Inside the room, Hua Zhi lay on the bed and carefully shifted to one side to make herself comfortable, then pointed to the two basins. “Set the small basin inside the large one and fill it with water.”

Shao Yao did so with keen interest.

Hua Zhi took out a paper parcel and handed it over. “Place the contents into the large basin.”

Shao Yao lifted it and sniffed. “Saltpeter?”

“Correct.”

Shao Yao crouched down and tipped the saltpeter into the large basin.

Nothing more needed to be said. Before Shao Yao’s eyes, the water in the small basin turned to ice. She pressed a finger to it — cold pierced straight through to the bone.

“Saltpeter can be used this way?”

Hua Zhi rested her chin in her hand with a smile. “Shao Yao, I won’t ask who is behind all this — but I have truly received a life-saving grace from him. I would trouble you to pass this method along and convey my thanks on my behalf. Compared to a life saved, this is a humble thing — but it is the most sincere token of gratitude I am able to offer right now.”

The day was stuffy and close. Shao Yao simply settled down beside the basin and stayed put. “Does the Hua Family not need money most urgently right now? Why did you not use this method before the Hua Family’s downfall?”

“In those days the Hua Family had no lack of money, and I had no wish to draw that kind of attention.” Wealth, in excess, could sometimes be more burden than blessing. Before the assets were seized, the Hua Family’s fortune had been more than enough for generations. “As for now — the Hua Family needs to keep its head down and stay quiet. It is best, for the time being, that the Emperor forgets we exist entirely, rather than drawing his notice through something like this.”

Shao Yao gave an understanding nod. From what she knew of the Emperor, if the Hua Family — whose household had just been stripped — suddenly began amassing great wealth again, his displeasure would only deepen. It might very well invite further retribution out of sheer pique.

“Do you have any conditions?”

“This is only a gift of thanks. Whatever ice I make in the future will be for my own use alone — I will give none to others. If I must name a condition…” Hua Zhi thought for a moment. “I hope no one learns that this method came from me. Beyond that, I would ask a favor — could you arrange to have some ice sent over? The cellar needs a quantity of it to make a cold room, so the fruit will not spoil when stored there.”

“I will relay the message.” Shao Yao sat cross-legged with both hands cupping her cheeks. “Can we still be friends?”

So she had come to regard her as a friend already. Hua Zhi smiled, her eyes filled with genuine and wholehearted delight. “Of course. There is no conflict.”

After Shao Yao returned, she went straight to the study without setting down her medicine chest, and right there, in front of Shizi, produced a basin of ice. “Hua Zhi’s gift of thanks.”

It was as simple to do as it was inexpensive, the cost almost nothing at all — yet the profit it could yield was beyond imagining. Shizi looked at the ice basin, the vapor curling above it, for a long moment before speaking. “Repeat her words to me. All of them.”

Shao Yao recounted every word without omission, then added, “I think she did not want to remain in your debt.”

“This is no light gift.” Shizi turned his gaze to Shao Yao. “And you? What was your gift of thanks?”

“She said we are friends.” Shao Yao’s face lit up at once. A friend — she was a person with a friend now!

A friend — so she would not say thank you. He was an outsider, so she returned a weighty gift. She knew clearly where the lines were drawn.

Since she wished to settle accounts, let them be settled. “Tell her the gift of thanks has been received. Ice will be delivered shortly. And tell her this as well — should she encounter difficulty in the future, I can help her once.”

“Yes, then I’ll be off.” Before he could answer, Shao Yao was already sprinting for the door. At this hour she could just make it in time for dinner — the mere thought of Fu Dong’s cooking made her swallow and run faster.

Chen Qing, waiting at the doorway, watched her disappear into the distance. He stepped inside, amusement already plain on his face before a word was spoken. “It is rare to see Shao Yao this happy.”

Shizi looked down at the basin of ice without reply.

Chen Qing followed his gaze. “This is…”

Shizi, without a word, demonstrated it for him.

