Guogongfu, the Shizi’s courtyard.
On the bed, Song Jinyin’s dark hair was spread out in a silken mess. Beads of sweat broke out on her smooth, white forehead, crystal clear as they slid across her skin—creamy as mutton-fat jade—and dripped onto the gold-threaded silk quilt beneath her, blooming into dark stains.
Her kitten-like pleas for mercy only caused the man to increase his intensity.
Pei Yanzhou breathed heavily, the scent of wine still lingering around him. His dark eyes seemed to hold flickering flames; when he leaned down to kiss her, he swallowed the girl’s whimpers whole.
The room was as stiflingly hot as a burning candle.
This continued until a knock sounded at the door, and an inquiry was cautiously passed inside.
“Master, Miss Ye has developed a fever. Her maid is at her wit’s end and is begging you to go take a look. She looks as though she’s about to cry herself into a faint out there…”
As the steward finished speaking, a bead of sweat from Pei Yanzhou’s brow happened to fall into Song Jinyin’s dark hair.
One of his hands slid from her soft warmth up to her neck, where he gently gripped that fragile, porcelain-white throat. As if remembering something, his voice turned as cold as winter ice.
“Song Jinyin, who am I?”
The girl’s eyes were red from crying, and her red lips, bitten by her pearly teeth, were flecked with tiny spots of blood. It was a sight that made the heart tremble, and it caused Pei Yanzhou’s blood to run even hotter.
After a long silence, the voice outside asked again carefully.
“Master, should I go and give Miss Ye’s maid an answer?”
“No need.”
The lust in Pei Yanzhou’s eyes gradually faded into clarity as he met Song Jinyin’s tear-blurred gaze.
He rose without a hint of lingering attachment and pulled a robe from the rack. The coldness in his eyes made it seem as though everything that had just happened had never occurred at all.
The room felt empty in an instant.
Song Jinyin snapped out of her daze and sat up with great effort. She raised a hand to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes and picked up her rumpled skirt from the floor.
Since they hadn’t finished today, she likely wouldn’t need to drink the Bizi Tang.
She just hadn’t expected that he, who had been so urgent moments ago, could actually restrain himself for the sake of that Miss Ye.
Song Jinyin pulled at the corners of her mouth, wanting to smile, but suddenly, her vision blurred again.
Just as she pushed the door open to leave, she saw Steward Wang waiting for her in the courtyard.
Behind Steward Wang stood a young servant holding a bowl of dark, pitch-black medicinal broth.
“Miss Jinyin, please don’t be angry. This is the rule. If the Master doesn’t speak up, I cannot take it upon myself to change it.”
Complex emotions flashed through Steward Wang’s eyes, but the hand he raised to gesture toward the bowl did not falter for a second.
Looking at the bowl of medicine held out before her, Song Jinyin’s lips moved. She wanted to say that there was no need to drink it today, but the words were swallowed back down before they could reach her tongue.
Fine.
She had drunk it so many times; one more bowl wouldn’t make a difference.
“Thank you for your trouble, Steward Wang, for having to watch over me every time I take the medicine.”
“Miss Jinyin, what are you saying? You are considered half a master in this residence. There is no reason for you to thank me for my trouble.”
Half a master.
Song Jinyin’s movements froze, and then she shook her head gently.
“Steward Wang, please do not mention that again. If the Shizi hears it, he will surely find fault again.”
With that, Song Jinyin frowned and drank the broth until the bowl was empty before walking past him.
Since he had gone to see Miss Ye tonight, he had presumably agreed to the marriage proposal. In that case, she likely wouldn’t be needed for night duty.
Thinking this, Song Jinyin’s steps grew inexplicably more hurried.
She finally managed to walk back to the side room where she stayed, but before she could push the door open, she heard a soft call.
“Miss Jinyin.”
Under the cover of night stood a maid who looked anxious, holding a bright hexagonal lantern.
“Miss Ye is staying overnight at the Guogongfu for the first time. She said the maids in that courtyard are not to her liking, and the Shizi ordered you, Miss Jinyin, to go and serve her.”
