The pleasant spring days always passed quickly, and soon summer’s heat arrived. Lu Zhu had bought large blocks of ice to place in the room. Though the Empress Dowager had bestowed considerable silver, and ice was a precious commodity, Jiang Ruan didn’t lack for it.
Lian Qiao brought up chilled lotus leaf and lotus seed porridge. Jiang Ruan tasted it—sweet and refreshing, cool and pleasant, truly a summer delicacy. Though there weren’t many bamboo plants in the western corner of the courtyard, that touch of verdant green was beautiful enough, so despite the blazing sun outside, Ruan Residence always maintained a refreshing atmosphere.
Lu Zhu loved the cool and took on all the embroidery work in the room. Jiang Ruan didn’t scold her for it. Tianzhu sat like an ornament, watching Lu Zhu embroider handkerchiefs. In truth, Tianzhu wasn’t lacking in skill—on the contrary, her embroidery could pass for the work of the capital’s famous needleworkers without raising suspicion. It was precisely because she was so outstanding that it seemed suspicious. Though Jiang Ruan usually wore brightly colored clothing, she ultimately didn’t care much about such things, so she simply had Tianzhu refrain from needlework and just focus on gathering information.
The room was cooler, but the sun outside was visibly growing stronger. It was already afternoon. After lunch and a bowl of cold sweet treats, Jiang Ruan felt drowsy. Just as she was thinking of rising to rest on the daybed, someone arrived in the courtyard.
The visitor was Du Juan from beside Madam Jiang. Tianzhu asked, “Why have you come?”
Du Juan smiled, “A former colleague of the old master visited Madam and sent two bolts of silk fish thread. She asked this servant to bring one bolt to the young miss.”
Jiang Ruan asked, “Do Third Sister and Fourth Sister have some too?”
Du Juan smiled at Jiang Ruan. Now no one in the Jiang Manor dared underestimate this eldest miss. Though when the late madam was alive, she had been neglected by the master, and the late madam, eldest young master, and eldest miss could be bullied by any servant in the manor—everyone thought they could never rise again in this lifetime. Who knew that now the eldest young master had transformed into a Great Jin Dynasty general, and the eldest miss had become the current dynasty’s County Princess? Even without the County Princess title, the General’s Manor clearly supported her, so who would dare look down on her? Thus, people’s fortunes were truly mysterious. She said, “There aren’t any. There were only two bolts total. Madam originally wanted to give them to the lady, but she said she was too old, and it would look better on young ladies of the manor at such a good age. By status, you and Second Miss naturally deserve them, and Third Miss and Fourth Miss are indeed still rather young.”
Jiang Ruan almost wanted to laugh inwardly. Jiang Li and Jiang Dan were now grown young ladies who had celebrated their coming-of-age ceremonies. The four sisters were of similar ages—this was about distinguishing between legitimate and concubine-born. This was originally understandable, except it was Xia Yan who had suggested it. Jiang Ruan had Bai Zhi accept the bolt of silk fish thread and said to Du Juan, “In that case, please thank Grandmother for me, Du Juan.”
Du Juan quickly smiled and declined, “Young Miss, you’ll be the death of this servant.” Looking at Jiang Ruan’s smiling appearance, she felt even more emotional. By rights, Jiang Ruan usually didn’t put on airs, and even after becoming County Princess, she hadn’t deliberately required servants to treat her with County Princess etiquette. However, she only needed to stand there and glance over lightly to make people feel heavy-hearted, as if she possessed the bearing that only palace nobles had.
After speaking with Jiang Ruan for a while longer, Du Juan hurriedly left.
After Du Juan departed, Jiang Ruan had Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao open the silk fish thread Du Juan had brought. Silk fish thread came from Persia and was still quite rare in the Great Jin Dynasty. Such a bolt could be worth a hundred gold pieces. It was actually a type of brightly colored silk thread. Indeed, when Du Juan and Bai Zhi opened it, Lu Zhu exclaimed in amazement.
Each thread was lustrous white as jade, seemingly emanating the faint luster of pearls, delightful just to look at. If used on clothing to embroider a flower… it would certainly cause quite a stir among the capital’s noble ladies.
Lu Zhu was already excited: “This thread is so beautiful! Why don’t we have Tianzhu embroider a flower—no, no, flowers are too vulgar and would waste such beautiful thread. How about fireflies? Tianzhu’s hands are so skillful, she could surely embroider them exquisitely.”
Tianzhu walked to the silk fish thread and gently stroked the threads. Lu Zhu said protectively, “Be gentle. Don’t damage the threads.”
