Hua Zhi brought Hua Ling with her into the study.
“The scholar who saved you also came. Did you notice him?”
Hua Ling nodded. A face bruised black and blue appearing among that crowd of refined, composed men was rather difficult to miss.
“This morning I had someone send a share over to him, but he must have set out early and they just missed each other.” She gestured for Hua Ling to sit, then spread out paper, picked up her brush, and dipped it in ink. Seafood transported from the south had little vitality remaining; without proper care, it would not last a few days. Those nearing death had to be dealt with promptly to preserve freshness as much as possible — overseeing all of this truly required someone with a strong sense of responsibility.
Nanny Chen was a longtime servant the Old Mistress had brought from the Qin family. Her son had followed her grandfather to the northern frontier; her daughter had married the son of one of the household’s stewards. Given that this was a food business, having someone whose entire family was within the Hua household overseeing that matter would put Hua Zhi considerably more at ease.
Hua Ling tried to hold herself back, but could not. “Elder Sister, may I look?”
“There is nothing you cannot see.” Hua Zhi did not even raise her head — she genuinely seemed not to mind in the slightest.
Hua Ling happily leaned over and read each character carefully, fixing them in her memory. She dared not aspire to become someone like her elder sister — she only wished to learn from her as much as possible, and then a little more.
Meanwhile, in the chambers of Concubine Qin of the First Branch, another conversation was taking place.
Concubine Qin was prodding her daughter Hua Rong on the forehead with one finger, her expression full of exasperated frustration. “You are clearly Hua Zhi’s own sister by blood, yet it is Hua Ling who has found the opportunity to get close to her. Are you truly content with that?”
Though Hua Rong was not entirely pleased either, the past six months living with her two elder sisters had been genuinely agreeable, and so she argued back, “What do you mean, Third Sister is getting close to Elder Sister out of ulterior motives? You don’t know anything — don’t say such things.”
“I am saying things out of order? I am only thinking of you. Everything in this family now rests in Hua Zhi’s hands. If you don’t cultivate a good relationship with her, do you think any of the advantages will come your way?”
“Elder Sister protected even the cousins from the extended branches — would she treat me, her own half-sister, poorly? Before what happened to Third Sister, Elder Sister spoke very little with her, yet the moment something went wrong she gave up everything to protect her. I believe that if something happened to me, Elder Sister would do exactly the same.”
Concubine Qin was so infuriated she nearly choked. “Where do you get such confidence—”
“From the fact that I am a Hua, and from everything I have seen and heard during this time!” The usually gentle Hua Rong was pressing forward quite forcefully now. “If you scheme behind everyone’s backs, you will be the one bringing harm to me as well as yourself. Mother, do not do anything under the banner of acting in my interest. Before you hatch any crooked schemes, think about what became of Hua Yan!”
“Rong’er, I am your own mother — would I harm you?”
Hua Rong’s heart lurched. Her mother had truly been planning something, or she would never have said that.
Pressing hard on the pressure point between her thumb and forefinger to steady herself, Hua Rong forced down her alarm and asked softly, “Mother, could you tell me what you are planning?”
Concubine Qin glanced behind her. The maidservant understood and, taking the others with her, withdrew from the room.
Concubine Qin walked over and closed the door herself, then dragged a round stool to sit beside her daughter. Her expression held a suppressed excitement, almost feverish, and she spoke in a low, conspiratorial voice, like someone up to no good: “I have found a wonderful match for you.”
“Mother, we are still in mourning! Do you want people to point at my back and condemn me?”
“Keep your voice down!” Concubine Qin lowered her own voice and quickened her words. “Who said anything about marrying you off right now? What is the hurry?”
Hua Rong’s heart went cold. This woman, who of all people in this household should have been the most earnest in mourning the Old Mistress — it was the Old Mistress who had given her the standing to enter as a concubine, who had given her the backing to bear a son for the First Branch. The first wife was gentle and had never once exerted pressure over a concubine, had never withheld a single thing from Hua Rong as an illegitimate daughter. Not every privilege had been equal to those of a legitimate daughter, but compared to illegitimate daughters in some other households, she had truly been living in sweetness.
