A friendly reminder: don’t overthink it. Bring your imagination.
*
The sun blazed overhead. Even the cicadas had fallen silent, hiding beneath the trees to escape the heat. Li Qu, however, was being forced to kneel in the courtyard, roasted until she looked like a wilted eggplant—limp and listless.
“Even wiping out your entire clan wouldn’t make up for the Old Madam’s life!”
“You were lucky enough to catch the Old Madam’s eye and be chosen as a concubine for a Master. That’s a blessing you cultivated over eight lifetimes!”
“And you still dared to block the pacification commissioner’s carriage in the street and accuse the Old Madam of abducting an innocent girl!”
“Did you even bother finding out what kind of illustrious clan the Zhou family of the Eighteen Rivers of the Two Jiang is before offending them so blindly?”
Nanny Xu strode over to Li Qu, raised a rattan whip, and brought it down across her back. Li Qu instantly sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.
“Since entering the residence, you’ve been served the finest food and clothed in the finest garments. We’ve never let you suffer even a little. Take this one stroke as a lesson to remember!”
As she spoke, Nanny Xu put away the rattan whip and changed her tone.
“Look at you. You angered the Old Madam so badly that she fainted, and after waking up, all she wanted was to punish you with a single stroke. That was all.”
“The Old Madam is the kindest old madam in the world.”
“And yet you’re so rebellious by nature, deceiving the Old Madam so cruelly!”
Li Qu only wanted to laugh when she heard this.
Kind?
Was it kindness to threaten and entice her into becoming Third Master Zhou’s concubine simply because she was the nine-hundred-and-ninety-ninth woman to enter through the northern city gate on Charity Day, and happened to be around the same age as Third Master Zhou?
If she hadn’t acted meek and clever, lulling them into lowering their guard, how could she have found the chance to leave the residence, block the capital-appointed pacification commissioner’s route, and expose Zhou Residence’s abduction of innocent girls in the middle of the street?
“Fortunately, the Old Madam suffered no serious harm. Otherwise, even having you experience the slicing torture wouldn’t be excessive!”
Nanny Xu wasn’t merely making an empty threat. Throughout the territory of the Eighteen Rivers of the Two Jiang, the Zhou clan controlled a special force: the canal troops.
There was a saying: On land, the Xiao clan called themselves emperor; on water, the Zhou clan was the uncrowned king.
The stability of Da Qian depended on its waterways functioning smoothly.
The Zhou clan’s status was self-evident.
After warning Li Qu, Nanny Xu turned and walked toward the veranda.
Bamboo blinds shielded the veranda from the sun. Ice basins gave off a chill, and the cool air drifted along with the fans in the maidservants’ hands toward the master of Embroidered Splendor Hall.
Zhou Jin lay lazily in a rocking chair with his eyes closed, resting.
Li Qu lifted her eyelids and glanced at the scene on the veranda before lowering them again.
Unfortunately, no matter how carefully one planned, one could never account for fate.
She had never expected the capital-appointed pacification commissioner to be Third Master Zhou himself—Zhou Jin.
Before she had even made it to the authorities, Zhou Jin had hauled her back to the Zhou Residence and punished her by making her kneel here.
Things had come to this. Whether they wanted to kill her or butcher her, she would simply have to submit.
Li Qu closed her eyes in unwilling resignation, hating this rigidly hierarchical, utterly inhuman patriarchal feudal society with all her heart.
Even when voices sounded again from the veranda, they could not stir her in the slightest.
She had undergone transmigration from the womb, yet had been born to the poorest sort of commoners, people who could barely scrape together enough to eat.
She had struggled to survive in this ignorant world, wanting nothing more than to live a comfortable life.
But she had been born a girl, innately a step below men, hindered at every turn.
From an isolated rural village controlled by its clan, she had worked hard until she had finally achieved financial freedom and found a chance to pursue a life of independence. Yet she had stumbled and fallen in Hezhou.
Heaven had treated her unfairly!
Suddenly, a clear, jade-like voice reached her ears.
“Since you’re unwilling to become a concubine of the Zhou Residence, I won’t force you.”
She jerked her head up and saw that several people had appeared on the veranda at some point. One of them was a six-foot-tall, burly servant with a face full of pockmarks. A pair of striking black eyes stared at her in a daze.
Huaiqiu, Zhou Jin’s personal page, barked, “What are you waiting for? Kneel and kowtow to thank Master!”
The burly servant hurriedly dropped to his knees and expressed his thanks.
Not far from him, Nanny Xu hesitated, her eyes fixed anxiously on Li Qu.
Only after Zhou Jin left with his people did Nanny Xu descend from the veranda in a furious rush.
“Concubine, you have a perfectly good position as a mistress, and you don’t want it? Do you really intend to marry Chang San, the manure hauler?
“Let this old servant take you to apologize to the Old Madam. As long as the Old Madam speaks up, Third Master won’t refuse to keep you.”
A beauty as graceful and socially adept as this girl would certainly have a place in Third Master’s household in the future, as long as she was willing.
