Chapter 11

A-Jiao’s eyes were indeed swollen from crying.

She woke up early, and the hairdresser hired by the Zhu family had yet to arrive. A-Jiao had learned makeup techniques at Huayue Brothel, so she asked Cui Niang to go to the kitchen to boil an egg.

Cui Niang thought the soon-to-be bride was hungry. One egg wouldn’t be enough, so when she entered the kitchen, she took two eggs from the small basket, washed them, and prepared to put them in the pot.

“What are you doing?”

A harsh voice suddenly came from the kitchen doorway. Cui Niang turned her head and saw it was Madam Jin. She glared back at her and snapped, “The young lady is hungry. I’m boiling eggs for her. What, as her aunt, you can’t even spare two eggs for your own niece?”

Madam Jin was the type to bully the weak and fear the strong. Today was not the right time to start a dispute over two eggs, so she swallowed her anger. Remembering her real purpose, she forced a smile and took another egg from the basket, handing it to Cui Niang. “You must be hungry too. Boil an extra one for yourself.”

Cui Niang eyed her suspiciously and refused to take it. “A weasel wishing a chicken a Happy New Year? What are you up to?”

Madam Jin wanted nothing more than to slap this wretched girl back to the Zhao family, but she kept her fake smile, pulled up a small stool, and sat beside Cui Niang. Casually, she asked, “Last night, A-Jiao talked with her uncle for a while. Did she say anything to you afterward?”

Cui Niang stoked the fire and huffed, “She didn’t say anything. Just hid under the blanket and cried for a long time. Obviously, your whole family has made her suffer.”

Madam Jin had seen her husband and A-Jiao sobbing in each other’s arms the night before. She pressed on, “Did she have anything in her hands?”

Knowing her husband well, she was sure he wouldn’t send A-Jiao off without giving her some money. She was already bitter about not getting any betrothal gifts from the Zhao family. If her husband had secretly given A-Jiao private funds, she was determined to take them back.

Cui Niang finally understood Madam Jin’s intent. She stared at her before suddenly mocking, “She did. The young lady took two golden walnuts. Inside, they’re filled with little gold beans. They’re hanging right on her eyes. Why don’t you go and snatch them?”

Madam Jin was first shocked that her husband had hidden away two golden walnuts, but when she processed Cui Niang’s words, she realized she had been ridiculed. Enraged, she stood up and grabbed Cui Niang’s shoulders, ready to strike.

“Enough! Are you never going to stop?”

Zhu Chang had appeared outside at some point, his cold voice cutting through the tension.

Cui Niang immediately tried to complain, “Scholar Master, please, she—”

Before she could finish, Madam Jin covered her mouth.

Zhu Chang had already heard enough. Knowing exactly what kind of person his wife was, he furrowed his brows and called her outside.

Before leaving, Madam Jin gestured a threat at Cui Niang, warning her to keep her mouth shut.

Cui Niang ignored her. She finished boiling the eggs and placed them in a bowl of cool water. Carefully holding the bowl with both hands, she carried it to the east wing. Lifting the curtain, she saw that A-Jiao had already changed into her vermilion wedding dress.

Brides wore bright red, but concubines had to choose a different shade of red. Looking at A-Jiao in her wedding attire, Cui Niang thought she was breathtakingly beautiful, yet she also felt sorry for her.

If it weren’t for her wretched aunt, A-Jiao could have married an official as his primary wife. What a perfect couple they would have made—talented and beautiful.

“Young lady, you look stunning!” Cui Niang sincerely praised her.

A-Jiao wasn’t in a hurry to leave for the wedding. Instead, while Cui Niang was away, she had secretly hidden the pouch her uncle had given her in her chest, unwilling to trust it anywhere else.

She peeled one of the eggs and set it aside to cool, then handed the other to Cui Niang.

“You’re not eating, young lady?” Cui Niang asked curiously.

A-Jiao softly explained, “Once a boiled egg cools, you peel it and roll it around your eyes. It helps reduce swelling.”

