After a night of rain, the second day dawned clear, but the bedding in the room was completely soaked.

Tong’er was drying the bedding while Jiang Li sat inside the room. On the table lay a stack of shoe soles. This was also part of her daily tasks—after sewing fifty shoe soles, she could earn a string of copper coins. The copper coins weren’t much use on this mountain, and Tong’er couldn’t go down the mountain either. They could only wait for the peddler who came up the mountain to buy some sweet cakes from him.

This was Jiang Li and Tong’er’s only luxury.

Looking out from the window, Tong’er stood on a stool hanging bedding. Not far away, nuns in gray robes walked past without even glancing at them.

They couldn’t order these nuns about. When Jiang Li was originally sent here for making a mistake, the only person brought along with her was Tong’er. Tong’er was the maid Ye Zhenzhen had chosen for Jiang Li and had always stayed by Jiang Li’s side.

The little girl had quite a temper. Looking at the retreating backs of two nuns, she spat and cursed, “Featherless hens!”

Jiang Li knew she had been refused a dry mattress that morning and was cursing out of discomfort. She couldn’t help but smile.

Like master, like servant. After staying here for six years, Tong’er was still like this. Probably the original Second Miss Jiang had an even more fiery temperament. Thinking about it made sense—if she wasn’t fiery-tempered, she couldn’t have done something as drastic as attempting suicide in rage.

Would such a fiery-tempered person cry injustice after pushing her stepmother and causing a miscarriage?

Jiang Li thought about the things she’d learned from Tong’er. Supposedly, Second Miss Jiang had vehemently denied harming her stepmother. Jiang Li thought that if she had really done it, she probably would have confidently and loudly admitted it.

But these matters didn’t matter much now.

After Tong’er finished hanging the bedding and returned, she sat beside Jiang Li. She had been frightened by Jiang Li and feared that if she wasn’t careful, Jiang Li would throw herself in the lake again. These past days, she had stayed close to Jiang Li, never leaving her side. Seeing Jiang Li in a daze, she picked up a shoe sole herself and began working on it. Jiang Li looked at the dense needle marks on the little girl’s fingertips, snatched away the shoe sole and tossed it aside, saying, “Stop doing it.”

“Huh?” Tong’er didn’t understand. “In three more days the peddler will come. Didn’t Miss want to eat malt candy?”

Jiang Li shook her head and asked in return, “Do you want to sit here for your whole life, just waiting for malt candy every month?”

“Of course not.” Tong’er asked, “But we can’t leave here right now either.” Then she muttered, “We wrote letters to the master before, and to Old Madam Ye too. Why haven’t we gotten any response?” Tong’er’s little face fell. “They haven’t forgotten about us, have they?”

Jiang Li sighed. Never mind sending letters—their every move right now was probably under someone’s watchful eye. Generally, when a young miss who made mistakes was sent to a family temple, since the master’s family also sent silver to entrust her care, the nunnery people wouldn’t treat them too badly. Yet the nuns here were clearly making things difficult. After Jiang Li fell ill, they hadn’t even called for a physician. This was probably all orchestrated from Yanjing.

As for who that person was, one didn’t need to guess—it was that second wife.

If Jiang Li had truly caused her miscarriage, Ji Shuran definitely wouldn’t let Jiang Li off. If Jiang Li hadn’t caused her miscarriage, then Ji Shuran staged this drama with the purpose of not letting Jiang Li off either.

Moreover, now Jiang Li’s marriage arrangement had been stolen too. Jiang Li had nothing left—a maternal family she had rejected and never contacted? An abandoned legitimate daughter in this place—even if she were killed, it wouldn’t cause any waves.

But why hadn’t Ji Shuran killed her?

Jiang Li didn’t believe it was because the other party was soft-hearted. Perhaps she herself still had some use to that second wife, or to the Jiang family. Wasn’t this a common occurrence? Daughters used as stepping stones, married off to forge alliances, paving the way for fathers and brothers’ official careers—just like Shen Yurong. The difference was that Shen Yurong used himself as the bargaining chip for the alliance while treating Xue Fangfei as an obstacle.

Second Miss Jiang reminded her of herself—both had their belongings stolen by others, both had their nests seized by magpies, both unable to defend themselves.

Tong’er watched helplessly as Jiang Li’s expression darkened, involuntarily shivering.

She didn’t know why, but Tong’er felt that since Second Miss woke up, she had become somewhat strange. Second Miss had always been straightforward, speaking her mind plainly. She had even fought with the nuns in the nunnery, easily excited and easily angered. Of course, this wasn’t Second Miss’s fault—it was all those bad people’s fault.

But since waking, Second Miss had never gotten angry. She was gentle and mild, her speech became soft and slow, making it impossible to know what she was thinking. And when she fell silent in thought, Tong’er felt somewhat afraid.

Jiang Li’s fingers stroked the finished insole before her. The stitching on the insole was fine and dense. Though Tong’er was a bit noisy, her needlework was truly quite good.

She needed to find a way to leave here.

Xue Fangfei in Yanjing should be dead, but she didn’t know how those beasts Princess Yongning and Shen Yurong had covered up the lie. She still needed to go see Xue Zhao again, and she had to find a way to return to Tongxiang. Xue Huaiyuan was dead, both his children dead too—who would collect his body? She hadn’t even seen Xue Huaiyuan one last time.

She had to leave here. But now in Yanjing, in all of the Yan Dynasty, no one remembered Jiang Li. A person no one remembered wouldn’t be taken away from here.

If that was the case, then she could only leave here on her own initiative.

If no one remembered, then she would make the world remember. That wasn’t particularly difficult to accomplish.

Jiang Li suddenly smiled.

Tong’er looked at her in shock. This was the first time in these past days that Jiang Li had smiled—not the cold smiles or bitter smiles from before, but a smile of genuine pleasure and contentment. This smile made her sallow face instantly come alive, brilliant as morning flowers.

“Tong’er,” Jiang Li asked her, “You said a peddler comes up the mountain?”

“Yes,” Tong’er said. “Zhang Huolang comes here at noon on the tenth day of the fifth month every year. We’ve already arranged with him that if he has good pastries, cakes, and candy, he should come to us first and let us pick.”

Truly a maid from a great household. Even though fallen on hard times, even with only a string of copper coins to spare, she still spoke with considerable authority.

“Does he have a lot of candy?” Jiang Li asked.

“A lot,” Tong’er asked. “Does Miss want to eat candy?”

Jiang Li smiled faintly. “I do.”

It was too bitter. Because it was too bitter, she longed for the sweet taste of honey candy. This candy could let her taste sweetness and could also make certain people taste bitterness.

Tong’er said cheerfully, “It’s good that Miss wants to eat candy! These past days we’ve saved up quite a few copper coins—we can exchange for several baskets. Miss can eat as much as she wants!”

Jiang Li said, “You mentioned that Helin Temple is nearby, right?”

Tong’er stared at her blankly and asked, “Does Miss also want to offer incense?”

“No,” Jiang Li said. “I don’t believe in Buddha.”

Tong’er didn’t understand.

Jiang Li’s smile grew a bit gentler. She said, “What’s worth believing in Buddha for?”