Conspiracy
Bai Jinxiu had fallen into the water and was hovering between life and death, so the people of the Zhenguo Duke Estate carried her back to their own residence. Next, they seized Mingyu — the maid who had betrayed her mistress — from the trousseau residence of Madame Zhang, and sent her home in a manner that set the whole city abuzz.
Among the commoners of Dadu and the household servants of the great families, speculation about Bai Jinxiu's fall into the water was running rampant. And yet, of all times, the Zhenguo Duke Estate had clamped down on every mouth within its walls, letting not a single whisper escape.
Once it became impossible to confirm anything for certain, the idle ladies of the inner quarters and the lounging idlers of every household were driven half-mad with curiosity. And if word ever surfaced that the maids Madame Zhang claimed to have sold away had in fact all died, people would inevitably begin weaving their own version of events. Then the reputation of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate would be teetering precariously over a pit of fire.
The affair had to leak out piece by piece — neither too fast nor too slow — gradually seeping into people's ears, so that the onlookers would only grow more restless and keep their eyes fixed on the Zhongyong Marquis Estate. When the moment was right, all that remained was to sit back and watch: would the Zhongyong Marquis save Madame Zhang, or save his family's name?
"Before the rumors spread, send someone to find the village headmen where the five maids' families live and have their slave registrations revoked. Once that's done, make sure they're properly enrolled as commoners of free status."
Chun Tao had never once questioned Bai Jingyan's orders.
"Yes, Your Highness. I'll pass the word to my uncle once I've finished attending you!"
"Also, in three days Grandmother will send someone to the estate to bring back two people. She and I are going to test their character. Leave this matter to your uncle as well."
When the Second Uncle's wife learned that her husband had fathered a child outside the household, she flew into a rage — but in the end, she accepted the fact.
She had long known that when the Second Uncle was traveling on his journeys and fell into danger, a woman had rescued him, and that the two had developed feelings for one another.
The child appeared out of nowhere, but since the residence was hardly lacking in children born of concubines, the Second Aunt gave the matter little thought. One more pair of chopsticks at the table was all it amounted to, and she had no desire to quibble over it.
Bai Jingyan turned her head and looked at Chun Tao with a smile, her eyes brimming with warmth.
"That uncle of yours is truly a useful man. Once the year turns, I'll send him out and let him be trained for another two or three years. By then, he'll be more than capable of running an office. Only then can I feel at ease sending you to him, won't I?"
Chun Tao's face flushed crimson, and she spoke with a wounded pout.
"Your Highness!"
Seeing the shyness brimming in Chun Tao's blushing eyes, Bai Jingyan smiled and gave her hand a gentle pat.
Chun Tao had been at her side for so many years that she could never fool Bai Jingyan's eyes.
In her past life, Chun Tao had followed her all the way to the Southern Border to protect her, and died without ever being able to hold her wedding ceremony with Chen Gengsheng. In this life, Bai Jingyan was determined to send Chun Tao off in a grand, proper wedding — so that she could spend a lifetime of happiness with the man she held in her heart.
* * *
The next day, just as Bai Jingyan finished her morning meal, a maid came in from outside with a report. The families of the five maids who had been sent away as part of Bai Jinxiu's trousseau were kneeling at the gates of the estate, weeping and pleading for someone to find out where Bai Jinxiu's in-laws had sold their daughters.
Word had reached them that the kind Second Young Lady of the Bai family had even permitted Mingyu's family to buy her back, despite her having betrayed her mistress. Their own daughters, at least, had served loyally — so if they had somehow been handed over to a bad master and sold off, the families intended to buy them back.
Even in poor households, most parents did not want to send their daughters to a brothel, so they typically sent them out as maidservants to good families — enough to keep them from starving, at least, with proper meals to eat.
The Bai clan of the Zhenguo Duke Estate was a good and virtuous family that had served the court with wholehearted loyalty for generations, and the families believed that it was their daughters' good fortune to attend upon the Second Young Lady of the Bai family. But if it came to being resold, they did not want their daughters to end up like Mingyu. They were terrified that their girls might be sold into a brothel and live a life little better than death.
Bai Jingyan wiped her lips with a handkerchief, spat her mouthful of rinse water into the spittoon, and spoke.
"Chun Tao, go to the Second Young Lady and fetch the household registrations of the five maids, then deliver them to Steward Hao. Send an eloquent steward to Steward Hao to have him return the registrations to the maids' parents. Tell them that our Second Young Lady has been unconscious ever since she fell into the water, and has no idea where the maids were sold. Tell them the Duke Estate is looking into it now as well. What human trafficker would dare buy people without their registrations? If the maids cannot be found, tell them that our Duke Estate will be the first to report it to the authorities and send constables after them."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Chun Tao answered, left the inner chamber, and hurried off toward Bai Jinxiu's Zhujue Pavilion.
Upon receiving the instructions, Steward Hao immediately handed the registrations over to Steward Liu, who handled purchases, and told him to go out with them at once.
Before Steward Liu left, Steward Hao stroked his beard, pondered for a moment, and then spoke.
"Early this morning I received orders from the Crown Prince's wife as well. She told me to go to the human traffickers in the city and look into the whereabouts of the maids who were taken when the Second Young Lady married. She said to investigate directly, without asking the lady of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate. And in the middle of all this, the Crown Prince himself stepped down from his position! Judging by how things are heading, it seems our estate and the Zhongyong Marquis Estate intend to settle this publicly, once and for all. So there's no need to hold back out of concern for our in-laws. Just make the Second Young Lady's grievances plain!"
