Against the Current - Chapter 1
Chapter 1 - Origins
It is said that there was once a young boy in Jinling named Chen Wanquan. When he was five or six years old, he lost both of his parents, and his elder brother and sister-in-law sold him to the wealthy Lin family as a bondservant to work in an antique shop. As the days and months passed, he honed a sharp eye for authenticating antiques, calligraphy, and paintings. Because he had no property or family standing to his name, no respectable household was willing to discuss marriage with him, yet he had developed high standards and looked down upon ordinary maidservants. At the age of thirty, his employer promoted him to the position of third manager of the shop. A year later, out of benevolence, the Lin estate granted him a third-class maid named Mistress Xue, ordering the two of them to be wed.
This Mistress Xue had originally worked exclusively on embroidery and sewing in the second branch of the household. Because she was quite attractive and possessed a competitive spirit, she had been envied and trampled upon by the senior maids, who relegated her to trivial chores such as watering flowers and sweeping floors. When she turned twenty, she was casually matched and married off to an outsider. Mistress Xue proved docile and resigned to her fate, and after wedding Chen Wanquan, she devoted herself entirely to managing their livelihood. Although their life was not wealthy, they never had to worry about food or clothing. A year later, Mistress Xue became pregnant and suddenly dreamed of thousands upon thousands of orchids blooming in unison, their golden radiance dazzling her eyes. After waking up, she went to consult a fortune-teller named Madam Ma to interpret the dream. The Daoist nun asserted that she would give birth to a noble and beautiful daughter, and that the couple would surely rely on this child for their future fortunes. Overjoyed, Mistress Xue generously rewarded her with extra coins.
When Chen Wanquan heard that Mistress Xue had given Madam Ma dozens of copper coins, his heart ached with regret, and he sneered, "What noble and beautiful daughter? You and I are both slaves of the Lin family. This child is a family-born bondservant destined to work like an ox or a horse for others her whole life; how noble could she possibly get? Fool, absolute fool, you've been swindled!"
Mistress Xue protested indignantly, "How can you know for certain that the child I bear is bound to be a servant to others all her life? You do nothing but utter gloomy nonsense. If she turns out to be a distinguished and prosperous noble child, wouldn't you, her father, also share in the glory?"
Chen Wanquan retorted, "Yes, yes, I'll just wait for you to give birth to a noble daughter. It would be best if she becomes so noble that she's a high official's wife, going out in a grand carriage, living in splendor just like the mistresses of the estate, clad in gold and silver, eating the finest delicacies, and waited upon by eight maids wherever she goes. Only then would smoke be rising from the ancestral graves of our Chen family!" With that, he flung the door curtain aside and stalked out.
Yet Mistress Xue believed implicitly in the fortune-teller's prophecy. In her leisure time, she sewed tiny garments and wholeheartedly nourished her health. A few months later, she indeed gave birth to a daughter. Remembering her dream, she casually named her Xianglan. Chen Wanquan had originally wanted a son and could not help feeling disappointed, but seeing how delicate and exquisite little Xianglan was, his heart gradually warmed with joy.
However, the little girl was born frail and sickly. Before she had even completed her first full month, she fell ill, and just as she was barely recovering, she caught a chill, suffering from severe vomiting, diarrhea, and a fading breath. Anxious to the core, Mistress Xue hurried back to consult Madam Ma. The nun had Mistress Xue shake a few copper coins, studied the hexagram, and said, "You must head toward the southeast to find auspiciousness and be saved by a noble benefactor."
Wiping away her tears, Mistress Xue headed straight to the southeast. Before long, she spotted the Jingyue Convent ahead. She knelt before the Buddhist statue, kowtowing, making vows, and weeping for half an hour. Presently, an elderly nun with a kindly expression approached and asked why she was crying. Mistress Xue recounted the whole story, and after pondering for a moment and inquiring about Xianglan's symptoms, the elder took brush and paper, wrote out a medicinal prescription, and told her to go home and decoct it. Treating the prescription like a rare treasure, Mistress Xue went to the apothecary to fetch the medicine for Xianglan. Not long after a single bowl was administered, Xianglan actually opened her eyes. When Mistress Xue tentatively fed her a little milk, the infant drank a few sips and drifted back into a deep, peaceful slumber.
