Against the Current - Chapter 243
Chapter 243 - Encountering an Old Acquaintance (Part 3)
Qiuye led Xianglan into the garden, pointing out the scenery along the way. Xianglan had little heart for it and merely offered perfunctory responses, while Xiaojuan was full of high spirits, looking about eagerly and chattering away with Qiuye. Before long, they arrived at a building constructed right by the lake, above whose entrance hung a plaque inscribed with four large characters: "Flowing Water and Floating Clouds." Even before reaching the threshold, the trilling and chanting of actors performing an opera could be heard. Two maidservants stood guard at the entrance, and seeing Qiuye leading people over, they quickly lifted the curtain and invited them inside.
The room was packed to capacity with people. A dazzling array of pearls, jade, satins, and silks filled the eyes, while various blended cosmetics and fragrances drifted over in waves.
Lin Dongwan was standing near the front, serving tea to the elders. Seeing Xianglan arrive, she hastily put down the teapot in her hand, stepped forward with a welcoming smile, and said, "You've finally arrived! Sister Xianglan, hurry and come sit inside." Affectionately clasping Xianglan's arm, she led her to a seat in the side hall. This spot was further away from the opera stage, and sitting around were several young women dressed in reds and greens with elaborately drawn eyebrows and temples, interspersed with a few older matrons. Xianglan understood in her heart that these women must also be prominent concubines brought by various households to socialize, or perhaps the wives of minor officials.
The Lu family had managed to flourish for several generations, and though their fortunes were now waning, they still retained some foundation. Today was Old Master Lu's birthday, and the main hall where the official female relatives with imperial titles gathered was practically bursting at the seams—there was certainly no place for her there. Being able to secure a humble corner in the side hall was already a mark of favor. When she entered, she had even noticed that the covered corridors outside were crammed with tables for those lacking the status to enter and listen to the opera.
A small tea table stood beside her seat, holding a tiny filigree round box filled with two kinds of preserved fruits, a dish of melon seeds, and a plate of cloud-flake pastries, alongside tea bowls and other refreshments. Maidservants continuously wove through the crowd to serve the guests.
Xianglan sat down, and Lin Dongwan immediately poured a cup of tea with her own hands, handed it to Xianglan, and offered an apologetic smile as she said, "I'm terribly busy today and afraid my hospitality might be lacking, so please forgive me. I offer my apologies to you first. Sister Xianglan, enjoy the opera for a bit, and later I will personally accompany you for a stroll around the garden."
Qiuye accompanied her with a smile, thinking to herself that their young mistress was truly formidable—able to bend and stretch as needed. Xianglan was merely a concubine, yet the Third Young Mistress was willing to lower herself to cultivate ties with her. If the Third Young Mistress wanted to win someone over, she could undoubtedly coax them into complete compliance. Though Xianglan's status meant she couldn't secure a prime seat, the Third Young Mistress's words were so warm and considerate that even if Xianglan felt disgruntled, her grievances should melt away by now.
Xianglan managed a strained smile. The chaotic din of the opera registered not at all in her ears. Seeing Lin Dongwan pick up her teapot and walk away, she simply gazed out the window. Across the lake stood jagged rockeries, alongside which weeping willows were planted, their branches swaying in the breeze. She thought to herself that things really were quite good this way. Today, Song Ke's future was bright and untroubled, and he had a devoted wife and a child. Zheng Jingxian hailed from a prominent background, could lend a helping hand to Song Ke's official career, possessed a brisk and generous disposition, and was deeply devoted to Song Ke. Song Ke precisely needed such a capable and virtuous wife—qualities she herself could never hope to match. No matter how much she refused to accept her fate or struggled to rise in the world, she could never alter the stark reality of her origins as a maidservant. Back then, she had been truly naive; if Song Ke had genuinely married her, she would likely only have brought him public mockery in settings like this, wouldn't she?
When all was said and done, she was the one who owed Song Ke in this lifetime. He had helped her escape the fiery pit of the Lin family, secured official emancipation for her entire family, and granted her a kindness akin to a second birth. During her times of trials and hardships, he had provided her with a warm roof to shelter from the wind and rain, and they had once shared a genuine, pure affection that she still carefully treasured in the depths of her heart, helping her endure many difficult days. Now that Song Ke was living well, she was genuinely and deeply happy for him.
