For two consecutive days, a fine drizzle fell, blending heaven and earth into a single hue. Suian pushed open the window of the study, and the chill that rushed in made her spirits lift involuntarily.
"Is Suian here?"
Ziyu, the senior maid serving Old Madame Chu, called out loudly, occasionally bending low to pass through the flowering trees in the courtyard as she approached the house.
"I'm here," Suian responded, moving to the doorway and lifting the cotton curtain. She stepped forward with a smile and curtsied, saying, "Sister Ziyu."
Ziyu took her hand, gazing at her with a beaming smile.
Suian didn’t understand why she was looking at her like that. Though she felt uneasy inside, her expression remained composed as she invited Ziyu inside. "It's cold out, sister. Please come in and talk."
Ziyu glanced at her face, looked around, and said with a smile, "No need. Old Madame has summoned those serving by Ninth Master’s side to speak with her. Since I rarely come here, I volunteered for this errand myself."
Suian was taken aback, then replied, "Mr. Lin will be here in another quarter of an hour…"
Though nominally a reading companion, she was still a serving maid—pouring tea, fetching water, and tidying Ninth Master’s writing tools.
Ziyu clearly knew this as well. "Old Madame said there’s no hurry on her end. You may attend to Ninth Master’s studies first." With that, she patted Suian’s hand and turned to leave.
Suian was left somewhat bewildered by this unexpected visit.
She was merely a lowly reading companion in the study, someone who rarely even saw the steward, let alone the mistress of the household.
Now, suddenly, someone had been sent to summon her…
It was impossible not to let her thoughts run wild.
Since her tasks were all familiar routines, she managed to carry them out without delay even as her mind wandered.
By the time Chu Yi entered the study, the writing desk was fully prepared with brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone. On the left side, a cup of tea emitted a delicate fragrance—the Biluochun tea he was accustomed to drinking.
Before taking his seat, Chu Yi glanced at her. He said nothing, and Suian, not one to presume a response with her eyes, calmly continued pouring boiling water over the tea leaves Mr. Lin favored. She then retrieved a jar from the small table beside the bookshelf behind her, using a bamboo scoop to add a spoonful of crushed sesame and a spoonful of peanut brittle to the tea…
When Mr. Lin entered, the tea was just releasing its aroma. Ninth Master sat imposingly, flipping through a book with an air of boredom.
As for Suian, Mr. Lin had long held a grudge over Chu Yi’s use of a servant as a reading companion. So whenever she saw Mr. Lin, she made a point of keeping her distance, striving to blend into the background like wallpaper or scenery, lest she further deplete Mr. Lin’s already limited patience for Ninth Master.
Mr. Lin was a scholar rescued by Marshal Chu, the head of the Chu Mansion, on the battlefield. It was said he had been a minor talent in the fiefdom of the Prince of Ling. When the Prince of Ling rebelled, Mr. Lin was forced onto the battlefield. Fortunately, he tore his undergarment early to use as a white flag of surrender, narrowly escaping death by the sword.
No one knew what Marshal Chu was thinking, but after inquiring about the situation, he sent the man to the capital. Coincidentally, Ninth Master’s previous tutor had resigned, so Mr. Lin took on the task of instructing Ninth Master in his studies.
Speaking of Ninth Master’s education, it was a matter of great importance, and Ninth Master himself was the apple of the entire household’s eye.
Ninth Master was Marshal Chu’s son born in his later years, arriving only after he had passed forty. As both the youngest son and the legitimate heir, Ninth Master’s birth was celebrated with even more grandeur than that of his eldest nephew. It was said that even the Emperor himself, upon hearing the news, had left the palace to pay a visit.
General Chu was a seasoned veteran, unmatched on the battlefield even by the renowned Warring States general Lian Po. However, his own cultural education was likely limited, which made him place great emphasis on his descendants' studies. Unfortunately, the young men of the Chu Mansion all disliked literary pursuits, especially when it came to the Ninth Master. The Lady Dowager had painstakingly established a clan school twice, only to have her youngest son disrupt it each time. This eventually led to the idea of hiring a private tutor to confine the Ninth Master to solitary study.
Before Mr. Lin, the Ninth Master had already gone through six tutors, most of whom were driven away in frustration. The earliest of them was said to have been a Grand Tutor of the court.
As frequent reports of General Chu’s military victories arrived, the Ninth Master surprisingly endured Mr. Lin for quite some time.
Suian secretly thought to herself, "He must have known that General Chu would return to the capital after his great victory, which is why he didn’t drive Mr. Lin away." After all, if the General returned to find the tutor gone, a round of beatings would be inevitable.
Unlike tutors, who were expendable, Suian’s position as a reading companion remained secure. The reason? She was quite resilient to beatings…
She remembered when she first arrived. During one lesson, when the Ninth Master yawned, Suian couldn’t help but yawn as well…
That incident caused quite a stir. The tutor stormed off in anger, the Ninth Master was punished with kneeling, and Suian received ten strokes of the cane. Yet, the Ninth Master insisted on keeping Suian.
From then on, Suian never dared to yawn again. If she couldn’t help it, she would cover her mouth or turn away, trying her best to hide it.
But she knew the Ninth Master had always hoped to see her yawn again.
The Ninth Master’s cousin, Young Master Wang Ziyu, quite liked Suian and once praised her, "You’re a good reading companion—quiet and studious."
The Ninth Master snorted disdainfully, "Hypocrite."
Suian remained expressionless.
The Ninth Master asked, "You disagree?" Others might not know, but he was well aware that this girl dozed off as soon as the tutor started lecturing.
Suian bowed slightly. "This servant does not disagree. I merely feel that using the word 'hypocrite' to describe me is somewhat wasteful." Wang Ziyu and Chu Yi burst into laughter.
