chapter 1
chapter 1
I was eight when my family sold me into the marquis’s household.
That year, drought gripped the realm and the fields yielded nothing. Mother spent an entire night rubbing the silver bangle on her wrist, but in the end, she could not bear to take it off.
She could not part with my firstborn elder sister, my second brother—the eldest son who would carry on the family line—or my sweet, innocent little sister.
Instead, she took my hand with tears in her eyes and told me I had always been the most filial child, the one who could understand how hard things were for her.
Then she called for the slave broker.
The two taels of silver they got for me kept the whole family alive. I entered the marquis’s estate with nothing in my hands.
For three years I worked as a menial maid. A supervising matron noticed that I was quiet and obedient and sent me to serve in the Second Young Lady’s courtyard.
Xiaocui, who had entered the estate at the same time as I did, was still tending kitchen fires. She said I had been blessed with good fortune.
A maid who served close to a master ate, dressed, and lived better than some daughters of wealthy families.
Yuzhu once declared, “Our lady is the finest mistress there is. I’ll follow her for the rest of my life. When she marries, I’ll go with her, marry a steward, nurse her future daughter, and become her old matron when my hair turns gray.”
Everyone doubled over laughing, and my lady blushed at the mention of marriage.
At the beginning of the year, her betrothal had been arranged with the eldest legitimate son of the Wei family, whose patriarch was the Cavalry General.
He was talented and handsome; she was beautiful and accomplished. They were a match made in heaven.
One night, several senior maids crowded onto one bed and began talking about the wedding again.
Among great families, there was an unwritten rule: dowry maids often became the husband’s bedchamber maids and were later elevated to concubines.
Bizhu had been born into household service and saw nothing wrong with it. “Our lady is pure and kind. I’ll be a bedchamber maid and stay with her forever.”
I frowned. “I don’t want to be a concubine. I want to leave the estate and earn my own living, deciding for myself what I do each day.”
Hanzhu had also been sold during the famine. Sharp-tongued and practical, she had her own way of weighing the world.
“What’s so good about life outside? You can labor all year and still go hungry. Whatever our lady asks of me, I’ll do. I will never leave this estate.”
When my lady heard about our gossip, she summoned me.
She said that after she married, she would return my bond of servitude and let me go build a good life. I was so moved I burst into tears and secretly stuffed several pastries into her hands.
The Marchioness believed a woman should be slender and delicate. After becoming engaged, my lady hardly dared to eat her fill.
There was so much to learn as well: music, chess, calligraphy, painting, household management, arithmetic, and accounts. By the end of each day, she was too tired to lift her arms.
Even so, she was very happy.
The Wei family were military men favored by the emperor. Young Master Wei was especially gifted. He had left for the frontier at the start of the year and, within three months, had risen to Cloud Cavalry Commandant—a proper seventh-rank office.
A letter had arrived a few days earlier, accompanied by a box of agates. Every stone was clear and lustrous, plainly chosen with care.
My lady hugged the box, fled the Marchioness’s teasing with a red face, and hid in her room to write back.
The wedding was set for just before the end of the year, and my lady began embroidering her bridal gown.
The Marchioness had commissioned the pattern from the capital’s most skilled embroidery mistress. Baskets of gold and silver thread made my eyes swim.
My lady stayed up until her eyes were red, and I ached to help her stitch a little.
Nanny Liu tapped me on the forehead. “Only the bride may sew her wedding gown. What are you fussing over?”
My eyes filled with tears as I said I was afraid my lady would exhaust herself.
Bizhu and the others huddled together, laughing. “This is the kind of exhaustion our lady enjoys.”
My lady’s face grew even redder. She put down the gown and chased them around the room, tickling them. Everyone laughed until they could hardly stand, and even Nanny Liu, for once, made no attempt to stop us.
The gown took months to finish. It shimmered in the light, magnificent beyond words.