“Hold her down, strip off her skirt, and prop her body higher!”
Bai Jingchu’s wrists were pinned tightly by the maids. Her body, weakened by the Soft Tendon Powder, couldn’t muster even a hint of strength. She could only turn her face away in shame, allowing Granny Bai to tear open her skirt ties.
Three years ago, to save the Bai family from crisis, her adoptive father had sent her in a small sedan chair to the private residence of the dying Chief Eunuch Li.
Three years later, as Eunuch Li lay on his deathbed, she had feigned madness and endured countless hardships to finally return to the capital.
No sooner had she washed away the filth than her adoptive mother, Madam Bai Chen, ordered her to be force-fed Soft Tendon Powder, stripped naked, and inspected for chastity.
Bai Jingchu gritted her teeth, enduring the humiliating scrutiny and the cold, wandering fingers of Granny Bai.
Granny Bai’s hand suddenly paused, and she exclaimed in surprise, “Madam! This girl is still a virgin!”
Madam Bai Chen was also taken aback. “How is that possible? Eunuch Li was notoriously cruel and violent. None of the palace maids who served him met a good end—one even died from abdominal distension after being sealed. She served him for three years! She was even tormented to the point of madness!”
“There’s no mistake. The maidenhead is intact. She has definitely never been with a man.”
Madam Bai Chen raised an eyebrow. “Jingchu, Mother asks you, did Eunuch Li ever do anything vile to you?”
Bai Jingchu recalled Eunuch Li’s final warning: “…If you want to survive, you must feign madness and return to the Bai family!”
Shedding her shame, she adopted a look of bewildered innocence and answered irrelevantly, “Eunuch Li messed himself every day. I didn’t have to attend to such filthy matters.”
Nearly a year of acting had made her every gesture and movement appear foolish and naive. She played the fool so convincingly that no one suspected a thing.
Madam Bai Chen speculated to herself, “Jingchu was sent to the private residence just before Eunuch Li suffered a stroke and became paralyzed. He must have been unable to act, which is how she luckily preserved her purity.”
Luck?
Thrown to the wolves, one either goes mad or dies!
If not for her medical skills and careful maneuvering, how could she have emerged unscathed?
The maids finally released Bai Jingchu and helped her straighten her clothes.
Madam Bai Chen gazed meaningfully at her well-proportioned, slender waist.
“After all, you served as a eunuch’s companion. Now you’re a widow, bringing shame and scorn upon the family. It’s no longer appropriate for you to stay in the mansion.”
Heh.
Three years of inhuman suffering had brought the Bai family wealth and prominence, elevating her adoptive father to the position of Chief Imperial Physician.
Yet, in the end, she was not hailed as the savior who rescued the Bai family from peril but as a disgrace.
Bai Jingchu pretended not to understand Madam Bai Chen’s insinuations and chirped excitedly, “Is Mother taking me out to play?”
“Of course not. Your sister Jingshu and I have found you another promising path.
Last year, your father arranged a marriage for Jingshu with the noble Marquis of Qinggui. The wedding is approaching.
Your sister Jingshu suggested sending you to the Marquis of Qinggui’s residence today to test the marriage for her. In the future, she can easily secure you a position and a home.”
Bai Jingchu’s heart jolted with shock, her eyes glinting like colliding ice.
Bai Jingshu was the Bai family’s biological daughter, swapped at birth and raised in a nunnery, only recognized and returned to the family three years ago.
Now, barely having survived her ordeal, Bai Jingshu was eagerly sending her to another man’s bed!
Bai Jingchu grabbed Madam Bai Chen’s hand, her fingertips cold. “I won’t go. I never want to leave home again.”
“This is what you owe Jingshu!” Lady Bai Chen’s face was icy, her eyes sharp and stern. “All these years, you’ve been a cuckoo in the nest, usurping the wealth and glory that rightfully belonged to Jingshu, making her suffer so much. And now, when all we ask is for you to test the marriage in her place, you dare refuse?”
A woman’s chastity! And after I’ve just narrowly escaped death.
You raised the wrong daughter yourselves—what does that have to do with me?
Three years ago, it was the debt of sixteen years of upbringing that bound me. This time, it’s a baseless debt of guilt.
Bai Jingchu pouted pitifully, her eyes pleading as she gazed at Lady Bai Chen.
“A-Chu doesn’t want to marry. They bullied me, pricked my fingers with silver needles, dug into my arms with awls, and even planted barley under my skin. A-Chu almost died from the pain several times!”
