Chapter 10

Madam Lai Shou treated Zhou Fugui like a mortal enemy — but Zhou Fugui bore no less of a grudge against her.

Back in the day, when the Marquis of Qingyun’s East and West Mansions fought over land, Zhou Fugui’s mistress, Madam Zhou, had it rough — caught in the middle between her biological father and her brother-in-law. She was stuck between two sides, unable to please either.

Zhou Fugui, her steward, had witnessed her torment day and night. He deeply resented the West Mansion’s steward, Lai Shou — You people escalated the conflict without any regard for the Madam of the East Mansion!

So when Madam Lai Shou accused him of wrongdoing, Zhou Fugui retorted with biting sarcasm:
“Well, well, look who it is — Madam Lai Shou. So how’s your husband Lai Shou doing after he got convicted and sent into exile? Life treating him well at the border?”

That “friendly” greeting made Madam Lai Shou fume.
“Everything Lai Shou did, he did for the West Mansion! And you, a mere steward of the East Mansion, think you have the right to spew your filth here? You heartless bastard — buying black-hearted cotton that made people sick all over the place! You deserve to be struck by lightning and torn apart by horses!”

Zhou Fugui sneered and said, “Oh please, Madam Lai Shou, your mouth’s like a June mosquito — out to suck me dry!”

“I’m the head of procurement. Do you know how many different items I have to review every day for the Yiyuan construction site? Dozens, at least! I just check the books and sign off if the prices match — I barely even see the actual goods! If there’s an issue with the cotton, go blame the buyer who handled it. Storming into my office like this and smashing things — what logic is that?”

“I’ve got plenty on my plate. If you keep this up and delay the construction, you’ll be the one responsible!”

Their shouting match escalated fast. Madam Lai Shou was unfazed by Zhou Fugui’s threats.
“You’re the procurement chief, and it was your job to ensure quality. The black-hearted cotton slipped past you — that’s on you! Don’t think you can just blame the lackeys and walk away clean. Lift up your fat ass and take a look — it’s covered in shit! The stench is unbearable, who do you think you’re fooling?”

Zhou Fugui pointed at her furiously.
“You foul-mouthed shrew! Your husband’s been exiled for ten years — no man in your bed for a decade! Now you’re using me to vent all that pent-up filth!”

Some men, when they can’t win an argument, resort to slander and filth — calling women loose and immoral.

But Madam Lai Shou shot back,
“I’ve walked a straight path all my life! I don’t let monks in the front door or nuns in the back — how dare you, you filthy dog! I’ll beat you to death!”

Then they lunged at each other and started fighting. The maids and old servant women rushed in, and within moments, Zhou Fugui’s face was clawed up with bloody scratches.

Zhou Fugui screamed in pain,
“Are you all just going to stand there? Do you still want your jobs or not?!”

His underlings — the buyers and serving boys — quickly jumped in to help. They were men, and stronger, so they managed to pull him out of the chaos and tried to flee toward the exit.

But at the gate stood a man, holding a heavy wooden latch. He swung it threateningly — anyone who dared to approach got smacked. It was none other than Jiuzhi, whose wife had just passed away.

Last night, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Sister E’s husband had taken over Jiuzhi’ shift so he could stay up all night performing rites for his deceased wife. His eyes were ringed with dark shadows, bloodshot from lack of sleep.

He said coldly,
“No one leaves until we get answers.”

Zhou Fugui snapped,
“I have urgent business to report to the Marchioness of the East Mansion! If you stop me, you’re disrespecting her! Madam Lai Shou may be with the Grand Matron, but you — you’re just a lowly guard! How dare you block me?!”

“I don’t care whose servant you are. We’re all slaves in the end,” Jiuzhi replied, standing like a temple guardian. He raised his hands slightly and said,
“Go ask around the West Mansion — see how I got my name.”

“You’re Jiuzhi?” Zhou Fugui looked closely and started counting — indeed, there were only nine. The middle finger of his left hand was completely gone, severed at the base.

Jiuzhi was famous across both East and West Mansions — because of exactly that: his Jiuzhi.

Once, he wasn’t called Jiuzhi. Back then, he had all ten fingers and had recently married — his wife was a stunning beauty.

