Chapter 3
Lady Zhao had lost her niece and the reputation for virtue she’d spent ten years cultivating.
She fell ill with fury.
Her son and daughter couldn’t bring themselves to hate Father, so they hated me instead.
My younger sister, Ning Youyi, claimed the favorable feng shui of my courtyard would help her recuperate.
She wanted the lovely courtyard Grandmother had left me.
She and Ning Jing had been born at seven months and were both frail.
Father had always treated their lives as exceptionally precious.
So when he asked me, I bit my lip, tears filling my eyes.
“Grandmother gave it to me with such love. May I think about it?”
He glanced at me coldly.
“Don’t use your grandmother to pressure me. If she were here, she wouldn’t hesitate for a moment if it meant improving your sister’s health.”
He swept out.
Watching his retreating back, I curled my lips.
That night, I had two large crates of snake eggs brought in.
My nurse, my maid, and I spent the night burying ten neat nests of surprises for Ning Youyi.
The next morning, with dark circles under my eyes, I made a show of meekly surrendering my courtyard at breakfast.
My eldest aunt tried to hold her tongue, but at last she couldn’t resist reproaching Ning Youyi.
“Did your health only fail recently, Fifth Girl? Or did your fourth sister only recently move into her own courtyard?”
“The Zhao girl has barely left, and now you’re throwing your own sister out of her home. If word gets out, people will say you’re deliberately bullying her to avenge your cousin.”
Ning Youyi twisted her handkerchief and bit her lip almost bloody, but she refused to give up.
Lady Zhao stepped in to smooth things over.
“They’re sisters. What does it matter who lives where? Besides, Jizhao is old enough for marriage talks. She won’t be here for many more years. Youyi’s health must come first.”
My aunt lowered her eyes and answered coolly, “Every family has its rules. In established houses like ours, we don’t say a married daughter is water poured away. Her family always keeps a place for her to come home to. I’ll be interested to see what happens when Youyi marries.”
Lady Zhao came from an insignificant family. Her only advantages were a talent for pleasing men and enough charm to keep Father firmly in her grasp.
None of the capital’s highborn ladies thought much of her.
She had swallowed her pride and played the virtuous wife for years.
Yet Zhao Wan’er’s foul-smelling disgrace had ruined it all.
My aunt’s contempt was unmistakable. Lady Zhao ground her teeth in anger, but still she would not yield.
Ning Youyi didn’t stay in my courtyard for nothing.
In her third month there, the snakes found her.
They bit her all over. She spent more than half a year in bed.
When I visited, I was all concern.
“They have to cut the skin open to draw out the venom? It’s bad enough on your body, but if they take a knife to that lovely face, what will become of you?”
“How can an ugly girl hope for a marriage or a future? I’m so worried for you.”
She flew into a rage, snatched up a teacup, and hurled it at me.
I stepped aside.
Crack.
The cup of hot tea struck Father squarely on the forehead.
Terrified, I apologized to him for her over and over.
She failed to appreciate my kindness.
Pointing at me, she screamed, “You bitch! Stop pretending! You did that on purpose!”
“I’ll tear your face to pieces. You’ll die young, just like that bitch of a mother of yours!”
Smack!
Father slapped her so hard she fell to the floor.
“The fifth young lady is gravely ill. Close her courtyard. Let her recuperate.”
As I raised an eyebrow in triumph, Ning Youyi, so angry she nearly coughed up blood, was shut away in her courtyard.
Rumors spread through the house.
“The fourth young lady’s courtyard has excellent feng shui, but the fifth young lady has a bad fate. She attracts unclean things. That’s why she was hurt and went mad.”
My stepmother couldn’t find proof that I’d harmed Ning Youyi.
She made trouble for me anyway.
She persuaded Father to arrange a splendid match with a wastrel from a great house.
I was to be the ladder my dear brother climbed to a glorious future.