The Prisoner of Beauty - Chapter 22
Chapter 22
The following morning, before the sky had even begun to pale, Wei Shao rose and departed. He was heading to Wuzhong City to personally escort his grandmother, Madame Xu, back to Yuyang. The round trip would take approximately three to four days.
Wei Shao naturally required no assistance from Xiao Qiao when he got up. However, she quickly rose after him anyway.
It was simply impossible to behave as she had back in Xindu, where she could reign supreme as the master of her own schedule and sleep in until whenever she pleased.
While a son might omit his morning and evening greetings due to various pressing matters, a daughter-in-law had no excuse to avoid them. Even though she knew perfectly well that her mother-in-law detested her, she still had to go through the motions.
Once she finished dressing and grooming herself, she prepared to head to the eastern wing. As she stepped out of the room, she reflexively glanced toward the spot where the box Wei Shao had questioned her about last night had been, only to find that it was already gone.
Xiao Qiao arrived precisely at the hour of Mao in front of the main rooms of the eastern wing. As she stood beneath the veranda waiting to be summoned by Madame Zhu, the entire servant circle of the Wei estate was actually abuzz with rumors about what had transpired the previous night.
According to the vivid accounts being passed around by the servants, the Madame had sent someone to eavesdrop on the Lord and his new bride, only for the Lord to catch them in the act. Enraged on the spot, the Lord had drawn his sword and cleanly cleaved the doorframe apart.
Madame Zhu was never particularly popular within the household to begin with. Now that such a bizarre incident had come to light, the servants naturally gossiped about it relentlessly behind closed doors.
Xiao Qiao and the maidservants waiting outside the eastern wing spent a long moment staring blankly at one another. Finally, a stern-faced stewardess surnamed Jiang—whom Xiao Qiao had seen attending to Madame Zhu yesterday—walked out and announced that she could enter.
Xiao Qiao stepped into the same room she had visited the day before. Madame Zhu sat upright upon her couch in the exact same posture as yesterday. Only this time, the young lady named Zheng Shu was nowhere to be seen.
Madame Zhu’s countenance was exceedingly dark. When Xiao Qiao entered and bowed to offer her morning greetings, the older woman merely turned her head slightly away, uttering not a single word.
Old Nanny Jiang spoke up coldly, "As a woman of the Wei family, there are certain rules you must understand. The Madame did not have the opportunity to admonish you yesterday, so I shall do so now on her behalf. Listen well, My Lady."
Xiao Qiao replied respectfully, "I humbly await your instruction. I dare not disobey."
"As a daughter-in-law of the Wei family, you must be well-versed in the rituals of womanhood, strictly adhere to the virtues expected of a wife, serve your parents-in-law with filial piety, foster harmony within the clan, and possess proper conduct, appearance, speech, and skill. You must be obedient and submissive without defiance, never allow personal interests to interfere, and never meddle in affairs outside the inner quarters. Have you memorized this?"
Xiao Qiao repeated the words verbatim and assented.
"Very well. The Madame rose early and has not yet taken her morning meal. Why doesn't My Lady go down to the kitchen and personally prepare a bowl of broth for the Madame?"
Xiao Qiao raised her eyes slightly, shifting her gaze toward Madame Zhu.
The older woman’s eyes were half-closed.
This was hardly about her not having eaten breakfast and wanting a meal prepared. It was a deliberate attempt to dispatch her to the kitchens to find a new way to torment her. Xiao Qiao could guarantee that if she truly went down to cook, the moment she presented the broth, Madame Zhu would find a thousand things to criticize and demand she remake it. Such an endless cycle would be the least of her worries; if Madame Zhu later suffered a bout of vomiting and diarrhea or claimed to be poisoned and bedridden, Xiao Qiao would be utterly ruined.
Seeing that Xiao Qiao remained motionless, Old Nanny Jiang let out a cold sneer. "What? Is My Lady unwilling?"
Xiao Qiao had already formulated a refusal. A perfectly ready excuse was at hand; she just needed to borrow it. She spoke smoothly, "I would not dare. Cooking broth for my mother-in-law is my bounden duty, so how could I decline? It is only that it is indeed somewhat inconvenient right now. Grandmother’s sixtieth birthday is fast approaching. Upon learning of this, I immediately made a vow before the Buddha to hand-copy a volume of the Infinite Life Sutra to pray for her blessings and longevity. The scripture is vast and Grandmother’s birthday is imminent. Though I diligently copy it every day, my progress remains limited. I have been rushing the work morning and night, daring not to slacken for even a single moment. If Grandmother’s birthday arrives and the vow I made before the Buddha is not fulfilled in time, I fear it would violate my original intent and render the gesture imperfect."
