Cao Lihuan’s eyes suddenly widened, her throat making choking sounds. Using all her strength, she knocked the bowl from Si Qiao’s hands, shattering it on the floor. “You… you… you… why didn’t you tell me earlier!”

Si Qiao continued smiling and said: “I was afraid of upsetting Madam, but now that Sister Hui Er is with child, such joyous news naturally must be shared with Madam.”

Cao Lihuan ignored Si Qiao’s sarcastic tone and struggled to sit up, feeling dizzy. After a moment, she said: “Go call that little wretch Hui Er to see me!” Seeing Si Qiao standing motionless, she shouted angrily: “Go quickly!”

Si Qiao gave a cold laugh and left.

Cao Lihuan leaned against the bedpost to rest, breathing heavily. Soon Hui Er arrived, and upon entering, she smelled the mixture of medicine and foul odors. She quickly covered her nose and mouth, about to retch. Si Qiao hurried forward to support her, face full of fawning smiles, saying: “Oh my, Sister Hui Er, you’re now a precious person. Are you feeling unwell? Quick, sit down, sit down. I’ll get you some hot tea to settle your stomach.”

Hui Er waved a handkerchief in front of her nose and said: “No need, no need. Go to my room and bring this year’s new tea, and bring a plate of the pepper-salt pastries with fruit filling as well.”

Si Qiao smiled: “Of course, I’ll go right away,” and left through the curtain.

Hui Er sat far away near the door and looked up to see Cao Lihuan glaring at her fiercely from the bed, her eyes bloodshot, face waxy yellow, cheeks sunken, prominent collarbones showing, hair disheveled, looking like a ghost. Hui Er startled, then composed herself, crossed her legs, and said: “Why did Madam call for me?”

Cao Lihuan looked Hui Er up and down. Her moon-shaped face had grown plumper, her already round figure even fuller. Her crow-black hair was adorned with golden hairpins, arranged in an elaborate style with pearls and jade ornaments, gold pins of agate, purple-gold earrings dangling from her ears, a fine jade pendant on her chest, two bracelets on each wrist. She wore a clove-colored five-colored gauze jacket showing white cloud-like sleeves, with a gold-embroidered green orchid skirt below. Her face was powdered with palace powder and rouge, making her slightly yellow complexion appear bright and snow-white – she looked every bit like a proper lady of a wealthy household!

Cao Lihuan gritted her teeth and said: “Hui Er, I treated you like my own sister, always including you in everything from food to clothing, and you, you shameless wretch, you go and steal your master’s husband, treating me like this!”

Hui Er snorted coldly: “Treated me like a sister? Stop trying to make yourself sound noble! I was foolish before, thinking you were kind to me, but thinking back, everything you gave me was what you didn’t want or like anymore, making a show of generosity. When did you ever give me something you truly valued? And when I occasionally got something nice, you would find ways to wheedle it away from me, claiming it was for my good!”

Cao Lihuan said angrily: “Perhaps I wronged you in some ways, but you seduced the master and abandoned your mistress to die – do you have any conscience!”

Hui Er stood up, walked forward, pointed at Cao Lihuan’s nose, and shouted: “I have no conscience? Cao Lihuan, check if you have any conscience yourself! I served you faithfully, if not with merit then at least with effort. I’m almost twenty now, and my family finally found me a good match. Though not from the best family, they were farmers with some property. They came to ask for your blessing, but you blocked it at every turn, secretly going to the man’s family to reject the marriage, then got me drunk and offered me to that old fool Han Yaozu to use! All to secure his favor for your benefit. Cao Lihuan, I hate you to my bones, day and night I’ve wanted to chew your flesh to ease my hatred!”

Cao Lihuan was shocked and argued: “I was naturally thinking of your best interests. Han Yaozu even told me he wanted to take you as a concubine. Being a concubine to a County Magistrate would be a hundred times better than being a farmer’s wife…”

Hui Er screamed: “Bullshit! His wife is a she-devil, impossible to get along with. If Han Yaozu was so wonderful, why didn’t you become his concubine? That disgusting old man, I feel sick just looking at him!” Hui Er screamed twice more, and moved backward, her chest heaving rapidly, as she and Cao Lihuan stared at each other like tigers.

At this moment, Si Qiao entered quietly with tea and pastries, then quietly withdrew.

Hui Er rubbed her chest, composed herself, stepped back to sit down, and took a sip of tea. Looking back at Cao Lihuan, she smiled and said: “Cao Lihuan, you truly don’t know how good you had it. Even though Ren Yu is useless and poor, he has one good quality – he’s loyal to his family and constant in his affection. Even though you gave him such a grand green hat and turned into this ghost-like state, he still cares for you, trying to find doctors everywhere to treat you. But now, your husband is mine.”

Cao Lihuan shook her head and screamed: “Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!”

