Chen Fang and Nanny Zhang were smiling when they heard the voice and looked toward the door. They saw three figures approaching against the light—the leading girl’s thin body wrapped in an oversized cotton jacket, yet strangely carrying a pitiful charm. The sunlight made her pale skin appear crystal clear, as if overnight her features had become sharper. Her eyes were no longer lifeless as before; though still calm as an ancient well, a hint of indescribable allure flowed from the corners of her eyes. Her gaze was like flowing spring water—no longer wooden, only mysteriously spirited. She raised her eyebrows, her voice clear and pleasant with a transparent coolness: “Nanny Lan?”
Nanny Zhang suddenly snapped back to reality, and Chen Fang beside her was also startled awake, looking at Jiang Ruan with half jealousy and half anger. This fallen official family’s young miss seemed like a different person today—when those shallow eyes looked at her, she didn’t even know where she was.
“Miss has arrived,” Nanny Zhang said this, but her body didn’t move at all. She just wearily tapped her leg: “Today I finally finished the estate’s miscellaneous affairs and found some free time, wanting to visit Miss. But Miss wasn’t here, so I searched everywhere and ended up spraining my foot, so I’m resting in the room. Please forgive this old servant’s impropriety.”
Lian Qiao’s eyes were already shooting fire. Nanny Zhang’s words seemed faultless on the surface, but were blatantly disrespecting Jiang Ruan. She was just a servant, yet remained seated while her master stood—truly without any sense of hierarchy. She wanted to scold her, but when she saw Jiang Ruan’s expression, Lian Qiao suddenly changed her mind and stood quietly beside Jiang Ruan like Bai Zhi, saying nothing.
Jiang Ruan smiled slightly: “Nanny is too serious. Nanny works tirelessly for the estate’s affairs—naturally you should rest well. Jiang Ruan feels terrible for making Nanny work so hard. Why don’t I massage Nanny’s legs? Perhaps Nanny would feel more comfortable?”
Hearing Jiang Ruan’s words, Nanny Zhang felt quite pleased at first, but her expression changed by the end. After Jiang Ruan finished speaking, she immediately stood up: “What is Miss saying? Miss is the master, this old servant is a subordinate. Miss mustn’t humble yourself—this old servant is terrified.”
Jiang Ruan glanced at Nanny Zhang with a trace of light surprise in her tone: “Nanny can actually stand up! Seeing that Nanny is fine, Jiang Ruan is relieved. Otherwise, if something happened to Nanny, Jiang Ruan truly wouldn’t know what to do.”
Nanny Zhang secretly hated this. Jiang Ruan’s words seemed to give her face, but if the latter part spread outside, she’d be in serious trouble. There was no precedent in the world for masters massaging servants’ legs. Even if the person above had given hints, if such things spread, people would only say she was a servant bullying her master, bringing shame to the Minister’s household. The best approach was to appear faultless on the surface while making the other party miserable everywhere—but she’d been hunting geese all her life, only to have a young goose peck her eye today using the same method. Thinking of this, Nanny Zhang looked at Jiang Ruan again. Jiang Ruan only wore a shallow smile, standing quietly in place with an inscrutable feeling. Nanny Zhang immediately felt a trace of panic—the other party was just a girl of ten or so, how could she make her feel afraid? Was she some kind of demon?
Chen Fang beside her couldn’t guess Nanny Zhang’s thoughts. She only felt this usually weak and bullied master seemed quite imposing today. Though her clothing and jewelry couldn’t match her own, her beauty was undeniable—vivid and lovely. Immediately jealous, she spoke without thinking: “Miss’s health must be completely recovered since you can walk around everywhere. I suppose you can start embroidering handkerchiefs tomorrow, and they should be finished after New Year.”
When Jiang Ruan was first sent to the estate, Nanny Zhang had said that everything here couldn’t compare to the prosperity and comfort of the capital, and many things required manual labor. Though Jiang Ruan didn’t need to do farm work like chopping wood, Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao were enslaved considerably. Two perfectly good girls already had callused hands at their young age. Jiang Ruan herself wasn’t much better off—while she didn’t do farm work, she had to do embroidery. Twenty embroidered handkerchiefs monthly had to be delivered to the estate to pay for her expenses. Twenty handkerchiefs weren’t few, and though Lian Qiao and Bai Zhi helped with some, they could barely make the quota. But with complex patterns and intricate embroidery, sewing them one by one was extremely hard on the eyes. Especially around New Year, twenty became thirty—difficult to sustain.
Jiang Ruan smiled lightly: “Naturally.”
Having hit a soft nail, Chen Fang had wanted to make things difficult for Jiang Ruan but didn’t expect her to agree so readily. She bit her teeth: “Then Miss will have to work hard. Be careful not to finish them in time and cause trouble.”
Jiang Ruan raised her eyebrows: “Nanny Lan, was today’s urgent matter about the handkerchiefs?”
Nanny Zhang was startled and laughed: “Look at this old servant’s memory. This old servant wanted to ask Miss—the estate is sending grain to the household. Would Miss like to send a letter to Master and Madam?”
A letter? Jiang Ruan’s fingertips moved slightly. Time had passed so long she’d almost forgotten—during her years at the estate, every New Year she would write letters to Jiang Quan and her elder brother. The letters’ content was nothing more than hoping they could take her back. Year after year, the letters sank without trace, no replies—instead came news of her elder brother Jiang Xinzhi’s death in battle. After her brother’s death, her life truly had no more hope.
Having died once, she saw things more clearly than before. She wouldn’t place hope in the heartless Jiang Quan again. Rather than sitting waiting for death, better to take initiative. As for letters—there was no need. Jiang Quan wouldn’t read them, and they’d end up in Jiang Susu and her daughter’s hands as mere entertainment.
“Father is busy with official duties. There’s no need to write this year.” Jiang Ruan looked at her fingertips: “Nanny Lan, I have no letter to send.”
Nanny Zhang was stunned. Every year Jiang Ruan would write letters to take back. Whether these letters could be effective, all the servants knew, but no one would actively abandon their own hope. Yet now Jiang Ruan was no longer sending letters back—was she truly disheartened and no longer hopeful?
Nanny Zhang looked at Jiang Ruan somewhat suspiciously but couldn’t see anything wrong. She reluctantly suppressed her uneasiness. No matter what, the more disheartened Jiang Ruan became, the easier it would be to report to the person above—it was actually good for her. She smiled: “In that case, this old servant will go arrange the grain. I take my leave.”
After Nanny Zhang and Chen Fang left, Bai Zhi asked puzzledly: “Why isn’t Miss sending a letter? Are you angry with Master?”
“Days are precious—where’s the leisure to be angry with him?” Jiang Ruan sat down at the table, looking at the pale girl’s face in the rust-spotted bronze mirror: “We’re all going back anyway—what letter to send? If there’s something to say, better to say it face to face.”
“Going back?” Lian Qiao’s eyes lit up: “Has Miss thought of some way to return?”
Jiang Ruan reached out her hand, slowly stroking the gaps around the bronze mirror’s edge, smiling faintly.
There was naturally a way, but before leaving, there was still a debt to collect.