Chapter 2
Chapter 2
That night, the candlelight glowed dim and yellow.
Nanny Li held my hand and dipped her fingers into the cold salve, carefully smoothing it over the bruises in my palm.
The ointment carried a faint, bitter fragrance. I saw tears glimmering in her eyes.
“How is this teaching a student? They are clearly trying to wear down your precious hands, my lady!”
I turned my face away and looked at the swaying bamboo shadows beyond the window. Softly, I said, “Father has instructed me that only by enduring the bitterest hardship can one rise above others.”
Nanny Li sniffed, her indignation barely contained.
“Forgive this old servant for speaking out of turn, but when has the Eldest Young Lady ever suffered such torment?”
A draft suddenly swept through the hall, making the candle flame on the table leap.
Light and shadow shook violently across the wall, just like my state of mind in that moment.
She leaned a little closer, her breath brushing my ear.
“Don’t blame this old servant for being talkative, but if the Eldest Young Lady truly cared for you, she would know to hide her brilliance.”
“Using her own sister’s clumsiness to set off her cleverness is rather…”
She swallowed the rest, leaving only a sigh behind.
Had this been any other day, I would already have snapped at her to be silent.
But tonight, her words were like needles, piercing a long-hidden ache inside me.
Seeing my expression waver, Nanny Li lowered her voice, speaking with even greater urgency.
“My dear young lady, you are simply too honest-hearted!”
“The Lord Prime Minister summons the Eldest Young Lady to his study every few days to examine and instruct her. Everyone in the manor knows it. If she truly treated you as her own sister, how could she never once think to bring you along and let you benefit as well?”
“My dear girl, you are still only half-grown. You don’t yet understand how frightening the inner household can be. Even between blood sisters, one must keep one’s guard up. Be careful, lest someone use you as a stepping stone!”
That night, my thoughts were in complete disarray.
Nanny Li’s words were like stones cast into stagnant water, stirring up murky ripples in my heart.
Father’s study was forbidden ground in the manor. Even Mother could not enter it lightly.
My eldest and second brothers were sons, so it was only natural that Father personally taught them.
But my eldest sister… what right did she have?
Whenever I asked what Father had said to her, she would always smile and brush it off lightly, saying he had merely tested her on ordinary lessons.
But if they were truly ordinary, why was she the only one?
Why was it never my turn, Kong Xianghui’s turn?
A flame mixed with grievance, unwillingness, and resentment began to burn deep in my heart.
The next morning, the dew had yet to dry.
From a distance, I saw my eldest sister standing beneath the covered corridor leading to the classroom.
Morning light fell over her. Her skirt swayed gently in the breeze, and even the gleaming vermilion hairpin in her hair could not outshine the almost immortal grace that seemed to surround her.
All the world’s elegance seemed gathered in her alone, so dazzling it made my eyes ache.
A nameless fury surged up in me.
Just as her gaze was about to sweep my way, I abruptly turned and walked down the quiet garden path beside me.
Suxue hurried after me and caught the corner of my sleeve.
“My lady, the Eldest Young Lady is still waiting for you under the corridor.”
The vicious fire in my heart had nowhere to go. At her words, I flung her hand away and stared coldly at this maid who had served beside me since childhood.
“So concerned about her, are you? Why don’t I go report to Mother right now and have you sent to serve in her rooms instead? Wouldn’t that suit your wishes better?”
Suxue’s face went deathly pale. With a thud, she dropped to her knees on the cold stone path and knocked her forehead heavily against the ground.
“Please calm your anger, my lady! This servant knows her mistake! This servant will not dare again!”
The dull sound of her kowtowing struck at my heart and called back a trace of pity.
I closed my eyes briefly and forced down the churning anger inside me.
“Get up. You need not attend me today. Go back and rest. Before your injury heals, don’t come out and walk around, lest others seize on it and say I treat my servants harshly.”