Chapter 1
Chapter 1: I Will Not Be a Concubine
From the crowded street came a sudden shout: “The Top Scholar is back!”
Everyone on the road turned their heads, and many curious gazes fell on Chun Zhi, who was busy at her tofu stall.
Chun Zhi was nineteen. She wore a simple light green dress, the matching belt drawing in at her slim waist. Her small, bare face, untouched by powder, was as fresh and luminous as a peach blossom after rain.
She was known throughout the nearby towns as the Tofu Beauty, as well as the Lu family’s child bride. With her skill at making tofu, she earned enough to support Lu Jing Yun’s studies for the Imperial Examinations. The neighbors often said with envy that the two of them were perfectly matched.
Lu Jing Yun had been away for three years. Now, having taken first place as the Top Scholar, he was returning home in glory.
Yamen runners went ahead beating gongs to clear the way. Wherever the Top Scholar’s procession passed, firecrackers exploded, red paper scattered, and the crowd hurriedly stepped aside. The onlookers sent one envious glance after another toward the young scholar riding the tall horse.
Chun Zhi raised her head to look at the approaching Lu Jing Yun. In three years, he had become even more refined and handsome.
He wore a red brocade robe and the Top Scholar’s hat, his features clean and elegant, his face as smooth and flawless as carved jade.
Mounted on a dark red horse, he moved slowly through the crowded street, step by measured step, directly toward where she stood. [It looks exactly like the scene I have dreamed of again and again.]
For a moment, her mind went blank.
Auntie Zhang, who was selling flatbreads nearby, noticed that Chun Zhi was still staring in a daze. She gave her a gentle push and said with a smile: “Chun Zhi, what are you waiting for? Your Top Scholar is back. Go meet him.”
She added kindly: “I will watch your stall. You hurry and greet your Top Scholar.”
“Then I will go,” Chun Zhi answered. She wiped her hands on her apron, tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and hurried forward, calling out with unconcealed joy: “Jing Yun, you are back.”
But the moment Lu Jing Yun saw her, his expression changed slightly. Treating her as if she were a stranger, he turned his head away and rode straight past her.
A yamen constable stepped forward at once and shouted: “Bold girl! A commoner woman dares to call Lord Lu by his name!”
Taking her for some poor relative trying to cling shamelessly to the Top Scholar, the constable scolded her as he pushed her aside.
Chun Zhi almost fell. She staggered back three full steps before she could steady herself.
From the carriage following behind came a soft, clear woman’s voice: “Stop.”
The carriage stopped at once.
Lu Jing Yun turned his horse and drew up beside the carriage window, asking in a gentle tone: “Madam, why have we stopped?”
A pale hand lifted the curtain. A young woman in fine clothes looked out, frowned slightly at Chun Zhi, and asked: “Husband, who is she?”
Without so much as glancing at Chun Zhi, Lu Jing Yun replied lightly: “A household maid.”
At those words, Chun Zhi felt as if a bucket of cold water had been emptied over her head. The heat and excitement in her chest were instantly extinguished. Tears rushed to her eyes, but she forced them not to fall.
She and Lu Jing Yun had depended on each other for ten years. He had once sworn to her: “A good wife lifts me to the clouds; I will repay my good wife with ten thousand taels of gold.”
Now he had truly become the Top Scholar, yet he had forgotten his oath. He had just called the woman in the carriage “madam.” He had already married someone else in the Capital. In front of that woman, he said Chun Zhi was nothing more than a maid.
Chun Zhi’s nose stung; her eyes turned red. [So he really did marry in the Capital after all.]
Lu Jing Yun had been studying in the Capital for three full years and had not returned home even once.
People had whispered to Chun Zhi that after seeing the vast world outside, he had long since forgotten the child bride he had left behind.
Chun Zhi had refused to believe them. Every month she sent him money on time. Three years, thirty-six months, not a single delivery missed. She had told herself that Lu Jing Yun was not like other men. But in the end, her sincere heart had still been entrusted to the wrong person.
