Chapter 5

Lady Xiao Lin was a concubine-born daughter of the Lin Family. She had never gotten along with Ji Chan's mother, though they had kept in touch over the years.

Ji Chan had once overheard the older women chatting. Apparently, when Lady Xiao Lin was young, she had been infatuated with her future brother-in-law, the Marquis of Jinyang, and had caused quite a stir over it. But before long, she had been married off to Zhao Ming, who had placed second in the imperial examination that year.

The older women all thought she still shamelessly kept in touch with the marquis's household because she hadn't given up on the marquis.

Lady Xiao Lin had enjoyed a comfortable life since getting married. She had a son and a daughter, and her husband doted on her.

Back then, her husband had relied on his connection to the Lin Family to stay in Shangjing. Now, he had risen to become the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, a fourth-rank official.

Ji Chan only saw this aunt of hers during holidays and festivals, and they had barely exchanged a few words. They were quite distant, so she hadn't expected that after being driven out of the marquis's residence, her aunt would still be willing to keep in touch.

After listening to Mama Sun, A Chan replied, "Please thank my aunt for thinking of me. I'm fine now."

"It's good that you're safe, miss." Mama Sun patted her chest, as if a great weight had finally lifted from her shoulders. The Mingjing Division had taken her away; just coming back alive was already a blessing.

At the same time, Mama Sun was a little surprised. She felt that the young lady's way of speaking seemed slightly different from before, and somehow more pleasant to the ear.

A Chan smiled and asked gently, "You've been waiting here a long time, Mama Sun. You must be tired. Why don't you come inside and rest?"

She took the key from her hidden pocket and was about to open the door, but Mama Sun hastily declined. "This old servant won't trouble you. I only came to pass along Madam's message. She said she hasn't seen you in a long time and would like you to come by for a chat. Do you have time tomorrow?"

"If my aunt has invited me, of course I have time."

"Good. Go back and get some proper rest, miss. This old servant will come to fetch you tomorrow."

Having passed on her mistress's message, Mama Sun didn't linger. She returned to the carriage, and the coachman soon drove away.

A Chan stood by the door, watching the carriage disappear before turning to unlock it. As expected, dust flew straight into her face, and the cold was so bitter she could hardly stand.

The place had originally been a general goods shop, with two floors. After it was taken back, all the shelves had been removed, leaving the first floor completely empty—not even a stool remained.

She shut the door and went upstairs. It was just as cold up there, though at least there were a few more things.

There was a crude plank bed with the quilt neatly folded on top. A wooden cabinet stood against the wall, holding undergarments and a new set of winter clothes. In one corner of the cabinet sat a wooden box containing some loose silver coins, about ten taels in all.

A brazier sat beneath the bed, piled with ash and some charcoal that hadn't burned through.

With the brazier, at least she wouldn't have to lie awake freezing tonight.

A Chan went downstairs and headed to the back courtyard. The shop was poorly situated, but it had one advantage: a well in the courtyard, along with a storeroom, a kitchen, and an outhouse.

If not for that well, this shop wouldn't have cost so much more than the others, and it might not have stayed unsold for so long. Fortunately, it had, or she would have had nowhere to live.

The storeroom held the charcoal she had bought earlier and four loads of firewood. The kitchen had rice and flour, so she didn't need to go out and buy anything.

She felt unwell and really didn't want to move, but she had been locked in jail for seven days and needed to clean herself up. So she boiled a pot of water in the kitchen, shut the door, and quickly washed herself in the warmth from the stove.

As she wiped herself with the hot water in the wooden tub, A Chan carefully avoided the whip marks on her body. The doctor in the jail had given her ointment to stop the bleeding, and by now the wounds had scabbed over and were beginning to heal.

When the cloth reached her waist, A Chan was surprised to see a ring of fine black lines appear on her skin beneath the hot water.

The lines looked as if they had been there since birth, but in Ji Chan's memories, there had clearly been no such marks on her body when she bathed.

Then she noticed the same fine black lines appearing on both knees and at the bends of her elbows. These marks had obviously only appeared within the past few days.

Perhaps... She touched her neck. If there were marks on her limbs, there should be one here, too.

Was her body so weak because of these marks? A Chan couldn't be sure.

But they were clearly connected to the Soul Possession. Unfortunately, she had no clue what they meant or how to get rid of them. For now, she could only take things one step at a time.

Fortunately, by the time she finished wiping herself down, the marks had faded.

That night, she lit charcoal in the room, and it finally grew a little warmer. A Chan managed to get a decent night's sleep—or at least, she thought she had, until she woke from the cold at the end of the hour of the tiger. The charcoal in the brazier had burned out, and her stomach was grumbling with hunger.

Wrapped in her quilt, she lay motionless on the bed, radiating despair. Being human was truly miserable. You had to eat three meals a day, and you could easily freeze to death. The more she thought about it, the more hopeless it seemed.

Her consciousness and instincts tugged against each other. In the end, her stubborn will defeated her hunger, and she didn't eat until Mama Sun came to fetch her at the start of the hour of the snake. Then she ate a few chestnut cakes in the carriage to quiet her stomach.

Mama Sun watched A Chan gracefully finish an entire plate of chestnut cakes and sighed to herself. What a shame. She had once been the legitimate daughter of a marquis's household, yet now she had fallen so low. It looked as though she hadn't even eaten breakfast.

After A Chan finished eating and drank a cup of hot tea, the carriage had already stopped outside Zhao Manor.