From that day on, little Xianglan grew better with each passing day. Overjoyed, Mistress Xue prepared fruit, pastries, incense oil, and candle money, and carrying Xianglan in her arms, she went to the Jingyue Convent to thank her benefactor. It was then that she learned the elderly nun was the convent's revered Abbess Dingyi. Abbess Dingyi observed Xianglan for a moment, asked for her birth characters, and patting the child's head, said, "This child has a karmic affinity with me. Why not let her become my nominal disciple so that the Buddha's gate may protect her as she grows up safe and sound?" Hearing this, how could Mistress Xue possibly refuse?
From the time she was old enough to remember things, Xianglan spent her days in the Jingyue Convent studying scriptures and practicing spiritual cultivation alongside the nuns. Abbess Dingyi grew immensely fond of her unpretentious and endearing nature, bestowing upon her the Buddhist name "Chanjing." She taught Xianglan to recognize characters, read scriptures, and personally instructed her in the Dharma. Beyond Buddhist texts, she also taught her the Four Books, the Five Classics, poetry, and prose. Xianglan was intelligent, diligent, and possessed immense perseverance, which deeply pleased Abbess Dingyi. The abbess had originally been the daughter of an official whose father's upright character offended the powerful ministers of the court, leading to the ruin of her family. To escape disaster, she had taken monastic vows and become a nun. After her family's false charges were vindicated, Abbess Dingyi felt that the bustling mortal world could never compare to the tranquility of the Buddha's gate. She refused her family's pleas to return to secular life, choosing instead to walk the path of enlightenment, saving souls and aiding the world without charging a single coin. She frequently distributed gruel and medicine, traveled far and wide, and possessed profound insight. Whenever Xianglan pestered her with tricky questions, the abbess never grew impatient; instead, she answered with infinite patience and painstaking guidance. Thus, within just a few years, Xianglan had mastered history and literature, excelled in composition, and developed a keen discernment, particularly displaying a brilliant hand at landscape painting that constantly drew praise from everyone.
As the days drifted by, Mistress Xue gave birth to three more children, all of whom failed to survive past two or three years of age and perished prematurely. Consequently, the couple had only Xianglan as their sole daughter and cherished her as if she were a priceless treasure. In the blink of an eye, Xianglan turned fourteen, and Abbess Dingyi chose an auspicious day to order Xianglan to scale the convent wall and return to secular life. Xianglan and the abbess shared a bond as deep as that between a grandmother and granddaughter, and she was reluctant to leave in every possible way. Abbess Dingyi advised her, "Your nature is loyal and honest, but your temper is fierce; you must cultivate your self-restraint all the more in the days to come. Everyone has their own karma, and since you still have worldly ties remaining, you cannot stay within the gates of Buddhism. If destiny allows, you may return to tend to my final rites one day." Teary-eyed, Xianglan vowed, "I will definitely come back often to visit Master." Abbess Dingyi smiled without a word, merely gesturing with a bow for her to depart.
After returning home, Xianglan found herself with nothing to do day in and day out. Mistress Xue intended for her to spend time with the neighborhood girls her own age, doing needlework and playing together, but after going twice, Xianglan returned and declared, "They are not my kind; gathering together is utterly uninteresting." Hence, she stayed home to help Mistress Xue with chores, spending her leisure time reading books, copying scriptures, and doing needlework to supplement the household income.
On this particular day, Xianglan was sitting on the broad window-kang embroidering when she suddenly heard a commotion outside in the courtyard. A sharp, shrill voice shouted, "Who stole your clothes? Making false accusations in broad daylight without even fearing your throat rotting away, I bah!"
"I saw with my own eyes that you took my Xianglan's clothes! I washed them and hung them out to dry in the courtyard. You stepped into the kitchen for a moment, and as soon as you came out, you tucked the clothes into your bosom and went inside!" The speaker was clearly Mistress Xue. Looking out the window, Xianglan saw her mother and Second Aunt Lü standing in the courtyard staring angrily at one another, with a few children peeking in from the gateway.
