“What do you mean, ‘mine’? This is my dress!” Zhang Chunfen snapped, jumping up like a rat whose tail had been stepped on. “Ye Jia, have you gone mad with poverty? Is every good thing you see just because the Zhou family’s life is so miserable?”
Zhang Chunfen was no pushover. A woman who could live as a guest in the Ye family while bossing around their daughters had no shame. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned to retreat into the house.
Ye Jia blocked her path, tugging the dress toward herself with a faint, mocking smile. In truth, she had no idea what clothes the original owner of this body even owned.
She had simply been bluffing, but Zhang Chunfen’s guilty reaction confirmed her suspicions.
The dress was a pale yellow silk jacket, its color bright and fresh. It was clearly not something sold in Libei Town. And if someone else had given it to her, why would it fit her so poorly? The sleeves were too short, and the skirt ended well above her ankles.
Ye Jia chuckled. “Taking someone else’s things, aren’t you? Aren’t you afraid the original owner will see you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Zhang Chunfen retorted.
Ye Jia nodded. “Fine. I’ll ask around the next time I see that person. I’ll see if someone is using my name to get gifts.”
Zhang Chunfen’s face turned pale. She instinctively clutched her earring, her guilt written all over her face.
Ye Jia’s eyes narrowed.
Madam Ye immediately stepped in to defend her sister. “Jia-niang, Chunfen really did bring these clothes home from outside. You took every last thing from your wardrobe when you got married—what could possibly be left in the house? I know you’re struggling, but you can’t just call someone a thief. How can you speak to her like that? Besides, Chunfen is about to get married. The suitors are lined up all the way out of the village. Of course people are eager to give her nice things…”
With Madam Ye’s support, Zhang Chunfen adamantly insisted that someone else had given her the clothes.
Ye Jia found the whole scene amusing. The Zhang sisters were truly something else—they wanted others to do their bidding, yet they still had to keep them feeling inferior. They wanted the good reputation but refused to share any of the benefits. How could they expect such a good deal?
“Fine,” Ye Jia said, nodding. She wasn’t going to argue. She had only come back because Madam Ye had begged her to. “Since she has such a promising future, sister-in-law, you should go ahead and arrange everything for her. I won’t get in the way. We still have someone injured at home who can’t get up, so I’ll be leaving now.”
Madam Ye’s expression shifted instantly. She moved to stop Ye Jia, her habit of protecting her sister so ingrained that she’d always done it this way at home without anyone complaining. She had forgotten that Ye Jia was not like the rest of her family—she had a fierce temper.
As they were scuffling, several men entered through the doorway.
Old Master Ye led the group, followed by the village head and several other elders.
In the impoverished mountain valley of Yejia Village , producing a scholar was no easy feat. Old Master Ye, a Tong Sheng, held considerable prestige.
Whenever the village faced a crisis, the head would seek his counsel. Now, with the spring conscription looming, every household was expected to contribute a soldier. In these times, going to war was like tying one’s head to one’s belt—a gamble no family wanted to take. Yet, if they failed to provide a man, they would answer to the authorities.
The men had been walking, their faces grim with worry, when the sound of Ye Jia and her female attendants arguing reached them from afar. Old Master Ye’s expression darkened, his face turning as black as the bottom of a pot.
His gaze swept over Zhang Chunfen, and the anger he’d been suppressing for days finally boiled over.
He had only agreed to let the Zhang family’s daughter live with them because his eldest daughter-in-law had bore four sons—a great contribution to the Ye family. He’d also considered her hardship as a woman alone, with her husband away at war. Taking in a young girl seemed a minor concession, merely adding an extra pair of chopsticks to the table. Who would have thought the Zhang girl would be so vicious? She ate the Ye family’s food and wore their clothes, yet dared to push their own daughter into the water.
No matter how kind a family was, they wouldn’t allow themselves to be treated like fools.
“Didn’t I tell you to send her away?” he demanded. “Why is she still in the Ye family home?”
“Father, no, look—Jia-niang is here to settle things herself.” Madam Ye nudged Ye Jia’s arm. “Jia-niang, tell Father. Chunfen didn’t mean to push you, did she? Go on, tell him.”
