Chapter 2

I gave an awkward twitch of a smile.

“I’m not quite that bad.”

My three cousins knew me well.

Mother had died when I was little.

No sooner had she closed her eyes than Father brought the woman he had always loved into our home.

Within a year, she gave birth to twins. A son and a daughter: the perfect pair.

My stepmother considered me a thorn in her side. She couldn’t wait for me to die and leave Mother’s dowry at her disposal.

Grandmother was bedridden, but she guarded me fiercely.

Before she died, she told me again and again, “You’re still young. Fight them head-on and you’ll only suffer in silence.”

“Act sweet. Be obedient. Endure until you’re grown and married. Then everything will be better.”

I listened to her.

For ten years, I hid my black heart behind a soft face.

Even my stepmother came to believe I was someone she could squeeze into any shape she liked.

So she brought her niece, Zhao Wan’er, to live in the Ning house.

Everything the girl ate, wore, or used came from my storerooms.

My stepmother also slipped slow poison into my tea, hoping I wouldn’t live to marry.

I saw it all, yet remained the very picture of meek submission, never arguing or competing for anything.

I endured for five years.

Then Zhao Wan’er took a fancy to the minister’s eldest son.

When she forced me to take her to a banquet at his house, I decided I’d endured enough.

I deliberately sat with a bowl of bird’s-nest soup to take the edge off my hunger.

Just as she always did, she reached for it without so much as asking.

“I’m hungry too. Give me that one. Tell the servants to make you another.”

We were about to leave.

There was no time to make another bowl.

She was simply used to taking whatever she wanted.

My nurse frowned and was about to speak.

I rose, caught her wrist, and cut her off.

“If Cousin’s hungry, let her have it. It’s only a bowl of soup.”

As I turned to serve it, I secretly added two spoonfuls of laxative.

When I brought it to her, she smirked.

“That’s more like it. Aunt entrusted me to you. Taking care of me is your duty.”

Having won my soup, she grew more overbearing still.

But shortly after the banquet began, a cup of wine upset her stomach.

Unfamiliar with the house, she couldn’t find the right place in time. She disgraced herself then and there, noisily soiling the very dress she’d taken from me.

The ladies recoiled, covering their noses and mouths.

They pointed at her and whispered.

“A sponging relative, and she has the nerve to attend a banquet at the minister’s house.”

“She’s piled more jewels on her head than a toad has lumps. As if she were afraid we might miss how hideous she looks.”

“Haven’t you heard? Those headdresses, dresses, and ornaments all belonged to Second Master Ning’s late wife. They’ve taken her place and her belongings. That aunt and niece are no better than bandits.”

“What can you expect from such a low family? That Zhao woman was involved with Second Master Ning for years. She drove his first wife to her death, then arrived with a child already on the way.”

Zhao Wan’er lost every scrap of dignity. Under their taunts, she swayed on her feet.

I was delighted.

But I reddened my eyes like a little rabbit’s and defended her.

“Cousin didn’t mean it. It’s her first time drinking wine. It must have upset her stomach.”

Unable to bear the humiliation, she seized on my words and began shrieking that someone had drugged her wine.

The perfectly good banquet descended into chaos.

The minister’s wife was livid.

She had the food and wine tested on the spot, proving that neither was poisoned. Then she summoned Father and the minister to deal with the matter.

Surrounded by her own stench, Zhao Wan’er stole the show that evening.

Father was utterly humiliated. He glared and bristled with rage.

That very night, he berated Lady Zhao and ordered her to return every one of Mother’s possessions so he could show his face in public again.

Finally, declaring the girl beyond all hope, he sent Zhao Wan’er back to the Zhao family before the night was out.