Jiang Jingshu blew on the blisters in her palm and raised her arm to shield her eyes from the glaring sun.
She quietly resolved to discuss with her mother about returning to the estate for a visit, to properly persuade her elder sister not to be blinded by wealth and glory.
She stepped toward the house and ran into her mother coming out.
“Why haven’t you drawn the water yet?”
Facing her mother’s question, Jiang Jingshu hesitated before speaking: “Just now, while drawing water, I thought of elder sister, and for a moment I felt lost…”
“Why think of her? A spineless thing who only knows how to cling to wealth and status…”
Jiang Jingshu hastily grabbed her mother’s arm. “Mother, perhaps elder sister was momentarily blinded by riches that day. By now she may have already thought things through. Why not let me go back and persuade her again? She’ll come around…”
Concubine Ruan listened to her younger daughter’s words and also thought of how inconvenient these past days had been without her elder daughter around. Her cool, refined brows showed no expression as she reluctantly nodded.
“Then let’s give her one more chance. If she truly wishes to return, then let her come back!”
Jiang Jingshu linked her arm through her mother’s. “Then I’ll go back tomorrow…”
“Mm, go and tell her—as long as she recognizes her mistakes and comes back to copy the Admonitions for Women ten times, I will let bygones be bygones!”
Jiang Jingshu lowered her eyes. Thinking of the copy of the Admonitions for Women by her pillow—one her mother had personally transcribed and told her to always keep in mind—she felt that her mother indeed preferred her noble and upright character.
The next day, as Jiang Jingshu was leaving the detached estate, she happened to run into Niu Er’s wife from town, who was heading to the city. Seeing her, the woman called out.
“Hey, aren’t you A-He’s younger sister?”
Jiang Jingshu saw the coarse woman on the ox cart and covered her face with her handkerchief, saying nothing.
The woman frowned at her. “I can’t be mistaken—your sister used to ride my ox cart whenever she went to town to sell mountain goods. Where are you headed?”
Seeing that the woman was hard to shake off, Jiang Jingshu had no choice but to answer: “I’m returning to the Jiang family!”
“Oh, I’ve heard your sister mention it—you girls are shu-daughters of a household in the city, living with your mother at the detached estate. Since you’re A-He’s sister, I don’t mind giving you a ride…”
Jiang Jingshu looked with great disdain at the odorous ox cart, secretly fanning the air with her sleeve. “No need—I’ll just walk…”
Niu Er’s wife could tell at a glance that this young miss was turning up her nose at her cart. Her expression darkened. “Your sister used to give me some mountain goods when she rode my cart. I was being kind offering you a ride, and you turn your nose up at it—how ungrateful!”
With that, she cracked her whip and sped up.
Jiang Jingshu watched the cart drive off, then couldn’t help glancing at the sun hanging in the sky, its heat stinging her face.
Yet she felt that refusing that vulgar woman was the proper way to maintain her dignity—if her mother knew, she would surely praise her!
After walking for half a day, she finally reached the city gate.
Parched and exhausted, she leaned against the wall by the gate to rest. But just then, a carriage passed by, kicking up a cloud of dust that covered her face.
“Cough…” Jiang Jingshu fanned the dust with her sleeve while coughing. She couldn’t help but blame her sister—if not for worrying about her sister earning a reputation for greed and vanity, why would she have to make this trip at all?
By the time she arrived at the gates of Jiangfu, covered in dust and looking a mess, she was just about to step inside when the doorman stopped her.
“What filthy thing dares to barge into our Jiangfu?”
Clearly, because she looked so disheveled, the doorman hadn’t recognized her.
After quite a commotion at the gate, by the time she was finally received into the estate, Jiang Jingshu was utterly bedraggled. She slumped against the back of her chair, taking deep breaths.
When the servants reported to Jiang Sihe, she wasn’t surprised. That Jiang Jingshu had managed to endure the rough, heavy labor at the detached estate for over ten days was already far beyond what she had expected.
Jiang Sihe’s injuries had mostly healed. Since Jiang Jingshu had come looking for her, she couldn’t very well refuse to see her—otherwise, there would surely be gossip around the estate.
Jiang Jingshu, slumped in her chair, heard movement outside and quickly sat up straight, smoothing her hair bun, fully restoring her usual cool and composed demeanor.
Jiang Sihe entered with Danfeng and Xiuyue, and paused briefly at the sight of Jiang Jingshu’s appearance.
At the same time, Jiang Jingshu was even more astonished to see her sister before her.
She saw her sister’s face, fair as white mutton-fat jade, and the luxurious garments she wore, and felt nothing but contempt in her heart—indeed, her sister was just this vulgar.
“Little sister, what happened? How did you end up in such a state?”
Jiang Jingshu had no intention of losing her composure in front of her sister, so she only said lightly: “Just ran into some trouble on the road!”
“Then why don’t you freshen up first before we talk?”
Jiang Jingshu also felt that appearing like this was too undignified, so she nodded. “Very well!”
She had Danfeng take her to wash up. When she returned, Xiuyue was presenting a bowl of something to Jiang Sihe.
“Second Miss, this is the golden-thread bird’s nest soup just delivered from the small kitchen…”
Jiang Sihe had been drinking these nourishing soups and tonics for over ten days straight and was beginning to feel rather sick of them.
“Just leave it there. I’ll drink it later…”
Xiuyue casually set the bowl of soup aside and picked up a round fan to gently cool Jiang Sihe.
When Jiang Jingshu followed Danfeng through the door, she happened to catch this scene. She felt nothing but contempt for her sister’s airs—that vulgar pretentiousness of someone who had climbed the social ladder.
Once inside, her emotions got the better of her. With a cold face, she pointed at Jiang Sihe’s nose and sneered.
“Elder Sister has climbed so high now, I suppose you’ve forgotten the mother who bore and raised you…”
The two maidservants in the room hadn’t expected this Fourth Miss to point at Second Miss’s nose and mock her so brazenly. They wanted to step forward and argue, but Jiang Sihe stopped them.
“You two, go outside for now.”
Xiuyue glanced at Danfeng, who nodded at her. Only then did she set down the fan and follow Danfeng out.
“Little Sister went through all the trouble of coming all the way from the other courtyard—just to mock me?”
Jiang Sihe’s composure only made Jiang Jingshu more indignant.
“Elder Sister, don’t you even want to ask how Mother has been these past few days? Can you be so heartless as to not spare her a single thought?”
“Now that you’re enjoying all this wealth and glory, have you forgotten the days when the three of us clung to each other in that little courtyard?”
Jiang Jingshu tried to play on sentiment, but she was really using familial duty as a moral high ground to pressure Jiang Sihe.
Jiang Sihe slowly lifted her eyelids and looked at Jiang Jingshu. “What exactly is Little Sister trying to say?”
“I’ve come to give you one last chance. If you turn back from your wrong path, Mother and I will still forgive you. But if you remain stubbornly lost, then in the end…”
“In the end, what?”
Jiang Sihe rose to her feet, her almond-shaped eyes gazing at her younger sister with a hint of a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.
“In the end, of course, even your own mother and sister won’t care about you anymore. You’ll only lose yourself in this life of false affection!”
Jiang Sihe couldn’t help but laugh—laughing at Jiang Jingshu’s foolishness, at how she wanted to bring her back yet still insisted on loftily condemning her faults.
“Then I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint Little Sister. I’m perfectly happy to let myself be blinded by all this wealth and glory!”