Cui Yunchu thought that after all the relentless training in the ancestral hall, she had forged a strong, resilient body. That evening, she even bragged to Xing'er and Nanny Zhang, never expecting that in the middle of the night, she would start coughing lightly.
By the next morning, her coughing had become so severe that her face was flushed red, and at its worst, it felt as though her very heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys might be coughed out of her mouth.
Xing'er's eyes were red with worry. "Miss, with coughing this bad, maybe you shouldn't go today. If the wind catches you, it might get even worse."
Cui Yunchu's eyes were tear-filled from the coughing.
Nanny Zhang also spoke up. "Let this old servant call a doctor to take a look at you. Coughing ailments are most afraid of wind, Miss. Please talk to the Lord Prime Minister and go another day."
Cui Yunchu patted her chest, wiped away the tears brought on by the coughing, and shook her head. "He won't believe me. He'll just think I'm pulling some new trick."
She sighed again and muttered to herself, "I can't really blame others, I suppose. After all, my credibility in everyone's eyes is practically zero."
Nanny Zhang's eyes grew red. "When the Miss is sick like this, what kind of heartless person would dare say she's faking it?"
Cui Yunchu shot a glance at Nanny Zhang, who quickly pursed her lips and lowered her head. But then Cui Yunchu said, "Well said. He really is heartless."
She patted Nanny Zhang's shoulder approvingly. "Old Nanny Zhang, you're finally being useful for once."
"..."
With her energy completely drained, Cui Yunchu dragged her listless body out the door with Xing'er. The fog was thick that day, and on the small road, the carriage could barely see the path ahead.
The driver proceeded with extreme caution. Wrapped in her cloak, Cui Yunchu leaned against the carriage wall, looking as though some monster had sucked all the life out of her—except when she coughed, which was thunderous.
Xing'er watched by her side, terrified that at any moment, the Miss might cough herself to death.
"Miss," Xing'er said as she rubbed Cui Yunchu's back, her eyes red, "how could the Lord Prime Minister treat you like this?"
Cui Yunchu calmed down, sniffled, and said, "Why mention him all of a sudden? Such bad luck."
She lifted the carriage curtain and looked out at the foggy weather, rambling nonsense. "What if we end up attracting all sorts of monsters and ghosts?"
"..." Xing'er frowned in confusion. "Miss, what connection does the Lord Prime Minister have with monsters and ghosts?"
"Of course, there's a connection," Cui Yunchu said, pulling her head back inside and wrapping herself up tightly. "Birds of a feather flock together. If we mention someone like him, his kind might just show up."
Xing'er was speechless. With her Miss, you could never follow her logic or predict what she might say next.
Bored and restless, Cui Yunchu started teasing Xing'er, but her voice was weak and full of spirit, punctuated by violent coughing spells that made it sound almost like a dying declaration.
"Xing'er, what's your favorite thing?"
Xing'er glanced at Cui Yunchu and answered cautiously, "Your servant belongs to you, Miss, so naturally I love the same thing as you—gold and silver treasures."
Cui Yunchu nodded. "I like handsome men. Do you like them too?"
"..." Xing'er nodded awkwardly.
"Then I'll give you as a concubine to Zhou Yuanmo. Would you want that?"
"???" Xing'er's eyes went wide as if countless question marks were pressing down on her head.
"Miss," she said, flustered, "your servant has no such intentions at all. You could beat me to death, and I'd never dare covet someone from the Miss's!"
Cui Yunchu frowned. "I didn't lay a finger on you. What's all this talk about life and death? Are you trying to ruin my reputation? Do you want everyone to think I'm some cruel mistress?"
Xing'er, "..." It was truly like a scholar meeting a soldier—reason had no place here.
"I am your maid, Miss, and I will serve only you for my entire life. I would never covet the young master," Xing'er declared, lowering her head to show her loyalty.
Cui Yunchu pursed her lips. "If you were truly that loyal a servant, I wouldn't push you into the fire pit either." She sprawled back lazily, squinting at Xing'er.
This stare made Xing'er's scalp tingle and her limbs go cold. "Miss..."
Finding it boring, Cui Yunchu sat up a little straighter.
"Yunfeng and Qingwan's mother, it seems, died in childbirth," she said, rubbing her chin.
Her prime years were just beginning; she hadn't lived enough yet and didn't want to die young.
"What are you afraid of? If you become his concubine and have a child, I'll be the child's mother. A concubine is still a mistress, isn't that better than being a maid?"
Xing'er shook her head like a rattle-drum. "I don't want to be a concubine."
"No ambition," Cui Yunchu glared at her.
If she were Xing'er, she might have found a way to climb into a nobleman's bed, even without an opportunity—after all, it was a chance to change her fate.
She propped her head on her hand and thought, then suddenly wasn't so sure. Take her own aunt for example: even though she succeeded in climbing up, she had withered away early, leaving behind a bitter flower like Cui Yunchu to struggle desperately in the mud.
Tsk, human fate was just a cycle. If your allotted fortune was three liang and a half, even one extra liang could choke you to death.
Cui Yunchu's eyes darted back and forth, making Xing'er's heart tremble. "Miss, you're coughing badly. Maybe you shouldn't talk."
That would be unbearably boring.
Cui Yunchu continued, "Xing'er, have you met Lord Zhou before?"
Xing'er nodded. "Yes, Miss, you've seen him too, haven't you?"
"What's so special about him? Why does the old man like him so much? Do you think there's something between them, and they want to use me to cover it up?"
Xing'er: "... Miss, we're almost there."
Cui Yunchu muttered to herself, "You know, it's possible. The old man is rushing like his pants are on fire—maybe he can't wait."
Xing'er's mind began to churn at Cui Yunchu's words, the images far too vivid. She shuddered and covered her head with both hands.
"My dear Miss, please stop."
Cui Yunchu crossed her legs and rocked them idly. "I wonder what his mother is like. Is she easy to get along with? If I marry him, will she listen to me? What if she's a stubborn old mule, and I can't help but poison her to death?"
Xing'er: "..."
Cui Yunchu: "I'm sure her son wouldn't allow it. I'd have to dispose of the body and silence him too. But they say dead men tell no tales, so I'd have to kill two at once."
"How grim," she said, smirking a few times. "What do you think killing feels like? How does one do it—with a knife, or poison?"
"Xing'er,"
Xing'er covered her head. "Miss, I beg you, please stop talking."
"Do you think if I killed someone, it would implicate the old man at home?"
Xing'er looked at her with a pained expression. "Miss, if it implicated the Lord Prime Minister, it would be the nine familial exterminations."
"That won't do," Cui Yunchu shook her head. "Then they'd even have to dig up the ant nests in the Cui Mansion."
Xing'er: "Probably."
Then she suddenly thought of something else. "But what if the emperor's son committed a crime deserving of the annihilation of nine clans? Would the emperor personally order the annihilation of his own nine clans?"
Xing'er quickly covered Cui Yunchu's mouth. "Miss, this servant begs you, please stop talking."
She was going too far.
Cui Yunchu let out a few foolish giggles, then clutched her chest and once again began to cough harshly.
"That scoundrel Prince An is an expert at taking the blame. With Yunfeng around, I will definitely turn misfortune into good fortune." Cui Yunchu had already started thinking that before marrying Zhou Yuanmo, she should go have a word with Cui Yunfeng.
Just in case she couldn't hold back and ended up taking down that mother and son, at least there would be someone to cover for her.
