Too Clever for Her Own Good
At Chunhaeng's words, Bai Jingyan closed her book and smiled.
"Well now. So your mother has found you a household? A trustworthy one? What do they do for a living? How is the husband's family?"
It was not that Bai Jingyan had taken a particular interest in the matter. Rather, Nanny Dong had once told her about Chunhaeng's parents, and she worried that, out of sheer greed, they might marry the girl off to just anyone. Still, Chunhaeng had served her faithfully, and she could hardly stand by and watch her walk into a fire pit.
At Bai Jingyan's words, Chunhaeng's ears flushed an even deeper red.
"It is... it is the Sixth Young Master of the Ministry Office's household, born of a concubine. The young master's principal wife was injured in a difficult childbirth and cannot conceive again, so... so the household intends to take a secondary wife to continue the line."
The concubine-born son of Chu Zhongxing, the Minister of Revenue?
Bai Jingyan narrowed her eyes. On the surface, Minister Chu Zhongxing appeared to be one of King Xin's men, but in truth he belonged to the Left Chancellor, Li Mu. Chu Zhongxing had carefully concealed this fact, but Bai Jingyan, having lived through her previous life, knew it well.
Her gaze darkened as she looked at Chunhaeng.
To forsake a proper principal wife in an ordinary household and insist on becoming a concubine to a concubine-born son of the Ministry Office.
And yet she felt no anger. Bai Jingyan laid her book carelessly on the black-lacquered table.
"Chunhaeng. Is this your mother's wish, or... yours?"
Chunhaeng could not tell whether the question was asked in anger, and for a moment she did not know how to answer. She bit her lip and kept her head bowed, saying nothing.
"Chunhaeng, a concubine in a meritorious noble house is no better than a slave, even if she is called a secondary wife. When you bear a child, that child will not even be allowed to call you mother, and you will not be permitted to grow close to him. If the Sixth Young Master's principal wife is truly barren from a difficult birth, as you say, then all the more will they never leave the child at your side. Worse still—some households allow only the infant to live after the mother dies in childbirth. Such ugliness never shows itself in our house, but that does not mean it never happens in other officials' residences."
Bai Jingyan counseled her gently.
She feared that if she went any deeper, Chunhaeng might fail to understand, so she explained as plainly and intuitively as she could.
For from the moment Chunhaeng had come to her side, the girl had never once wronged her. If she could be persuaded, the relationship between them need not grow awkward—and above all, out of regard for the years of loyal service, Bai Jingyan wanted to help her.
Hearing Bai Jingyan's words, Chunhaeng trembled all over.
"Take our own household. The principal wives want for nothing, waited on by maids day and night, yet have you ever seen a concubine-born son or daughter allowed to stay close to them? And no concubine of our house may ever seek out the young masters or young ladies. To do so would cost her her life. A concubine need not pay her respects to the mistress morning and evening like a maid—but neither may she so much as step beyond her own courtyard."
Bai Jingyan let out a soft sigh.
"Chunhaeng, this is not a decision to be made lightly. From time immemorial, the position of concubine has never been an easy one—and in a noble house, less so still. One misstep, and you could lose your life. You would be far better off asking Nanny Dong to find you a respectable family and marrying as a principal wife."
Chunhaeng bit down hard on her lower lip as she remembered the dashing young master who had rescued her from danger that day. She truly believed that the Sixth Young Master of the Ministry Office had taken a liking to her. Surely a young man of such a house would protect her.
Her eyes reddening, Chunhaeng bowed deeply before Bai Jingyan as though she had made a great resolution. Then she raised her head again and spoke.
"Eldest Young Lady, I beg you to grant your permission."
Bai Jingyan pressed her lips inward and lightly traced the edge of the book with the hand resting upon it. Chunhaeng had evidently already made up her mind.
"Chunhaeng. Have you never considered that the reason the Ministry Office seeks to take you in as the young master's concubine is precisely because you are my chief maid?"
"No, Eldest Young Lady! Absolutely not. On my way home that day, a thief stole my purse, and I knew nothing of it—when I went to buy something, the shopkeeper accused me of theft. Just as he was seizing me to drag me off to the magistrate's office, the Sixth Young Master of the Ministry Office stepped forward and helped me!"
