Chapter 4

To show his determination to make amends to Li Jinshuang and her mother, the minister decided to hold a welcoming banquet for me.

There, he would formally introduce his eldest legitimate daughter to the capital’s great families.

I knew Lady Xing and Li Yunzhen would do everything they could to prevent it.

That very day, Lady Xing assigned me one of the residence’s finest courtyards, second only to her own.

But it was tucked away in a remote corner, close to the outer wall.

After nightfall, I called several times. None of the maids or older servants she had assigned to me answered.

I sneered. So they were about to act.

Sure enough, after the lamps were out, a dark figure crept into my room.

I hid behind the door. As he pushed it open, I raised the jade-white porcelain flower vase and smashed it against the back of his head.

The vase shattered across the floor. He fell without a sound, blood pouring from his skull.

I listened. All around was deathly quiet.

Not a soul came to investigate such a crash. Lady Xing had plainly resolved to kill me tonight.

I pulled off his mask. In the moonlight, I recognized a face I seemed to have seen before.

Lady Xing was so certain I could not escape that she had not even bothered to conceal the connection.

I took the copper pin from my hair and scored the man’s face with its sharp point.

Even unconscious, he groaned several times in pain.

I wrapped him in the brocade quilt and dragged him outside, all the way to the base of the outer wall beyond my courtyard.

Thanks to Lady Xing, all the servants had been sent away. In this isolated part of the residence, I met no one.

Back in my room, I was so exhausted I could barely move. I collapsed on the couch and slept soundly.

Only when daylight filled the room did several screams wake me.

“Help! There’s a dead man!”

The household was in an uproar. Everyone said a thief had broken in during the night.

Only the thief had a great wound in his head and had long since bled to death.

His face was so mangled that no one could identify him.

People guessed he had tried to climb over the outer wall, fallen, split his head, and torn his face.

The story was full of holes, but Lady Xing suppressed the affair herself. She told the servants a thief had broken in, and forbade them to spread word lest the household’s women lose their good names.

I pretended to know nothing and quietly watched the people around me.

My personal maid, Chuntao, brought tea with red, swollen eyes.

“Chuntao, what’s wrong?”

I sounded surprised.

“Nothing. The wind got in my eyes.”

She lowered her head, but could not hide the hatred in her gaze.

That night, I lay quietly in bed.

Late, when everything was still, I heard Chuntao, who was keeping the night watch, call softly several times.

“Miss? Miss?”

I did not answer.

There was a rustle in the outer room. Then the bed curtains were flung aside, and a pair of scissors plunged toward my chest.

I was ready. I seized her wrist.

“Chuntao, what are you doing?”

Her eyes were bloodshot.

“You bitch! You killed my brother. I’ll make you pay with your life!”

I stared at her a moment before pretending to understand.

“The dead thief was your brother?”

She glared at me bitterly. I looked even more astonished.

“Why would your brother become a thief? And why accuse me of killing him?”

“Stop pretending! He went into your room that night and was dead the next morning. Who else could have killed him? Now he’s gone, my whole family has nothing to live for. I’ll take you down with me!”

I held her wrist in a death grip.

“Were you and your brother plotting together? Do you know the punishment for murdering your mistress?”

“The mistress wanted you dead!” she spat. “We were only obeying orders. We never knew you were so vicious!”

How absurd. She could harm me with a clear conscience, but could not bear my fighting back.

Yet instead of blaming her, I sighed.

“Foolish Chuntao. How could a weak woman like me kill a grown man? Father has had men guarding me in secret all along. Those hidden guards must have killed your brother.”

“What?”

The scissors fell from her hand.

“I imagine Father found out who he was and had his face ruined. Family disgrace mustn’t be spread abroad, after all. He was giving you and your family a chance. But if he learns you’ve come again tonight…”

Her face turned white.

“Only Father, my lady, and I know about the guards. I just don’t know which mistress sent you.”

She looked still worse.

“My lady knew too?”

I nodded, then suddenly raised my head.

“The mistress you mean couldn’t be…”

“She knew? Then why?”

Chuntao’s lips trembled.

“Did she put you up to killing me tonight as well?”

She sank to the floor, her face ashen.

So I had guessed right.

I helped her up.

“I’m Father’s daughter, but in truth I’m no different from you. Neither of us can choose our own fate. We can only be pushed about. When have people like her ever cared about our lives? I suspect she only used you to test me and Father. What a pity about your brother.”

As hatred rekindled in her eyes, I nodded inwardly in satisfaction.

At least not everyone around me belonged to Lady Xing anymore.