chapter 3

We were too poor.

The next morning, I prepared to visit a pawnshop and have the jade pendant and gold hairpin valued. Whether I actually pawned them would depend on the price.

“My lady,” Miaomiao said hesitantly, “isn’t it wrong to pawn a gift?”

The two of us were nearly poor enough to take part-time work in a brothel, yet she was worrying about the morality of turning a gift into cash. Her ideas were astonishingly advanced.

Honor and propriety belonged to rich people in rich houses. A maid and a concubine-born daughter living poor lives inside a respectable residence would only starve like pedantic scholars if we imitated them.

Besides, the moment Shen Yan handed over the gifts, they became mine. I could turn them into silver or smear them with oil and bean paste. My property, my choice.

Before I could correct the maid I had sheltered too well, two people approached: Yao Qingchuan and Jin Shanyi.

Speak of rich people and they appeared.

There was no avoiding them, so I put on a smile and greeted them. Yao Qingchuan was still young. Though he had seen me before, amazement flashed across his face. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jin Shanyi’s expression darken.

Trouble from a man, right on cue.

In her softest voice, Jin Shanyi struck three times. “Sister, you have come of age. Have you chosen a marriage? If you ask me, it is better to be a poor man’s wife than a great man’s concubine. A woman’s integrity is priceless. You should not follow your mother’s path.”

She had mocked me to my face and dragged in my dead mother. Fine. She could hardly blame me for answering cruelly.

My fury ran so deep that my face became calm. I smiled.

“Wife or concubine, either way a woman earns her living in a man’s rear courtyard. Since it is a livelihood, don’t keep talking about lofty integrity. It sounds ridiculous. If you truly value independence, establish your own female-headed household. Then you won’t have to tolerate Father’s concubines here or the concubines and bedmaids your future husband may take. Wouldn’t that be perfect?”

Her face turned uglier with every sentence.

I saluted them both. As I passed Yao Qingchuan, my anger had not cooled.

“Young Master Yao, is it satisfying to stand on dry ground while two women fight over you? Does it make you feel irresistibly charming? Every visit you make to our house creates another quarrel. No wonder people say men bring bad luck.”

I left him staring after me, his expression transformed.

Miaomiao followed in tiny steps, silent as if someone had poisoned her mute. I glanced at her. “Where were we?”

She shuddered. “I forgot.”

“Why are you shaking?”

She shook harder. “You have scolded both of them, my lady. You cannot scold me too.”

Pathetic.

The carriage fell quiet until we reached the pawnshop.

The clerks knew quality when they saw it. The moment Miaomiao produced the brocade boxes, they led us to a private room where an elderly appraiser examined the pieces.

Even the crystal lenses imported from the West could not hide the light in his eyes.

“A redeemable pledge or an outright sale?”

“Please value them first. I will decide after hearing the price.”

I kept my guard up.

“Three colors, exquisite workmanship, superb form, superb color, superb luster, superb purity. This pendant is worth no less than five thousand taels.”

He returned it to the box with great care.

“Silver?” I asked, struggling to contain my excitement.

“Gold.”

My heart jumped. “What is its origin?”

“Judging from its form, it dates from the Shang or Zhou dynasty. Only a royal princess could have worn it.”

A strange thought flashed through me.

I did not sell it despite the hope in his eyes. Instead I had Miaomiao pay him two strings of cash. An old man had spent his time enlightening me; he deserved his fee.

Back in the carriage, I sank into thought.

Five thousand taels of gold could redeem all the most famous courtesans in the capital. A pretty concubine-born daughter of a minor official—even one whose father Shen Yan wished to cultivate—was not worth that price.

Nothing that valuable fell from the sky without a trap beneath it. What pit in the Shen household did he expect me to fill?

I wanted to hire someone to investigate, but I had neither suitable people nor sufficient resources.

The gold hairpin was too distinctive to sell quickly. My plan had been to pawn the pendant, use a small portion of the money to commission an imitation, and pocket the rest.

Now I knew it was a priceless antique, impossible to copy convincingly.

There went my plan.