Chapter 3

With the spring sun bright and the weather growing warmer and kinder by the day, it was the perfect season to go out for flowers and a stroll in the countryside. Yet Shen Lingyue could only stay cooped up in the courtyard, counting bricks and pacing in circles like a little beast locked too long in a zoo, growing dull and listless.

Only after the physician who came to check her pulse personally declared that the Third Miss had fully recovered did Shen Lingyue rush at once to the main courtyard to seek permission.

She wanted out. She wanted freedom. If they kept confining her like this, she was going to go mad like some forgotten consort in the imperial harem.

Fortunately, the original owner of this body had also been a restless sort, so Zhao Lan was not surprised by her request. She had a maid open the boxes and trunks, took out a stack of silver notes, and handed them to Qingchan for safekeeping.

“Go out and have some fun. Buy whatever you like. Once you marry into the Marquis of Changning’s household and become someone else’s wife, it will be much harder to leave the house whenever you wish.”

With the wedding date approaching, these next two months were the last easy days she would have.

Shen Lingyue looked as though she had heard a ghost story, gooseflesh rising all over her. She could not help muttering, “Then why bother getting married at all?”

Wouldn’t it be better to stay in the Shen household forever? With such a formidable mother protecting her, she could practically run wild.

Zhao Lan could not help but laugh. “You’re talking nonsense again. What woman does not marry?”

Shen Lingyue opened her mouth, then closed it again. Forget it. There was no reasoning with a person from this era.

If she dared spout anything to Zhao Lan about remaining unmarried and childfree so one could keep one’s youth forever, or not bearing and raising children so one might enjoy immortal longevity, she would likely be dragged out and burned as some kind of evil spirit.

Sigh. Better cherish her precious single life while she still had it. One day of enjoyment was one day earned.

Shen Lingyue climbed into the carriage. With the two maids present, she could not show too much excitement, so she could only use her side vision to peek around.

The carriage was spacious, with seating on three sides and thick cushions embroidered with cloud patterns. Beneath them were storage compartments. Above the window hung a cloth curtain, which the wind lifted slightly at one corner as the carriage moved, making it sway gently.

Qingchan, as if by magic, took a plate of pastries from the compartment and set it on the low table in the middle of the carriage.

Shuangxu asked, “Where would Miss like to go today?”

Shen Lingyue was already too eager to contain herself. She lifted the carriage curtain to look at the streets outside, then paused and said vaguely, “Just... the usual.”

Qingchan immediately answered for her. “I know, I know! First we go to Xing'an Avenue to buy the newest rouge, then to Furui Studio to pick out a couple of bolts of fabric, and finally to Hibiscus Tower for their signature dishes!”

When she finished, she lifted her chin proudly and waited for praise from her mistress.

Shen Lingyue cooperated by clapping her hands. “Exactly, that’s the plan!”

Thanks to Qingchan being chatty and hopelessly unsuspecting, otherwise she would have been exposed in no time.

It took about half an hour by carriage from the Shen residence to Xing'an Avenue. Shen Lingyue spent the whole ride pressed to the window, watching the bustle, and did not find it hard to endure at all.

The Great Ye Dynasty was commercially prosperous. Shops of every kind lined both sides of the street, and there were many small vendors and peddlers crying their wares along the roadside. The lively smoke and fire of ordinary life all reminded her that this was a real world.

The carriage stopped in front of a rouge shop. When Shen Lingyue jumped down, she did not steady herself properly and instinctively put a hand on the wheel, only to feel something soft and slightly springy.

She looked down and poked it twice. “This wheel... it isn’t wood?”

Why did it bounce back?

The Shen family driver laughed when he heard this. “Miss didn’t know? These are rubber wheels the household bought not long ago. They’re much better than wooden ones—strong, durable, and far less jarring.”

“Rubber?” Shen Lingyue was even more surprised. Wasn’t that an imported product?

Qingchan, ever the know-it-all, chimed in again. “Yes, yes! It was brought back by the treasure ships when the ancestor emperor opened the sea bans. They say it’s a kind of sap from a large tree overseas. Once it hardens, it can be wrapped around carriage wheels. It’s very popular—ordinary households can’t even buy it.”

Shen Lingyue quietly took note and, after buying rouge and cloth, sat in a private room at Hibiscus Tower, subtly prying more information out of Qingchan and Shuangxu to learn about this dynasty.

