Chapter 2
I took the steward to the mistress’s residence.
Her surname was Liu. She had once been an official’s daughter from Jiangnan, but her father had spoken out too frankly in remonstrance and been beaten to death with the court staff.
Lady Liu had almost ended up on the streets. Luckily for her, she met Qi Lei, that great champion of the weak, and the two became involved.
Now I had come in person to bring her into the household, and she was putting on airs.
“I won’t enter as anything less than an honored concubine,” she said, chin raised.
“A betrothal gift of one hundred and eighty-eight taels.”
“A wedding gown in true red, made by the finest embroideress at Brocade Pavilion. And a gold headdress set with rubies.”
Beside me, the steward’s hands shook with fury. “…Only taking a concubine… Who does she think she is?”
The steward was my father-in-law’s man. I smiled. “What could possibly be improper? If my husband likes it, let her have it. I’ll arrange everything myself. We must make it a grand occasion.”
Taking a concubine involved a great deal of tedious work, but it also offered a wealth of opportunities to line one’s pockets.
Procurement, in particular.
To cement my place in the wives’ circle, I went to seek their advice, armed with a pocketful of seeds—no, with an expression of utter helplessness.
“The mistress says she won’t come in as anything less than an honored concubine, and she wants me to fetch her myself…” I bit my lip, eyes reddening. “What should I do?”
That certainly got the ladies going.
The daughter-in-law of the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review slapped the table. “Outrageous! A mistress expects the lawful wife to welcome her in person?”
The censor’s wife gave a cold laugh. “Has the Qi household turned upside down?”
The wife of a supervising secretary in the Ministry of Personnel took my hand. “Don’t be afraid, my dear. We’ll stand behind you.”
Only Lady Wang remained unhurried. “I do have an idea.”
She leaned close to whisper in my ear.
My eyes lit up. I nearly applauded.
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
Her plan was simple: indulge the mistress’s vulgar need to show off and let her make as much trouble as she pleased. The bigger the spectacle, the clearer everyone would see how frivolous the Qi family’s mistress was. Once she had thoroughly disgraced the family, the lawful wife could deal with her and no one could find fault.
I was cheering inside. Wasn’t this what modern business called praising someone to destruction?
Outwardly, I remained fragile and timid. “But… will that work?”
Lady Wang patted my hand. “Just bear with it, my dear. The real show comes later.”
I laughed inwardly. In my modern life, I had ruled the domestic battlefield of a three-thousand-square-meter villa. On my mother’s behalf, I had fought three successive mistresses, five illegitimate children, and seven or eight uncles vying for the inheritance. Someone at Lady Liu’s level hardly called for my heavy artillery.
Still, for the sake of entering the wives’ circle, I meekly did as I was told.