Yet she couldn't fathom why her heart still felt as though it were being slashed by knives, aching so intensely that she could not utter a word.
It hurt so much, so terribly much...
Xianglan clutched her handkerchief tightly, hastily exhaled a breath, and lifted her teacup. Using her sleeve to partially block her face under the guise of drinking tea, the moment she raised her arm, two trails of tears rolled down her cheeks and dropped straight into the teacup. She quickly and quietly wiped them away with her handkerchief. She felt as though her wits had scattered; at that moment, her primary thought was actually thanking goodness that she hadn't worn cosmetics today, otherwise mixing with her tears would have made her a completely unpresentable sight.
When she lifted her head, the stage had shifted to a new play. Xianglan stared blankly and uncomprehendingly at the performance for a short moment, and then she saw that below the stage, Zheng Jingxian was seated in the center of an arhat bed, embracing the elderly Lu matriarch and chatting animatedly. Her expression was both charming and delightful, causing the old lady to chuckle heartily, while the surrounding noble matrons joined in with smiles, clearly offering words of praise. Zheng Jingxian lowered her head with a shy, self-conscious air and murmured a few words, prompting another wave of laughter from the crowd.
Seemingly sensing Xianglan's gaze, Zheng Jingxian straightened her posture and looked toward her side. As their eyes collided, Zheng Jingxian held her chin high, her expression arrogant and tinged with a hint of provocation as she stared coldly back at her.
Xianglan wanted to smile, but no smile would come. Zheng Jingxian had no need to act this way; had she not witnessed the warm, radiant smile on Song Ke's face earlier when he mentioned his son? They were a devoted young couple married since their youth, a harmonious and beautiful family of whom others could only feel envious. Did Zheng Jingxian really worry that she would try to rekindle an old romance with Song Ke? What a laughable notion.
Xianglan thought with a quiet sense of desolation that her ties with Song Ke probably belonged solely to her past life. To be able to cross paths with him one more time in this existence was already an immense grace granted by the heavens. If she had truly become Song Ke's concubine, bowing her head to Zheng Jingxian day after day and wasting away into a bitter, venomous shrew amidst the battles for favor, she probably would have grown to hate him in the end. Therefore, things were very, very good just as they were; she only wished for him to live well.
On the stage, the actors were performing "The Grand Birthday Offering," shouting and clashing gongs and drums in a chaotic, deafening clamor resembling a horde of demons dancing in pandemonium.
Unable to bear sitting there any longer, Xianglan offered apologies to those around her and slipped out of the room. Reaching the outdoor terrace, a gentle breeze swept away some of her stifling vexation and desolate gloom. Xiaojuan had been in an alcove eating pastries and watching the opera with a group of maids, but seeing Xianglan standing outside, she hurried out to attend to her.
Noticing crumbs of pastry still clinging to the corner of Xiaojuan's lips, Xianglan forced a faint smile and said, "Don't mind me. It was simply too stuffy inside, so I came out to get some air. You go on back. You're always cooped up at home, and now that you've managed to get out for once, go enjoy yourself and eat your fill." With that, she took the half-eaten pastry out of Xiaojuan's hand.
Xiaojuan wandered off on her own, while Xianglan leaned against the balustrade, breaking off bits of pastry to feed the fish. Suddenly, she noticed three or four young noble wives and daughters standing not far away. Though they were chatting amongst themselves, they kept glancing over at her and pointing. Looking closer, she saw Zhao Yuechan standing amidst the group, waving her fan as she stared at her with an expression of utter disdain and contempt.
Xianglan couldn't be bothered to pay them any mind. She could well imagine that Zhao Yuechan wasn't saying anything kind about her, deliberately trying to ruin her reputation among the official families. Instead, she simply turned her back to them and tossed the pastry crumbs into the lake, reducing them to fine powder and drawing a flurry of colorful carp competing to feed.
Seeing Xianglan's indifferent demeanor, Zhao Yuechan grew even more incensed. Although her divorce from Lin Jinlou had been handled quietly, it had created quite a sensation among the Jinling aristocracy. Her family had shut their doors to visitors, and her parents and brothers wore permanently furrowed brows. Seeing that she could no longer remain there, her family had sent her off to the capital to stay with her grandfather and escape the awkward spotlight.
