Ch. 35: Jump

Despite her quick-to-anger nature, Madam Chu did not strike right away. Lin Xiao fretted for the first few days, buzzing like a frightened bee in between reading Shen Meifeng passages from various books and throwing a fit about the poor treatment from the maids.

Lady Ning was an elusive figure in their days, seemingly spending every waking moment when she wasn't sleeping or praying by her mother's side. But this didn't mean that Shen Meifeng never saw her. As an outer granddaughter, although she didn't need to greet the first madam every morning, she had to greet her Old Lady Ning every day without fail. The walk to Yixin Pavilion was one that had Shen Meifeng witnessing the pale blue and tangy orange hues creep into the black sky, weaving their way through the night like a tapestry until dawn arrived.

Old Lady Ning always woke up early and as a member of the younger generation, she would be criticized if she wasn't there while her grandmother got ready. So despite Lin Xiao's protests, Shen Meifeng woke up when the sky was still dark and went to go serve by her grandmother's side.

Tradition was a virtue Lady Ning had emphasized on their long journey to the capital. Tradition was what dictated the culture of the Xia Empire. It was why filial piety and respect toward one's elders was so important. It could bar a man from becoming an official and could serve as grounds for a husband to divorce his wife. In Meifeng's eyes, such a practice was a foolish semblance of sincerity. Save for the newly reunited Lady Ning, no one else enjoyed the task of serving the old woman. But they said their pretty and filial words and bent their knees in false earnestness. The whole act was the same as the play that a passing troupe had performed on the side of the road during their journey.

And yet, Meifeng performed it to the best of her ability and relished it. She liked to watch the way the maids would shove towels into her hands when Lady Ning's eyes were averted, the way the other granddaughters were quick to step back and allow her to perform the harder tasks. Old Lady Ning's hands were very soft despite her age, something Meifeng had noticed as she wiped them down every morning.

Those same hands were frequently unadorned, only sporting modest rings on occasion and spinning well-worn Buddhist beads in another palm. Incense was thick in the old woman's quarters just like the warmth, but it was the calming sort that made one feel at peace on the inside. If nothing else, Meifeng could appreciate how disarming the old woman's appearance was.

"Say," Meifeng had remarked to Lin Xiao one day. "If I were to have my own child, they would have to be obedient to me, wouldn't they?"

"Yes, Young Miss," Lin Xiao replied. Her temperament and words had calmed, the elegant demeanor of the maids at the Duke of Gao Mansion having begun to rub off on her. "Filial piety is important. When my brother returns home, the fruit of his success will be given to our parents as they enjoy honor and piety."

She no longer looked as upset when she spoke of her family, showing that she had begun to acclimate to her new life. This prompted Shen Meifeng to ask a few more questions.

"You are so certain that your brother will be successful?" They were strolling back from Old Lady Ning's courtyards, their stomachs rumbling in hunger although Shen Meifeng was not hungry for the sort of food that waited in her distant garden.

Lin Xiao nodded, her eyes full of heroic worship. "There is no one smarter than my brother. Since he was young, all his teachers have said he was their brightest pupil. That is why all our money has gone towards his studies."

Meifeng noted how Lin Xiao didn't seem bitter about that fact, attributing it to the fact that this older brother and Lin Xiao must have shared an especially good relationship. If nothing else, Meifeng would have to ensure that the two never ran into each other, lest Lin Xiao's loyalty be swayed. Save for this brother, Meifeng knew that Lin Xiao would be nothing if not obedient to her desires.

Someone scoffed loudly behind them. "Young Miss, you should take another path. It would do you no good to associate with someone unafraid to discuss men in the rear house."

They had been walking near the artificial lake at the center of the backyard, one that featured a babbling stream and a pretty bridge arching above it. It was a spot notoriously difficult to hear things from, where idle maids would come to gossip about their masters and in the dead of night, engage in illicit activities with a male servant they were sweet on. That second part, no one knew about yet, although it would be revealed soon.

Shen Meifeng and Lin Xiao turned around to see two familiar faces: Ning Caixin and Ning Caiyue, each accompanied by a maid.

"Greetings, Cousins," Shen Meifeng said in a demure manner, performing the proper greetings to her cousins who were but a few months and years older and younger than her fake age.

