Chapter 1

  A master, wanting to give a slave's daughter as a concubine to his own son-in-law, just needs one word and it's done. No need for explanation or effort, at most just a nod of approval is required. The slave not only can't have any objections but also has to kowtow in gratitude, considering the master has given them face. Just like Spring Scene's parents, even if their daughter became the first wife, and she originally had an engagement, if the madam wanted her to be a concubine, she could only pack up her things and follow the older miss back home obediently. However, not all slaves can be manipulated at will, this also has to do with the slave's status. Spring Scene's parents were just in charge of some unimportant tasks, whereas Chen Qiang was not only a first-class servant by the madam's side but also extremely favored by the madam's mother. Moreover, since the master had promised to let Xian Yi choose her own marriage, there was no reason for regret. Therefore, the best solution is to let Chen Qiang willingly send away Xian Yi, even if it's just on the surface.

  "In a few days, let Chen Ayi go back to my mother's house for a trip." The Chen family has older ayis than Chen Ayi, and some things are not good for the master to say, but it's not so troublesome for the servants.

  "Perhaps, let the elder sisters persuade her, she will certainly come to her senses." Zeng Yiniang lowered her eyelids and smiled with wrinkles.

  It's unclear if it was a coincidence, but the person who came up with the same idea as the madam was none other than Jin Fenghua, whom she had always looked down upon. Xian Yi was also at her wit's end after being pressured for some time, which is why she sought out Jin Fenghua for help on this night. She gazed at the hope of marrying an ordinary person, now shattered. Jin Fenghua was probably her last resort. She didn't want to be a concubine, especially not under the nose of the eldest daughter-in-law, particularly in the context where favoring a concubine over the wife was considered a great sin. The wealth and luxury that came with being a concubine were far outweighed by the pain of having her fate controlled by others.

  "You have no other way to go." Jinfenghua stretched out his hand and held Xianyi in his lap, nervously inhaling the scent of her hair, his thin lips slowly sliding down from Xianyi's cheek to her smooth neck, and then stopping at the place where her pulse was beating.

  Her clothes were tattered and worn, her body gaunt, but as the golden autumn breeze drew closer, she had no choice, nor would she die like a virtuous woman of this era. Perhaps, for her, nothing was more important than living. If there really was no other option, then between death and becoming a concubine, she would undoubtedly choose to go to her husband's side as a concubine. Living, no matter how painful, she would not give up, because once dead, everything would truly be lost. Moreover, she had promised that person that she would live well, and having already broken her word once, she absolutely could not do it again.

  "You have my mark on you, Xian... don't think about escaping me?" Gently pulling open the collar of her clothes, Jin Fenghua stared at the scar on her neck with a slightly dazed expression, his focus making her feel a chill run down her spine.

  Xian Yi brushed aside her face, trying to shake off the discomfort brought by the warm breath on her neck. She had heard this sentence many times during this period, and Jin Fenghua was like a child eager to grasp a toy in his hand, repeatedly confirming and emphasizing it over and over again. Although Xian Yi had not encountered such people in her past life, she knew that this situation was actually a kind of psychological disorder, and it was hard to say whether Jin Fenghua was already deeply ill. Unable to resist, choosing the lesser of two evils, Jin Fenghua had not caused any substantial harm to herself so far, except for scaring herself. But the big girl... Xian Yi lowered her head to cover up her mocking smile, that was a place where life was worse than death.

  "Are you sure we can leave the Jin Manor within three months?" Xian Yi still had some understanding of the Eldest Madam, and before the two young masters got married and the Old Master passed away, how could she possibly let go of Jin Fenghua, not to mention her previous malicious intentions towards him.

  Jin Fenghua seemed to have reacted a bit slowly, reluctantly moving his gaze away from Xianyi's collarbone, and instead pinched Xianyi's chin, looking him straight in the eye. His eyes seemed to be empty except for blackness.

  "My mother probably won't last more than three months, if she passes away, I won't stay here either, and you definitely won't."

  "So you're saying I should let my mother leave the mansion?" Xian Yi's heart beats faster, hopefully it wasn't what she thought.

  "Don't worry, I'll keep my promise and let her leave the Jin Manor first. It's beneficial for both of you." Jin Fenghua had revealed half of his plan, but didn't tell Xian Yi what method they would use to leave the Jin Manor.

  With the machinations of Madame Jin and the instigation of Golden Wind, Chen's nanny quickly went to the Chen residence with gifts under the pretext of visiting Old Madame Chen on behalf of Madame Jin. Before leaving, Xian Yi wanted to speak several times but stopped herself, thinking of Golden Wind's warning, she chose silence instead, only preparing a few more things for her mother, Chen's nanny was completely unaware of the reason behind it, thinking that her daughter was reluctant to part with her, and in her heart, she too did not want to leave the Jin residence, after all, her daughter's lifelong matters had not been settled, and Madame Jin's attitude towards them was so ambiguous, however, as a slave, she had never been able to control her own fate.