Second Aunt Lü's family were also bondservants of the Lin estate, living in the same courtyard as Xianglan's family, though they usually had no friendly dealings. The Lü family loved taking petty advantages and frequently stole things from the Chen household—anything from clothes, washbasins, and cured pork down to firewood, scallions, and garlic; there was nothing they wouldn't pilfer when the opportunity arose.
"Piss off your mother's breath! This grand lady wouldn't deign to look at a few ragged clothes of yours. Our family's secondary mistress holds such wealth and power in the estate that even damask and silk are used just to wipe bottoms! You money-obsessed little hussy, how dare you try to frame us!" Second Aunt Lü was well-versed in the arts of a shrewish street-scold, boasting countless variations. She was dark-skinned and robust, and standing in the courtyard with her hands on her hips, she radiated an aura of single-handedly holding off a thousand foes, spewing every sort of filth and foulness imaginable.
Mistress Xue, who had no talent for cursing, shook with rage from head to toe. "You clearly took my family's clothes! It was fine cloth I bought just a few days ago, made into a brand-new seasonal jacket with embroidered patterns on the cuffs. There are deities three feet above your head—have you no fear of retribution from the netherworld?"
Second Aunt Lü spat a glob of saliva right onto Mistress Xue's face. "If there's retribution, it should strike a whore like you! Back in the estate, you were already flirting with the young masters, a cheap-looking floozy kicked out by the mistresses and grandmothers. You have no skin on your face and no sense of shame—why didn't you just find a corner and hang yourself instead of setting up a trap to frame your grand aunt here! You don't know how high the sky is or how thick the earth is; do you suppose I'm easy to bully? Tomorrow, I'll have our family's secondary mistress come and settle this!"
This barrage of words left Mistress Xue feeling wronged, humiliated, and infuriated all at once. Pointing at Second Aunt Lü, she stammered, "You, you..." and choked so hard she could not speak. Seeing her mother bullied and subjected to such immense humiliation, Xianglan burned with fury. Dropping her needle and thread, she slipped into her shoes and made to rush outside, but Chen Wanquan grabbed her hard, saying, "My little grand aunt, there's a fierce row going on out there; what on earth are you running out to meddle for?"
Struggling, Xianglan retorted, "My mother is being bullied and subjected to such a great shame, how can I not go over there?!"
Chen Wanquan glared at her. "Will you just quiet down! The Lü family's eldest daughter is the bedchamber maid of the estate's eldest young master. Once she bears a son or daughter and is raised to a secondary mistress, she'll be half a master. We have to show them respect before it's too late—how can you be so eager to invite trouble? Your mother has the vision of a woman, with long hair and short insight. She's being an idiot, are you going to be an idiot along with her?" Just as he finished speaking, an "ouch" rang out—Mistress Xue had been violently shoved to the ground by Second Aunt Lü.
Driven to the brink of rage, Xianglan laughed out of anger. "Her own wife is being chased, beaten, and cursed as a 'whore,' and not only do you lack the spine to stand up for her, but you've sunk to such a pathetic state of cowardice. If you had even one percent of the bluster you put on at home with my mother, our family wouldn't have to swallow this insult today!" With that, she shoved Chen Wanquan aside and dashed out the door.
Second Aunt Lü had calculated that Chen Wanquan wouldn't dare make trouble, and she deliberately intended to crush Mistress Xue. Furthermore, because Second Uncle Lü had once praised "Chen's wife for being remarkably pretty" and had tried to peek at Mistress Xue bathing only to be caught red-handed by her, Second Aunt Lü still felt a stabbing hatred whenever she thought of it. She grabbed Mistress Xue by the hair, showering her with continuous abuse of "slut" and "floozy." The neighbors, knowing Second Aunt Lü was a notorious shrew, didn't dare reach out to help and could only offer feeble exhortations from the sidelines.
Seeing her mother with disheveled temples and a face streaked with tears, pinned down and beaten by Second Aunt Lü, Xianglan's anger and resentment flared to a peak. Skulking silently along the base of the wall to the courtyard entrance, she snatched up a wooden door-latch and charged forward, shouting at the top of her lungs, "You wretched woman, how dare you beat my mother!" She brought the heavy latch down hard across Second Aunt Lü's back.