Her voice trembled with fear, but Lady Bai Chen’s flicker of pity vanished as quickly as it appeared, hardening back into impatience.
“Be obedient. It’s just one night. We’ll bring you back tomorrow. Nanny Bai, escort Miss Jingchu to the Marquis’s residence!”
Nanny Bai acknowledged the order and, with a command, summoned two sturdy maids who half-supported, half-dragged the trembling Bai Jingchu and tossed her into the carriage bound for the Marquis’s estate.
Nanny Bai pinched her waist viciously, her expression fierce. “Listen carefully: when you serve the Young Marquis tonight, don’t extinguish the lamps, and don’t just flaunt yourself shamelessly! Keep your eyes wide open and examine the bird between the Young Marquis’s legs—see what it looks like, whether it has bumps or sores. Report everything truthfully to the Lady and Miss when you return!”
Then she turned and began exchanging crude jokes with the other maids, utterly shameless.
Bai Jingchu grew more horrified with every word.
For Bai Jingshu, the daughter of a mere fifth-rank official, to marry into the Marquis’s household as the Young Marquis’s wife was like fitting a donkey with a golden saddle—utterly mismatched. And yet, she had the audacity to send someone to test the marriage beforehand.
Could it be that the Young Marquis had some unspeakable condition?
Bumps and sores! That sounded like a venereal disease!
Her adoptive mother and Bai Jingshu were clearly trying to send her to her death!
At the prestigious Marquis’s residence, after announcing their arrival, Nanny Bai entered first. About the time it takes to burn a stick of incense later, she ordered Bai Jingchu to be brought into the main hall and forced to pay her respects.
The Marchioness’s face was cold as she scrutinized Bai Jingchu with a critical eye.
“Her appearance and demeanor are indeed flawless, but she looks rather dull-witted.”
Afraid of any mishaps, Nanny Bai hastily covered for her. “She’s not foolish, just intimidated by Your Ladyship’s imposing presence.”
Bai Jingchu remained expressionless, nodding seriously. “Yes, I’m not stupid! I understand everything.”
Frowning, pursing her lips, and shaking her head, she looked anything but clever to any discerning observer.
The Marchioness let out a derisive snort, her mockery unmistakable. “Then do you know how to serve the Young Marquis later?”
“I do!” Bai Jingchu puffed out her chest proudly, speaking earnestly. “Nanny Bai told me the Young Marquis has a bird hidden in his trousers. I need to look closely at what it looks like, measure it with my hand, see how long and how thick it is…”
“Pfft!”
The maids and nannies inside and outside the room couldn’t hold back their laughter, their shoulders shaking with mirth.
Nanny Bai, terrified, clamped a hand over Bai Jingchu’s mouth.
The Marchioness’s face instantly turned frosty, her eyes sharp with anger. “Preposterous! If this marriage were to actually happen, this foolish girl would babble about intimate matters for all to hear. Your Bai family may not care about reputation, but our Marquis’s household cannot afford such disgrace. Please leave at once!”
Bai Jingchu turned her face away, muttering with feigned grievance, “I was only telling the truth. Mother even told me to check carefully whether the Young Marquis’s little bird had grown bumps or bloomed—I remembered it all.”
The Marchioness immediately caught the underlying implication. “Bloomed? What does that mean?”
Old Madam Bai hastily intervened, “She’s just a fool spouting nonsense—not a single word can be trusted!” Then she turned and glared fiercely at Bai Jingchu. “Hold your tongue!”
Bai Jingchu pretended to shrink back timidly but continued fueling the fire, “I’m not stupid. On the way here, you all said that Young Master Yan is an utter madman, always acting recklessly, especially with some cruel and bizarre little quirks in matters between men and women—enough to torment someone to death.”
Hearing this, the Marchioness flew into a rage, pointing at Old Madam Bai’s nose and cursing, “Oh, I see now! No wonder, with the wedding approaching, your family suddenly proposed a trial marriage and shoved a foolish girl into our household. Out of respect for your family’s late patriarch, we never once looked down on your crude daughter or your mere fifth-rank status—and yet you dare to pick and choose faults with our Marquis House!”
What a satisfying scolding!
Bai Jingchu then dropped another bombshell, speaking with utmost seriousness, “I am not a servant girl. I am Bai Jingchu, the young lady of the Bai family!”
“What?!”
The entire room was stunned, everyone exchanging bewildered glances.