“The son is king, the mother is a captive. All day long she pounds grain until dusk, always in the company of death. Separated by three thousand li, whom should she ask to tell you?”
A song, “Chong Ge,” echoed continuously. Along with “Chong Ge” came a pain that pierced deep into the bones, and the fresh red all over the ground spread throughout the entire dark chamber…
In the winter of the twenty-third year of Kangxi, the sky was still gray and dim, but in a hot spring manor less than a hundred li from Jiangning City, candlelight had already been lit early.
In the main courtyard, maidservants wearing grass-green short jackets filed in one after another carrying washing items. Without any orders to approach and serve the master, they all curtsied and took their places in an orderly manner in the corners. Not a single extra glance or movement could be seen, showing their proper manners.
Inside the low-key and elegantly arranged inner room, there was a canopy bed made of the finest huanghuali wood. On it lay a young woman who looked about fifteen or sixteen, dressed in plain white sleeping clothes. She was carefully helped up by her personal head maid, An Ning, and half leaned against a pillow.
Without turning her head, An Ning casually stretched out a hand, and a warm cloth was immediately handed to her. She gently wiped the fine cold sweat from her mistress’s forehead, her voice especially soft: “Did Miss have another nightmare?”
The woman called Miss kept her eyes closed and softly gave a mm, looking rather weak and listless.
Ever since she had been reborn for these more than ten years, she had almost never had a peaceful night’s sleep. As soon as she closed her eyes, all she saw was a field of scarlet, and her own limbs would even ache faintly, as if she were still that imprisoned captive who had been turned into a human pig, and not Miss Cao Yue of the Cao family in Jiangning a thousand-odd years later.
In just a moment, many memories had already flashed through Cao Yue’s mind, and in the end, they were sealed back into the depths of memory.
She slowly opened her eyes, and with the corner of her vision, she glanced at the incense burner that was sending up wisps of fragrance. Her voice was as flat as water: “Put out the calming incense. Tell An Ping to think about it some more and make a new type of calming incense.”
As soon as the words fell, someone extinguished the incense and then moved the burner out.
From childhood to adulthood, she had to change to a new type of incense almost every so often. Over the years, the number of incenses she had changed totaled at least twenty kinds. At first, they worked well, but little by little, they would lose their effect.
Therefore, An Ning agreed without the slightest hesitation: “Miss knows that An Ping has taken leave. When An Ping returns, this servant will pass on your instructions to her.”
The cold sweat on her forehead was wiped away by An Ning, and her eyes, still somewhat sleepy, grew a little more awake. Even though Cao Yue had not rested well last night, thinking of what she had to do today, she did not want to go back to sleep, so she simply had people serve her as she got up.
Sitting before the dressing table, Cao Yue extended her hand and lingered over row after row of pomades and salves. Her fair, delicate hand finally stopped at the smallest box. She twisted open the lid, dug out a bit of the balm with her other hand, let it melt in her palm, and then slowly applied it to her own delicate cheeks.
A sweet fragrance unique to peach blossoms lingered at the tip of her nose, and Cao Yue’s mood improved a few points. The corners of her lips lifted slightly. Looking at herself in the bronze mirror, she admired her own beauty: “Has there been any news from older brother?”
An Ning’s hands, as she combed Cao Yue’s hair, did not stop. At the same time, she split off some attention to reply, “Yesterday, Eldest Master sent someone to the manor, but by then it was already late at night. Miss was already asleep at that time, so this servant took the liberty of making the decision and did not have anyone disturb you.”
After carefully finishing, seeing no displeasure on Cao Yue’s face, An Ning quietly let out a breath and continued, “Eldest Master said that if Miss has made up her mind, then just proceed according to the plan.”
Proceed according to the plan. Those few words sounded simple, but they concerned Cao Yue’s second half of life. How could it be so easy?
“I understand.”
Cao Yue picked up a pair of earrings and put them on. Even without turning back, she could sense An Ning’s hesitation: “If you have anything to say, just say it directly.”
With permission, An Ning gathered her courage and, after gritting her teeth, said, “Miss, this servant should not question you, but this servant does not understand. With how much the master and madam dote on you, you could completely not take this path.”
The Cao family was a prominent household in Jiangning. If they claimed second, no one dared claim first. Even officials of the same rank as Eldest Master Cao Yin would not offend the Cao family, and because the Cao family had Elder Madam Sun Shi, who had been the current emperor’s wet nurse and was highly regarded by him, they even wished to build good relations with the Cao family.
An Ning could not understand. Born into such a family, and with the young lady being the late-born daughter of the master and madam, in the Jiangning area she could do whatever she wanted and would not suffer any grievance. Why did she have to go to that man-eating place?
Compared with the young lady making a name for herself, she hoped even more that the young lady would live a lifetime of safety and happiness.
When Cao Yue heard this, she slowly exhaled, and the white mist blurred the bronze mirror: “Just take me as being proud and ambitious.”
Even though her previous life had ended miserably, being given a second chance was already fortunate, but she still could not accept that the self who had been born into a noble family in her previous life had, in this life, become a Manchu servant. Even if the Cao family was currently the emperor’s trusted favored minister, that still could not change the fact that she was inferior to those high and mighty bannermen ladies.
And the only one who could change all of this was the most noble person under heaven. What she sought was only a single sentence from that person.
That light and floating sentence shut all of An Ning’s remaining words back in.
An Ning bit her lip, the fingertips that held the comb turning white: “No matter what Miss wants to do, this servant will follow Miss together.”
If Miss had not bought her back from the human traffickers back then, she might have already been sold to the singing and dancing houses long ago. Therefore, Miss was not only her mistress, but also her lifesaving benefactor. She would use this life of hers to repay Miss.
