Chapter 4

In my last life, after Si Min became a concubine in the duke’s household, she ran into a young gentleman she had known before. He had feelings for her and helped her in secret.

Our fortunes were tied together. Even though she was secretly accepting favors from another man, I had to conceal it and help. One more ally could only be useful, I thought, so I quietly arranged things for her.

That gentleman spent a great deal of money and effort on her behalf.

Si Min never promised men anything. They always saw a serenity about her, praising her as a soul untouched by the mire around her, a chrysanthemum above worldly strife. They adored her and were willing to give anything for her.

Later, after she had a child and secured her position in the household, she tearfully severed ties with the gentleman.

Yang Sheng would probably be another stepping-stone. Once he was no longer useful, she would abandon him completely.

I knew it perfectly well.

Still, if one was willing to exploit and the other willing to be exploited, that was their business.

I couldn’t be bothered to warn him. I slipped back to bed.

After Si Min took his money, I expected her to improve her living conditions. She didn’t.

Two days later, she caught hold of me in the dark. “Si Lan,” she said quietly.

When I tried to leave, she pressed a few copper coins into my hand.

So she did know how to grease a palm. Then why had she stood as helpless as a corpse in my last life, watching me beaten to death and doing nothing but weep her gentle, virtuous tears?

I took a deep breath and held down my anger. “What do you want me to do?”

“We are sisters, after all. Sisters ought to help each other…”

More lofty platitudes. I had no interest in listening and turned to go.

Seeing that her old tricks no longer worked, she finally came to the point. “Si Lan, you’re close to the matron. Could you find a way to get me into the inner compound?”

I frowned at her, trying to work out what she intended.

Since coming back to life, I had done as before: finishing my own duties, then helping the matron with hers and earning her approval.

Last time, when positions opened among the inner maids, I had given the matron all my savings to recommend me.

After clearing one hurdle after another, I had finally brought my sister with me into the heir’s study as maids.

I had thought he would take care of us once he saw her. Instead, it turned out he hadn’t even known we were in the household. He gave us no special treatment.

My sister continued being serenely above it all. She did nothing.

I racked my brains to put her in his path as often as possible. While she stood mute, I kept talking about the past, stirring his pity.

Step by step, I finally won her a place in his heart, and he formally took her as a concubine of respectable birth.

This time, I had no intention of taking her with me. Two days earlier, I had hinted to the matron that I wanted a transfer. Now Si Min had stopped me. Had she heard something from Yang Sheng?

“Do you want to work in the inner compound,” I asked, “or just go there for a visit?”

She looked at me in silence.

I understood. She wanted to use my opportunity to secure a position for herself!

Ha! Did she think I was an idiot?

Last time, bringing her along had taken every scrap of wit and strength I possessed. Why would I do it again?

“If you want a permanent post, I can’t help. If you just want to go inside, the old madam’s birthday is coming up. They’ll need extra hands, and the matron can send us to help. But we’ll have to come back afterward.”

The duke’s household had a strict hierarchy. Maids were divided into three ranks, and exactly where each could and couldn’t go was fixed.

Si Min and I had been here three months without ever entering the inner compound.

If you couldn’t get inside, naturally you had little chance of meeting the masters.

She bit her lip, looking dissatisfied. But she didn’t argue. “Helping for a while would be nice too,” she said softly.

Now I understood her plan. “You want to see someone in the duke’s family?”

She flushed and lowered her head. “No. I only want to see whether I might run into the young lord and ask after our family.”

As if she needed to ask what had happened to them. She plainly wanted to see him.

I was going to refuse. Then I reconsidered. Judging by my last life, he wasn’t entirely without feeling for her. If she won his favor, I might benefit as her sister. Perhaps I could even move up.

And even if I didn’t, I could at least make a little money helping her.

A lowly maid needed money more than anything. I had no objection to earning hers.

So I smiled. “I’m glad you’ve come around, Sister. When I urged you to see him earlier, you always said you didn’t want to trouble him. Now that you’re willing, surely he’ll look after you for old times’ sake…”

When we first arrived, I had assumed the household had bought us specifically to protect her. I wanted her to reach out to people she knew. Instead, she clung to her pride, unwilling to humble herself and ask, hoping someone would summon her on their own.

So we had spent three months as the lowest of maids. Now that I refused to shoulder her burdens, she couldn’t endure the hardship. At last, she was willing to lower herself and ask for help.

Sure enough, when it came to food and shelter, even a heavenly maiden had to step down from her pedestal.

“You misunderstand. I’m not trying to attach myself to someone powerful. I only want news of our family.”

She sounded thoroughly righteous.

Of course.

I didn’t expose her. Smiling, I said, “I can make the connection, but the matron is short of money. You’ll have to pay.”

She hesitated. “I have to give her silver too?”

I swallowed the urge to curse. If she didn’t pay, did she expect me to?

“Of course. The more, the better.” I patiently explained at length, then named the amount Yang Sheng had given her.

After a moment’s hesitation, she handed over all his silver. “Thank you for taking the trouble, Sister.”

“Don’t worry. Leave it to me.”

I smiled and weighed the purse in my hand.

A third-rank maid earned only twenty copper coins a month. Three taels of silver was a fortune to us now.

Yet Si Min had surrendered it all to see the heir. Spending someone else’s money really didn’t hurt at all.

Having taken my payment, I would naturally fulfill my part.

But if she went rushing to see him like this, would she win his favor?

He had liked her before because she was well known as a marquis’s daughter and had maintained her reputation for kindness and generosity even here. As his study maid, she had kept up the serene chrysanthemum image. I had handled all the less dignified business.

Now that she was throwing herself at him, would he still like her?

I was rather curious to find out.