She opened her eyes and immediately closed them again, then opened them, then closed them once more. After repeating this twice, Cheng Qing concluded that she was not lying in her own bed at home, but had somehow ended up in an unfamiliar place.
She moved her arms and legs — all four limbs intact, nothing broken. She sat up. No problem there. Who, she wondered, could have moved her from her home to this place in the dead of night without making a sound? They hadn’t even woken her.
Cheng Qing had always been a light sleeper, especially on nights when her parents were away on business trips and she was home alone — her hearing became almost supernaturally sharp. Once, a mouse climbing into the kitchen to rifle through the trash can had barely gotten its paws on the lid before Cheng Qing had already leapt out of bed, run to the kitchen, and taken a swing at it with a tennis racket. The old rat that had long made the Cheng family kitchen its territory had bolted in shock, scurrying off resentfully, pausing for just a moment as it slipped out through the exhaust fan opening to twist around and give Cheng Qing a look of pure contempt with its beady little eyes, as if to say: I was only after some garbage — was that really necessary? It’s not as if I could get the fridge open!
Furious, Cheng Qing had chased the rat off and gone back to bed. After that nothing else disturbed her sleep — she hadn’t even dreamed. She had simply opened her eyes upon waking and found herself here.
The room was not large. The walls were a powdery white, hung with a landscape painting. The ceiling was paneled in wood. By the window stood a carved side table, on which sat a pot of orchids. The furnishings were simple and elegant. She suddenly noticed a dull ache in her body — she touched the bed and found it hard-planked. Of course it would ache; anyone used to a soft bed would feel it after a night on boards like these.
The bed itself had an antique air, like a piece furnished in the style of the Ming-Qing period, complete with a canopy frame and bed skirting, its joints fitted together using a cloud-pattern and cross-pattern mortise-and-tenon design, finely crafted. Around it hung curtains of pale yellow gauze. Cheng Qing thought the bed was beautiful — a reproduction this fine would not have come cheap. The pillow was long and cylindrical, embroidered with flowers. She pressed it and felt tiny grains inside, and laughed — an “embroidered pillow stuffed with chaff,” just as the old saying went, apparently for real this time.
The place was unnaturally quiet. Since she was already awake, Cheng Qing decided not to lie back down. She wanted to see where she was, and who had brought her here.
She steadied herself and thought it through. She hadn’t done anything to feel guilty about — she was well-liked at school, on good terms with everyone from the top students to the ones at the bottom of the class. She didn’t owe anyone any debts, not so much as a cup of borrowed rice. As for her parents — the thought of her parents made her heart lurch. Could her mother and father, both government officials, have offended someone? The thought left her deeply uneasy.
She stretched a foot out to put on her shoes and froze. She raised her hand in front of her eyes and froze again. She looked down at herself, felt around urgently, and then panic seized her — her mind went blank, her heart pounding wildly, tears springing to her eyes. This — this body was not hers! And the clothes she was wearing were not modern clothing either.
Cheng Qing gasped for breath, and without thinking, opened her mouth and cried out: “Mom!…”
The door was pushed open, and a woman in her twenties hurried in. “Third Miss, Mother is here. Did you have a nightmare?”
Cheng Qing was startled all over again. “Mother?”
The woman came over and gently embraced her. “Third Miss, be good, Mother’s here, don’t be afraid. Did you have a bad dream? Look at you, drenched in sweat!” She gently wiped the sweat from Cheng Qing’s brow with a handkerchief. A faint fragrance drifted over. Cheng Qing trembled in fear — this really wasn’t a dream! The woman seemed to sense it and pulled Cheng Qing into her lap, patting her back and soothing her: “Mother’s here. Be a good girl, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid.”
By now Cheng Qing was so overwhelmed with fright that her whole body had gone rigid, and she couldn’t even speak. Realizing something was wrong, the woman began to shake her gently. “Third Miss, what’s the matter? Third Miss? Someone come!”
Two more people rushed in from outside — one dressed as a maid, the other as an old nanny. They asked, alarmed, “Seventh Madam, what’s wrong with the young lady?”
The woman’s voice now carried a note of anger. “The young lady has always been afraid to sleep alone — do the two of you look down on us, mother and daughter, that you’d be so careless?”
The two women dropped to their knees at once, faces going pale. The older one, bolder, spoke first: “Seventh Madam, this humble servant saw that it was already broad daylight and past time, so I went to fetch the young lady’s clothes for the monthly exam — I never imagined she’d have another nightmare!” The younger maid, on the verge of tears, added: “The young lady overslept today. I, Xiao Yu, called out to her twice and she answered, so I went to prepare the hot water. I thought she was already awake. Please forgive me, Madam — I’ll never leave her side unattended again!”
Seventh Madam sighed softly. “Go and get things ready quickly. There can be no carelessness today.”
Nanny Zhang and Xiao Yu, grateful, glanced at Seventh Madam, bowed, and hurried out.
Seventh Madam murmured soothingly to Cheng Qing: “Third Miss, Nanny Zhang and Xiao Yu are both people Mother chose carefully, after a long search. They both mean well by you.”
Cheng Qing’s teeth were still chattering. She still didn’t understand what had happened, and nodded without meaning to. A sound like a mosquito’s whine came from her mouth: “Mm.”
Seventh Madam cupped Cheng Qing’s face in her hands, her voice as gentle as ever. “Third Miss, Mother knows you’re terrified of today’s exam. But Mother has only you, her one daughter. If you throw a tantrum again and ruin the monthly exam and lose face, then afterward, life for the two of us here in the Li household won’t be easy.” Having said this, she frowned.
