Dou Lu was two years younger than Mo Zi. She preferred quiet, loved flowers, especially peonies.
Dou Lu’s self-taught flower cultivation skills, like Mo Zi’s wood-sensing ability, were innate talents. Any flowers or plants that passed through her hands—those near death would surely live, and when they bloomed, their spiritual beauty was compelling. She even had the technique to control early or late blooming. However, such abilities were useless for her father and brothers’ official careers, leading to her being undervalued at home. Father was busy, the age gap with her eldest brother was too great, and there was no mother, so in childhood she extremely relied on Mo Zi. Though she grew up and no longer liked to act spoiled, she remained very close to her sister. Dou Lu often said the two sisters depended on each other for survival, while being distant and indifferent toward father and brothers.
For Dou Lu, beyond sisterly bonds, Mo Zi also had a bit of an eldest-sister-as-mother mentality. Especially later, when she nearly broke ties with her father and brothers who wanted to present Dou Lu to the Emperor of Yuling—even if Da Qiu didn’t invade, she had planned to leave with Dou Lu.
Now, seeing her own sister again was a year and a half later. Her face like jade, her flower fragrance unchanged, but in Dou Lu’s eyes that once overflowed with radiance, the innocent charm of that time was gone, replaced by the calm that comes after experiencing life and death.
Hearing someone call her true name, Dou Lu realized the voice was familiar. Turning to see Mo Zi, she was stunned for quite a while, then carefully asked, “Sister? Am I dreaming again?” She forcefully pinched her own arm, immediately bursting into continuous tears, crying in confusion, “It hurts.”
“Are you still having those strange dreams?” Mo Zi wiped away the tears with her sleeve. She rarely cried and her tears stopped decisively—for sisters to reunite safely was great joy.
As a child, Dou Lu had been a crybaby. Growing up with her own world of flowers, once she started crying it was still uncontrollable. She rushed over, throwing herself into Mo Zi’s embrace and sobbing, taking fully half an hour before stopping.
The sisters sat before the flower bed talking. It turned out that after becoming separated from Mo Zi, Dou Lu had been hiding in Yuling’s capital city inquiring about Mo Zi’s whereabouts, nearly starving to death. Fortunately, she was saved by an old woman planning to flee to Nande to find her son, and they became adoptive mother and daughter. After more than half a year in Nande, her godmother and eldest brother treated her very well—only the sister-in-law was difficult to deal with, loved petty advantages, and usually found her displeasing and made things difficult in many ways. Godmother had always protected her, but who knew the old woman would fall gravely ill mid-year and from then on couldn’t leave her bed. The family emptied their savings for godmother’s illness. Taking advantage of eldest brother going hunting in the mountains, sister-in-law summoned a local bully to the city, wanting to secretly sell her as a concubine. In the struggle, hands were thrown. When Dou Lu’s head was bleeding, she grabbed the robe of Jin Yin who happened to be passing by. Seeing she could grow flowers and had famous peony varieties, and hearing sister-in-law call her the Hundred Flowers Fairy and such, Jin Yin was willing to buy her as a gardener. She originally refused to the death, but sister-in-law used godmother to threaten her, so she agreed.
Dou Lu’s speech had been cool and indifferent since childhood, but hearing her give this running account, Mo Zi was alarmed and terrified. Her voice had gone hoarse from illness during the refugee journey. Her forehead still had a walnut-sized tender pink area—struck with a stick by the bully’s servant during the fight. Though Jin Yin found her a good doctor who said it wouldn’t leave a scar, her next ten years’ monthly wages had been advanced for medical expenses.
After Dou Lu finished saying all this, she cast it behind her, tightly grasping Mo Zi’s hand. “Sister, I thought you—were dead. If godmother hadn’t treated me like her own daughter, I would have wanted to be filial to the old woman. Otherwise, I truly felt living had no meaning.”
