Chapter 14 - Casting the Bait

Winter passed quietly. The thriving places were bustling with activities, while the quieter places become pronouncedly quiescent. As no one had visited Jiang Ruan’s residence for a long time, the trio experienced a period of idle solitude that was usually hard to come by.

In the refreshing early morning air, Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao sat at the entrance of their residence mending clothes. Their clothes were as old as they could be, needing continuous mending. Although both of their embroidery skills were extraordinary, and these clothes could be worn again after being patched with flowery patterns, brightly-colored threads were extremely valuable to them. On normal days, they did not need such exquisite patchwork.

A girl sat quietly at the window, attentively reading the pages in front of her. The sunlight shone on the side of her pretty face. Her long, winged eyebrows quivered lightly above a clear, yet beautiful gaze. She had a kind of gentleness that moved people’s hearts.

Lian Qiao unintentionally turned her head around and was entranced by the vision of her mistress. She felt that her lady possessed an exquisite beauty that was rare in the world. When she was quiet, she was immensely refined and serene, almost as if she were a piece of tranquil scenery painting. However, when she became ruthless, her harsh and frigid demeanor exuded a kind of charisma. As mentioned in the idiom when “a married lady was calm and composed, but once she made a move, she would be similar to a shrewd and nimble rabbit”, it must have been referring to a lady like Jiang Ruan.

Bai Zhi saw that Lian Qiao was lost in her thoughts, and she also followed her eyes. She spoke pensively, “Our lady has grown quite a bit this year and has become much taller. In the future, it might be harder to fit her into her clothes. Spring will be coming soon. We should find some time to make some new clothes for her to wear.”

“It is easy for you to say,” Lian Qiao recollected herself and continued sewing the button on a piece of clothing in front of her, “At this time of the year, the allowance distributed by those people has been halved. Two sets of new clothing require a lot of materials. Where can we find those? I think that we need to hike the mountains to gather a few medicinal plants to trade for some money so that we can buy some material to make clothes for our lady.” She paused for a moment, “Our lady is so beautiful, yet the clothes that she wears are so shabby. At such an age, other ladies are dressed up as beautifully as flowers, but our lady is not as fortunate. She does not even have a set of brightly-colored clothes. It is such a waste of her good looks. If our lady wore those pretty clothes, she would definitely defeat all the ladies in the entire capital.”

Hearing Lian Qiao’s words, Bai Zhi could not help but laugh, “Talking about this is futile. You are speaking about the capital right now, but I don’t even know when can we return to the manor.”

As soon as the matter of returning to the manor was mentioned, their moods dampened slightly. After a while, Lian Qiao shook her head, “Don’t think too much about it. Didn’t our lady tell us previously that we will return soon? I think that our lady already has a plan. We don’t need to feel anxious.”

Bai Zhi nodded her head, “Our lady is smart. Just that- I hope that there won’t be any mishaps.”

While they were chattering away, someone knocked on the door outside. It was a maid named Xiao Yuan who came to deliver firewood. The residence did not allocate coal, but firewood, to them. After all, it was abundantly clear who Zhang Lan received her orders from. To the trio, every winter was the most sufferable time of the year to bear, especially more so when the firewood was rationed and giving them more was out of the question. Zhang Lan really was not afraid that she would cause the trio to freeze to death.

Xiao Yuan greeted Jiang Ruan and removed the firewood from her basket swiftly. Lian Qiao helped her from the side. After they were done, Xiao Yuan glanced at the clothes in Bai Zhi’s hands and smiled, “Senior Bai Zhi’s hands are so skilled. This needlework is done so meticulously, yet so finely that one can not tell that the clothes have been mended.”

Bai Zhi chuckled, “It was merely sewn casually. Furthermore, who would notice this when worn in our everyday lives?”

“Senior Bai Zhi, you are wrong.” Xiao Yuan shook her head, “This year, my mother made me a new peach short coat. Unexpectedly, while I was working, I ripped a hole under the arm. I thought about mending it properly but that part of the clothing is not easy to mend. When I am not careful about concealing it, others can even see the hole. It is truly vexing. If I possessed a skill like yours, I wouldn’t need to feel worried about it anymore.”

