The Fire Star drifted westward in the seventh month, a time when the weather should have been cooling. Yet, over the past few days, the sun had become increasingly scorching. Walking on the ground felt like treading on hot coals; even the lush green leaves offered no respite for the eyes, and the incessant shrill of cicadas only added to the mounting irritability of those suffering in the heat.
The government quarters of Ninejiang Prefecture were already cramped and narrow. With the relentless sun refusing to recede, the rooms felt like steamers.
In a small courtyard situated in a corner of the quarters, the western sun beat down directly. Inside the room, only a single basin of ice had been placed. A young girl lay asleep on a beauty couch, wearing only a bellyband that revealed her fair, tender arms and legs.
Seated beside the couch was a young woman in her late teens. Her features were exceptionally beautiful, her figure slender and delicate—a fragile beauty that would inspire pity in anyone who saw her. At this moment, she was fanning the young girl, her face etched with heartache.
"Is the prickly heat powder still not found? Look at Shu Jie'er’s neck; the heat rash has flared up completely."
The young woman speaking was Xiao Fu Shi, the wife of the Ninejiang Prefecture Tuiguan.
After a moment, two young maids with their hair in buns emerged from behind the screen. One appeared quite lively, while the other was much more composed. They brought out a packet of medicinal powder and handed it to Xiao Fu Shi. The livelier one said, "It cannot go on like this. I heard that the Eldest Madam has ice basins placed in all four corners of her rooms. Concubine Su, relying on the fact that she gave birth to two sons and a daughter, also demanded four basins. We are the only ones, along with Concubine Ding, who have but a single basin. In such heat, how can one basin be enough?"
"Dan Hong, you need not say so much," Xiao Fu Shi replied, her mind heavy with her own thoughts.
Seven years ago, news of her elder sister’s death arrived. Her sister and brother-in-law had always been a devoted couple, and her brother-in-law even intended to resign from his post to observe the mourning period. When Old Madam Liu saw that her son was so deeply affected that he was willing to abandon his official career, she took notice of Xiao Fu Shi, who had accompanied her mother to the Liu household to offer condolences. Seeing that Xiao Fu Shi was not yet betrothed and bore a fifty-percent resemblance to her elder sister, the Old Madam requested her hand in marriage for her son.
That year, Xiao Fu Shi was nearing her hair-pinning ceremony. When she first married in, she was treated with cold indifference by her husband. Later, however, the two gradually grew close and came to understand one another. Her husband even stopped visiting his other concubines for her sake, and she gave birth to a daughter, Li Shu, who was exceedingly adorable.
To everyone’s surprise, during Li Shu's Zhuazhou ceremony, the elder sister returned from afar, seemingly risen from the dead.
Years ago, when her husband Liu Chengxu had just attained the rank of Jinshi and was serving as the Magistrate of Sanyang County, the county was overrun by Xiangma. In that moment of extreme peril, he had his trusted subordinates escort his wife and their two children out of the city. He had thought he would surely die, but he had not expected his superior at the time to possess the eloquence of Zhang Yi or Su Qin. The superior managed to persuade the Xiangma to leave, and Sanyang County was spared. Ironically, it was the sister and the niece and nephew who had been sent away who met with disaster.
Afterward, the brother-in-law sent men to search for over a month before they found a female corpse. She was wearing the same clothes and jewelry the elder sister had worn when leaving the city. Everyone believed she was dead, and a grand funeral was held. No one could have guessed that the elder sister had employed a Li Dai Tao Jiang substitution tactic back then.
With the elder sister’s return, Xiao Fu Shi’s situation became extremely precarious.
The husband felt deep guilt toward the elder sister and handed the household management over to her. Now, every time Xiao Fu Shi appeared before him, it served only as a reminder of his past infidelity.
Xiao Fu Shi was also a proud woman. Seeing the man who only yesterday had been deeply in love and full of affection now acting this way, she chose to avoid appearing before Liu Chengxu as much as possible.
"Indeed, Madam, this cannot continue. You are respectful to the Eldest Madam in every matter, but how does she treat you? It does not matter if we adults suffer a little, but what about the Third Young Lady? The other young ladies are clean and refreshed, yet she is covered in prickly heat. This is a small matter now, but what about her future marriage prospects?" The usually steady Dan Qing also began to urge her.
