chapter 4
One morning, I walked Zhao Xinran to the academy.
From a distance, I saw the Marchioness and her two former friends occupying three separate corners, each refusing to acknowledge the others.
I waved my handkerchief enthusiastically.
“Well, if it isn’t the loveliest sisterhood in Chang’an! Good morning, Marchioness. Dropping your child off too?”
She snorted and turned her head away.
I looked left at Xue Yingying, who was wiping yellow mucus from her son’s nose.
“Madam Censor, your young master looks wonderful today. He clearly inherited your remarkable intelligence!”
She also treated me like air.
When Tong Jiajia, farthest away, tried to slip off, I raised my voice.
“Madam Prefect! I hear your husband took a new concubine the day before yesterday. Congratulations!”
Silence.
Fine. No one wanted to talk to me.
I flicked my sleeve grandly and stuffed Xinran’s schoolbag into his arms.
“Study hard, Son. Mother will take you for mutton soup tonight.”
The boy skipped forward, then abruptly stopped and gave Wang Jikai an angelic smile.
“Classmate Wang, did you memorize the Three Character Classic last night?”
The little fatty’s face immediately crumpled like a pleated bun.
Xinran suddenly slapped his forehead and said in the sweetest, most cutting voice, “Look at my terrible memory. I forgot you still can’t even recite ‘A Gift to Wang Lun’ properly!”
Waaah!
The little fatty broke down on the spot. His cries shook the heavens and sounded sweeter than the wedding horns playing down the street.
I dabbed at nonexistent tears with pride.
The student had surpassed the master. In only a few days, he had learned every bit of his mother’s art.
Soon, he would be ready to graduate.
Humming a tune, I went to buy lotus-leaf chicken for Zhao Xinran.
When I passed Butterfly Pavilion, I saw a crowd gathered outside to watch a spectacle.
As if I could miss that.
I leaped from the carriage and squeezed through the crowd.
Standing on tiptoe, I peered over the heads.
Well, well. It was Wang Xiuxiu and the Marquis of Anning’s supposedly delicate, helpless Concubine Liu.
Tears shimmered in the woman’s eyes as she clutched Wang Xiuxiu’s sleeve.
“Madam wanted this bracelet, and I have already yielded it to you. Why must you continue persecuting me?”
The Marchioness stamped her foot.
“I chose it first! You were the one who snatched it. Why are you pretending to be the victim?”
Concubine Liu covered her belly and sank to the ground, weeping pitifully.
“I know Madam dislikes me. I will leave. But why did you have to strike me?”
“I… I carry the Marquis’s child.”
I grabbed a handful of seeds and shared some with the elderly woman beside me.
“Look at that performance. She could put the opera stars to shame!”
Concubine Liu suddenly spotted me in the crowd. Her eyes lit up.
“Madam, please judge who is right.”
My seeds nearly fell from my hand. “Me?”
A flash of triumph crossed her eyes. Everyone in Chang’an knew Wang Xiuxiu and I were enemies.
At that tense moment, the Marquis of Anning rushed forward.
“Wang Xiuxiu!”
With a roar, he swung his palm like a windmill. The blow spun Wang Xiuxiu in a full circle and sent her crashing to the ground.
“You’ve gone too far! Apologize to Ruyan at once!”
The concubine immediately slipped into her role, clutching his sleeve and sobbing.
“My lord, I am lowly and unworthy of wearing a bracelet Madam desires.”
The Marquis’s features scrunched with distress.
“Do not be afraid, Ruyan. I will seek justice for you today.”
He turned and shouted at Wang Xiuxiu.
“It is not enough that you torment Ruyan at home. You must pursue her outside as well? If you do not kneel and apologize today, I will divorce you!”
Wang Xiuxiu held her cheek, her face covered in tears and mucus.
“She disrespected me first! Wang Jingru, are you blind enough to fall for such a clumsy trick?”
“You still dare talk back?”
The Marquis’s beard bristled with rage as he raised his arm to strike her again.
I shot forward and locked my hand around his wrist.
The Marquis turned, staring at me in bewilderment.
“Who are you? Release me!”
I immediately put on my most servile smile.
“Please calm yourself, my lord. I was only passing by to watch the excitement and perhaps learn a few domestic-violence techniques.”
He struggled twice but could not break my grip. His face reddened.
“My lord… my stomach hurts…” Liu Ruyan suddenly moaned in a delicate voice.
The Marquis’s features flew in every direction with worry.
“Do not be afraid, Ruyan! I will take you to the imperial physicians.”
He tore himself from my grasp and lifted his concubine into his arms.
“Hold on. Our child will be safe.”
Seeing this, Liu Ruyan threw herself deeper into the performance.
“My lord… I fear… I fear I may lose the baby…”
The Marquis panicked and started to rush away with her.
Even then, he remembered to fling a threat over his shoulder.
“Wang Xiuxiu, if anything happens to Ruyan, you will answer to me!”