Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Liu Tai bowed her head and admitted her mistakes to Liu Chengshan; she wanted to be there to see Liu Yi off on her wedding day.

Liu Chengshan looked at the letter of self-reflection Liu Tai had sent and nodded with satisfaction.

It should have been this way long ago!

She was just a daughter confined to the inner chambers; what capital did she have to be stubborn with her father?

Liu Tai felt nothing but disgust, but she understood that she truly had no leverage.

On the day she walked out of the Ancestral Hall, Liu Yi and Liu Rong came together to meet her. Both were beaming, looking more beautiful than peach blossoms in the third lunar month.

Liu Tai took one of their hands in each of hers, her fingers interlaced tightly with theirs. She held on firmly, unwilling to let go even when her palms grew sweaty.

As they walked, Liu Rong suddenly dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “Once Eldest Sister is married, I’m afraid there won’t be many good times like this left.”

Liu Rong’s marriage had also been settled; she was to become a Secondary Consort to the Heir of the Jinyang Prince Manor.

On the surface, they both seemed to be marrying into good families, but Liu Tai understood that being someone’s wife or concubine was fundamentally different from being a daughter.

Once the grand red bridal sedan was carried out, parents became closer to their sons-in-law than their own daughters.

She didn’t know how it was in other families, but that was certainly how Liu Chengshan was.

She felt a bitter resentment.

Liu Yi was more talented than both of her brothers. If she had the chance to take the imperial examinations, she likely would have ranked high long ago. Meanwhile, her two brothers had failed time and again, their names never appearing on the list of successful candidates.

It was true that Liu Rong was beautiful, but her skill in double-sided embroidery was even more divine. If she had been born in Jiangnan, she might have been able to build a career for herself.

They were clearly exceptional young women, yet they were destined only to drift from one inner courtyard to another, obeying their fathers and then their husbands, bound by nonsensical rules.

“Eldest Sister, if you didn’t have to marry, what would you want to do?”

Liu Yi smiled. “I would want to open a bookstore and sell books.”

“And you, Second Sister?”

Liu Rong’s eyes shimmered with tears. “Me? I want to travel. When I’ve seen enough of the world, I’ll find a place to settle down, open a small shop, and be the proprietress.”

“What about you, Third Sister?”

“I want to help Eldest Sister, and I also want to help Second Sister. It looks like your shops will have to be right next to each other so I can manage both.”

Liu Yi teased her, saying she just wanted to reap the fruits of their labor. Liu Tai, far from being ashamed, took pride in it, cheekily asking, “Well, will my sisters let me?”

Amidst their laughter and chatter, Liu Tai arrived at the courtyard she hadn’t seen in a long time.

Liu Rong pushed open the door. “I sent people to clean it first thing this morning. Chunxiao has been running around in circles getting things ready. Well? Is there anything you’re unhappy with?”

The windows were bright and the surfaces spotless. In the courtyard, there was even a newly planted osmanthus tree.

“Eldest Sister and I planted it together. You must take good care of it.”

There was an unmistakable, heavy sense of parting in Liu Rong’s voice.

Liu Tai touched the small tree, her eyes welling with tears.