Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Interlude

Interlude

[Shaoxing, Winter]

The Yu family's courtyard had been busy all day, and tomorrow they would be busy again. There were only a few servants who could help, and after everything was packed, one of them, with her hair in a braid, angrily threw the luggage onto the ground and muttered:

"This is already the third one they’re talking about. Is marrying off as a concubine really such a respectable marriage? Why go through all this trouble?"

"Shh, shh," another quickly covered her mouth, "Of course, it's not respectable. If it were, would she be walking out in the middle of the night? The Yu family hasn’t had anyone marry north in all these years… once she crosses the Yangtze River, she’ll still have to cross the Yellow River."

The people present hadn’t even been out of the city, let alone further geographical divisions. They whispered to each other for a while, and the one who spoke first continued her critique:

"Of course, she has to marry far away. The ones nearby know she’s been rejected twice. If she doesn't marry far, who would want her? It’s just trouble for us to pack all these heavy clothes. The dowry is so small, but it looks bigger than the other young ladies’."

"How strange," another round-faced one, who had been silent until now, raised her head, folding clothes as she asked, "They say the new government doesn’t encourage taking concubines or marrying a second wife, yet our young master has married two, and the family in the north has married four... Does this new policy even count?"

"Don’t discuss things outside the house," the older one, who had been covering her mouth, stopped her, "Let’s just talk about the marriage."

The high walls had separated the days and months, and snow had covered the ground in the courtyard. It was the first snowfall in Shaoxing in years. The people coming to fetch the bride were supposed to arrive tomorrow, but with snow this heavy, it was hard to say.

Miss Yu’s parents were somewhat anxious—after all, this was the third time Miss Yu had been married off to the north. If something went wrong this time, she would be 29 after the New Year.

"Dad, Mom," Yu Xiaoqing sat at the bottom of the hall, her expression calm, "There’s no need to rush, like you’re trying to push me out. It’s already been ten years since the first marriage proposal. What’s the difference if it’s delayed a day or two?"

Now that she was to be married off, she spoke with more confidence than before. Her parents exchanged a glance, not entirely without confusion.

This marriage proposal had come about when they were at their wit’s end, with a matchmaker from the north stepping in. The matchmaker was elderly and had been involved in many marriages, but the bride price was generous, and the etiquette was thorough.The elders of the Yu family had long been ridiculed over Miss Yu's marriage prospects. Now, a wealthy family from the north was willing to formally marry off their daughter, who had been rejected twice before, and send someone to fetch her in a grand manner. This action could be seen as wiping away the previous shame, almost as if a Bodhisattva had intervened.

As for what happened after the marriage, that would be a matter for the north. Once she crossed the Yangtze and then the Yellow River, the villagers had no interest in what happened beyond the canal. If the villagers didn’t care, the Yu family wouldn’t care much either.

What angered the elders of the Yu family, though, was that Yu Xiaoqing, despite being a woman who had been rejected twice, was refusing the matchmaker’s words. How could she, a woman rejected twice, be so picky?

She first mentioned that the man was old, and her mother replied that age meant he would understand her pain. After thinking about it for two nights, she then said that the marriage was suspicious—

Since the man didn’t care about Miss Yu being rejected twice or the birthmark on her face, it seemed that he had low requirements for a concubine. He was so wealthy; why hadn’t any local girls married him? Instead, he had crossed the Yangtze and Yellow River to come to faraway Shaoxing to arrange a marriage?

During those days, Yu Xiaoqing cried and caused a scene, but no one listened to her. Instead, Old Master Yu, during a meal, complained that she was being noisy and locked her in the attic, where the runaway concubine had been confined before.

"Lock her up for a few nights; I think the third wife hasn’t taught her properly!" Old Master Yu said.

Sure enough, on the first day, Miss Yu was still shouting in the attic, but by the second day, she became quiet. On the fifth day, she was brought out, and she had become entirely calm. Whatever the Yu family arranged for her, she would go along with it. Though she had previously been timid, she had at least acted like a daughter in front of her parents. However, this time, when she came out of the attic, she no longer spoke to them.