Song Jinyin’s face turned pale.
She had already stepped halfway across the threshold, but the pain between her legs surged like a wild force, crashing through her body. Even her lower abdomen began to ache more intensely, forcing her to lean against the wooden doorframe and pant softly for breath.
“Doesn’t Miss Ye have her own maids? What about the maids arranged by the Duke’s Secondary Wife earlier?”
“Miss Ye’s maid can’t handle everything, and the Secondary Wife…”
The messenger paused to glance at the person in front of her before continuing, “The Secondary Wife said that since Miss Jinyin has already been sold to work in the Shizi’s courtyard, she won’t interfere with matters concerning this courtyard anymore. Therefore, the maids sent over tonight aren’t particularly clever…”
The pain in Song Jinyin’s abdomen intensified, and her hands and feet grew increasingly cold. Especially when the cold wind blew, her entire body felt as frozen as ice.
“Let the two who are on duty tonight go and serve.”
“But… but the Shizi said that he must see you there, Miss Jinyin. He said he wouldn’t be at ease if anyone else served Miss Ye.”
“And if I don’t go?”
Song Jinyin lowered her eyes slightly, suppressing her physical discomfort. Her fingers gripped the wooden frame with enough force to make her knuckles turn white.
“The Shizi said that if Miss Jinyin does not go, he will send your Maishen Qi to… to…”
“Send it where? To the Wanjin Ku in the capital? To make me a girl in the Qianjin Ge?”
Her cold voice matched the moonlight, seeming to chill one’s heart.
Song Jinyin looked at the young girl before her, who stood with her head bowed in silence, and suddenly let out a laugh.
…
At the age of seven, she had been sent to the Guogongfu as a “cousin” along with her mother.
At eight, she was sold by her mother to Pei Yanzhou, the Shizi of the Guogongfu. She served him until she was fifteen, at which point she became the maid who warmed his bed.
Now, Song Jinyin was only sixteen.
In these eight years, she had gone from being ignorant of the world to recognizing her true situation. It was as if a layer of her skin had been ruthlessly peeled away, and she had tasted every bit of bitterness.
To the point that even though she knew Pei Yanzhou hated her, she no longer had the strength to defend herself.
Because even she didn’t know if her younger self had truly been an accomplice in that incident years ago.
She only remembered that year when her mother held her hand and they were sent into this grand residence in a small sedan chair. Pei Yanzhou, who was already a head taller than her, had looked at her with feigned ferocity.
“Don’t call me ‘Brother’ from now on. And the Guogongfu isn’t as easy a place to stay as you think.”
Back then, Pei Yanzhou didn’t hate her yet, because the Duchess was still alive.
Though bedridden, she was indeed still alive and well.
…
The courtyard where Miss Ye was staying was somewhat far.
Because the rain had been heavy today, the visiting Ye family had been invited to stay by Liu Shi, the secondary wife of the Guogongfu.
The irony was that while she had arranged the courtyard, she hadn’t arranged the servants properly.
Blown by the wind, Song Jinyin found that her pain had gradually numbed and subsided.
However, as she reached the corner of the veranda, she heard fragments of voices carried on the wind, landing firmly in her ears.
“It’s so late, yet the Shizi didn’t even care for his reputation and actually came just because this Miss Ye called for him.”
“What do you know? The Pei and Ye families have long intended to discuss a marriage. Otherwise, do you think our Secondary Wife would have the authority to let a girl from another family stay overnight in the Guogongfu?”
“That’s true. I wonder if that Song Jinyin by the Shizi’s side knows about this. After all, she was thick-skinned enough to follow the Shizi; she should at least be able to land the position of a concubine in the end, right?”
“They’re all people who have been sold. No matter how well she climbs into his bed, the highest she’ll get is being a concubine. But I heard that Song Jinyin might have learned some seductive sorcery to keep the Shizi’s room limited to only her for so long. Then again, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…”