The Southern Bough - Chapter 1

“A-Jing, I was kind enough to teach you the books of the sages. How dare you be so lazy?”

The gray sky narrowed to a sliver before my eyes. The agony of rats gnawing at my belly inside the coffin seemed to vanish in an instant.

I stared blankly at my mistress, Yao Huanyi, standing beneath the covered walkway a short distance away.

Her features were lovely. A silver fox cloak wrapped around her plain white dress made her look just like the gentlest, most virtuous heroine in a storybook.

Qiushu, a maid I was close to, pleaded quietly for me. “Miss, A-Jing can’t read. Making her copy all this before a stick of incense burns down is asking too much.”

Yao Huanyi hated being questioned. She frowned at Qiushu.

“I’m doing this for A-Jing’s own good, so people won’t laugh at her when she goes out.”

I looked at the book on the low table beside me, its ink still wet, and came to my senses. I had returned to the days before the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet.

My mistress had not yet married into the Eastern Palace and become Crown Princess.

I struggled to recall what had happened that day.

That afternoon, I had accompanied her into town.

Young Master Wu, from the Supreme Pillar of State’s household, had ridden his horse recklessly down the street, straight toward Yao Huanyi.

Instead of turning aside or slowing down, he had urged it directly at her.

At the last possible moment, I pushed her out of the way.

We tumbled together to the roadside as the crowd burst into laughter.

Yao Huanyi was the daughter of the Southern Kingdom’s Grand General of Zejing. The noble young ladies of the capital had always sneered at her lack of refinement.

Now her hair ornaments were askew, her face and clothes covered in dust. She looked utterly bedraggled.

To the onlookers, I had risked myself out of loyalty to my mistress. Of course she would not turn on me in public.

Back at the estate, however, she suddenly announced that she would teach me to read and understand proper conduct.

She threw me a book and ordered me to copy its contents ten times before a stick of incense burned down.

At that point in my previous life, I had been illiterate. I could only imitate the shapes, producing crooked, clumsy characters. Naturally, I failed to finish in time.

Yao Huanyi’s face turned cold. She ordered me to kneel in the courtyard for four hours.

Beneath the walkway, Qiushu tried to plead with her again.

Changqing, Yao Huanyi’s personal maid, shoved her aside.

“An ungrateful little wretch. If she really kneels herself to death, the dogs at the mass graves are looking thin. We can always throw them another body.”

Yao Huanyi gave Changqing an approving look.

In my previous life, I had always believed my mistress was cold on the outside but kind at heart.

Whenever she punished me, I searched myself for the fault.

I must not have been good enough.

If she truly had a heart of stone, she would never have saved me in the first place.

And so, whenever Yao Huanyi asked me to do something difficult, all she had to do was let her eyes redden and say casually, “If it weren’t for me, A-Jing would have died on those snowfields long ago, wouldn’t she?”

I would grit my teeth and do it for her.

Once they had gone, Qiushu crept over to me beside the holly tree. “A-Jing, I saved you a steamed bun. It’s wrapped up under the pillow.”

I tapped gently at my numb legs. “Thank you, Qiushu.”

I knew that in another two hours, news would reach the capital that the Crown Prince had returned from the autumn hunt with a golden fox.

The Imperial Astronomical Bureau would declare it an auspicious omen, greatly pleasing His Majesty.

Ten days later was the Empress Dowager’s birthday. The Emperor would hold a banquet in Changhua Hall and order his ministers to attend with the women of their households.

It was said that the Empress intended to choose a bride for the Crown Prince at this banquet.

In my previous life, Yao Huanyi had sworn to hold her head high at Changhua Hall and make everyone look at her differently.

But skill at the zither or painting could not be acquired overnight. She had learned some martial arts from the Grand General and was reasonably nimble, so she decided to perform a dance.

My mother had once been the finest dancer in Northern Yu. After marrying and moving to the Southern Kingdom, she had choreographed dances for Noble Consort Xiao, who had enjoyed the Emperor’s exclusive favor for a time.

I had followed my mother everywhere as a child, learning by watching and listening.

To fulfill Yao Huanyi’s wish, I had stayed up for two days and nights and devised a dance called Seeking Fragrance.

She rehearsed with me every day, working with extraordinary diligence.

What I hadn’t known was that Changqing’s remark—“A-Jing dances so beautifully. If Miss could learn even half her skill, His Highness would never have room in his heart for another woman”—had lodged like a thorn in my mistress’s mind.

Such an unobtrusive little remark.

At the Empress Dowager’s banquet, Yao Huanyi’s dance won praise from everyone, just as we had hoped.

The Crown Prince beat time in admiration. “General Yao’s daughter dances with more grace than an immortal!”

Yet amid all that applause, Yao Huanyi was not as happy as I had imagined she would be.

In the courtyard, I looked around. Once I was certain no one was nearby, I picked up a stone and brought it down hard on my ankle.

Blood welled up. The pain drained all color from my face.