Cao Yue’s brows and eyes curved slightly, and her tone carried a smile: “I know.”
After breakfast, Cao Yue rinsed her mouth, elegantly straightened her cuffs, and got up. An Ning immediately stepped forward to support her, and a little maid also knelt by Cao Yue’s feet to help her straighten her skirt hem.
After the little maid finished tidying up, Cao Yue lifted her foot and stepped out of the room. Looking up at the already risen sun, she did not stop walking and said as if casually, “The weather is good today. Have someone bring my qin. Let’s go sit for a while in the pavilion in the peach grove.”
“Yes.”
Right now it was the twelfth lunar month of winter, the season when plum blossoms were blooming, so there should not be any peach blossoms. Yet Cao Yue liked peach blossoms, and Cao Xi and Old Madam Sun Shi, who dote on their daughter as if their life depended on it, had spent quite a bit of silver to have top-notch gardeners plant a large peach grove near the hot spring source outside their own hot spring manor.
Perhaps because of the hot spring, and because the gardeners took good care of them, the peach blossoms had actually bloomed in the middle of winter, and from then on became a rare sight in Jiangning.
Every year when the peach blossoms were in full bloom in winter, Cao Yue would come to stay at the manor, and would not return until Laba Festival.
It was precisely because of this habit that even if that person later became suspicious, after sending people to investigate, there would no longer be any doubt.
The pavilion in the peach grove was called Taoyao Pavilion. It was specially built by Cao Xi for Cao Yue, so that when his daughter came to the peach grove to play, she would have a place to rest.
The pavilion was neither big nor small, and it easily held more than ten people. Occasionally when Cao Yue was in the mood, she would also eat her meals in the pavilion. There was no need to mention how comfortable it was.
The message Cao Yin sent only had the time, not the place, so when she could run into that person depended entirely on luck.
If her luck was poor, the effort she had put in might also be wasted.
An Ning could think of this point, and Cao Yue naturally could as well. More than that, Cao Yue had already thought up a backup plan. In short, no matter what, she had to achieve her goal.
The maid carefully and quietly placed the Jiaowei qin on the low table made of jujube-red wood in front of Cao Yue, and then retreated without a sound.
In the more than one thousand years of history she had experienced, she had heard of quite a few famous qin, but there were only two famous qin that had been handed down from the Han dynasty: Green Silk and Jiaowei. Green Silk was made by Sima Xiangru, while Jiaowei was made by Cai Yong.
It was a pity that she had died too early back then and had never seen these two famous qin, yet unexpectedly, a thousand years later, by chance, this Jiaowei had actually come into her hands.
Seeing Cao Yue staring blankly at Jiaowei, An Ning thought there was something wrong and asked in a low voice, “Miss, is there a problem with this qin?”
Her brows furrowed. Although this Jiaowei was a gift from Eldest Master to Miss, if this qin caused Miss displeasure, then there was no need for it to exist.
Hearing the concern in An Ning’s tone, Cao Yue gave a light smile and casually plucked the strings. A clear, mellow tone immediately poured out: “Nothing. I was just thinking of some other things.”
Seeing that Cao Yue had only said that much and would not speak further, An Ning tactfully did not ask again.
She had served Miss for nearly ten years, so she naturally knew that Miss was very prone to spacing out. By ordinary logic, Miss must have something on her mind, but she was almost always by Miss’s side, and she knew most of Miss’s matters. She also had not seen anything particularly unusual happen to Miss.
Could it be that she had overlooked something?
An Ning slightly furrowed her brow, and before she could figure anything out, Cao Yue had already started plucking the strings. A tune of Taoyao sounded leisurely in the pink peach grove.
The sound of the qin interrupted An Ning’s train of thought. An Ning had no choice but to put the doubt aside for the moment and focus on the movements in the peach grove.
Perhaps Cao Yue’s luck was good enough. At this moment, her target was leading the people accompanying him along the small road outside the peach grove.
The young man at the front was about thirty years old, wearing a dark, patterned brocade robe. At his waist hung a jade pendant that seemed to give off a faint glow. Even before seeing his face, just looking from afar gave the impression that this man had a very imposing air, making people unable to resist feeling awe.
Before he even opened his mouth, one of the attendants behind him, a fair-faced, beardless man, smiled and said, “Master, I never would have thought that in the middle of this twelfth lunar month winter, there would actually still be peach blossoms. This servant has really opened his eyes.”
Even though the man called Master was used to seeing strange and rare things since childhood, when he now saw these peach blossoms, he could not help but be a little surprised.
When another man who looked like a guard saw this, his eyes flickered, and he hurriedly said, “This servant is also seeing them for the first time. If I had not seen it with my own eyes, and someone told this servant that peach blossoms would bloom in winter, I would not believe it either. Putting aside anything else, just the silver spent on this alone would not be a small amount. I wonder which family has such great wealth.”
The fair-faced, beardless attendant lowered his head and did not answer when he heard this.
The meaning in those words was really too obvious. Since they had arrived in Jiangning a day ahead of the processional escort, they naturally understood some things about Jiangning in their hearts.
Jiangning was the Cao family’s territory. The only ones who could afford such a display were probably the Cao family, and there did not seem to be anyone else. Feiyanggu’s implication was truly obvious. It was just unknown what Master’s thoughts were after hearing this.
Just as he was lowering his head and waiting for his own Master to speak, who would have thought that after a moment of silence, Master still showed no sign of speaking. The attendant could not help but secretly glance at Master a couple of times, only to see that Master had actually closed his eyes here, seeming as if he had fallen asleep.
He called softly, “Master?”
The young man did not open his eyes, and instead frowned slightly, lightly scolding, “Be quiet.”
“You should all listen carefully. It seems there is someone playing the qin in the distance.”