The north wind blew flurries of snow spinning through the air, and frost had formed on the blue bricks. In the courtyard, two elderly women in blue cotton robes were spreading out mats to collect the accumulated snow.
Seeing Bai Yun return, the slightly plumper woman stopped what she was doing, looked up, and smiled at her: “Young lady, you’re back! The snow and wind are so heavy, it must have been difficult making this trip!”
Bai Yun was a second-class maid, and these lower-ranking women had to carefully curry favor with her. Though feeling superior inside, she humbly replied, “It was just a small errand ordered by the young miss, nothing serious. What are you collecting this snow for?”
Li Po quickly said, “The young miss ordered it. She wants us to collect more snow water and store it in clay jars for use…”
Bai Yun’s voice unintentionally softened: “Is the young miss awake?”
Li Po said, “She woke up not long ago and is reading by the window.”
Only then did Bai Yun carefully proceed toward the door. She rubbed her hands together, seeing only her breath turning white. Lifting the curtain to enter, she immediately felt a warm sensation throughout her body. Charcoal burned in the brazier. To the right of the door stood a screen—a magnificent and exquisite hundred-bird brocade screen inlaid with white and emerald jade. Leaning against it was a cloisonné vase with twining lotus patterns, containing several half-bloomed plum blossoms.
On the large kang bed by the window sat a small chicken-wing wood table with a beast-shaped incense burner. The young miss was leaning against a large golden cloud-patterned pillow, holding a book with her elbow resting on the edge of the bed. She wore a furry sable cloak over her clothes. Her hair was without any decoration; the smooth dark tresses fell onto the dark blue satin surface of the sable cloak. Her demeanor was languid. Cai Fu stood beside her, waiting.
Seeing her enter, Jin Chao slowly raised her head: “Have you inquired about it?”
Bai Yun nodded, stepped closer, and said in a low voice: “The kitchen manager Zhou told me that Qing Pu was taken by the Second Young Miss two years ago, and should be serving in her small kitchen. Young Miss, why did you suddenly ask about her? Wasn’t Qing Pu sent to the kitchen by you for stealing one of your jade and gold hairpins…”
Jin Chao gave her a cool glance, then lowered her head to continue reading her book. “My affairs are not for you to question. You’re becoming increasingly ill-mannered. Go help Li Po and Chang Po collect the snow.”
Bai Yun’s heart immediately tightened, knowing she had said the wrong thing. What business was it of hers to comment on the young miss’s affairs?
Bai Yun looked somewhat uneasy. Outside, heavy snow was falling and the weather was cold. If she went to collect snow water, her delicate jade hands would certainly develop chilblains. But she couldn’t disobey the young miss, so she acknowledged the order with a “Yes” and retreated from the room.
Jin Chao raised her head and asked Cai Fu, who had been standing silently nearby: “Where is Liu Xiang? I haven’t seen her.”
Cai Fu said: “Didn’t you send her to deliver a box of pine nut sweet rice dumplings to the Fourth Young Miss? The snow is heavy and the roads are slippery, so she might be delayed on the way. Young Miss, sitting by the window is quite cold, and your health isn’t fully recovered. Perhaps you should lie down on the bed first…”
Jin Chao waved her hand: “Go and dispose of this incense. Unless necessary, we shouldn’t burn incense in the room.”
The fragrance was too sweet and cloying; smelling it made her dizzy.
Cai Fu acknowledged and carried the incense burner out to empty the ashes. After she lifted the curtain and left, Jin Chao put down her book and looked at the furnishings in her room. Nearby stood a red mahogany thousand-craft bed carved with magnolias, qilins, and auspicious clouds, with silk curtains patterned with twining lotus. Through the four lattice screens on the left, she could see a table made of golden nanmu wood. By the window, there were also two red lacquered chairs, and on a tall table stood a pot of evergreen pine bonsai.
Jin Chao closed her eyes.
When she woke up last night, this was the luxurious scene she saw, yet she still hadn’t adjusted to it. Not because the setting was unfamiliar—on the contrary, this was the place most familiar to her: the Clear Tong Courtyard of the Gu family home before she married. But when she had fallen seriously ill, this place had already been given by her father to a newly elevated concubine.
The maid Bai Yun had been sent away by the Old Madam for speaking out of turn shortly after Jin Chao married into the Chen family.
Cai Fu hadn’t gone with her to the Chen family; eventually, when she grew older, Jin Chao’s father rewarded her to a Gu family steward as a concubine.
Yet now everything she saw was still intact and undamaged.
Jin Chao read for a while and indeed grew tired. Without waiting for Cai Fu to return, she supported herself on the tall table beside her, put on satin shoes, and stood up.
Cai Fu had said she caught a cold and had been sick for several days.
Jin Chao remembered this matter. Her mother had fallen gravely ill when she was fifteen and passed away half a year later. While her mother was seriously ill, she had heard that Chen Xuanqing and several other young masters from noble families were going to attend a flower-viewing party at the Duke’s mansion. Eager to meet him, she had hurriedly dressed up.
Unfortunately, the snow and wind were too heavy that day, and the plum blossoms hadn’t bloomed well. She and Liu Xiang waited for a long time but never saw Chen Xuanqing arrive. After returning, she fell ill and didn’t visit her mother or attend to her illness for four or five consecutive days.
