Against the Current - Chapter 293

Chapter 293 - Peace Restored

By the time Lin Jinlou returned to Changchun Hall, it was already lamp-lighting time. Jiang Shangxian had spent a long while talking with him earlier, his attitude sincere as he offered apologies and bows, alongside an offer of a substantial sum of silver in recompense. Lin Jinlou had sneered inwardly; Jiang Shangxian was a man of some stature who knew how to put on a grand front, but unfortunately, he had been born into the wrong family.

He bypassed the screen and walked into the bedchamber, where he found only Xuening and Lingqing keeping watch. The two hurriedly stood up, and Lin Jinlou lifted the bed curtains to find Xiulan still fast asleep. He asked, "How is your mistress?"

Xuening replied, "Imperial Physician Zhang instructed that she take her medicine every two hours. She has already had a dose and drank a few mouthfuls of date tea, and now she's fallen asleep."

Lin Jinlou nodded, hooked the bed curtains onto small silver hooks, and sat down. Lingqing served tea and then withdrew with Xuening. The candlelight flickered on the gilded orchid lamp, casting a warm, hazy glow over Xiulan's face. She was still leaning against a brocade pillow in shades of sunset red, her dark hair cascading loosely around her, which only made her face look smaller—like a piece of white jade, delicate and refined. Cradled in a quilt of embroidered silk, she lay there like a flower battered by a violent storm, both fragile and haggard.

Lin Jinlou gazed at her in a trance for a long while, his anxious and irritable mind gradually calming down. Who would have thought that such a tender girl could possess such a proud and unyielding spirit, with a breadth of mind and insight far surpassing ordinary women? He had always found it strange how a pair of servants like the Chen couple could have raised such a daughter. She was like an orchid blooming amidst ruins and mud, struggling through countless winds and rains yet continuing to grow with stubborn resilience, filling him with a spontaneous sense of respect. He finally understood why Xiulan wanted to leave, but even if a knife were held to his throat, he could never agree to it!

He couldn't resist reaching out to stroke Xiulan's face, gently brushing away the stray locks of hair at her temples. Xiulan started awake, blinking sleepily. Seeing Lin Jinlou, she gave a start, her eyes widening in alarm; Lin Jinlou's temperament was erratic, and since she had openly demanded to leave that day, she feared he was about to fly into a rage again. To her utter astonishment, Lin Jinlou said with a gentle and pleasant expression, "Awake? Are you hungry? The small kitchen has brewed some red date porridge; would you like a bowl? Imperial Physician Zhang said you need to nourish your Qi and blood."

Thinking she must be dreaming, Xiulan stared blankly at Lin Jinlou for a good while before noticing the slight, reassuring smile on his face. "You should eat something at least. You need to line your stomach before you can take your medicine." With that, he reached out to adjust her pillow, propping her body up higher, and picked up a bowl of red date soup to feed her.

In her daze, Xiulan wondered if this scoundrel had been driven out of his wits by anger. Then she saw Lin Jinlou set the tea bowl aside, summon Lingqing to bring a bowl of porridge, and proceed to feed her himself, spoonful by spoonful, his eyes fixed intently on her face.

Uncomfortable under his gaze, Xiulan reached out and said, "I'll eat it myself. It's not like my hands are broken."

Lin Jinlou said, "No, you just rest properly. Let your master pamper you for once." He arched an eyebrow with a smile and added, "I'm treating you so well, aren't you moved? Aren't you happy?"

Finding this utterly childish and tedious while she was still feeling unwell, Xiulan couldn't be bothered to humor him and couldn't help a sarcastic retort: "You've actually learned to lower your posture—you are definitely not the eldest master of the Lin family."

"Oh? Then who am I?"

"A painted ghost wearing human skin, a male fox spirit turned into a man."

Lin Jinlou couldn't help laughing out loud. "Alright, calling me a painted-skin ghost and a fox spirit—you'll end up irritating me to death one of these days."

Xiulan smiled faintly. "The eldest master needn't be angry. By now, heaven knows how many people outside are already cursing me as a fox spirit, which has surely avenged you long ago."