As soon as she finished speaking, they saw Tianzhu bend down and gently sniff the threads.
Jiang Ruan watched her thoughtfully. After a moment, Tianzhu straightened up, rewrapped the silk fish thread and set it aside, her brow furrowing imperceptibly.
Jiang Ruan watched her thoughtfully and spoke up: “Is there a problem?”
“The silk fish thread itself is fine,” Tianzhu said, “but this bolt has been treated with a type of incense that creates a special effect when combined with the silk fish thread.”
Jiang Ruan raised an eyebrow. “What kind of effect?”
“If a pregnant woman smells this incense, she will definitely miscarry within three days. Even if an unmarried young lady smells too much of it, she won’t be able to conceive children.” Tianzhu said flatly.
“What?” Lian Qiao was startled and nearly rushed forward to tear the threads apart in anger. “How could this be? How could Madam send such threads?”
Tianzhu said, “The incense on top is still fresh. It should have been soaked overnight and dried.”
“It wasn’t Grandmother—it was Xia Yan.” Jiang Ruan smiled slightly. Though Xia Yan was now pregnant and couldn’t handle many matters personally, she still firmly controlled the household management. Items sent by Madam Jiang’s old friends needed to be recorded, so they naturally passed through Xia Yan’s hands. For Xia Yan to tamper with them would be easy as turning her palm. When Du Juan said the silk fish thread was only sent to her and Jiang Susu, she had already felt something was wrong. Xia Yan truly didn’t disappoint her.
“What does she want to do? Such audacity, daring to harm the young miss right in this manor!” Bai Zhi was also furious, but no longer thought of having Jiang Quan seek justice for her as in the past.
“She’s not only targeting me.” Jiang Ruan smiled. “Fifth Aunt’s belly has already passed three months.”
Hong Ying’s belly was growing larger, and Xia Yan probably couldn’t sit still any longer. But Hong Ying did things flawlessly, guarding her small courtyard strictly—not even a fly could get in. Jiang Quan had also agreed to let Hong Ying use her own small kitchen, making it extremely difficult for Xia Yan to act. However, the child in Hong Ying’s belly remained a thorn in her heart. Sons of the Jiang Manor could only come from her womb.
Xia Yan must have been desperate to think of this method. Though Jiang Quan didn’t like Jiang Ruan, people in the manor knew that Hong Ying and Jiang Ruan had a good relationship. The servants all said that compared to stepmother Xia Yan, Jiang Ruan naturally favored Hong Ying, which was understandable. So though Jiang Quan was displeased, he didn’t prevent it.
Hong Ying often came to sit in Ruan Residence. Such precious and beautiful silk fish thread—even a daughter of Jiang Ruan’s age would eagerly use it on clothing. And if she truly wore clothes embroidered with silk fish thread while sitting with Hong Ying for a while, Hong Ying would miscarry upon returning. When investigated later, if it traced back to the clothing, Xia Yan could say that there was one bolt per person, and Jiang Susu had no problems, so the issue definitely wasn’t with the fabric. In the end, it would become an incident of Jiang Ruan poisoning an aunt’s unborn child.
Killing two birds with one stone—eliminating the child in Hong Ying’s belly while giving Jiang Ruan a vicious reputation. Even being a County Princess wouldn’t matter; such an accusation would be unbearable.
Xia Yan had calculated beautifully, truly admirable.
Jiang Ruan smiled slightly. After waiting so long, she had finally waited for this docile turtle to extend its limbs. Since it had moved, they would see who struck more decisively.
Tianzhu pondered briefly: “Miss, shall this subordinate switch this thread with Jiang Susu’s thread?” Even though she now followed Jiang Ruan, Tianzhu still called herself “subordinate” as she had with Xiao Shao.
“Why use a cleaver to kill a chicken?” Jiang Ruan shook her head. “No need for you to act—someone will solve this problem for us.” Since Xia Yan wanted to target Hong Ying, how could Hong Ying not fight back?
She asked Tianzhu, “You understand poisons?”
“I once followed my master to deal with Southern Borderlands people, so I know a little. The incense on this isn’t particularly rare.” Tianzhu said.
“Very good. Is there an antidote?”
“I’ll try.”
…
When Hong Ying came to Ruan Residence as usual, she accepted tea from Bai Zhi while looking at Jiang Ruan’s clothing with slight amazement: “Your embroidery is quite beautiful. The thread seems to glow.”
On Jiang Ruan’s bright red chrysanthemum-patterned upper garment, a snow-white phoenix was clearly embroidered. The embroidery craftsmanship was exquisite, the phoenix lifelike, and the thread faintly emitted a pearl-colored radiance, making the phoenix appear ready to fly off the garment.
