My Cold-Hearted Wife Chapter 11

The Chen family’s ancestral home was in the Huguang region, near the Huai River.

Four years ago, while Master Chen was serving as an official elsewhere, Old Madam Chen had remained in their ancestral home with her youngest son.

It was the season of the spring floods. Torrential rain had fallen for days on end, and the Huai River’s water level continued to rise. They had thought that living in the county seat would surely keep them safe, but they never imagined the flooding would be so severe. In the end, the entire county town was submerged.

Old Madam Chen’s youngest son went out to notify their clansmen in the countryside to evacuate, but he never returned.

The flood came surging in, swallowing the family residence. The servants scattered in a desperate attempt to save themselves, while Old Madam Chen slipped and nearly drowned. It was Cheng Danruo who ran back and pulled her to her feet, then helped her onto a door panel. The two of them drifted in the floodwaters for two days and one night before they were finally rescued by members of the Chen clan.

It was because of this that Old Madam Chen brought Cheng Danruo with her when she went to Jiangnan to live with Master Chen.

“It was my fault.” Whenever the matter was brought up, Master Chen was overcome with grief, repeating again and again, “I made Mother suffer such a terrible ordeal.”

“A flood is a natural disaster. What did you have to do with it?” Old Madam Chen’s speech was somewhat slurred, but her tone was firm. “Still, since Dan-niang once saved my life, I must arrange a future for her.”

Lady Huang secretly seethed with resentment. If she had known this was coming, she would never have agreed so readily to let Rou-niang become betrothed.

Old Madam Chen had set her sights on Xiao Ge’er, and even she found the matter troublesome.

Making her his principal wife was absolutely out of the question. Cheng Danruo was a girl without parents or family to inherit from, having lost both her father and mother. It wasn’t merely Old Madam Chen saying so – even the Lu family had no desire to marry her, let alone the Chen family.

Making her a concubine was no good either. Taking a relative’s daughter and making her their own concubine – those who knew the circumstances might say the family was taking pity on an orphaned girl and giving her somewhere to live, but those who didn’t know the truth could gossip about it in any number of ways.

Besides, if Xiao Ge’er took a concubine before marrying a wife, it would be impossible for him to secure a good marriage afterward.

These considerations were things Old Madam Chen could hardly have failed to understand.

For a moment, Lady Huang couldn’t figure out what Old Madam Chen was getting at, and she didn’t dare speak rashly.

But filial piety carried the greatest weight. With his mother putting it that way, Master Chen could not immediately contradict her. He answered vaguely, “Let’s wait and see. I certainly won’t treat Dan-niang unfairly.”

Old Madam Chen was a woman of great calculation. Seeing this, she did not press him too hard. “You must keep your word.”

Master Chen broke into a sweat. “Mother, you have my word.”

Only then did she wearily close her eyes, signaling for them to leave.

Lady Huang and Master Chen withdrew with heavy hearts.

When the two returned to the main courtyard, they dismissed everyone except their most trusted attendants and discussed the matter in low voices.

Lady Huang hesitated. “My lord…”

“Mother is only letting her concern get the better of her.” Master Chen set the tone of the discussion. “Xiao Ge’er is the eldest son, and he has already earned the title of xiucai. I must find him a wife from a family that can truly help him.”

Lady Huang’s heart settled back into place. She smiled bitterly. “Even making her a concubine won’t do. After all, she’s a relative.”

Master Chen was not particularly concerned about that point. After thinking for a moment, he came up with a solution. “That depends on Mother’s wishes. If she truly cannot bear to part with Dan-niang, there’s no harm in keeping her here. They say the Cheng family has been completely wiped out, but if we search carefully, we ought to find someone. It will just take some effort.”

He sighed with genuine feeling. “Mother has already suffered through a disaster and then fallen ill. We ought to fulfill this small wish of hers. Otherwise, we’d be failing in our filial duty.”

Lady Huang was unconvinced, and said worriedly, “If we do that, I’m afraid there’ll be no peace in this household.”

“What’s so difficult about that? Once Xiao Ge’er makes something of himself, he can naturally take his wife with him when he goes off to serve.” Master Chen said, “Dan-niang can stay here and look after you and me. Wouldn’t that be the best of both worlds? You know yourself that a woman without a maternal family to back her up has no one to stand up for her. If she were married out, who knows what hardships she might have to endure.”

There was truth in that. If Cheng Danruo remained in the Chen household, their kinship would protect her from being mistreated. What might happen to her outside, however, was impossible to say.

Lady Huang was persuaded. “Let’s leave it for another couple of years, then.”

