Episode 1

In the southeastern part of Luanze, Chuzhou was a street that specialized in the business of the dead.

There were casket merchants, paper merchants, flags, umbrellas, fans, oil lamps, ceramic pots, gold papers, condolence banners, five-colored cloths – as long as you needed it for a funeral, they had it here. Every shop had the same signboard above their door. The surname “Wu” could be seen in a huge font on the flags that flapped in the wind.

The sky was just lighting up when a young maid walked quickly along the street, keeping close to the walls and her head bent low.

The merchants had just started to slowly remove the planks that kept their shops safe and were getting ready to open shop for the day. But when they spotted the young maid, they rubbed their eyes, and they were all suddenly alert. Their eyes darted about as all of them exchanged meaningful glances.

“She’s here, she’s here! That woman’s maid is here!”

“Did you see that? That skinny little girl in a white inner dress and green outer skirt, without even a flower in her hair – that’s her!”

“She probably couldn’t stand living in a coffin home anymore, so she’s here on behalf of her Young Mistress to agree to the marriage proposal from our family!”

“If you ask me, I’d say this maid is stupid. Her Young Mistress is an idiot, and the Guan family doesn’t care about her. Our Eldest Young Master is an idiot too, so they’re a perfect pair. What’s the point of protesting? If she had agreed to it earlier on, she wouldn’t have to suffer in the coffin home!”

Some exchanged knowing glances, some exchanged disdainful looks.

“Ha! I see your news isn’t the most updated. That Young Mistress isn’t an idiot. I heard that she was perfectly fine as a child, but just last year, she had a bad fall and hit her head, and that’s why she became like this. The doctor said that she’s alright, except for a blood clot in her brain. Once that clot disappears, she’ll be fine again. Our silly Eldest Young Master’s the one who got lucky. First Madam Wu just threw the girl into the coffin home yesterday, and she’s no longer an idiot. She’s as normal as can be. The men watching the coffin home are so afraid that the two girls would escape in the night, so they’ve been keeping watch without sleeping at all…”

“But the maid still got out!”

“Are you even paying attention? The men watching the coffin home must have allowed her to come out. Didn’t you see that she’s alone and not with her Young Mistress? I’m sure she’s here to apologize and give in!”

“Honestly, though? First Madam Wu’s tactics are really something…”

The maid held her skirt up slightly to walk, avoiding the wooden splinters and bits of papers on the ground that hadn’t been swept away. She pretended not to have heard all those nasty things and focused on where she was headed.

She just had to walk to the end of this street, and she would be able to see the side door of the Wu residence.

She bit her lip and told herself not to be nervous.

Her Young Mistress was herself again. She remembered who she was. Also, her Young Mistress was a very smart and capable woman, so she didn’t need to be afraid. She just had to follow her Young Mistress’ instructions. She was told to raise her head, puff her chest out, look at no one in particular, just slam the damned door open and…

The door she arrived at happened to open at the same time.

Qingqiao raised her fair little hand to point randomly at the person furthest away from her. She raised her chin high and stood like she meant business as she followed exactly what her Young Mistress told her to say without leaving out anything, “YOU! That’s right, YOU! Where do you think you’re running off to? Don’t you dare move! I’ve got a message for your First Madam!”

“My Young Mistress says that if you want her to marry into this family, then send 10,000 pieces of silver to the coffin home as dowry, and she’ll sign the marriage certificate immediately! If you don’t have the money, then admit that you’re just too damned poor! If you’re not happy with these conditions, go to the coffin home and talk to my Young Mistress!”

By the end of her grand but tense speech, the maid’s voice was trembling. She grabbed her skirt, turned, and ran with all her might. The other party didn’t even get the chance to speak…

It normally took a while to get the message all the way through to the inner house.

In the room behind a sheltered corridor, First Madam Wu was getting made up behind a pearl curtain as she sat across the mirror.

