Ch. 38: Think

System watched as its Master pondered over what Ning Caiyue had just said. He could hear the insidious tone of the transmigrated daughter of the Ning family and he shook his head, marveling at how poisonous this sickly girl had been in the brief amount of time she had interacted with Ning Caiyue.

In the dim lighting of the ancestral shrine, every corner shining and free of dust due to a recent cleaning, Shen Meifeng found herself presented with a unique opportunity. She had heard the insult in Ning Caiyue's words and witnessed the gloating in Ning Caixin's eyes. But such things had never bothered her in the past and would not do so on that day as well.

Looking past Ning Caiyue, from whom self-assurance seemed to emanate from like a strong perfume, Shen Meifeng smiled at Ning Caixin.

"You are not expecting to make it through the draft either, are you?" Meifeng inquired almost innocently.

Ning Caixin was by no means stupid. Brash and sharp-tempered as she was, she too had long understood that her family intended for Ning Caiyue to be their generation's bid for imperial favor within the palace. She would participate naturally, as the law dictated that she must, but only to build a good reputation for herself and marry an eligible young master within the capital. But if she said she wasn't resentful about the fact that the sickly girl would be able to lord over her as a future mistress in the palace, that would be a lie.

"I just hope to represent our Ning clan well and not let our family lose face," she replied. Her humbled tone and words answered Shen Meifeng's question in a roundabout way.

On the far end, Ning Caiyue smugly smiled to herself, having understood the underlying meaning of Ning Caixin's words. Such was the fate of a daughter of a shu-born father, she would always come second best to Ning Caiyue. She looked away from Ning Caixin, who was biting her lip as if to curtail her true thoughts, and refocused on Shen Meifeng.

"But," something seemed to slither in Ning Caiyue's eyes, "It's a pity. Your father is a traitorous minister, when would you have a chance to join the palace draft?"

She heaved a pitiful sigh, but the flickering candlelight within the ancestral shrine glittered upon eyes eager to see blood spill.

"If you're lucky and your mother begs hard enough, perhaps you could be granted marriage to a lowly son of a 6th-ranked official. But when I look at you, why can't I see someone who will wear red on their wedding day?" Ning Caixin's revenge was swift and brutal.

It was a careful barb that would sting even the most mild-tempered noble girl, to first have their background attacked and then subtly be told that they look more like a concubine than a wife. Even Shen Meifeng, who hadn't spent very long in this world was able to piece together what Ning Caixin was rudely hinting at.

But like the rest of their words from that day, the punchy insults struck cotton and failed to land a blow. Shen Meifeng smiled lightly to herself. "I've heard," she began slowly. "That the emperor is married and has a wife."

"Of course! The empress in the palace is First Aunt's little sister." Ning Caixin sneered. The expression tugged at her thin bow-shaped lips, turning her rather comely appearance into something far uglier. It was a shame that no one had told her how her angry temperament marred the serene beauty both she and her sister had inherited from their mother, a beauty that suited her mother and twin sister's calmer temperaments far better than her own.

Shen Meifeng smiled. "Then if either of you are lucky enough to be chosen in the draft, wouldn't you both just be concubines?" Her soft voice uttered a poisonous question that caused Ning Caiyue to squeeze her handkerchief tightly and Ning Caixin to gasp in outrage.

System sighed. "Is it a good idea to make an enemy of this transmigrator, Master?"

Shen Meifeng ignored it as usual, although System was right. Ning Caiyue hailed from a modern world in the 21st century and although she looked forward to grabbing favor with her modern tricks, it did not sit right in her belly that she might just be one of the emperor's many, many women.

"You! You!" Ning Caixin sputtered with a finger pointing at Shen Meifeng in outrage. She nearly forgot herself within the shrine and rose to her feet, which would've gotten her punished for an extra day if the supervising nanny outside the shrine were to check on them right then.

"A concubine in the back house and a concubine of the emperor, you dare to compare the two?" Ning Caiyue uttered in an enraged whisper, insulted by Shen Meifeng throwing her own insult back at her face.

For the transmigrated girl, it was as if Shen Meifeng had peeled back the healing skin of the gaping wound the ancient world's polygamy had dealt upon her. She wished to lash out and scratch Shen Meifeng's indifferent, pretty face, but shortly after her furious reaction, she suddenly calmed. Ning Caiyue knew better than to verbally tussle with her lowly cousin. Actions spoke much louder than words. In the future, when she was favored and pampered by the emperor's side, she would teach this girl a lesson she would never forget.

With that comforting thought, Ning Caiyue, settled back down onto her knees properly, ignoring the hard floor she could still feel through the thin pillow. Her eyes were shut and her appearance pious, silencing the similar outrage that Ning Caixin was about to spew at Shen Meifeng. Instead, Ning Caixin cast a venomous glance at Shen Meifeng that promised further retribution.

