Chapter 1
Chapter 1
When my husband went to the capital for the imperial examinations, he was ensnared by the pleasures of the red-light district.
She was a courtesan of unmatched beauty and talent, proud and aloof. Others could spend a fortune and still fail to buy so much as a smile from her.
Yet she had set her sights on my husband, Lu Xiangzhi, a poor provincial scholar from the countryside.
On a warm April day, when Lu Xiangzhi paraded through the streets as the newly crowned top scholar, she knelt stubbornly in the middle of the road and held her bond contract high above her head.
She wore no ornaments, no makeup, nothing at all to adorn herself. Plain and pure, she was like a lotus rising from clear water.
Even the rough-mannered bailiffs could not bring themselves to drive her away.
“If he refuses to acknowledge her, then this poor girl will have let him sleep with her for nothing. She saved up to redeem herself and offended the madam in the process. The only place left for her will be some low-grade brothel.”
“Tsk, tsk. What a pity for Miss Bai Ling. She really is a clean, innocent girl.”
That courtesan named Bai Ling had saved up a thousand taels of silver to buy back her freedom.
And I, Lu Xiangzhi’s lawful wife, was currently arguing with someone until my face went red-all over five copper coins.
“Pickled Melon Lady, your husband placed first in the imperial exams!”
While I was caught off guard, that old hag Old Lady Zhao snatched up a jar of pickled melons and ran faster than the wind.
That thieving old crone!
I stamped my foot and sighed.
“Pickled Melon Lady, hurry to the street and take a look!”
I wiped my hands on my apron and pushed my pickled melon cart back toward home.
My little sister-in-law, Ya’er, helped me push the cart while chattering away.
“Sister-in-law, my brother became the top scholar! From now on, he’ll buy flowers for you to wear and even earn you the title of a noble lady! If we sell pickled melons again after that, that old hag won’t dare cheat a noble lady out of money.”
I pursed my lips in delight and laughed.
“You and that mouth of yours.”
There were many people watching the talented scholar parade through the streets, and the crowd was a chaotic crush.
I held tightly to little Ya’s hand and stood on tiptoe to look around.
That was when I saw the young woman kneeling before Lu Xiangzhi’s horse.
Standing at the side of the street, I could hardly recognize that top scholar in brilliant red and green, mounted high on his horse, as my Lu Lang.
Nor did I know what relationship that girl in plain white had with him.
All I saw was my husband, as if his heart had been softened by the sun, reaching down to her from horseback.
The two of them rode together, and cheers and teasing laughter erupted all around them.
By the time the well-wishers nearly wore down our threshold, I returned home to find that the girl in plain white was the one attentively seeing guests in and out, serving tea, pouring water, and arranging the congratulatory gifts and invitations in perfect order.
As if she were the mistress of this household.
Seeing my coarse cloth clothes and the absence of any gift in my hands, she understood at once and smiled.
“Which household sent you as a maid? Or are you some distant relative?”
Everyone’s gaze fell on me.
A few of Lu Xiangzhi’s old classmates from his years of bitter study wanted to speak up for me.
But Lu Xiangzhi’s mother slowly stopped them.
“Miss Bai Ling, this is Xiangzhi’s cousin from the countryside.”
Before I could argue, my mother-in-law cast me a cold look and covered her nose.
“This Miss Bai is gentle, refined, and from a prominent family. Some people dream of becoming the top scholar’s wife, but they should at least look in the mirror first and see whether they are worthy now.”
When my mother-in-law raised her handkerchief, I caught a glimpse of the gold bangle half-hidden beneath her sleeve.
Most likely a filial gift from Miss Bai Ling.
As for the prominent family she spoke of, that was also a lie Lu Xiangzhi had deliberately made up to cover Bai Ling’s background.
She thought that now her son had risen to glory, there would be endless noble young ladies eager to throw themselves at him.
As she spoke, Lu Xiangzhi walked in.
He glanced at us and immediately frowned.
Miss Bai merely stood there quietly, gentle as moonlight on a winter night.
As for me, I wore coarse cloth and a wooden hairpin, and I smelled of pickled vegetables and brine.
But so what?
Before I married into the Lu Family, they did not even have a roof over their heads.
The road Lu Xiangzhi walked to scholarly honor was one I had begged for him-winter cold and summer heat alike, carrying load after load of pickled vegetables to the doors of great scholars.
I looked calmly at Lu Xiangzhi and said, enunciating each word, “Lu Xiangzhi, tell this young lady who I am.”
Lu Xiangzhi hesitated, not daring to speak. He only said, “Ah Zhu, Miss Bai is truly pitiful.”
At once, I understood.
Seeing this, Miss Bai Ling suddenly knelt before me. She lifted a cup of tea over her head, stubborn yet faintly triumphant.
“Sister, Lu Lang acknowledges me.”
Seeing the atmosphere turn stiff, everyone hurried to smooth things over with awkward laughter.