Feeling her gaze burning into him, Lu Jing Yun did not dare look back at her. Even in the midst of honors and glory, he felt a sharp stab of guilt.
Ji Ru Zhen gave Chun Zhi a quick, assessing glance, then lowered the curtain and said calmly: “A maid dares to call you by your name. The Lu family’s household rules must be corrected.”
In her heart, she had already made up her mind. This maid was far too pretty and had grown up alongside her husband. Leaving her near Lu Jing Yun would only invite trouble. It would be safest to send her away as soon as possible.
As he rode past Chun Zhi, Lu Jing Yun lowered his voice so only she could hear and said: “Go home first.”
Then he straightened, put on an air of calm as if nothing at all had happened, and continued on with the procession.
Chun Zhi remained standing there for a long time. Only when the Top Scholar’s entourage had gone far down the street and the onlookers had dispersed did she finally return to her tofu stall.
The people who had been loudly congratulating her earlier now exchanged awkward glances. When she came back, they all pretended to be occupied with their own business.
Auntie Zhang sighed, trying to comfort her as she said: “Chun Zhi, men have no conscience. Now that Lu Jing Yun has become the Top Scholar, the new madam he married must be a noble lady from a great family. When you go home, do not clash with them head-on. Speak gently and be careful, do you understand?”
“Okay,” Chun Zhi answered quietly.
The tofu at the stall was already nearly sold out. She packed everything up in silence, then pushed her handcart back toward the Lu residence.
When she arrived, she saw neighbors packed in front of the Lu clan gate. As soon as they caught sight of her, they began speaking in low, excited voices.
The Lu Residence had once been a prosperous household. But ten years earlier, Lu Jing Yun’s grandfather and father had died in succession, and the family had declined. Now they had only a three-courtyard house left to their name.
Everyone knew that Lu Jing Yun cared only for his books, and that in these past years the Lu family had relied on Chun Zhi’s tofu business to keep food on the table.
Someone called out teasingly: “Chun Zhi, your Top Scholar has brought home a new madam. Did you know?”
Another voiced the question everyone was thinking: “Top Scholar Lu married an official’s daughter. Is he going to throw you away?”
Someone even laughed and joked: “If Top Scholar Lu really does not want you, how about marrying me instead?”
Chun Zhi gave no reply. She left the handcart at the door, slipped through the crowd, and walked into the residence, leaving their chatter behind her.
Lu Jing Yun and Ji Ru Zhen were seated in the main hall, drinking tea.
Mother Lu had just rewarded the yamen constable and the people who had brought the good news. Still smiling, she waved Chun Zhi over and said cheerfully: “Chun Zhi, you are back.”
Chun Zhi stepped forward and greeted her softly: “Mother.”
“Ah,” Mother Lu replied, taking Chun Zhi’s hand and drawing her close as if in affection: “Ru Zhen is the Chancellor’s Daughter. She and Jing Yun were matched by the emperor’s decree, a perfectly suited pair. Do not blame Jing Yun. In his place, anyone would have done the same.
“You have been with our Lu family for many years. The neighbors even joke that you are Jing Yun’s child bride. What I mean is, if you are willing, you can stay and be a concubine for Jing Yun.”
At this, Ji Ru Zhen set down her teacup. This was not at all what she had discussed with her mother-in-law earlier. Chun Zhi was too beautiful and had grown up together with Lu Jing Yun; if she remained in the household, future troubles would be endless. It would be better, Ji Ru Zhen had thought, to give her a sum of silver and send her far away. Yet now Mother Lu was making the decision on her own and wanted to keep Chun Zhi on as a concubine, and Ji Ru Zhen could not help feeling displeased.
“I will not be a concubine,” Chun Zhi said at once, without any hesitation.
In this dynasty, concubines were no different from maids. They could be bought and sold at will. On the way back from the East Market, Chun Zhi had already thought everything through. Lu Jing Yun’s marriage to someone else was a settled fact. Quarreling and clinging would only degrade her.
