At the time, Father had returned to the capital alone. Nearly half a year passed before he finally came to fetch them. Back then, she had been too young and ignorant to understand the hidden implications. But her mother had already been twenty-two years old. Had she truly noticed nothing at all?
During those months, could Grandmother and Madam Chen really have made no preparations, simply waiting for them to move into the Xie household?
Her mother’s journey to the Xie family had been like stepping into a dragon’s pond and a tiger’s den, a place where survival itself was uncertain. Yet Mother had seemed wholeheartedly convinced that the Xie family would warmly accept the three of them. The thought left Xie Shuning restless and frustrated. She secretly glanced at her mother, who spoke softly and gently with Father, and couldn’t help feeling relieved.
Fortunately, she did not take after her mother. Had she possessed her mother’s temperament, she would likely have died long before Lin Yuanzhi had the chance to harm her. Lost in thought, she suddenly heard her brother, Xie Yi, ask softly, “A-Man, who is Zhen’er?”
The little girl froze.
Unable to join their parents’ conversation, Xie Yi pouted and shuffled closer. His eyes shone like stars as he looked at her. Only after a long pause did she answer in a strained voice, “I dreamed about a child who looked exactly like you, Brother. His name was Zhen’er.”
Xie Yi narrowed his eyes and leaned shoulder to shoulder against her.
“You must still be half asleep. How could there possibly be someone who looks exactly like me?”
Xie Shuning nodded blankly. Then, as her gaze fell upon her own clothing, she froze once again. Following her chubby little hands upward, she saw snow-white, silky fur. Around the cuffs was an entire circle of perfectly matched, round pink pearls. A white fox-fur jacket. Trimmed with pink South Sea pearls. It was extravagantly luxurious.
For a moment, Xie Shuning could not recover her senses. She remembered all the major events that were yet to happen, but these tiny details had long faded from memory. Had her mother deliberately dressed her this way before entering the Xie household? Or had she simply worried that her daughter would not be able to endure the capital’s bitter cold and chosen such a fine fur coat?
Biting her lip, Xie Shuning considered the possibility. If Mother had truly possessed such foresight and calculation, she would not later have been so easily defeated by Madam Chen. Evidently, this had merely been a coincidence. Besides, while the Song family might lack many things, money was certainly not one of them.
Her uncle had only one younger sister, her mother, and naturally spared no expense on her. Out of affection for his sister, he extended the same generosity to her children. Both she and her brother enjoyed the finest food, clothing, and daily necessities.
The Xie family liked to call themselves an aristocratic clan, yet the children of her uncles and elder uncle wore and used things that could not compare to theirs. Perhaps that was precisely why the Xie family behaved as they did.
On the surface, they were unwilling to acknowledge a daughter-in-law born into a merchant family, fearing it would tarnish the Xie name’s prestige. Yet in their hearts, they could not bear to part with her substantial dowry.
Thus, after Mother’s death, the dowry that should rightfully have belonged to her brother and herself was swallowed whole by the Xie family’s enormous maw. Not a single coin was left to them. They had eagerly seized her birth mother’s wealth, yet when the time came for her own marriage, they begrudged spending even the slightest amount on her. At that time, the Xie family was flourishing. How could they possibly have lacked such a trivial sum?
Yet among her sixty-four trunks of bridal dowry, most of the contents were merely decorative showpieces. Only because Great-Grand-Aunt felt guilty and secretly added more items herself did the dowry become presentable.
This marriage exchange was arranged so that the Lin family could only suffer in silence. Although she had been registered under Madam Chen’s name and was therefore nominally the legitimate daughter of the Third Branch, everyone knew she was, in reality, little more than a concubine-born daughter.
Coupled with her meager dowry, life after marrying into the Lin family had been difficult. Her mother-in-law treated her coldly, and Lin Yuanzhi showed her little favor. Even now, looking back on those years, she felt as though she had walked barefoot across snow-covered ground.
In the dead of winter, the three of them, mother and children, had traveled thousands of li from the warm and prosperous Jiangnan region to the freezing capital. Yet what awaited them was a human coldness far harsher than the capital’s bitter weather.
