“Zi’er, bring the pottery vat over! Miss needs to receive the dye!” Xiang’er ran over quickly, calling out loudly.
Zi’er twisted her waist and turned, forcefully beating the cloth she had just hung on the drying pole, complaining: “Just because you serve the young miss, you think you’re a master too? Weren’t you just a worthless silk-washing maid before?”
Though seeing only Zi’er was free, she pretended not to hear. Xiang’er bit her lip, remembering how capable Ling’er was, often earning the miss’s praise. She also wanted to help the miss. Gathering her courage, she walked up to Zi’er: “Zi’er, I’ll help you move the pottery vat.”
Zi’er gave her a dismissive look, forcefully stretching the cloth: “Can’t you see I’m busy?”
After the Second Day of the Second Month Dragon Head-raising Festival, all the dye houses, silk houses, and weaving houses in Sandaoya became busy. This year, the green cloth from Huanhua Dye House was in such high demand they couldn’t keep up. It should have been good news. Unexpectedly, a steward came from the Military Governor’s mansion, saying the Governor had ordered the Ji family to dye one thousand bolts of green cloth as tribute. The price offered was ten percent below cost. Though it was a losing business, they dared not refuse. Because it was designated as tribute, orders from regular customers doubled. Everyone except Miss Ji worked in the dye house. Even Fourth Madam Zhang was busy checking inventory. The dye house was in constant motion. Xiang’er looked around and saw only Zi’er, who had finished drying the cloth, was the least busy.
Xiang’er had never been able to argue with Zi’er before, and the pottery vat was heavy. She carefully pleaded again: “Sister Zi’er, just lend a hand.”
Lend a hand? Zi’er turned around.
Xiang’er tilted the cart, carefully supporting the vat, trying to roll it onto the cart. If only Zi’er would help steady it for a moment.
Zi’er carelessly supported it, watching Xiang’er struggle to roll the vat onto the cart. She suddenly let go. The vat rolled back. Xiang’er cried out, but lacking strength, couldn’t stop it. The vat fell and shattered against the steps.
“How could you let go?” Xiang’er’s eyes reddened with distress.
“What do you mean I let go? You’re the one who let go,” Zi’er scornfully pointed at Xiang’er and scolded, “Are you trying to frame me?” As she spoke, she rolled up her sleeve and slapped Xiang’er across the face.
With that crisp sound, the jealousy and hatred accumulated in her heart burst forth, bringing her immense satisfaction: “Don’t think you’re so grand just because you serve the miss! You’re still as stupid as before!”
“Stop!” Ji Yingying had been standing in the distance waiting for the vat and saw everything. She strode over and looked at Xiang’er who was crying while holding her face, “What are you crying for? You’re here to serve me. This task was originally Zi’er’s responsibility. When someone bullies you, all you know is how to cry?”
“Miss! It was her fault!” Zi’er still stubbornly tried to complain.
“I saw everything,” Ji Yingying was too busy to waste words with her, and turned to call out, “Granny Ji! Come here for a moment.”
Granny Ji strode over and grew angry at seeing the broken vat: “Zi’er, go wash that vat of red cloth! No one is allowed to help you! The cost of the damage will be deducted from your monthly wages.”
Zi’er’s face reddened, but she dared not argue. Watching Ji Yingying help Xiang’er move another pottery vat onto the cart and push it toward the dye room, tears streamed down her face.
Granny Ji said coldly: “Xiang’er is here to serve the miss. This wasn’t her job to do. If she helped you and did well, you should have rewarded her. If she did poorly, naturally you would be punished!”
Why? Why could that stupid girl serve the miss? Why did the miss protect her? Zi’er cried as she took a bamboo basket to scoop out the dyed cloth from the vat and headed to the riverbank.
She threw the cloth into the river water, and the red color slowly seeped out, seeping into Zi’er’s pupils. She gritted her teeth and said: “One day, I’ll make you all look up to me!”
“Thank you for protecting me, Miss.” Xiang’er took a moment to quietly thank Ji Yingying.
“Next time, remember to fight back with confidence. With your soft nature, no one will pay attention when you run errands and deliver messages for me.” Ji Yingying looked at her with exasperation.
