Against the Current - Chapter 81

Chapter 81 - Breaking Free

Huamei snorted, turned sharply, and went inside the room. Her birth mother, Concubine Liu, followed right behind her and said, "Eldest Miss, stop picking pointless fights with your father. He does have a point; he only acts this way because he cares about you—"

Huamei glared at her and snapped, "What point does he have? He's just humiliating me! Why doesn't he send those daughters born of the primary wife to be concubines for other men? You both know how I've been enduring my days in the manor, yet all you do is sit around gossiping."

Concubine Liu sighed deeply and said, "What else can be done? If your father hadn't gotten mixed up in that mess, by now you'd be the proper mistress of a prosperous household. Every day I sit here wondering how on earth that fiercely ruthless woman in Eldest Master Lin's household might be bullying you..." As she spoke, she began to wipe away her tears.

Huamei was initially a bit impatient, but seeing her concubine mother cry, she had to soften her tone and said, "All right, all right. As long as you know it hasn't been easy for me. The moment something happens, all you know how to do is cry and weep. If you had just shown a shred of backbone, I wouldn't have been reduced to this state." These words stung Concubine Liu, making her choke back sobs even harder. Huamei sighed, pulled Concubine Liu over to sit on the edge of the bed, and seeing that there was nobody else around, lowered her voice to say, "Concubine Mother, stop crying. Perhaps my good days are still ahead of me. I was originally meant to be a person of gold and jade; I was never meant to be some wretched concubine-in-waiting for someone."

Concubine Liu froze, then stared eagerly at Huamei's belly, asking, "My child, could it be that you are with child? That would be a blessing from the heavens! If you bear a child—even if it's a girl—the Lin family will surely elevate you to the status of concubine-mistress."

Huamei knitted her brows tightly, muttered, "I can't talk sense with someone as muddled as you!" and threw herself down on the bed to lie on her back.

For a while, all remained quiet.

In the middle of the night, as Huamei drifted in and out of sleep, she began to feel increasingly hot. In a drowsy daze, she nudged the maid Xique beside her to pour her some tea. Xique half-closed her eyes as she walked over to the table to pour half a cup of cold tea. As she turned back around, the teacup in her hand slipped and shattered against the floor with a loud crash, and she shrieked out, "There's a fire! There's a fire!"

That single shout swept away every trace of Huamei's sleepiness. She hastily scrambled up from the bed to take a look and sure enough saw raging flames licking upward all around them. The mistress and servant shrieked in terror, waking the entire household, who rushed toward the doorway, pulling and dragging one another along. Fortunately, the fire at the entrance was not yet fierce. Once the entire family spilled out into the courtyard, Huamei looked closely and saw that her own living quarters were already swallowed by billowing, thick smoke.

Having only focused on saving her life just moments before, she suddenly remembered that the ledger was still left inside the room and lunged back toward the burning building. Terrified out of her wits, Concubine Liu threw her arms around her and cried, "My child! Where are you running off to now?"

Huamei struggled and shouted, "Let go of me! Stop getting in the way and causing chaos!" Shaking off Concubine Liu's grip, she was immediately grabbed around the waist by Xique. Tears streaming down her face, Xique pleaded, "Young Mistress, the fire is too fierce, don't throw your life away running back in there... No matter how important that thing is, is it worth more than your life?"

Hearing those words, Huamei stopped struggling and stood stock-still in a daze, looking utterly vacant.

Huamei knew with crystal clarity that this fire had been deliberately set for her.

She had thought that fleeing back home would settle everything once and for all, but she had never imagined she would anger Zhao Yuechan so much that the woman would actually come for her life! Huamei shuddered all over; she had still underestimated Zhao Yuechan, but now she was riding a tiger and could neither dismount nor turn back.

Neighbors and townspeople all hurried over to help put out the fire. The blaze burned until nearly dawn before finally being extinguished. Her entire room was nearly burned to the ground, though fortunately, there was no wind that night, sparing the surrounding quarters. Huamei carefully picked her way inside to search through the debris and finally found the ledger inside her chest. Most of it had already been devoured by the fire, and a gentle touch caused several pages to crumble into ash. Only a few pages remained unburnt, and shockingly, Zhao Yuechan's signature and fingerprint were still clearly visible upon them.

