Chapter 5
The west courtyard was in an uproar all afternoon. Half the household servants were sent over to help move the mistress in.
In the main courtyard, Li Ruolan grew uneasy.
“Aunt Chun, aren’t we letting a wolf into the house?”
“Don’t worry, my lady. As the saying goes, a wife can’t compare with a concubine, and a concubine can’t compare with an illicit affair. Men love sneaking about. Once they see each other every day, the novelty wears off. You rule the women’s quarters. When the time comes, that little bitch will be yours to do with as you please.”
“But… she’s carrying a child. What if the distinctions between wife’s and concubine’s children, elder and younger, all become confused?”
“That depends on what you want, my lady.”
I sipped my tea, letting the meaning sink in.
“If you don’t wish anyone else to benefit, find a way for her to lose the child. If you’re so disappointed in your husband that you don’t want the hardship of bearing him one yourself, keep the child and dispose of its mother. You’ll even earn a reputation for virtue.”
After years of comfort in the Xie household, I looked serene and kindly. I delivered these words as casually as household gossip.
Li Ruolan shivered and studied me afresh.
I glanced at her.
“What is it? Do you think this old woman cruel?”
“What you just said is rather frightening, Aunt Chun.”
“You’re clever, perceptive, accomplished in every way. You have only one fault: too soft a heart.”
I looked at her gravely.
“The women’s quarters are a battlefield. It’s your life or theirs. Keep being softhearted, and you’ll put a knife into someone else’s hand so they can hurt you.”
Had any of those women in the Xie household ever shown mercy in my day?
Intrigue upon intrigue, plot upon plot. There had never been a moment’s peace.
Planting evidence, framing a rival, using another person’s hand to kill…
Even the women who looked purest and most innocent had a few filthy secrets on their hands.
The truly fragile ones never survived more than a few rounds.
“There are no innocents back here. Those women who seem detached from all rivalry, so kind and generous? They already have everything under their control. That’s why they can afford to be so calm. You still have much to learn, my lady.”
I spoke earnestly, for her own good.
Li Ruolan listened in alarm.
“Surely it isn’t as terrible as you make it sound, Aunt Chun.”
I snorted.
“That woman is no harmless creature. Wait and see.”
The mistress’s name was Rou’er. On entering the estate, she should have served tea to the household’s mistress at once and paid her respects.
Instead, she had so much luggage, and took so long settling in, that she missed the proper hour.
Several maids and older servants had already gone to investigate.
They came back clicking their tongues.
There were over a dozen rosewood trunks that required two people to carry, all filled with clothes and jewels.
She had brought furniture from her other residence too, every piece made of fine boxwood.
As for the jade and other ornaments, they filled a whole room.
In the end, the west courtyard was too small for everything. They had to open a storeroom to hold the rest.
Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought an official’s daughter was marrying into the family.
Rou’er had come from the streets. Once, she had merely sung for a living in a tavern—a woman of the lowest class. Where could she have acquired such wealth?
Unable to contain herself, Li Ruolan took one of her older servants and slipped into the storeroom to look.
Among the jewels and jade, she discovered several pieces from her own dowry.
The woman had openly stolen her dowry. As for the rest of this property, the explanation was obvious.
It must have been bought with her money too.
Li Ruolan trembled with rage.
She was ready to storm straight into the west courtyard and confront Rou’er.
I held her back by force.
“Rush in like this, my lady, and you’ve lost before you begin. As long as your husband backs that little bitch, you won’t get justice. You’ll lose all authority and make yourself a laughingstock.”
“Am I supposed to watch him use my dowry to support another woman?”
Her eyes were red, her look that of a trapped beast.
I gripped her hand tightly.
“One mouthful at a time, one debt at a time. Be patient, my lady. Whatever she swallowed, we’ll make her cough it back up.”