Chen Qing’s voice dropped to an excited murmur. “Master, where did you get this method? It is practically a business with no cost at all!”

“The eldest young lady of the Hua Family’s gift of thanks.”

Chen Qing was momentarily stunned. “This lucrative a venture — and she did not keep it for herself? The Hua Family was stripped of everything! With a method like this in hand, money would pour in without end!”

It was precisely because the money would come so quickly that she could not use it. The Hua Family had no business drawing that kind of attention. Most likely no one else in the Hua Family even knew she held such a method — otherwise, no one would have agreed to letting it go.

Shizi offered no explanation on her behalf. “Handle this matter yourself.”

“Yes.” Chen Qing had already forgotten what he had come for in the first place and left as quickly as he had come. This was money — great handfuls of it! Though it was true the master was never short of money — but still, who would ever say they had too much!

Shizi turned away. His gaze came to rest on the silver hairpin lying beneath the weights on his scrolls, and he found himself thinking, without quite knowing why, of its owner — the woman in the rainy night, fierce and beautiful as a blade.

For the estate’s many tenant farmers, who had for years been subjected to the overbearing ways of the Chen Jin household alone, things had suddenly grown lively. Those who happened to pass by the main gate grew more numerous by the day. Once word spread that it had been the Chen Jin household all along behind the abuses — and that the eldest young lady of the Hua Family had since reduced the rent back to its proper level — goodwill toward the Hua Family had risen to an unprecedented height.

There were, of course, those who harbored grievances. Chen Jin was, when all was said and done, a servant of the Hua Family — had the Hua Family managed things properly, none of this suffering would have come to pass. But such thoughts they only dared hold in their minds. What actually came out of their mouths still concerned Liu Juan.

For all that the eldest young lady had arrived in time, it remained a fact that she and Chen Chong had been alone together in a room. Who could say whether she had come out of it unscathed? It was none of their concern, and when people speak without it touching their own lives, their words tend to be unkind. Liu Jiang had already gotten into several fights these past few days.

His long-held resolve against letting his sister go into service had also wavered considerably — though he was not yet ready to give it up entirely. “Juan’er, nobody is forcing you into anything. Think it over properly again. Serving others is not easy work.”

“I have thought it through very clearly.” She folded the last piece of clothing and secured the bundle’s knot, then looked back at him with a smile. “Brother — I have made my decision. There is nothing I would more willingly do. The eldest young lady is a good person. Everyone around her is good. You don’t know how dangerous it was that night. I heard from Sister Bao Xia afterward that the eldest young lady had deliberately put herself in harm’s way to draw that person out. She was afraid he might do something terrible — slip into the rooms and kill us one by one. Have you ever heard of a mistress like that? I certainly have not. I’d rather follow her for the rest of my life than be talked about by people, spend my days being looked down upon, and end up with some man who looks down on me, ground into the dirt for the rest of my days.”

“Juan’er…”

“I know. You can fight off three or five men — but can you silence all their mouths?” Liu Juan lowered her head. “There’s nothing to be done about it. I will simply serve the eldest young lady well for the rest of my life and spare myself all that suffering.”

“Juan’er, your brother won’t stand in your way — I won’t, I promise — but don’t talk like that. ‘Serve for the rest of my life’ — are you thinking of selling yourself entirely? “

“That is exactly what I intend.”

Liu Jiang’s expression changed at once. “Are you out of your mind? Do you know what selling yourself means? It means your very life is in someone else’s hands. Life and death are no longer yours to decide. If something should happen to the Hua Family again, you would be dragged down with them. Juan’er, a lifetime is not something said in a few words — it is decades, lived out one day at a time. By the time you regret it, there will be no remedy.”

“I have considered all of it. Brother, trust me — I made this decision only after thinking it through very carefully. In truth, I had already spoken to Sister Fu Dong about it before now. She said the eldest young lady has high standards. Everyone around her she has trained herself. For the time being she is not taking on anyone new, so even if I wanted to go, she would not have me.”

“Then why are you still—”