Chapter 6

"How can you not get married?" Lady Xiao Lin sounded as if she had heard something utterly outrageous. She earnestly tried to persuade her. "With your looks, if you're lucky, you could even marry into a prince's or nobleman's household. Even becoming a concubine would be better than suffering out there. If you observe mourning for three years, which family would still be willing to take you?"

Though she was unwilling to admit it, her elder sister's daughter truly was beautiful. Even after being put through the wringer at the Mingjing Division a few days ago, her beauty remained untouched. If anything, she seemed all the more delicate and pitiable.

Hadn't her elder sister outshone her back then thanks to that pretty face of hers? Lady Xiao Lin understood men's hearts better than anyone. If those princes and nobles saw Ji Chan, quite a few of them would likely get ideas.

Lady Xiao Lin had never hidden her ambition to climb the social ladder. If her daughter hadn't looked so much like her husband and been so plain, she would have paved the way for her long ago.

Now that her daughter had set her heart on Xue Mingtang, all she could count on was this niece.

Lady Xiao Lin felt she had already given her niece plenty of consideration. This was clearly a win-win arrangement, yet A Chan wasn't swayed in the least.

After listening to Lady Xiao Lin paint a picture of the wonderful life that awaited her, A Chan finally said, "Thank you for your kindness, Aunt. But my mother warned me again and again that I could only marry as a proper wife. I must never debase myself."

Lady Xiao Lin's face fell. She gave an unhappy snort. "You really don't know what's good for you. With your status, even a family of scholars would look down on you as a marriage prospect, and you still expect to be a proper wife? It's all your mother's fault for raising you to be such a blockhead."

Lady Xiao Lin began to criticize Lady Lin incessantly, as though she meant to voice every grievance she had harbored against her all these years.

A Chan simply sat quietly to one side, neither arguing nor agreeing.

Just then, a maid announced from outside, "Madam, the Eldest Young Master is here."

Hearing that her son had come, Lady Xiao Lin showed no delight. She even furrowed her brow. "Shouldn't he be studying at the academy? Why has he come here?"

It wasn't that she was being unfairly cold to her son. Near the end of last year, she had noticed that her eldest son had been staying out all night for several days in a row. After questioning the page who served him closely, she learned that her precious, much-anticipated son had been coaxed into going to a gambling house.

By the time she went looking for him, her son had already run up a gambling debt of over a thousand taels. She had to send a maid back to the manor to fetch the money and pay it off; otherwise, she wouldn't even have been able to bring him home.

After they returned, she told her husband what had happened. He gave their son a severe beating and said that if he kept gambling, he would throw him out of the house.

Lady Xiao Lin had been furious too, so she had chimed in with a few words. In response, her son shoved her, nearly making her fall.

Ever since then, she had found her eldest son especially irksome.

Zhao Wensheng had heard his mother as he entered. With a smile, he said, "I heard you've suddenly developed a taste for river fish, Mother. On my way to the academy, I saw a vendor selling live fish, so I bought some and came back to the manor."

Just as her eldest son had said, she had suffered terrible morning sickness during the first three months of her pregnancy. She had thrown up everything she ate and endured a great deal. Now she was six months along, though, and had developed a particular fondness for the fishy smell.

Unfortunately, fresh fish were hard to come by at this time of year, so she hadn't been able to enjoy them to her heart's content.

Knowing her son had been thinking of her, Lady Xiao Lin's brow relaxed. She chided him affectionately, "No wonder you smell of fish. How thoughtful of you."

As she spoke, she gently stroked her swollen belly. "Your little brother will probably love eating fish. Unlike you—when I was carrying you, I only wanted sweet things."

"I don't even like sweets," Zhao Wensheng muttered. Then he noticed Ji Chan sitting nearby in a plain-colored jacket and skirt, her features calm and distant. A trace of admiration rose in his eyes. "And this young lady is...?"

"What young lady? She's your cousin Ji, your Aunt's daughter."

"Oh, so she's my cousin. Why haven't I seen you around before, Cousin?" Zhao Wensheng gazed intently at A Chan.

"That's enough. Don't ask so many questions about your cousin."

Lady Xiao Lin didn't want her son spending too much time with Ji Chan. If he took a fancy to his cousin, would they have to make another match within the family?

She absolutely could not allow Ji Chan, in her current circumstances, to marry into the Zhao family.

Zhao Wensheng took another couple of lingering looks at A Chan before reluctantly tearing his gaze away.

Seeing this, Lady Xiao Lin's expression cooled. "At this hour, you should be heading back to the academy. You don't want your teacher reporting you to your father."

"Yes, I understand, Mother."

"And your father says your natural ability is already poor, so you have to work harder than everyone else. If I find out you're making trouble outside again, I'll have your father send you back to our hometown."

Zhao Wensheng lowered his head and replied listlessly, "I wouldn't dare."

As he turned around, A Chan clearly saw the anger in her cousin's eyes.

Once Zhao Wensheng had left, Lady Xiao Lin turned her attention back to A Chan. She seemed determined to get her married, telling her all the benefits of marriage from every angle and even using her own life as an example.

Lady Xiao Lin had always believed that, apart from her son and daughter being somewhat disappointing, her married life had been excellent. Her husband indulged her in everything, and there were no other maids or concubines in the household. Her life was a hundred times better than that of her elder sister, who hadn't even known that her husband kept a mistress.