At the end of the previous dynasty, a foolish and tyrannical emperor ruled badly. Natural disasters struck repeatedly, refugees scattered and rose in unrest, and several rebel armies took up arms. In the end, it was an ancestor of the Xiao family who won the realm and founded the Great Ye.

This Emperor Xiao, the dynasty’s founding sovereign, was also a remarkable figure. After ascending the throne, he enacted many “unorthodox” policies, such as allowing men and women to marry only after the age of eighteen, forbidding officials from consorting with prostitutes, and permitting men to take concubines only if they had no son by forty. He advocated lifting the sea bans, vigorously promoted high-yield crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn, and encouraged women to leave their homes to study and work...

What was even more widely admired was that the founding emperor had only one wife in his lifetime: the Empress Zhaohui. The two were harmonious in music and temperament, bore three sons and two daughters, and their story became a celebrated tale.

Shen Lingyue listened in stunned confusion. Could this Emperor Xiao be her fellow countryman?

“Wait,” she said. “You said men can only take concubines if they have no sons by forty. Then what about our family’s Aunt Liu?”

Qingchan spread her hands. “Miss, that was more than a hundred years ago. And the current imperial harem doesn’t even have just one empress.”

Shen Lingyue nodded. Right, so policies died with the ruler.

Still, she had to thank her fellow countryman for his great contribution. Without you, potato-head, how would we live, ahhh...

These days she had eaten so many greens that her eyes were almost turning green. Today, at last, she could eat her fill of something good.

After the meal, Qingchan poured her a cup of Pu'er tea to aid digestion, then suddenly slapped her own forehead.

“Oh dear, look at my memory! Miss, do you want to know what the eldest daughter of the Zhou family has been up to lately?”

Shen Lingyue’s eyes lit up. New gossip?

“Tell me, tell me.”

Qingchan did not keep her in suspense. “I heard this yesterday from people on the street. It turns out that during the days Miss was recovering at home, the eldest Miss Zhou defied her stepmother and nearly caused Lady Zhou to miscarry. In a rage, the General of Divine Might sent her to a countryside estate to reflect on her conduct.”

Shen Lingyue clicked her tongue twice. “I get sick and she gets punished? Is this imperial marriage decree cursed or what?”

Then, after thinking it over, she frowned and asked Qingchan, “Where did you hear this?”

Qingchan looked puzzled. “Everyone on the street knows about it.”

“Mean. That’s truly vicious.” Shen Lingyue shook her head. “As expected, where there’s a stepmother, there’s a stepfather in spirit too.”

Even from reading novels, she knew how important an unmarried woman’s reputation was in ancient times. The moment the eldest Miss Zhou received the emperor’s marriage decree, rumors began spreading that she was disobedient and unfilial. If this reached the Marquis of Changning’s household, could she ever have good days ahead?

But since they were sworn enemies, it had nothing to do with her. In fact, she could even celebrate a little.

Shen Lingyue lifted her cup, clinked it lightly against the air, and took a pleased sip.

She kept wandering outside until the sun set, still reluctant to go home.

In the end, Shuangxu and Qingchan had to “stuff” her back into the carriage together.

After returning to the Shen residence, she first went to the main courtyard to pay respects to her mother. This was the morning and dusk duty of paying one’s respects.

The moment she entered the courtyard, she saw a young maid kneeling on the stone paving, repeatedly knocking her head toward the room. Her forehead was already dark purple from the blows.

“Please forgive me, Madam! I was momentarily possessed by greed and foolishness. I beg your mercy, spare me this once. I will never dare again!”

Her voice was shrill and blood-chilling, even more eerie in the dim light of dusk, and it startled Shen Lingyue enough to shiver.

What was going on here?

Qingchan suddenly covered her mouth and gasped, “Isn’t that Qiu Tong, who serves in the Eldest Young Master’s study?”

Qiu Tong heard movement behind her, turned around, and saw Shen Lingyue. As if seeing a lifesaver, she crawled over on her knees and grabbed the hem of Shen Lingyue’s skirt, pleading desperately, “Third Miss, Madam loves you most. Please, for the Eldest Young Master’s sake, save this servant...”

“How dare you! What are you, some lowly worm of a servant, to drag the Eldest Young Master into this?”

Madam Liu, who stood beside Zhao Lan, strode out quickly and pointed at Qiu Tong as she shouted, “When you were chosen to serve in the study, I thought you were honest and proper. Who gave you the courage to disturb the Eldest Young Master’s studies? If you ruin his prospects, even the lives of your entire family would not be enough to repay the debt!”

