Against the Current - Chapter 204

Chapter 204 - Smallpox

Huamei's confusion grew even deeper. She strode over and rounded the rockery, only to find two maidservants burning a pile of clothing. One of them had a square face, small eyes, and a stout build—it was Hairui, who had formerly served Cao Lihuan. The other was slender and short, a maid from Madam Wang's quarters named Yingluo.

Yingluo was keeping her distance, covering her face with a handkerchief, while Hairui squatted down, her mouth and nose wrapped in cloth, using fire tongs to lift a piece of garment and toss it into the blaze.

Huamei hurried over to ask, "Why are you burning fine clothes like this? Who gave you permission to burn them here? What would happen if a fire broke out!"

Yingluo had no wish to deal with Huamei, but upon hearing her barrage of questions, she replied, "Hanfang from Third Young Lady's quarters went home to visit her family a couple of days ago and developed a fever right upon her return. When the doctor examined her, it turned out to be smallpox—she's in terrible condition, just hanging on and waiting to die. Our Madam has already given out silver to have her carried off to an empty outbuilding, where only a matron who has already survived smallpox is looking after her, and all her clothes were ordered to be brought out and burned. Third Young Lady thought burning them in the courtyard was too ill-omened, and taking them outside the second gate risked infecting people, so she decided to burn them right here near the garden to make a clean job of it." She then turned back to urge Hairui shrilly, "Hurry up and finish this so we can report back; Madam is still waiting to hear!"

Hairui said not a word, her face dark and deeply disgruntled. Ever since Cao Lihuan's departure, relying on her parents' some-what influential standing, she had gone to serve under Lin Dongling. Lin Dongling was different from Cao Lihuan; she had been pampered since childhood and cared not a whit whose powerful servant your parents were, refusing to give face whatsoever. Moreover, Hairui was habitually lazy and prone to slacking off, which provoked Lin Dongling several times until she was driven out to do rough labor outside. Burning clothes today was a life-threatening, bitter chore, and harboring resentment deep inside, Hairui simply threw the remaining garments all at once into the brazier, nearly smothering the fire out. This prompted Yingluo to stamp her feet and curse, "Are you courting death! What if you put it out! Then we'll have to relight it, and in a confined space like this, we'll end up catching it ourselves next!"

The moment Zhicao heard it was smallpox, she turned and bolted in sheer terror, calling back from behind the rocks, "Lady Huamei, don't stay here anymore, let's go back quickly!"

Huamei murmured an acknowledgement, took two steps back, and was about to turn out from behind the rockery when a sweep of her peripheral vision caught an inconspicuous embroidered handkerchief lying on the ground, with the character "Fang" embroidered on the corner. It presumably had fallen out from the pile of clothes. A thought flashed through Huamei's mind, and a malicious scheme was instantly concocted. Quietly picking up a tree branch, she took advantage of the moment when no one was looking to hook the handkerchief out, turned a corner, and pulled a brocade pouch from her bosom. She shook its contents out, used the branch to push the retrieved handkerchief into the pouch, and holding it by the drawstring, she acted as though nothing was amiss and returned to Zhisun Lodge.

As soon as she entered her room, Huamei shoved that bundle behind the small table in the corner. Despite her cunning and deep scheming, hiding such a fatal object in her room still made her heart thump wildly against her ribs. She took a deep breath and sat down. Whenever she felt restless and agitated, she always liked to have Xiques brew her a cup of pearl tea, but Xiques had long since been dragged out and sold, and she could not order Zhicao around for it. Left with no choice, she got off the kang herself, retrieved a small porcelain jar painted with landscape scenes from the cabinet, and opened it to find the tea leaves completely gone. Ever since Lin Jinlou had cast her aside, her regular monthly provisions had been cut off, and her meals and soups had degenerated into wretched fare. If not for her spending her own silver to bribe people, how could her palate, which had been spoiled rotten in the lap of luxury, ever swallow such coarse rice and unpalatable slop? Earlier, she had sought help from her maiden family, secretly having Zhicao send a letter home, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea. Her brother Du Bin used to frequent the Lin residence, but lately he hadn't even shown a shadow of himself, acting as though she were already dead. Trapped within the manor with her every move watched by others, she found herself powerless to execute any of her countless plots. Now that she was truly at her wit's end, should she really take that final step?

