Chapter 5

The next day, I gave the silver to the matron and asked her to send my sister and me to help at the birthday banquet. While I was there, I secured my own transfer to the inner compound.

With the silver in hand, she was all smiles. “No problem. But the transfer will have to wait until after the New Year.”

“Thank you, Matron.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I had secured my future without spending a single coin of my own. Well worth it.

As for Si Min, I wouldn’t be foolish enough to take her with me again. That would only be asking for trouble.

I had promised to get her into the inner compound to help. Once I did, our bargain was settled.

I ran into Yang Sheng as I left the matron’s room.

Remembering that Si Min was using his money to see another man, I could almost see a green cloud hovering over his head.

He looked at me in confusion. “What? Is there something on my head?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking a hat would suit you.”

Before long, the day of the banquet arrived.

The matron sent Si Min and me into the inner compound to help. As third-rank drudges, we weren’t allowed near the honored guests. We were put behind the kitchen to wash dishes.

Bowls and plates rose in little mountains. We washed until our backs ached, without a moment’s rest.

At this rate, never mind seeing the young lord. We could hardly get out of the kitchen.

“Si Lan, why are we helping in the kitchen?” Si Min asked.

I glanced up. “Sister, you asked me to have the matron send you into the inner compound to help. Here you are.”

She bit her lip. “I thought we could carry dishes or something…”

I laughed. “Sister, you’ve been both a young lady and a maid. How could third-rank drudges be allowed to serve guests?”

She fell silent, apparently resentful, but held it in. Magnanimously, she said, “Never mind. You are my sister, after all. I’ll let it go this time. I won’t hold it against you.”

After that quiet remark, she went back to washing.

So this was my fault?

“Si Min, explain yourself. What do you mean, you won’t hold it against me?”

I put down the bowl. “You asked me to pay the matron to bring you here to help. I agreed, and I did it. You never said you wanted to serve guests. If you had, I would never have agreed! Did you think that handing over a little money meant I had to arrange everything and put you alongside the second-rank serving maids? You think I can do that? You give me far too much credit!”

I hadn’t lowered my voice. Everyone turned to look.

Si Min flushed scarlet. “I… I wasn’t blaming you…”

I snorted and crouched back down to wash.

Tears filled her eyes, as though she had suffered some tremendous injustice.

But there were no men here, and everyone was busy. Nobody paid her any attention.

We worked from morning until evening, with no chance to leave.

As the banquet neared its end, Si Min finally grew desperate enough to humble herself. “Si Lan, my stomach hurts. Could you finish my dishes for me?”

I knew what she was after. I smiled. “Certainly.”

Before she could rejoice, I added, “For ten copper coins.”

Her mouth fell open. Her eyes filled with disbelief.

“Don’t want to pay? Then wash them yourself.” I didn’t look up.

“How can you be so obsessed with money?” She stamped her foot, aggrieved.

Really.

For her own future, she could charm a man and use his money to get into the inner compound, all for a single glimpse of the heir.

So much for the serene chrysanthemum untouched by worldly ambition.

Then what had it meant when I did all her scheming in my last life and she refused to save me?

The thought had made me sick with anger these past few days.

If she wanted help, she could pay!

She gritted her teeth. “I don’t have any money on me. I’ll pay you when we get back.”

I considered, then agreed.

She hurried out.

I smiled after her. I hoped she got what she wanted.

It was growing dark when I finished both our workloads. I had just stood and stretched to ease my aching body when I heard a commotion outside, with the kitchen steward’s scolding cutting through it.

Everyone rushed out. I followed and saw two older serving women drag Si Min into the yard and throw her hard onto the ground.

Her clothes were disheveled. She looked a complete wreck.

Grief and bewilderment clouded her face.

“What happened?” someone asked.

“This little bitch ran into the banquet and offended an honored guest!” the steward announced. “Beat her!”

One of the women raised a hand and slapped Si Min across the face, again and again.

Her face soon swelled.

She wept without a word, her eyes vacant.

When the punishment was over, the steward warned the rest of us, then swept off with her attendants.

Once everything was cleared away, Si Min and I headed back to our quarters. On the way, she suddenly asked, “Why did he pretend not to see me?”

I turned. Tears streamed down her face. “Apricot blossoms in the fine rain, a horse beneath the garden wall, our hands clasped… Has he forgotten it all?”

“You saw the young lord?” I asked, curious. “What did you say?”

She shook her head.

Looking at her stricken face and remembering her usual manner, I suddenly understood. “Don’t tell me you stood beside him and did nothing, waiting for him to speak first?”

Sure enough, she raised her head. “But he saw me.”

I had no words.

Wonderful. Truly a chrysanthemum above worldly strife.

After all that effort to secure such an important chance, she had still played at detachment and expected him to start the conversation?

I couldn’t help sneering. “Si Min, even when you were a marquis’s daughter, his rank was higher than yours. If you met him, you should have gone up and paid your respects. Now you’re a third-rank drudge, a servant condemned by the courts. Why would he approach you first?”

She stared. “But before, he always greeted me…”

I couldn’t keep the scorn out of my voice. “Did you think all those chance meetings were really chance? Your mother planned them. You stood there playing the dignified noble lady, saying and doing nothing, while the rest of us had to speak for you and draw him over. Today you went alone. There was no one to arrange it. If you didn’t speak, why would he bother with you?”

Whether he even liked her was another matter.

After all, the duchess had chosen the match. Si Min’s mother had arranged those few encounters.

Whenever they met, he had been perfectly polite. As for any deep affection, I had never seen it.

So how had it become “apricot blossoms in the fine rain, a horse beneath the garden wall, our hands clasped” in Si Min’s telling?

She made them sound like the most devoted lovers alive.