The wind was bitingly cold. Xu Feng and her maid, dressed in clothes washed to a pale whiteness, carefully made their way through the alley entrance. Her nose was red from the cold, her ears had lost all feeling from the wind, and she had to watch her step for chicken droppings and duck manure, lest she soil her shoes.
Finally arriving at a large door where the paint had peeled, she let out a sigh of relief.
Xu Feng was originally the daughter of an official. Her father had passed the imperial examinations and served as the Chief Registrar of Chuzhou. Unfortunately, just as his three-year term ended, he fell gravely ill and passed away suddenly. The family had some savings initially, but with five or six brothers, they gradually declined. Dozens of family members were now crammed into these few small rooms.
She had to spin thread and weave cloth with her mother to help make ends meet.
Once inside, Xu Feng and her maid quickly closed the door, as if shutting out the wind and snow, and both breathed a sigh of relief. She then went to the kitchen. Nanny Ge, originally her wet nurse, now handled all the washing and cooking for the household. It was past mealtime, but fortunately, Nanny Ge had saved a piece of flatbread for her.
"Young lady, eat," Nanny Ge said with a smile.
Even though she was very hungry, Xu Feng ate slowly and deliberately, as befitting a young lady from a good family.
Looking at the elegant and dignified girl, Nanny Ge whispered, "Young lady, a matchmaker came again today."
Although Xu Feng's family was now poor, the men in her family were all scholars. The women were different from those in this humble alley after all. Moreover, she was now at a marriageable age, literate and educated, so quite a few merchants from nearby had sent matchmakers.
Therefore, she sneered, "Which family this time? Not more merchants, I suppose?"
"It's the Hu family who sells pickles. They own a proper pickle shop supplying many restaurants and taverns. They are quite well-off." Nanny Ge actually wanted to persuade the mistress and the young lady to just agree.
Sure enough, Xu Feng said disdainfully, "Those merchants reek of copper coins. Besides, I know that Hu family. They only have two old servants. Their shopfront is just two narrow, dark rooms with a foul smell. I have no desire to associate with such people."
Nanny Ge was filled with worry upon hearing this.
Unexpectedly, the Xu family's fortune truly took a turn. Xu Feng's paternal uncle, while in the capital for his official review, learned of their situation. He first gave them three to five strings of cash to improve their living conditions and also arranged an excellent marriage for her.
It was for the great-grandson of the late Prime Minister Jiang and nephew of a Censor. The family was wealthy, with several dozen servants and a large estate.
The Xu family agreed immediately. Seeing that her own family truly couldn't afford a dowry, her uncle himself provided two hundred strings of cash for her trousseau, in addition to the five hundred strings of betrothal gifts sent by the Jiang family.
Xu Feng felt her persistence had paid off. If she had really married into a merchant family, the betrothal gifts might not have been so generous, and she would have been just a merchant's wife forever.
Xu Feng's mother, afraid the Jiang family would look down on their poverty, used all the betrothal gifts to buy land as Xu Feng's dowry. The other two hundred strings were used to purchase trunks, clothing, and other items, barely making a complete set.
She thought the trousseau she had prepared was quite sufficient. However, after entering the Jiang household, the servants constantly gossiped, and even her mother-in-law treated her with a sour face.
Even her husband wasn't attentive. Jiang Yan was indeed a decent man, but he was focused solely on his studies and paid little heed to other matters.
To establish herself in the Jiang family, she lived frugally and virtuously. After giving birth to a son, she personally tutored him. Because of this, her reputation within the Jiang family improved considerably.
However, while she scrimped and saved, her brother-in-law was always spending money—today for a literary gathering, tomorrow for an outing—which grated on her.
Her mother-in-law's favoritism and her husband's repeated failures in the imperial examinations troubled Xu Feng greatly.
Eventually, her mother-in-law could not defy fate and fell ill. Xu Feng even thought her mother-in-law had become delirious, for she actually helped the younger brother-in-law marry a merchant's daughter. Those merchants were shallow and ridiculous; how could such a woman be welcomed into the family?
But her mother-in-law insisted, and Xu Feng could do nothing.
Finally, the merchant's daughter entered the household. Her dowry consisted of over forty trunks, including a thousand strings of cash, colored silks and fabrics, jewelry, furniture, and even a townhouse as part of her dowry.
Her mother-in-law, money-grubbing as she was, favored the new daughter-in-law in every way because of her wealth. She divided the family property early, giving the most valuable assets—the real money-makers—to the younger brother. Xu Feng felt this was profoundly unfair.
Fortunately, her mother-in-law soon passed away, and she took charge of the household. To her surprise, the younger brother-in-law and his wife were so shameless they didn't propose moving out on their own. Luckily, she was prepared.
After successfully making the freeloading younger brother-in-law and his wife move out, she gained a stepmother-in-law. However, since the stepmother had no children of her own, after a few years of rivalry, once her husband passed the imperial examinations, the stepmother was no match for her. She still managed the household.
Even her cousin married the son of the Chancellor of the Jixian Academy. This period was perhaps the most beautiful time of her life: her husband was successful, family could lend support, and she gave birth to a daughter, completing the set with a son and a daughter.
But she never expected her happiness to be so brief. Soon after, her husband, following the Chancellor's downfall, resigned and left his post. The clan had originally given them six hundred mu of land, so their life was still comfortable. However, the younger brother-in-law later demanded three hundred mu back. She couldn't understand it—they already had so much money, why couldn't they leave the poor ones alone?
Originally, the clan had said the land was for the Jiang family, meaning their branch. Now the clan changed its tune, saying it was for both families.
There was no choice. The younger brother-in-law's official rank kept rising, and everyone wanted to curry favor with him.
Such was the way of the world...
She always hoped her husband would be reinstated one day and surpass his younger brother in rank, so she could finally vent years of pent-up frustration. But reality was that their family's fortunes kept improving: their son passed the imperial examinations, their daughter married into a chancellor's household, and they grew wealthier and wealthier.
Even her own dearly cared-for daughter, Zhengjie, loved visiting the Golden Beam Bridge area and would come back chattering, "Mother, today at Aunt's house I had a pan-fried beef dish, so tender and smooth. I never imagined mutton could also be so delicious."
"They have money, of course they have everything," Xu Feng said bitterly.
For her daughter's dowry, she had worked so hard to save money, yet her daughter still seemed drawn to whoever had wealth?
There was no justice, no fairness.
Unfortunately, misfortune always strikes the vulnerable.
Jiang Yan passed away!
All her hopes, already steeped in bitterness, were extinguished. Her son had shown promise in his studies as a child, but after marrying his wife, the younger Lady Wu, he performed worse and worse, only obtaining an official post through hereditary privilege.
Therefore, she had pinned all her hopes on her husband.
But her husband was dead. She had no more chances.
The greatest tragedy in life is to suffer misfortune oneself while others thrive. She kept thinking how her husband, such a virtuous man, did not live long, while her brother-in-law, such an opportunist, prospered more and more.
She would keep her eyes open and watch what end they all came to.
As these thoughts swirled, a surge of rage rushed to her head. Her mouth twisted and her eyes slanted—she had suffered a stroke.
After the stroke, the servants grew lazy, not even bothering to turn her in bed. The room was filled with a foul odor. Her son gradually visited less and less, and her daughter-in-law only came by occasionally to look in on her, offering no real care.
In moments of lucid clarity, Xu Feng could not help but shed tears. She had been so devout, maintaining a vegetarian diet for all those years—why had the Bodhisattva not protected her?