The moment she said this, the smile vanished from Lin Jinlou's face. Xiulan was still deathly pale, weak and haggard, and the room was thick with the scent of medicine. The anger in his chest flared up once more. He set the bowl down on a nearby table, grasped Xiulan's small hand, squeezed it tightly, and after a long moment finally spoke, "Jiang Xiyun is coming to apologize to you, and she's bringing five thousand taels of silver as compensation."

"Five thousand taels? I had no idea I was worth so much..."

Hearing this left a bitter taste in Lin Jinlou's mouth. He pressed his index finger against Xiulan's lips and murmured after a pause, "You've suffered a grievance in this matter, so of course I will secure justice for you. If you can bear children in the future, then so be it, but otherwise... hmph. Good deeds stay indoors while bad news travels a thousand miles; anyone with any sense will naturally see through what happened. With the Jiang family saddled with this reputation, it will be even harder for them to make a comeback in the future, and the Lin family will certainly never extend a helping hand again. Unless Jiang Shangxian pulls himself together, the Jiang family has little hope left."

Xiulan lowered her eyelashes in silence.

Lin Jinlou watched her for a long while before suddenly asking, "How is it that you know the affairs of the Shen family so well? You hadn't even been born the year the Shen family fell, had you?"

Xiulan raised her eyes to look at Lin Jinlou. "I had a dream. In my past life, I was the eldest young miss of the Shen family, and we were even betrothed. But the marriage never took place, and I married someone else instead. Later, the Shen family became embroiled in a disaster, and I met a tragic end myself."

Lin Jinlou stared at her with wide eyes, an inscrutable expression on his face. The two gazed at each other for a long time in a silence so deep a dropped needle could be heard.

Xiulan twitched the corners of her mouth, forced a faint smile, and said, "I was just joking with the eldest master. How could such a thing be possible? My master, Abbots Dingyi, was once a lady from an official household with ties to the Shen family; that's where I heard it."

Lin Jinlou suddenly leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Xiulan's lips. Xiulan lifted her head in surprise, and Lin Jinlou chuckled, "Perhaps that really was your past life. It just goes to show you're fated to follow your master in this life; anyone who follows someone else comes to no good end."

Xiulan forced a weak smile and lowered her head. Seeing the worried look on her face, Lin Jinlou's brows furrowed, and he took her hand and squeezed it hard once more.

Early the next morning, Jiang Xiyun came in person to offer her apologies. The memory of Xiulan's interrogation in that very room was still fresh in her ears, and she truly could not bear to look back. Standing outside the screen, she performed the formal ceremony of gathering her skirt and bowing three times, then hurried away with her maids as if a ghost were nipping at her heels. Lingqing sneered, "The Jiang family got off far too lightly."

Xuening said in a low voice, "The Jiang family's carriage is parked right outside; they're leaving immediately! They packed their luggage all through the night. Madam Jiang is likely on her deathbed—she coughed and raised a ruckus the entire night. And the fourth Jiang miss has been running a fever and babbling nonsense ever since she got back yesterday."

Lingqing sighed. "This truly proves the saying: 'Do not harbor deceit in your heart, for there is a sky above your head.' They thought they could gain the upper hand through underhanded means, but heaven has eyes after all."

To make a long story short, while Xiulan was recovering from her illness in the estate, Lin Dongqi sent people over with gifts every two or three days, and Tan Luohua and Lin Dongxiu frequently came to visit. Though the two women vaguely guessed at the underlying reasons and questioned Xiulan about it, Xiulan never gave a direct answer, merely brushing it off with a smile. When pressed harder, she would use the excuse, "Madam and the eldest master won't let me speak," to shut them down. Tan Luohua, however, had heard from the maids that Xiulan's illness was caused by water brewed from "pill of severed posterity," and she was instantly struck with terror, realizing that this was precisely the packet she had lost, which the Jiang sisters had picked up. She couldn't help feeling fortunate that she had already sold off Xilu and Caiping far away, and though she spent the next few days on tenterhooks, no rumors reached her ears, and her heart gradually settled back into place—though we shall speak no more of that for now.

In the blink of an eye, over a month passed. On this day, Tutor Xia was instructing Lin Dongxiu when Xuening walked in carrying a foreign-lacquered tray holding seven or eight exquisite, snow-patterned boxes. Smiling, she said, "These are newly presented powders and rouges of various styles. Our auntie says that since the young miss is about to become a bride, she wanted to invite the young miss to pick out a couple of boxes first."