Madam Liu said sternly, “By Madam’s order, drag her away, force her to drink the muting medicine, and send her to the estate to do farm work!”

“Madam, spare my life! I will never dare again—”

Qiu Tong’s miserable cries were muffled by coarse cloth as two servant women roughly dragged her away.

Only a small patch of dark red blood remained on the floor tiles, left behind from how hard she had banged her head.

After dealing with Qiu Tong, Madam Liu put on a smile and came toward Shen Lingyue. “Third Miss is back. Did you enjoy yourself outside today?”

Shen Lingyue’s brows furrowed. She pushed past her and hurried into the room. “Mother.”

Zhao Lan sat upright at the head of the room, eyes lowered, leisurely blowing on the tea in her cup.

Shen Lingyue could not help but call out again, “Mother, what crime did Qiu Tong commit? Wasn’t that punishment too harsh?”

“Harsh?”

Zhao Lan set down her teacup, her expression calm. “She entertained improper thoughts and wanted to become your eldest brother’s bedchamber woman. If I had not dealt with her severely and made an example of her, who knows how many maids would try to take shortcuts and climb to higher ground? What would happen to your eldest brother’s studies then? And if word reached your future sister-in-law’s family, what would they think of our Shen household?”

“But,” Shen Lingyue began, then hesitated. “As long as Eldest Brother has no such thoughts, no matter how a maid tries to seduce him, he won’t take the bait.”

Zhao Lan frowned slightly, as if her words were genuinely baffling. “Your eldest brother already studies so hard. Must he also spend every day guarding against these maids’ schemes? Yue'er, do you even know what you are saying?”

Shen Lingyue bit her lip and said nothing.

Since arriving in this body, she had never thought of Qingchan and Shuangxu as servants beneath her. She had always treated them like hired caretakers in the family—people earning their keep through labor.

But today, for the first time, she realized that being a maid here meant living as precariously as grass, with the life and death of such people decided by a single word from those above them.

“All right. Mother knows that though you are a little spoiled, you are kind-hearted, and you have always been lenient with the maids in your own room. But now that you are about to marry, when you take charge of a household in the future, you cannot rely on mercy and softness alone to control these servants.”

Zhao Lan drew Shen Lingyue closer and patted the back of her hand, speaking patiently. “Since your body has recovered and you’ve already gone out to play, starting tomorrow you will come to me and properly learn how your mother manages a household.”

Although she had prepared dowry matrons and maids for her daughter, the girl herself still needed to stand firmly on her own, so that the people below would not team up to deceive her.

Originally, she had not planned to marry her off so soon. But since the emperor had issued the marriage decree, there was no choice but to rush and learn whatever she could.

Shen Lingyue instantly felt that the lavish meal she had eaten today no longer seemed fragrant. It sat heavily in her stomach, making her restless.

She lowered her voice to discuss with Zhao Lan, “As for Qiu Tong... sending her to the estate to work is already hard enough. Don’t make her drink that muting medicine too. How cruel would that be?”

Zhao Lan’s brow furrowed, then relaxed almost imperceptibly. She told Madam Liu, who stood at the door, “Did you hear the Third Miss? Do as she says.”

“Yes, the Third Miss is kindhearted. I’ll go at once.”

Madam Liu, reading the main wife’s expression, immediately took her leave in understanding.

Shen Lingyue breathed a sigh of relief and curved her lips at Zhao Lan. “Thank you, Mother. I knew you were the best!”

On the other side, Madam Liu quickly left the main courtyard and passed through a side alley to an abandoned wood shed beside the western corner gate.

This place was remote and quiet, far from the main courtyard, and most suitable for handling matters that could not be made public.

By the time she arrived, Qiu Tong was already tightly bound, with cotton cloth stuffed in her mouth. She was struggling in muffled sobs, her face smeared with blood and tears, no longer resembling her usual delicate beauty.

Madam Liu pinched up her chin and patted her cheek.

“Such a fine, proper girl. In a couple of years, if you begged Madam to arrange a match with a steward, wouldn’t that be better than being an unrecognized bed warmer? Why put yourself through this?”

Qiu Tong could not speak, only cried all the harder.

A servant woman brought over a bowl of pitch-black medicinal broth and asked in a low voice, “Shall I make her drink it now?”

Madam Liu turned her face away and waved her hand. “Keep it quiet. I can’t bear to look at this.”