Three rooms with blue tiles and red walls stood in a spacious farmyard covered with a thick layer of snow. The big black watchdog wandered to the entrance, lazily took a bite from a bone in a broken bowl, seemingly frozen by the cold air, then shrank back into its den.
It was New Year’s Eve. Colorful New Year paintings of abundant harvests were pasted on the door, three large red fat lanterns hung under the eaves, the sound of firecrackers came from outside, and people inside were talking and laughing cheerfully. It was time for the annual New Year’s Eve dinner. Though it was peasant fare, the eight main dishes were prepared with care—a balanced mix of meat and vegetables: steamed sea bass with fragrant spicy black bean sauce, Buddha’s red-braised pork, tea-smoked chicken, colorful eggplant strips, mutton and scallion dumplings, blessing prawns, four-happiness meatballs, and golden jade abundance. Beside them sat a pot of extremely mellow sorghum wine, clearly showing the host family was well-off.
Here the wine cups clinked merrily in great liveliness. At the same time, in the most remote and secluded courtyard at the back of the farmhouse, there was only cold emptiness. In the single room, candlelight flickered dimly as if about to go out at any moment.
A tall young girl with her hair in a servant’s bun sat in front of the room, carefully adding firewood to the brazier. The room was cramped, and when the brazier flared up after adding wood, it immediately produced a pungent thick smoke.
Another smaller maid quickly ran over, casually picking up a worn paper fan from the ground and carefully fanning it, scolding: “Lian Qiao, be more careful. Miss’s health hasn’t fully recovered—what if she’s choked by the smoke?”
Lian Qiao pursed her lips with an indignant expression, but still lowered her voice: “I wish there was no smoke at all. Today I went to find that Zhang Lan woman—never mind silver charcoal, even ordinary charcoal blocks she wouldn’t give. She had the nerve to claim that expenses have been high these past few days and there’s no charcoal left in the warehouse. Bah! Who is she fooling? Now that it’s the New Year season, how could the household be out of charcoal? She’s just bullying us with her position. If Miss weren’t still ill and I didn’t dare worry her, I’d slap her twice!”
“You…” The maid fanning sighed: “Just curb your stubborn temper. Though these people are indeed going too far, we’re currently under someone else’s roof and must bow our heads. If you really start a fight, it’s Miss who will suffer.”
Lian Qiao looked at her with disdain: “Bai Zhi, I truly don’t know how you became so timid. What status do these people have, and what status does our Miss have? No matter what happened to Miss, given her status, she absolutely shouldn’t be bullied by these lowly people!”
Bai Zhi shook her head: “You and I are both Miss’s maids—don’t I want what’s best for Miss too? It’s just that there’s still no news from the capital, and who knows how much longer Miss must stay here? If it were just a short time it would be one thing, but look—it’s already been four years. Has Master ever sent anyone to inquire even once? If we must live here for a long, long time, and you fight with them, it’s still Miss who will suffer in the end.”
Lian Qiao fell silent. After a long while, she said quietly: “Are we just to let people bully us for nothing then?”
Bai Zhi only sighed softly.
The room fell into silence again, with only the sporadic crackling sounds of firewood burning. The two maids continued fanning with their fans, unaware that the person on the bed had awakened.
Jiang Ruan had been awake for some time. Naturally, every word of Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao’s conversation had reached her ears. Three days ago, when she awoke from her bed, she discovered she had actually returned to ten years ago. Everything from her previous life was like an afternoon spring dream, but only she knew that blood debts and deep hatred couldn’t be dispelled by just a dream. Since Heaven had given her a chance to start over, she would accept it without courtesy and make good use of it.
Three days ago when she awoke from her bed, Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao had breathed great sighs of relief. Since falling into the water, Jiang Ruan had been unconscious for over ten days. The doctors who came all said there was nothing they could do, and Zhang Lan’s family had even gone out to inquire about coffins and funeral arrangements, but who knew she would wake up again. Lian Qiao had gripped her hand and wept bitterly, saying Heaven had blessed them, but Jiang Ruan had narrowed her eyes.