How dare she expect me to speak for them?
Fed up with being pushed around, Ye Jia spoke up immediately. “Father, Zhang Chunfen didn’t just push me into the water. Look at my forehead—she hit me with a rock. When I didn’t die, she threw me into the water again to keep me from coming back to settle the score. I’m lucky someone saw me and pulled me out. Otherwise, I’d be a water ghost by now. She must be furious that someone intervened.”
“You’re lying!” Zhang Chunfen snapped, her attempt to feign innocence crumbling. “I only pushed you once! You hit the rock yourself! I might have watched you fall in without helping, but I never threw you back in!”
With that one sentence, she had confessed everything.
Old Master Ye’s face turned ashen with rage. “Madam Zhang,” he roared, “if you don’t send her away today, you can leave yourself! The Old Official can’t return from his post to write your divorce papers, so I’ll write them in his stead! I’ll divorce you for siding with an outsider over your own family!”
“Father!” Madam Ye cried out in panic.
Old Master Ye no longer cared about saving face for his eldest daughter-in-law. Who in the village wasn’t already whispering behind his back, mocking his family for harboring a nest of useless fools? They laughed at him for continuing to feed and clothe the very woman who had so cruelly mistreated his own daughter.
His daughter had nearly been murdered. How could he endure another moment of this?
“Still here?” he roared. “Fine. If you won’t leave, I’ll write your divorce papers right now.”
Madam Ye was too terrified to speak. She grabbed Zhang Chunfen, trying to drag her back into the house. But Old Master Ye was immovable. He was determined to cast Zhang Chunfen out.
The words had already left Zhang Chunfen’s lips, and now she could only weep, her face ashen with regret.
Madam Ye slapped her thigh and collapsed to the floor, resorting to her old tactic of wailing about her bitter lot in life. She sobbed about the years she had spent raising five children alone while her husband was away, hoping Old Master Ye would show mercy for her past hardships.
But while the old man was usually gentle, he was also a scholar, and scholars prized their honor. With the whole village watching, Madam Ye’s desperate display was an utter disgrace to the Ye family.
He turned and strode into the house to write the divorce papers. No one dared to stop him.
Madam Ye was terrified. How could she dare cry now?
Forgetting all about her sister, she rushed forward and begged the Old Master not to divorce her. When a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law fought, the daughter-in-law always lost. No matter how much she protected her sister, her own survival was more important. Besides, she had four sons and a daughter. Could her sister ever be dearer than her own children?
The commotion continued, but the divorce papers remained unwritten. However, sending Zhang Chunfen away was now a certainty. She would be gone today. If she wasn’t, the Old Master would write the divorce papers.
Madam Ye had no time to worry about Ye Jia. Weeping, she helped her sister pack. Ye Jia followed her in and happened to spot Zhang Chunfen hiding a stash of items. A whole box was filled with silver earrings and hairpins, almost identical in style to the ones she had pawned. There were not only jewelry but also many clothes.
When Zhang Chunfen saw Ye Jia’s gaze fall on the box, she snatched it away as if guarding against a thief.
Ye Jia left the room. Seeing the courtyard empty, she turned and walked away.
Yejia Village seemed larger than Wangjia Village, with at least two hundred households. The two villages were not far apart, sharing the same river. Ye Jia had just left her maternal home and was passing by the river at the edge of the village. With a glance, she saw several women washing clothes on the riverbank.
Fourth Sister Ye crouched on a rock, scrubbing a bedsheet vigorously with soap pods.
In these times, country folk rarely bathed, and the winter cold made it even less frequent. Some went the entire season without washing once. The quilts they slept under and the clothes they wore were so filthy they seemed impossible to clean.
Fourth Sister Ye had already applied the soap pods several times, her hands raw and red from the cold, yet the old grime clung stubbornly to the fabric.
Ye Jia glanced down the line of women and saw they were all in the same predicament.
How can soap pods ever get these clean? she wondered. Isn’t there any real soap or detergent?
The thought had been a passing grumble, but it immediately sparked an idea.
