Chapter 2

The straw-sandal flatbread came off the stove. The old man sipped his soup and ate slowly.

My sister rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked up at me. “Sister, I heard people talking. Was something fun happening?”

I shook my head. “Sleep a little longer if you’re tired.”

The ruined temple was chilly at night. She might as well sleep now, while the sun was warm.

She lowered her head, then quickly raised it again, pouting. “Sister, I’m really going to sleep this time. Don’t go away.”

“And if something fun comes past, you have to wake me up.”

I nodded. “Go to sleep. I promise.”

Only then was she satisfied.

At some point, Mrs. Xue had come over and was watching us intently.

When I looked back at her, she lifted her apron to wipe her eyes and laughed at herself. “Why is there still so much dust blowing about in autumn?”

But her eyes were red and her voice caught, as though we had reminded her of something painful.

She pulled up a stool and spoke to Steward Zhou.

“Sir, you’ve seen more of the world than I have. Could you help these children think of something?”

She smiled awkwardly. “That was a lie just now. Not a very convincing one, either.”

Then she looked at me gently.

I understood and told them how we had come to be there.

Steward Zhou listened in silence and said nothing for a while.

Mrs. Xue went on. “You know how capable that Mrs. Wang is. She has practically all the servant-brokering business in the county and the surrounding villages. But she’s vicious. She’ll sell children into brothels if it’ll squeeze out a little more money.”

Her anger almost choked her.

Steward Zhou nodded and asked me, “You’re twelve. Do you remember the date and hour of your birth?”

I quickly told him.

Then I told him my sister’s too.

He calculated on his fingers and considered it. “Child, I’ll tell you the truth.”

“My mistress has never had children. Now she’s bedridden, my master wishes to find a child whose birth chart agrees with hers, to ease her loneliness.”

“As it happens, both yours and your sister’s do. But the Zhou family won’t want to keep two young ladies. One would be the young lady, and the other her maid. At least that way you wouldn’t be separated.”

“Five is rather young for a maid, but at such a low price, they could simply raise her as they would a servant’s child born in the household.”

His steady gaze was kindly. “So you may choose whichever path you want.”

Joy surged through me. Without a moment’s thought, I said, “I’ll be the maid. I know how to work!”

Steward Zhou seemed disappointed.

He sighed. “Don’t make a rash sacrifice. Mistress and servant are worlds apart. If you become the young lady, you can still look after her. You needn’t suffer simply because you’re a few years older.”

My heart lurched. Had I chosen wrongly?

I looked at him timidly, wondering if I ought to change my answer to please him.

He looked at me, then spoke as though he had come to a decision. “I once faced something much like this.”

“When my father died, a wealthy merchant whose life he had saved saw how hard it was for my widowed mother and her children to survive. He decided to adopt me.”

“My mother agreed.”

“But I knelt and begged him to take my younger brother instead.”

He turned to Mrs. Xue with a desolate smile. “My brother had no head for books, so that family bought him a military post. Now he has a wife, five concubines, and more children and grandchildren than you could count. The year before last, he came to visit the Zhou household. To show his importance, he pointed his riding whip at me and ordered me to kneel so he could use me as a mounting block.”

“I still cannot understand. Did he recognize me, or didn’t he?”

Mrs. Xue had no answer. She flushed in embarrassment.

Steward Zhou covered his face with a hand already speckled with age spots.

After a long while, he lowered his arm. His expression gradually calmed.

“I would be lying if I said I had no regrets.”

“Child, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have made you choose too.”

“What did I want to hear you say? I don’t know myself.”

He stood and said decisively, “I’ll decide for you. You’ll be the young lady, and she’ll be the maid.”

My sister woke just then.

“What story are you telling?” she asked. “Sister, tell it to me again. Please?”

I smoothed the tangled hair on her forehead.

Father had been an incurable gambler. A few days before he died, he had beaten me viciously and made me kneel because he wanted the money I had for rice.

He sat in his chair, shouting, “Even if I beat you to death, don’t you dare make a sound.”

Without a word, my sister slipped behind him, picked up the teapot, and poured it over his head.

He screamed from the scalding water.

She ran a safe distance away, planted her hands on her hips, and called him a shameless old wretch.

He nearly fell backward in fury. Drink and debauchery had already ruined his health, and that night he dropped dead at the gambling table.

Had he lived, I would probably have been sold into a brothel by now to fund his gambling.

Thinking of that, I made up my mind. “Sir, I’m willing to be the maid,” I told Steward Zhou. “I won’t regret it.”

He stared.

After a long while, he nodded.