startling the sparrows perched under the eaves.
Xiao Yu stood by the porch pillars, his dark brocade robe's sleeves dusted with powder, clearly having just been attacked by some scoundrel. He looked helplessly at his wife, a half-dried croton leaf stuck in her hair. "Look at your well-educated children. They've turned 'The Art of War' into 'Thirty-Six Strategies for Tricking People.'"
Shen Weiwan raised her hand to pick off the leaf stems for him, her fingertips rubbing against the newly added silver hair on his temples: "Your Highness, this is called a general's daughter - oh no, it's a pit family's son. Thinking back to the time when your mother-in-law and I..."
"I know, I know," Xiao Yu interrupted with a smile, his eyes filled with doting. "At fifteen, she tricked her aunt by carrying a basin of stones. At sixteen, she tricked her cousin by shaking off grass scraps. At seventeen, she tricked a scumbag by throwing a handkerchief. At twenty-eight, she tricked the emperor by using a chili milk cake. At thirty-five, she tricked the envoy by taking care of a child... Now she's even opened an academy."
[Section 1: The Opening Ceremony of the Trickster Academy]
A nanmu plaque reading "School of Cheating" hung above the vermilion lacquered door lintel, its three gilded characters inscribed in the emperor's own handwriting. It's said that his majesty deliberately used gold ink mixed with croton powder, muttering as he wrote, "It would be a waste of talent if this craft of cheating in the Prince's Mansion wasn't passed down!" Below the plaque hung nine strings of croton wind chimes, each made from ninety-nine plump croton pods. The rustling sound of the wind was so startling that the Taifu's wife, who had come to offer her congratulations, smiled and stroked her chest.
"Weiwan," the Taifu's wife laughed, clutching her handkerchief and laughing as she pointed at the tables and chairs carved from croton wood in the courtyard. "Your academy even has teaching aids made from croton? Look at these chair legs. They're not carved with dragons and phoenixes, but with bags of itchy powder!"
Chen Weiwan raised her eyebrows proudly, the croton flower ornaments in her hair gleaming with tiny golden glints. "Of course! Our school's motto is 'to deceive people without being noticed, to prevent fraud before it happens.' From identifying croton powder to making honest laxatives, from mixing itching powder to arranging fake feces, we guarantee that students will..."
"Mom!" The five-year-old prince, holding a winter melon as big as a millstone, stumbled over, his childish voice filled with excitement, "Give Grandmother Taifu some 'surprise winter melon'!"
Xiao Yu quickly grabbed the winter melon and touched the tiny holes on the melon skin with his fingertips: "Wait! I'm afraid you have poured croton juice into this melon?" He weighed the winter melon and heard the sound of liquid sloshing inside.
The guests in the courtyard roared with laughter, and Chuntao's hands, holding the croton flour thousand-layer cake, trembled, and the icing on the cake fell. Shen Weiwan watched the lively scene, her eyes passing over the children chasing and playing in the courtyard, and suddenly remembered that snowy night thirty years ago—she was curled up in the backyard of the general's mansion. The last thing that flashed before her eyes as the clubs fell was the greedy red gold ring on her aunt Liu's sleeve.
"What are you thinking about?" Xiao Yu's voice brought her back to her senses, and a familiar warmth came from her palm.
"I'm thinking," Shen Weiwan sniffed, her fingertips rubbing the moisture from the corners of her eyes. "From a foolish legitimate daughter in the snow to the dean of a deceptive academy, I, Shen Weiwan, didn't rely on gods or ghosts, but just a crooked and clever mind to live a decent life!" She raised her face, the setting sun shattered into gold foil in her pupils. "Your Highness, do you think this is the most amazing counterattack in the Dasheng Dynasty?"
[Section 2: Those who have been cheated together in those years]
The dinner was held in an open-air courtyard, where croton lanterns adorned the grape trellises, casting a dappled smile on the blue bricks. The guests surrounded Shen Weiwan, insisting on hearing her "Chronicles of Tricks."
"The most satisfying thing was the first time I tricked that old hag Liu." Chen Weiwan pinched a piece of croton powder and osmanthus cake, her eyes shining like stars. "She cried and wanted to take my mother's golden hairpin. I brought a basin of grains mixed with gravel, insisting that you have to 'clean your hands before taking the relics.'" She put down the cake and gestured, her sleeve sweeping across the croton powder jar on the table. "The old woman rubbed her fingers until they bled, and I was still shouting, 'Aunt, you are so touching for my mother's relics,' and the servants were trying to hold back their laughter like they had asthma!"
"And my cousin Chen Ruorou!" Wa Wa's eyes sparkled as she continued, the red string from her braid brushing against the candlesticks. "Mother said she shook some itching powder into my cousin's skirt pocket at the Spring Festival banquet, causing her to scratch herself so much that her makeup looked like a palette!"
Madam Taifu laughed so hard she slapped her thigh, her pearl earrings dangling as if they were about to fall off. "That's right! Back then, when that girl Ruorou was scratching herself behind the rockery, three or four noble ladies caught her and spread the story all over the capital!"
Xiao Yu poured a cup of croton flower tea for Shen Weiwan and added slowly, "And that cripple Li Xiu, because of Weiwan's remark that 'the handkerchief on the cuff belongs to my cousin', he became the laughing stock of the capital's most gay man. He didn't dare go out for half a year. I heard that when he got married later, the bride even disliked his bad reputation."
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