Huamei clenched her teeth, carefully wrapped the remaining fragments in a cloth, and tucked them into her bosom, thinking to herself in the dark, "Until the very last moment, there's no telling who will emerge victorious. I refuse to believe I cannot climb over this mountain!"

While one branch of events unfolded here, another blossomed elsewhere.

Now, Zhao Yuechan had grown utterly brazen and had bribed Qian Wenze with a large sum of silver to set the fire. Qian Wenze, a scoundrel guilty of every sort of vice, had indeed burned Huamei's home to the ground. He dispatched a few local ruffians to gather intelligence, and they returned to pass the news through the second gatehouse to Yingshang, reporting: "The entire room was burned to ashes, nothing was left behind, and Huamei didn't take a single thing with her when she fled."

Hearing this, Zhao Yuechan let out a long breath of relief.

Yingshang brought over a bowl of freshly simmered chicken soup and smiled, saying, "My lady can finally set your mind at ease. You haven't been able to eat or sleep properly these past few days."

Zhao Yuechan took a spoonful of the soup and smiled. "Indeed. Without that evidence, there's no proof left of what happened. It's just hateful that the little hussy Huamei managed to run away so quickly." Pausing for a moment, she added, "Taking advantage of this smooth momentum, tomorrow you should have my cousin bring the human trafficker over, dispose of that little wretch once and for all, and then there won't be a single frustrating thing left to worry about." Yingshang promptly acknowledged the order.

Early the next morning, while the sky was still shrouded in pre-dawn gloom and starlight still flickered across the firmament,

Xianglan was huddled in a corner, half-asleep, when the door suddenly creaked open. Two matrons strode in and, without a word of explanation, gagged Xianglan's mouth, bound her hands, and hauled her out. Terrified to her core, Xianglan struggled with all her might, but she could not break free and was dragged straight to a secluded corner gate at the back of the manor. Standing there waiting for them was a tall, pale-faced young man—none other than Qian Wenze.

Xianglan trembled uncontrollably. Holding a folding fan in his hand, Qian Wenze lifted Xianglan's chin with a frivolous gesture, inspected her left and right, and clicked his tongue. "Tsk tsk, how pitiful. Her face has been beaten up to such a wretched state." He had originally expected to see a stunning beauty and had planned to take her back to enjoy himself first, but instead, he was presented with a girl whose face was bruised black and blue beyond recognition and whose hair was an unruly mess. He instantly lost all interest. Waving a hand dismissively at a man standing not far away, he called out, "Sun Laoqi, come over here."

Sun Laoqi was a procuress's errand boy for the Yihong Brothel. Plump and round, with a pair of thin, curled mustaches and an astute air, he trotted over eagerly when summoned by Qian Wenze.

Qian Wenze was on intimate terms with Jinfeng, a courtesan at the Yihong Brothel, and had showered her with plenty of silver. Knowing that Qian Wenze had powerful backers and ruthless methods, Sun Laoqi made sure to flatter him at every turn. Hearing the previous night that Qian Wenze was going to bring him to buy a maid from the Lin family, Sun Laoqi had been genuinely delighted. Whenever brothels acquired maids from grand aristocratic households, it was either because they had committed a grave offense and were sold off, or because they had tried to seduce the master of the house and were ruthlessly disposed of by the mistress. From the hints Qian Wenze had dropped, he assumed this girl was the latter; and for a maid from the Lin family to catch the master's eye, her looks and figure must certainly be top-tier.

Yet the moment he laid eyes on Xianglan, Sun Laoqi's mouth twitched. Her features suggested she was pretty, but her entire face was out of shape, and it was impossible to tell whether the swelling would ever fade. If it didn't, buying her back meant she could only ever serve as a low-class teahouse attendant. He smacked his lips and said, "A girl like this... thirty taels of silver at most, and that's only out of respect for Master Qian."

Qian Wenze snorted. "Sun Laoqi, you truly have a slick and ungenerous mouth. Thirty taels to buy a grown young woman? Even an unweaned little girl costs more than that. This girl only suffered some facial injuries; her original appearance was quite lovely. Once the swelling on her face subsides, I daresay even your brothel's little Xiaocui won't be half as pretty."

