Chapter 2

Seeing how fiercely I resisted Jiang Shuang, Father naturally dared not send her to share my courtyard, my room, and my bed this time.

He was afraid I might do something to his precious girl.

I sat before my dressing table, playing with a doll.

Grandfather had sent this from Quanzhou too. It was called a “tumbler doll.” However hard I pushed it, it never fell over.

As I watched it rock back and forth, my thoughts drifted away.

Our family had originally held a dukedom granted at the founding of the dynasty. After three generations without a distinguished descendant, we were reduced to the Marquisate of Cheng’en.

The wastrels before us had squandered most of the estate. By my paternal grandfather’s time, the family was struggling to get by.

My maternal grandfather happened to save his life. Seeing that his rescuer was Quanzhou’s foremost merchant, he arranged a marriage between Father and Mother.

Mother’s dowry restored the estate’s former splendor. Yet while they enjoyed everything her money bought, they despised her for coming from a merchant family.

Mother died unhappy, leaving behind a vast dowry.

Then the family turned its attention to me. They wanted that money to fund their extravagant lives, while despising me for the merchant blood in my veins.

They dared not simply seize it. They could only draw on that fortune through me.

Otherwise, the mere accusation of coveting a daughter-in-law’s dowry would send the imperial censors into a frenzy. They might even lose their iron charter of imperial protection.

So they devised this scheme: find someone to take my place.

The daughter of a mistress, herself born to a concubine in a scholarly family.

I smiled scornfully. This time, I would hold the knife. They would be the ones on the chopping block.

The next day, when I arrived at Lanxin Court for my zither lesson, Jiang Shuang was already there.

My usual seat had been shifted to the right. To its left stood a zither table identical to mine.

Jiang Shuang sat there playing “Moonlit Night at Xunyang,” her fingers practiced and sure, the music lingering in the room.

I had to admit that she truly had a gift for the four arts: zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

At this point in my previous life, I had been delighted to have a playmate. Feeling sorry for her because she would bear my misfortunes, I had shared everything with her.

She had not shown off her talents so conspicuously on the very first day.

Instead, day by day, she had gradually revealed how much better she was than me.

My teachers grew increasingly disappointed. I had studied for more than two years, yet couldn’t measure up to a beginner.

They put more and more of their efforts into teaching her. I became the foil against which she shone.

Looking back, how could Father ever have brought her here knowing nothing?

He must have spent plenty of Mother’s dowry on renowned tutors for her, long before she arrived.

In this life, since I made no effort to hide my loathing, she had to change her strategy too.

Good. The more she did, the more mistakes she would make.

I walked over at my leisure and waved a hand. “Smash it.”

A maid immediately rushed forward, snatched Jiang Shuang’s zither, and slammed it onto the floor.

Jiang Shuang’s eyes widened in alarm. During the struggle, a string slashed her hand. Red blood immediately welled along the thin cut.

She covered it with her handkerchief, wincing, and demanded in barely contained anger, “What are you doing?”

I tilted my head with a smile. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“What? You’re only a stand-in to absorb my bad luck. Do you really think you’re the lady of the house, showing off your accomplishments here?”

She bit her lip. “I’m not. I only wanted Master Li to assess my playing.”

“Precisely. Is this how a young lady of good breeding behaves, Lady Jiang?”

I gave Master Li, who had also been rather startled, an amused glance. Her disapproval of my vulgar behavior scarcely concerned me.

This time, I refused to be the timid Jiang Yue who fretted over what others thought of her.

I was the eldest legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Cheng’en, with wealth to rival a nation’s. Even if I learned nothing, even if I did exactly as I pleased, I remained privileged beyond measure.

No one dared dictate to me. They could only seek my favor.

Why, then, should I care what they thought?

In this life, I meant to stand above them and grind them all beneath my feet.

“Master Li, since you cherish talent so much, you may devote yourself to teaching our little stand-in.”

Delight flickered through Jiang Shuang’s eyes. She probably thought I was yielding.

But…

“Naturally, you’ll have to ask her for your fees as well. Whoever takes the lessons pays for them!”

Master Li’s face turned exceedingly ugly.

Though she came from a distinguished family, it had long since declined. Her husband had died young, leaving her to support her mother-in-law and hungry children by teaching the zither.

So, although she professed to scorn money, money was what she needed most.

As hypocritical as Father and Grandmother.

“You can afford to pay her, can’t you, Jiang Shuang?”

She dropped her delicate, innocent act and lifted her pretty face. “Of course I—”

Halfway through, she noticed the meaning in my gaze, and her voice began to falter.

I touched my chin and smiled. “It seems our little orphan”—I stressed the word—”has quite a background after all!”

I glanced at Master Li, who looked ready to plead, then swept out.

“In that case, Master Li is your responsibility from now on.”