Chapter 024
Chapter 24: Scored 209 Days!
Xiao Man lay on the bed, staring at the strange canopy above; in her heart, a tiny version of herself was doing a full 360 Thomas spin out of pure joy.
[Last night! I actually slept dreamlessly! I slept safe and sound until morning!]
There was no annoying fog, no leering rogue with a Buddha’s Chosen face, and none of those shame-making, wake-up-and-want-to-bang-your-head ridiculous entanglements. There was only deep, long-lost darkness that belonged completely to her.
[Thank you, Heavenly Lord! Thank you, Guanyin Bodhisattva! Thank you, God!]
She silently thanked every Eastern and Western Immortal she could think of, then even got up to bow devoutly to all four corners of the room.
Her mix-and-match prayer was a mess, but her sincerity was one hundred percent.
It seemed the strategy of keeping a safe distance and defending her fortress of chastity had started to work. Day one (let’s call it day one) was safely done.
On day two, the Auspicious Cloud Residence finally grew quiet.
The reason was simple: the Buddha’s Chosen, Lin Qing Xuan, was going to the Fahua Temple.
As the highly respected Heavenborn Buddha’s Chosen, he had fixed days each month to teach the Buddhist Dharma at the temple and explain the scriptures. Today’s topic, people said, was the Diamond Sutra.
“Xiao Man, the Young Master goes to Fahua Temple today to Expound the Dharma; you don’t need to attend him. Just rest in the courtyard,” Shi Tou came early to pass on the message, his face a little excited. Following the Young Master out was always a chance to shine.
At those words, Xiao Man’s eyes lit up. Rest day, won!
She would not have to face that Mind Reading show-off, would not have to fear he would suddenly shut doors and windows, and would not need to worry about being forced into spicy talk in her dreams. It was like sweet rain from the sky.
After she sent off Shi Tou, who was leaving with Lin Qing Xuan, even the air of the Auspicious Cloud Residence felt fresher and freer.
She hummed an off-key tune and made plans for the day: maybe wash the old clothes she brought? Sneak to the kitchen to ask a friendly Old Granny for treats? Or just stay in her spacious room and sleep under the covers all day to catch up?
But Xiao Man had clearly imagined the ecology of an ancient inner compound too simply.
The Master of the Auspicious Cloud Residence might be away for now, but the undercurrents below had only just started to slap against her little newcomer boat.
Old Chen and Granny Chen had received the First Madam’s top orders, so they would not dare make trouble for Xiao Man. They even treated her with extra care.
But not everyone in the manor knew the inside story, and not everyone felt calm.
Especially some maids who thought they were pretty and kept dreaming of flying up to be a phoenix.
How could this unknown, quiet second-class maid named Xiao Man rise in one step into the Auspicious Cloud Residence and even get the “plum job” of serving close by?
Jealousy and spite grew like weeds in many hearts.
Sure enough, hardly had the rumble of Lin Qing Xuan’s carriage wheels faded at the gate when someone knocked hard on Xiao Man’s door.
The force of it was openly provocative.
Puzzled, Xiao Man opened up. Outside stood a girl in a brand-new water-red vest, with paired buns and two shiny silver hairpins.
The girl looked fifteen or sixteen, slender, fair, and with decent features. But the slightly lifted corners of her eyes were full of naked contempt.
Xiao Man knew her: Xiao Tao, the only daughter of Wang You Cai, the second steward of the West Court.
Backed by her father’s bit of status, she was a “somebody” among the junior maids, always proud and sharp-tongued.
“Well now, isn’t this Sister Xiao Man?” Xiao Tao folded her arms and ran knife-like eyes up and down Xiao Man’s half-worn indigo blouse. Her lips curled in a mean smile as she raised her piercing voice so everyone could hear: “Enjoying a comfortable life in our Eldest Grandson Young Master’s Auspicious Cloud Residence? The Young Master isn’t here today, so is Sister planning to sleep till noon?”
Xiao Man frowned, but before she could speak, Xiao Tao’s cheap lipstick mouth fired like a string of firecrackers: “Tsk tsk, look at this room. Way better than what the rest of us get! Who knows what luck you used, or what shameful tricks you pulled, to fool Old Madam into sticking you in here?”
“I advise you to know your place! Who is our Eldest Grandson Young Master? The bright moon in the sky! The golden boy by the Buddha’s seat! And you, a rough maid by birth, dare inch toward him?”
“Don’t think that just because you’re in the Auspicious Cloud Residence you’ve climbed high. Go take a look in a puddle at what you are! A barnyard chicken is still a barnyard chicken; even on a branch it won’t turn into a phoenix!”