Chunhaeng blurted out in a rush.
Bai Jingyan's fingers, tracing the edge of the book, went still.
Only moments ago she had been unable to say with certainty that the Ministry Office had set its sights on her—but now it was confirmed. Rescue her from danger under the guise of a chance encounter, then return to raise the subject of marriage. A remarkably delicate gambit.
But what did Li Mu intend to accomplish by using Chunhaeng?
Seeing Bai Jingyan sink into deep thought, Chunhaeng bowed again.
"The Sixth Young Master loves me, and I love him! There is no other scheme. Eldest Young Lady, I beg you—grant your permission. If you do, I will repay you even as your ox and horse."
For an instant, Bai Jingyan emerged from her thoughts and looked down at Chunhaeng, still kneeling on the floor. So she has said everything—right down to 'there is absolutely no scheme.'
I have been underestimating her all this time. She is cleverer than I thought. The kind of person who knows everything there is to know.
If Chunhaeng truly knew it all—then very well. A path chosen of one's own will, and the responsibility for it, belonged to the one who chose.
"Are you aware that because you have already made a binding pledge with me, your parents have no right to decide your marriage?"
Chunhaeng trembled from head to toe, staring at Bai Jingyan with frightened eyes.
"El... Eldest Young Lady!"
"You are my chief maid, serving at my side. You are no ordinary servant girl. The Bai Manor could arrange a match for you with someone worthy of you—but if you displease your mistress, you can be sold off as well. That your life was spared at all would be counted a great kindness."
"Eldest Young Lady?"
Chunhaeng could not grasp Bai Jingyan's meaning.
"If you insist on becoming a concubine, then to keep things from becoming awkward between us, I will have to sell you off under some other pretext. When that happens, have your parents come and buy you back. From that moment, whomever you marry will have nothing to do with the Bai Manor."
Bai Jingyan's gaze as she looked at Chunhaeng was calm and indifferent.
Chunhaeng's eyes went wide with shock. But if it happened as Bai Jingyan said, she would no longer be a chief maid attending the lady of the house! Worse, when she married, the Eldest Young Lady would not prepare her dowry!
"The Ministry Office has marked you out as the Sixth Young Master's secondary wife, and you claim it has nothing whatsoever to do with your status as my chief maid. Furthermore, you swore there was no scheme, and that the Sixth Young Master wants you for you and you alone. In that case, they will take you regardless of whether you bear the title of a sovereign's attendant."
"But Eldest Young Lady, if I am sold away, I—I will bear a stain on my name!"
Chunhaeng scrambled forward on her knees and pleaded desperately.
"Eldest Young Lady, I beg you!"
Watching Chunhaeng—who had always done only her duty, never flaunting her cleverness—Bai Jingyan finally felt she understood everything. In truth, Chunhaeng had seen through it all. She was the sort who knew everything and pretended to know nothing.
"Chunhaeng, you were sold into this house as a child. For your parents to go looking for your match is already beyond their place! Where in this world are there only good things? You want to climb higher, and raise your price on the strength of being the attendant of the Zhenguo Commandery Princess? You cannot hoard every blessing under heaven for yourself.
I have always been generous with the maids who serve me—but I will not quietly watch anyone climb over my head. Do you understand?"
It felt as though Chunhaeng's throat had sealed shut. And suddenly, she thought of Chunyan.
If one weighed their bonds strictly, the Eldest Young Lady's affection for Chunyan had run far deeper than her own. Yet even that girl, once she did wrong, had been punished without mercy, and had died in prison.
And so Chunhaeng had always been careful, and careful again. She had never done anything to displease the Eldest Young Lady.
True, she had overstepped her station—but never to harm the Eldest Young Lady. All she wanted was to keep the pretense of serving her, to retain the face of being the Eldest Young Lady's chief maid. And even that was to be denied her?
When Chunhaeng said nothing, Bai Jingyan spoke.
"Nanny Dong."
Chunhaeng shuddered and bowed her head still lower.
Nanny Dong answered as she entered.
