Chapter 3
The day I finished my bridal veil, a delighted Hongyu pulled me toward the main hall.
Words tumbled out of her. “Miss, guess who’s here!
“Oh, you’ll never guess. Deputy General Jiang has brought the betrothal gifts!
“I stole a look at him for you. Handsome, and he seems clever, too.
“Sixty-eight loads of gifts! Even the eldest young master didn’t send that much when he married. Your hard days are finally over!”
It took me a dazed moment to remember who Deputy General Jiang was.
Jiang Qihe.
Li Wujin’s subordinate.
A man I had only ever heard Li Wujin mention.
Three generations of his family had guarded the frontier. War had left him the sole survivor. Seeing his ability, Li Wujin had promoted him to deputy.
The main hall smelled of tea. The matchmaker’s hearty laughter seemed to carry that fragrance all the way into the inner quarters.
Hongyu and I hid behind a screen and peered inside.
A young man in a dark, round-collared robe sat below Father. He had all the spirited confidence of youth, and a bearing forged on the battlefield that quite overshadowed Father.
They were both around twenty, yet he made Li Wujin seem as though he were pretending to be old and grave.
I had barely poked my head around the screen when Jiang Qihe noticed me.
His long, beautiful eyes still held a smile as they turned toward me.
The instant our gazes met, I ducked behind the screen and pulled Hongyu away.
Father hated my appearing while he entertained guests. If I disturbed him, I would only give him another excuse to punish me.
Fortunately, we had not gone far before I heard Father politely seeing Jiang Qihe out.
I was still feeling grateful that Jiang Qihe was not a gossip when, scarcely back in my courtyard and before I had drunk any water, I heard a crowd approaching.
“Xia Tingchan! Come out here!”
Xia Linlang arrived in a fury.
Seeing me emerge so leisurely only made her angrier.
Once her maids and older servants had surrounded my courtyard, she said acidly,
“Sixty-four loads of betrothal gifts. Our fourth sister is finally going to live well.”
Of course, she was not jealous of Jiang Qihe’s gifts.
She was furious that he had come first, while the Li residence had made no move at all.
So I said deliberately, “Hardly well. Surely the general’s gifts will be far more lavish? He couldn’t possibly let a deputy outdo him.”
Exposed, Xia Linlang’s beautiful face darkened at once.
“I underestimated you. Even now, you can still keep General Li dancing on your palm.”
I smiled. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.
“You’re the remarkable one, Sister. You neither plant nor tend the tree, only come to pick its peaches. If you can’t get one into your mouth, how have you the nerve to blame the grower?”
She and her mother made no secret of their malice toward me. I made no secret of my hatred for them either.
They had starved me for days, made me kneel in the ancestral hall, and beaten me under the household rules. None of it had made me grovel.
Unable to subdue me, they had once tried to kill me and be rid of me.
But Father found out. He disliked me, yet harming his child beneath his own eyes was a challenge to his authority as head of the house.
And if he let the mistress hurt an unfavored daughter this time, what next?
A favored daughter? Or a son?
Legitimate and concubine-born daughters were much the same to him. Sons were different. If even one became an official, he could lift the entire family into wealth and power.
In the end, the mistress was sent to Qingshan Convent to pray for the family for a month. Then the matter was closed.
Since then, mother and daughter had not dared torment me. I had simply got on with my own life.
Now Xia Linlang had plainly come looking for trouble. I could only oblige her.
She had merely been upset before. A few words from me had stripped away her last covering of dignity.
Humiliation turned to rage.
A young lady could not soil her own mouth when angry. There would always be someone to curse for her.
One older servant spat at me. “Shameless little slut! Carrying on with a man before you’re even married, and boasting of it! Born of a mother who never taught you a thing!
“Fruit grown by wicked sorcery is tainted. Only a peach bestowed by the emperor is a heavenly one!”
That tirade visibly soothed Xia Linlang.
Lifting her chin, she warned me, “I don’t care what tricks you’ve used. General Li had better come with his betrothal gifts in three days, or you’ll pay for it!”
I almost laughed in anger.
The fool really believed I had gu.
And that threatening me would get her what she wanted.
I caught Hongyu as she rolled up her sleeves to charge forward, and fixed my eyes on the shouting servant first.
“That’s right. I command supernatural arts. Hurry and pray to your Buddha. See whether he can keep you safe.”
The woman blanched and glanced guiltily at Xia Linlang.
Seeing that her mistress had no attention to spare her, she quietly tightened her cuffs, terrified some insect might crawl inside.
With the servant silenced, the world grew quiet.
Xia Linlang could hear me all the more clearly.
“If you’re so impatient, why don’t you ask General Li yourself? Everyone in the capital praises your tender devotion. Surely you can ask him to move things along?”
I covered my mouth and snickered. “Oh dear. You haven’t already been turned away at his door, have you?”
That struck her right where it hurt.
Of course she was anxious.
I knew Li Wujin.
He loathed being manipulated. Xia Linlang had used the love-gu story to make him break with me. Once I said I had none, he would have to stop and consider what she wanted.
The trust I had labored to build with him was not something a few words from her could erase entirely.
Until he worked it out, she would be left waiting.
As the academy head’s daughter, she had read poetry and books since childhood. Everywhere she went, people called her “the talented Miss Xia.” She had never suffered such neglect.
But a young general with military victories to his name had pride of his own. Talented woman or beauty, it made no difference. Offend him, and even I would suffer for it.
Xia Linlang plainly failed to understand.
She pointed a nail stained red at me.
“Disrespecting your elder sister! Such insolence! Smash her courtyard!”
She had come to vent her anger on me. Having her motives laid bare only doubled it.
Whether I endured her quietly or not, this would have been the result.
After a few brittle crashes, the servants looked around helplessly.
My place was so bare that even splitting the teapot in half would not give everyone something to smash.
Still unsatisfied, Xia Linlang rushed at me with her hand raised.
“The servants may fear your witchery, but I don’t—ah!”
She had barely taken two steps before she fell headlong.
The ground was flat. There was not so much as a blade of grass to trip her.
The servants stared at me, growing more terrified by the moment. They even forgot to help her up.
Someone screamed. The crowd that had arrived so menacingly scattered at once.
At least Xia Linlang’s personal maid remained loyal. Trembling, she helped her mistress away on her twisted ankle.
Once they were gone, Hongyu began gathering the few broken shards with a helpless sigh.
“Ever since she was little, the eldest miss has come here to vent whenever anything displeases her. Without you, she couldn’t even have met General Li, much less stolen all the benefits…”
While Hongyu grumbled, I found a small pebble not far from where Xia Linlang had fallen.
I hurled it over the courtyard wall.
“Who’s there?”