chapter 3

Luck favored me. Madam Zhao planned to host a banquet in two days and was fretting because her guests had grown tired of the household’s usual pastries.

When the matron mentioned that I could bake, Madam Zhao ordered me to demonstrate. If my pastries were good, I could stay. We would discuss wages later, but a reward was certain.

Every servant knew that wages were fixed: the sum promised was the sum paid. Rewards from masters and mistresses, however, had no fixed amount. The smallest thing slipping through their fingers could delight a servant for a long time.

After asking what pastries the household usually served, I settled on two choices: crystal cakes and five-spice cakes.

Crystal cakes had to be translucent. They required cassava starch. The cassava was crushed, stirred into a bucket of water, then strained through cloth and left to settle. The paste at the bottom was the key. To make it white enough, it needed to be washed and settled several times.

I had no intention of hiding the method, and the work was too strenuous for me in my condition. I remembered the matron’s kindness. When I explained what I needed, she happily brought her younger daughter to assist me.

By the time Cheng An returned from his errand, neither pastry was finished.

He hurried to me, opened his mouth, and seemed unsure what to say.

“Cheng An.”

“Ah…”

“I’m making some pastries. If Madam approves, I can stay here.”

Cheng An nodded hard. A smile entered his eyes, and his voice was gentle, excited, and full of joy. “Good.”

In a wealthy residence, the place where meals were prepared was grandly called the kitchen.

The Zhao household had several female cooks and several male ones. They competed in secret, undermining one another whenever they could. Without the matron and her daughter helping me, I could never have finished the crystal cakes and five-spice cakes smoothly enough to present them to Madam Zhao.

When the steamer lid rose, fragrance flooded the room.

Wenzhu, Madam Zhao’s senior maid, smiled. “It certainly smells wonderful.”

She picked up a piece with her chopsticks and tasted it.

“…”

Her eyes narrowed as she swallowed. Then she ordered the cakes packed into a basket and turned to me. “Come with me.”

Wenzhu warned me not to let my gaze wander inside Madam Zhao’s rooms.

“Yes,” I answered at once.

I had witnessed wealth and splendor beyond anything found here. Yet what had that splendor been but a prison and a hell where people devoured and destroyed one another?

Before Madam Zhao, Wenzhu praised the two pastries to the skies. Madam Zhao did not believe her at first and teased, “Let me taste this divine delicacy that has earned such praise.”

She took one doubtful bite.

Her brow drew together slightly.

She ate two more in succession before setting down her chopsticks and looking at me. “Raise your head.”

I did so.

I had seen an emperor whose word was law. I had seen the Noble Consort smile as she ordered offending maids and eunuchs dragged away and beaten to death. Madam Zhao herself did not frighten me. But my livelihood now depended on her, so I looked at her expectantly.

“Besides these two pastries, can you make other sweets and dishes?”

“Madam, I know a few.”

She studied me for another moment. “Can you make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall?”

Should I say yes or no?

Of course I knew how.

But should I reveal that much? Should I remain an ordinary kitchen maid, or become one Madam Zhao valued?

After a brief hesitation, I decided. “Yes.”

“…”

The formerly languid Madam Zhao sat upright. Her casual glance sharpened into close scrutiny.

“I hear you’re the wife Cheng An bought for one tael of silver?”

“Yes.”

“A wife follows her husband, as they say. Cheng An is a hired hand of the Zhao household. As his wife, you may work here too. I will not force you to sign some bondage contract and commit such a wicked deed. From now on, you will serve in my private kitchen. Your monthly wage…”

She paused. “Let us make it a round three hundred copper coins. Do well, and there will be rewards.”

Then she added, “Since fate brought you and Cheng An together, a married couple should not sleep separately.”

She asked Wenzhu whether any courtyards near the servants’ quarters stood empty.

Wenzhu said there was one with three rooms.

“Give it to the young couple. Go to the storeroom and collect whatever household items they can use. Consider it a wedding gift from their employer’s wife.”

Wenzhu agreed with a smile.

I curtsied at once. “Yunfu thanks Madam for her generosity.”

“Yunfu…” Madam Zhao repeated the name twice. “A fine name. Begin work tomorrow. Is your body strong enough?”

“Yes, Madam.”

“Good. I will assign two people to assist you.”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

Madam Zhao immediately had a contract brought for my fingerprint. When she saw my eyes pass over its words, she asked, “You can read?”

