They returned to the Begonia Garden. The Seventh Mistress sighed at the blooming begonia in the open courtyard. She called Madam Zhang to bring a chair to the cloister so she could sit, then embraced Cheng Jin in her arms and said, “San’er, you’re so good to mother. I always thought you had an aloof temperament, talking so little, barely saying a few phrases to your mother all year round. You also weren’t willing to study poetry, I didn’t think you would remember your mother’s suffering. In this family, mother only has you as a relative. Your father hasn’t entered this garden in more than a year. The poem held such sorrowful bitterness and you were able to express this at only six years of age, I don’t know if this is a
Cheng Jin thought, how could a six-year-old child be so capable? Right when she wanted to remedy the situation with a few sentences, she heard Seventh Mistress’ voice turn resentful, “Those people are still uneasy, always grasping at the fact that you won’t learn the four arts of the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Mother was really worried today, afraid the cane will strike down on you; I wouldn’t be able to protect you. If a daughter of the Li Family is useless, unable to help your father, even Xiao Yu would be more valuable! But you really are my daughter, as if you wouldn’t understand poetry!”
Seeing that the Seventh Mistress was not suspicious at all, Cheng Jin felt too lazy to explain. By now, she had become somewhat accustomed to being held by the Seventh Mistress’ fragrant and soft arms, just like her own mother’s arms when she was a child. She nestled in the Seventh Mistress’ arms and asked, “Can you tell Ah Luo, what does she need to help dad with? Why must the Li Family’s daughters be good at the four arts of the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting?”
Cheng Jin felt a bit regretful when the question left her mouth. If Seventh Mistress had already told Ah Luo earlier by chance, would she be surprised? Seventh Mistress said slowly, “San’er, you are still young, mother will tell you when you are older!”
Cheng Jin was anxious and impatient to understand what kind of world this was. Her mind was still confused, the moment she awoke she had already unexplainably become this child and saw a bunch of messy people. She had been nervous all day, so how would she know what to do if she didn’t tell her? Cheng Jin heard herself send out a fragile voice, “It’s better to know earlier than later, maybe Ah Luo will change her attitude and study hard after that, so that she won’t be beaten with the cane after three months!” She sighed after speaking. This voice, she really wasn’t used to it!
The Seventh Mistress sighed, “For the sake of having just one son, the head of the Li Family married seven wives. It was unexpected that mother entered last, yet also gave birth to a daughter. Your father is the right hand of the Ning Empire. Seeing that he has no heir, he wants to marry his three daughters into the royal family to consolidate power. How could he not be harsh on his daughters? All his hopes are pinned on his daughter’s success in climbing to the emperor’s seat as an empress. The Eldest Mistress was born into a distinguished family, if it wasn’t for the fact that she couldn’t have children, she wouldn’t tolerate the master marrying again and again. Mother was only married into the Li Family as a child-birthing tool.”
The Seventh Mistress lowered her head and smiled softly at Cheng Jin, “Mother didn’t wish for San’er to stand out from the crowd, I am only afraid that if you don’t improve, you will anger your father and you won’t be given food or warm clothing. You have your mother’s temperament, self-willed and stubborn, always embarrassing Madam Zhang and Xiao Yu, never taking your lessons seriously. Mother can’t bear to fault you, but San’er, women will always suffer in this world. If you don’t marry into a good family, the bitter days in the future will be long.” At this, she shed a few tears.
Cheng Jin looked at the anxious expression on Seventh Mistress’ jade-like face, knowing in her heart that their two destinies were tied together from this moment. She glanced at her small body, having inexplicably passed through time and space, possessing a body and building a new history. She was originally a good fourth year university student with a well-off family and a bright future. Now, everything was uncertain and hearing the Seventh Mistress say that women would always suffer in this world, she couldn’t help but burst into tears.
Seventh Mistress embraced her tightly, “San’er, why is it so difficult to be a woman? Why must you be a daughter of the Li Family?!”
Cheng Jin cried until she fell asleep.
Seventh Mistress gazed lovingly at her six-year-old daughter with facial features that resembled her own. She knew even without thinking that Ah Luo would grow up to be beautiful. Her beauty would be locked away here in the Begonia Garden of the Li mansion. She hoped that her daughter would have a better life than her in the future, without having to watch over this garden in silence until death.
After the Seventh Mistress stared at Ah Luo for quite some time, she called Madam Zhang and Xiao Yu over, then said softly, “Young Miss is still naive, please tolerate her, she is not an aloof child, she’s just a little wayward.”
Madam Zhang’s and Xiao Yu’s eyes reddened as they replied, “Mistress is very kind to us, of course we will give our all for Young Miss.”
The Seventh Mistress handed Cheng Jin to Madam Zhang and sent them back to the house. Quietly, she observed the begonias alone, remembering the poem that Ah Luo recited during her trial test, and tears fell again.
When Cheng Jin woke up, she hurriedly looked down at herself only to see that she was still in a small body. There was no sound to be heard all around, no cars driving across the road, no human voices. It was as though she was the only person left in the world. Her eyes reddened and she burst into tears as the moonlight shone into the room, feeling more and more lonely. Cheng Jin thought, must she stay in this world and wait for Ah Luo’s body to grow up slowly, marry someone, spending her whole life like this? She couldn’t help but panic in extreme fear, continuing to cry.
Outside, a candle flame was lit and Xiao Yu lifted the bed curtains, hugging her nervously, “Young Miss, are you having a nightmare again? Xiao Yu is here, Young Miss, don’t be afraid.”
