“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Zhou Chujin scrambled to her feet in a panic, tightly embracing Zhou Shaojin while calling loudly for the maids, “Chi Xiang, Shi Xiang, light the lamps quickly!”

The room brightened.

Zhou Shaojin looked at the fresh blood on her hands, her face revealing shock as she broke down in a piercing scream: “Blood, blood, blood…”

“Shaojin, Shaojin.” Zhou Chujin was so frightened her voice changed, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, elder sister is here! Elder sister is here!” As she spoke, she also saw the blood on Zhou Shaojin’s hands. She hurriedly lifted the quilt and saw that the area beneath Zhou Shaojin had bloomed with a stain. Zhou Chujin breathed a sigh of relief, her anxious heart settling down, both amused and exasperated as she said: “It’s alright, it’s alright, nothing’s wrong, nothing’s wrong, it’s your monthly courses that have come!”

Was it really so?

Zhou Shaojin looked at Zhou Chujin with lingering fear and unease.

Zhou Chujin tapped her younger sister’s forehead and smiled: “Would elder sister lie to you? Look at yourself…” She shook her head with a laugh, saying, “Our Shaojin has grown up too!” By the time she finished speaking, her tone was filled with emotion.

Zhou Shaojin didn’t understand.

But Fan Liushi, who had heard the commotion and rushed in披着衣服趿着鞋, understood perfectly.

“This is Second Miss’s first time!” She instructed Shi Xiang with a beaming smile, “Go boil some brown sugar water for Second Miss right away!” She herself turned and returned to her own room.

Zhou Chujin held her younger sister close, whispering explanations of various precautions into her ear.

But Zhou Shaojin remained in a daze.

So it meant that what had just happened was only a dream.

It wasn’t a return to the past.

Yet that dream had laid bare the secret she had hidden deep in her heart for these ten years, too afraid to touch.

Back then, when news of Cheng Lu and Wu Baozhang’s engagement spread, it came extremely suddenly. At that time, elder sister had already married, and grandmother and eldest aunt were secretly helping her prepare for her own wedding. Not to mention the fourth household, even Cheng Jia’s mother, Jiang Shi, felt extremely surprised and had rushed over urgently to verify the truth.

Grandmother, usually so strong and resolute, collapsed with illness all at once.

Uncle Mian was so angry he cursed loudly. Cheng Yi rolled up his sleeves wanting to settle accounts with Cheng Lu, but was stopped by Cheng Gao: “Things have come to this point—could we really make Cheng Lu break his engagement with the Wu family? Even if he wanted to break the engagement to marry Shaojin instead, don’t think we would agree.” He sneered coldly, “We can only blame ourselves for not seeing people clearly, mistaking a white-eyed wolf for a gentleman. Shaojin still has to marry in the future. If you make such a fuss, to Cheng Lu it’s merely a romantic affair, but it could cost Shaojin her life. A gentleman’s revenge can wait ten years. Just watch—if I don’t deal with him, I won’t deserve the surname Cheng.”

Eldest aunt also restrained Cheng Yi: “This matter was merely a verbal agreement between our two families. We never exchanged any tokens. Originally, we were in the wrong. You absolutely must not make a scene. If any gossip spreads, the only one who will suffer is Shaojin.” She counseled further, “Let’s just consider it being bitten by a dog. Later, eldest aunt will find you someone even better than Cheng Lu, and you’ll live happily and harmoniously, making that Cheng Lu regret it.”

She was unwilling to accept it.

It wasn’t as if she had been desperately clinging to Cheng Lu. Now that Cheng Lu had broken faith and abandoned righteousness, it had somehow become her fault. Not only that, but she had also implicated grandmother, eldest aunt, uncle, and her cousins, causing them all to lose face along with her.

So when father wrote saying that stepmother would come to take her to his post, she refused to follow stepmother to Baoding, declaring: “My affairs will naturally be decided by grandmother.”

Stepmother didn’t dare make the decision and wrote to father, temporarily staying at the Cheng family residence.

Cheng Lu didn’t come, but Wu Baozhang did.

Wu Baozhang knelt before her, face full of shame: “This marriage was arranged by my stepmother. By the time I found out, both families had already exchanged formal agreements… If I had known beforehand, I would never have agreed…”

She simply didn’t care what Wu Baozhang thought.

Cousin Gao was right—no matter what, their two families couldn’t possibly break the engagement. Even if the engagement were broken, she wouldn’t marry Cheng Lu anymore. She just wanted an explanation!

Cheng Jia invited her to stroll in the garden, saying she had something to tell her.

They walked to a small grotto formed by Taihu rocks near the water pavilion. Cheng Jia mysteriously winked at her, saying: “Wait here for me. I have something good to give you.”

She waited in the grotto for Cheng Jia to return.

Instead, she encountered the drunken Cheng Xu.

Zhou Shaojin began to tremble.

Like chaff being sifted, unable to control it, her teeth chattering together making clicking sounds.

“Shaojin, Shaojin.” Zhou Chujin was so frightened she was nearly in tears. She embraced her younger sister tightly once more, shouting directly at Fan Liushi, “Go quickly and fetch eldest aunt! Go fetch eldest aunt quickly!”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Zhou Shaojin clutched her elder sister tightly, like a dying person grasping at a lifesaving straw, greedily drawing warmth from Zhou Chujin’s body, “I’m just cold, elder sister hold me, hold me… Don’t go call eldest aunt, it’s too shameful… I’d rather die… Don’t go call eldest aunt…”

“Alright, alright, alright. I won’t call eldest aunt.” Zhou Chujin’s tears fell like rain, “I’ll hold you, I’ll hold you.”

Zhou Shaojin wouldn’t relent until Zhou Chujin called Fan Liushi back.

