Dongxi Village, Qingjiang County.
The Xu Household.
The east had brightened, and the dark blue heavens slowly opened.
Thin mist lay like silk over the ridges, winding around the green seedlings. Before the eaves, a waning moon hung like a hook above the tips of an old willow.
Cooking smoke curled up from the thatched cottages, mingling with the morning haze and turning into wandering dragons that chased the clouds away.
Dressed in plain-colored silk, Bai Jing sat upright before a bronze mirror. Behind her, a woman in her forties knelt with an old peachwood comb in hand, slowly combing her frost-white hair.
Once her hair had been arranged into a bun, Bai Jing studied herself in the bronze mirror from both sides.
"A-Li, your skill hasn't diminished since those days. I heard your daughter is getting married?" Bai Jing spoke slowly, then suddenly gave a soft sigh. "In the blink of an eye, you've been in the Xu Household, serving at my side, for..."
"Twenty-one years."
The middle-aged woman was also filled with emotion as she recalled, "Old Madam, I was only eleven or twelve when I entered the household. You took pity on me and chose me from among the others to be your personal maid."
"How old is your daughter?"
"Fifteen."
"Getting married at fifteen... My Xueji is twenty-three now, and she still hasn't found a good match. It truly worries me to death."
"The Fourth Young Lady is gifted and intelligent, with peerless grace. How could any ordinary young gentleman be worthy of her?" the middle-aged woman praised with a smile.
"You always pick the nicest things to say. But she's a woman, after all, and must marry someday. She isn't a man like Yunnu, and now my husband isn't home, either."
As Bai Jing spoke,