Mr. Lin lectured for a full hour, never once looking directly at the Ninth Master while teaching.
Suian thought this was for the best. Otherwise, if he glanced down and saw his student yawning or dozing off, how disheartening it would be—enough to turn one’s hair gray prematurely.
After finishing the lecture, Mr. Lin assigned two tasks: one was for the Ninth Master to copy an essay, and the other was to compose a poem.
The Ninth Master ignored them as usual. Once Mr. Lin left, he stood up and walked away.
But he paused briefly at the doorway.
Suian kept her head down, tidying the desk, and didn’t hear him speak. When she looked up, the Ninth Master had already swished his sleeves and left.
Suian cleaned the desk thoroughly and, not daring to delay any further, checked that her attire was presentable before closing the study door and heading to the Lady Dowager’s courtyard.
The Chu family originally came from humble origins, and their rise to prosperity was largely due to General Chu’s military campaigns. Over the years, as General Chu’s achievements grew, the Chu Mansion underwent several expansions. It now spanned over a hundred acres, with numerous descendants and clansmen who had migrated from their hometown, Hanyang, making the household exceptionally bustling.
Fortunately, General Chu governed the household with military discipline, rewarding and punishing with strict impartiality. Compared to the scandals that often plagued other noble families, the Chu Mansion remained relatively stable.
The Ninth Master’s study courtyard was located at the rear of the Chu Mansion, with the back garden behind it. Suian walked half a li from the courtyard before reaching the Lady Dowager’s residence, Zhengyang Hall.
At the entrance, she happened to meet Qipei, who was carrying a food box as she came in from outside.
Qipei was one of the senior maids serving Grand Madame, holding the same rank as Ziyu. Suian thought that anyone who could rise to become a senior maid by Grand Madame’s side must walk with such confidence that they could practically trample most men underfoot.
Although Suian couldn’t even clearly recall Grand Madame’s face, she remembered the maids around Grand Madame and other maids quite well. Seeing Qipei, she respectfully greeted her, calling her "Sister Qipei," and asked, "Where have you just returned from, sister?"
Qipei returned the greeting with a smile, handed the food box to a young maid beside her, straightened her dress, and replied cheerfully, "Grand Madame’s maternal grandmother has come for a visit. Grand Madame is delighted and mentioned that the old lady particularly enjoys the thousand-layer pastry made by Chef Liu in the main kitchen, so I went to fetch it right away."
She then asked Suian, "What brings you here today?"
Suian had been summoned by Grand Madame to see her. Logically, the senior maids around Grand Madame should have been aware of this, but since Qipei asked, she couldn’t avoid answering. She said, "Grand Madame instructed me to come over once Ninth Master finishes his studies."
Upon hearing this, Qipei seemed thoughtful, pursed her lips into a smile, and said, "Grand Madame dotes on Ninth Master the most, so it’s surely good news." With that, she took back the food box, took Suian’s hand, and they entered together.
Everyone seemed mysterious, one after another, making Suian feel uneasy.
A burst of laughter came from the sitting room on the east side of the main hall.
"Wait here for a moment. I’ll go inform Grand Madame," Qipei said, releasing her hand and lifting the hem of her skirt as she entered the room.
Suian agreed and stood outside the door, unable to help feeling nervous.
Truth be told, although she bore the surname Chu, she was not a born servant of the Chu Mansion. Instead, she had entered the mansion by signing a lifelong contract. In terms of background, she was even less privileged than the born servants of the mansion, let alone the personal attendants or maids brought by the mistresses.
Those people could enjoy more of the mansion’s favors, while someone like her—if she hadn’t been kept because she knew a few characters—might not even have been qualified to serve as a lowly maid in the mansion.
In the past two years, she had constantly worried about her father’s health in the mansion. Finally, when his condition had improved slightly, she heard from Li Song that he had strained his back while plowing the fields in autumn…
With such a gentle, almost fragile father, although she had been forced to sell herself into the mansion, she had always hoped to leave one day to care for him in his old age, preferably by finding a live-in son-in-law. But this was merely her fantasy. At present, she hadn’t even saved enough manumission silver.
Pitifully, every time she saved up one tael of silver, her father would inevitably fall ill. Money was as hard to earn as climbing to the heavens, yet it flowed away like water when spent.
She was already thirteen years old. Maids in the mansion were typically released to marry when they turned eighteen, most of them marrying the mansion’s servants. Sometimes, Commander Chu would even select some pretty maids to reward his capable generals.
If she didn’t wait for the mansion’s arrangements… Two years ago, a second-rank maid serving Grand Madame redeemed herself and left, reportedly paying a full fifty taels of silver.
For someone like her, it was necessary to humble herself without reservation when the time called for it—after all, she felt that if she were to redeem herself, the master’s family certainly wouldn’t demand as much as fifty taels!
But even ten taels of silver—she didn’t have that now.
Thinking it over again, she still felt the future looked bleak. She could only silently pray that in a few years, Grand Madame would take pity on her for having served Ninth Master in his studies—if not with merit, then at least with hard work—and willingly release her to return home.
Though she was lost in these thoughts, her body remained tense, like a small animal facing unknown danger, constantly alert to her surroundings.
Before long, the curtain swayed, and a charming young girl in a crimson cotton-padded jacket stepped out. She glanced around, spotted Suian, and said, "So you’re here. Come in quickly—Grand Madame is calling for you."
Suian followed her into the room, keeping her eyes lowered. It felt as though she passed seven or eight servants standing in attendance before finally reaching Grand Madame.
She stopped, curtsied, and said, "Your servant Suian pays her respects to Grand Madame, to the Grand Madame."