Cui Niang looked astonished.

Later, as A-Jiao rolled the egg around her eyes, Cui Niang watched in awe. Seeing how well it worked, she gazed at A-Jiao as if she were a deity, convinced the young lady could do anything.

Voices sounded from the Zhu family’s entrance—the hairdresser had arrived.

Even as a concubine, a bride had to be beautifully adorned.

Madam Jin dragged her daughter, Zhu Shuangshuang, along to watch A-Jiao have her hair done. However, their eyes were fixed on the Zhao family’s betrothal gifts the entire time. They even tried to walk over and rummage through the chests of silk and the drawers of the dressing table.

Cui Niang kept a close watch, but she was just one person. She could block one but not the other. In the end, though they didn’t steal anything, Madam Jin and Zhu Shuangshuang thoroughly inspected every piece of the dowry.

A-Jiao lowered her eyes and sat quietly, as if she was already used to such behavior.

The hairdresser, while arranging A-Jiao’s hair, caught sight of Madam Jin and her daughter through the corner of her eye and couldn’t help but feel sorry for the beautiful bride.

Of course, Madam Jin and Zhu Shuangshuang found nothing extra.

Outside, Zhu Chang suddenly called for them. The guests who had come to escort the bride were arriving.

Even if Madam Jin suspected A-Jiao was hiding something, she had no way to search her body.

======

The Zhu household was lively throughout the morning. By the afternoon, the Zhao family’s guests had also gathered. When the auspicious hour arrived, Zhao Yanping arrived with the matchmaker to fetch the bride.

The two families lived so close that the sedan bearers barely had to take a few steps to reach their destination.

Zhu Chang personally carried his niece out of the east wing. The nearly forty-year-old scholar had bloodshot eyes, his tears on the verge of falling. The guests murmured among themselves, and under their scrutiny, even Madam Jin, thick-skinned as she was, couldn’t take it. She awkwardly retreated into the house, too ashamed to face anyone.

A-Jiao did not cry. She had shed enough tears the night before.

Her uncle treated her well, but life in his household had been full of suffering. She had always felt like an extra presence, never at ease.

The Zhao family had fewer members, and the Old Madam Zhao was taking her in as a concubine, so she likely wouldn’t be too unkind. Zhao Yanping was a capable head constable, and he had once saved her life.

The thought of marrying such a hero filled A-Jiao with secret joy.

So today was the auspicious day for A-Jiao to move into the Zhao family. She felt nothing but happiness, and even toward her uncle, she felt no reluctance to part.

“Jiao Jiao, our families are so close. If you ever feel wronged in any way, just come find your uncle.”

As he placed A-Jiao into the small sedan chair draped in pink gauze, Zhu Chang leaned in close, speaking softly through the red bridal veil.

A-Jiao nodded.

Zhu Chang glanced at his niece’s delicate hands resting on her lap, then straightened up and walked over to Zhao Yanping, who stood beside his steed. Eyes red-rimmed, Zhu Chang said, “Officer Zhao, I have only this one niece. She’s had a pitiful life since childhood. Please treat her well and protect her. If she ever fails to serve you properly, I apologize on her behalf in advance.”

Zhao Yanping replied, “Rest assured, since I have taken her in, I will provide for her.”

Beyond that, he made no further promises.

A-Jiao was entering the household as a concubine, so by custom, Zhao Yanping didn’t even need to address Zhu Chang as his uncle. Their families were not formally in-laws.

Seeing that Zhao Yanping had no intention of showing him much deference, Zhu Chang silently stepped aside.

Mounting his horse, Zhao Yanping led the bridal procession on a slightly longer route, circling through another street before arriving at the Zhao residence.

Just one wall separated the two families, yet from this moment on, A-Jiao belonged to the Zhao household and had no further ties to the Zhu family.

