Chapter 10: Preparation

Pang Ruxue, however, was in a low mood. Her delicate brows were slightly furrowed, her expression sorrowful, and her tone hesitant: "Qing'er, Le'er, your father... he still loves you! He said he would return in September to hold your coming-of-age ceremony. Perhaps, we shouldn't have acted that way? Not unless it was absolutely necessary..."

"Mother! We are already at the point of absolute necessity!"

Xia Yiqing felt like shaking Pang Ruxue awake: "Why do you soften your heart the moment you see Father? Don't you realize Father is bribing us? Why didn't he give us silver before, but now he's giving it a hundred taels at a time? Didn't you hear clearly? He wants us to yield the South Courtyard to Huang-shi and Aizhi! He just said that after my coming-of-age ceremony, there will be a good marriage arrangement for me! He's giving me silver to buy clothes just so he can dress me up for others to look at! Who knows what kind of 'good marriage' he's talking about? We, mother and daughters, are being kept in the dark and led blindly!"

Leqing nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes! What if it's like when Mama Liu was young, and she was sold off to marry an old man?"

Xia Yiqing gave her a nudge, and Pang Ruxue scolded, "What nonsense are you talking? You are the daughters of a seventh-rank County Magistrate; who would dare sell you?"

Xia Leqing pouted and muttered, "What if Father wants to sell us himself? Don't think I don't know what's happening outside. I heard at the embroidery workshop last time: there's even a Prefect who sells his own daughter! He married his sixteen-year-old daughter to a forty-year-old high official as a second wife, and then he got promoted!"

"Le'er, shut up!"

Pang Ruxue's expression changed. She wanted to scold Leqing further, but she couldn't find the words. Her heart throbbed wildly, and she felt increasingly panicked, as if Leqing's words held a grain of truth.

As noon approached, Mama Liu returned from the large kitchen with some ingredients. She set the basket on the wooden table in the courtyard and hurried up the steps, panting heavily as she spoke to the mother and two daughters sitting under the veranda doing embroidery

"This is terrible! The news has spread throughout the house!"

Xia Leqing pulled up a stool to help her sit down: "Mama, tell us quickly, what has spread?"

Xia Yiqing smiled: "You're so impatient, why the rush? Let Mama catch her breath first!"

But Mama Liu didn't even have time to wipe the sweat from her face, busily saying: "You know Auntie Kong from the large kitchen, right? She was brought along when the Second Madam married. Every day she handles the silver and procurement for the Second Madam. She said—she said that when Huang-shi is out socializing, she meets many people from other counties, and she has found a marriage arrangement for our eldest young lady!"

"Ah?"

Xia Leqing froze, and Pang Ruxue was startled: "What? Another county?"

Xia Yiqing stepped closer to ask: "What kind of marriage? Did she say?"

"She said, she said! Now the whole house is talking about it, only our South Courtyard doesn't know! They are all calling Huang-shi the First Madam now, saying the marriage arrangement the First Madam arranged for the eldest young lady is for the eldest legitimate son of a secondary wife from Qingshan County, a county magistrate's assistant two hundred miles away! That Young Master Zhang is short and fat, and he's a fool, though his family has some fields, ponds, and mountains... When I came back, I specifically passed by the Second Madam's courtyard and heard the Second Madam laughing loudly inside, saying something like: 'Let's see if that girl Qing is still so formidable this time? She called my father a peasant, and now look at her—she'll be spending her whole life with a foolish, stupid, short, fat peasant like a winter melon...'"

Pang Ruxue swayed, waving her hands: "Mama Liu, stop talking!"

Seeing that Pang Ruxue's complexion was poor, Xia Yiqing said nothing, only letting out a long sigh.

Pang Ruxue began to sob. Xia Yiqing did not try to comfort her, but instead signaled to Mama Liu and Xia Leqing with her eyes. She then took out a handkerchief to cover half her face, lowered her head, and pulled Xia Leqing back into their room, closing the door. Mama Liu went to the small kitchen in the back courtyard to cook.