"Steward Hao, have no fear!"
Steward Liu could see the whole situation as clearly as fire.
Stepping out of the gates of the Duke Estate, he found that beyond the families of the five maids, a crowd of onlooking citizens had gathered, standing far and deep. Steward Liu immediately instructed a servant to help the maids' parents to their feet.
His eyes reddening, Steward Liu spoke.
"Everyone, we are truly sorry! Our Second Young Lady has suffered a great misfortune. She was struck by someone and fell unconscious into the lake, and she was carried back to the estate on the verge of death. Several imperial physicians used every means at their disposal to wrest her from the King of Hell's grasp. Then, when she awoke and heard the rumor that her mother-in-law had sold off every maidservant who had followed her since childhood, she wept and collapsed once more. Even now she cannot bring herself to accept it. The maids' household registrations are in the Second Young Lady's hands. What human trafficker would dare take people without their registrations! That is why, early this morning, our Crown Prince's wife sent people out to question the traffickers of Dadu."
As he spoke, Steward Liu drew the maids' registrations from his breast and returned them to their parents.
Once every registration had been handed back, Steward Liu spoke again.
"The Second Young Lady has ordered me to return the registrations of the vanished maids to you all. When your daughters are found, any who wish to remain by the Second Young Lady's side will be kept and treated as household-born servants; any who do not will be sent home, and when they marry later, the Second Young Lady will prepare a generous dowry for each in recognition of the years they've shared. Our Eldest Young Lady knows full well that your daughters were sold away trying to protect our Second Young Lady. To express even a little of her gratitude, she has already sent people to the village headmen of each of your homes. The girls' slave registrations will be erased — so when the maids return, they will be free commoners."
"We will never forget the kindness of the Eldest Young Lady and the Second Young Lady!"
The maids' parents bowed again and again in gratitude.
"My only fear is that our poor daughters may not be found."
Steward Liu raised his hands in salute.
"Please, worry no more. The maids who left with the Second Young Lady's trousseau all came out of the Duke Estate itself. If they cannot be found, we will report it to the authorities without fail!"
At that, the onlookers began to sing the praises of the Bai family's righteousness.
"The Zhenguo Duke Estate shows boundless loyalty to its masters and keeps faith even with its servants! They say five maids were sold because of the Second Young Lady, and now they're working to get them back — even erasing their slave registrations. It's the grace of heaven itself!"
"That poor Second Young Lady of the Bai family — to meet a mother-in-law's family like this. My heart aches for her."
"The lady of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate has quite the 'remarkable' character, doesn't she. The maids were part of her daughter-in-law's dowry, and she took them and sold them off without so much as their registrations! Bah! Shameless!"
"What do any of you know? There must be circumstances behind it!"
Someone folded his arms and spoke with an air of grave importance.
"Think about it, everyone. The Duke Estate was willing to burn its bridges with the Zhongyong Marquis Estate entirely, and carried the Second Young Lady — hovering at death's door — back to the Zhenguo Duke Estate. And then there's that treacherous maid of hers, Mingyu. They found her at the trousseau residence of the Zhongyong Marquis's wife — out of six maids, the Marquis's wife sold every one except Mingyu! There's surely some scheme in this. Can't any of you see it?"
"Quite right. Didn't the Crown Prince kneel and accuse his own father, then step down from his position himself? Tsk, tsk, tsk. A meritorious family like this must be hiding something enormous!"
"They say where there's a stepmother, a stepfather follows soon enough. How fitting! The Crown Prince must be in a terrible bind. The young ladies of the Zhenguo Duke Estate are the kind who would sooner break than bend — so perhaps the Marquis's wife, unable to get her hooks into her daughter-in-law, used her two daughters as leverage and..."
Someone drew a hand across his throat in a slitting motion.
"Those five maids are nine times out of ten already dead! The registrations are in the Bai family's Second Young Lady's hands, you say — sold, was it? What trafficker would dare buy them? Only the Marquis's wife knows the truth."
"And what about the Bai family's Second Young Lady's one surviving maid? She must know the real story — the one who supposedly betrayed her mistress. Mingyu, who was beaten by her uncle until her legs broke and sold to a brothel! But she's already gone mad; there'll be nothing to get out of her. And how mad, you ask? They say the moment she sees a person, she giggles like an idiot and rambles on about how the Marquis's wife promised to place her in the Crown Prince's chambers as his concubine!"
"Well, you know an awful lot about it. Did you share a bed with her at that brothel, then?"
The onlookers roared with laughter, clutching their bellies. Just then, someone with sharp eyes spotted a carriage in the distance and cried out.
"Isn't that the Zhongyong Marquis Estate's carriage?"
"Good heavens — by what face does the Zhongyong Marquis Estate dare come to the Zhenguo Duke Estate?"
"Shh, shh! Do you want to die? You know what kind of family the Zhongyong Marquis Estate is. Muttering behind their backs is one thing, but loose your tongue in front of them and you might lose your head at any moment! Mind your mouths!"
When the carriage of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate came to a stop before the gates of the Zhenguo Duke Estate, the gathered citizens all fell silent. Then, with contemptuous eyes, they looked the lady of the Zhongyong Marquis Estate up and down as she stepped down from the carriage.