Cheng Jin saw Xiao Yu’s soft and disheveled hair, rubbing at her drowsy eyes. Seeing that she was a child barely ten-years-old yet came to comfort her, she thought, being twenty-two-years-old, how could she make her take care of herself? Slowly halting her tears, she said to Xiao Yu, “I can’t sleep, Xiao Yu, come up here, lie down with me for a while and talk to me.”
Xiao Yu looked at Ah Luo’s small face stained with tears that had yet to dry, glinting under the candlelight, her face pleading earnestly, indescribably charming and delicate. She thought to herself, Young Miss was only six-years-old, however, she was already able to make people unconsciously feel tenderness for her. Who knew what kind of heavenly beauty she would become when she grew up? She agreed and climbed into bed, laying down next to Ah Luo.
Cheng Jin said to Xiao Yu, “Tell me what kind of world it’s like outside! What kind of country is the Ning Empire?”
Xiao Yu smiled shyly, “Xiao Yu only knows that there are five empires in this world. In the west is the Qi Empire, southwest is the Xia Empire, north is the An Empire, south is the Chen Empire, and the Ning Empire is in the east, the largest and strongest empire. We are in the capital city of the Ning Empire, Feng City. Young Miss, our Feng City is very large, even riding a horse from east to west would take several hours. The Lantern Festival is the most lively time. The banks of the Ning River are filled with people selling and releasing the lanterns. There are also many brightly-painted boats, and it looks like a place that fairies live in when night falls.”
Cheng Jin thought, what kind of place is this?! It really was a different time and space. She would need to learn more about it later, she needed to think about this. Soon after, her eyes closed. Xiao Yu thought she fell asleep again, and fell silent, as she too slowly entered dreamland.
Cheng Jin opened her eyes and looked at the bed canopy. It seemed like she really had to live on as Ah Luo in the Li mansion. She forcefully subdued the initial nervousness. Fortunately, she was still young and Master Li was the right hand or something, so she didn’t have to worry about food and clothing for now. It would be several years before she grew up and had to face the situation. It was also possible that she would wake up back in her own bed one day, and everything would have been just a dream. Her heartbeat slowly settled down.
Cheng Jin analyzed herself, she studied English in university which was useless now, but after living in the modern world for 22 years, there should be more or less some knowledge that she could still use. Poetry could be copied and what she knew about 5000 years of culture should be sufficient. It didn’t matter if she couldn’t remember the entire Tang and Song poems, she could still remember phrases that became popular. She couldn’t sing, always going out of tune but it didn’t matter as she knew some songs which may be useful. She knew yoga and had learnt karate, which was what she was best at, being able to take on three to five average men in a short time. At the very least, she wouldn’t be a helpless and feeble woman! Cheng Jin sighed in relief. It was lucky that her parents, with their government official duties, had been busy all year around, having little time to take care of her, making her learn karate to protect herself. Also, since no one was in charge of her, Cheng Jin had known how to cook since she was five-years-old, yes, cook!
Cheng Jin was like Robinson after floating to a remote island, discovering something useful and being excited about it for some time. After thinking about it for a long while, she couldn’t come up with anything else.
Cheng Jin thought about six-year-old Ah Luo. She heard that in ancient times, girls had to marry when they were 13. She had at least seven years that she could use to study. What kind of society this was, what types of people and things she would face in the future, she could start learning from the very beginning.Only one thing mattered, being able to survive!
Cheng Jin said to herself, from now on, she is the third Young Miss of the Li Xiang Family, Ah Luo. Having taken a look today, Cheng Jin sighed in relief in knowing that the women’s feet here were not bound. She had seen her grandmother’s feet and she felt goosebumps all over her body.
Cheng Jin recalled the people she had seen in the hall, and after careful analysis, it seemed that both father Li and her own father were politicians, but she didn’t know if father Li was a powerful minister or not. Very few authoritative ministers in the ancient times had a good ending. When one’s achievements became so great that it made the emperor feel insecure, he would make them disappear. As long as you didn’t commit any great sins, it would be nice and safe. She prayed to all the gods in the hopes that father Li would never be dismissed from the office, his property confiscated, and his entire family beheaded. She was terrified at the thought of ancient methods of torture.
She was afraid that the seven mistresses would fight with both open and secret means but the six of them clearly disliked the Seventh Mistress. Was it because the Seventh Mistress was the youngest? The prettiest? Or some other reason still?
Cheng Jin thought, father Li only had three daughters, should she become his favourite one? There would be benefits and disadvantages, benefits being that she and Seventh Mistress would be treated better and have certain privileges. The disadvantages of that would be attracting attention and it would be difficult to remain unobtrusive in the future.
On their return, she had paid attention to her surroundings. It appeared that Begonia Garden was in the furthest corner of the Li mansion, taking them about ten minutes since leaving the hall to arrive. There were only two servants, Madam Zhang and Xiao Yu. Madam Zhang spent more time with the Seventh Mistress while Xiao Yu followed her. The interior of the room was decorated elegantly, though she didn’t see any valuable gold, silver, or gems. Even the Seventh Mistress only wore two jade hairpins and a beaded flower in her hair today, plainer than the other six. Thinking of Seventh Mistress’ meekness and sorrow, Cheng Jin concluded that it was possible she was left here because she gave birth to a daughter.
With a twenty-two-year-old mind, a six-year-old body, modern knowledge and thought process, it would not be difficult for Cheng Jin to win over father Li’s favour. However, when she remembered that the bird which takes the lead is usually shot, she decided to hide her skills and bide her time for now. She would familiarise herself with the situation first.
