Chapter 5 - On Marriage
In the spring breeze and bright sunshine, many people in Xi Jing were out and about, strolling and flying kites. The scenery was beautiful, with blossoming flowers and green willows. Youthful vitality was in the air.
In her tattered hut in the south courtyard, Cui Ti knelt on a cushion, praying devoutly for Pei Xuan, unaware that on the other side of the wall she had become the talk of the town.
It turned out the Earl of Xining's eldest daughter was not dead - she was still alive, and blind!
And the Prime Minister's wife had even praised this blind girl?
A blind girl - what virtues or talents could she have to deserve the Prime Minister's wife's praise?
"That's not what I heard," a vegetable-seller idly chimed in. "I heard it was Cui Dai, the Earl's third young miss, that the Prime Minister's wife really praised."
"That's right, that's what we heard too, that she praised Cui Dai."
The two sides argued.
Someone who disapproved waved their hand and said, "Stop arguing. The point is, she praised a Cui girl, does it matter which one?"
The people were taken aback, then understood - yes, either way it was praise for a Cui girl.
With such high praise from the Prime Minister's wife, the value of the Earl of Xining's daughters suddenly shot up. Hearing the news, the noble ladies all came calling, each wanting to find a good match for their sons and marry their sons to a beautiful and virtuous wife. They streamed to the Cui residence one after another.
To outsiders, this seemed a stroke of great fortune, but the Earl of Xining did not feel as elated as others imagined. He knitted his brows gloomily: "Did you send people to spread those words?"
The Earl's wife scolded him for being a killjoy: "I'm just going with the flow and taking the opportunities sent to our door. What's more, I didn't say anything untrue - the Prime Minister's wife did praise a Cui girl. I just muddled the facts a bit to take advantage of the situation.
"You're her father yet you don't even think to find a good match for our Dai'er. I as her mother have to plan and scheme for my daughter's future.
"Look how many more suitors have come calling just because of her good name!"
There were many more suitors, but there were also many more who now knew he had a blind daughter.
The Earl was extremely vexed, but his wife was busy vetting future sons-in-law and had no time to placate him.
Each was busy with their own concerns, and no one thought of the eldest daughter still living in the tattered hut.
Well, not no one at all.
Cui Dai stormed into the small courtyard in a huff: "Good for you Cui Ti, taking advantage of my absence to secretly meet a man. The blanket spread by the wall just happened to fall over, and who fell over but the only son of the Prime Minister's house! How am I to believe this?"
That day she had received a shock. A girl accustomed to being doted on and pampered all her life, now shunned by the Prime Minister's wife, while her own mother borrowed Cui Ti's light to adorn herself, attracting a stream of ladies seeking marriage alliances.
The humiliation galled her. How could she endure it?
"Cui Ti! Get out here!"
Bai Ge came out clutching a broom: "Third young miss?"
"Where's Cui Ti?"
She came in a fury, with three or five brawny servant women in tow.
Bai Ge stood guard at the door warily: "The young miss is at prayers."
"Prayers? Praying for whom? I'd say she's cursing me to die!"
"Third young miss! You shouldn't say such things!"
"Who are you to butt in?" Cui Dai gave a cold laugh: "Tear her mouth to shreds and see if she still dares shoot her mouth off!"
"No, don't, Third Young Miss—"
"Wait!"
Cui Ti groped her way out with a short length of bamboo cane. Dressed in rough cotton and with hairpins askew, she cut a delicate and graceful figure.
Being several years older, her chest was far more mature than fourteen-year-old Cui Dai's. The more Cui Dai looked, the angrier she grew, convinced Cui Ti had bewitched Pei Xuan with her beauty.
Her mother had explained very clearly - among the prestigious young masters of Xi Jing, the Prime Minister's heir ranked first.
First in literary talent, moral character, looks, and background. Let's not even mention he was the Prime Minister's only lawful son. He was destined to have a bright future and achieve great things.
And on top of that, he excelled in every way.
Such a talent, His Majesty would employ sooner or later.
Cui Dai did not bother hiding her malice: "It's good you're here. That dog of yours offended me, and now I'm going to beat her to death. Will you yield or not?"
"Bai Ge, come here."
With a gag in her mouth, Bai Ge could only manage garbled noises. She struggled in vain, her face flushed red.
Two servant women held her down on either side, viciously kicking the back of her knees to force her to kneel before Cui Dai.
Cui Ti gripped her bamboo cane tight, shoulders trembling faintly, lips pressed in a thin line.
Cui Dai was drunk on her sense of power: "Let me advise you - don't dream impossible dreams. A sparrow is a sparrow, it can never be a phoenix. Do you think the Prime Minister's heir has any use for you? Use for your blindness? Or for the bad luck that hangs over you like a curse, unwanted by father and mother alike?"
"I'm not."
"I say you are! You're a curse! Just look how pitiful your maid is, suffering cold and hunger all these years serving you. Now I'm going to beat her to death. What will you do, what can you do?"
The bamboo cane tapped on the ground with dull thuds. Bai Ge clenched her teeth in humiliation, biting her lower lip till it bled.
She closed her eyes, not wanting to see her young miss groping her way over to defend her.
She desperately shook her head and resisted.
Cui Dai watched with vicious delight as Cui Ti slowly felt her way over, swinging her bamboo cane tentatively.
The cane struck the servant woman's shoulder, softly at first, then fiercely. The woman cried out in pain, prompting a rain of tighter, faster blows.
Bai Ge took the chance to scramble to her feet and land a punch on the face of the one who had tormented her just now.