When she heard that the woman’s maid had come to the house, her lips curled into a mocking smile. “I just knew it. They wouldn’t be able to stand living in such a place. She was definitely going to give in sooner or later.”

“Of course. These are instructions from First Madam, after all, so she should have listened a long time ago. If she had listened, none of this would have happened.” The head maid serving her, Yinxing, retrieved a box of jewelry and picked a gold hair piece embedded with rubies. She put it against First Madam Wu’s hair and said, “How about this one?”

“Rubies? Don’t you think that’s a little too young for someone at my age?”

“Oh no, no, First Madam is still young! Look at how smooth your skin is and how it glows! You look just as young as a 16-year-old! This is just right for you!” said Yinxing with a big smile on her face. “If you won’t even wear this, then what are those newly married women out there going to do? Just wear plain old silver like some widow?”

Yinxing was clearly going a little too far, but First Madam Wu liked hearing such words. She laughed as she glanced at Yinxing. “You’ve got a glib tongue!”

After the hair piece was inserted properly into her hair, First Madam Wu looked into the mirror and was pleased.

“There are more clever people than stupid ones in this world, after all.”

Yinxing wasn’t sure if First Madam Wu was referring to her or the woman in the coffin home, so she didn’t say anything and just smiled in response.

“Alright, we’re good. Let that woman wait a little longer, then get someone to bring her in–”

Before she could finish speaking, she heard the door open. The second-level maid waiting outside the room had come in with a message for her.

But before she could finish repeating what Qingqiao said, First Madam Wu pushed the dressing table in front of her angrily.

Her sleeve hit the makeup box, causing all its contents to spill onto the floor.

Her jade combs, blusher, eyeliner, and a few jade bangles fell and shattered.

Yinxing quickly fell to her knees and only dared to secretly glance at the things on the floor, grimacing for just one moment.

But First Madam Wu didn’t seem bothered by the loss. She narrowed her eyes and raised her voice, “10,000 pieces of silver? She might as well rob a bank! Someone like her dares even to say such things? How dare she!”

“First Madam, don’t be so angry…what are we going to do if you get too angry and fall ill as a result?”

When First Madam Wu had calmed down a little and didn’t look so furious, Yinxing remained on her knees as she approached her employer and began to massage her calves carefully. “That woman…has probably run out of ideas and wants to embarrass you.”

“She thinks I wouldn’t dare to go to the coffin home?” First Madam Wu shut her eyes and scoffed. “Doesn’t she know what business the family is in? She thinks I’d be afraid to look at a bunch of dead people?”

What a foolish tactic.

She stood up immediately. “Let’s go!”

The coffin home was in the south of the city and wasn’t too far from the Wu residence, but the wind was so strong it made one’s bones shiver.

First Madam Wu sat in the carriage, which wasn’t very warm either. She felt so irritated inside.

It was especially cold this year. It had snowed several times in January, and the soil was frozen solid, so it took too much effort to dig it up. There were still many corpses in the coffin home yet to be buried, and the number increased with each passing day. That Song Caitang’s maid had been especially willful too. The Guan family couldn’t be bothered, and the mistress of the house had also agreed to this marriage, yet the maid refused to cooperate, defending Song Caitang with all her life and insisting that her Young Mistress was on the verge of getting well.

Of course, First Madam Wu knew that. That was the whole point!

She had asked the doctor who saw Song Caitang. The doctor said that the blood clot in Song Caitang’s brain was almost all gone, so she was probably going to be alright again very soon.

Her own son was already an idiot, so how could she possibly find him an idiot for a wife? She had to get him someone who was sensible and capable. Only such a woman would be able to take care of her son and bear his children! Getting Song Caitang to marry her son before she fully recovered was the perfect timing.

Who would have expected her to recover the night before!

If she continued to force Song Caitang to marry her son despite having fully recovered, others would say nasty things about her…

And on top of all that, Song Caitang was giving her trouble the morning right after she recovered…

First Madam Wu rubbed her temples. A gleam appeared in her eyes.

