Taking advantage of the good afternoon sunlight, Lian Qiao took the quilts from inside the room out to the courtyard to air them. The old quilts had sparse cotton filling, practically just a thin layer, which stood out glaringly among the thick and vibrant quilts filling the courtyard.

Chun Ying was directing several young maids to hang several cotton quilts from Zhang Lan’s room on the ropes outside. Compared to the dull ones in Lian Qiao’s hands, the quilts before Chun Ying were embroidered with exquisite peony patterns and stuffed full of newly carded cotton from this year, bulging and plump, clearly very thick and substantial. The quilts pressed the clotheslines so heavily they sagged downward. Chun Ying called out loudly: “Be careful! Mind you don’t snag the backing – it’s the finest silk!”

Lian Qiao didn’t even glance at her, walking directly to the other side and raising her hands to hang the quilt on the rope. The quilt was light and weightless, extremely easy to hang. Seeing Lian Qiao, Chun Ying laughed: “Oh my, Sister Lian Qiao is also personally airing quilts!” Then she glanced at the quilt on the rope and said: “You all should learn from this. Look how capable Sister Lian Qiao is – she can air quilts all by herself and it doesn’t even look strenuous, unlike us who feel exhausted even when several people lift them together.”

The young maids began giggling, and one of them laughed: “Perhaps the quilts in Miss’s room use superior cotton – they look practically weightless. Such quilts must be so comfortable to sleep under, unlike our quilts which are thick, large, and heavy as death.”

Lian Qiao smoothed out the wrinkles on the quilt, ignoring their mockery. Seeing this, Chun Ying persisted unwillingly: “Lian Qiao, why are you only airing Miss’s quilts? Why don’t you also air yours and Bai Zhi’s quilts together? Let us see if your quilts are the same as Miss’s and different from ours.”

The young maids laughed again. This blatant insinuation that a master’s quilts were inferior to even the servants’ was truly excessive. Lian Qiao’s willow eyebrows shot up as she was about to lose her temper, when she saw a sweetly smiling young maid hurrying over: “Sister Lian Qiao, what you asked me to find…”

“Lu Zhu,” Lian Qiao interrupted her: “Wait a moment.” She smoothed out the wrinkles on the last quilt, then turned around and took the young maid’s hand: “Come over here to talk.”

The two walked to one side, huddling very close together, not knowing what they were discussing. After a while, Lian Qiao picked up the empty wooden basin and left. After Lian Qiao departed, Chun Ying called out to the young maid who was also about to leave: “You’re called Lu Zhu, right?”

Lu Zhu looked at Chun Ying with some timidity: “Yes.”

“Don’t be afraid,” Chun Ying said: “What were you just talking about with Lian Qiao?”

“Nothing… nothing much.” Lu Zhu shook her head, just looking down at her own feet.

“What’s there to fear? I won’t eat you,” Chun Ying’s voice turned somewhat vicious: “Why would Lian Qiao look for you for no reason? What were you two sneakily plotting just now? You should understand who’s really in charge here. If you don’t explain clearly today, you needn’t stay at this estate anymore.”

“Don’t!” Lu Zhu suddenly raised her head, her eyes reddening with helpless panic: “Sister Chun Ying, don’t drive me away from the estate.”

“As long as you explain things clearly, I naturally won’t do anything to you.” Chun Ying said: “I’m not an unreasonable person either. Looking at your unfamiliar face, you must be a newly arrived maid. Work well, and I won’t let anyone bully you in the future.”

“Really?” Lu Zhu raised her head, her expression somewhat hopeful.

“Would I deceive you?” Chun Ying’s tone became increasingly gentle, though in her heart she was certain that Lian Qiao’s matter definitely had something suspicious about it.

“Actually, Sister Lian Qiao looking for me wasn’t much of anything,” Lu Zhu said: “She just heard that my embroidery work was quite good and asked me to embroider a water lily on the torn part of Miss’s clothing so it wouldn’t show.”

Chun Ying looked at her suspiciously: “Just that?”

“Mm.” Lu Zhu nodded.

“How very strange. Miss usually never bothers with clothing matters. How did she suddenly think to have a water lily embroidered on her clothes?”

“This…” Lu Zhu hesitated somewhat.

“What else is there?” Chun Ying asked urgently.

“I heard they received a pot of Moonlight Beauty flowers from outside, and tonight Miss wants to go to the pear orchard to appreciate the flowers. She wants to dress nicely so as not to slight such precious flowers.” Lu Zhu spilled everything: “I heard that Moonlight Beauty is extremely precious, and it’s a rare variety that can bloom on winter nights.”

“Moonlight Beauty?” Chun Ying felt strange: “The estate received a pot of Moonlight Beauty? I haven’t heard of such a thing.” She glanced at the person before her: “Alright, if there’s nothing else, go do your work.”

Lu Zhu responded and turned to leave. After Lu Zhu departed, Chun Ying stood in place talking to herself: “In such circumstances now, how can she still have the mood to appreciate flowers? Even if she has the mood to appreciate flowers, why would she need to specially find a beautiful outfit? Usually she cares least about such things. Today’s behavior is so abnormal – there must be another reason. I must figure out what they’re really planning.”

In the side courtyard room, Bai Zhi was also taking books from a trunk to air them. A full trunk of books was spread out to dry in the courtyard. While carefully turning the pages, Bai Zhi said: “Miss’s trunk of books is quite well-preserved. After the New Year when the rooms become damp, they need to be taken out to air regularly.” Then she thought of something else: “When Madam was alive, she also loved books very much and would air them every day.”

“Mother came from a military family, yet she collected these precious reading materials just to please someone’s heart, though it ended up benefiting me.” Jiang Ruan said softly, looking at the books in the courtyard.

The Zhao family’s ancestors were military generals, accustomed to the sandy, bloody battlefields. All the men in the family were military heroes, but the only legitimate daughter, Zhao Mei, fell in love with Jiang Quan. The entire Zhao family strongly opposed this, but Zhao Mei insisted on marrying down in status, so the Zhao family severed relations with their only daughter.

After Jiang Quan married Zhao Mei, she learned that Jiang Quan favored learned and talented scholarly women, so she searched far and wide for many rare books to study carefully. Who would have known that shortly after, Jiang Quan would marry the capital’s foremost talented woman, Xia Yan, as his noble concubine.

This trunk of books – Zhao Mei ultimately didn’t live to see the day she finished reading them all, while Xia Yan transformed from noble concubine to become the current Madam Jiang. Jiang Ruan smiled self-mockingly. Until her death, Mother never understood that if someone truly doesn’t love you, nothing you do can win their heart. From past to future, what Jiang Quan loved was never talented women in general, but Xia Yan as a talented woman specifically.

“Is Miss thinking of Madam?” Bai Zhi looked at Jiang Ruan’s expression: “If Madam were still here and saw Miss now so clever and sharp, she would surely be comforted.”

Jiang Ruan smiled slightly, neither confirming nor denying. Bai Zhi walked back and was startled to see the book in Jiang Ruan’s hands: “Why is Miss reading military strategy again? You don’t need to go to battle now – why not read some story books or poetry instead?”

“Even if I don’t go to battle, enemies will still come to my door,” Jiang Ruan’s gaze fell on the four characters of military strategy before her: Luring the Snake from Its Lair.