The more Xiao Tao spoke, the higher her voice climbed, her sourness and malice almost turning solid.
“In my eyes, you’re a fox spirit! Scheming and flirting, or why would the Young Master, after only a few meetings, have you moved in here? Hah! Shameless, low-born thing! Don’t dirty the Young Master’s place of Secluded Cultivation!”
Those three words, “fox spirit,” were like three poisoned needles stabbing straight at her.
Xiao Man’s face went cold.
Before she transmigrated, she had met office bullies, but this bare-faced personal attack and slander, especially being slapped with something as insulting as “fox spirit,” lit her anger.
She looked coolly at the little maid whose brain was cooked by jealousy; her gaze turned razor-sharp.
“Miss Xiao Tao,” she said, calm but very clear, with an icy steadiness, “this is the Auspicious Cloud Residence, the Eldest Grandson Young Master’s place of Secluded Cultivation. You are shouting here, spewing foul words, and disturbing the quiet of the yard. On what grounds?”
She stepped forward, eyes pressing in: “You say I am a fox spirit. Where is your proof? Did you see me seducing the Young Master? Did you hear me speak improper words to him? For staining a person’s name with lies, what does the manor’s rule say the punishment is?”
Hit by Xiao Man’s sudden momentum and the big hat she dropped, Xiao Tao choked. Panic flashed across her face, but she stiffened her neck to bark: “Hmph! Stop pretending to be pure! Everyone knows you—”
“I don’t know,” Xiao Man cut in, her voice rising, wrapped in dignified force.
“I only know I came to serve here on the proper orders of Old Madam and First Madam. How I do my work is for the Masters to judge. It is not your place, a small maid, to point fingers and make wild guesses.”
She glanced at Xiao Tao’s new clothes and gleaming hairpins and let out a knowing, cold laugh: “But you, Miss Xiao Tao, are dressed up like a flower branch and came to this place of Secluded Cultivation to lecture a new maid, spitting ‘fox spirit’ and ‘low-born’ again and again. To someone who doesn’t know better, it sounds like you’re here to ‘discipline’ me for some Master. Or is this whole show something you want someone to see?”
“You… you’re slinging mud!” Xiao Tao’s guilty secret had been pierced; her face flamed, and her pointing finger shook.
She really had planned to stir up a scene so passing stewards or others in the courtyard would hear and brand Xiao Man with a “flirty” name.
“I’m slinging mud?” Xiao Man stepped in closer, her gaze colder. “Shall we go right now to First Madam or to a nanny beside Old Madam and ask for a judgment? Let them hear how the daughter of Steward Wang keeps yelling ‘fox spirit’ and ‘low-born.’ What rule is that? See whether your words protect the Young Master’s good name, or dirty the Masters’ ears and ruin the Heir Apparent Manor’s reputation.”
Every word hit the target. By bringing up Old Madam, First Madam, and the Heir Apparent Manor’s reputation, she dropped a mountain on Xiao Tao’s chest.
Her father was only a second steward. In front of true Masters, that was nothing.
If this reached the Masters, Xiao Tao would not escape the charge of foul language and defying her betters.
Xiao Tao’s face went from red to white to green, and her arrogance deflated like a punctured ball.
Looking into Xiao Man’s frighteningly steady eyes, she finally felt fear. Her lips trembled; no words came out.
“What’s wrong? Not so brave now?” Xiao Man looked at her coolly. “If not, then please leave. The Auspicious Cloud Residence is a clean place. It cannot hold foul words. If there is a next time…”
She paused, and the warning in her tone was clear.
Creeped out by that look, Xiao Tao did not dare stay. She stamped her foot, threw out a weak, “You just wait!”, then fled like a beaten rooster, her back a sorry sight.
Only after Xiao Tao disappeared at the gate did Xiao Man’s tight body relax.
She leaned on the doorframe and let out a long breath.
[Great. First day off and I get this headache.]
[This Chastity Defense Campaign has to guard not only against the Buddha’s Chosen and his cheats, but also against the open and hidden arrows from the women in the back courtyard.]
She shut the door, and the light holiday feeling vanished.
The Auspicious Cloud Residence might look calm, but inside it was blades and shadows.
[Two hundred nine days… it’s a long road.]
At that very moment, across several courtyards, on the Dharma dais at Fahua Temple, Lin Qing Xuan, dressed in plain white monk’s robes, lowered his eyes and explained the Diamond Sutra’s line, “Let the mind arise without dwelling anywhere.”
His voice was clear and far, with a power that soothed hearts.
Yet deep under the still surface of his mind, a faint ripple of annoyance and anger rose from a certain direction, tiny but distinct.
The fingers turning his Prayer Beads paused, ever so slightly, on one bead.