No wonder the moment I woke, I smelled a strong reek of wine.
I wiped my face carelessly, then stood up, dizzy and light-headed, and said, “Thank you. I’m all right now. Goodbye.”
With that, I turned and walked a few steps, then backed up again.
I tilted my head up and asked him, “Might I beg a mouthful of wine?”
Since morning, I had not had a drop of water or a grain of rice. I did not feel hungry, but my throat felt as if it were on fire, while my whole body was freezing to death.
A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, then a smile seeped out from within them. “Of course.”
He reached out, and the young manservant behind him placed a wine flask in his hand. He pulled out the stopper and passed it to me.
I tipped my head back and took a large mouthful, then immediately raised my arm to cover my lips and coughed several times before returning it with tears in my eyes.
He said with concern, “If it were any other time, I would give this flask to you, miss, but you are ill and should not drink. Are you all right? Where are you going? I’ll have my manservant escort you there.”
I shook my head again and again, and said in a low, wretched voice, “No need, thank you,” then hurried away.
The manservant who drove the carriage had gone off somewhere, perhaps to gamble or chat idly.
I climbed into the carriage and fell into a groggy sleep.
Until I heard a burst of noisy laughter and chatter.
I had just opened my eyes when the curtain was yanked open, and dazzling sunlight streamed in. I wanted to move, but there was not the slightest strength in my body.
The senior maid Cui Duo cursed, “We thought you’d gone somewhere, but it turns out you were hiding here slacking off! Are you dead? Didn’t you hear Miss has arrived? And you’re still sitting in the carriage like some lord Buddha!”
I struggled to get up and let Cao Yingshan use my shoulder to climb into the carriage.
After the carriage had traveled for a while, Cui Duo looked me up and down suspiciously, her face full of disdain. “You can’t be sick, can you? Don’t go passing your illness on to Miss.”
Cao Yingshan gave me a sidelong glance and said, “You, get out.”
I sat outside the carriage with the coachman, braving the cold wind all the way back to the Cao residence.
A young maid who shared my room gave me a dose of medicinal herbs left over from what she had taken. I brewed them carelessly on the stove and drank them, then slept as if the heavens and earth had gone dark. The next day, I was actually better.
On the third day, just after I had served Cao Yingshan breakfast, I was carrying the cleared bowls and dishes out.
A middle-aged servant woman came in, saw me, and said with a stern face, “Put down what you’re doing first. Madam has an order to pass on.”
I followed her into Cao Yingshan’s boudoir.
The servant woman said, “Third Miss, there is something to inform you of. Recently the residence has not been peaceful. Madam heard that some people fought and caused trouble, and intended to punish them severely. Everyone pleaded on their behalf, so the matter was reduced, but those who caused trouble cannot simply be let off. Madam’s meaning is to dock one month’s wages.”
I stood numbly, staring at the floor beneath my feet.
Cao Yingshan was doing her makeup. She turned back and asked, “Is everyone being punished? Or only the people in my quarters? As for the cause of the fight, my people weren’t to blame. It was someone else relying on another’s power and thinking we were easy to bully!”
The servant woman smiled and said, “Naturally. Qingyun from Eldest Miss’s quarters, and Auntie Wei from the kitchen, have both been punished as well.”
“That’s more like it.” Cao Yingshan turned back to draw her brows and said lazily, “Understood.”
After the servant woman left, I was also preparing to withdraw, but Cao Yingshan suddenly turned back and beckoned me over.
From her dressing case, she picked out a used box of face powder and gave it to me. “I told you they knew they were in the wrong. You were brave enough. This is your reward.”
After Cao Yingshan went out, I finished washing several bedsheets and returned to my room, utterly exhausted. I took out the face powder Cao Yingshan had rewarded me with.
Looking at the chipped porcelain box, I sighed inwardly. The Buddhists say that the workings of heaven turn in cycles. In the past, although I had never treated the maids who served me harshly, I had also never truly taken them to heart. Occasionally, I would reward them with small things I no longer liked, and thought they would surely be delighted.
I sighed with a bitter smile and casually tossed the thing aside.
That day, it began raining in the morning, a fine misty rain that lasted all day. Truly, one autumn rain brought one chill; by evening, it was so cold that people shivered.
I only hoped Cao Yingshan would retire early so that I could return to my room as well.
I was in the outer room, stamping my feet and breathing into my hands, when Cui Duo lifted the curtain and came out from the inner room.
In her hand, she carried a food box. She glanced at the three of us rough-work maids, then walked toward me.
“Lotus root cakes bought outside. Third Miss ate them and said they were good, so her filial heart stirred and she told us to send some to Concubine You. While it’s mealtime, hurry and deliver them.”
The Cao residence was vast, with luxuriant flowers and trees. Even in autumn it was still lush and green. By day, the scenery was pleasant, but at night, with the wind blowing through the tree trunks, everything dark and shadowed, it was unspeakably bleak and cold.