“What is so difficult about this?” Lian Qiao returned the basket to Xiao Yuan, “It will be fine. Just let Bai Zhi mend it for you.”

“Really?” Xiao Yuan looked at Bai Zhi with pleasant surprise. She could not conceal the expectation that filled her eyes.

Bai Zhi nodded in amusement, “Of course, I can. It is just that I don’t have any peach-colored thread here. You will have to give me a spool.”

Xiao Yuan immediately smiled as soon as she heard Bai Zhi’s words, “No problem. Thank you, Senior Bai Zhi. You are such a good person.” If I had known earlier that Senior Bai Zhi is so amiable, I would have come by here more on my usual days. I have a pile of torn clothes with me that I have mended carelessly.”

“Silly girl[1],” Lian Qiao pretended to be angry, “You are taking advantage of us. Everyone knows that maids like you that serve outside this yard in the main residence are extremely lucky and privileged. How is it even possible that you own any torn clothes?”

[1] Ya Tou (丫头) –  girl ; servant girl (used deprecatingly, but sometimes also as a term of endearment)

“Who said that we were full of luck?” Xiao Yuan pouted, “Although it is quieter than usual here, I would rather serve our lady, who has such a good personality. Let me not keep both Seniors in the dark. It is very hard to perform duties for those few people who are outside this residence. It is not only Auntie Lan, but even her son is someone who is not easy to deal with. One could close one’s eyes when he fooled around in the past but lately, his behaviour has been excessively bad. I heard that he went behind Auntie Lan’s back and sold off one of their lands. After Auntie Lan found out about it last night she flew into a terrible rage. Over these past few days, lower-ranked maids like me try to be as inconspicuous as possible so that we do not suffer her temper.”

“Oh? There was really such an incident?” Bai Zhi gave Lian Qiao a look, “Although Chen Zhao usually loves to cause trouble everywhere, he is not that generous when it comes to spending money on it. How could he just sell land like this?”

“That’s right, that’s right,” Lian Qiao chimed in, “Don’t tell me that you are just trying to make a fool of us?”

“There is no such thing,” Xiao Yuan waved their doubts away, “Even maids like us, who are in charge of shopping and are stationed outside of this residence, have heard about this matter. Yesterday it caused Auntie Lan to be very furious. I heard that she asked him where the money went, but she could not get an answer out of him, so she rummaged through his entire room quite thoroughly. You should be able to guess what the result was- he didn’t even have a single cent left!”

“Ah,” Lian Qiao cried out in surprise, “That is really odd. A piece of land can be sold for a large sum of money, so he definitely would not be able to spend it all in a short span of few days. Don’t tell me that the money grew wings and flew away?”

“Auntie Lan is also acting very strangely. But her son feigned complete ignorance. In the end, he had a big fight with Auntie Lan and walked off without another word or any consideration for her feelings.”

The trio further discussed the topic, each forming a theory of her own. Seeing that the sky was getting darker, Xiao Yuan stood up and took her leave. Lian Qiao accompanied her to the entrance to send her off. Bai Zhi put the clothes down and walked to Jiang Ruan’s side. Jiang Ruan, who was reading, raised her head with a shadow of a smile, “He’s got quite the nerve to sell the land without consulting his mother.”

“Miss,” Bai Zhi spoke, “Although I do not know what has actually happened,I have a feeling that this incident, of him selling off the land, has to be influenced by you. I feel extremely puzzled but since I am not very intelligent, I can’t wrap my head around it.”

“You do not understand it?” Jiang Ruan spoke. “It is very simple.” Before Bai Zhi could process her words, they heard Lian Qiao’s loud voice roaring from outside, “How dare you misbehave and rush inside?

Yet, another voice was burning with scorching anger, “Don’t block my way. Let me in!”

Bai Zhi could not help feeling stunned as that voice sounded very familiar to her. It was definitely Chen Fang. But what was Chen Fang here for?

Jiang Ruan spread her hands, “Look, you will understand it all very soon.”