chapter 5

chapter 5

The door opened the next morning.

My lady wore plain robes. Her hair had been shorn, and on her head sat the nun’s cap I had sewn through the night.

Nanny Wu, a senior servant of the Marchioness, stood outside.

Tears filled her eyes. She said she would report to the Marchioness. She had watched my lady grow up and still possessed some pity.

Several burly women remained by the door. Hardening my heart, I slipped them two taels and asked where everyone else had gone.

The women took the silver and exchanged glances.

“Miss Yuzhu has entered the Eldest Young Master’s courtyard. Miss Hanzhu is betrothed to Nanny Wu’s son. Miss Bizhu’s father is Steward Liu of the outer court, so she has gone home.”

The junior maids had fled or hidden. Of the twenty or thirty people who once served in the courtyard, only I remained.

The Marchioness came staggering in, followed by the dignified Marquis.

My lady bowed. “Father, Mother, forgive me. Qingwan wishes to enter the Buddhist faith and spend her days chanting sutras for Young Master Wei, that he may enjoy health and longevity in his next life.”

Several young masters and ladies who had followed them dropped to their knees to plead for her.

The Fifth Young Master prostrated himself at the Marquis’s feet, choking on tears. “Father, your son will study diligently and distinguish himself. Please allow Second Sister to become a nun.”

The Third Young Lady had never been close to my lady, but even she stepped forward, clutching her handkerchief.

“Father, please reconsider. If we obey the Wei family’s wishes, people may say the marquis’s house curries favor with the newly powerful—that we would sacrifice our own daughter to please them.”

The Marquis stroked his beard for a long while. His lips moved several times before he finally agreed.

I secretly released the breath I had been holding.

We had survived this trial.

After everyone else left, the Marchioness wept with relief and reached for my lady’s hands.

“Whatever comes, at least your life has been saved.”

My lady quietly pulled away. The Marchioness froze, then dabbed at her tears.

“Yesterday your father surrounded my courtyard too. Do not blame your mother.”

My lady’s face showed neither grief nor joy. “Qingwan will soon belong to the Buddhist order. I must sever worldly ties.”

The Marchioness looked stricken. “You will not even call me Mother?”

My lady did not answer. Supported by Nanny Wu, the Marchioness staggered away.

My lady closed her eyes. Two lines of tears rolled down her cheeks and struck the blue-brick floor.

The Marchioness took pride in commanding the entire household. Had she truly wished to come, how could a few servants have stopped her?

She wanted my lady to die for the family’s honor, yet she did not want the blame for devouring her own daughter. So she performed helplessness.

Watching her stagger away, I thought of Mother.

When the slave broker dragged me onto his cart, she had stumbled after us, weeping that she had no choice. But she stopped before we even left the village and turned back toward home.

Just like the Marchioness.

She had not crossed the gate before claiming she had done all she could.

From that day, the courtyard gate stood open again.

Meals arrived as before, and my lady, strangely, found her appetite. She ate two bowls more than usual.

“There is no need to restrain myself anymore. Eat, Yunzhu. The temple fare will not be so rich.”

I agreed cheerfully. “Perhaps this is for the best. No one will force you to study rules and accounts. I can plant vegetables, tend the fire, and cook. Whatever you want, I’ll make it. We’ll be freer than we ever were here.”

My lady nodded, a little hope in her eyes. “I pray we truly will be free.”

The Marquis and Marchioness had decided to send her to Guangfu Temple outside the capital.

It was deep in the hills, quiet and secluded—ideal for religious cultivation.

The Marquis even smiled. “‘A husband is as Heaven; the duty to him is no light thing.’ My daughter has studied the Virtues of Women since childhood. Even His Majesty now praises our family for raising daughters properly.”

The Marchioness sounded both aggrieved and proud. “Our daughter is brilliant. She has sacrificed so much for the household’s honor. My lord must compensate her well.”

“Of course.”

Yes, yes, yes.

I nodded furiously in my heart.

Give my lady plenty of gold and silver for protection. Send two more maids to serve her. Then she would merely be living somewhere else.

I delighted in that thought.

But on the day of departure, neither the Marquis nor the Marchioness sent anything.

A gatekeeper whispered that the Marquis had given his wife two excellent hot-spring estates to console her for the loss of her daughter.

They could spare hot-spring estates, yet not a few taels for my lady. What sort of reason was that?

But I was a maid. I had no right to question my masters. With a small bundle on my back, I followed my lady.

She still wore the cap I had stitched in haste; some seams were already opening.

Red-eyed, she bowed farewell to her parents.

The Marquis stood on the front steps and repeated the Marchioness’s words. “Do not blame your parents. Your younger sisters will soon come of age. You must not ruin their prospects.”

My lady kowtowed, then climbed into the carriage for Guangfu Temple.

I moved to follow, but someone blocked my way.

“We agreed she could become a nun. When did anyone say you could leave the estate?”

My heart lurched. I raised my voice. “I am my lady’s maid. Wherever she goes, I go.”

The Eldest Young Master laughed. “She is now a nun of Guangfu Temple. What ‘lady’ does she have? You are a maid of the marquis’s house. You ought to know who your masters are.”

My lady tried to plead for me, but Nanny Wu pushed her into the carriage. A servant cracked the whip, and the carriage sped away.

The Marchioness turned her face from me. “You are loyal to your mistress. The Second Young Lady’s other maids have all received good placements. I have found a good one for you as well.”

She looked at the Eldest Young Master.

“She is yours now. Treat her well.”

I struggled free and threw myself at the Marchioness’s feet.

No. This was wrong.

My lady had said she had asked the Marchioness to release me.

Before I could speak, the Marchioness’s voice came again, almost pleading.

“If you truly care for your lady, obey. Qingwan treated you so well. Do this for her.”

Several maids shoved and dragged me into the Eldest Young Master’s courtyard.