Chaos ensued. Cui Dai gaped in astonishment, not expecting the blind girl to bite back when driven to desperation.
"Beat her! Beat her to death! I'll take the blame!"
With her backing them up, the servant women banded together to fight back. Three or five ganging up on a scrawny maid and a blind girl who couldn't see - it was a mess.
After half a minute, the malignance in Cui Dai's heart somewhat abated. She cast a look at the empty rabbit hutch and regretted she could not cut Cui Ti's heart once more. Shaking out her sleeves, she left.
"Young miss, young miss, are you alright?" Still bruised and bleeding, Bai Ge crawled over worriedly to check on her mistress.
Cui Ti was drenched in sweat, damp wisps of hair stuck to her temples. Her fingers were clenched painfully tight around the bamboo cane she refused to relinquish after the fight.
She breathed heavily. A hairpin had fallen from her hair, letting locks cascade down to hide half her face.
Bai Ge lifted the hair gently to see her face unhurt, and sagged down in relief, laughing foolishly: "Young miss, we did great! I saw you whacking them with your stick. Lucky you got that hit in or I couldn't have lunged to scratch her face."
She giggled gleefully: "That scratch won't heal in half a month, I bet."
A spring breeze blew through the courtyard, which had weathered much torment.
Bai Ge looked around - the swing she had worked hard to build for the young miss was destroyed. The flowers and vegetables she had planted in the yard were trampled.
She saw red and sniffed back tears. Softly she said: "Young miss, they're gone. We didn't exactly lose either, at least we fought back. I'd never have dared imagine that before."
After a period of silence，Bai Ge sat there thoughtfully gazing at her beautiful yet pitiable young mistress, and sincerely smiled: "Young miss, you were so brave."
She went to pry open Cui Ti's stubbornly clenched fist, revealing the red nail marks and trampled embroidered shoes in her palm. Tears welled up: "Next time let's not fight them anymore, alright?"
Cui Ti suddenly lifted her head, her voice hoarse: "You think I'm useless too?"
"No, Bai Ge doesn't think that at all!"
"There won't be a next time."
She staggered to her feet leaning on the bamboo cane: "From now on I'll protect you. You're mine, no one can bully you."
Her words moved Bai Ge so much she felt it was worth dying for. Her emotions crumbled and she threw her arms around Cui Ti, sobbing loudly: "Waaah, they hit me so hard, Cui Dai is horrible!"
Word of Cui Dai going to the south courtyard to beat people could not escape the family. The Earl of Xining's wife scolded her daughter over it, but focused on how it was "bad for your reputation" and "couldn't cause trouble at this crucial point when suitors are courting".
Even the Earl found it too much, though as always he didn't intervene in the inner household affairs.
He didn't care for his eldest daughter.
Throughout the day, he found himself thinking countless times: if only Cui Ti weren't blind. She could have earned the praise of the Prime Minister's wife and perhaps secured a favorable marriage.
He sighed deeply, lamenting, "Send the medicine over there. Even a fierce tiger doesn't eat its cubs."
Cui Dai fell silent.
The Earl of Xining's wife hissed like a cat stepped on its tail, "I bore her; do I owe her anything? Are you suggesting that I'm cruel? When I was pregnant with her, she tormented me daily. I almost lost my life during her birth. Had she been born without flaws, it would have been one thing, but she's blind."
"You think having a blind daughter is disgraceful. Every time I see her, it angers me. And now, after eighteen years of neglect, you want to play the doting father? Has a door hit your head?"
After the exchange, which left the Earl of Xining puffing his beard and glaring, he decided, as usual, to stay out of household affairs.
"Your father is just impossible!" she complained to her younger daughter after the Earl left.
Cui Dai was thrilled to watch the show and pondered: "Mother, how about we find a match for the one in the south courtyard? Marrying her off early will prevent Father and you from arguing over her again."
"Find her a match?"
As parents, arranging marriages for their children was their prerogative. The idea had not even occurred to the Earl's wife.
"Will anyone want her?"
"We can give it a try and see. This is a good chance to toss aside a thorny burden. Think about it, even the Prime Minister's wife praised Cui Ti, what other noble lady would dare speak ill of her?
"People are born less than perfect. There are always families in Xi Jing with blind, lame or deaf sons. Match handicap with handicap - who would disdain the other?"
The Earl's wife took these words to heart.
If they could arrange a good marriage for their daughter, perhaps another Cui could become a minister.
That very day, the Earl's wife, who had not set foot in the small courtyard for eighteen years, brought along an elderly female portrait painter and stood before Cui Ti.
Taking the portrait and leaving medicine for their injuries without a word, she departed.
The hopes kindled in Bai Ge's heart crumbled inch by inch. Heaven knew how excited she had been to see the mistress come to the little courtyard.
After all the young miss was the mistress' own flesh and blood daughter, carried for ten months and birthed. Even if the younger sister was unruly, it was still wrong to viciously attack her elder sister. Any family would harshly punish that.
Yet the young miss did not get a single word of comfort or instruction.
Cui Ti clutched the medicine bottle, knuckles white.
"Young miss, what does the mistress mean? She can't be..."
Bai Ge covered her mouth: At this time, having a portrait painted, it couldn't be they wanted to find a match for the young miss!
Cui Dai had just beaten someone, and the mistress came right after.
Her heart thumped anxiously. The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt.
The ceramic bottle fell and shattered on the ground, alongside Bai Ge's startled cry. Cui Ti gave a wan smile: "Silly me, she wants to find me a match again."