“Dou Lu, I told you—better to live miserably than die well, didn’t I? Death is cowardly behavior. As long as you’re alive, there’s hope. Remember this—even if one day I’m truly gone, you must live your days well, and you’re not allowed to seek death as escape.” Though Mo Zi hadn’t forced a modern person’s consciousness onto Dou Lu, Dou Lu took her as the standard in all things, her thoughts and behavior already leaping beyond traditional women. She thought she’d set a good example. After over a year apart, how could Dou Lu say living had no meaning?
“Sister, I remember. But saying it is easy, doing it is too difficult.” On Dou Lu’s lotus-like face appeared a helpless smile, but it quickly turned joyful. “Fortunately heaven blessed us—sister is fine.”
“Heaven also blessed you—you’re fine.” From now on, it truly was just the two sisters depending on each other.
“What kind of contract did you sign with Jin Yin? Sold for life? Or with a term limit?” Thinking of Jin Yin, Mo Zi couldn’t help snorting. Advancing ten years’ monthly wages as medical expenses—could he and Qiu Sanniang possibly be blood siblings?
“Sold for life.” Though Dou Lu’s words and actions were greatly influenced by Mo Zi, she absolutely didn’t inherit her head for numbers or scheming. Once unrelated to flowers, her brain turned not ordinarily slow, but frustratingly slow.
She knew it! Mo Zi sighed. “We two really are blood sisters—when we’re unlucky, we both get scammed.” A lifetime contract for ninety taels—her dear little sister, how desperately did she need money?
“Can you buy yourself back?” Probably—no.
“…Not clear. One piece of paper, written as a contract of sale, exchanged for ninety taels, and I pressed my handprint.” After thinking for quite a while, she answered Mo Zi, but seeing Mo Zi glare at her, she quickly said, “Sister, don’t scold me for being stupid. I thought in the future I’d be alone anyway, so anything was fine.”
“…I have no right to criticize you.” Mo Zi herself was still held by someone’s contract of sale—one year term, yet Bai He had gotten out before her. She couldn’t very well proactively request to settle accounts early, after all, when she initially took over Hongyu from Qiu Sanniang, there were all kinds of difficulties, as if producing five thousand taels was impossible no matter what.
Now, Qiu Sanniang seemed to not manage her much, but in the past she loved creating obstacles and competing verbally in wins and losses, alternating between harsh and gentle faces, making her relax one moment and tense the next, unable to let down her guard. Therefore, with Qiu Sanniang acting this way, combined with her own twisted view of emotions, she truly couldn’t completely trust her, fearing this young miss would pull something at the last minute, making her efforts come to nothing like drawing water with a bamboo basket. Maintaining the down-to-earth shipbuilding style, she didn’t want to risk launching directly from the frame, leading to wasted effort.
Dou Lu’s contract of sale being in Jin Yin’s hands was better than being in someone else’s. That Young Master Jin who always liked speaking without restraint—Third Brother could be called carelessly without heart—his talk of repaying gratitude should be honored at least once.
Mo Zi’s calculations were quite good. Once the flower-viewing banquet dispersed, she’d have A Yue and A Hao send Bai He back to Deer Horn Alley, then take Zan Jin to find Jin Yin.
After Jin Yin saw off the last batch of guests and saw Mo Zi, he smiled happily. “My Third Brother didn’t leave with that fellow today—could it be you’re waiting for Second Brother me? You saw it—that Yuan fellow has such an unlikable personality. Whoever is useful to him, he gets close to and flatters first. What sworn brothers—he uses them all as stepping stones.”
Yuan Cheng left in the first batch, together with Yang Ling and others, to go night cruising on the river to hear temple bells. Yang Ling had placed in the top ten of the imperial examination and was waiting for the palace examination. Reportedly, top three rankings were assured.
“Sworn brothers aren’t shadows that follow you everywhere. Normally everyone has their own matters—there should be personal space.” Mo Zi thought, if Yuan Cheng followed her around all day, it would be the death of her.
“Personal space?” Jin Yin savored this, then looked at Mo Zi with a somewhat strange expression. “If you liked someone, wouldn’t you want to be with them all day?”