“With Brother Lu’s talent, a virtuous wife and a beautiful concubine are only a matter of time.”
“Everyone in the village has heard of your wife’s virtue. How could she possibly be unable to tolerate another woman?”
Ya’er carefully tightened her grip on my hand and edged closer to me, calling out uneasily, “Sister-in-law.”
“Who is your sister-in-law?” Lu’s Mother raised her hand and slapped Ya’er so hard she stumbled.
Ya’er’s cheek swelled, and she no longer dared to speak up for me.
I stood there, listening as they spoke one after another, pressing my head lower bit by bit, watching the guilt in Lu Xiangzhi’s eyes gradually turn into arrogance.
A crowd of onlookers had lifted Lu Xiangzhi lightly into the clouds with their flattery.
“Ah Zhu, you have always wanted to win an imperial title for the Shen family woman, but that honor is something only I can give you.”
I gave a cold laugh.
“Back then, the Shen Family honored our marriage agreement. We did not despise you for your poverty or bully you for being an orphan and a widow’s son.
“When I married into this thatched hut, there was not even half a roof tile over my head.
“I spared no effort, drawing sweet spring water from the mountains to make pickled vegetables and sauces. In winter, my fingers split from the cold, all so I could earn enough to have a great scholar accept you as his student.
“For four years, I treated my mother-in-law as my own mother, served her three meals a day, and nursed her through illness. Your mother made things difficult for me at every turn, and I never once ate a meal in peace.
“Now, even the Lin County gazette records my reputation as a virtuous wife, earned by four years of supporting the Lu Family, educating my sister-in-law, and serving my mother-in-law without fail. What does any of that have to do with you, Lu Xiangzhi?”
Lu Xiangzhi was struck speechless. Even the onlookers fell quiet.
I straightened my back, my gaze burning, every word like a nail driven in.
“I cultivated the virtues taught by Ban Zhao and have nothing to be ashamed of before heaven and earth. You read the books of sages in vain and cannot recognize what is before your eyes.
“Lu Xiangzhi, you are not worthy of me, Shen Mingzhu.”
The divorce agreement and the promissory note were only two thin sheets of paper.
“For these four years, the silver I earned for the Lu Family came to thirty taels a year. Four years makes one hundred and twenty taels. I will keep Young Master Lu’s promissory note.”
Ya’er sobbed and tugged at the hem of my skirt.
“Sister-in-law, are you stupid? You’re just about to enjoy a good life. Why not just ignore them…”
To marry down was to swallow gold. To marry up was to swallow needles.
I had already spent four years living a life that swallowed up my silver and gold.
Was I supposed to spend the rest of my life swallowing needles in misery too, walking down this impoverished alley until it turned pitch-black?
Lu Xiangzhi still did not press his seal to the papers. He was waiting for me to lower my head and give in.
“I will be ennobled and rise to the rank of chancellor, while you, Shen Mingzhu, once cast off, will become a laughingstock. You will regret acting on impulse today.
“As long as you beg me, Miss Bai is willing to be a concubine. You will still be the glorious wife of the top scholar.”
The stains dotting the hem of my skirt reminded him again and again how destitute he had once been.
But Miss Bai Ling spoke of poetry and moonlit romance, like a freshly plucked snow orchid, setting off his new glory and pride.
Miss Bai Ling watched me warily, afraid I would change my mind.
“Miss, a man who abandons the wife who shared his hardships is no good match.”
Bai Ling stared at me blankly, then argued stubbornly, “Lu Lang said I am different from you. I dance the Liuyao better than anyone, while you only know how to plant melons and pickle vegetables. I can play the most elegant Flying Flower Game, while you only know how to haggle over prices.
“I am young and beautiful, clean and innocent. How am I any different from you? Serving my mother-in-law, assisting my husband, teaching children-I will not be worse than you in any of it!”
When she lifted her head, I saw a faint scar on her neck.
She did not know that I had long since heard of her.
This girl had not originally been called Bai Ling. Later, after she fell into a brothel, a rich young master tried to force himself on her, and she hanged herself with a strip of white silk.
After she was rescued, she swallowed gold, then slit her own throat with a dagger.
The madam had seen fierce girls before, but never one this fierce.
After some thought, she gave her the nickname Bai Ling.
Instead, it spread her reputation as a chaste and unyielding woman.
Those idle young dandies found it amusing. They even set up a wager to see who could win this fierce woman of the brothel without force or coercion, relying only on honeyed words and real silver.
They would raise her high, claim her, then fling her down from the clouds, trample her into the mud, and watch her grow infatuated, watch her go mad.
Having seen so many lustful men, she believed that Lu Xiangzhi, dragged into the pleasure house by his disreputable friends, shy and flustered, was a good man.
Little did she know that an empty purse made a man shy, and sudden wealth made him flustered.
I did not know whether to laugh at her innocence or pity her helplessness.
“Then I wish you every happiness, Miss.
“And I wish Lord Lu a swift rise to the heights.”