The two of them forcefully worked the foot pedals. The wooden pestle pressed against the cloth. The dye made from safflowers flowed steadily into the pottery vat.
She pedaled mechanically. Sunlight streamed in through the high windows of the dye house. Last early summer, she had used this same safflower dye to color Yang Jingyuan’s white horse. He had stood beside her, so angry his eyebrows nearly stood on end. He had directly carried her off on horseback.
He had been gone for almost a month now. She wondered how he was doing, remembering he had promised to write once he was settled. Knowing he would be in unfamiliar territory, she had secretly slipped twenty taels of her private silver into his bundle. In the past, when he had wanted to hear her speak, he would casually toss fifty-tael silver ingots…
Ji Yingying’s eyes filled with melancholy.
“Miss, no more dye is coming out.” Xiang’er saw the dye flow in the bamboo tube had dried up and quickly reminded Ji Yingying.
There was mung bean powder in the pottery vat. The dye water would be absorbed into the powder for storage; when red dye was needed next time, it could be reused. Ji Yingying jumped off the pedal and smiled: “Let someone else clean up later.”
She untied her sleeve bindings and stretched her arms. After working all morning, she was a bit tired. After washing up in her room, she told Xiang’er to go eat first, then took Ling’er to the main house.
“Mother, what’s for lunch? I’m starving!” she called out cheerfully as she entered.
After calculating accounts all morning, Madam Ji and Fourth Madam Zhang’s energy was increasingly depleted. She gestured for Granny Li to put away the account books and smiled: “Your sister-in-law told the kitchen to stew your favorite pork trotters. We’ll eat when your brother arrives.”
As Sheng Fengze had said, Madam Ji had awakened after taking the medicine. Her complexion looked better now. But her health could never compare to before.
Sometimes Ji Yingying thought that perhaps delaying marriage for three years was a good thing, as she could still help the family. For how the Military Governor demanded one thousand bolts of green cloth as a tribute at ten percent below cost. If Master Yang hadn’t passed away, she would have been married in just over a month, and the family would have been too busy to manage.
“Mother, since I have to wait for the Third Young Master’s mourning period to end before marrying, why don’t we use that gold to supplement the household expenses first? When the family has saved enough money, you can give it back to me.”
Originally, Madam Yang had given one thousand taels of gold as betrothal money. After repaying the debts to the Zhao family, Jucai Chamber, and Sheng Fengze, some remained. Now there was no rush to marry. With the burden of dyeing cloth at a loss for the Military Governor, and having taken many new orders, the family’s cash flow was tight.
“That’s fine. Have your brother and sister-in-law write you an IOU. Even between siblings, accounts should be clear. The Ji family can’t use your betrothal money.” Madam Ji smiled.
The three women waited for a long time but didn’t see Ji Yaoting arrive. Madam Ji sent Granny Wu to the front courtyard to hurry him.
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Ji Yaoting arrives covered in sweat: “There’s trouble at the Yang family again.”
Ji Yingying’s face changed instantly: “Did something happen to the Third Young Master?”
Ji Yaoting couldn’t help but smile: “Yang Third Young Master isn’t even at the Yang family. It’s the Yang First Young Master who’s in trouble.”
Ji Yingying breathed a sigh of relief but still asked with concern: “What happened?”
“Last year during the brocade competition, the Military Governor asked the brocade households for special brocades. The Yang family’s newly developed waterproof brocade was among them. Besides presenting this brocade to the palace as tribute, the Military Governor also ordered four hundred bolts of new brocade from the Yang family, saying it was for making waterproof cloaks for the Imperial Guard. However, when the brocade they delivered was tested with water, it all got wet. This batch of waterproof brocade had taken all of Yang’s family’s weavers three months of rush work to complete. Having wasted time, the Military Governor angrily had the Yang First Young Master arrested for questioning. I heard he was carried back to his mansion. People from the Liu family cloth shop came to settle accounts and said the whole city knows about it.”
Ji Yingying immediately thought of the thousand bolts of green cloth their family was rushing to dye, and couldn’t help but shudder: “Brother, we must guard the warehouse carefully. Let’s not cause any trouble for our family.”
Madam Ji’s face turned pale. She clearly remembered the fire from last year. The family’s mood instantly became somber.