Winter days grew dark early. When the last sliver of light had vanished completely, snow began to fall again from the sky — a soft, fine snow.

The inner quarters of the Lu household — the Buddhist hall.

The Third Young Madam Lu knelt on the ground in a disheveled state. The cold seeping up from the icy stone tiles pierced into her knees, making her tremble despite herself.

“Do you know where you erred?”

The Third Young Madam flinched, and slowly raised her head. No more than one step away from her, a woman in a crow-black brocade robe, her hair pinned with a jade hairpin, her expression ice-cold, looked down at her from above.

The other’s frigid gaze was like someone looking at a dead fish waiting to be gutted.

The Third Young Madam shook like a sieve rattling in the wind, and prostrated herself to the ground: “Mother, your daughter-in-law knows she erred.”

“Oh? And where did you err?”

The ice-cold voice carried a note of languid indifference, yet that only made it all the more chilling. The Third Young Madam’s back was drenched in cold sweat, her voice trembling: “Your daughter-in-law should not have acted on her own judgment—”

“Wrong.” Lu Madam regarded her coldly. “Acting on one’s own judgment is acceptable, as long as you handle matters with sufficient thoroughness. But you erred in acting in too great a rush — as if afraid others could not grasp this handle you offered them, as if afraid suspicion would not fall on the Lu household.”

“Your daughter-in-law humbly receives your instruction.”

“Knowing that the other party was already following the trail back toward the Rong Concubine and her family, all you thought of was using them as scapegoats, killing them so there would be no evidence left — but the more urgent one is, the more likely one’s decisions are to go wrong. The more likely it is that others will find an opening, and begin to suspect there are deeper people hiding further behind. Your error lay in a single word: haste. Just look — after those two died, did the Lang Family’s suspicion of the Lu household disappear? Far from it.”

Far from disappearing — it had only deepened. The proof was right there: people were now watching the Lu household from the shadows.

The expression on Lu Madam’s outwardly warm and affable face gave way to a flash of anger, and a vicious coldness rose in her eyes. The more she looked at the person before her, the more displeased she became. “In this world, you are not the only person who is clever. Do not take the tactics of inner-quarters women competing for jealousy and apply them to matters of life and death. That is the lowest of approaches.”

The Third Young Madam’s voice shook, and she sobbed: “Your daughter-in-law truly knows she erred.”

Lu Madam’s gaze turned to one of contempt. “Stay in this Buddhist hall and reflect sincerely before the Bodhisattva. The management of the household will be handed over to the Yao Madam in the meantime. When your mind is clear again, we will speak again of household management.”

The Third Young Madam stiffened, and answered in a low murmur: “Your daughter-in-law hears and obeys.”

Lu Madam walked past her with the support of a maidservant’s hand, carrying with her a gust of cold air, leaving behind the faint trace of a sweet fragrance.

This was the incense offered in the Buddhist hall — not the sandalwood or agarwood commonly seen, but a specially prepared blend, made from ambergris base combined with the dew of the udumbara flower and other ingredients.

And the figure enshrined in this Buddhist hall was not Guanyin Bodhisattva, but a statue of the Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady.

Carved from pure white jade, the workmanship was exquisite. Her gaze was imperious and haughty — as though she were looking down in disdain upon the mortal world.

The Third Young Madam stared at the statue of the Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady, her heart trembling. She lowered her head, clutched her cold knees with both hands, and in her eyes, a thread of indignation and bitter resentment took root.

“Madam, the Third Young Madam is still young — there will be time to guide her. Do not let it wear on you,” a maidservant said carefully, offering Lu Madam a cup of tea.

Lu Madam gave a cold laugh. “I thought that coming from the Li Clan of Longxi, she could be trusted with important matters — but all she does is foolish things that cannot see the light of day. What a thoroughgoing fool. A thorough waste. All these years I spent carefully guiding her — useless, the lot of it. Useless and dim!”

The maidservant hurried to say: “She is still young, Madam — she has not yet been tested by life. She still needs your guidance.”

“Guidance? With someone like her, I would already be thanking the Bodhisattva if she did not drag the Lu household down with her, never mind having any use for guidance.” Lu Madam said coldly. “Just look at what she did — acting as if afraid others would not notice the Lu household, practically thrusting her own head forward for them to see.”