After listening to Lady Xiao Lin boast, A Chan obligingly praised her a few times.

Then Lady Xiao Lin said, "Look at you. You can't do anything, and you don't even have a way to earn a living, yet you're thinking of observing mourning for your mother for three years. I'm afraid you'd starve to death within a month."

A Chan thought it over. Ji Chan really had no skills for making a living. After all, no one had expected her to ever need them.

As for A Chan herself, there was one craft she knew.

She hadn't deliberately set out to learn it. It was just that during the year she had been separated from her parents, she had taken only one book from her mother's desk: a book on making incense.

Later, whenever she missed her parents, she would read the book. Over time, she had memorized it.

"You needn't worry, Aunt. I've studied incense-making, and I can use it to support myself."

"You know how to make incense? Why haven't I heard your mother mention it before?" Lady Xiao Lin looked unconvinced.

"I only learned it in my spare time to pass the hours. My mother didn't know."

"Anyone can say that. Whether you can support yourself depends on your skill. Since you think you're capable, make a calming incense blend tomorrow. I'll try it first."

A Chan gently declined. "You're pregnant, Aunt. It would be better not to use incense."

She could make a blend suitable for a pregnant woman, but people's hearts were hard to fathom. If something really happened to Lady Xiao Lin and someone blamed her, it would be trouble. She didn't want to invite trouble upon herself.

"Then make an incense blend to drive away mosquitoes and insects."

A Chan laughed. "Aunt, there aren't any mosquitoes or insects this time of year."

Lady Xiao Lin was growing impatient. "I ask you to make one little incense blend, and you keep making excuses. Were you just lying to me?"

A Chan felt helpless. She had rarely met anyone as self-centered and impatient as Lady Xiao Lin.

"If that's what you want, Aunt, I'll prepare an insect-repelling incense blend for you tomorrow."

"Fine, I'll be waiting at home." As she spoke, Lady Xiao Lin yawned. Mama Sun hurried forward to help her lie down.

Seeing this, A Chan also rose to take her leave.

Lady Xiao Lin waved a hand. Before pulling up the covers, she told Mama Sun to see A Chan out later.

A Chan left the main room and waited outside for a short while. Mama Sun soon came out with a smile.

Mama Sun escorted A Chan to the Zhao Manor's main gate. Once they were sure no one was nearby, she took two banknotes from her sleeve and pressed them into A Chan's hand.

A Chan held the two one-hundred-tael banknotes, momentarily bewildered. "Mama Sun, what is this for?"

Mama Sun smiled. "Madam asked this old servant to prepare them. She said she didn't want you to think your aunt didn't care about you. She wants you to take the money and buy a few more outfits, and use what's left to buy spices. If your skill is truly good, there'll be more in it for you later."

A Chan accepted the money without much hesitation, then said, "Please thank Aunt for me. I'll come visit again tomorrow."

"Of course. Take care, Miss."

A Chan walked down the street, still thinking about Lady Xiao Lin.

Her aunt was a difficult person to describe. You couldn't call her a good person, with all her calculations practically bouncing off her forehead, and she didn't hide her selfishness or snobbery in the slightest.

But if you called her bad, she wasn't the only concubine in all of Shangjing City with ties to Ji Chan's maternal Lin Family. Yet she was the only one who had asked around about Ji Chan's whereabouts and given her money.

Perhaps Lady Xiao Lin had given her money for spices only so that A Chan could have another "selling point" later. Still, when you were down on your luck, having someone remember you and lend a hand was already a rare kindness.

Unlike A Chan, who had traveled all the way from the Northern Wasteland to Shangjing without anyone caring whether she lived or died.

Standing amid the bustling street, A Chan felt inexplicably lonely.

The passersby around her were smiling or hurrying along. After the day's bustle, they all had homes to return to. But she had no home.

Only after someone accidentally bumped into her did A Chan pull herself out of that low mood.

Life was so short. She had so much to do—how could she waste time thinking about people and the past that no longer had anything to do with her?

Demons could let the years slip by, but humans had no choice but to look ahead.

For now, she needed to exchange some money, then go to the West Market to buy some commonly used spices. Although most of the formulas in that book weren't meant for ordinary people, she still knew a few simple ones.

A Chan first went to a money shop and exchanged twenty taels into loose silver, along with four twenty-tael banknotes.

Twenty taels of silver could last an ordinary household a long time. A Chan wandered around the West Market and bought a pile of common spices without spending even five taels.

As she was leaving, though, she spotted a length of uncarved black wood at a woodcarver's stall.

The vendor said it was a fifty-year-old willow log that had turned black not long after it was cut down. Willow wood wasn't especially fine, but the color was rare. He would ask at least one tael for it.

A Chan hesitated, but still bought the log. The Yin Willow had grown in a place steeped in extreme yin. She had no use for it now, but perhaps she would later.

The vendor didn't offer delivery, so A Chan had to find someone in the market to carry the wood back for her. The porter said the log was heavy and Changping Quarter was far away, so he'd need to pull a handcart. He wanted ten copper coins.

A Chan thought that was too expensive. As she was haggling with him, a group of Mingjing Division Guards suddenly charged into the West Market.