Huamei stared fixedly at the corner of the room, her expression obscure and unreadable.

Skipping lengthy descriptions.

At the hour of lighting lamps, Lin Jinlou returned home. No sooner had he stepped into Zhisun Lodge than he caught sight of a woman dressed in a pale purple-ground embroidered cloak of folded Chinese crabapple blossoms standing with her back to him under the banana trees. Her stature and silhouette closely resembled Xianglan's, so Lin Jinlou walked over and said, "Why are you standing out in the wind?" As he spoke, he reached out to embrace the woman's waist.

When the person turned around, it was none other than Huamei. Lin Jinlou was instantly startled; he released his hold and slightly furrowed his brow, asking, "Why is it you?"

Huamei also acted as though she were taken completely by surprise, stammering in a fluster, "My body was aching this morning, and I feared I had caught a chill last night, so I didn't go to kneel at the ancestral hall this morning. I'm feeling somewhat better now, so I was on my way there..." As she spoke, she lowered her head halfway, turned her profile, and said plaintively, "This servant has kept Your Lordship's punishment in mind, never daring to forget it for a single moment... During these days, this servant has had no appetite for food or drink, and every time I think of my own faults, I feel profound shame before Your Lordship's boundless affection, wishing I were dead instead..." Her willow-leaf eyebrows carried sorrow, and her clear eyes brimmed with emotion, radiating a unique, pathetic beauty. She drew a jade pendant from her sleeve, held it out, and said, "This piece of jade was a gift from Your Lordship... This servant wove a knot for it using a strand of my own hair and a silk cord, representing my yearning for Your Lordship, and also my vow of penance..."

Upon taking a look, Lin Jinlou indeed saw Huamei holding a white jade piece carved with magpies perching on plum blossoms upon her soft, pale palm, tied with a multicolored auspicious knot. Lin Jinlou cast a cold, indifferent glance at it and brushed past her, intending to leave.

Seeing this, Huamei dropped immediately to her knees, crying out mournfully, "My Lord, this servant truly knows she was wrong!" With a sharp thud, she knocked her forehead straight against the grey brick floor.

Lin Jinlou came to a halt without even turning his head, raising his voice to shout, "Where is everyone? Where are you all dead to?"

The matron tasked with watching Huamei had been stealthily hiding behind a pillar to watch the scene. Hearing Lin Jinlou call out, she had no choice but to bite the bullet, hurry over with a face full of ingratiating smiles, and ask, "What are Your Lordship's instructions?"

Lin Jinlou said, "If she has caught a cold, move her out tonight. Don't let her spread any pestilence. With the New Year right around the corner, we don't need any bad omens!"

The matron bowed and scraped, "Yes, yes, sir."

Lin Jinlou strode directly toward the main quarters.

Huamei felt a thunderous roar ring in her ears. She had used considerable force in kowtowing just moments before, striking her head hard enough to see stars, and now she felt even more dizzy and disoriented. Her gaze grew completely vacant, and after swaying twice on her knees, she collapsed sideways onto the ground.

The matron hurried forward to pull her up, only to find Huamei's two pupils staring straight ahead as if she had passed away, feeling nothing even when pinched or jabbed. Shaking her head, the matron muttered, "Amitabha, what a sin, what a sin... Huamei, you—you must try to take heart..." After rambling on with a few consoling words and seeing that Huamei remained blank-eyed and unresponsive, the matron began to panic somewhat. Having accepted Huamei's silver to turn a blind eye and let her wait in the courtyard for Lin Jinlou's return, she too feared trouble attaching itself to her. She simply hauled Huamei up from the floor and hurriedly shoved her back into her room.

Huamei sat on the kang, completely oblivious even as the sky grew pitch dark outside.

