Chapter 2

I had barely sat down after returning from Ci’an Courtyard to Zhuming Courtyard when someone arrived in obvious haste.

It was Xu Xiangyao, the woman my husband, Zhao Shizhai, truly loved.

Her mother was my mother-in-law’s cousin. After being widowed, she had remarried with Xu Xiangyao in tow. Her new husband’s family did not like the girl, so my mother-in-law took Xu Xiangyao in and raised her at her side.

She and Zhao Shizhai had grown up together and pledged themselves to each other long ago. But they both knew that, given Xu Xiangyao’s status, marrying Zhao Shizhai would be all but impossible.

So they waited patiently until I married into the household before they began plotting.

The sight of her reminded me how foolishly I had let her play me in my previous life.

“Sister-in-law, I heard you agreed to let Cousin take a concubine?” she blurted out.

I rested my left hand over my right and smiled. “That’s right.”

Xu Xiangyao grew anxious. “You can’t!”

I said nothing and merely looked at her.

“Sister-in-law, I’m only indignant on your behalf,” she explained.

She brought over a low stool and sat close beside me, putting on an air of intimacy. “You’re a noble lady from a great house. What is Lin Manrou compared to you? How could she possibly be worthy of sharing your husband? And Cousin! He has you and still doesn’t know how to treasure you. He’ll drag any fragrant flower or foul weed into his bedchamber.”

Xu Xiangyao had said the same things to me in my previous life.

Lin Manrou was hateful enough on her own, but Xu Xiangyao’s constant provocation had also helped drive our struggle to such extremes.

This time, I watched her finish her performance with a smile before saying softly, “Xiangyao, you are not yet married. You don’t understand the difficulties a woman faces as mistress of a household.

“Manrou’s family may be far beneath mine, but her father lost his life saving the old marquis, and she has a frank, forthright nature. It is only natural that Shizhai would fall for her.

“Besides, Shizhai promised me that once he had Manrou, he would never bring another woman into the household.

“Tell me, why should I throw the entire estate into turmoil over one Lin Manrou?”

Xu Xiangyao’s breathing quickened with fury.

All the resentment in her heart had become something she could neither voice nor swallow.

I pretended not to notice and deliberately discussed how I planned to arrange the concubine-taking ceremony in five days’ time.

After Xu Xiangyao found an excuse to leave, the smile faded from my face.

My maid Jinxin’s eyes reddened. “My lady, our young lord is treating you terribly. Young Mistress Xu is right. Let’s go back to the duke’s estate and tell your parents.”

“And then what?” I asked.

“The duke will naturally reprimand our young lord and make him apologize to you.”

“An apology can’t feed or clothe me. What use would it be?” I said. “I have already married into the Marquis of Annan’s household. Even if Zhao Shizhai takes a hundred concubines, my parents will never let me divorce him and return home to live as their unmarried daughter again.

“They love me, but they love the duke’s household’s reputation more. If my name is ever ruined and threatens that reputation, my parents will cast me aside without hesitation.”

Jinxin’s expression shifted several times. She had served me from childhood and grown up in the duke’s estate. She knew that what I described was entirely possible.

“My lady, then what will you do?”

“Don’t worry. As long as I never put a foot wrong, my family will always stand behind me. And sooner or later, the Marquis of Annan’s household will become my home as well.”

I stroked my abdomen as I spoke with certainty.

If my calculations were right, the child I had never met in my previous life had already taken root inside me.

I devoted myself wholeheartedly to arranging my husband’s concubine-taking ceremony.

Lin Manrou had no family, so I personally took her to the finest shops to choose cosmetics and jewelry, then summoned the best tailor in the capital to make her new clothes.

I planned to house her in Henglan Courtyard, the residence closest to Zhao Shizhai’s study. I selected antique vases from the storehouse for its rooms, bought flowers and shrubs from the nursery, and pressed the servants to plant them at once.

When merchants from Jiangnan delivered Lake Tai and Shoushan rocks as New Year’s gifts, I had them all moved to Henglan Courtyard to form an ornamental rock garden.

The older servants advised me that there was no need to grant a mere concubine such honor.

I sighed. “I am not honoring the concubine. I am honoring my husband. After all, she is the darling of his heart now.”

Lin Manrou was brazen and arrogant by nature. With me elevating her like this, she became more overbearing than ever.

Whenever anyone in the household displeased her, whether a hereditary servant or a steward, she gave them a vicious scolding. When the servants came to complain, I told them all to be patient with her.

Before long, everyone in the estate knew that Lin Manrou was the marquis’s cherished favorite, so untouchable that even I, his principal wife and mistress of the household, had to yield to her.

Soon, the seventh day of the eleventh month arrived.

Early that morning, I summoned Lin Manrou to my room and handed her a brocade box.

“This is a Kunling Pill bestowed on me by the palace on my wedding day,” I told her. “The palace gave me two. Today you formally become Shizhai’s concubine, so I am giving you one in the hope that you will soon bear heirs for this household.”

Kunling Pills enhanced a woman’s fertility. They were available only in the palace, and a single pill was worth a fortune.

Lin Manrou accepted it with delight. Without so much as thanking me, she said smugly, “His Lordship cherishes me. I am sure I will give the household an heir very soon.”

After she left, Jinxin said in disgust, “She’s far too presumptuous. She’s only a concubine, yet she dares speak to you as though you were equals. Why do you keep elevating her, my lady? You even gave her a Kunling Pill.”

“I have no use for it anyway, so she might as well have it.” I stroked my belly and smiled. “Even a dog must be fed a meaty bone.”

In my previous life, Lin Manrou had not died by my hand. But the child in my womb had unquestionably been lost when I fell during a shoving match between us.

That was why I felt no guilt about using her now.