On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the entire Earl of Changning’s manor was refreshed from top to bottom. The maids and servants all wore brand new festive clothes, their faces carrying joyful smiles.
Old Madam Song and First Madam had gone to the palace to pay their respects to the Empress Dowager and Empress. Once they returned, the masters would open the ancestral hall to pay respects to the ancestors. Following that, the madams would visit the temple together to pray to the Bodhisattva for the manor’s peace and safety.
The servants attending them received generous reward red envelopes today that brought delightful surprises.
Song Chuyi wore the clothes First Madam had given her, standing in the icy snow like a porcelain doll—features clear and delicate, her two eyes like glazed glass, shimmering with rippling light.
Soon, the sound of firecrackers rang out one after another. Song Chuyi listened with tilted head and knew that the noblewomen must have returned from their audience, as each household began setting off firecrackers.
Yushu came over early to pull Song Chuyi aside to the steps, laughing, “They’re about to set off firecrackers, Sixth Miss should be careful.”
Song Chuyi nodded with a smile, watching the firecrackers crackle and pop explosively, smelling the dense gunpowder scent in the air, and broke into a genuine smile.
The ancestral worship at the hall went very smoothly. Old Madam Song had servants pack up the fruits placed before the ancestral tablets to distribute to the younger generation, while laughingly catching little Song Chuyan who was babbling and trying to stuff a walnut into his mouth.
First Madam returned to her room to change clothes, then came to ask Old Madam for instructions: “The firecrackers, candles, and incense money for Qingliang Temple are all prepared, but this year we’ve added Guanyin Temple—I don’t know how much incense money we should prepare?”
Old Madam Song pondered briefly before saying, “Add thirty taels then, for the sake of our family’s married young ladies, to pray that the Bodhisattva blesses them with sons soon.”
First Madam smiled and agreed. Just as she was about to make preparations, she saw Nanny Qiu and Nanny Huang enter together, slightly flustered, to report: “Second Young Madam has returned!”
Song Chuxuan had actually come back at this time?! First Madam was shocked and uncertain, unable to stop herself from straightening up and rushing outside.
According to capital customs, married daughters traditionally only returned to their maternal homes on the second day of the New Year to pay respects. What was Song Chuxuan running back here for now?!
The previously joyful and noisy Ningde Courtyard instantly quieted down. Even the children sensed something was wrong.
Before First Madam could go out, Song Chuxuan had already rushed in like a gust of wind. Upon entering, she threw herself crying into Old Madam Song’s arms, calling out “Grandmother” with infinite grief and grievance, then broke into sobs.
Old Madam Song’s rebuke died on her lips. Seeing the two shockingly vivid bruises on Song Chuxuan’s face, she asked in a trembling voice, “What happened?! Who did this?!”
Running back to one’s maternal home during ancestral worship on New Year’s Day was extremely inauspicious, especially showing tears which was even more ominous. First Madam had been about to scold her daughter severely, but hearing Old Madam Song’s words, she froze momentarily. When she clearly saw the bruises on Song Chuxuan’s face that even powder couldn’t conceal, the anger in her heart had long since dissipated, leaving only heartache and fury: “How did it become like this?!”
She pulled Song Chuxuan up, reaching out to gently touch her face, her expression extremely ugly: “What on earth happened?!”
Song Chuyi also saw the bruises spanning almost Song Chuxuan’s entire face and couldn’t help but gasp.
Only now did she remember that this second elder sister had never been liked by her mother-in-law in the previous life, and gradually grew distant from her husband as well—her days had been very difficult to endure.
But what remained in Song Chuyi’s memory of her was always the novel gifts and soft gentle words each time she returned to the manor.
—
Seeing her relatives, the grievances accumulated in Song Chuxuan’s heart burst forth. She cried so hard she couldn’t catch her breath, unable to speak a complete sentence.
First Madam grew truly angry and grabbed her arm, shaking it several times: “Are you trying to worry us to death? What happened? Say something?!”
But Song Chuxuan only drew sharp hissing breaths from the pain.
First Madam sensed something was wrong. She reached out and rolled up Song Chuxuan’s wide sleeves—the bruises coiling across that fair delicate skin were exposed to the air.
Old Madam Song’s eyes reddened at the sight. She pulled Song Chuxuan over, first turning to have Nanny Huang fetch the Purple Gold Blood-Activating Pills, then calling Yulan to bring the bruise-dispersing ointment.
First Madam trembled all over with rage, feeling as if her body wasn’t her own. Watching Song Chuxuan reveal another scarred arm, she finally couldn’t help but call out sternly: “Nanny Qiu, bring in everyone who came back with Second Young Madam today!”
Nanny Qiu quickly complied.
Soon Xuezhu and Ruizhu were brought in. First Madam, rarely containing such murderous intent, pointed at Song Chuxuan and demanded angrily, “Who will tell me how Second Young Madam got these injuries all over her body?!”
Old Madam Song also raised her head, expressionlessly staring at the two maids.
Ruizhu’s eyes darted around, looking everywhere but not daring to meet anyone’s gaze directly. Xuezhu was more honest—she shrank back and shook her head timidly.
Old Madam Song laughed coldly in extreme anger: “You are dowry maids sent from our manor, yet you don’t know how your mistress ended up in this state?! I never knew our manor raised head maids like you!”
Song Chuxuan lay crying on Old Madam Song’s lap. Hearing these words, she raised her head while wiping her tears and pointed at Ruizhu: “Grandmother, she’s not a maid anymore—she’s now Concubine Rui.”
First Madam’s eyes nearly split with rage. She glared coldly at Ruizhu, truly angry enough that one Buddha ascended to heaven and the second achieved nirvana.
Ruizhu felt somewhat frightened inside, but thinking that she was now Second Young Master Xiao’s concubine, she gathered some courage and said boldly with lowered head, “The young master wanted to take me—”
Old Madam Song decisively cut her off to avoid polluting the ears of the young ladies in the room. She laughed coldly: “Jieyi, have some old women tie her up. Send her to the estate overnight and have the estate manager marry her off immediately!”
Ruizhu’s eyes went round with disbelief, then she began to wail: “Old Madam, you can’t sell me—I’m already part of the Xiao family!”
“Your indenture contract has been in our manor from beginning to end—what Xiao family person?!” First Madam laughed coldly: “No matter how capable the Xiao family is, can they interfere with how we handle our own household servants?! Thinking you could step on Second Miss’s head just because of the Xiao family—you miscalculated!”
Nanny Huang moved swiftly. She had already led several rough old women forward, twisting Ruizhu’s arms behind her back on both sides, then very quickly stuffed a ball of torn cloth in her mouth and silently dragged her out.
Only then did Old Madam Song look toward Xuezhu, who had long since been frightened senseless on the other side. She raised her chin and asked, “What about you? Have you also become a concubine of the Xiao family?”