Upon first arriving in the capital, everyone looked down upon her, letters from home were scarce, and she suffered no small amount of slights and grievances. Harboring bitter resentment in the dead of night, she would lie awake unable to sleep, suffering from melancholy and chest tightness until a single breath away from falling seriously ill. Initially, her family had planned to marry her off to some distant place, selecting a petty seventh-rank official for her to marry as a secondary wife. A seventh rank? She wouldn't even deign to cast the corner of her eye at such a match! Marrying her off like that was pure wishful thinking! She stubbornly refused to accept her fate, simply unwilling to believe that her life was destined to be crushed into the dust without a chance of rising again.
Fortunately, heaven never completely shuts all doors. Her grandfather's residence frequently hosted various officials and guests, and just then her elder brother, Zhao Gang, had traveled to the capital to seek a career. Through sweet words, gifts, and bribes, Zhao Yuechan had bought off Zhao Gang to keep an eye out on her behalf, eventually filtering out a few respectable households. She had secretly gone to inspect each one of them before finally setting her sights on Dai Qing, whose wife had passed away the previous year. Firstly, Dai Qing held a prestigious fifth-rank post in the Hanlin Academy, an office of high repute, and he was also deeply valued by her grandfather, Zhao Jin, suggesting a promising future ahead. Secondly, though Dai Qing was forty-five years old, he maintained himself well and had been known as a "handsome man" in his youth; now sporting a fine, flowing beard, he cut the figure of an elegant gentleman with the refined bearing of a classic scholar. Thirdly, the Dai family had once been prominent; as the old saying goes, "a centipede dies but never truly falls apart," so they surely retained some remaining foundation. After weighing her options, Zhao Yuechan discussed the matter with Zhao Gang. Her brother shook his head like a rattle-drum, saying, "This undertaking is extraordinarily difficult. Given the Dai family's current standing, nine times out of ten they will want to marry an untainted maiden as a continuation wife. If someone of your background is brought up and they politely decline, wouldn't that cause our father to lose face? It would damage Grandfather's reputation as well."
Zhao Yuechan knew this meant the bribes she had given hadn't satisfied his greed, and she cursed him inwardly. Back when she was in the Lin household, she had purchased a rather attractive maid named Qiong Zhi, originally intending to offer her to share Lin Jinlou's favor, though ultimately Lin Jinlou hadn't cared for her. When she left the Lin household, she had brought this maid along with her. Buying a girl of such coloring nowadays would cost at least five hundred taels of silver. Though she had originally intended to hoard her as a rare commodity for other uses, she now had no choice but to grit her teeth, dress Qiong Zhi up handsomely, and send her to serve tea to Zhao Gang, promising that if the matter succeeded, she would gift Qiong Zhi to him as a concubine. Zhao Gang had long since set his sights on his sister's pretty maid, and Qiong Zhi was no simple character either—the two of them had been exchanging glances and flirtations for days. Hearing Zhao Yuechan's proposal, Zhao Gang cursed her inwardly as a cunning schemer who "never releases the hawk until she sees the rabbit," but since he could secure such a benefit, he secretly made arrangements. He had Zhao Yuechan "accidentally" encounter Dai Qing in the family garden, opening the embroidered-building window to pretend she was grooming herself while carelessly letting a handkerchief float down from the window right to Dai Qing's feet.
Upon seeing it, Dai Qing was struck breathless by her ethereal beauty, and Zhao Gang seized the moment to say, "To tell you the truth, my sister is also a tragic soul. Previously married to the Lin family in the capital, her husband was an absolute tyrant and ruffian who trampled upon a delicate, refined creature like her, subjecting her to constant beatings and verbal abuse. After several years of marriage without children, he threatened to divorce her. But if you inquire all around, who doesn't know that Lin Jinlou has zero children of his own, and with several maids and concubines in his quarters who couldn't even drop a single egg, why did he try to pin the blame on my sister? Things became so utterly unseemly that my sister had no face left to remain, crying that she wanted to end her life. It was only because our parents pitied her that they spoke with the Lin family, negotiated a divorce, and sent her to the capital for me to accompany and distract her." He then showered praise on Zhao Yuechan's elegance, cleverness, and gentle, virtuous nature, describing her as though she possessed peerless perfection both in heaven and on earth.