She was certain that any young woman would be terrified of corpses and concluded that Song Caitang must have really run out of ideas and was hoping to get something out of this for herself!

That didn’t matter. As long as Song Caitang was willing to marry her son, she was willing to give in a little as her mother-in-law.

But if Song Caitang didn’t know what was good for her and continued to kick up a fuss like that, she was going to get nasty!

“Yinxing! Are we there yet!”

“First Madam, we’re almost there…”

Before long, the carriage was lowered steadily onto the ground. Yinxing pulled the curtain back and held an arm out for First Madam Wu to hold onto. “First Madam, this way.”

First Madam Wu got out of the carriage and immediately started frowning. She grabbed a handkerchief and put it to her nose.

The faint fragrance of osmanthus flowers hit her nostrils, and she felt a little better.

She had come here many times, but she still hated the coffin home.

The revolting, rotting stench that refused to go away no matter how strong the wind was or how blazing hot the sun was, came wafting over from afar. It really made one feel like vomiting.

Yinxing noticed that First Madam Wu just stood next to the carriage without moving, so she gently whispered, “First Madam?”

First Madam Wu glared at her, then smoothed her clothes. “Let’s go.”

Yinxing bowed her head as she realized she shouldn’t have spoken.

The servant guarding the coffin home spotted his employer miles away and came running over with a big smile. His voice was earnest as he said, “First Madam, what brings you here? If you need anything, you could have just sent a message, and I’ll definitely get it done for you! You didn’t need to come all the way here personally, leave such lowly matters to lowly ones like myself…”

First Madam Wu sauntered past him without even giving him a glance or saying anything to him.

Yinxing seized the opportunity to make up for her earlier mistake. “Who allowed you to talk! Are the people who are supposed to be in there still inside? Are they doing fine?”

The servant quickly bowed his head and replied, “Yes, yes, they’re inside and doing fine. That Song…she’s even managed to stand up. She talks, and she even laughs!”

“That’s enough, shoo, shoo.” Yinxing gave him a small tip and continued helping First Madam Wu to walk toward the coffin home.

The single-story building was used to store bodies before burial, so it was quite large, but it wasn’t furnished, so there wasn’t anything to block her view. Once the door was opened, First Madam Wu immediately spotted the backs of two young ladies standing next to each other in front of a platform with a corpse on it.

One wore a white inner dress and green skirt with two buns on her head, which was typical of a maid. She looked familiar – that was Qingqiao. The other lady was dressed even more simply. She wore a loose-fitting white dress, and her long black hair was tied up in a ponytail slightly to one side, held in place by a wooden pin.

The white dress was too large for her, so it should have been difficult to see her figure. But this woman was extremely skinny, and her skin was fair. The line from the back of her neck to her shoulders was smooth, gentle, and supple. The sun shone on her, so it looked like she had a golden outline around her body, which made her look somewhat alluring.

Despite wearing a loose-fitting dress, she was still able to exude attractiveness.

First Madam Wu could even hear the woman say to Qingqiao, “Do you see those purplish red spots? You call that livor mortis. The color doesn’t go away even if you press on them. They aren’t moving even after moving the body, which means this person has died for at least 24 to 36 hours.”

Her voice was like the spring rain against bamboo leaves, like pearls falling into a jade plate. It sounded feminine and gentle yet confident and tenacious. Her voice was very pleasant to listen to.

Qingqiao seemed to shudder a little.

First Madam Wu frowned.

For some reason, she suddenly had a feeling that it was going to be difficult to get her way without running into some hiccups.

Yinxing observed her employer’s face for a while, then cleared her throat at an appropriate time to signal to the two ladies that someone was there.

Qingqian turned around and tugged at Song Caitang’s sleeve before standing to one side.

But Song Caitang didn’t even bother turning around. She said in a loud voice, “Oh my, you’ve made your way here so quickly. It’s clear that your family’s a little too poor, and you can’t afford a daughter-in-law.”