Wearing a bamboo rain hat, I held a lantern in one hand and the food box in the other, walking with my shoulders hunched.
In the dim garden, all was desolate and silent, with only the rustling sound of rain.
The ground was slippery, so even if I wanted to walk quickly, I could not. As I was proceeding carefully, I saw a point of lamplight approaching from ahead, and soon it arrived before me.
Just from the sight of people both holding umbrellas and carrying lanterns, I knew it had to be a master from some courtyard, so I consciously stood to the side to give way.
“It’s you?”
Those people had clearly already walked past, yet a man wearing a straw rain cape came back to stand before me.
I swiftly raised my head for a glance and was about to lower it again, but I froze as I looked at him.
On such a bleak rainy night, his eyes were still warm and bright. Looking at him, one’s mood could not help but brighten as well.
It was him. The man I had met that day in the provincial governor’s residence! Why would he be in the Cao family?
The Cao family had four branches, and among their children were three daughters and two sons.
The youngest young master was only five.
Could it be that he was the Second Young Master of the Cao residence?
Thinking back to the circumstances of our meeting that day, my face heated. I hurriedly saluted and said, “This servant greets Second Young Master.”
He laughed and said, “So you belong to our family. That is strange. When I saw you last time, you didn’t seem to recognize me, so how do you know me now? Have you seen me again in the residence?”
“No. This servant merely guessed. I didn’t expect to guess correctly.”
“Hahahaha, interesting.”
After his clear laughter, the Cao family’s great mansion, which a moment before had been filled only with the sighing wind and pattering rain, suddenly seemed to carry the mood of rain striking banana leaves at midnight. I breathed in the fresh rain-scented air and also smiled with pursed lips.
Seeing me smile, he was startled for a moment, then gave another soft laugh and asked in an easygoing tone, “It’s so late, and raining too. Where are you going?”
I lifted the food box. “Third Miss ate some delicious cakes, and her filial devotion suddenly overflowed. She ordered me to deliver them while they’re still warm.”
He laughed again. “Sending cakes on a rainy night—this filial devotion is certainly warm enough.” Smiling, he shook his head and said, “How is it that I didn’t know Third Sister’s quarters had a person like you? You’re new, aren’t you?”
As he spoke, he looked toward the dark courtyard and instructed the manservant holding the umbrella, “Go see her over. No need to escort her all the way into Concubine You’s courtyard; just wait outside the gate. When she comes out, escort her back.”
I quickly said, “This servant appreciates Second Young Master’s kindness, but the weather is cold. Be careful not to catch a chill. Please return quickly.”
“My courtyard is just ahead. Besides, I’m wearing a straw rain cape, and I’m a grown man. How could I be so weak? Hurry and deliver the cakes. Third Sister has a bad temper; if you delay, I’m afraid she’ll scold someone again.”
I still wanted to refuse, but the manservant had already raised the umbrella over my head and said, “Miss, let’s go.”
Before I knew it, I had already been at the Cao residence for a month.
Back then, I had given the five taels of silver to that traveling physician and asked him to do his utmost to treat Xing’er.
I promised him that after Xing’er’s injuries healed, I would give him the remaining five taels of silver as well.
We had also agreed that once Xing’er could walk, they would come to the Cao residence to find me.
Although I could not go out, it would still be good to see them at the gate.
But after so long, no one had come looking for me.
Just as I was growing accustomed to a life of servitude and secretly lamenting how dull and stifling the days were, another incident occurred. Only then did I truly realize that beneath the calm surface, hidden currents were surging.
The concubines and young ladies of the residence, as well as female guests from other families, would often gather at the Cao residence to play leaf cards.
That day, after the card game ended, Second Concubine lost a bracelet.
Apart from the masters, all the servants who had been present and attending them had to be searched.
I was there too.
When they searched my room, I stood to one side and watched several servant women rummage and paw through my bed and trunk.
I thought it was merely a formality, but unexpectedly, they found a gold bracelet in a hidden layer of my trunk.
When Madam Cao learned of it, she ordered me beaten with thirty strokes of the rod.
When I was dragged away to be whipped, I still had not realized the seriousness of the matter. Only when the thumb-thick oxhide whip struck viciously across my back did I understand that this was the consequence of offending those in power in the Cao residence. How could it be something that could be settled by docking one month’s wages?
Madam Cao could not do anything to Concubine You or Cao Yingshan, but finding an excuse to dispose of an eyesore of a servant girl was as easy as turning over her hand.
With every lash that landed on my body, I felt I could not endure any longer, yet immediately after came another burst of fierce, excruciating pain.
One lash.
Two lashes.
Three lashes.
…
Ten lashes.
I could no longer cry out, nor could I feel pain. My body no longer seemed to belong to me. In a daze, I seemed to hear someone shout, “Stop!”