Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Under Qu Huang’s indifferent gaze, I took the two hired hands who had come with my dowry and spent half the day tidying up the house inside and out. By the time the resentful birds cried in the west and dusk seeped through the windows, we had packed a total of four large red-lacquered chests and carried them one by one to the front door.

Before leaving, I did not forget to bow to him.

“My lord, thank you for looking after me.”

He gave a faint nod.

The two hired hands were indignant. “My lady! Since you are already divorced, why lower yourself to him like this?!”

As part of my dowry, these two men worked by day in my elderly father’s bean-cake shop, then returned to the Qu Family at night to chop firewood and carry water. Even so, they had ended up the same as me-thrown out like refuse.

Seeing them both flushed with anger, looking as if they wanted to rush forward and argue, I felt ashamed. “You’ve suffered because of me.”

At that, they cupped their fists again and again. “We are commoners. Hardship is only what we ought to bear.”

“But you were the mistress of this household, my lady. We saw how hard you worked every day. Now that Qu Huang has risen in the world, he casts off his wife and drives her out-what justice is there in that?!”

The other immediately chimed in. “Exactly, my lady. Why don’t we submit a complaint to the main family and see what the head of the Qu Family has to say!”

I waved a hand and said nothing. I only raised my head and looked at the tall jujube tree in the courtyard.

Yesterday, in my dream, I had not accepted the divorce letter. Instead, I had stormed all the way to the Qu main family and made Qu Huang’s disgraceful abandonment of his wife known throughout the city.

And after that, I had been hanged alive from this very tree.

That evening, I brought the hired hands and my dowry chests back to Ox Tail Alley in the north of Chuzhou.

My father had already heard the news and was waiting at the mouth of the alley. When I saw his face carved with deep lines, his hair white as frost and snow, and his withered body shivering ceaselessly in the wind, shame flooded my heart. “Father, your daughter has been unfilial. I have brought disgrace upon you.”

All my father could do was let out a long sigh.

The two hired hands helped me carry the chests into the room I had lived in before my marriage. Everything inside was arranged as it had been, with a bright mirror before the window, lightly dusted over.

I lifted the mirror to look at myself-only to be shocked by the deep red mark circling my neck.

Was it real, or not?

Truth, or illusion?

I only did not know whether I had scratched it there myself without realizing, or whether it came from being hanged beneath that tree in my dream…

With no time to think further, I rummaged through the wardrobe, found a sheepskin collar, and barely managed to cover the injury. Then I changed into short work clothes and went to help in the shop.

Not far from the mouth of the alley stood the little bean-cake shop that sustained my father and me. At that moment, the entrance was piled high with steaming-hot beans, while my father bent over the basin, stirring them. His back was bowed, his thin frame like a broken old bow.

How sorrowful are parents, who toil to give us life…

My nose stung. I hurriedly crouched beside him to help.

At some point, a fine rain began falling from the clouds. From up ahead came the clear, melodious sound of bells, and a carriage with a silver canopy and hanging curtains slowly approached.

The carriage was lavishly decorated and extraordinarily exquisite, with numerous attendants before and behind it, the procession stretching nearly a hundred meters.

Fragrance drifted for miles, and soft music played languidly.

The roadside had long since filled with commoners craning their necks for a look. Tired from work, I had stopped at the shop entrance to rest when a middle-aged man suddenly stepped down from the carriage. His face was pale and beardless, and his voice was sharp.

“May I ask, my lady, which way is the Qu Family?”

“The Qu main family resides in the east of the city. The collateral branches are in the west.”

“Many thanks.”

After thanking me, the man returned at an easy pace to the line of carriages.

The rain was light, making the air even colder and more desolate.

I stood there in a daze, staring after the receding procession for a long time. Only when the cold rain soaked my lapels and I sneezed several times in a row did I hurriedly turn back.

Behind me, several commoners murmured among themselves, as if afraid of something.

“So that was County Princess Wenzhao’s carriage? Even a princess’s procession would be no grander than that!”

“She’s only the Imperial Consort’s niece. What airs she puts on…”

“Shh! You dare say that? Do you have a death wish?!”