Chapter 2

The next day, after I had reasoned and pleaded and explained everything at stake, the young lord still sat in stubborn silence.

I lost my patience. “You’re the only one who escaped from the entire household. Shouldn’t you seek help from your mother’s family and find some way to save your parents?”

He glanced at me. “You’re here too.”

“I’m a maid. Do you understand what that means? I have neither power nor influence. I can die with my master’s family, but I can’t clear their name, and I have no standing to petition on their behalf!”

“You’re lying. Mother said you were going to be my wife.”

I choked on my frustration. “A bedchamber maid is not a lawful wife. Stop being so unreasonable.”

“So you don’t want me either?”

His eyes brimmed with tears.

It struck me all at once that he was only a ten-year-old child. Disaster had torn his world apart and left him lost and alone. All his willfulness now was nothing more than fear.

My voice softened. “Young Lord, Ah Man won’t abandon you. If your uncle in Suzhou is willing, I’ll stay there and continue looking after you.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Then pinkie swear.”

We hooked our little fingers and pressed our thumbs together. Once he had my promise, he nodded through his sniffles.

Mother made ten flatbreads for us and packed two changes of clothes. Then we set out on foot.

Before the first day was over, the young lord had walked less than ten li before blisters rose on his feet.

I carried him on my back until we finally reached a market town.

We found a physician who prescribed wound powder, and I dressed his feet.

He cried that it hurt and wanted to rest at an inn.

But even setting aside the question of whether a warrant had been issued for him, we simply had no money for a room.

In the end, we could only make do in an abandoned temple.

The young lord had never stayed anywhere so wretched. The wind howled and rats darted through the shadows, making him start at every sound.

With no other choice, I let him pillow his head on my lap and soothed him softly. “Go to sleep. We were lucky to find a roof over our heads tonight. There may come a day when we have to sleep out in the wilderness.”

He was utterly exhausted and fell asleep soon after lying down.

As I drifted in and out of sleep, I heard him sob for his mother.

We traveled for ten days. Blisters kept forming on his feet and had to be washed and dressed every day. When they were at their worst, I carried him for half the day’s journey.

Only after his feet had been rubbed raw enough to form thin calluses did we finally reach Suzhou.

I settled him at an inn, had him wash, and changed him into clean clothes.

Then I went alone to his relatives’ residence.

Madam’s maiden family was surnamed Cui and ranked among the wealthiest households in Suzhou. I slipped half a string of coins to the gatekeeper before I was allowed to meet Master Cui.

He was in his forties, somewhat stout, with a kindly, benevolent face.

When I explained why I had come, concern spread across his features. “You have endured a great deal. Where is my nephew Yuanzhao?”

He was the young lord’s maternal uncle. I hesitated, but decided to tell him the truth. “At the Fenglai Inn in town.”

The instant the words left my mouth, a sharp glint flashed through his eyes and vanished.

So quickly that I wondered if I had imagined it.

He still wore his genial smile. “I’ll make a few arrangements and go fetch him at once. You have had a dusty journey, Miss Ah Man. Why not wash and rest here while you wait for him?”

I could not stop worrying about the young lord, so I declined with a smile. “Thank you, Master Cui, but this servant is concerned about him. I should return to the inn first and help him dress and arrange his hair. Boys his age care about appearances. He would hate to meet his uncle looking disheveled.”

Master Cui did not try to keep me any longer.

By the time I returned to the inn, scarcely long enough to drink a cup of tea had passed before a commotion erupted outside.

I peeked out and saw a great many soldiers surrounding the inn on every side.

The man leading them was Master Cui.

The young lord’s own blood uncle.