Hui Er seemed not to hear, continuing to speak while taking a bite of pastry, her smile both proud and gloating: “He’s so tender and caring with me every day. Whatever I want to eat, I just need to mention it, and he immediately puts on his shoes to buy it for me. He even massages my shoulders and legs, and at night he’s so vigorous…” She covered her mouth with a handkerchief and giggled, “A hundred times better than that useless old Han Yaozu. I don’t know why you took up with that old fool.” She walked up to Cao Lihuan, bent slightly, and smiled, speaking softly: “You won’t live much longer, and your husband has already said that after you die if I bear him children, he’ll make me the official wife. Cao Lihuan, I must thank you – all the property you schemed and struggled to accumulate will be enjoyed by my future children.” With that, she straightened up and left, humming a tune.

Cao Lihuan’s fury attacked her heart. Hui Er’s words were a hundred times more vicious than cutting out her heart and lungs. She coughed up two mouthfuls of fresh blood, her vision went black, and she fainted. When she hazily awoke in the night, she called out for a long time but no one came. She struggled to reach for the tea on the small table by her bed, her hand trembling as she stretched forward, then her head tilted to one side, and she died with eyes wide open.

Early the next morning, Si Qiao discovered Cao Lihuan’s death while cleaning and hurriedly reported it to Ren Yu. Ren Yu wept over her body and wanted to arrange a proper funeral, but Hui Er stopped him, saying: “We’ve already spent most of our money treating her illness these past months. I’m due to give birth in a few months, and your younger sister is getting married. We should save money! No need for a grand funeral – just pick an auspicious day, find a spot, and bury her.”

Ren Yu agreed verbally but still felt it wasn’t right. He secretly took some silver to buy a decent coffin and arranged for musicians and a proper burial plot.

Meanwhile, in the Han family’s inner quarters, Madam Jiang sat in a master chair, with a thin, plain-looking woman kneeling before her, head bowed respectfully. Madam Jiang stirred tea leaves in her cup, smiling as she said: “Si Qiao, you did well. This has truly settled my hatred, and I will reward you properly.”

Si Qiao kowtowed and said: “I don’t seek rewards, I only ask that Madam buy my freedom from the Ren family, so I can live peacefully as a commoner in the future.”

Madam Jiang gave her maid a look, and the maid took out a paper and handed it to Si Qiao, saying: “Madam spoke with the Ren family yesterday. This is your freedom paper – keep it safe.”

Si Qiao was overjoyed and repeatedly kowtowed in thanks, saying: “I will leave for Yangzhou immediately and never return.”

Madam Jiang was greatly satisfied and gave Si Qiao ten taels of silver and a pair of silver bracelets.

Si Qiao quickly accepted them with endless thanks and left.

Walking out of the Han family’s back door, she let out a long breath. She had hated Cao Lihuan deeply because when Cao Lihuan’s servant Si Shun’s wife died, Cao Lihuan had matched her with him. Si Shun was a gambling drunk who beat his wife, tormenting her beyond endurance, and he had an insatiable lust. Si Qiao being plain-looking, treated her like dirt. With a tyrannical mistress before her and an abusive husband behind, she had tried to kill herself several times but endured.

When Madam Jiang had beaten Cao Lihuan into miscarrying, her trusted maid had come to bribe Si Qiao, asking her to secretly add certain ingredients to Cao Lihuan’s medicine, turning the miscarriage into a life-threatening condition, and to investigate Cao Lihuan’s assets. Si Qiao naturally told everything, and together they schemed to take all of Cao Lihuan’s jewelry and clothes.

Now that Cao Lihuan is dead, Si Qiao asks Madam Jiang to fulfill her promise to buy her freedom from the Ren family and release her as a commoner. She quickly walked out of the alley and saw a short, stout, dark man anxiously watching at the alley entrance. Seeing her emerge, he hurriedly asked: “Did it work?”

Si Qiao nodded, and the man smiled, taking her hand and saying: “Then let’s hurry to catch the boat to Yangzhou.”

Si Qiao looked at the man, a smile spreading across her face as she nodded and went with him. This man was a candy artist who could also make dough figurines and used to walk the streets near the Ren household. He had often kindly consoled her when he saw her being beaten and scolded, and gradually they had fallen in love. Now that Si Qiao had her freedom papers, they immediately eloped together. They later settled in Yangzhou, making a living with small businesses, but that’s another story.

As for Hui Er, after ten months she gave birth to a daughter, and Ren Yu made her his official wife. They lived peacefully enough, except that Hui Er was extravagant by nature, only knowing how to eat, drink, and dress up, never learning how to manage a household. Now that she was the mistress, she became even more unrestrained, eating delicacies and wearing fine silks without limit. Ren Yu, being useless, just went along with everything.

Neither of them knew how to manage affairs, and they not only spent most of the wealth Cao Lihuan had accumulated but eventually had to sell the farm. Fortunately, they still had rental income from the properties. The couple, thinking they were set, became even more idle, gradually reducing what had been a prosperous household to an ordinary middle-class family. Later, Ren Yu fell ill and died in middle age, and Hui Er remarried twice with her child, eventually disappearing to parts unknown.