Chapter Four: The Illiterate

Xu Ruojin forced herself upright and dragged her body to Madam Yang’s courtyard, taking more than half an hour for a walk that would normally have taken less than a quarter. The meager energy from her breakfast was long since spent.

Madam Yang had already grown impatient from waiting. Seeing Xu Ruojin stagger through the door, she mocked her in a biting, sarcastic tone, “The second young lady of the Xu family is just so delicate—can’t even walk without someone holding her up. Should I call for a nursemaid to attend you, lest you accidentally mar that pretty face of yours again?”

“Your daughter pays respects to her mother,” Xu Ruojin replied, letting go of Spring Grass’s hand to bow. Though she’d paused several times along the way, she was drenched in cold sweat and her legs ached with weakness.

Madam Yang, seeing that Xu Ruojin completely ignored her earlier jibes, cast a cold, sidelong glance at her for a long moment. “You survived that fall into the water and now you act as if you’re made of gold. Already, you’re ordering meals and picking dishes in the courtyard, and the Xu family has to spend silver to keep you in luxury? If you really do end up at the Ministry’s Assistant Minister’s household, don’t forget us poor folk left behind. Even coarse grains and beans cost money—you’ve been fed till you have curves, not left to become a wandering ghost in a graveyard.”

“Mother, your words wound me. The kindness you and Father have shown me in raising me, I have never dared forget. Without you, how could I be who I am today?” Xu Ruojin forced herself forward to pour tea for Madam Yang. “It was wrong of me before, causing you trouble. Now that I can walk again, I’ve come to apologize in person and ask for your forgiveness this once.”

“Weren’t you supposed to come and kowtow to me?”

“Your daughter will kowtow and thank you at once,” Xu Ruojin replied, feigning a coquettish willingness to kneel, which made Madam Yang’s jaw drop in astonishment.

This girl, who usually wouldn’t utter a word even under a beating, could suddenly speak so sweetly today? Had she been possessed?

Granny Huang, seeing her mistress in a daze, hurried to help Xu Ruojin up. “Second Miss is still weak. Madam was only speaking in jest; you really don’t need to kneel. Get up—the floor is cold.”

Xu Ruojin stood up smiling, showing no reaction to Madam Yang’s surprise, and continued her polite, false concern. “If Mother doesn’t want tea, shall I make you a cup of honeyed flower water instead?”

“Honeyed flower water? Do you think our house is made of gold? Where’d you learn all these useless fancies?” Madam Yang grumbled, taking a sip from her cup. Seeing Xu Ruojin standing obediently at her side, she found herself at a loss for words.

Xu Ruojin laughed inwardly. The only way to handle someone like Madam Yang was to leave her with nothing to criticize. If she broke into tears at every harsh word, Madam Yang would only grow more enraged.

The room fell silent for a while. Madam Yang, forced by the upcoming meeting with the Zhang family, felt compelled to say more, despite her dislike for Xu Ruojin’s face. “I won’t waste words—now that you’ve climbed up to a good family, once you step out of the Xu house, we might all have to curry favor with you. Maybe your father will get some benefit, and your eldest and third brothers might get a leg up thanks to you. Even if I can’t stand you, I wouldn’t dare lay a finger on you now!”

“But let me be clear: all of this depends on you getting in good with the Assistant Minister’s house. If you fail... well, you just wait and see!”

A flash of malice crossed Madam Yang’s face. Xu Ruojin paused, then replied seriously, “Mother, I keep your words in my heart. But honestly, I’m just a bird waiting in a cage to be picked. I don’t know what to do. With parents arranging marriages and go-betweens making matches, even if I did catch the eye of the Zhang family’s young master, would his word mean anything?”

“I’ve never left the house, can’t read a single word, and my understanding of rules and etiquette is muddled at best. Speak too much, and I show ignorance; say too little, and I seem timid. Truly, I don’t know what to do. Please, Mother, advise me.”

