The old maid beside Zhao Lubai hurried over and carefully helped her to her feet.
“Second Miss, are you all right?”
Zhao Lubai shook off her hand and got up by herself, glaring furiously at Zhao Yushu.
“Just you wait. I’ll make you pay for this!”
With that, she stamped her foot and hurried out of the courtyard.
When Concubine Liu saw which way she had gone, her face turned deathly pale.
“Oh no, Shuer! She’s definitely gone to complain to your father. Sisters fighting each other is a grave taboo. Your father won’t let you off lightly. Hurry after her, apologize, and explain everything to your father!”
Zhao Yushu insisted on helping Concubine Liu to her feet first. “What do I have to apologize for? She was the one who hurt you for no reason. If anyone did wrong, it was her! Where did she hit you? Are you badly hurt anywhere?”
“Why can’t you ever be sensible? I told you to go, so go!”
Concubine Liu shoved her away, her face full of frustration.
“What does it matter if she hit me a couple of times? She’s the mistress, and I’m a servant. I was born to be their punching bag!”
“But you’re different from me, Shuer. You’re a legitimate daughter, just like them. You’re at an age when marriage arrangements are being discussed. You absolutely mustn’t cause trouble now and displease your father and First Madam!”
“Legitimate or illegitimate—”
The Zhao family was on the brink of being stripped of everything. The moment the imperial decree arrived, the whole family would be imprisoned. Her father and First Madam alike would become convict-slaves beneath the bailiffs’ whips, and everyone would finally be equal!
Zhao Yushu was so agitated she almost blurted it out, but a stern shout came from beyond the courtyard.
“Third Girl, get out here!”
As it happened, Censor Zhao had eaten too much at dinner that evening and felt uncomfortably full. The night scenery was lovely, so he had called a few of his beautiful concubines to accompany him on a stroll around the residence to aid his digestion.
Zhao Lubai had run into him on her way to report the incident. Censor Zhao was a rigid, old-fashioned man who cared greatly about the family’s reputation.
Though he liked his concubines, he still showed First Madam due respect and had never earned a reputation for favoring concubines over his wife.
So when he suddenly heard that two of his daughters had been fighting each other, he flew into a rage. At Zhao Lubai’s deliberate instigation, he came to Zhao Yushu’s residence to punish her.
“Master, please hear me out. Third Miss was just impulsive. She didn’t mean any harm.”
Concubine Liu hurried over. She knew Censor Zhao’s temper and was desperate to defend her daughter.
“Get out of my way, you wretch! You’re the one who taught my daughter to behave this way!” Censor Zhao raised his hand and slapped her.
His slap was much harder than Zhao Lubai’s. Concubine Liu was knocked to the ground, her cheek swelling badly as a trace of blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
Censor Zhao didn’t even look at her. He stepped right over her and walked on.
The beautiful concubines following him knew that Concubine Liu was usually favored. Rarely did they get to see her in such a sorry state, and they covered their mouths, grinning with delight.
Seeing this, Zhao Yushu felt another sharp pang in her heart.
Censor Zhao had died young in her previous life, and she had long since stopped thinking about him as her father.
Now, seeing him again, she remembered that before the confiscation and exile, Censor Zhao had been quick-tempered. He treated his concubines and children alike, beating and scolding them at the slightest displeasure.
“Mother! Are you hurt?” she cried, rushing to help Concubine Liu. Before she could reach her, a heavy kick sent her sprawling.
The moon hung low, and the light was dim. She hadn’t even noticed Censor Zhao raising his leg before she was on the ground, her chest aching.
“Lubai was right. Third Girl, you really don’t know your place!”
Censor Zhao stood before Zhao Yushu, his face dark with fury.
“You call a concubine your mother. What does that say about all the effort Madam has spent raising you?”
“You may be the legitimate young lady of this household in name, but you behave like an illegitimate daughter. If word of this gets out, do you want the whole capital laughing at the Zhao family?”
Zhao Yushu clutched her chest. Censor Zhao was a civil official, so his kick hadn’t been especially hard, but a grown man’s foot was still enough to hurt her fifteen-year-old body.
She lowered her head, resentment and hatred flashing in her eyes.
What did it matter whether a woman was a wife or a concubine? What did it mean to be a legitimate daughter, or an illegitimate one?
If Censor Zhao himself hadn’t been a man of such poor character, if he hadn’t taken concubine after concubine despite already having a wife, then where would all these wives and concubines, legitimate and illegitimate daughters, in the household have come from?
For all these years, she and her birth mother had been separated. They lived less than a hundred meters apart, yet couldn’t even see each other. Hadn’t they suffered enough?
Why? Why couldn’t she even call her mother “Mother”? After carrying her for ten months, their blood was one and the same. Why did the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate, imposed by this world, have to be used to torment and demean them?
“Servants! Take these two who’ve broken the rules away and lock them in the Buddhist Hall. They’re to copy the scriptures a hundred times. Don’t let them out—or give them any food—until they’re done!”
Concubine Liu tried to plead her daughter’s case, but Censor Zhao had already coldly swept his sleeve and strode away with his people.
Zhao Lubai had gotten the result she wanted. She gave Zhao Yushu a satisfied smile, then left with her own people.
Two sturdy serving matrons came forward, each taking an arm—one gripping Concubine Liu, the other Zhao Yushu. They helped them up, clamped their hands onto their shoulders, and locked them in the Buddhist Hall.
Concubine Liu was still trying to explain, pounding on the door again and again.
“Master, if you must punish someone, punish me alone! Third Miss did nothing wrong. She only said the wrong thing in the heat of the moment. She’ll mend her ways, I promise!”
“Mother, stop.” Zhao Yushu stepped up behind her and, expressionless, took hold of her wrist. On the dress she had just changed into, a boot print still marked the chest.
“It was my fault. From beginning to end, I was the one who did wrong.”
Zhao Yushu squeezed her eyes shut, forcing down the resentment and hatred in them.
In her previous life, she had lived to thirty. Censor Zhao had died young, and First Madam and Zhao Lubai had both become convict-slaves.
They had only managed to escape their status as slaves because Zhao Yushu had ingratiated herself with Prince Jin and used his connections to secure their freedom.
So no matter how much they despised Zhao Yushu, they had smiled at her to gain more benefits from her.
But those smiles weren’t for Zhao Yushu herself. They were for the power she could rely on.
That was why, the moment Prince Jin abandoned her, the Zhao family had ignored her desperate pleas and put her to death without hesitation.
In this life, the Zhao family had not yet been stripped of everything, and Zhao Yushu had no one to rely on. The greatest power in the family still lay with Censor Zhao.
So although Zhao Yushu now had more skills and memories than she had at fifteen in her previous life, within the rules that divided legitimate and illegitimate, she was still just an insignificant thing, forced to survive at the mercy of others.
The shock of being reborn had brought her too much joy. She had let herself get carried away for a moment.
No matter how resentful she was, no matter how much she hated the Zhao family, she shouldn’t have revealed her feelings now.
And before the family was stripped of everything, she shouldn’t have gone seeking some supposed equality and justice.
Zhao Yushu took deep breaths, and gradually, both her emotions and the ache in her chest began to subside.
Now that she thought about it, the confiscation of the Zhao family might actually be a good thing for her.
Once the family was stripped of everything, her father would no longer be an official, First Madam would no longer be the mistress of the household, and Zhao Lubai would no longer be able to flaunt her status as a legitimate daughter.
Only when everyone became convict-slaves could she and her mother finally live in a fair world.
And the day after tomorrow was the day the Zhao family would be stripped of everything!