Zhou Chujin nodded, exchanging meaningful glances with Fan Liushi.

Fan Liushi stood at the doorway.

Zhou Chujin held Zhou Shaojin tightly.

Zhou Shaojin buried herself against her elder sister’s shoulder, crying softly.

She seemed to hear Cheng Jia’s piercing scream and that incredulous voice: “Why are you here? What are you doing? How could you do something so beastly! I’m going to tell my mother—no, I’m going to tell First Aunt…”

Then many people rushed over.

Someone helped her up, sent her back to her bedroom, cleaned her body, changed her clothes, tucked her under the quilts…

She remained in a confused state, unable to distinguish day from night.

Afterward, she was helped to the main hall.

Eldest aunt and Yuan Shi were arguing there. Yuan Shi pointed at her nose and cursed her as wanton and debauched.

Later still, father rushed back, standing before her bed silently shedding tears.

Uncle Da supported grandmother as she walked in, bending her knees to kneel and apologize to father on her behalf.

Father silently helped grandmother to her feet without a word, then walked out.

So she became engaged to Cheng Xu.

Yuan Shi wanted to personally instruct and guide her.

Grandmother and eldest aunt disagreed.

Yuan Shi raised her chin high, sneering coldly: “She will be our Cheng family’s primary daughter-in-law. You couldn’t even properly supervise a young lady kept in the inner chambers—how much less a eldest grandson’s wife managing the household?”

Grandmother and eldest aunt were rendered speechless, their faces flushing red.

“I’ll go!” She stood up.

Eldest aunt wiped away tears, helplessly helping her groom and dress.

Cheng Xu stole glances at her on her way to the first household.

Yuan Shi humiliated her in the side room of the main chamber.

She even instructed her personal nanny right in front of her to select several pretty, clever-natured maids to serve as Cheng Xu’s concubines in the future.

She knelt numbly in the side room reciting the Admonitions for Women, letting them torment her as they pleased.

But one day, when she inadvertently looked up, the contempt and disdain revealed in those maids’ and servants’ eyes as they looked at her pierced her heart like needles.

She suddenly awakened.

Feeling as if she had been dreaming an impossibly long dream.

Why should she live such a life?

What had she done wrong?

Why could Cheng Xu receive no punishment whatsoever and remain carefree, while she had to be condemned by everyone and suffer here?

Where had elder sister gone?

She wanted to find elder sister!

If elder sister knew what kind of life she was living, she would surely help her!

She stuffed all the gold and silver ingots from her trunks into her clothing. On a dark and windy night, she and her wet nurse Fan Liushi left the Cheng family residence and departed Jinling.

Fan Liushi found a large cargo vessel bound for the capital. The two of them hid in the lower hold. She vomited the entire journey to the capital, but when they reached Tongzhou, they encountered a severe snowstorm and were trapped at the courier station. Only after Fan Liushi pawned the Fan family’s ancestral gold bracelet could they find their way to the Liao family’s old residence in the capital.

She didn’t know whether news of her escape had reached the capital, whether the Liao family knew what had happened in Jinling. Fearing that elder sister would be looked down upon because of her, she rented a small courtyard not far from the Liao residence to settle.

The northern wind and snow cut like knives against one’s body, bone-chillingly cold.

Fan Liushi crouched at the entrance of the alley where elder sister lived, waiting for people. She huddled in a room with no heated floor, drafty on all sides, with only a brazier for warmth. It wasn’t until the ninth day that Fan Liushi, her face blue from cold, finally appeared before her with elder sister, who was covered in snow and concealing her face with a wind hood.

“How have you become so thin?” Elder sister exclaimed in shocked disbelief.

Whether from cold, fear, or shame, she trembled uncontrollably, unable to speak a single word.

Fortunately, elder sister asked nothing. She removed the fur coat from her own body and wrapped her tightly in it, turning to Fan Liushi: “How can this place be fit for living? Pack up. In a moment, accompany Second Miss to move to my dowry farm.”

Those caring words, the warmth still carrying elder sister’s body temperature and fragrance, caused Zhou Shaojin—who had been terrified and uneasy but forcing herself to endure—to burst into wailing sobs like a breached levee.

Elder sister gently patted her back, comforting her.

Fan Liushi seemed to want to speak but hesitated.

“It’s fine!” Elder sister said in a low voice, “I’ve already sent Ma Ci—all the servants there will be sent to my farm in Langfang, and the maids and servants attending you will also be purchased from Shandong. After Second Miss recuperates for a few days and her complexion isn’t so poor, and those maids and servants are properly trained, you can move to my place. If the Liao family asks, just say that Shaojin missed me and came to the capital specially to visit me.” As she spoke, her expression suddenly turned cold, “Her son is a treasure, but are our Zhou family daughters mere grass? Just stay at my place. I’d like to see who dares say one word against you. After some time passes, I’ll find Shaojin a good marriage match, lest she think that aside from the Cheng family, Shaojin has nowhere else to marry!”

Could she still marry in such a state?

Did elder sister truly know what had happened to her?

She widened her eyes in astonishment, not daring to look at elder sister, turning her gaze toward Fan Liushi instead.

Fan Liushi nodded with tears in her eyes.

Her heart lightened.

To have to tell that shameful incident again with her own mouth to the elder sister she cared about most, who was closest to her—she would rather jump into Lake Mochou.

“Elder sister!” She wanted to stop her elder sister, but could only murmur, not knowing how to begin.

“I have my own plans for this matter.” Elder sister said, forcibly suppressing her indignation, “You just focus on recuperating your health peacefully at my small farm!”

Yes, with elder sister protecting her, what did she have to fear!

She set her mind at ease, peacefully recovering her health at the small farm.

Who could have known—a bolt from the blue—she was pregnant!