Although Lin Jinlou had ordered her to be confined to her quarters and made to kneel at the ancestral hall daily, she still harbored a sliver of hope in her heart—after all, didn't Lin Jinlou chase her out the way he did with Luan'er, did he? Besides, among the women in Lin Jinlou's inner courtyard, she had once been the most favored, even surpassing Zhao Yuechan by a couple of points. How could she ever reconcile herself to leaving just like this? After another month passed, whatever towering rage Lin Jinlou felt should have subsided. If she dressed herself up beautifully and pleaded for forgiveness with soft words and lowered head, perhaps there would still be a glimmer of survival. It was precisely this thought that had sustained her this far; every day she dressed herself brightly and brilliantly precisely to remind herself not to forget her past glory.

Yet today had resulted in this outcome.

Huamei felt her heart slowly turn to ice, a pervasive chill seeping through her entire body until even her bones felt encased in frost, causing her to tremble uncontrollably.

Suddenly, with a creak, the door opened, and Zhicao walked in carrying a food box. Failing to notice a stool in her path, she stumbled against it and nearly took a fall, prompting her to curse under her breath, "Aiyo, why isn't anyone lighting the lamp when it's this dark inside? I almost took a tumble. If I'd dropped the food box, you wouldn't have any dinner tonight." Grumbling and muttering all the while, she fumbled around to set the food box down and lit the oil lamp.

Huamei gazed at that solitary flicker of light, drew a deep breath, straightened her posture, and smoothed down her hair with both hands.

Zhicao arranged the cold meals from the food box onto the kang table. The two dishes had long since lost their heat, and the steamed buns were hard as rocks. Placing the chopsticks before Huamei with a half-mocking, half-smiling expression, she said, "Young Lady, please partake of your meal." She had long since overheard the maids and matrons gossiping about how Huamei had failed to seduce the Eldest Young Master today and had lost face once more. Some maids had even jeered at her maliciously, saying, "Oh, Zhicao, your stock has risen high these days, actually serving Mistress Mei! You're different from us water-carriers and sweepers now! Must feel glorious, right?" Zhicao had spat and retorted, "Don't use that tone to taunt me! Mistress Mei? What kind of Mistress Mei? A phoenix out of water is worse than a chicken, let alone someone who's just a quail. If it weren't for her still knowing the rules, this mistress wouldn't even deign to spare her a glance!" On top of that, she had deliberately delayed the time for fetching the meals. Seeing the formerly lofty concubine-mistress reduced to her present plight, Zhicao felt an inexplicable surge of fierce satisfaction in her heart.

Huamei, however, did not eat. Staring fixedly at Zhicao for a long moment, she suddenly broke into a warm, affable smile, beckoned to her, and said, "Zhicao, come here." Getting her to sit on the kang, Huamei reached into her chest box, drew out a five-liang silver ingot, and handed it before her eyes, saying, "I have a matter I need you to do for me. If you accomplish it properly, this silver is all yours."

Zhicao reached out to grab the silver, but Huamei pulled her hand back.

Licking her lips, Zhicao asked, "What matter is it? If you want to send a message home, or have the kitchen prepare an extra dish, just say the word, Young Lady."

Huamei sighed and said, "I had a dream last night in which the God of the Grand Duke of Jupiter [Tai sui] told me that this year is my fateful year of ill fortune. He also gave me a pot of orchid grass, saying an inauspicious person was clashing with me, and instructed me to take a handkerchief I had used and throw it into her room, after which everything would turn out auspicious and peaceful. When I woke from the dream, I wanted to die of despair, but the deity gave me orchid grass—doesn't that point straight to Xianglan! Good sister, the Eldest Young Master has confined me to my quarters, and aside from kneeling at the ancestral hall, I'm not allowed to step a foot outside. I have no choice but to trouble you to run this errand for me..."

Upon hearing this, Zhicao repeatedly waved her hands and said, "No, no! I can't possibly do that! I can't even get into the main quarters; before I even reach the door, those big sisters inside will tear me to shreds, let alone throw some random handkerchief! My good lady, have you lost your mind to be having dreams like this?"

Huamei coaxed her with gentle words, "I know this matter is difficult, too; otherwise, why would I promise sister five taels of silver? You only need to toss this handkerchief in through the window; I will be watching from right here by the window. As long as you drop it inside, no matter where it lands, I will give you an extra pair of exquisite silver hairpins. How does that sound?"