“No.” After saying these two words, she discovered Jin Yin smiling wickedly, and her mind immediately turned the corner. Setting a trap to draw her in? “Never mind brothers—even husband and wife, sticking together all day with that kind of ‘I can’t live without you’ romantic nonsense, how would you live your days? Close people are for companionship, not to be treated as three meals a day. When there’s time, care for each other; when there’s no time, do your own things. In any case, there’s that concern in your hearts, mutual trust—why care about the formality of being together? People sharing a bed can have different dreams—does being more than ten feet apart truly mean they’re no longer married?”
Jin Yin slapped his fan against his palm in great praise. “Every time I hear Third Brother speak, it’s better than reading ten years of books. However, since you stayed until last, you must have something to tell me. What matter?”
Mo Zi glanced at Dou Lu by Jin Manor’s carriage. Bai Liang was urging her to board from the driver’s seat.
Jin Yin followed Mo Zi’s line of sight and looked over, thoughtfully saying, “If Third Brother were truly male, being curious about Ninety Liang’s true appearance beneath the veil would be human nature. But you’re female—you wouldn’t be curious about another woman.”
“Young Master Jin, you share a carriage with your gardener?” Mo Zi frowned. She wasn’t feudal because she was a fake ancient person, but Jin Yin was a real ancient person. Also, don’t call Dou Lu Ninety Liang—her little sister was a priceless treasure.
“She’s just a gardener, not much different from a maid. Sharing a carriage so she can massage my legs or pour tea—what’s improper about that?” Jin Yin’s phoenix eyes turned, his expression becoming mischievously smiling. “Could it be Third Brother is jealous?”
Same ambiguity, but Jin Yin’s words didn’t make Mo Zi feel awkward, because his purely playful intentions were too obvious, containing not a trace of potential misunderstanding.
So she replied thus: “Yes, yes. So how about this—my Second Brother, today give me a ride in your carriage, take me partway, how about it?”
Jin Yin froze, then immediately covered his sleeve and fake-cried. “I actually lived to see the day Third Brother calls me Second Brother and admits to being jealous over me. Had I known, I would have dragged dead Yuan from leaving to watch him choke with rage from all seven orifices.”
Mo Zi was too lazy to deal with his exaggeration, taking a few quick steps to board uninvited.
Dou Lu had already removed her veiled hat. Seeing her sister board, she smiled beautifully.
Jin Yin followed in and saw this. His phoenix eyes narrowed as he sat down and pulled Mo Zi over, facing Dou Lu with a cold expression. “Smiling until your face goes numb is useless—she’s a woman in men’s clothing.”
Now not only did Dou Lu laugh, but Mo Zi also laughed. “Second Brother, now this is what jealousy looks like.”
Jin Yin snorted through his nose, denying the jealousy claim. “I’m merely teaching her proper etiquette for dealing with people. Today she presented me with two pots of dead branches—if I didn’t have good connections, people would have laughed their teeth off.” This account needed settling slowly.
Mo Zi withdrew her elbow, put away her smile, and said, “How about this? No need for Second Brother to trouble himself—I’ll teach my own sister myself.”
Jin Yin acted as if he didn’t understand. “Who is whose sister?”
Mo Zi took Dou Lu’s hand. “She is my sister, blood sister, absolutely truly blood sister.”
“Isn’t your sister called Dou Lu, and beautiful as a celestial, stunning enough to topple kingdoms?” Jin Yin had heard Mo Zi’s description and even had clerks at various branches keep watch.
“Isn’t this beautiful as a celestial?” What kind of eyes did he have?
“Third Brother, Ninety Liang may look passable, but she resembles you not one bit, isn’t as good-looking as you, and that brain holds nothing but flowers—stupidly foolish.” Plus that stubborn ox temperament, tormented for over a month with this ghostly attitude. “People can look similar, so you—recognized the wrong person.”
Turns out someone was nearsighted.