Dai Qing was deeply moved upon hearing this, and reading between the lines of Zhao Gang's words, he thought to himself that since Zhao Yuechan was so delightfully lovely, an incomparable beauty, youthful in age, and furthermore the granddaughter of Zhao Jin—while he himself was a pupil of Zhao Jin—such a lineage wouldn't bring any disgrace upon her. If the marriage succeeded, firstly he would gain a beautiful bride, and secondly it would forge a closer bond of kinship with the Zhao family; wasn't that the best of both worlds? Moreover, he already had three sons and even grandsons of his own, so even if Zhao Yuechan proved barren, he wouldn't need to fret over descendants. With a smile, he said, "Since your sister is so wonderful, has she already been promised to someone?"
Hearing this, Zhao Gang knew the matter was halfway home and hastily replied, "Not yet. We were terribly afraid of running into another boorish brute who would ruin the prime years of her youth. If she is to find a match, it ought to be a scholar like yourself—refined, cultured, and mature enough to know how to tenderly cherish her, so that her youth in the boudoir does not wither away."
Dai Qing laughed. "Is my young brother here making sport of me, or speaking in earnest?"
"Naturally in earnest," Zhao Gang replied. "I wonder what your honorable intentions might be?"
Dai Qing smiled again. "To speak the truth, it would be a wonderful match indeed, but I fear someone of your sister's extraordinary bearing would be unwilling to marry someone of my advanced years as a continuation wife, and your grandfather might not be willing either."
Zhao Gang thought to himself that he was afraid this foolish mark wouldn't agree, and immediately smoothed it over: "That's of no consequence at all. If you truly have the intention, just send someone to our family to propose marriage, and leave the rest to me to handle."
Dai Qing agreed and departed, subsequently indeed sending matchmakers to propose marriage to the Zhao family. On this end, Zhao Gang and Zhao Yuechan had already dropped to their knees to plead with Zhao Jin, with Zhao Yuechan weeping tears of bitter remorse and declaring how she had changed her ways, how she would restrain her temperament, and how properly she would conduct herself henceforth. Zhao Gang also chimed in about how well-suited Dai Qing and Zhao Yuechan were, arguing that an older man and younger woman pairing would surely lead to a harmonious lifetime together, painting an extraordinarily rosy picture. Zhao Jin initially refused, but he could not withstand the tearful, rain-blossom pleas of his granddaughter from all sides. Figuring that after enduring such a harsh trial she ought to have mended her ways, and seeing that both parties were willing, why should he deliberately play the part of a heartless mandarin duck-breaker? Thus, he gave his consent.
Once Zhao Jin nodded, the wedding preparations were rushed through like wildfire. Since the Dai family was taking a continuation wife, they didn't hold a lavish ceremony; within a mere three months, Zhao Yuechan had crossed the threshold of the Dai household. Using sweet words and utmost diligence, Zhao Yuechan coaxed Dai Qing into a daze, casting everyone else to the winds and enjoying his overwhelming favor.
Consequently, whenever Zhao Yuechan went out to socialize, she always dressed in a dazzling, show-stopping manner, appearing thoroughly triumphant as if trying to reclaim every ounce of the humiliation she had suffered in the past. Today, catching sight of Lin Jinlou again, she had harbored the intention of holding her head high and showing off. Back then, he had forced her to live like an empty-chamber widow, subjected her to every form of humiliation, chased her out like a stray dog, and nearly driven her to her deathbed; she had sworn an oath in her heart that if the opportunity ever arose, she would never let Lin Jinlou off easily! Yet who could have anticipated that today, upon seeing her, Lin Jinlou didn't even grant her a second glance, treating her as if she didn't exist at all? This was far more difficult for her to endure than if Lin Jinlou had glared at her with knitted brows or cursed her without stopping. And that was before considering that she had actually laid eyes on Chen Xianglan! Wasn't that little bint long since sold off to a brothel? How could she appear here in such a grandiose fashion, blazing in golden ornaments, with Lin Jinlou bringing her out to socialize and even eagerly seeking her out to introduce her to the Grand Protector's daughter?
Moments ago, she had indirectly sounded out Lin Dongwan and learned that Lin Jinlou currently possessed not a single concubine or mistress in his entire courtyard—only Chen Xianglan alone enjoyed his exclusive favor, with food, clothing, adornments, and surrounding servants even more luxurious than when she herself had been the legitimate mistress of the Lin household.
Zhao Yuechan felt as though a mass of air was stuck in her chest, unable to swallow or expel it, turning even the table full of delicacies into something as bitter as medicine.