Zhicao was naturally of a greedy disposition, and her heart inevitably wavered. She reasoned to herself that a mere handkerchief was no critical item anyway, and if she pulled it off, she would gain all these valuables—enough to offset a whole year of her monthly allowance. Thus, she readily agreed. Huamei couldn't help breaking into a succession of cold sneers, thinking with gnashing teeth, "Lin Jinlou, aren't you head over heels for Chen Xianglan? I want her dead! And you will pay the price with her!"

Early the next morning, Huamei indeed handed a brocade pouch to Zhicao. Upon opening it, Zhicao saw that it genuinely contained only a single embroidered handkerchief. Taking the pouch, she quietly walked toward the entrance of the main quarters, but seeing people constantly coming and going, she feared she wouldn't find a clean opportunity. Turning around and noticing Huamei still watching her from afar, she made an excuse to slip around to the back of the building and casually tossed the pouch onto the ground.

Who would have thought that Zidai was walking right toward her from the opposite direction? Zidai asked, "Why are you throwing good things on the ground?"

Zhicao was suffering from a lack of anyone to gossip with, and running into Zidai, she recounted Huamei's dream as a joke, adding, "She's truly something else. Last time she actually dared to plant talismans to curse the Eldest Young Master; who knows what tricks are hidden in this handkerchief? What if it's investigated and I end up in trouble? I only humored her out of pity to get her to stop whining, as if I'd actually follow through for her." With that, she walked away.

However, these words struck a chord deep within Zidai's mind. She thought to herself, "Zhicao makes sense; Huamei is bound to be up to no good, and it's definitely aimed at Xianglan..." Mulling this over, she picked up the brocade pouch and, without a sound, tossed it inside through the rear window.

Now, on this particular morning, Xiaojuan was tidying up Xianglan's chests and trunks, sorting through the garments at the bottom that were rarely worn. Xianglan said, "Give the ones we don't wear often away as rewards. Later, pick out a few nice pieces for Yingge; her father is still ill, and silver flows out like water. To save money this year, she doesn't plan on making any new clothes besides the two sets provided by the manor. Everyone up and down the Lin family looks down on people through a lens of wealth, so she must be having a hard time."

Xiaojuan smiled and said, "Our young lady is always so soft-hearted."

Xianglan sighed, "She's having a difficult time, and she's an honest soul. By extending a helping hand, I'm simply accumulating virtue for myself." Neither of them noticed that a brocade pouch had been tossed in through the window, landing right amongst the sorted clothes. Presently, Yingge came over, collected several fresh garments, and showered Xianglan with endless expressions of gratitude. Her little maid, Dingxiang, spotted the brocade pouch nestled among the clothes. Finding its craftsmanship exquisite and charming, she quietly slipped it into her sleeve and took it away.

That very morning, Huamei bid farewell to the Lin household, packing up her personal belongings and worldly goods before leaving the estate.

Within a few days, cases of smallpox grew increasingly severe within the Lin residence. The Second Branch fared relatively well, with only a maid having to be carried out, but Zhisun Lodge was struck down one after another. First, Dingxiang fell into a high fever, followed closely by Yingge and Zhicao. Madam Qin was thrown into a panic and hastily sent Lin Jinyuan away to the home of a close relative, while ordering that anyone showing signs of smallpox be immediately carried off to the rear service quarters.

Lin Dongling remarked to Madam Wang, "I said all along that our household wouldn't have a peaceful year-end. First Aunt's birthday should have been handled like last year—going to the temple to hold religious services and staying two days to eat vegetarian meals. But you all refused to listen to me. Look at you now; we'll have to go out and properly offer our devotions somewhere, especially to the Smallpox Goddess at Xixia Temple."

Madam Wang discussed the matter with Madam Qin. Madam Qin sighed and said, "I had the same thought myself. Initially, I felt there were two happy events to busy ourselves with, so we didn't make a big fuss over the birthday and let it slide, never expecting the household to run into such an upsetting plague. It really is time to pay our respects at the temple. Let's pick an auspicious day in the next couple of days and set off."