A small lamp flickered, casting light upon the dim, damp secret room.
“For someone as undignified as you, Elder Sister, death is the best release.”
Jiang Sihe struggled, reaching out to grasp her younger sister’s ornate brocade robe, only to be avoided with a look of disgust.
“If you had known this day would come, you shouldn’t have used those lowly, sycophantic tricks to curry favor…”
“Heh…” A raspy sound escaped Jiang Sihe’s throat.
The two sisters were born to a concubine and had been sent into the Marquis’s manor in two small sedan chairs to serve as concubines. The Madam of the Marquis’s manor was a jealous woman; after they entered the manor, they were tormented daily, living a precarious existence.
Her sister remained as aloof as a chrysanthemum, refusing to compete or grab for anything. To ensure they both survived, Jiang Sihe had fought desperately for favor, sharing the rewards and food she obtained with her sister. Yet, all she received in return was a single sentence from her.
“Sister, I naturally disdain such shameless and lowly behavior!”
In the end, Jiang Sihe became a thorn in the side of the Marquis’s wife. The two fought until both were ruined—Jiang Sihe was left crippled and mute, while the Madam lost her position as the legal wife.
However, her own sister, Jiang Jingshu, reaped the benefits of their struggle. She gained the Marquis’s exclusive favor and was promoted to legal wife.
Yet even then, her sister maintained her air of detached elegance as she spoke.
“Sister, there is no need to treat this illness, nor is there any need for you to eat. Dying like this can still be considered somewhat dignified…”
Jiang Jingshu stood up and took the only lamp in the secret room with her.
She left behind nothing but an endless, heavy darkness!
…
“Sister…”
Awakened by the call of “Sister,” Jiang Sihe pried open her heavy eyelids to see her younger sister, Jiang Jingshu, standing by the bed. She had not yet reached her ji-pin ceremony.
“Xiao Niang, Sister is awake…” Jiang Jingshu called out toward the doorway.
Confused, Jiang Sihe reached up to touch her forehead. It was wrapped in cloth and still throbbed with a stinging pain.
This must be ten years ago. Her Xiao Niang had requested to live in a villa on the outskirts of the city, and the three of them—mother and daughters—had gone without a single grain of rice for three consecutive days.
She had taken one of Xiao Niang’s plain hairpins—one that had been broken for years, never worn, and covered in dust—intending to trade it for some rice. Jiang Jingshu had discovered her, and during their struggle, Sihe had been pushed down, her forehead striking the corner of a table.
Why had she returned to this year?
She had been reborn…
“Sihe, you’re awake?”
The slender woman at the door was their Xiao Niang, Ruan Mei, a concubine of the Jiang household. She had a plain, elegant oval face; though she had given birth to the two sisters, that air of refined grace remained.
Upon entering, she first gently touched a green bamboo hairpin tucked into her hair before casting a languid look toward Sihe.
“Sister, Xiao Niang loves bamboo most of all. Besides, that green bamboo hairpin is an old memento of hers. How could you bow your head for a mere five dou of rice?”
Like their mother, Jiang Jingshu had a cold and beautiful face. Her eyes were narrow and long, her gaze distant, and the corners of her mouth turned slightly downward, giving her a natural aura of icy detachment.
The moment she saw her Xiao Niang, Jiang Sihe’s head throbbed, and she frowned; she remembered this incident vividly.
She recalled that Xiao Niang had many plain green bamboo hairpins, and the one she had taken was already damaged. However, her “noble” Xiao Niang and sister felt her actions were utterly spineless.
“Sihe, your sister was right to stop you from trading it. Though we currently wear thorns for hairpins and plain cloth for skirts, we must never lose our backbone…”
“The shape of this green bamboo hairpin represents the green bamboo itself. Bamboo is praised for being soft on the outside but firm on the inside, unyielding and resilient. Just as we are in adversity today, we should be like the green bamboo—modest and always reaching upward. We must not lose our original heart…”
Jiang Sihe shifted her gaze to her Xiao Niang, a flash of mockery crossing her eyes. This was her Xiao Niang—on the verge of starving to death, yet still there singing praises of integrity and moral character!
“Sister always only sees those petty profits. If the manor found out you traded Xiao Niang’s hairpin for five dou of rice, all our dignity would be gone…”
Though Xiao Niang did not speak again, Jiang Sihe knew her mother held a deep prejudice against her because she wasn’t as high-minded and noble as her sister.
When she was hungry, she would calculate how to fill her belly; when she was cold, she would scheme to obtain clothes. This was the reason Xiao Niang disliked her.
“Xiao Niang, my head hurts…” Jiang Sihe deliberately touched her forehead, frowning.
Xiao Niang glanced at Jiang Jingshu before finally speaking.