There had been a time when, swayed by Concubine Qin’s goading, she had harbored other thoughts — but over the past year she had felt grateful countless times that she had never truly acted on them. She had always shown the proper respect to her first mother. Otherwise, she feared she would not even have known whose hands she had suffered at. With Elder Sister’s abilities, if she truly wanted to deal with her, it would have been the easiest thing in the world.
Precisely because she understood this, she was so afraid of Concubine Qin bringing disaster down upon both of them.
Pressing harder on the pressure point to steady herself, Hua Rong lowered her head and softened her tone. “Which family has Mother found?”
Concubine Qin assumed she was simply bashful, and thought nothing of it. “The Xie family.”
The Xie family? Hua Rong quickly turned it over in her mind. There were two Xie families in the capital. One was roughly comparable in standing to the Hua Family of old — almost certainly not that one. The other was…
“Vice Director Xie of the Board of Revenue.”
As she had thought. Hua Rong didn’t know enough about that family to say whether it was a good match or not, but what she wanted to know far more at this moment was: “We haven’t seen you leave the household these past few days, Mother. How did you come to be connected with the Xie family?”
“Since when is it impossible for me to have a few friends who have stood the test of time?” Concubine Qin gave an indignant look and turned the conversation back to the matter at hand. “Don’t look down on Vice Director Xie for being only a fifth-rank official — he is barely past thirty, with a brilliant future ahead of him. The moment word got out that he was looking to remarry, any number of people fixed their eyes on the opportunity. If I didn’t have some friendship with one of the Xie family’s concubines, this fine prospect might never have come to you.”
A chill spread through Hua Rong’s heart. “Remarry? A fine prospect? Mother, you want me to be someone’s replacement wife?”
“It will be done properly, with three matchmakers and six betrothal rites. You need not worry about Hua Zhi doing anything to you — it is not as if you are throwing yourself at someone to be their concubine, like that Hua Yan!”
“And weren’t you the one who threw yourself at Father to become his concubine—”
Smack!
The sharp sound of a palm striking flesh was especially loud in the closed room. Hua Rong pressed her hand to her stinging cheek and did not move. She did not know how to face a mother who wanted to send her to be another man’s replacement wife.
The anger drained out of Concubine Qin, and she came back to herself. Looking at the vivid handprint on her daughter’s face, she was filled with remorse and resentment all at once. Tears came streaming down, one after another. “How could you say such a thing to me — I am your mother!”
“Yes, Mother. A mother who wants to send her daughter to be someone’s replacement wife.” Hua Zhi rose to her feet and walked toward the door without looking back at Concubine Qin.
“Rong’er!” Concubine Qin rushed over and seized her arm, weeping bitterly. “Everyone will harm you — I alone will not. Why would you rather believe that Hua Zhi will treat you well than believe in your own mother? I cannot bear to watch you let the best years of your life slip away!”
Hua Rong turned to look at Concubine Qin. “Yesterday I went with Second Sister to keep Third Sister company. Third Sister said she no longer wishes to marry — being at home with Elder Sister protecting us is perfectly good. I felt the same way at the time. With Elder Sister protecting us at home, why go off to some other family to endure hardship and suffering? Mother, trust cannot be demanded of someone — it is earned. We trust Elder Sister because she has never once let us down. She says very little, but she never stops doing.”
“But a woman must always marry eventually.” Concubine Qin pressed on earnestly. “Do you think the Hua Family, as it stands now, still has much room to be selective? Never mind that the Xie family wants a replacement wife — his first wife left behind only a single daughter…”
“I think the Hua Family right now is very good. Exceptionally good.” Hua Rong dipped in a shallow curtsy, pulled open the door, and left without looking back.