"Eldest Young Lady."
"It seems her heart has already turned elsewhere, so the Zhenguo Commandery Manor will not force her to stay. Tonight she sleeps in the storeroom. There is no need to trouble Nanny Dong with summoning slave traders, nor her parents with buying her back. Tomorrow morning I will send someone to inform her parents and have them come fetch her."
Bai Jingyan's tone was resolute.
"Eldest Young Lady! Eldest Young Lady, please, at least let me keep my wretched dignity! Please, let me leave with my honor intact!"
Chunhaeng wept and wailed.
"Dignity is something you win for yourself—not something others secure for you. A household that casts aside even the dignity of its principal wives, and you ask me to uphold the dignity of a maid?"
Bai Jingyan's voice was placid.
"I will not spread word of what wrong you committed. But the truth must still be spoken. The Zhenguo Commandery Manor has no further use for you, and it will never again employ anyone connected to you. Make your own way in the world."
Chunhaeng wanted to keep begging, but Nanny Dong seized one of her arms and dragged her toward the door.
Bai Jingyan looked down with cold eyes at Chunhaeng, who refused to rise from her knees, crawling toward her again and again.
"Eldest Young Lady! Help me, I beg you! Eldest Young Lady, open a path for me to live!"
"Chunhaeng, you claim your eyes are too lofty for an ordinary match—that you fell for the Sixth Young Master of the Ministry Office and wish to become his concubine. I have no intention of stopping you. I am simply telling your parents to come take you back, since the two of you are said to be of one heart. Why, then, do you refuse the path to life I am opening for you? Are those not the words of someone who knows perfectly well why the Ministry Office wishes to take you as a secondary wife!"
Chunhaeng's legs gave out beneath her. The moment she met Bai Jingyan's cold, indifferent gaze, her tears stopped abruptly.
"I cannot keep beside me anyone whose heart belongs elsewhere. Had you truly been ignorant, I could have forgiven your ignorance. But to feign ignorance and borrow my name to carve out your own path—that I will never allow."
"Eldest Young Lady! I swear, I never thought such a thing! Forgive me, I beg you!"
Strong as Nanny Dong was, she gripped Chunhaeng under both arms, clenched her teeth, and hauled her out.
"Eldest Young Lady, forgive me! If only for the sake of the years I kept my duty—"
"Keep shrieking until my mother hears of it, and we will have no choice but to bring in the slave traders."
Before Chunhaeng could even finish, Bai Jingyan spoke, her face gone hard, leaving her not the slightest opening.
Chunhaeng fell silent at once, nothing left but the tears streaming down her face.
But Bai Jingyan's heart only grew colder. Chunhaeng was, after all, a clever girl. And the cleverer she was, the colder Bai Jingyan's heart became.
She had always treated the maids and bondservants around her with generosity—yet it was she who had raised the likes of Chunyan and Chunhaeng.
Chunyan, at least, had been a fool, and had done a fool's deed. Her feelings for the Liang King, at the very least, had been genuine.
Chunhaeng, by contrast, was truly clever—and had still done a fool's deed. Because Chunhaeng had believed everyone around her a fool, and had wanted only to climb.
A servant like Chunhaeng was more contemptible than Chunyan. And more dangerous to guard against.
Bai Jingyan planned to send Chunhaeng to the storeroom today and have her parents come for her tomorrow. She also intended to announce to the outside world that the Zhenguo Commandery Manor would never again employ Chunhaeng, and would never take in anyone with even the slightest connection to her. Once that was done, without a single word about what wrong Chunhaeng had committed, everyone would understand she had committed a grave one.
Even if the Ministry Office took in Chunhaeng after she had been cast out for wronging her mistress, they could perhaps use her to pry into Bai Jingyan's affairs—but she would be useless for anything else.
Fortunately, Bai Jingyan had never placed excessive trust in Chunhaeng. Whenever important matters arose, she had always sent the girl out of the room.
The news that Nanny Dong had locked Chunhaeng in the storeroom spread through the entire Zhenguo Commandery Manor in an instant. Opinions were divided, and the servants began speculating what terrible wrong Chunhaeng could have committed.