Xiao Fu Shi’s expression sharpened. Indeed, even if she did not consider herself, she had to consider her daughter!
Currently, Master Liu Chengxu had two wives and two concubines. The original wife, Fu Shi, had given birth to the eldest son and eldest daughter. Concubine Su had two sons and a daughter, and Concubine Ding had also given birth to a daughter.
This meant the Liu family now had three sons and four daughters. The ages of the four daughters were quite close, and their future marriages would depend entirely on their father's favor.
She gently applied the powder to the red rash on her daughter's neck and made a silent resolution. She could no longer neglect her daughter’s well-being for the sake of her own pride.
Today it was ice; in the future, it would be the dowry, the marriage, and her ultimate status.
"Dan Hong, Dan Qing, tomorrow open my money box. Have Nanny Du’s son buy some incense chips and plum powder for me. I am going to make incense," Xiao Fu Shi said, taking a deep breath.
Dan Hong and Dan Qing were both delighted. Back then, the Master had loved the incense powder the Madam made most of all.
Just then, the little girl lying on the couch opened her eyes. Her small, fair hand tightly gripped Xiao Fu Shi’s hand. Seeing her daughter awake, Xiao Fu Shi asked, "Is my baby awake? Why have you been gripping Mama’s hand every day like this? Are you having nightmares?"
For reasons she couldn't explain, Li Shu’s face was suddenly covered in tears. She had missed her mother for so long that she had thought she was in a dream. She thought she might have been drunk on the fine wine brought back from the State of Qi, but she had gripped her mother’s hand several times now, and it was warm.
"What is it? Do you feel unwell?" Xiao Fu Shi felt even more self-reproachful.
"Mama, the day I woke up, I saw you painting me, didn't I?" Li Shu felt more and more that she might not be dreaming. It seemed she had truly returned to thirty years ago.
Seeing her daughter speaking clearly, Xiao Fu Shi knew that children sometimes cried because of nightmares. She felt somewhat relieved and smiled, "Yes, were you having a nightmare that day too? You insisted on holding Mama’s hand."
At this moment, Li Shu looked around and realized she had truly been reborn, returning to when she was five years old.
She couldn't remember much from her early childhood because her mother had passed away when she was ten. Immediately after her death, her betrothal to the Zheng family had been settled. She only remembered that later, when she asked Yu Ping and Yu Lan about her mother, they said this marriage born of a mistake had been illegitimate and ill-fated for a lifetime. Her mother had not been favored by her father and died without receiving a Gaoming title. She didn't even have a son who became a Jinshi to posthumously grant her one.
The world only knew of the wife Fu Chunhua; no one knew of Fu Qiujun.
Before her own wedding, Li Shu had opened her mother’s belongings. There was only one chest, filled entirely with paintings her mother had made of her. She only then realized that because her mother was skilled in painting, she would set up her easel and paint her whenever she was idle. From her first stumbling steps to her growth into a graceful young girl, the paintings were lifelike, showing Xiao Fu Shi’s profound love for her daughter.
Li Shu looked up at Xiao Fu Shi. It was the first time she had clearly seen her mother's face as it was in her memories. She hadn't realized Xiao Fu Shi was so beautiful, especially with a face free of any makeup, highlighting her natural grace.
"Mama is pretty." Li Shu stood up and gave Xiao Fu Shi a loud "smack" of a kiss on the cheek.
Xiao Fu Shi was stunned for a moment, then laughed joyfully. Li Shu looked around, beginning to recognize where they were.
The Liu family was a prominent clan in Jinghu. Li Shu’s great-grandfather was the famous official Liu Tianshi, who had the highest merit rating in the empire and was highly accomplished in weaponry, water conservancy, and even medicine. He had served as the Crown Prince’s Guardian, Minister of War, and Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and was posthumously titled Junior Guardian. Her grandfather, Liu Dongye, had entered the military through his father’s civil service rank and was appointed as a Jinyiwei Zheng Qianhu. In the tenth year of Tianxi, he became a military Jinshi, then served as the Dudu Tongzhi in charge of the Jinyiwei and Zong Tiqi. However, due to his involvement with palace eunuchs, he was forced to retire, though he was still titled Left Governor, Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, and Jinyiwei Du Zhihuishi.
As for her uncle, Liu Chengzong, he had ranked first in the provincial military examination in the eighth year of Tianxi. When his father was dismissed from office, he was also implicated and lost his position.