Xu Ruojin’s words were gentle but barbed. Madam Yang instantly flared up. “You’re really good at complaining, aren’t you? Do you believe I won’t tear that mouth of yours?”

“Mother, I sincerely seek your guidance. I would never dare to complain,” Xu Ruojin replied, looking at her with innocent grievance.

Madam Yang’s raised hand seemed lost, unsure where to land. She snorted and scolded, “I never would’ve guessed—the girl who never spoke up when beaten can now talk circles around me…”

Madam Yang eyed Xu Ruojin with suspicion, then turned her gaze to Spring Grass.

Spring Grass broke into a cold sweat and quickly knelt. “Madam, I’ve never given Second Miss any advice. I’m foolish and ignorant—I know nothing of these matters. It wasn’t me, I swear.”

“Mother, this has nothing to do with Spring Grass. Nearly losing my life this time has given me these thoughts,” Xu Ruojin said, biting her lip and hanging her head. “If I may speak plainly, I fell into the lake because the Zhang family teased me, didn’t I? If I were a young lady of a noble house, the servants would have protected me—how could I have suffered such humiliation…”

This struck a chord in Madam Yang’s heart, though hearing it from Xu Ruojin’s mouth left her feeling even more uncomfortable.

Madam Yang’s family came from wealthy merchants in a distant province. Back when Master Xu was a poor scholar, her father chose him as a son-in-law. But Madam Yang was uneducated, barely literate, and now, as the wife of a registrar, she was often mocked for her vulgarity and penny-pinching ways, unable to keep up with proper manners or etiquette…

“That’s enough. It’s true our family is reaching above its station. What good does your suffering do? The important thing is your father’s promotion, and a future for your eldest and third brothers,” Madam Yang said, waving her hand impatiently to dismiss Xu Ruojin. “Go back and rest. You look like a slip of paper—one gust of wind and you’ll fall into the lake again. Just seeing you makes me tired.”

“Please rest well, Mother. I’ll take my leave now.”

“Wait,” Madam Yang called after her. “Do you remember how you fell into the water, or who saved you? How did they pull you out?”

She eyed Xu Ruojin up and down. Xu Ruojin hesitated, then shook her head. “I don’t remember at all, Mother. Who was it that saved me?”

“Useless. Fine, go!” Madam Yang immediately shooed her away.

Xu Ruojin didn’t press for the identity of her rescuer, knowing she couldn’t ask too much lest Madam Yang grow suspicious. She bowed quietly, and Spring Grass quickly scrambled up to help her out the door.

If she wanted a vibrant life, she needed to understand this era first. Being illiterate, what leverage did she have to look toward the future? She had already sown a subtle trap for Madam Yang here; now it remained to be seen if Madam Yang would fall into it.

Watching Xu Ruojin leave, Granny Huang frowned and whispered, “Madam, I feel Second Miss has really changed since she fell into the water…”

Madam Yang, full of irritation, snorted. “Dead or alive, she’s still that wretched girl. As long as it’s her, we have to find a way to tie her to the Zhang family. Our master wasn’t born to a high station and has no backing. The fact that he’s a registrar at all is thanks to the gods—any further rise depends on her!”

“But what she just said is true, too. She knows nothing. The Zhangs will look down on her.”

Madam Yang was already feeling stifled, but Granny Huang’s words made her think further.

“She wants to learn to read, does she? Then let her learn. Tomorrow, when the third young master has his lessons, have her attend too. Tell Tutor Wang to drill some sense into her, so at least she won’t shame us when the Zhangs come calling!”

That very afternoon, Xu Ruojin received pen, ink, paper, and books delivered personally by Granny Huang, along with Madam Yang’s instructions.

She had been secretly pleased, but upon seeing the books, Xu Ruojin was struck dumb and her heart sank.

She could not recognize a single word!

She had only claimed to be illiterate as a way of protecting herself, but now it seemed she truly was a complete illiterate.