Chapter 4

The next day, I developed a fever.

Of course they weren’t going to call a physician or buy medicine for me.

Through my daze, I saw Lanyu lift the curtain and enter. “Madam, the old madam has sent for you.”

Xu Wan was of marriageable age, and negotiations were underway.

For all their viciousness, the Xus were good-looking. There was no shortage of suitors.

The most promising discussions were with the family of Director Fang of the Ministry of Works.

Madam Fang had come to visit, and my mother-in-law had asked Chu Lian to keep her company.

She had assumed Chu Lian’s sweet tongue would ensure a pleasant time for everyone.

Only after Madam Fang repeatedly asked after me did she realize her guest objected to being entertained by a concubine.

My mother-in-law claimed I was unwell. Seeing that Madam Fang remained doubtful, she sent for me to meet her.

I dragged myself out of bed and dressed. My cheeks were already flushed with fever; once I had made up my face, I looked positively bright-eyed.

I also slipped a silver needle into my clothes and pricked my thigh whenever my strength began to flag.

I appeared before them looking perfectly lively. Who could have thought me ill?

As Madam Fang spoke to me, I kept stealing glances at my mother-in-law and Xu Wan, playing the thoroughly cowed daughter-in-law to perfection.

Without saying a word outright, I showed Madam Fang that a daughter of this household would make no good match.

Xu Wan was furious, but she couldn’t lose her temper in front of a guest. Her face turned red with the effort of holding it in.

I enjoyed the sight immensely. Madam Fang, however, couldn’t seem to summon any enthusiasm.

My mother-in-law changed the subject to affairs outside the house.

“The maids say there was quite a crowd at the market crossroads today. I wonder what happened?”

Madam Fang sipped her tea. “I happened to see it on my way here. They executed a woman, a beauty like an immortal. They said she practiced sorcery, deluded people, and cheated them of their money.”

My heart leapt into my throat.

I ventured, “A condemned criminal, as beautiful as an immortal?”

“She really was unearthly,” Madam Fang recalled. “And she had a little red mole between her brows. It was so striking that I remembered it after one glance.”

Then she looked pointedly at Xu Wan. “It goes to show—you can know a face without knowing the heart beneath it.”

I had succeeded in tripping Xu Wan up, yet I felt as though I had plunged into an icehouse.

Madam Fang was talking about the sorceress.

The sorceress had been a fraud!

I couldn’t believe it.

If she really was a fraud—if it was true…

Who would avenge my daughter? Who would answer my hatred?

Shock and fury overwhelmed me. My sick body could bear no more. I collapsed and lost consciousness.

When I woke again, I was in my own bed, my head still heavy and clouded.

A candle burned on the table, but the room was empty.

Even Lanyu hadn’t stayed with me.

I pulled on an outer robe and staggered outside.

The entire Xu residence was hung with red silk.

Lanterns bearing the character for wedding joy swayed in the wind, their candlelight flickering.

I patted my cheeks, thinking I must still be dreaming.

Then I heard maids laughing nearby.

“Concubine Chu is so lucky!”

“Still calling her Concubine Chu? You should say Madam now!”

“Speaking of Madam…”

“Which madam? Be clear!”

“The useless one, of course! Unconscious for three days, and the master hasn’t looked in on her once.”

“Well, obviously. His heart belongs entirely to Concubine Chu. I heard he made her his equal-ranking wife because Madam Fang looked down on her for being a concubine. Concubine Chu shed a few tears, and it broke his heart.”

“And to think, Madam was the one who rescued her in the first place. Who could have imagined things would turn out like this?”

“Well… ah… never mind. Back to work.”

I really had rescued Chu Lian.

She had been offering herself for sale in the street to pay for her father’s burial. Though she knelt, she held her back straight as she bargained with a brothel madam, as though she weren’t about to leap into a pit of fire.

Because I was weak, I admired women with courage all the more.

Who could have known that my reward would be a thousand arrows through the heart?

Distraught, I wandered without knowing where I went. Through a wall, I heard someone congratulating Xu Zhen on his coming promotion.

“You’re too kind,” he said with a laugh. “You must all come for another drink on my sister’s wedding day.”

“We heard! Miss Xu is to marry the son of the vice minister of personnel. A fortunate young woman indeed!”

I had ruined the match with the Fangs, but the family Xu Wan had secured now stood even higher.

Pressed against the wall, I slowly sank to my knees.

Why did the people who had killed my daughter rise effortlessly in the world?

Why had this world ground me into mud when I had obeyed every rule and watched every step?

Did I deserve it?

I stared at the parasol tree in the garden, wondering whether hanging myself from it might bring the Xus a little bad luck.

No… no…

If I died, they would only rejoice. Their road to greatness would no longer have so much as a stone to trouble their feet.

If I died, who would collect the debt they owed Suisui?

Heaven?

Without warning, lightning split the sky, followed by torrential rain.

Servants ran in all directions, some fetching umbrellas, others delivering them. The house dissolved into confusion.

The guests crowded into the covered walkways.

The downpour was too heavy, and the Xu residence too small. There was room for hardly anyone under cover. Almost every guest was drenched; abandoning etiquette, they ran out without even saying goodbye.

After all, a chill could kill.

The wind and rain dashed the wedding lanterns to the ground, where countless feet trampled them into the mud.

I mingled with the crowd and slipped out of the Xu residence.

I knew where to go.

Rain poured down, but the pleasure quarter was still receiving and seeing off its guests.

Looking up at the sign for the House of Bewitching Fragrance, I hesitated no longer and stepped inside.

If the sorceress couldn’t help me claim the lives of the Xu family, I would claim them myself.