  Madam Chen was lured away by the eldest lady under the pretext of filial piety, so she won't be back for a day or two. Xian Yi took advantage of Madam Chen's absence to quickly gather all the valuable family belongings and entrusted them to Jin Fenghua to store in the largest money house in the capital. No matter how she would leave the mansion in the future, she was unwilling to let others have her family's property at a low price. Fortunately, this money house had storage services, and customer information was relatively confidential, plus Jin Fenghua's skills, Xian Yi did put down more than half of her mind.

  Just a few days after Chen's nanny left, the second young master finally came out of the examination hall. As soon as he returned, his whole person was having trouble standing up, let alone losing weight in just a few days, which made Madame cry tears and hug her son tightly. In the end, it was only with everyone's persuasion that they sent the second young master back to his room to rest, where he slept heavily for a day. Since the second young master returned, Madame has been busy running around, wishing she could give all the precious medicine in the house to her son. Later, it was Old Master who couldn't bear to see this and called a doctor back, which prevented the son from over-supplementing. However, this did not weaken Madame's love for her son. Since food intake had restrictions, she put more thought into clothing and expenses. Even when news came from the Chen household that Madame Chen hadn't seen Chen's nanny in a long time and wanted to keep her for a few more days, it wasn't taken seriously, thinking that the nanny from their maternal home didn't have the ability to persuade Chen's nanny and still needed time to consider.

  The lady didn't take it to heart, but Xian Yi always felt something was off. A first-class maid by the lady's side could stay at her maiden home for so long, and she couldn't help but think that this had something to do with Jin Fenghua. However, Jin Fenghua had been keeping a low profile, accompanying Madame Han all this time, and Xian Yi didn't know what tricks he had up his sleeve, so she could only endure the longing and wait silently.

  With Chen Ji not around, Zeng Ji slowly began to encroach on Chen Ji's rights. Even if Xian Yi tried to ignore it, she gradually discovered that the people around her were changing their attitude towards her, not suddenly turning against her, but not as warm as when her mother was around. Fortunately, Xian Yi wasn't a naive fourteen-year-old girl; she had seen such things since her previous life and could even predict that if Jin Fenghua played tricks, after her mother left the Jin Manor, she might not be able to enjoy her current good days anymore.

  Unlike Xian Yi's subtle position, Zeng Yiyi was pleased with the spring breeze, and as she blew earwinds beside her, Madame's mood improved a lot. As a result, even Winter Scene's thoughts were settled. Speaking of which, Madame had indeed thought of sending Winter Scene to her daughter's side, but Winter Scene's appearance was not comparable to Xian Yi's, so she was afraid of sending another useless person. When Winter Scene's uncle came to ask for help, she just wanted to take advantage of the situation and didn't necessarily want to keep Winter Scene in hand. Only Chen Yiyi and Zeng Yiyi noticed this, but Chen Yiyi dared not speak more because of her distance from Madame, fearing it would bring trouble to Winter Scene. Zeng Yiyi had no such scruples, so she took advantage of the situation in front of Winter Scene and splashed dirty water on Xian Yi.

  Looking at Dong Jing kneeling down, the madam was still quite generous and gave her ten taels of silver to settle the master-servant relationship. Afterwards, she also returned the sale contract to her, as for the subsequent removal from the household register in the yamen, it would be up to the steward of the front courtyard to handle.

  Winter Scene naturally felt grateful and took the silver and sale contract, then put on her own package to give a bow to the big lady, and looked at Zeng Nian's eyes with gratitude. This was when she came out of the main house, where the sisters from the same courtyard were standing. Autumn Scene didn't need to be told to congratulate her again, and also gave her a farewell gift. Even the four maidservants, including San Dui, came over. Xian Yi had known since that day that Winter Scene was a proud and arrogant person who looked down on others. Now that she had gotten what she wanted and gone back to being a slave, she would probably look down on her and Xiuzhu even more. Indeed, when it was Xian Yi's turn to give the handkerchief, Winter Scene changed from smiling to looking at her coldly, then stuffed it into her sleeve with disdain. Xian Yi saw Autumn Scene frowning in displeasure, Yun Shuang and Lu Shuang huddled together gloating, Xue Shuang looked dissatisfied, and Xiuzhu was furious. She suddenly felt tired of it all - wherever there were people, there would be conflicts, and in the midst of these conflicts, there would always be three people who would gang up on one person. Probably even if she swore to heaven that she didn't want to be a concubine, these girls wouldn't believe her, and besides, she didn't need to explain herself to others.

  Dong Jing left Jin Fu on a sunny afternoon like this, and at that time, Xian Yi would never have thought that they would still have a chance to meet again.

  After sending off Winter Scene, the main house became lively again. The originally fixed positions seemed to be about to change once more. Winter Scene was the eldest daughter-in-law, and after she left, it should have been either Xiu Zhu or Xian Yi who took her place, but Madame changed from her usual straightforwardness and refused to discuss this matter. However, people with discerning eyes could all see that Yun Shuang's visits to the main house became more frequent, and Zeng Yiniang relied on her even more heavily.