Ning Caixin looked away dismissively, her maid halfheartedly performing a greeting in response. The perpetually ill Ning Caiyue, the one whom System had warned Meifeng about, began to greet Shen Meifeng but began coughing vigorously into her palm. The two were dressed in opposing colors, the bright hues of Ning Caixin's clothes and jewelry at odds with Ning Caiyue's deliberately subdued yet tasteful palette and Shen Meifeng's dull tones.

"I know you grew up in the countryside, but surely you must know that discussing men so openly before marriage is taboo?" Ning Caixin scoffed. They had never spoken before, but it was clear that the energetic girl had been given a negative impression of Shen Meifeng by the transmigrated Ning Caiyue.

Shen Meifeng blinked innocently once, then twice. Just before Ning Caixin thought her younger cousin had been scared silly from being caught, she finally opened her mouth. "My maid is merely worried for her brother. Is it wrong to worry about one's family?"

Ning Caixin seemed to ignore the bulk of what Shen Meifeng said, instantly focusing on one section and blowing up at Lin Xiao. But her every word was calculated, an obvious case of pointing at the mulberry tree and cursing the locust tree.

"These are not matters you should be discussing with your mistress. Even if my maid ate a bear's heart and a leopard's gall she wouldn't be brave enough to do something so nonproprietary. Your maid doesn't seem well trained, go teach my younger cousin's maid the rules," Ning Caixin coldly ordered in her loud voice that she had been lectured about time and time again.

"Yes, Miss," the maid said obediently to Ning Caixin. But the moment she turned away, she approached Lin Xiao with a haughty expression.

"Kneel!" the maid barked at Lin Xiao.

Ning Caiyue cowered beside her maid at the impending violence while her eyes glistened with pleasure. In this manner, Madam Chu's unnoticeable daughter was the opposite Ning Caixin's quieter twin, Ning Cairong, whose main occupation was in dissuading her sister from her hotheaded follies. Ning Caiyue instead fanned the flames of Ning Caixin's hot temper under the disguise of trying to talk her out of her actions.

Ning Caiyue hid her face behind her pale lavender sleeve, a shrinking violet in the face of violence. "2nd Sister, you know I don't like to watch servants get disciplined for such minor offenses."

"Minor offense?" Ning Caixin scoffed with her nose pointing up in the air. "It would do you some good to stay close to First Aunt's side and learn more household rules. Despicable maids can lead their mistresses astray and cause them to do unmentionable things with strange men. Do you want our cousin to become this type of woman? Quickly hit her maid!" She yelled the last line to her maid as she further verbally splashed Shen Meifeng with dirty water. Should any maids be listening in, the entire backyard could become abound with unfounded rumors of Shen Meifeng meeting with stray men.

In addition, slapping someone's maid was the equivalent of slapping their master in the face. Allowing such an offense to occur would result in Shen Meifeng permanently being seen as lesser in the rear yard. A master who could not protect her servants was not someone the sharp maids and servants of the noble home's backyard were keen to treat with respect.

System tsked its invisible tongue. "Such a spiteful, despicable beast, the way she has incited Ning Caixin to come after you. Ning Caiyue truly is a typical system user!"

"Are you speaking of all system users?" Shen Meifeng's question was so casual and unsuspecting that System did not notice that it was about to back itself into a corner. But such a mistake wasn't unusual as Shen Meifeng was unusually calm at the prospect of having her reputation ruined by the false words of her cousin.

"Yes, they're all conniving plotters without an ounce of moral decency-" System suddenly cuts off its voice as it remembered who it was speaking to. Its mind flashed back to the blood that had stained its master's mouth like a feral beast during her days in the woods.

"Such a fascinating point of view. I would love to discuss this more with you at a later time," Shen Meifeng murmured under her breath in a way that sent a shiver down System's spine. It should've known better than to break its silence to say something so trivial.

"Pay no mind to my words, Master. How will you take care of this situation? Your reputation is at risk."

"Is it?" Meanwhile, Ning Caixin's maid yelled at Lin Xiao to kneel, who stared back with an upright back and ignored the increasingly angry words. She could see the smile that Ning Caiyue was trying to hide behind her sleeve as she no longer made any mention of stopping Lin Xiao's punishment.

The not-so-timid Ning Caiyue fixed a halfhearted, simpering smile on her face, although the disguising grin was as thin as window paper when it came to covering up her cruel intentions. In her eyes, Shen Meifeng wasn't a person, but a plaything to toy with.