Her father was originally a Jinshi of the Sanjia tier. At that time, his father was still in the capital, so he naturally stayed there. Later, because of his father’s situation, he requested a provincial posting and had been serving for several years. He was currently the Tuiguan of Ninejiang Prefecture.
There were fixed limits on the number of servants an official could bring to a post. Officials of the fourth rank and below could bring twenty servants. Thus, while each branch originally had many familiar servants, they now only had two or three with them.
The reason she remembered Ninejiang so clearly was that when she was six, she had contracted smallpox and nearly been disfigured. There was a very small pit between her eyebrows that most people couldn't see; only she knew it was there when she drew her brows.
Also, it seemed her mother had once been pregnant. During the mourning period after her mother’s death, Dan Hong had held her and said, "If that child of the Madam's had been born back then, you would have had a biological brother to support you in the family. But that year you caught smallpox, and the Madam exhausted herself taking care of you. She fell while going out, and the child was lost. Otherwise, there wouldn't be no one even to carry the mourning staff for her."
Thinking of this, Li Shu secretly vowed to protect her mother and ensure she wouldn't end up a lonely ghost after death.
But seeing her five-year-old self wearing only a red bellyband because of the heat, she felt shy and insisted on getting dressed. "I want to put on clothes."
Xiao Fu Shi shook her head. "The weather is too hot. Look at how much these prickly heat rashes hurt."
Li Shu knew she had been precocious. She could speak at six months and recite Tang and Song poetry by age one. Everyone thought she was incredibly bright and clever, but it had all been taught by Xiao Fu Shi.
Thus, Li Shu was very silver-tongued. Hearing that Xiao Fu Shi disagreed, she said, "That's because Mama raised me to be so chubby. The skin on my neck folds together, and that's why the rash grows."
"You little thing, who told you to be so greedy? You pick up peanuts one by one with chopsticks better than an adult." Xiao Fu Shi loved to touch her daughter’s arms, which were as plump as lotus roots.
While others spent their money on dressing up, Xiao Fu Shi spent all hers on food.
Just as she was saying to Dan Hong, "Still have them send an extra portion of mung bean and lily soup today. Also, cut some braised pig ears; Shu Jie'er likes them."
Dan Hong went to open the money box. As she took out the coins, she grumbled, "The Eldest Madam wants to cut expenses, but her own side has more than enough. The kitchen doesn't dare neglect her; they give her the very best. As for us, our allowance has been halved, and our ice has been halved. The servants are experts at looking down on people; we have to spend an extra two hundred coins every day just to eat something decent."
"Enough, hold your tongue. It is a good thing that the Eldest Madam is being frugal. Even the Master praised it. He is still only a rank seven official, and there are many people to maintain relations with, plus the family needs to prepare gifts for the New Year and festivals. This is for the good of the household," Xiao Fu Shi said.
Dan Hong immediately didn't dare say more and hurried out.
Li Shu, however, sensed something unusual. When she had grown older and followed her father to his posts, the Eldest Madam had been sickly and Concubine Ding managed the household. Their expenses had never been this frugal.
Looking back at Xiao Fu Shi, her mother was saying to Dan Qing, "Dan Hong has a quick tongue and a blunt nature. In the future, you should be the one to go to the kitchen. Don't let others hear and think I am complaining; that would not be good."
"I understand," Dan Qing said quickly.
Xiao Fu Shi smiled again. "Don't worry, these days won't last long. Sooner or later, I won't let Shu Jie'er be treated this way. I will make her the most noble and envied girl in the Liu family."
This somewhat overturned Li Shu's perception. She had always thought her mother was unfavored and a person who didn't fight for anything, which was why she had died in melancholy. That was it—if she had truly been so melancholic and helpless, how could she have secured the betrothal with Zheng Hao?
Zheng Hao’s grandfather was a Grand Councilor, his father was the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, and the Zheng clan of Xingyang was a millennium-old noble family. Zheng Hao himself was of top-tier literary talent. But he was ten years older than her; by age, her elder sister was clearly more suitable. Yet, the marriage had fallen to her.
Could Xiao Fu Shi have been the hand behind it? Perhaps what Fu Shi’s maids, Yu Ping and Yu Lan, said about her mother being unfavored wasn't true after all.