======

The marriage rites for a concubine were simple. The Zhao family wasn’t one for excessive ceremonies, either. Zhao Yanping lifted A-Jiao’s veil—now that they had seen each other, there was no mistake in who was marrying whom, and with that, he left to entertain the guests at the banquet.

Old Madam Zhao, Liu Shi, and Shen Ying did not make an appearance, planning instead to receive the new concubine’s formal greeting the following morning. For now, they only assigned Cui Niang to stay in the east wing and tend to A-Jiao.

A-Jiao sat on the bridal bed. From the courtyard, the sounds of laughter, toasts, and revelry carried clearly into her room. The guests kept urging Zhao Yanping to drink, and she wondered how much he had consumed. Would he get drunk? And if he did, would he act wildly?

Cui Niang entered with a tray of food and set it on the small table by the window.

Now A-Jiao could hear even more clearly—today’s guests were mostly wealthy merchants, and it seemed even a county magistrate was present.

She could only listen in from a distance.

Meanwhile, Old Madam Zhao was seated at the table with the merchant ladies, but she kept stretching her neck to sneak glances at the magistrate, Xie Ying. He looked no older than his early twenties—much younger than her grandson. With refined features, bright eyes, and fair skin, he had an elegant and aristocratic air. While the others eagerly pressured Zhao Yanping to drink, Xie Ying merely clinked cups with him lightly, not insisting he drink more.

Old Madam Zhao couldn’t tell whether she felt pity or bitterness, but she suddenly lost her appetite.

A grown man, yet fairer than a woman—what a born troublemaker.

But he was a magistrate, and the son of some noble in the capital. Even if she was annoyed, she dared not say anything. Otherwise, she’d have stormed over and shut him up herself, telling him to stop seducing her good grandson.

As the feast continued, the sky darkened. The wine was nearly finished, and the dishes were scraped clean. One by one, the guests rose to take their leave.

Zhao Yanping, being the only man in the family, saw each guest off in turn. Only after the final guest had departed did the Zhao household close its gates for the night.

Zhao Yanping wanted to help tidy up the courtyard, but Old Madam Zhao grabbed his arm and shoved him toward the house. “Leave this to Guo Xing and Cui Niang. You go wash up and head inside.”

She had spent fifteen taels of silver to bring in a concubine—what for? So that at night, the girl could put her skills to good use and completely captivate her grandson!

Liu Shi also urged her son, “She’s just a young girl. Be gentle with her. Don’t be as cold and stern as you are with us—you’ll only scare her.”

Zhao Yanping glanced at his elders, then picked up a washbasin and went to fetch water from the kitchen. He took it to the back courtyard to wash his face.

Old Madam Zhao instructed Cui Niang and her brother to clean up quickly, then go straight to bed. No one was to make another sound tonight.

Then she pulled Liu Shi and Shen Ying into the west wing, urging them to lie down and sleep early.

Shen Ying, seeing that Old Madam Zhao remained seated in a chair, peeked out from under her blanket and asked, “Grandmother, why aren’t you sleeping yet?”

Old Madam Zhao lied, “I ate too much just now. I’ll take a walk in the courtyard later—otherwise, my stomach will feel uncomfortable.”

Shen Ying believed her and obediently lay back down.

Liu Shi glanced at her mother-in-law, chuckled, and also settled in for the night.

Madam Zhao extinguished the oil lamp, plunging the room into darkness.

Not long after, she heard her grandson returning from the back courtyard. He entered the east wing.

The time had come.

Old Madam Zhao crept silently out of the west wing, stealthily opened the back courtyard door, then closed it behind her. Like a giant gecko, she pressed herself against the wall outside the east wing, holding perfectly still, focusing all her attention.

All the beds in the house were placed against the northern walls, and there were small windows there as well. If there was any movement inside, she could hear it clearly if she listened carefully.

As she waited, Old Madam Zhao made up her mind—if her grandson and A-Jiao consummated their union tonight, becoming truly inseparable, she would never have to resort to these sneaky tactics again.

But if nothing happened, she would eavesdrop every night until it did!