Mama Sun led her into the inner courtyard and along a covered corridor, bringing her to the front room.

Perhaps they had arrived at an inopportune moment. As soon as they entered the courtyard, A Chan heard a woman's sharp voice from inside: "What's wrong with being a second wife? I'm going to marry him!"

From the voice, it had to be her cousin Zhao Wenyue, whom she had only met a few times as a child.

Zhao Wenyue was clearly arguing with her mother about her marriage. A Chan simply couldn't tell whom she wanted to marry. Would the daughter of a Left Vice Censor-in-Chief really agree to become someone's second wife?

Mama Sun clearly hadn't expected to walk into this scene either. Her expression turned awkward, but when she saw that A Chan was acting as though she hadn't heard a thing, she finally relaxed.

She hurried forward and pushed open the door to the main room. Lifting the curtain, she called out, "Madam, this old servant has brought Miss Chan."

Mama Sun's voice interrupted the mother and daughter's quarrel. Lady Xiao Lin took several deep breaths before saying, "Come in."

A Chan entered the main room, and a wave of warmth washed over her. The first person she saw was her aunt, Lady Xiao Lin, reclining on a couch. She looked much as she did in A Chan's memories, except that her belly was swollen high with pregnancy.

Lady Xiao Lin's daughter, Zhao Wenyue, had just quarreled with her mother. Now she stood to one side, and as A Chan entered, she looked at her with unmistakable hostility.

A Chan couldn't help feeling puzzled. She had hardly interacted with this cousin. Where had the hostility come from?

"A Chan greets Aunt." A Chan stepped forward to salute Lady Xiao Lin.

Her way of referring to herself didn't make Lady Xiao Lin suspicious. After all, the two names sounded alike, and before Lady Lin passed away, she had sometimes called her daughter A Chan, too.

"Come sit." After inviting her niece over, Lady Xiao Lin impatiently waved her daughter away. "That's enough. Stop standing here and upsetting me. Go back."

Zhao Wenyue seemed to think she hadn't gotten enough of a fight with her mother. She kept pressing the matter and even pointed at A Chan as she demanded, "Mother, is it because of her that you don't want me to marry Young Master Xue?"

Young Master Xue? A Chan's eyes flickered at the surname. Which Xue?

Lady Xiao Lin's expression turned icy. She slapped the low table hard and snapped, "You could be a proper wife, yet you insist on becoming a second wife. You've only met Xue Mingtang a few times, and you've already lost your head over him."

Xue Mingtang. A Chan knew the name, of course. He was Madam Xue's younger brother. That night during the Lantern Festival, the words "Lord Xue" had practically been carved into Ji Chan's mind.

What a coincidence.

Lady Xiao Lin thought that, as a mother, she had her daughter's best interests at heart in every way. But Zhao Wenyue didn't see it that way. In her eyes, her mother was the villain tearing apart a pair of star-crossed lovers.

Besides, she had known for a long time that her mother opposed her marrying Young Master Xue, who had a bright future ahead of him, just because his sister had become her stepfather's second wife. Her mother was actually trying to ruin her match over such a petty grievance!

Zhao Wenyue didn't want to shout and give A Chan a show, but she didn't want to let her off lightly either. Her words were especially venomous. "Mother, don't dress it up so nobly. I know you're always on the Lin Family's side, but everyone in Shangjing knows my aunt was unfaithful. Everyone's wondering who my cousin's real father is.

"Father did nothing wrong, and Young Master Xue's sister did nothing wrong either. You don't have to force the grudges between your Lin family members onto your daughter."

Even Lady Xiao Lin was so enraged by her daughter's words that her vision swam. She pointed at Zhao Wenyue but hadn't yet said a word when waves of pain clenched her belly. The maids rushed over in alarm, while Mama Sun hurried out to find a doctor.

Zhao Wenyue seemed to realize at last that she had caused trouble. While the main room descended into chaos, she slipped away.

The doctor soon arrived and prescribed medicine to protect the pregnancy, telling Lady Xiao Lin to rest and avoid getting angry again.

After seeing the doctor off, Mama Sun couldn't help advising her, "Madam, you're carrying two lives now. It took so much to finally conceive this young master. Please try to keep your temper, and don't quarrel with Second Young Lady again."

Lady Xiao Lin snorted. "Was I the one arguing with her? She was clearly trying to anger me to death. And the master—I don't know what got into him, but he actually thinks Xue Mingtang is a good match. My daughter can't just marry some Sixth-rank Official. Even if she can't marry into a marquis's or duke's family, she still can't marry just anyone."

Mama Sun sighed. Madam had had the same temper for so many years. No amount of reasoning could change her.

Though Lady Xiao Lin's tongue was sharp, her anger passed quickly. Once her belly stopped hurting, she finally remembered A Chan, whom she had left waiting to one side.

"I heard you ran into a demon calamity on Lantern Festival night. Are you all right now?"

A Chan sat on a chair and replied, "I'm fine now. The officials of the Mingjing Division investigated and found I had nothing to do with it, so they let me go."

"That's good. Your mother is gone, and I'm the only family you have left in Shangjing. Don't get me dragged into trouble, too."

A Chan smiled. What could she say? That her aunt was just blunt?

"You're eighteen now, aren't you? Your mother insisted on keeping you by her side and never arranged a marriage for you. Now look at you—finding a good family won't be easy."

A Chan lowered her eyes and said softly, "A Chan has to observe mourning for Mother for three years. She has no intention of marrying."