As Xie Shuning stroked the South Sea pearls sewn onto her cuff, she tried hard to recall what had happened that winter. Her younger sister, Xie Shumin, had been born in the twelfth lunar month of the following year. It was now late in the eleventh month. If her memory served her correctly, the twelfth month would begin in just a few days.
In other words, during the months Father had been separated from them, he had indeed kept the promise he had made to Mother. But after the three of them arrived at the Xie residence, Father and Madam Chen had become involved with one another, eventually producing Xie Shumin.
When Mother hadn’t been by his side, he could keep his word. So why could he not keep it once Mother arrived? Where, exactly, had things gone wrong?
While her thoughts wandered, the carriage passed leisurely through Shouqing Gate.
At the end of Sanxi Street, a right turn brought them to Shijing Alley, marked by its distinctive well built from blue-gray stone. Continuing for another three hundred meters or so, the Xie residence finally came into view. Yet after passing the main gate, the carriage did not stop. Instead, it headed straight for the side gate on the west.
Xie Shuning glanced at Father’s face. His expression did not change in the slightest. Clearly, he already knew. And Mother had always deferred completely to Father. Since he said nothing, she naturally remained silent as well.
The carriage came to a stop. Xie Yuanmao climbed down first, then turned to help her.
“I’m not getting out,” Xie Shuning declared, glaring at him.
Meanwhile, Madam Song had already prepared to take Xie Yi down from the carriage when Xie Shuning wrapped both arms around her mother’s waist and frowned.
“Father once said that when visiting someone’s home, the host should open the main gate to welcome their guests. So why are we being made to enter through the side gate today?”
Xie Yi learned to walk early but didn’t start speaking until later. By contrast, she had been the exact opposite. She had only barely learned to walk at one and a half years old, yet she had long spoken with the fluency of a child five or six years older. Therefore, no one present found it particularly strange that she could say something like this.
Still, Xie Yuanmao looked somewhat embarrassed. “A-Man, from now on this will be our home. We aren’t guests.”
Xie Shuning sneered inwardly. Outwardly, however, she merely widened her clear, bright eyes in confusion and stared at him. “If it’s our own home, shouldn’t we be entering through the main gate all the more?”
Xie Yuanmao’s eyes flickered. For a moment, he could think of no reply.
The carriage was blocking the entrance. People inside couldn’t come out, and those outside couldn’t enter.
Seeing the situation becoming unsightly, Madam Song worried it might cause trouble for Xie Yuanmao, who had only recovered his memories and returned to the Xie family six months earlier. She hurriedly bent down, scooped up the chubby little girl, and firmly deposited her into Xie Yuanmao’s arms.
“A-Man, don’t make a scene.”
Pouting, Xie Shuning looked at her mother. Countless words crowded her tongue, but none could escape. In her previous life, they had already lost the moment they arrived.
Grandmother had ordered them to enter through the side gate. The message behind that decision could not have been clearer. Yet Father had not objected. Mother had obediently complied. The moment they crossed that threshold, they had already surrendered half the battle.
Struggling in Xie Yuanmao’s arms, Xie Shuning cried out, “I want to walk by myself!”
Perhaps out of guilt, Xie Yuanmao responded gently. “All right, all right. A-Man can walk by herself.”
He carefully set her down. But before she could take more than a couple of steps, someone suddenly approached Xie Yuanmao and said, without the slightest concern for her presence, “Sixth Master, I’m afraid Eighth Miss’s clothing is inappropriate.”
“What’s inappropriate about it?” Xie Yuanmao asked in confusion.
Hearing this, Xie Shuning almost laughed.
Her father had grown accustomed to the Song family’s luxury. Naturally, he saw nothing wrong with what she was wearing.
But the Xie family prided themselves on being refined scholars rather than newly rich upstarts. To them, excessive wealth and merchant extravagance were distasteful.
“Sixth Master, the Old Madam has always lived frugally and dislikes extravagance.”
The servant did not answer directly. Instead, he invoked the authority of the Third Branch’s old matriarch.
Xie Yuanmao’s expression immediately changed.
Watching clearly, Xie Shuning stamped her little foot. Her eyes narrowed. Gathering up her skirt, she suddenly dashed forward on her short little legs, running straight toward the main gate.