Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The days of being a concubine are not all the same.

I continued to live quietly in Second Master’s courtyard. He came twice a month; each time he brought gentleness, but he still came only twice.

By day, apart from paying respects to the Madam, I stayed quietly in my room embroidering. Sometimes I would pretend to pass through the garden and watch the young lady giggle and scamper about.

The Madam had given birth to a son and a daughter. Miss Youhui was just over two, at the most adorable age.

But Bichuan carried on as a concubine in a very high-profile way.

As if to slap the faces of those who called her jealous, the First Madam sent gold and silver, jewels, all kinds of tonics to Bichuan’s rooms as if they cost nothing.

Seeing her show such virtue, the First Young Master also let himself go, spending half the month in Bichuan’s rooms. This was a great change from before, lively enough that everyone in the household was talking.

Her days were good, but there were still few she could speak to, so sometimes she would come sit with me. Each time she came, she brought nice things, and even if I refused she would insist on leaving them.

But what she said grew increasingly worrying.

She asked me, “Yaochuan, do you regret choosing the Second Master? We were the same kind of maids, but now my days are so much better than yours.”

When she said this, there was a secret pride on her face, as if she had accomplished some extraordinary feat.

But I still remembered Sister Pochuan’s wretched state, and I urged her uneasily, “Restrain yourself. After all, the First Madam is still the Madam.”

She touched her belly and lifted her chin slightly. “So what? Maybe what I carry is the First Young Master’s very first son. If he becomes the eldest son, who can say what blessings will follow?”

So she was pregnant. If the First Madam truly could no longer bear children, it was indeed a great stroke of fortune.

But blessings require a life capable of enjoying them.

I meddled once more and said, “Sister Bichuan, listen to my advice! Once we become concubines, the children we bear are no longer our own to decide. Don’t entertain thoughts you shouldn’t. Think of Sister Pochuan-I don’t want to lose another sister.”

At the mention of Sister Pochuan, her face quivered. Though her mouth stayed hard, she said, “She’ll always worry the child will hate her in the future-she won’t dare.”

Yet after she went back, the word that reached my ears was that she had become even more respectful toward the First Madam.

The First Madam also gave her full honor, praising her to everyone, saying that as long as she bore a son, she would return her deed of sale, then go to the yamen to elevate her to Noble Concubine.

A Noble Concubine is different from a maid raised to the status of secondary wife; that is a treatment reserved for daughters of good families. Even as a concubine, one is treated as half a person, beyond even the Master’s Wife’s power to sell.

I counted the days and was happy for her, but I didn’t expect that near her time of delivery, there would be something even happier.