Jiang Ruan smiled: “Grandmother sent silk fish thread—it’s quite beautiful. If Aunt likes it, you can take the remaining thread back.”
Such thread was already rare, and Hong Ying loved beauty greatly. Hearing this, she was overjoyed and immediately took the fabric back with her.
After Hong Ying left, Tianzhu looked at Jiang Ruan strangely. After a moment of silence, she still asked, “Miss, why do this? Wouldn’t it be better to have this servant simply switch the threads back?”
“Naturally that wouldn’t be good.” Jiang Ruan smiled slightly. “Xia Yan naturally needs to be dealt with, but Hong Ying is too clever. With clever people, if you don’t have leverage over them, it’s hard to guarantee their future loyalty.”
Of course, Jiang Ruan didn’t tell Tianzhu the most important reason. Because of Pei’er’s relationship in the previous life, though she wouldn’t pity the child in Xia Yan’s belly, she wouldn’t actively kill either. Having Tianzhu act was one thing; guiding Hong Ying to act was another. Xia Yan and Jiang Susu had played the borrowed knife killing method expertly in the previous life—in this life, she wouldn’t be inferior.
Jiang Ruan instructed Tianzhu: “Tomorrow morning, go tell Fifth Aunt that the thread contains incense that causes miscarriage, and that Madam tampered with it.”
…
Early the next morning, when dawn was just breaking and Jiang Ruan was still washing up, Hong Ying rushed into Ruan Residence carrying that bolt of silk fish thread. Perhaps suddenly hearing this news had weighed heavily on her mind—Hong Ying’s expression showed rare anxiety, completely unlike her usual composed and unshakeable elegance. She immediately asked, “Eldest Miss, what exactly is going on?”
Yesterday she had truly loved that bolt of silk fish thread and brought it back to her courtyard, still thinking about what pattern to make, when early this morning Tianzhu from Jiang Ruan’s side came to inform her that the silk fish thread had been tampered with and would cause miscarriage.
Jiang Ruan poured her a cup of tea: “Aunt, don’t be anxious. I was also caught in this trap.” She sighed. “This type of incense, if used by an unmarried young lady, might later cause… infertility.”
Hong Ying was stunned—this was something she hadn’t considered. She looked at Jiang Ruan hesitantly: “Eldest Miss, what will you do now?”
“What else can I do? Find a physician to examine me.” Jiang Ruan shook her head.
Hong Ying said, “How can this be allowed? Madam is so vicious, actually wanting to harm the young miss and the child in this concubine’s belly. Such behavior is truly detestable. This lowly concubine is merely a servant, but the young miss is precious as gold and jade, the legitimate eldest daughter of the Jiang Manor. How can you swallow this insult? The Empress Dowager cherishes the young miss—if you reported this matter to Her Majesty, she would certainly seek justice for you.”
Jiang Ruan looked at her with a half-smile. Hong Ying wasn’t a fool either—still wanting to use her to deal with Xia Yan? Where in this world were such convenient bargains? She wasn’t a bodhisattva—why should she clear obstacles for others?
“Does Aunt truly think reporting to the Empress Dowager would be better?” Jiang Ruan said.
Hong Ying’s heart jumped, hearing the implication in Jiang Ruan’s words. She hesitated: “Is there… something inappropriate about that?”
“Has Aunt thought this through clearly? This silk fish thread causes miscarriage within three days when worn. I won’t hide from you—my Ruan Residence isn’t entirely clean either. Moreover, when Aunt took the silk fish thread back yesterday, many maids saw it on the way. The Jiang Manor isn’t large, and such small matters can be discovered with careful investigation. Since Aunt is pregnant, yet carried the silk fish thread without any miscarriage reaction, if Madam learns of this, I wonder what she’ll think?”
Hong Ying was stunned, suddenly understanding Jiang Ruan’s meaning, and felt a chill run down her back.
Jiang Ruan continued: “I could certainly report to the Empress Dowager, but if Madam is truly investigated, she definitely won’t surrender without a fight. She hates Aunt so much that even if she dies, she’ll certainly drag Aunt down with her. At that time, the imperial physicians aren’t ordinary people who can be bought—they’ll know if there are any problems at a glance. In Aunt’s situation, I’m afraid you’d also meet a tragic end. I’m fine—Madam’s harm to me will eventually receive retribution, but is Aunt willing to see all that you’ve painstakingly achieved turn to bubbles? Are you willing?”
