Chapter 2

The concubine immediately burst into tears.

It was her favorite tactic.

Father was usually most susceptible to it.

But he knew what sort of woman Mother had always been.

Besides, this concerned one of his children. He had no reason to take the concubine’s side, though his tone softened.

“What happened?”

The concubine said nothing, and Mother could not be bothered to force an answer from her.

Before long, Mother’s trusted senior maid brought Second Sister in.

My sister did not know what was happening. Seeing Mother stern and her own mother sobbing, she grew frightened.

She sank gracefully to her knees and lowered her head, looking exactly like the concubine.

What more did Father need to understand?

He pinched the bridge of his nose hard.

“How did you raise the child to behave like this?”

It was not as though Father had never spent time with his daughter.

But as she grew older, father and daughter saw less of each other.

In his eyes, Second Sister was merely a little more prone to acting spoiled.

How had a respectable young lady suddenly learned the airs of the pleasure quarters?

The concubine said through her tears,

“She is my own flesh and blood. Would I ever harm her?”

“Everything I teach her is for her own good.”

When Grandmother heard about it, she sneered.

“I said long ago that we should never have kept such filth in the household.”

Grandmother despised the concubine.

She herself had once managed a great household in the capital and tolerated no impropriety.

But her husband had died young, and her son had been a disappointment. There was little she could do.

So she had chosen to let go of it all and retire to our ancestral home in Jiangnan.

That was why Grandmother had known nothing of the affairs in Father’s inner household.

She berated Father, then turned her criticism on Mother.

“What sort of principal wife are you, to let a concubine raise a child who cannot conduct herself in decent company?”

Mother lowered her head and said nothing.

Once Grandmother had vented her anger, she instructed them,

“Raise the girl however you like, but do not let her disgrace the Qiao name.”

Second Sister was not yet married. There was still time to put things right.

Father asked Mother to take proper charge of her upbringing.

Mother had little choice.

For my sake, she had to accept, however reluctant she was.

We sisters shared one reputation. If one of us was disgraced, all the others would suffer for it.

As for the concubine, Father could not bring himself to blame her.

Mother told me he carried a burden of guilt toward her.

Before Mother entered the household, the concubine had conceived Father’s child at Yulan House.

She had hidden the pregnancy from the madam and fought desperately to protect the child. By the time Father found out, she was already six months along.

Unfortunately, by then Father had repented of his old ways and resolved to restore the family’s fortunes.

If he wished to marry my mother, the child could not be allowed to remain.

What respectable daughter of a great family would marry into a household that already had an illegitimate son or daughter?

A bowl of abortifacient ended the pregnancy.

The physician said the fetus had been a fully formed boy.

It was a pity.

He was also the only son Father ever had.

Father later took several concubines in succession, but every one of their children was a girl.

When I was eight, Father stopped trying.

He believed his former dissipation had made the ancestors turn their backs on him.

After discussing it with Mother, he decided to take no more concubines.

From then on, he became even stricter about my education.

Mother, on the other hand, was delighted. She grew more generous toward the women of the inner household as well.

I complained about it many times.

But Mother only held me close and said with a smile,

“Silly girl. This is a good thing.”