The servants said that, either she remained silent, or when she did speak, it was with a cold laugh.

She laughed coldly when the matchmaker left after setting up the marriage proposal. She laughed coldly when the first installment of the dowry arrived. She laughed coldly when the tailor came to measure her for her wedding dress. She laughed coldly when her mother came to her room to instruct her on the rules after marriage. When the servants talked behind her back, and turned around, they saw Yu Xiaoqing standing silently behind them, not speaking, only laughing coldly.

"Just hurry up and get her married off," the Yu family privately whispered, "Once she's married, it’ll be peaceful."

The only time she didn’t laugh coldly was when she looked at the portrait that, supposedly, Miss Yu from the Yu family had painted for her during the literacy class. After the portrait was cleared of suspicion, it was allowed to hang in her bedroom. When Old Master Yu heard about this, he even put on a compassionate expression and ordered, "Let her treat it as part of the dowry and take it to the north with her."

She was leaving tomorrow, and the portrait was already taken by the servants and placed in a box with her other dowry items. Miss Yu’s room was now empty, only a bed, a chair, and the new wedding dress hanging on the wall remained.It was snowing outside, and there was little warmth inside the house. Miss Yu spent her days coldly laughing, and even though she was leaving the next day, no one was willing to approach her, not even her parents.

After saying that uncomfortable sentence at the bottom of the hall, she gave everyone a final cold laugh in the Yu family, making everyone's hair stand on end.

Only the round-faced little servant still had a bit of good intentions. She followed Miss Yu to the bedroom door and said to her, "Miss, we've packed your thick clothes into the box. If you feel cold tomorrow, tell them to put one in the carriage for you. I’ve never been to the northern side of the Yellow River, they say it’s very cold."

Miss Yu turned around. Unexpectedly, she didn’t give her a cold laugh. She simply reached up and touched her hair at the temples, then said, "Is that so? It can't be colder than the Yu family."

The little servant looked at her, unsure, perhaps thinking that Miss Yu was talking about how the heater in her room had been taken away. She said, "Miss, if you like, I can go ask them to bring the heater back. They were too hasty."

"No need," Yu Xiaoqing said, "I won’t need it, thank you."

When she said this, there was no trace of the coldness the other servants spoke of, and her tone was even quite kind. She looked at the little round-faced servant for a moment and asked, "Have you ever seen Miss Yu from the Yu family?"

"No, I haven't," the little round-faced servant replied honestly.

"You'll recognize her when you see her; she looks different from us, you’ll be able to tell the difference with one glance," Miss Yu said. "If you meet her in the future, please tell her something for me."

"Tell her that many things in this world can't be negotiated... only things that are completely shattered and rebuilt."

"Miss, I don't understand."

"You don’t need to understand. I only just figured it out myself. I’ve been so foolish in my life, and only figured out this one thing. By the time I figured it out, it was too late."

After Miss Yu finished speaking, she returned to her room and shut the door. The little round-faced servant stood there for a while, staring at the shadow of the person sitting quietly inside the room. She touched her hair at the temples, where Miss Yu had just touched, and then turned and left.

It snowed heavily that day, and the snow fell in thick layers, breaking off dry branches. The little round-faced servant slept soundly through the snow, and because she slept right next to the kitchen stove, she didn’t feel a bit of cold.However, she woke up especially early the next day, so early that it was still dark outside. She was awakened by the scream of another servant. The scream was so sharp and horrifying that not even the thick layer of snow could absorb it; it echoed through the entire Yu family estate.

"Miss Yu—"

The tone of the voice was high-pitched and long, like a ghost crying and singing in the snow at night.

"She's hanged herself—"

The words drifted out through the cracks in the Yu family’s door, spreading along the narrow canal, mingling with the white snow that had fallen throughout the night, and it circulated through the entire winter of Shaoxing.