Chapter 1
Father and Mother made a special trip to Jiangbei to arrange my elder brother’s marriage.
The Liu clan was an illustrious old family. Everyone wanted one of its daughters for a wife, yet my brother was distinctly unwilling.
Our parents did not know why. I did.
Ever since childhood, my brother had loved the Cheng family’s second daughter next door, Cheng Qi.
Mother did not approve of her, so he dared not mention it.
Defy Mother in the morning, and by afternoon her three brothers, all military officers, would be slapping you about the face. Who would risk that?
During the fortnight or so our parents spent arranging his marriage, my brother even slipped away to meet Cheng Qi.
They stood whispering on the threshold of our rear gate.
His page kept watch in the yard. When he spotted me in the distance, he cleared his throat and coughed.
He could hardly have made them more conspicuous.
I meant to pretend I had seen nothing and leave, but a clear female voice stopped me. “Is that you, Sister Songyue?”
Cheng Qi and I had a rather awkward connection of our own.
I had loved her younger brother for years.
I could only steel myself, walk over, and greet them both.
Cheng Qi took my hand. Her eyes were bright with tears in her round face, full of hurt. “Sister Songyue, are you going to forget me too?”
Before I could answer, my brother burst out, “Qi, I promised I would marry you. I won’t break my word.”
I was horrified. His own marriage had not even been settled, and here he was choosing a concubine already. What a fine mess this would become.
Watching them exchange tender looks, I hastily withdrew my hand. “Marriage is a matter of fate. I’m only his sister. It’s hardly my place to interfere.”
Then I turned and ran.
Before I was out of earshot, I heard my brother say dismissively, “Don’t mind her. Our parents have raised her to be a fool.”
He was not entirely wrong.
When the city’s young ladies gathered, people praised the others as lotus blossoms rising from water, orchids in secluded valleys, gifted speakers, and women of elegant, unstudied grace.
As for me: “Miss Songyue is such an obedient, well-behaved girl.”
What sort of accomplishment was obedience? Back then, I would hide behind Cheng Qi and meekly listen.
It was Mother’s doing.
She was a talented woman who knew how to handle everyone, but she said that going from a general’s daughter to mistress of a household had cost her far too much effort, all for the sake of a good reputation.
She would rather I had no talents or abilities at all. I could live comfortably at home, then marry and leave the work to someone else. That would be the easiest life.
Father, meanwhile, concerned himself with my brother and left me alone.
So I had grown up able to recognize a few characters and observe a few courtesies. Music, chess, calligraphy, painting, needlework, running a household, managing servants—I could do none of them.
Faced now with something as serious as my brother secretly promising himself to Cheng Qi, I was utterly at a loss.
I wondered whether I should tell Mother.
While I went on wondering, our parents returned with the engagement settled, and the bride came through our gates. I still had not dared say a word.
Out of guilt, I steadied her at the doorway when she came to serve tea on the second morning after the wedding.
She was carrying a tea tray, and our threshold was high. When I helped her across it, she gave me a grateful look.
My sister-in-law had delicate brows and beautiful, expressive eyes. Taller than us girls from Jiangnan, she wore her long skirts with a striking grace.
A daughter of the Jiangbei Lius, perfectly proper in everything she did. Mother took her hand and drew her down beside her, beaming.
Mother called me over to greet her. I dutifully curtsied. “Sister-in-law.”
Liu Fangjing studied me. “Your fingertips were cold when you helped me just now, Sister Songyue. Have you caught a chill in all this rain?”
Although she was speaking to me, she sat slightly turned toward Mother, attentive to her expression.
“Mother, I brought a woman physician with me from Jiangbei. She specializes in treating young ladies. Shall I send her to examine Sister Songyue this evening?”
Mother readily agreed. “Other brides bring maids to look after their clothes and meals. You even brought a physician?”
Liu Fangjing rose and, without fuss, helped me sit down as she explained that although she came from a branch of the clan, her parents cherished her and had made sure her dowry lacked nothing.
“There is a story behind this physician, Mother. She studied under Zhang Cheng, the imperial physician who retired to his hometown. After her training, she attended the senior madam of our main family. Knowing I might have trouble settling here in Jiangnan, the madam sent her with me.”
Among my sister-in-law’s dowry were several rare books, apparently gifts from the head of the main family as well.
These few quietly spoken words made clear both the Liu clan’s wealth and her own standing within it.
Even I, never much good at reading expressions, caught Mother’s triumphant glance at my brother.
It all but said, “See what a fine match your parents found you.”
I looked at my brother. He wore the pleased expression expected of a newlywed, but I knew he was still chafing inside.
I could not quite hide my anxiety over the trouble he had caused.
I shot him a glare, turned back, and found my sister-in-law smiling at me in a way I could not read.
Had those few exchanged looks told her something?
Alarmed, I lowered my head and drank my tea. I would ask no questions. I only thought how much she resembled Mother.
Both of them missed very little.