If only she knew that Shen Meifeng viewed her in the same manner.

"Younger cousin, I am simply looking out for your good. You are close to your hair pinning age, but you still don't have a marriage agreement. If you wish to secure a favorable match, you ought to let me teach your maid so she doesn't prevent you from fulfilling the reason you came to our home." Ning Caixin taunted, completely unaware of Ning Caiyue's provocation.

Shen Meifeng blinked nonchalantly in response, allowing for an awkward silence to hang in the air as she continued to listen to System's words.

"Yes, Master! I shouldn't mention this, but in this era, her accusations could get you locked up in the ancestral temple for months or years. That could lead to you failing this mission!" System yelled as its master stood still like a statue.

"Hmmm." It was not clear whether Shen Meifeng was speaking to System or Ning Caixin.

"Have you been scared silly?" Ning Caixin's patience was running thin, the impending boredom demanding that something be carried out soon. For that, Shen Meifeng was more than happy to oblige. Her keen ears could detect footsteps approaching from afar, multiple, which suggested that one or more of the backyard's masters and their servants were approaching from a distance.

With the assurance of a future audience, Shen Meifeng closed the distance between her cousin, until she could smell Ning Caixin's perfume. The other girl was startled as her pretty cousin suddenly closed the gap between them. Something in Shen Meifeng's round eyes seemed taunting to Ning Caixin, reminding her of the fake pretentiousness of the detestable Zhao Suiyan who had somehow become one of the emperor's women.

Shen Meifeng cocked her head to the side. "Have you been slapped before?"

"What did you say?" Ning Caixin tried to ease back a step in the midst of Shen Meifeng's odd words, but Shen Meifeng followed like an obedient dog. Behind Ning Caixin, the edge of the beautiful lake loomed closer and closer.

"I asked you, have you ever been slapped before?" The ground beneath was moist, they stood close enough to the edge that should either of them take a wrong step, they'd tumble into the cool waters beside them.

"Of course not! I am the 2nd lady from the Duke of Gao Mansion, who would dare?" The last line came out arrogantly, but the arrogance was short-lived as Shen Meifeng swung back an arm with the same calm expression and gave Ning Caixin a taste of her own medicine.

Crack! How the sound echoed across the still waters of the lake. The smile on Ning Caiyue's face fell like flower petals in autumn. A bright red mark instantly bloomed on Ning Caixin's skin, which was the smooth and unblemished skin of a noble girl who had been pampered since the day she was born.

"You- You-" she sputtered in a voice the whole rear yard could probably hear, clutching the wounded cheek with a quivering hand.

Her maid was quicker to recover her words, rushing away from Lin Xiao and sticking a finger in Shen Meifeng's face in a disrespectful manner. "You dare to hit my young miss?"

"Hit your young miss?" Shen Meifeng adopted a confused expression as the footsteps grew closer. "Obviously it was Ning Caiyue who just hit her right now, for bullying me."

The shamelessness in Shen Meifeng's loud accusation left everyone speechless, save for Lin Xiao who already knew what to say.

"Exactly! Obviously, it was the kind 4th Young Miss who hit the 2nd Young Miss because she was treating my young miss badly! Young Miss, don't fret, they cannot turn black into white!" Lin Xiao echoed.

The gobsmacked Ning Caixin had enough. "Good. Good! You want to twist the truth? I will give you something to be honest about!" She furiously pulled back her hand and reached forward to return the favor Shen Meifeng had just bestowed.

Meanwhile, the anger of Ning Caixin's maid had faded enough for her to sense that something was amiss as her mistress stumbled upon the shoreline of the lake.

"Young Miss, please calm down," she cautioned in a low voice, her eyes sweeping across the scene with vigilance. A figure had just started to appear: the thin, pious figure of the Second Madam making her way from Old Lady Ning's courtyard.

But it was too late.

Like the mouth of a trap that had been triggered, Ning Caixin's arm had begun to snap forward in an arc towards Shen Meifeng's face. But Shen Meifeng was not interested in being hit, even if she knew that the girl's thin arm wouldn't cause any harm. She caught the arm midswing, smiled pleasantly, then took the remaining momentum to throw herself from the shore into the cold lake water.