The Southern Bough - Chapter 3

Yao Huanyi was overjoyed to hear that I would help her.

I lowered my head and let a hint of hesitation show. “But I’ve hurt my ankle. I’m afraid I can’t demonstrate the dance for you myself.”

“How is that possible?” she exclaimed.

Suspicion filled her eyes. She reached out and pressed my ankle. Blood seeped through the bandages and stained her fingers.

I clenched my teeth and pressed my lips together.

She pulled her hand away, took the handkerchief Changqing offered, and wiped her fingers in disgust.

When she saw that I really was injured, her pretty face darkened. She was about to lash out when I raised my head.

“But I can draw it. If you hire an experienced dancer from Shangjing to rehearse with you using my diagrams, I’m sure you can master this remarkable dance in ten days.”

Yao Huanyi drew a deep breath and sent for brushes, ink, paper, and an inkstone.

I spoke again. “Please have someone bring us more charcoal, hand warmers, and padded winter clothes, Miss. I would be most grateful.”

She had been about to leave. At my words, her smile froze.

“A-Jing, you never used to care about material things.”

I sighed. “It’s so cold, Miss. I only want to draw the dance properly.”

Only then did her face brighten. “Good A-Jing. You really are a loyal maid.”

Changqing had always skimmed money from our monthly wages. She was adept at flattering our mistress, and Yao Huanyi was so pleased with her that she habitually turned a blind eye to her mistreatment of the other maids.

Yao Huanyi waved a hand and told Changqing to fetch the supplies.

More than the favors themselves, it was my asking for them that puzzled her.

Changqing rolled her eyes at us. “Demanding food and drink, as if the household has been mistreating them all this time.”

That night, Qiushu stacked the new winter quilt on top of the old one. Her flushed face shone with happiness. “This is wonderful, A-Jing. We have charcoal and food for the winter.”

I sat at the table, recalling the dance. Once she had finished arranging the bedding, Qiushu noticed my hands trembling and moved the brazier closer.

Since my exile, my hands had broken out in chilblains every winter.

Her eyes reddened. “Draw it tomorrow.”

I shook my head.

Preparing poison for my enemy with my own hands made my blood surge. What were a few chilblains compared with that?

There had once been an attempt on Yao Huanyi’s life. General Yao had plenty of skilled fighters under his command, but they were men. To protect his daughter’s reputation, he had decided to train a few maids in martial arts.

I had volunteered to learn from one of his deputy generals so I could keep her safe.

Through the coldest winter days and the hottest summer days, I had trained without slacking for three years.

I hadn’t thought it a hardship then. My mistress had saved me.

But the words Yao Huanyi had spoken as I lay dying in my previous life still rang in my ears.

I knew there was a secret behind the debt I had valued more than my own life.

A spark cracked in the brazier.

I caught a sour smell and noticed a food carrier in the corner.

“What’s that?”

Qiushu gave a startled cry, hurried over, and held her nose as she closed it.

Something occurred to me. “Weren’t you supposed to take dinner to that general from Northern Yu tonight?”

She avoided my gaze.

“Missing it once should be all right, shouldn’t it? Last time I went to Zao’en Tower, the smell of blood was so strong. The man was covered in it, and the guards were torturing him. I was terrified. I had nightmares all night afterward.”

I was silent for a moment.

The man imprisoned in Zao’en Tower was Shen Shijin, Northern Yu’s youngest general.

Six months earlier, the Southern Kingdom had suffered a devastating defeat against Northern Yu at Pingshayi.

Shen Shijin had knocked Yao Huanyi’s older brother from his horse and killed him with a silver spear.

That night, the Emperor had consulted his senior ministers. He offered to send a prince to Northern Yu as a hostage, accompanied by Lanqing, a beauty renowned throughout the Southern Kingdom. His sole condition was that Shen Shijin, the commanding general at Pingshayi, come to the Southern Kingdom as a guest.

At first, Northern Yu’s emperor refused. But Lanqing was far too beautiful.

Her whispered persuasions in bed completely turned his head.

Northern Yu’s crown prince knelt in the hall and pleaded with him. It was the same as handing their sharpest blade to the enemy.

“It’s absurd. Unheard of!”

His father’s response to these desperate pleas was indifference.

“What’s there to fear? General Shen is merely going as a guest. Besides, everyone knows the Southern Emperor’s favorite is the Xiao woman. With her son in our hands, what difference will giving them three or five years make? They won’t amount to anything.”

The Southern Kingdom sent Noble Consort Xiao’s child. Once the hostage prince set out, she died inside the palace.

Yao Huanyi loathed General Shen for killing her brother. She had begged her father to ask the Emperor to put the general’s estate in charge of guarding him at Zao’en Tower.

She would gladly have eaten his flesh in revenge. How could she possibly treat him well?

In addition to his daily torture, she had food prepared in her private kitchen and ordered Qiushu to bring him one meal a day, no more.

She found every possible way to torment him.

Qiushu pitied General Shen but dared not disobey her.

All I remembered was that Qiushu had gone to deliver food on the night before the Changhua banquet.

Only her corpse had come back.

Yao Huanyi ordered it thrown into the mass graves, saying she had broken the rules.

Rumor spread through the estate that Shen Shijin had flown into a rage and strangled a maid in Zao’en Tower.

I had gone to the mass graves to find Qiushu. The wound on her neck had clearly been made by a blade.

There had to be more to it.

But before I could discover the truth, I followed Yao Huanyi into the Eastern Palace.

“From today on, I’ll take the food for you.”

Whatever happened, I would keep Qiushu alive this time.