Since arriving here, Ye Jia had been racking her brain for a way to make money, but every plan had fallen through. Now, watching the soap pods, she wondered if she could manufacture actual soap. She had made handmade soap back in the modern world—it wasn’t difficult. She’d done it as a hobby, yet her creations had always been better than what was sold in stores.
The problem was the cost of ingredients. Given the Zhou family’s current situation, they could barely afford to eat, let alone spend money on the raw materials for scented soap.
If the cost of making soap was too high, what about xiangpanzi?
Ye Jia had researched this when she first started making handmade soap.
The xiangpanzi used in ancient times was made by mixing pig pancreatic secretions with soap. While a large block of soap was expensive to produce, mixing it with pig pancreas could yield a dozen smaller xiangpanzi bars. These were luxury items, once reserved for the wealthy, and should command a high price.
Ye Jia frowned. Libei Town didn’t have that kind of market…
But then again, she thought, Libei Town is a border town.
It sat on the trade routes to Central Asian countries, and many caravans passed through. The merchants capable of making such a journey were wealthy traders who wouldn’t mind spending a bit extra. If she could sell her wares to the caravans, the money would come in quickly.
The idea took root. This could work.
But if she was targeting the caravans, the quality had to be impeccable. A plan began to form in Ye Jia’s mind, but as she reached into her pocket, she realized she’d have to put it on hold. She had to take things one step at a time, earning her first pot of gold before she could expand.
The northwest was brutally cold. Even in mid-February, there was no sign of a thaw.
The sky was a leaden gray. Halfway to her destination, a gust of wind so frigid it threatened to freeze Ye Jia’s ears off. She tucked her chin into her collar and hurried toward Wangjia Village. Just as she stepped through the door of the Zhou family home, the sky opened up, and a torrential rain began to fall. Ye Jia hadn’t expected to end up soaked to the bone.
Meanwhile, in the Zhou family’s east room, Madam Yu sat beside her son, who had only just woken up.
“Yun’an, Mother knows you feel wronged,” she pleaded, her voice trembling. “I was too hasty in forcing you to marry Lady Ye, but I was frightened! Your father, your four brothers, and your nephews—they are all gone. In this godforsaken place, you are the only male heir the Zhou family has left. Your health is already so poor. If something were to happen to you, what would you have Mother and Rui’er do?”
Madam Yu’s voice broke with each sob, the terror of seeing her family line end with her own hands etched into every word.
“Mother knows you still long for Mingxi,” she continued urgently. “You were betrothed in childhood and grew up together. Of course your feelings for him run deep. But what choice did we have?”
She leaned in, her voice desperate. “The Zhou family has fallen, yet the Gu family remains illustrious. Gu Mingxi lives in luxury; he would never come to this desolate wasteland to seek out an exiled man. Why can’t you see reason?”
“Mother,” Zhou Jingchen said helplessly, “this has nothing to do with Miss Gu.”
“If not for Gu Mingxi, then why?”
Madam Yu had held things together on her own for so long, but she had finally reached her breaking point. “Jia-niang may be a bit coarse, but her beauty is top-tier—even more striking than Gu Mingxi’s! If you despise her dull wit or dislike her temperament, you can still have a child with her. You can keep the child by your side and teach them yourself. Would you rather watch our family line end here? How am I supposed to face our ancestors in the afterlife?”
“Be sensible,” Madam Yu pleaded. “Move in with her first.” She didn’t want to force him, but circumstances left her no choice. “I know you look down on her as a mere village woman, but given our family’s situation, we’ve already spent every last penny to secure this marriage. Just try getting along with her for a while…”
Mother and son were arguing fiercely inside. Or rather, Madam Yu was finally letting out the bitterness she had suppressed for years.
Ye Jia returned home with her head drenched. Just as she stepped through the door, she heard Zhou Jingchen sigh in resignation.
“Son has no intention of marrying in this life,” he said. “Whether it is Miss Gu or Lady Ye, it makes no difference.”
His voice was as clear as mountain mist, sending a shiver of pleasure down her spine.
Ye Jia glanced at the hanging curtain, wiped the water from her head with a cloth, and turned to go back to her room.