Thinking of this, Jin Chao couldn’t help but clench her hands. She had indeed been too absurd before. While her mother was seriously ill, she had been eager to see the one she loved, not knowing that in just four or five months, her mother would pass away due to severe illness.
Jin Chao sat before the dressing mirror, confused as she looked at the young woman in the reflection. This mirror had been brought back from Jiangsu by her third uncle during his business travels. The edge was carved with peonies, birds, and beasts, extremely exquisite. Her maternal grandmother had given it to her.
The young woman in the mirror had black hair reaching her waist, a complexion white as jade, a pair of autumn-like eyes that seemed to gleam with moisture, and lips as delicate as new peaches.
Beauty comes in many forms—some beauties are as delicate as willows, others as pure and noble as orchids. Yet Gu Jin Chao was as gorgeous and enchanting as a crab apple flower.
Though beautiful, such looks made her appear like a decorative vase to be admired.
Although Jin Chao had studied with tutors while living with her maternal grandmother, read enlightenment books, and even touched upon the Four Books—more than most noble young ladies—she didn’t appear clever but rather too dazzling.
As a young girl, Jin Chao had treasured her beauty but later grew increasingly weary of it. She disliked her flamboyant behavior, and eventually even resented her appearance, wishing she could sit in a corner where no one would notice her.
Gu Jin Chao touched her face, thoroughly puzzled. She didn’t understand why she had returned to the Gu family, why she had transformed back into her fifteen or sixteen-year-old self.
Was this merely a dream? After waking, would she still be the Third Madam in the Chen family, waiting for death?
She had been awake for two days, but during these two days, she had been in a daze without much energy. She only felt people speaking beside her ear, but couldn’t hear what they were saying. Only in the morning did her spirits improve somewhat, and she forced herself to speak with Cai Fu and others. That’s when she learned she had been ill for many days. And everything around her was too real, too clear to be a dream.
Perhaps Heaven pitied her difficult life and wanted to let her return for a visit.
Jin Chao was somewhat moved. She walked to the huanghuali wood long table where Guanyin was enshrined, knelt on the gold-embroidered woven mat, and sincerely prayed: “If the Bodhisattva truly pities me, let me stay for some time, at least to see my mother and brother…”
She originally didn’t have such items in her room. When her mother had been seriously ill for a long time without improvement, Jin Chao, anxious and worried, had enshrined Guanyin Bodhisattva in her room, praying for her mother morning and night. When she had time, she would even hand-copy Buddhist scriptures and burn them for the Bodhisattva.
Cai Fu soon returned with the incense burner. Seeing the young miss about to rise from kneeling before the Bodhisattva, she hurried over to help her.
Jin Chao glanced at her. Snow covered her hair and shoulders, suggesting she had been standing in the snow for quite some time. How could simply emptying incense ashes require standing in the snow for so long?
“Have you emptied the incense ashes?”
Cai Fu said: “I emptied them in the flower bed where the holly is planted. I heard incense ashes are good for plants.”
Jin Chao looked through the lattice screens and saw Bai Yun standing in the snow. The snow was still falling heavily, and the two elderly women were collecting their mats. She didn’t expose the truth. Bai Yun was a gossipy maid whom she had once indulged, but after arriving at the Chen family, she nearly caused trouble for Jin Chao by engaging in private conversations with other maids. Such a character indeed needed to be disciplined.
Cai Fu took the sable cloak and draped it over the young miss’s shoulders, hearing her softly ask: “What did she say about me?”
Cai Fu’s hand tightened. Seeing the young miss’s face as calm as water, composed and serene, she didn’t know why she felt a chill in her heart. She quickly smiled and said: “The young miss is overthinking. I was just discussing with Sister Bai Yun how to store the snow water.”
Jin Chao made a sound of acknowledgment: “Then tell me, how should it be stored?”
Cai Fu said: “It should be sealed in jars, preferably placed underground, or in the shade of plants and trees. Otherwise, the snow water will lose its spiritual properties and become ineffective.”
Jin Chao looked straight at Cai Fu. This maid was smarter than Bai Yun; how had she not noticed before?
She was well aware that she had originally been rash and impulsive, with a bad temper. When things didn’t go her way, she would punish and scold her maids. Few among her maids were truly loyal to her. Most feared her sudden anger might result in them being beaten half to death.
Wasn’t that what happened to Qing Pu? She had been a senior maid brought back from Madam Ji, Jin Chao’s maternal grandmother. But she happened to touch on something related to Chen Xuanqing that displeased the young miss. The young miss didn’t like her and sent her to work as a menial in the inner courtyard kitchen.
Jin Chao didn’t continue questioning. Her fingers gathered the strings of her cloak as she noticed her hands—slender, white, and fine. “Help me change my clothes. We’re going to visit my mother,” Jin Chao instructed Cai Fu. How was her mother now? She had been sick for so many days without visiting her. And… she also wanted to see Concubine Song. Thinking of this person, Jin Chao’s heart tightened. If not for Concubine Song, she and her mother wouldn’t have ended up in such a predicament later.