Just then Nanny Zhang came in carrying a stack of clothes, and Xiao Yu followed with a copper basin.
Seventh Madam set Cheng Qing down and, taking her small hand, said, “Come, Mother will do your hair today.”
Nanny Zhang shook out a blue-green skirt and tied it around Cheng Qing’s waist, then draped a purple-red short jacket over her, fastening one sash after another. Cheng Qing had become nothing more than a puppet, letting herself be arranged.
Once dressed, Seventh Madam led Cheng Qing to sit before the dressing table. Cheng Qing caught sight of an unfamiliar face in the bronze mirror and, clapping her hands over her face, let out a cry of shock: “Ah!”
Seventh Madam glanced at the sky, her face showing a flash of anxiety. “Third Miss, it’s getting late — if we don’t finish dressing you now, we won’t make it in time. If you’re late, your father will… oh, whatever shall we do!”
Monthly exam? My father? Cheng Qing slowly lowered her hands and slowly opened her eyes, which welled up with tears again. Who is this? Why have I become so small? Why do I look like this? She could hardly believe it, staring blankly at the red-eyed, pale, thin child in the mirror — no more than six years old.
Seeing Cheng Qing sitting obediently before the mirror, Seventh Madam, Nanny Zhang, and Xiao Yu redoubled their efforts to finish dressing her. In a little while, the mirror showed a small beauty with wide eyes, a delicately shaped heart of a face, and hair done up in two drooping buns. Seventh Madam, satisfied, pinned a flower-jade hairpin into Cheng Qing’s hair, tilting her head to admire her work, a smile spreading across her face.
Nanny Zhang said cheerfully, “The young lady looks just like Madam. She’s sure to grow into a beauty too.”
Seventh Madam took Cheng Qing’s hand and walked her out of the room. Stepping out the door, Cheng Qing saw that this was a courtyard, with a sky-well in the middle where two large stone fish tanks sat, and between them a crab-apple tree in full bloom. It must have rained that morning — the sky-well was still damp, and the crab-apple blossoms glowed all the more vivid red for it. But this was no time to admire the scenery. Seventh Madam’s steps were hurried, as if she feared being late.
Cheng Qing suddenly thought — Seventh Madam was taking her to some kind of monthly exam, something that seemed very important. Hadn’t she said earlier that it had something to do with how the two of them, mother and daughter, were treated within the Li household? Mother and daughter? Cheng Qing’s heart lurched again. Seventh Madam looked to be no more than twenty-three or twenty-four. She was calling her “Mother”?
Cheng Qing tried to steady herself. She wanted to know what this monthly exam actually involved, before turning to think further about the strange transformation she’d undergone. She tugged at Seventh Madam’s hand, tilted her face up, and asked: “What do I need to be careful of at the monthly exam?”
This was the first time all morning that Seventh Madam had heard Cheng Qing ask a question related to the exam. She stopped in her tracks, and stroked Cheng Qing’s head with tender affection. “Third Miss, Mother knows you’ve tried your best — tried to learn the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting well. But since you don’t enjoy those things, you haven’t learned them well enough. Still, Third Miss, promise Mother this: no matter whether you answer well or badly, you must not cry, and you must not lose face!” As she said this, a flash of resentment crossed Seventh Madam’s eyes. “Whatever games they want to play with us, we will not shed a single tear! Remember that, Third Miss?”
Cheng Qing looked at the earnest urgency in Seventh Madam’s eyes and nodded. Just don’t cry — that’s all I need to do! She sighed inwardly. What kind of environment is this? What is this body’s temperament like? And what is this father like, who has married at least seven wives?
Seventh Madam led Cheng Qing by the hand into a large hall, and the hall fell quiet at once. On rows of chairs to the left and right sat five women, each adorned with pearls and jade, their heads glittering. Two chairs in the center sat empty — clearly for the father and his principal wife. Seventh Madam gave a small smile, bowed slightly to the left, and said, “Younger Sister is late — forgive me, elder sisters.” She performed the same courtesy to the right. The seated women gave noncommittal nods. Seventh Madam, apparently used to everyone’s coldness, didn’t wait for a return greeting, and led Cheng Qing to sit in the last seat on the right. Only then did she release Cheng Qing’s hand, letting her stand beside her.
Cheng Qing looked to the left. The three women there must be three of the father’s wives; beside them stood two girls, one about ten years old, the other seven or eight. Cheng Qing thought — Seventh Madam calls me Third Miss, so these two must be her older sisters. On the right, two more women sat in the senior seats, with no children beside them.
Cheng Qing quietly compared each of the wives to Seventh Madam. She thought each had her own kind of charm — some plump, some slender, each striking in her own way. Seventh Madam, too, had a delicate heart-shaped face, a pointed little chin, and a pair of crystal-clear eyes; her petite figure gave off an air of frailty. Cheng Qing thought, when I grow up, I’ll probably look like Seventh Madam.
While Cheng Qing’s eyes wandered about, she noticed the two girls across from her wrinkling their noses at her, then turning away disdainfully, looking utterly spoiled. She almost laughed — little brats! Then she remembered she herself had become even smaller than they were, and a wave of misery washed over her, and she lowered her head.
Just then came the tinkling of jade pendants and hairpins, and all the wives rose to their feet, saying in crisp voices: “Greetings to Lord Husband, greetings to Elder Sister.”
Then came a man’s voice: “Everyone be seated. It’s the monthly exam today — are A’Lei, A’Fei, and A’Luo all ready? I wonder if there’s been any progress in this quarter’s exam.”