Chapter 4
The next day, before Mother could even leave the house, gifts of gratitude arrived from the chancellor’s estate.
Madam Meng came in person to thank Mother for saving her daughter’s life.
Two heavy chests of gold, silver, and jewels were carried into our courtyard. The brilliance inside was almost blinding.
Mother had never seen such a display and waved her hands, too frightened to accept.
Madam Meng took her hand. “You saved the daughter I did not have until I was nearly forty. You may as well have saved my own life. These few things are nothing in comparison.”
Madam Meng issued an invitation on the spot. Once Miss Meng had recovered the following month, she wanted the Song family to visit the chancellor’s estate.
Mother shook her head. “I am about to take my son back to Yangzhou. I’m afraid…”
Father cut her off before she could finish.
“Then leave after next month. Do you intend to reject an invitation from the chancellor’s family?”
His voice was low, but the rebuke in it was unmistakable.
Mother looked bewildered. “Husband, have I said something wrong again?”
To Madam Meng, the sight only made Mother seem more pitiful.
This country woman had worked herself to the bone to put her husband through the examinations, only to labor for another woman’s benefit. Father was ashamed of Mother and had never taken her out in public. The wife who had shared his hardships was clearly destined to be discarded.
Madam Meng called Mother over to inventory the gifts and whispered in her ear, “This jewelry would suit you. You should take the time to dress well.”
“My husband says I cannot even tell one fabric from another,” Mother replied without concern. “Things this fine should be saved for my daughter and future daughter-in-law.”
“Can you embroider?” Madam Meng asked.
Mother shook her head. “I used to make my living harvesting lotus roots from the ponds. My hands were always injured, so I could never manage delicate work.”
Madam Meng immediately understood that the exquisitely embroidered sachet at Father’s waist had not been made by his wife.
She drew a deep breath. “Come to the chancellor’s estate tomorrow. I will teach you how to recognize fabrics and how to dress.”
Mother hesitated. “No matter how I adorn myself, my husband says I cannot hide my rustic ways.”
Madam Meng patted the back of her hand. “I am not teaching you to please your husband. You must learn to move among the ladies of the capital if you wish to remain here and secure a future for your children.”
That was exactly what Mother wanted.
From then on, she often visited the chancellor’s estate to learn from Madam Meng how to manage a great household.
Madam Meng frequently praised how quickly she learned. Mother was intelligent; she simply had never enjoyed Father’s opportunities for an education.
Father had hoped to use Mother’s connection to gain favor with the chancellor. Instead, it was Mother who grew ever closer to the Meng family.
Rich creams softened her weathered face, and her dress soon matched that of any noblewoman in the capital.
She began accompanying Madam Meng to banquets.
With Madam Meng beside her, no one dared mock Mother’s country origins. Instead, people praised her competence and devotion in supporting Father until he earned his degree.
Before long, every noble family in the capital knew that Father owed everything to the wife who had shared his poverty.
Only then did he realize that if he sent Mother back to Yangzhou, he would be condemned for casting aside the woman who had endured hardship with him.
Unfortunately for him, Liu Yuyao was already pregnant.
For the sake of his career, Father tried to persuade her to enter our household as a concubine.
As her belly grew larger by the day, Liu Yuyao had no choice but to agree.
Then Mother brought Madam Meng a box of poisoned rouge, trembling all over.
“Madam, I had only just agreed to let the pregnant Madam Liu enter the household when she sent me this poisoned rouge. The physician who tested it said that if I used it, I would die within two months. Then my husband could make her his principal wife without scandal…”
It was the first lie Mother had ever told.
At the time, she had discovered that she too was two months pregnant, conceived before she learned of Father’s affair with Liu Yuyao.
She could not place her son or her unborn child in danger.
No matter what it took, Mother could not allow Liu Yuyao through the gates of the Song residence.
Soon after Mother left the chancellor’s estate, rumors swept through the capital that the Assistant Minister of War’s illegitimate daughter had become pregnant out of wedlock while serving as a kept mistress.
Liu Yuyao had at least been born to an official family, but after shamelessly climbing into a man’s bed and becoming his mistress, she was expelled from the Liu household.
For a time, the scandal became the favorite topic of every lady in the capital.
Father had just become Chancellor Meng’s protégé, and his official career was advancing rapidly.
Afraid for his reputation and prospects, he did not dare bring Liu Yuyao home even as a concubine. All he could do was buy her a separate estate.
Following Madam Meng’s advice, Mother planted her own people among the servants Father purchased for Liu Yuyao.
When Liu Yuyao learned that Mother was also pregnant, she hurled a new porcelain vase to the floor.
“Why should that lowborn wretch’s child be legitimate while mine must be born outside the family?
“She has all the luck. A mud-legged peasant somehow managed to attach herself to the chancellor’s household.
“Let us see whether a dull, graceless fool like her can remain so fortunate forever…”
That night, when Father visited her estate, she wept and begged him to switch her child with Mother’s.
“You promised to marry me as your principal wife, yet that village woman still occupies my place.
“I trusted your promises and gave you my innocence. That is the only reason I have fallen so far.
“You have already betrayed me. You cannot let our child become illegitimate as well. He was always meant to be your legitimate son.”
Few things inspire pity like a beautiful woman in tears.
An official’s daughter had lost her reputation because she followed Father. For the sake of his career, she could not even become his concubine and instead had to remain a mistress hidden beyond his gates.
Father looked at Liu Yuyao with affection overflowing from his eyes.
He agreed.
Liu Yuyao rested in his arms, tears shining on her lashes.
“I am not cruel. I will treat her child kindly and raise it well.”
To ease his guilt toward Liu Yuyao, Father would have paid any price.
Even if that price was Mother, the woman to whom he owed everything—and me, still unborn in her womb.
Before I ever entered the world, I had already lost my father.