“It will not come to that, Madam. Have you forgotten — our Fourth Master is studying his craft with the Xuan Clan. With him there, how could the Lu household possibly fall?”

At the mention of her youngest son, the cold color on Lu Madam’s face softened immediately, giving way to tenderness. She sighed: “The family can provide him with so little support; we cannot afford to drag him down either.”

The maidservant smiled and said: “With you here, Madam, all will be well.”

Lu Madam stiffened almost imperceptibly, then let out another long sigh. “This matter was not handled well — even I cannot feel at ease. I only hope it does not implicate my son.”

As she spoke, a faint trace of worry gathered between her brows.

“Madam — something has happened…” Someone came hurrying in.

The sharpness returned to Lu Madam’s gaze at once. An ominous premonition took hold — the feeling that matters were slipping further and further beyond her control, impossible to grasp.

And all this wretched, accumulating trouble had started with the Lang Family. It had started because of that Ninth Young Miss — silent for so many years, and yet suddenly emerging like this.

Someone else who shared exactly the same thought as Lu Madam was the Qi Family.

Qi Madam looked on with tender anguish at her daughter moaning and crying in the grand canopied bed, her hatred for Lang Jiuchuan reaching its absolute peak.

They had already called the family physician and the imperial physician. What needed bandaging had been bandaged, what needed medicine had been applied and given to drink. And yet her daughter kept saying her forehead hurt, kept saying she was cold. Yet inside this room, several braziers burned, heating the air until it sizzled — Qi Madam herself felt stifled and overheated even in a single layer of clothing, to say nothing of her daughter lying under two thick quilts, clutching a warming flask.

It must be that wild girl who had frightened Xinyu into this state, making her imagine things that weren’t there.

But she could not go on like this. Qi Madam could only have a soothing incense lit, have a mild sedative added to the medicinal broth, and pour it down Qi Xinyu’s throat. Only a short while later was Xinyu finally able to fall asleep.

Qi Madam looked at her daughter curled up inside the brocade quilts, her eyes reddening. This child had grown up and had never once suffered like this before — just look at what that Lang Jiu had reduced her to.

Her face had even gone dark.

Qi Madam thought her eyes were playing tricks on her and rubbed them. No — why did it seem as though Xinyu’s complexion had genuinely darkened, having lost all radiance?

Before she could voice the question, her eldest daughter-in-law, Zhang Shi, spoke up from nearby: “Mother, with Fourth Sister in this state — should we not send word to Elder Madam?”

Qi Madam snapped at her: “Xinyu has only just returned from her sister’s place and suffered such humiliation. You still dare suggest sending word? Do you want us to lose even more face?”

Zhang Shi shrank back and said: “Your daughter-in-law is only concerned about Fourth Younger Sister.”

“If you were truly concerned about her, you would not have failed to drag that wild girl back from wherever she crawled out of to kneel and beg forgiveness.” Qi Madam shot her another fierce glare.

Zhang Shi gave an ingratiating smile: “It is only that your daughter-in-law was wary of that widowed Cui Shi’s apparent connection with the Gong Family’s eldest mistress. Mother, do not let it upset you. In your daughter-in-law’s observation, that Lang Jiu is quite frail — today she nearly fainted as well, and has altogether the look of someone who will not live long. Let us just wait and see.”

Qi Madam thought of the Gong Family and felt a rush of fury. She forced a show of confidence: “What of it? Our Xinyu is still the full blood sister of the Rong Family’s Young Madam.”

“You are absolutely right,” Zhang Shi agreed with a smile, though inwardly she was not so convinced. That was true enough — but that Young Madam was only a branch line. The Gong Family’s eldest mistress, on the other hand, was from the main bloodline.

Qi Madam was about to give another outburst when she suddenly shivered involuntarily — a bone-deep, icy chill seemed to seep into her very marrow, making her clasp her arms about herself in unease.

She looked at her daughter, who had fallen asleep but still wore a pained expression on her face, and her heart went cold. Surely it could not be — had that Lang Jiu’s notorious mouth actually spoken true?