Having died once, not only had everything from her previous life not vanished like smoke, but she remembered it all with extraordinary clarity. Four years ago when her mother died, a wandering Daoist who came to their mansion calculated at first glance that her birth chart was extremely inauspicious—she would bring misfortune to husband and parents, truly a lone star of calamity. Jiang Quan had originally wanted to send her to a family temple to spend her life with Buddhist lamps, but it was Jiang Susu who knelt down and pleaded for her that made Jiang Quan change his mind and send her to this country estate instead. Because of this incident, Jiang Ruan had always felt grateful to Jiang Susu. Looking back now, being bullied and humiliated here was entirely thanks to Jiang Susu and her mother.
The estate was managed by Zhang Lan’s family. Zhang Lan was greedy, stingy, and extremely fierce, often using indirect insults to humiliate Jiang Ruan. Zhang Lan’s husband Chen Fu was lazy and gluttonous, a drunkard and gambler all day long. These two had a son and daughter—the son Chen Zhao was extremely lustful, and the daughter Chen Fang was sharp-tongued and mean. When Jiang Ruan came, she brought quite a few jewelry and precious items, which either fell into Zhang Lan’s hands or were cheated away by Chen Fang. Over ten days ago when Jiang Ruan accidentally fell into the water, it was because Chen Zhao had been groping her by the pond, and Jiang Ruan, unable to bear the humiliation, had jumped into the water herself. Chen Zhao, seeing he had caused trouble, quickly fled. By the time Lian Qiao and Bai Zhi called for help to rescue Jiang Ruan, she was already unconscious.
It was the depths of winter, the pond water ice-cold and bone-piercing. Combined with how Zhang Lan’s harsh treatment over these years had made Jiang Ruan’s health increasingly weak, catching cold was like adding frost to snow—she immediately fell seriously ill.
Jiang Ruan remembered very clearly that originally she hadn’t awakened this early. After waking up, she was left with chronic illness, but more importantly, soon after, gossip began to spread outside, saying that at such a young age she already knew how to seduce men, that as a daughter of good family she didn’t value herself, that she had actively tried to seduce Chen Zhao and only fell into the water when she failed. This was probably Zhang Lan’s handiwork, pushing all the dirty water onto her. Thanks to this basin of dirty water, when Jiang Ruan’s beauty later blossomed, she also earned the reputation of a demoness.
Now she had awakened early, and the gossip hadn’t yet spread. Zhang Lan probably hadn’t thought of this yet, so she could take this opportunity to send her a New Year’s gift. There was no future in continuing to live on this estate where anyone could bully her, and being sent to the palace as a chess piece four years later was also something she couldn’t endure. Being taken advantage of for nothing was not her goal either—everything required a price, and Chen Zhao would be the first to pay.
Jiang Ruan looked out the window. The sound of firecrackers outside was faint and intermittent, making their room of three people seem even more desolate.
She slowly sat up. Bai Zhi heard the sound of her rising and quickly stood up to approach her, saying: “Miss has awakened. Do you feel any discomfort?”
Jiang Ruan shook her head: “What time is it now?”
“About the hour of the dog,” Bai Zhi said.
Lian Qiao put down her fan: “Is Miss hungry? This servant will go to the kitchen to bring some food.”
Young ladies and madams kept at estates were mostly there as punishment, but they were still masters after all. Unless specifically instructed otherwise, they wouldn’t live in such dire straits, worse than even servants. That New Year’s Eve dinner hadn’t been delivered early was truly thought-provoking.
Before Jiang Ruan could answer, they heard knocking at the door, and a crisp voice said from outside: “Miss, this servant has come to deliver New Year’s Eve dinner.”
Lian Qiao was startled. Jiang Ruan said: “Come in.” The door creaked open, and a maid dressed very festively entered from outside, carrying a food basket in her hand and smiling broadly: “Aunt Lan instructed this servant to bring food. Miss should eat some too.”
Bai Zhi noticed that Jiang Ruan hadn’t moved for a long time and looked down questioningly, just in time to see an emotion flash through Jiang Ruan’s eyes before she raised her head and smiled slightly.