“Lu Jing Yun,” she asked, raising her eyes to look straight at him: “Do you still remember what you once said, ‘A good wife lifts me to the clouds; I will repay my good wife with ten thousand taels of gold’?”
Lu Jing Yun kept silent. Of course he remembered. He simply did not want to admit it in front of Ji Ru Zhen.
“Now I do not want you,” Chun Zhi continued, pressing down the pain in her chest and making her voice as steady as she could. “I only want ten thousand taels of gold. Give me the money, and everything between us will be written off.”
Lu Jing Yun stared at her in disbelief and asked: “What did you say?”
Chun Zhi repeated, enunciating each word clearly: “I do not want you. I only want ten thousand taels of gold.”
Ji Ru Zhen lazily waved her round fan and said with open annoyance: “The first thing out of your mouth is ten thousand taels. What a greedy demand.”
Mother Lu’s face darkened. She said coldly: “Chun Zhi, from the time you were nine and Jing Yun brought you home, our Lu family has raised you. Without Jing Yun, who knows where you would have starved or frozen to death. I have treated you like my own daughter all these years.
“If you refuse to be a concubine and insist on money instead, I can give you a little, but ten thousand taels is far too much. How can you force us like this?”
“I have three hundred taels here, enough to repay the money you have sent over the years,” Lu Jing Yun said as he pulled three banknotes from his sleeve and held them out. “Take them if you want. There is no more.”
Why should anyone refuse silver that was already in front of them?
Chun Zhi reached out and took the notes. Each one was for a hundred taels. Three notes, three hundred taels in total. Three hundred taels to settle ten years of grinding labor so he could study in peace.
She said calmly: “We agreed on ten thousand taels, so it will be ten thousand, not a single coin less. I will treat these three hundred as interest for now. I will come back for the rest later.”
“Three hundred taels still are not enough for you? You want Jing Yun’s life!” Mother Lu cried angrily. She launched into a stream of scolding, accusing Chun Zhi of being heartless, ungrateful, and greedy for money. When Chun Zhi remained unmoved, Mother Lu clutched her head and complained that she had a terrible headache.
In the past, whenever Mother Lu acted like this, Chun Zhi would give in and compromise. This time, she did not move at all.
Ji Ru Zhen quickly went to support Mother Lu and called out sharply: “Someone, drive her out.”
“Go! Get out, now!” several voices shouted in agreement.
The retainers and maids rushed in together and began forcing Chun Zhi toward the door.
At some unknown moment, rain had begun to fall outside. The crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle had already scattered to seek shelter.
They pushed Chun Zhi out of the house and knocked her to the ground.
The next second, the main gate of the Lu Residence slammed shut behind her with a heavy bang.
Big raindrops beat down from the sky. Tears burst from Chun Zhi’s eyes. She wiped her face with the back of her hand, got up, and dragged her handcart toward the north of the city.
Most of the families in the northern part of the city survived on small trades. To sell tofu, she always had to start early. Every day before dawn, she rose to grind soybeans. In order not to disturb Mother Lu’s rest, she had saved bit by bit over the years to buy a tofu workshop there, with two small tile-roofed rooms behind it. She usually lived in those rooms.
She had no home anymore, but at least she still had a roof over her head. And she still had a craft in her hands that could keep her fed.
Walking through the rain, she pushed the cart and sobbed. The rain washed away the tear tracks on her cheeks, but it could not wash away the sharp ache in her heart. [I will allow myself to cry only this once, hidden by the rain.]
People on the street hurried past, heads lowered, searching for shelter. Chun Zhi’s vision blurred as she stumbled forward, pushing the cart all the way back toward the tofu workshop.
Just as she was about to stop, the cart seemed to collide with something, and a heavy shape fell to the ground with a dull thud.
Chun Zhi set down the cart handles and stepped forward to look. There, lying directly in front of the cart, was a man sprawled on the wet ground.