Nanny Xu believed that only a girl like this was worthy of becoming the concubine of the handsome and elegant Third Master.
And only a girl like this could complement the frosty, aloof Third Master!
Li Qu had no idea what Nanny Xu was thinking, but from the scattered fragments she had overheard, she reached one conclusion.
She pointed at Chang San and asked Nanny Xu for confirmation. “Third Master Zhou has married me off to him?”
Nanny Xu hurriedly tried to justify her master’s actions.
“Because the Old Madam fainted, Third Master is furious at the moment. Please, get up.”
With Nanny Xu’s help, Li Qu staggered to her feet.
She was a free registered commoner now, so there was no way to hold Zhou Jin accountable for marrying her off against her will.
This simply wasn’t an age in which reason mattered.
Nanny Xu expertly massaged Li Qu’s knees and calves as she urged her, “Our Third Master was born into a clan of great wealth and status. He could have entered officialdom through his family’s privilege, yet he earned third place in the metropolitan examination through his own ability. He is truly a dragon among men.”
“To have such an opportunity, Concubine, is a match bestowed by Heaven. You must seize it…”
Nanny Xu continued prattling on, but Li Qu didn’t hear a word. She stared intently at Chang San. Once her legs were capable of walking, she staggered over to him, raised her head, and looked directly into his eyes.
“Are you a hereditary servant of the Zhou family?”
“Yes, yes.” Chang San’s ears flushed red, and he turned his gaze away from Li Qu.
On the very day Concubine Li entered the residence, she became famous for her beauty. Later, she had even managed to win the favor of every master and mistress in the household. Her reputation had long since spread among the servants.
“Are you the one who hauls manure?”
“My mother says we’ll be able to petition the Old Madam for her grace and have me released from the residence by the end of the year. My parents bought ten mu of fertile farmland outside the city!”
By then, he would be a free commoner with land of his own and wouldn’t have to haul manure anymore!
After solemnly finishing his explanation, he realized that the ten mu of fertile farmland he was so proud of, along with his redemption from servitude, seemed utterly insignificant in front of the gorgeously dressed and stunningly beautiful Concubine Li. He immediately became flustered and awkward.
Unexpectedly, Li Qu smiled.
“Leaving the residence? That’s wonderful!”
She revealed the most genuine smile she had shown in the entire month since arriving in Hezhou.
What did it mean for the road to go dark before opening into bright fields?
This was it!
She could escape oppression and run toward freedom.
Compared with living behind high walls and deep courtyards, dressed in fine clothes and eating exquisite food while circling one man and scheming against other women until she trapped herself, she much preferred a quiet, carefree life.
For the sake of that carefree life, she had planned for six years—six whole years!
From Yan territory to Hezhou, she had proceeded step by step, racking her brains and exhausting herself!
She had been just a little short of success. Just a little! Her plans had nearly fallen apart in Hezhou!
Li Qu laughed until tears came to her eyes.
“Third Brother Chang, let’s find somewhere to talk!”
Against Hezhou’s local powerful clans, she was outmatched and could only allow herself to be butchered like meat on a chopping block.
But when it came to handling a household servant, she was ten times more than confident.
No matter how Nanny Xu tried to tell her how wonderful life as a concubine of the Zhou Residence would be, Li Qu paid her no attention.
She smiled and bowed to Nanny Xu.
“Thank you, Nanny, for taking such meticulous care of me this past month.”
For a moment, Nanny Xu seemed to see the old Li Qu again—the girl who always greeted people with a bright, shallow smile that made them feel as though they were basking in a spring breeze.
Before she could say anything, she saw Li Qu grab Chang San by the sleeve and run toward the courtyard gate.
Her heart sank.
“Concubine, you must think this through!”
“There’s no need to think twice about such an enormous blessing. If I hesitate even for another moment, I’ll be the one in the wrong!”
She had to leave the Zhou Residence as quickly as possible, leave Hezhou, and head south to Wan County to reunite with her Eldest Sister and Eldest Sister’s Husband.
Once the entire family was together again, she would provide the money and rely on her brother-in-law’s official career for protection. She wouldn’t have to worry about failing to live a carefree life.
She had saved a great deal of money for the sake of living freely!
Now that her turning point had arrived, the first step was to learn about Chang San’s family circumstances.
Chang San answered nearly every one of Li Qu’s questions without reservation.
Both of Chang San’s parents worked in the main kitchen. His mother, Mother Chang, was skilled at making soup and had won the favor of Second Madam.
His father, Father Chang, handled purchasing for the outer court of the main kitchen—a position with plenty of opportunities for graft.
Chang San had two sisters and no brothers. Because he was ugly and didn’t fit in, he worked as a manure hauler who kept to himself.
His entire family depended on the Zhou Residence for their livelihood. They were hereditary servants of the Zhou family, with nothing particularly special about them.
After learning about Chang San’s family background, Li Qu revealed her sharp canine teeth.
She had never been a genuinely kind person.