Lin Dongxiu opened the boxes one by one to inspect them. Some were purple powders made from rice starch; some were butterfly-welcoming powders made from fine millet; some were jade-girl peach blossom powders blended with musk, shell powder, and motherwort; some were pearl powders made from jasmine flower kernels; and others were jade-hairpin powders made from tuberose, among many others. The powder cakes were pressed into round, square, octagonal, or sunflower-petal shapes, embossed with sunken and raised patterns of plum blossoms, orchids, and lotus flowers, wrapped in silk cloth, and filled with a rich fragrance.

Delighted, Lin Dongxiu exclaimed, "This is so exquisite, truly masterwork craftsmanship! Please thank your auntie for me." She selected two boxes, and Xuening took her leave to head over to Tan Luohua's quarters.

Tutor Xia remarked, "Courtesies require reciprocity. Since your auntie sent you two boxes of powder, you cannot simply accept them without returning something."

"You are quite right," Lin Dongxiu agreed. She rummaged through her things to find two exceptionally fine scented sachets and instructed Huawei to deliver them.

Tutor Xia wore a smile and nodded slightly.

A moment later, Lin Dongxiu heard Huawei chatting outside the window with Caifeng, Tan Luohua's maid. Huawei was saying, "Just now, when I went to Changchun Hall to deliver something, I caught a glimpse of a box of jewelry the eldest master had just had made for Auntie. My word, it sparkled so brightly it almost blinded me! I wager even the vinegar jars over at Auntie's place are made of agate."

Caifeng had been reprimanded by Tan Luohua over the lost medicine, and even the prospect of being elevated to concubine to Lin Jinxuan had been dropped. Hearing Huawei's words rubbed her the wrong way, and unable to hold back her resentment, she let loose the thoughts on her mind: "I hate to say anything unpleasant, but Chen Xiulan came from slave stock, yet she acts as though she's some young lady of high birth. The eldest master is in a position of high power and authority, the sort who wouldn't even deign to glance at ordinary people. For him to elevate her to a concubine is like 'a fool passing the imperial examination'—the ancestral graves must be smoking with ghostly blue fire! Yet she puts on airs of high-minded purity and acts all stuck-up. What is she trying to do? Does she think she can become the eldest grandmother? She's dreaming!"

Huawei laughed. "You shouldn't talk like that. Who knows what kind of fortune she might have in store for the future?"

Caifeng sneered. "No matter what fortune she has, she was still born to a slave. She picked the wrong mother's belly right from the start. No matter how much a snake wants to become a dragon, it has to know its place. Even if she climbs onto the stage, she's still just meant to be a side dish!"

Before she could finish her sentence, a teacup was hurled out from the window, shattering on the ground with a sharp crash that startled them both. Lin Dongxiu scolded, "Who's out there chewing on the roots of gossip?"

Too terrified to speak, Caifeng stuck out her tongue and scurried away in silence.

Lin Dongxiu sneered coldly, "How can anyone be so vile as to gossip about their masters' affairs like this? Second sister-in-law really ought to keep them in line." Because Xiulan had treated her with total sincerity, the two had gradually grown close, and even Lin Jinlou had shown a pleasant demeanor toward Lin Dongxiu, adding generously to her dowry. Hearing someone speak ill of Xiulan prompted Lin Dongxiu to stand up for her.

Tutor Xia thought to herself, "Paper cannot wrap up fire. The moment Xiulan fell ill, the Jiang family packed up in a panic and fled, and they stopped mentioning the agreed-upon marriage altogether. I can guess the dirty business behind it more or less. Tsk, tsk, Chen Xiulan is truly a pity. As I've observed coldly these past few days, she's a precious pearl covered in dust, at the mercy of fate. But in this world, there is no bowl that cannot be righted. Servants have narrow horizons—how can they know that Xiulan won't soar to greatness one day and truly become the mistress of the house? It's just a pity my own position is too humble and my voice too weak, otherwise I would certainly give her a helping hand." Needless to say more on that.

Another month passed, and messengers bearing funeral notices arrived from the Jiang family, announcing that Madam Jiang had passed away from a severe illness. At that time, the Lin family was decked out in festive lanterns and colorful streamers amidst the sounds of gongs, drums, and music: Lin Dongxiu was getting married.