One day, during a West Mansion family banquet, a tipsy clansman from the Zhang family spotted a pretty servant woman and tried to grope her — his left hand’s middle finger touched her cheek. That woman was Jiuzhi’ new bride. She escaped in distress.

When Jiuzhi heard what had happened, he waited for the drunken clansman to step out for a bathroom break. He ambushed him and, in one swift motion, chopped off the man’s middle finger.

The man’s screams were pig-like — enough to bring a crowd. Jiuzhi didn’t run. He simply stood there. Then, in front of everyone, he raised his own left hand and cut off his own middle finger.

“A finger for a finger.”
He tossed both fingers on the ground without so much as a flinch — like they weren’t even his.

That’s how he became known as Jiuzhi — infamous in both households.

The Zhang clansman who lost his finger eventually slunk back to Cangzhou, never to return to the capital. Meanwhile, Jiuzhi spent six months working in the family’s Daxing estate tending horses, then returned to the West Mansion with his wife and got promoted to a squad leader among the guards. His monthly pay jumped from 500 coins to 800.

Zhou Fugui knew better than to mess with Jiuzhi — this was a man who dared to chop off a Zhang clansman’s finger and then his own, suffered no consequences, and even got promoted. Meanwhile, that Zhang clansman had disappeared off the face of the earth.

Zhou Fugui might be a personal attendant to the Marchioness, but he was still a servant. If it came to a head-on clash, he’d be the one to lose.

When the woman from Lai Shou’s household saw that Zhou Fugui didn’t dare force his way out and had retreated, she felt immense satisfaction.  

“Zhou Fugui! If you don’t give everyone an explanation today, don’t even think about leaving!”

Now that he couldn’t outargue the woman from Lai Shou’s family, nor overpower Jiuzhi, Zhou Fugui had to resort to cunning. He cleared his throat and softened his tone noticeably:  

“This is a serious matter, and I too am grieved and outraged! The buyer responsible for purchasing the cotton blankets hasn’t come in to report for duty today. Every debt has a debtor. Let me go find him!”

The woman from Lai Shou’s household refused to let him go.  

“You’re just planning to call for reinforcements, to beg protection from the Marchioness of the Eastern Residence! Do you think we’re children you can fool?”

And indeed, if the Marchioness of the Eastern Residence insisted on protecting her own attendant, even Lai Shou’s people wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Zhou Fugui quickly assured her, “No, no, absolutely not! Early this morning, as soon as the city gates opened, the womenfolk from both households took the young masters and mistresses to the Xiangshan retreat. Our Marchioness isn’t even home. Who could I turn to?”

That was actually true. Zhou Fugui’s patroness, Lady Zhou, had left last night after the Mid-Autumn banquet, taking the Old Matriarch and the children to Xiangshan to avoid an outbreak of illness.

The woman from Lai Shou’s family, having been patrolling the Yi Garden this whole time, hadn’t yet heard that the mistresses and young masters of both households had left. She sneered:  

“Well then, since the two mistresses who manage household affairs aren’t home, I’ll go talk to the lords instead. With this old face of mine, I should still be able to get an audience.  

Jiuzhi! Guard the gate tightly—don’t let even a fly out!”

Previously, the woman from Lai Shou’s household had been wary of Lady Zhou protecting Zhou Fugui, so she’d only argued and fought with him to vent her anger. But now, learning that Lady Zhou wasn’t home, she was overjoyed—this was her chance!

She straightened her clothes and, with a group of maids and older servants in tow, stormed off to speak with the marquises.

Zhou Fugui remained trapped inside, stewing in frustration.

About half an hour later, the woman from Lai Shou’s household returned, beaming with triumph, and conveyed the orders of the marquises:

Zhou Fugui and the buyer responsible for the cotton blankets were both stripped of all their duties—not just in Yi Garden, but in the entire Eastern Residence.  

The buyer would be flogged with fifty strokes and sent to work at the estate farm, permanently barred from re-entering the Eastern Residence—this buyer was actually a hereditary servant of the Eastern House.  

As for Zhou Fugui, he was to remain confined at home for reflection until Lady Zhou returned from Xiangshan, when further punishment would be decided. This arrangement was a nod to Lady Zhou’s status, since Zhou Fugui was her personal attendant.