Each sentence was like a spell bewitching the heart and soul. Hong Ying murmured, “Unwilling, I’m unwilling.”
Jiang Ruan smiled slightly.
Hong Ying looked at Jiang Ruan and suddenly grabbed her sleeve: “Miss, Miss, please save this concubine. This concubine doesn’t want to be harmed by Madam. This concubine… this concubine only wants a place to stand in the manor!”
She finally understood—only the Jiang Manor’s eldest miss before her, the current Hong’an County Princess, could save her. Though Jiang Ruan said nothing, Hong Ying knew she must have a solution.
“Aunt needn’t be anxious.” Jiang Ruan patted her hand, her smile becoming even gentler. “Madam is now certain that Aunt will miscarry. If Aunt doesn’t miscarry within three days, Madam will surely become suspicious of what’s in Aunt’s belly. However, what if what Aunt took wasn’t this bolt of silk fish thread treated with incense?”
Hong Ying slowly released her grip, looking at Jiang Ruan in confusion.
“There were two bolts of silk fish thread total—one sent to my courtyard, one sent to Second Sister’s courtyard. To prove that everything is clean, I imagine Second Sister will also make such a garment. If a maid took the wrong fabric, then Aunt’s not miscarrying would just be Aunt’s good fortune.”
Hong Ying slowly came to her senses. If they switched so that Jiang Ruan’s bolt was safe and Jiang Susu’s bolt was treated with incense, she naturally wouldn’t miscarry, because the one who would miscarry… would be someone else.
Hong Ying opened her mouth, looking at Jiang Ruan somewhat incredulously: “Eldest Miss makes it sound easy, but how can this concubine exchange the fabrics?” She thought briefly: “Eldest Miss has many capable people around her. Could you perhaps…”
“Fifth Aunt,” Jiang Ruan interrupted before she could finish. “Though Madam and I have grievances, these grievances aren’t urgent. If I want revenge later, I’ll naturally think of ways. But Aunt can’t wait. Aunt, within three days, if you can’t exchange the fabrics, you’ll have to…” She smiled slightly. “Find a way to miscarry. This method is naturally also feasible, but then Aunt’s leverage would be gone.”
Hong Ying’s heart “thumped”—Jiang Ruan’s every word struck her vital points. Yes, to avoid suspicion, she could only pretend to miscarry, but then her leverage would be gone. If she could exchange the fabrics, not only could she make Xia Yan’s belly come to nothing, but she could also emerge completely clean—that incense was Xia Yan’s own tampering!
Jiang Ruan’s voice drifted over softly and gently: “Does Aunt truly not want to eliminate the child in Madam’s belly? Why doesn’t Aunt ask her own heart?”
Hong Ying’s body trembled again and again. Yes, she hated Xia Yan, and even more so the flesh in Xia Yan’s belly. If not for that flesh, when Xia Yan was most vulnerable in the manor, Jiang Quan would certainly focus more attention on herself!
Hong Ying looked deeply at Jiang Ruan and suddenly stood up: “This concubine thanks Eldest Miss for the guidance.”
Jiang Ruan smiled without speaking. Human hearts were like this—jealousy, unwillingness, comparison, hatred—just a tiny bit could devour one’s reason. Hong Ying had already made her choice. Worldly matters were like this: whatever you needed, you had to pay an equal price.
Before leaving, Hong Ying turned to Jiang Ruan and asked softly, “Eldest Miss, when you gave this concubine the thread, did you truly not know it contained deadly incense?”
Jiang Ruan picked up her tea and slowly sipped: “I didn’t know.”
Hong Ying said nothing more and turned to leave.
After Hong Ying left, Tianzhu walked to Jiang Ruan’s side: “Does she really have a way to switch the threads?”
“Naturally.” Jiang Ruan’s eyes focused. From a courtesan in a pleasure quarter to a concubine who could stand equal to the legitimate wife, still gaining the favor of the refined and noble Jiang Quan—Hong Ying was naturally no ordinary woman. Having remained safe under Xia Yan’s hostile gaze for so many years, without some ability she would have been devoured long ago.
Hong Ying wasn’t Zhao Mei. She was much cleverer than Zhao Mei, and much more ruthless.
Tianzhu looked at Jiang Ruan but said nothing. This matter required neither Jiang Ruan’s direct action nor gave them leverage over Hong Ying for nothing—naturally much better than her switching the threads.
Jiang Ruan lowered her eyes, but a strange smile appeared on her face. No mother losing a child doesn’t suffer. How she had suffered in the previous life, Xia Yan would experience the same in this life, and far more than that.