“Alright, Jingshu, say less. Your sister is injured, after all. However, Sihe, you are the elder sister. She didn’t mean any harm, so you shouldn’t hold it against her. As the elder sister, you should give in to and protect your younger sister!”
Jiang Sihe had been brainwashed by this rhetoric for an entire lifetime. She gave in to Jiang Jingshu and protected her, but what about Jingshu? She had left her to starve and rot in a secret room in the Marquis’s manor!
This time, she didn’t want to protect her, nor did she want to give in.
“Now that your forehead is injured—even though your father misses you and wanted you to go—your appearance is damaged. You must not offend your father’s eyes. Therefore, you don’t need to attend your father’s birthday banquet tomorrow.”
Xiao Niang’s words reminded Jiang Sihe. She remembered that in her previous life, she had also fought with Jiang Jingshu over the hairpin, hit her head, and was unable to return to the manor to celebrate her father’s birthday.
And at that birthday banquet, Jiang Jingshu had caught a piece of glazed tile with her bare hands just before it hit the Main Wife’s head.
Because of this, the Main Wife felt Jiang Jingshu was her lucky star. The next day, she sent a Nanny to ask if Jingshu was willing to be adopted under her name as a di-daughter.
But her sister had replied indifferently: “I do not care for the empty title of di-daughter. If I were to go to my legal mother’s side, wouldn’t that be a betrayal of the kindness my Xiao Niang showed in birthing and raising me?”
“Even a mountain of gold and a sea of jade cannot compare to the bond of my Xiao Niang raising me!”
Nanny Qiu, who served the Main Wife, had turned cold on the spot. But Jiang Jingshu had continued with her reserved air.
“If the Main Wife insists on adopting me, then she must elevate my Xiao Niang to be an equal-wife!”
Nanny Qiu had snorted coldly: “What kind of thing do you think you are? The Main Wife was honoring you…”
It was because of Jiang Jingshu’s refusal to appreciate the favor that the Main Wife was enraged. Shortly after the sisters reached their ji-pin ceremony, they were carried into the Marquis’s manor in two small sedan chairs to be concubines.
Since Jiang Jingshu didn’t want to be the Jiang family’s di-daughter, then she would be the one to do it.
“Xiao Niang, I am fine now. This year, the Main Wife finally agreed to let us return to the manor for Father’s birthday. If we don’t go, I will feel guilty!” She glanced at Jiang Jingshu. “My sister and I practiced a dance together. If only Sister goes, won’t the dance lose its original charm?”
“You have a point, but your forehead…”
“Xiao Niang, I will use some powder to cover it tomorrow; no one will be able to tell.”
“Sending you to dance for your father is so you can show your filial piety, not so you can go back and curry favor. If your father asks you questions then, you must not lose your original heart!”
“I disdain competing with others for favor. If I were to become jealous, how would I be any different from a village woman!”
“Naturally, you both should also understand your father’s difficulties. In his heart, he favors us, but because of the Main Wife, he cannot show it in the slightest. You must not blame your father…”
Jiang Sihe knew her Xiao Niang too well. Her family had fallen on hard times, and she had sought refuge with the Jiang family, being taken as a concubine before the Main Wife had even married in.
After the Main Wife arrived, she had requested to move to the villa, causing the newly-wedded Main Wife to be mocked by outsiders for not being able to tolerate even a single concubine. Since then, the Main Wife had disliked her immensely.
She clearly longed for their father to visit the villa, yet she always held onto her pride and refused to compete for favor. Instead, she would wear plain, elegant clothes every day and stand at the villa gate, gazing toward the Jiang manor.
Just like this time—it was clearly the Main Wife who had agreed to let them return, yet she insisted on interpreting it as their father’s intention, believing he still held them dear in his heart.
In truth, that father of hers had long since forgotten the mother and daughters living in the villa. The manor had already added two more concubines, yet their father had never once come to see Xiao Niang.
“When I left the manor with the two of you back then, your father held my hand and said he would wait to bring me back to the manor to be an equal-wife. I don’t care about these empty titles at all, but for the sake of you two, I will reluctantly agree!”
Hearing her Xiao Niang speak such delusions once again, Jiang Sihe couldn’t help but want to sneer.
She really didn’t know where Xiao Niang got the confidence to think their father would elevate her to equal-wife. It was nothing short of a pipe dream!
“Xiao Niang, rest assured. Father has us in his heart. Having us return this time surely means he wants to give you a formal status!”
Seeing the look of mutual appreciation between her sister and Xiao Niang, Jiang Sihe couldn’t suppress the flash of contempt in her eyes.
Well then, let them stay in this villa and slowly wait for their father to remember them!
She would no longer stay here with them!