That evening, Pang Ruxue entered her daughter's room and said to the despondent Xia Yiqing, "Qing'er, do not be sad. This marriage will not happen! Even if I die, I will not let them mistreat you like this! From tomorrow on, hurry and finish those jobs to hand them in. I have thought it through; relying on your father will likely not work. He is far away in Nanping County; if the Old Madam and Huang-shi use force here, it will be too late by the time he returns! Your idea is stronger. We shall head north to the capital. Even if your maternal grandfather refuses to acknowledge us, I have a maternal cousin who treats me very well. We will stay at her house first, and wait until you give birth to your younger brother..."

Xia Yiqing and Xia Leqing hurried to surround her. Xia Yiqing took Pang Ruxue's hand and said, "Mother, don't worry. With our embroidery skills, we can always make a living! Plus, with the painting skills you taught me—for the past few years, painting New Year pictures for the bookstore, making various albums, and illustrating books, my painting skills have grown steadily. The Yafeng Bookstore, for whom I often paint, is connected to several bookstores in the capital. Once I ask the owner of Yafeng Bookstore to write a letter of recommendation, I can go to the capital to paint for bookstores there and increase our income! The capital is prosperous; there should be more embroidery workshops, cloth shops, and garment factories than in our town. They will surely love the clothing styles I paint, which will be another source of income... Mother, heaven never closes all doors; we will not starve!"

Leqing took up the thread: "Even if we starve in the capital, it's better than being bullied here! They want to steal our position as the legitimate daughters, they want to snatch the brother in Mother's womb, and they want to marry Sister far away to a foolish, short, illegitimate son! Who could endure such an insult? Mother, we must go to the capital, find Grandfather, and ask him to take our side, to scold these shameless Xia family members and return our justice!"

Pang Ruxue held her stomach tightly with one hand and touched Leqing's flushed, excited face with the other. Her expression was wretched, her eyes shimmering with tears, and finally, she only let out a sigh: "I... I ask for nothing else, as long as my children are safe and sound. We cannot let people bully us..."

Xia Yiqing and Xia Leqing looked at each other and also sighed inwardly: *No matter what, Mother has finally understood again. That's good!*

The cheap father, Xia Xiuping, was unreliable, and Xia Jin-shi was too snobbish to tolerate others; Xia Yiqing had realized long ago that in this Xia family, the three of them would eventually be swallowed up. She had been saving money, hoping to one day take her mother and sister away from the Xia family to establish their own household and sever ties with them. Ever since Huang-shi had emerged and revealed her sinister intentions, her resolve to leave had become even firmer. She also wanted to go to other places; hearing Pang Ruxue say that her maternal grandfather's home was in the capital, she couldn't help but be overjoyed—to go to the capital to develop, to be a "Northern Drifter," perhaps she could actually make a name for herself!

Leqing's eyes had been bloodshot from crying. Xia Xiuping had tried to coax and persuade Pang Ruxue to yield the position of legal wife and even the son in her womb, which had finally chilled Pang Ruxue's heart. That night, the mother and daughters roughly drafted a plan to head north. However, they didn't expect that the next day, Xia Xiuping would come by, give them three hundred taels of silver, and say a few more gentle, heartwarming words. Pang Ruxue actually began to harbor illusions about Xia Xiuping again, becoming wavering and indecisive, and was no longer proactive in preparing to leave, which made the sisters, Yiqing and Leqing, roll their eyes in frustration.

Now it was settled. They didn't even need to say much; the most effective way was to let Pang Ruxue see the malice of the Xia family and Huang-shi clearly once again!

It was one thing for Huang-shi to elevate herself to the position of Legal Mother, but she also wanted to marry Xia Yiqing off to a rural area in another county hundreds of miles away, to a short and foolish illegitimate son! As this news spread through the Xia family, Pang Ruxue became restless. Every day she urged the sisters to finish their assigned work quickly, and she also told Mama Liu to wander the streets and alleys more often, fearing that the Xia family would spread the news of Yiqing's marriage arrangement, which might be overheard by the long-tongued women in the neighborhood, making it hard for her daughter to find a good husband in the future!

Xia Yiqing, however, was indifferent to this. She didn't believe that a few rumors could affect her life's major decisions.

Every day, besides doing embroidery, she also entrusted Mama Liu and her old husband, Uncle Liu, who drove the cart, with tasks. She also personally took Leqing out twice, and even had Mama Liu's only son, Gouwang, run out of the city twice a day to check on the status of the boats heading north.