Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Nearly half a month after I returned home, Siyue collected my monthly allowance for me: five taels of silver.

I held the silver in my hands, grinning with delight.

If I lived frugally, I could save sixty taels in a year. That would be enough to buy several mu of farmland in the countryside and build a house.

When the time came, I would find a way to have someone send it to my elder brother and ask him to help me make the arrangements first. If one day I had nowhere else to go, at least I would have a place to settle down and would not have to suffer the misery of drifting from place to place with no home to return to.

Siyue told me to take out one tael to reward the servants.

“?”

I looked at Siyue. She waited quietly.

“Is it for you?”

Siyue shook her head. “Not for us. For the others outside Tongyuan. The kitchen, for example. The storeroom, the accounts office, the people around Madam…”

As Siyue spoke, there was pity in her eyes when she looked at me.

I knew why.

I was not favored, so naturally I had to spend effort currying favor. Otherwise my meals would be skimped on, hot water would never be my turn or would simply be unavailable, and the monthly items issued from the household accounts would either never reach me or arrive damaged.

I could not afford to offend these petty people who fawned on the powerful and trampled the weak.

All I could do was endure the heartache and hand one tael to Siyue.

Siyue took the silver and went out.

There was another maid who rarely showed her face before me. I did not care where she went or what she did.

The old maidservant’s surname was Huang. Aside from doing her work, she did not gossip with me either.

The only person I could rely on was Siyue. She was very capable.

She was good with needlework and kept all the small details of my daily life in perfect order. Not a single one of my three meals was missed. As for fruit and pastries, those depended on luck. If there were extras, I got to eat them. If there were none, I did not crave them.

It was just too boring.

Back in the countryside, I could raise flowers and plants in the courtyard. After coming to the Wang Family, I could do nothing at all.

I had once thought of visiting my sisters, but whenever they saw me, they would quickly walk away. Some even shut their doors in my face.

I knew they despised me, and also feared I would bring misfortune upon them.

I knew I was not likable, so I stopped going out. Every day, I looked at the camellia, talked to it, wiped its leaves, and watched it grow better and better, with lush branches and leaves. That alone made me happy.

When Danhua arrived with people carrying clothes and jewelry, I knew the reason my parents had brought me back had finally come.

“Madam has been rather busy lately, so for a time she forgot about you, Miss…”

Danhua said many things. I only nodded lightly to show that I understood.

“…” Danhua fell silent for a moment before saying, “Miss, please rise early tomorrow to wash and dress. This servant will come to escort you then.”

“Mm.”

I stared blankly at the brocade garments and finery.

Siyue hesitated again and again before finally saying, “This servant asked around and heard that Madam brought you back because she wants you to marry into the Gu Family in place of the Eldest Miss.”

“…”

I looked at Siyue.

Siyue continued, “The one betrothed to the Eldest Miss is Third Young Master Gu. In his earlier years, he was a truly outstanding figure, as elegant as a dragon and phoenix. He placed first in all three imperial examinations and was personally appointed top scholar by the Emperor. Unfortunately, two years ago, during the Eastern Suburbs Hunt, he was injured and poisoned while saving His Majesty. The injury struck a vital area, leaving him unable to walk properly. These days, he almost never goes out, and even when he does, he sits in a wheeled chair.

“After the Third Young Master’s accident, the Gu Family once came to discuss the marriage. The Eldest Miss refused no matter what. The Gu Family said they would break off the engagement, but Master and Madam could not bear to let go of this marriage connection. That is why they brought you back.”

A top scholar…

Puzzled, I asked, “Why me? What about the other sisters in the residence? Will they not do?”

“You are legitimate-born. They…”

I understood what Siyue meant.

My legitimate elder sister was unwilling to marry a Third Young Master who could not walk properly and might die at any moment. My parents could not bear to part with the Gu Family as in-laws. After dragging it out bitterly for two years, they could no longer hold on, so they brought me back, intending to use me as the replacement.

If not for this, they would never have thought of me at all.

Before I had even met the Third Young Master, my legitimate elder sister had someone summon me over.

Her brows were drawn together as she asked coldly, “Can you read? How are you at music, chess, calligraphy, and painting?”

I shook my head.

She gave a cold snort. “You cannot even recite the Three Character Classic?”

“Mm.”

Her face darkened in silence. “Hold out your hand.”

Utterly confused, I held out my hand.

She picked up a ruler and struck my palm with it.

Smack.

It hurt so much.

In an instant, I began to cry from the pain.

In the countryside, though I could not go out, my nursemaid loved me dearly and had never scolded or punished me.

Let alone hit me for no reason like this.

“Hold it out.”

I rubbed my hand and refused to stretch it out again. She shouted angrily, “Hold it out! You cannot even recite the Three Character Classic. Am I not allowed to hit you for that?”

She said I was useless, that I could not even recite the Three Character Classic. I accepted that.

But she hit me for it, and that I would not accept.

“Why can I not recite the Three Character Classic? Is it not because Father and Mother sent me to the estate, where no one taught me? If someone had taught me, of course I would know it.”

So what right did she have to hit me?