"Furthermore, there is one more matter," Xiao Qiao paused briefly before continuing, "To demonstrate the utmost sincerity of my heart, I also vowed at the time that until the scripture is completed, I would maintain a strict vegetarian diet and avoid all contact with meat and fish. The kitchen is a place filled with raw meats and grease; entering and exiting it at this time would, I fear, defile my vow. I beg my mother-in-law for her kind understanding. Once I have hastened to finish copying the scripture, I will return to my mother-in-law’s side to perform my duties of service."
Having finished speaking, Xiao Qiao lowered her head.
She was entirely certain that by invoking the grand figure of Madame Xu, Madame Zhu would have no way to force her hand.
Buddhism was currently flourishing in Luoyang. According to the information Chunniang had gathered, the old matriarch Madame Xu was also a devout believer. What could possibly be more important than copying a scripture to celebrate the old matriarch's birthday and pray for her blessings?
Sure enough, Madame Zhu’s face grew even more unsightly.
Silence descended upon the room. After a long moment, Xiao Qiao finally heard Old Nanny Jiang say with great reluctance, "Since that is the case, you may take your leave."
Xiao Qiao bowed once more to Madame Zhu, rose, and withdrew. Returning to her own quarters, she changed into a loose, comfortable set of everyday robes and leaned against her couch. Recalling the expression on the face of Wei Shao’s mother just now, she felt a strong urge to laugh, mixed with a touch of exasperation.
She wasn't worried about the scripture itself.
In her past life, she had grown up in a scholarly family where both of her parents were university professors. Influenced by her environment, she had practiced calligraphy since childhood, persisting for over a decade. She was capable of executing a beautiful imitation of Zhao Mengfu's regular script in small characters. Because of a congenital frailty and frequent illnesses, she had finally passed away in her twenties, only to wake up as the current Xiao Qiao. Previously, while passing the time in Dongjun, she had gradually hand-copied a volume of the Infinite Life Sutra—a text highly revered by believers today—onto fine silk. In these times, books were incredibly precious commodities, so she had packed it along when she wed. To use it as a birthday gift for the old matriarch, she only needed to take it out and have it mounted in a couple of days.
What truly troubled her was that although she had managed to deflect Madame Zhu's deliberate difficulty today by using the old matriarch's birthday, this excuse would only buy her a few more days. Once Madame Xu’s birthday passed, how was she supposed to handle it if Wei Shao's mother continued to make life miserable for her?
Thinking of the future, if her days ahead were to be spent entirely in this endless back-and-forth with Wei Shao's mother, Xiao Qiao suddenly felt that life held little joy, and the road ahead looked entirely dark.
...
A few days later, Xiao Qiao stepped out of the estate to visit a mounting shop in the city to have her silk scroll framed.
Given the Wei family’s elevated status, they could easily have summoned the shop's craftsmen to the estate. However, since this was a birthday gift intended for Madame Xu—and even though she was fully prepared for the likelihood that the old matriarch would also look upon her with distaste—Xiao Qiao still hoped to make the mounting as flawless as possible. By going to the shop in person, she would have a much wider array of choices regarding patterns and color palettes. Therefore, after sending word to the eastern wing that afternoon to request a carriage, she departed.
This was her very first time leaving the estate.
Yuyang City was considerably large. Under the careful governance of three generations of the Wei family over several decades, the registered households within the city alone numbered over ten thousand, while the total population reached hundreds of thousands. On both sides of the streets, buildings pressed tightly against one another, and an endless stream of carriages and pedestrians jostled past, displaying an abundance of goods from both the north and the south.
The finest mounting shop in the city was located on a street in the eastern district. Because the street was narrow and crowded with pedestrians, Xiao Qiao had the carriage pull over at the intersection several dozen paces away. Accompanied by Chunniang and another maidservant, she walked into the shop.