The two of them reached an agreement and put the matter aside.

Chen Zhixiao, one of the people involved, knew nothing about what had been discussed. After staying at home for three days, he returned to Suzhou. Cheng Danruo, however, heard the news the very next day after he left.

The one who had tipped her off was Concubine Pan.

That day, one of her maids quietly came to Xuancao Hall and said that Lady Pan was feeling unwell, asking whether Cheng Danruo could come and take a look.

Cheng Danruo agreed.

After serving Old Madam Chen her midday meal and waiting until she had fallen asleep, Cheng Danruo slipped around the small garden at the back of the residence and took the narrow passageway to the rear courtyard of Jinxia Court.

This was where Lady Pan lived.

“Greetings, Miss.” The maid beside Lady Pan lifted the curtain for her and welcomed her in. “Ma’am asks you to come in for a cup of tea.”

A concubine occupied a position halfway between servant and mistress, whereas Cheng Danruo was a relative – and a proper member of the household. So she could not simply say she was coming to examine the concubine; they needed a suitable pretext.

Cheng Danruo stopped, feigning hesitation, before saying, “Since she has invited me, it would be rude to refuse.”

“Please come in.”

As Cheng Danruo entered the room, she was immediately enveloped by the strong scent of sandalwood. Sure enough, a Guanyin statue was enshrined in the side room to the right.

Lady Pan was sitting by the window, stitching the soles of shoes.

“Yuanyuan, bring some tea.”

The round-faced maid acknowledged her and hurried off to boil water and brew the tea.

“Please sit. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”

Lady Pan was in her thirties, with wisps of white showing at her temples. She wore an ordinary brown padded jacket and a dark blue skirt, with nothing but a silver hairpin in her hair. She was dressed in the utmost simplicity.

From her appearance alone, it was clear that she was practically invisible in the Chen household. She had been out of favor for more than a decade.

She was also Chen Fang-niang’s birth mother, having given birth to her before Lady Huang had her first legitimate son.

However, one must not misunderstand. Some people might hear that she had borne a child before the principal wife and immediately assume she was the stereotypical formidable concubine. That would be entirely wrong.

Before entering the Chen household, Lady Pan had been married off by her father to a carpenter. His family was desperately poor, and their life was one of extreme hardship. The one thing that could be counted as fortunate was that she became pregnant just three months after entering her husband’s household and gave birth to a big, healthy baby boy.

Under ordinary circumstances, that might have made for an unremarkable life. But life was not so smooth.

At the time, Master Chen was serving as the county magistrate in the area. Although it was his first official post, he had the support of his wife’s family and was doing fairly well. His greatest headache was not his career, however, but his household.

He and Lady Huang had been married for three years, yet they remained childless.

Lady Huang had already given him two maids as concubines, but neither had produced a child.

The couple were both growing frantic. If the wife could not bear children, they could still take concubines. But if neither the wife nor the concubines could conceive, that was a much bigger problem. Lady Huang was perfectly clear-headed about this: if the Chen family ended up without an heir, their future would be a hundred times worse than raising a son born to a concubine.

Once they had settled into his new posting, the very first thing she did was find a yapo – a female broker who arranged marriages, servants, and other such transactions – and have her procure a woman.

But the girls the yapo could acquire were all very young, the oldest no more than fifteen or sixteen. They could be taken into the household, but their ability to bear children was uncertain. Wanting to secure the deal while also currying favor with the magistrate’s wife, the yapo told her that when wealthy local households encountered such difficulties, few actually bought women outright. Instead, they rented their wombs.

They specifically sought young women in their twenties who had already given birth, particularly those who had raised sons, and borrowed the use of their wombs to bear a child. Once the agreed-upon term was over, the woman would be returned to her husband, while the child would remain behind. That way, there would be no trouble afterward.

This was known as dianqi – the “leasing” or “pledging” of a wife.

With no other options, Lady Huang agreed to give it a try.

And that was how Lady Pan came to be leased to Master Chen by her husband. They agreed on a term of three years, for a total payment of eight silver, with food and lodging included. Her husband took the money, while she was left behind to bear a child.

Strangely enough, just six months later, Lady Pan became pregnant. The child was Chen Fang-niang.

According to the contract, once the baby had reached one month of age, her obligation would be considered fulfilled, and her husband could simply come to take her home. The two sides would then have no further obligations to each other.

However, when the child was a little over eight months old, Lady Pan’s husband got into a fight with someone and was beaten to death.