Sun Laoqi thought to himself that this young master certainly knew how to spin tales—had he actually laid eyes on what this maid looked like beforehand? Still, he somewhat agreed with Qian Wenze's argument. He looked closely at Xianglan's waist, legs, and hands, then gritted his teeth and said, "Forty taels at most. We'll still have to pay to get her face treated after we take her back, and every single expense costs silver, doesn't it?"

Qian Wenze remained unsatisfied. After haggling back and forth with Sun Laoqi, they finally settled on forty-six taels of silver. The matron produced Xianglan's deed of sale, and Sun Laoqi reached into his pocket to produce the silver.

Xianglan closed her eyes. It was the first time in her life she had ever been bargained over like livestock and merchandise. Her vision went completely black, and her eyes felt so dry no tears could come. She bit down hard on her lower lip, thinking to herself, "If I truly have misfortune lead me into the gates of a brothel, I must not seek death. No matter what, I will scratch out a path to survive!"

Just then, a voice called out, "Sun Laoqi, I came out for a stroll bright and early this morning only to find you out shopping for goods."

Xianglan looked toward the voice and saw a short, thin middle-aged man with a slick, mercantile air and small, darting eyes. His name was Gao Erbao, and he was in the same line of work as Sun Laoqi, serving as an errand boy for the Yicui Pavilion. Being well-acquainted with both Qian and Sun, Gao Erbao exchanged greetings with them before circling around Xianglan to inspect her. "How much silver for a girl like this? I'll offer sixty taels."

Qian Wenze's eyes lit up instantly, and he pulled back the deed of sale he had been about to hand to Sun Laoqi.

Sun Laoqi instantly panicked. "We had already agreed on the price! What are you stepping in to stir up trouble for?"

Qian Wenze chuckled. "Old Sun, don't get anxious. Naturally, the highest bidder wins. If you're willing to pay higher than fifty taels, I'll let you take her away."

Sun Laoqi looked at Xianglan's bruised and broken face, then down at his own money pouch. He considered offering five taels more, but ultimately shook his head. Spending sixty taels on a girl who might be permanently disfigured was simply not worth it; for that price, he could buy a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old virgin from a poor family and train her just slightly to start receiving guests and making money.

Seeing that Sun Laoqi remained silent, Qian Wenze smiled, slid the deed of sale right before Gao Erbao's eyes, and said grandly, "Boss Gao is generous! This girl belongs to you."

Without a wasted word, Gao Erbao produced a sixty-tael silver banknote, placed it directly into Qian Wenze's hand, grabbed Xianglan by the arm, and turned to leave.

Qian Wenze was overjoyed. Zhao Yuechan had already told him that whatever price the girl fetched, the silver would be entirely his. Tapping Sun Laoqi's shoulder with his folding fan, he said, "Let's go. Master here didn't sleep well last night; take me to your place, have Jinfeng heat up some bathwater for me, and make up a warm bed—I still need to go back and get some sleep."

Sun Laoqi hastily put on a flattering smile while thinking to himself, You made me walk my legs off early this morning; today I'll definitely figure out a way to win back that fifty taels in your pocket! Aloud, he fawned, "Right then, let's head off. Master Qian, you haven't gone to see Jinfeng these past few days, and our Jinfeng has been shedding tears for days on end, even embroidering a new sachet especially for you..." The two men walked further and further away until their voices faded into silence.

Gao Erbao grabbed Xianglan and stood waiting at the corner of the alley. Seeing that Qian and Sun had disappeared from view, he pulled Xianglan down a different path. Xianglan felt her head spinning and her legs so weak that she staggered with every step. As they rounded a short alley, she saw a carriage parked quietly waiting there.

Gao Erbao rubbed his hands together as he stepped up to the carriage, bowing and scraping as he said, "Master, everything you instructed has been taken care of. If you'll just take a look... about this..."

The carriage curtain was abruptly lifted, and as Xianglan forced her gaze upward, she saw none other than the face of Song Ke looking back at her from inside the carriage.

Xianglan trembled all over. Two lines of tears suddenly welled up and spilled from her eyes. Her heart felt as though a crushing weight had suddenly lifted, yet at the same time, something deep inside her was gripped and twisted violently. Caught amidst this rapid succession of overwhelming grief and sudden relief, her vision blurred, her legs gave out, and she fainted dead away.