New cotton blankets were to be purchased and distributed to the servants.

Every household that lost a child would receive twenty taels of silver for burial expenses.

For children who fell ill, all medical fees would be paid by the joint treasury of both households.

After delivering the message, the woman from Lai Shou’s family added:  

“…You must be grateful for the immense compassion and justice of the marquises. Work diligently, and complete the renovations of Yi Garden as soon as possible to repay their benevolence!”

Now that there was a formal resolution and compensation, the gathered servants slowly dispersed. Watching Zhou Fugui slink away, eyes downcast and wrapping up his belongings, the woman from Lai Shou’s family felt a thrill of satisfaction—indescribably sweet.

As Zhou Fugui handed over rings of keys and account books, he said with a sinister tone:  

“I know exactly what you’re up to. Don’t get too smug. When our Marchioness returns, we’ll see who ends up crying.”

The woman from Lai Shou’s family was unfazed.  

“I’ve lived long enough—from a little maid in Cangzhou to the head housekeeper in a noble family of the capital—what haven’t I seen? Every extra day I live happily is a bonus. If soldiers come, I’ll deal with them; if water floods in, I’ll dam it. I’m ready for anything!”

While the two were exchanging harsh words, over in the western residence at Sìquán Lane, in Jiuzhi’ home—

Jiuzhi had placed a brand-new spirit tablet in the ancestral hall. Yanzhi and Changsheng were kneeling in mourning clothes on straw mats, burning yellow paper offerings.

Brother-in-law E arrived. He first lit three sticks of incense in front of the spirit tablet, then handed a bag of silver to Jiuzhi.  

“This is twenty taels for burial expenses. The woman from Lai Shou’s family asked me to bring it to you.”

Jiuzhi didn’t take it. He asked,  

“Wasn’t the twenty taels for families who lost a child? My deceased wife wasn’t a child.”

Brother-in-law E replied,  

“Well, your name’s on the compensation roster—maybe the woman from Lai Shou’s family included you as a special case since you helped block the door today.”

Jiuzhi didn’t look at the silver. His gaze remained on the spirit tablet as he sighed:  

“She’s already dead. What use is money?”

“It’s for the kids,” said Brother-in-law E, placing the silver on the offering table. He pointed at Yanzhi and Changsheng who were burning paper,  

“For their sake, you’ve got to pull yourself together. I’m off. I won’t be back to Yi Garden for a few days. Jixiang and Ruyi have come down with smallpox—only Ruyi mother is there to care for them, and I’m worried.  

If anyone asks about me, just say I went to Xiangshan to find your sister-in-law.”

Jiuzhi’ eyes flashed with clarity. He slapped his forehead.  

“Look at me! Thanks for coming all this way with the silver. Go quickly—nothing’s more important than the kids. If Yanzhi and Changsheng get through this, it’s all thanks to the medicine you and Ruyi mother brought. I don’t even know how to repay you.”

Brother-in-law E said,  

“We’re neighbors. If it were the other way around, you wouldn’t stand by either. I’m heading out.”

At Cuiwei Mountain, at the Zhang family cemetery—

Thanks to the meticulous care of Ruyi mother and Brother-in-law E, after three full days, Jixiang and Ruyi’s smallpox had fully erupted and their fevers had finally subsided.

The two children had spent three days on the edge of death, but they made it back. The same could be said for Ruyi mother herself.

If Ruyi… If anything had happened to her daughter, Ruyi mother didn’t dare imagine such a life. She wouldn’t have been able to go on.

After surviving the disaster, Ruyi lay on the heated brick bed.  

“You’re not allowed to come out! I don’t even want to imagine how ugly your pockmarked face looks right now.”

From the other side of the wall, Jixiang laughed and said,  

“Just look in the mirror—you’ll know exactly what I look like.”

Ruyi had already developed a sense of vanity. She said,  

“I’m not looking in the mirror! These days I can’t even bear to look into the washbasin when I wash my face. What if I end up with scars? My face would be full of pits, like a muddy road after a heavy rain—so ugly I could die!”

Jixiang replied,  

“If your face were covered in scars, then I’d think everyone *without* scars in the world is ugly.”