Her mother-in-law came to the Chen household and negotiated with Lady Huang. “We don’t want this daughter-in-law anymore. We’ll sell her outright for fifteen silver. If you won’t agree, then once the child is born, we’ll take her away. I’ll marry her off to a local ruffian, who’ll pay twelve silver in bride-price.”

Lady Huang thought to herself that if Lady Pan could give birth to one child, she could surely give birth to another, so she bought her outright and kept her in the household.

Perhaps it had been a moment of kindness that brought her good fortune. Although Lady Pan gave birth to only one daughter, it was not long before Lady Huang herself became pregnant.

Master Chen disliked coarse, uneducated women. Once he learned that his wife was pregnant, he was inclined to use the opportunity to get rid of Lady Pan. But Lady Huang persuaded him to keep her, saying that doing so would accumulate blessings for the child – while simply not granting Pan any formal status.

It was not until Chen Fang-niang married that Lady Huang, wishing to preserve her eldest daughter’s dignity, finally elevated Lady Pan to the status of a recognized concubine.

A maid brought in the tea. Cheng Danruo took a sip and asked first, “Does your knee still hurt lately?”

“I followed your instructions,” Lady Pan replied. “I boiled the medicinal herbs and used the steam to treat it. It’s been much better lately.”

She had been born and raised in the countryside, and had only learned these few polite pleasantries after coming to the Chen household. She quickly got to the point. “Miss, have you heard?”

It came completely out of nowhere. Heard what?

Cheng Danruo shook her head.

Lady Pan lowered her voice. “The Old Madam wants you to become the Second Young Master’s concubine.”

Cheng Danruo froze. A moment later, the color drained from her face.

Was she serious?

Become a concubine? Over my dead body!

“Madam and Master Chen haven’t said yes, but they haven’t said no either.” Lady Pan rolled her prayer beads between her fingers, smiling. “I’d say there’s a good chance it’ll happen.”

The corners of Cheng Danruo’s mouth twitched as she desperately tried to remain composed. “Surely you’re not joking with me.”

“Of course not.” Lady Pan smiled. “Allow me to congratulate you in advance.”

Cheng Danruo’s face went completely rigid.

Lady Pan was not a particularly clever woman. A truly clever person would not make careless remarks like this, but neither was she stupid. She was trying to do Cheng Danruo a favor and earn her goodwill. If Cheng Danruo eventually “married” Chen Zhixiao, she might be able to help Chen Fang-niang after she married out of the family.

Especially in Lady Pan’s eyes, becoming a concubine was not necessarily a bad thing.

When she had been a proper wife, she had barely had enough to eat or wear, and her husband had beaten her and even tried to sell her. She had suffered terribly. As a concubine, by contrast, she had food, clothing, and shelter without worry. Even though Master Chen showed her no affection, he would never beat her.

Compared with the life she had once led, the two were worlds apart.

She simply could not grasp the distinction between a wife and a concubine. She genuinely thought she was congratulating Cheng Danruo and that, now that she would have someone to rely on, Cheng Danruo would surely be happy.

“About this matter…” Cheng Danruo forced herself to remain calm. “Please don’t mention it to anyone for now.”

Lady Pan became shrewd again and lowered her voice. “Of course. Nothing has been decided yet. Once Master and Madam actually give their word, I’ll give you something toward your wedding trousseau.”

Cheng Danruo smiled and took out her silver needles. “Let me give you a couple more treatments.”

Lady Pan was delighted, thinking that Cheng Danruo was accepting the favor she had done her, though she modestly declined. “I only told you a few words. How could that possibly be worth this?”

“It’s no trouble.” Cheng Danruo was genuinely grateful to her. If Lady Pan had not tried to do her a favor, she would not even have known she was being sold off. “Please sit on the couch and expose your knee for me.”

Only then did Lady Pan, looking a little embarrassed, lift her skirt, revealing her autumn-scent-colored knee trousers and deformed knee.

Cheng Danruo picked up the gold needles and began acupuncture.

Every so often, she asked, “How does it feel?”

“It feels a little swollen and tingly. Much better than before.” Lady Pan’s expression relaxed, and she suddenly looked years younger.

Cheng Danruo nodded inwardly.

She had not studied traditional Chinese medicine in her previous life. After crossing into this world, she had worked hard to read books and attend lessons, but she had had too few patients to treat and not enough practical experience. She had to seize every opportunity to put what she had learned into practice and truly integrate theory with experience.

After a while, she removed the needles and took her leave of Lady Pan.

The moment she stepped outside, her brows drew tightly together, her mind filled with a thousand thoughts.