Her appearance was truly exceptional. Even though she had only walked a few dozen paces, she drew a vast amount of attention. Passersby stared openly at her, and some even turned back for another glimpse after walking past.
Upon entering the shop, Xiao Qiao did not declare her identity. However, the shopkeeper possessed a keen eye for assessing people. Seeing that she was quite young—seemingly only fourteen or fifteen—yet dressed in the elegant, formal attire of a married woman with a beauty that commanded respect, he knew she must be a newlywed from one of the city's prominent households and treated her with immense deference. When Xiao Qiao produced the copied silk scroll and unrolled it, the shopkeeper's eyes lit up the moment he saw the characters. He praised, "In all my years, I have mounted countless silk scrolls, yet this is the first time I have ever beheld characters of such lofty grace and elegance. May I ask whose hand executed this?"
The style of the Zhao typeface naturally did not exist in this era, and Xiao Qiao had merely imitated it. She offered a few vague, evasive remarks before explaining her purpose. Hearing that it was intended as a birthday offering for the old matriarch of the Wei family, the shopkeeper dared not dally and immediately displayed a wide variety of color samples and patterns.
Xiao Qiao browsed through them slowly, eventually settling on a pattern known as "Vermilion Threads and Golden Borders." The shopkeeper, however, shook his head. "What an unfortunate coincidence. This 'Vermilion Threads and Golden Borders' has already been reserved by another customer, and it is the only one of its kind. If My Lady requires it urgently, could you perhaps choose another?"
"Since she has taken a liking to it, let her have it! It is no trouble for me to change to another!"
A booming voice suddenly echoed from the entrance.
Xiao Qiao looked up to see a man who appeared to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old leaping down from the back of a sturdy steed. Tossing the reins to his attendant, he strode boldly into the shop.
This man possessed an exceptionally robust build, and his features carried an air of heroic grandeur. Though clad in ordinary attire, his demeanor was entirely unrestrained and unconcerned with others, making it obvious that he was a man of significant status. As he drew near, his bright eyes locked onto Xiao Qiao, faintly betraying a look of profound astonishment.
Xiao Qiao was well accustomed to receiving the gaze of men. However, this particular man looked at her with a trace of subtle coercion, harboring an overtly aggressive undertone.
She instinctively felt a wave of displeasure and turned her back to him.
The shopkeeper, however, recognized the man. A flattering smile broke across his face as he hastily stepped forward and bowed deeply. "Commander Wei, the birthday scroll you requested will be ready tomorrow and delivered straight to your estate. How could we dare trouble you to come in person?"
The man surnamed Wei replied, "I have just returned from Dai County today. Realizing I was passing by, I merely stopped to check on it." Even as he spoke, his eyes continued to drift intermittently toward Xiao Qiao’s back.
The shopkeeper smiled. "This is for the old matriarch's birthday celebration, so how could we dare delay? Please rest assured, Commander!"
The man surnamed Wei chuckled but said nothing more, gesturing for the shopkeeper to tend to Xiao Qiao.
The shopkeeper caught himself, instantly understanding the hint. He quickly turned back to Xiao Qiao with a smile. "The pattern My Lady took a liking to just now happens to be the one reserved by Commander Wei. However, the Commander has stated that if My Lady fancies it, he is willing to yield it to you."
This man happened to be surnamed Wei, and he had also mentioned using it for some old matriarch's birthday celebration.
Xiao Qiao instinctively turned her head to cast a glance at him, only to collide once more with his lingering gaze. She could not help but knit her brows slightly.
"There is no need. I will select a different one,"
she said flatly. She pointed to another pattern, agreed upon a completion date, and left a deposit. Without sparing the man another glance, she turned and walked away.
The man watched Xiao Qiao’s retreating figure. As he stood slightly dazed, watching her board the carriage parked a short distance down the street, the shopkeeper caught up to his side. "What a coincidence," the shopkeeper murmured. "The silk scroll that Lady wishes to mount is also a birthday offering intended for the old matriarch of your honorable estate. Though she did not mention which household she hails from."
The man’s face flashed with a look of surprise. Hesitating for a brief moment, he took the reins back from his attendant and swung himself back onto his horse.
Upon returning to the Wei estate, Xiao Qiao quickly put this minor interlude out of her mind. By evening, word was sent to her quarters that Wei Shao had safely escorted the old matriarch back, and they had just arrived at the estate.