“A little.”

“Few people can read these days. Cheng An has found himself a treasure.”

Was I a treasure?

Not necessarily.

But Madam Zhao was truly clever.

The contract did not make me a hired hand of the Zhao family. I would be employed privately by Madam Zhao, for only one year. If any problem arose during that year, she could dismiss me at any time.

That suited me. A year was enough to restore my health and save a little money. When I left, I would not be as helpless as a headless fly.

Cheng An could not enter the women’s quarters, so he waited by the arched gate near the servants’ compound.

The moment he saw me, he asked, “What did Madam say?”

“Madam is kind. She is keeping me on at three hundred copper coins a month.”

That naturally included food, lodging, and seasonal clothing.

“That’s wonderful.”

Cheng An was overjoyed. When he learned we had also been given a three-room courtyard as our home, he clenched his fists in delight.

The matron led us there, praising Madam Zhao all the way. She told us to remember the favor, serve Master and Madam faithfully, and never become the sort of ingrates who ate from someone’s bowl and cursed its owner the moment they set it down.

“My surname is Li. I run errands for Madam. You can call me Auntie Li.”

She pushed open the courtyard gate and told us to look around.

“You’re fortunate. These three rooms only recently became vacant. They’re spacious for the two of you, and there’ll still be room when children come along.

“There’s a kitchen over there. If you have money and want to cook something extra for yourselves, it’ll be convenient.”

Cheng An was nearly dizzy with happiness.

Auntie Li moved close and slipped a purse into my hand.

“Yunfu, I was the one who brought you into this household. We haven’t known each other long, but I can tell you have real skill. Madam will have people assist you. Please, please keep my daughter at your side.

“This is only a small token. I hope you won’t think it too little.”

I refused, but she insisted. I understood that she would feel uneasy unless I accepted, afraid that I might choose someone else. Refusing outright would only offend her. The fact that she ran errands for Madam Zhao showed that she was trusted.

After a show of declining, I accepted. Still, I had to warn her so she would not think I had taken her money without delivering what she wanted.

“If Madam assigns someone herself…”

“If that happens, it won’t be your fault. I won’t blame you.”

Cheng An had already found the buckets and was preparing to fetch water and wipe down the rooms.

Auntie Li laughed. “He’s a good lad. What more can a woman ask than a man who knows when she’s cold or warm and treats her tenderly?”

“He is a very good man.”

Birth never determined whether someone was good or evil. I would remember the great debt I owed him.

Wenzhu arrived with people carrying our things: a woven sleeping mat, two semicircular bamboo pillows, a tea set, two wooden chests, a bronze mirror, a comb, two sets of washing utensils, three summer outfits, and even two pairs of underdrawers and two belly wraps.

All of these were understood to be ours to take if we later left the household.

“I forgot to ask your shoe size. We’ll measure your feet, and I’ll send a young maid back for two pairs. The rooms already have tables, chairs, stools, cabinets, and beds. You’ll have to acquire anything else yourselves.”

“This is already more than enough.”

Even the poorest home represented a fortune. Building a household was never easy.

After sending everyone away, Wenzhu whispered, “Madam will almost certainly let you choose your assistants. My younger sister will be among them. She’ll wear a pink silk flower so you don’t mistake her.

“Choose my sister, Yunfu, and I won’t treat you poorly.”

She too pressed a purse into my hand.

Later, I opened the purses. Both hers and Auntie Li’s contained two hundred copper coins.

So before I had worked a single day, I had received four hundred coins?

Of course, money like that was not easy to keep.

When Cheng An returned with the water, he found me staring at the coins and asked in astonishment, “Where did that money come from?”

“Auntie Li and Wenzhu gave it to me.”

“…”

He clearly had no idea why they would do such a thing.

At last he said, “Then keep it. I’ll clean the rooms, then bring my belongings over.”

“All right.”

Cheng An told me to rest and leave the work to him.

The rooms had been empty only two days and had already been cleaned. Apart from a little dust and a damp, musty smell, they were not dirty. Opening the windows and wiping things down would be enough.

Since Cheng An wished to clean, I let him. He kept stealing glances at me, but I neither exposed him nor spoke.

At last he asked carefully, “Tonight… will we sleep together?”

I looked at him without expression.

He hurriedly blurted, “I-I’m going to fetch my things now.”