But in this manner, their verbal tiff finally came to an end as they served out the remainder of their punishment in silence. However, unbeknownst to them all except Shen Meifeng, who could hear the scuttling feet and muffled breathing but couldn't care less, an eavesdropping little maid rushed to Yixin Pavilion to report to its mistress what she had just overheard.

Later that evening, Lin Xiao's strong fingers rubbed medicated wine over Shen Meifeng's bruised knees. "You've suffered, Bene- Young Miss. You have really suffered," she kept muttering to herself.

They were not alone in their shabby, little boudoir as Lady Ning was also present. The once formidable Pushan Nun sat in a chair across from Shen Meifeng's bed where she was getting a massage. The fake mother and daughter duo looked more unfamiliar than strangers and if anyone were to look upon them at that moment, it would become inevitably clear that there was no relation between the two.

"What do you want?" Lady Ning asked, paying little mind to the light injuries Shen Meifeng had incurred.

"Same thing as you," Shen Meifeng deftly replied.

"And what is it you think I want?"

"Power, more or less." For Shen Meifeng, the power to send this peaceful nation into anarchy.

Lady Ning snorted rather indelicately, "You think I want power? How silly."

Shen Meifeng took little offense. "In the face of your family's interests, you learned you were nothing 14 years ago. Your mother could discard you, your family could discard you."

"Married daughters are spilled water," Lady Ning replied, her voice embittered from years of reflecting on the same. "Any family would do that."

"Maybe. It might not have happened if you had married higher. But they didn't want you to marry high, did they?" Shen Meifeng flicked an invisible speck of dirt from her fingers, which looked more delicate than lotus roots.

"Let me guess," Shen Meifeng continued after Lady Ning's stupefied silence confirmed her guess. "They wanted you to marry the 3rd-ranked Shen family because they did not need you to earn glory for the family. The 1st-ranked Ning clan had already been granted the title Duke of Gao by the former emperor. They had an empress in the palace, now the empress dowager. You did not need to earn any more glory for the clan. Do you know what I think?"

Lady Ning shook her head. Lin Xiao's fingers briefly paused in surprise on Shen Meifeng's knees before she continued diligently rubbing.

"You were a sacrifice. A show of loyalty to the imperial clan to show them that even for their most beloved daughter, they would not disobey the emperor's will. Think about it. The Shen family's corruption wasn't an overnight affair. Do you think that your father or your brother hadn't heard whispers and rumors before betrothing you to them?" Shen Meifeng asked.

Lady Ning seemed to deflate. The thin creases around her mouth appeared deeper and her proud posture lost its spine. In the gray, plain dresses she favored ever since she returned home, Lady Ning looked a few years older than her true age.

"So it was that obvious to you, a stranger from outside the family?"

Shen Meifeng was not one to indulge Lady Ning's self-pity. "Find a way to let me join the draft. And I will give you everything you have desired. Especially that revenge against your family," she told her mother quite frankly. "Lin Xiao, that's enough massaging."

"The draft?" Lady Ning scoffed, however, there was little ridicule in her voice because similar to Lin Xiao, she was starting to see that Shen Meifeng was far more capable than her youthful appearance suggested.

"Although I never participated, I am very familiar with the draft. You have to come from a good family, have talent, and be well-educated. Even if you joined, you would never pass. Empress Dowager Ning would disapprove and the emperor gives his nominal mother a lot of respect, almost more than his biological mother, Empress Dowager Sun," she continued.

"When did I say I want to pass the draft?" Shen Meifeng gave Lady Ning a genuinely confused look.

Lady Ning narrowed her eyes in confusion. "You do not wish to pass the draft?"

"From my understanding," A thin, toothless smile spread across Shen Meifeng's face as she recalled the disparaging words her cousins had thrown her way when they were being punished. "I would never be qualified enough to become the emperor's woman. And I do not wish to."

Lin Xiao pouted from the ground. "You would be one of the most beautiful maidens there, I don't understand."

However, Lady Ning did.

"That's true. Even if the emperor liked your appearance, the empress and the empress dowagers would never approve. So why do you wish to participate if you know you cannot join?"

"Does it matter?" Shen Meifeng. "If I told you it would only bring you benefits, would you do it? Think about it."

A cool breeze shuddered through a rip in the window, causing the lone candle on the rickety bedside table to waver for a moment. Lady Ning could see for herself how much her "daughter" was treasured. Her true daughter was long gone, most likely deceased, but if she were alive and Lady Ning had truly wanted to return to her maiden home, this would've likely also been her daughter's outcome. Except perhaps, her daughter would've drowned in the traitorous depths of the idyllic lake that Lady Ning knew had claimed more than a few lives in the quiet backyard.

This was how much she was worth to her family. Today, the last shred of hope in her heart slipped away and the illusion shattered.

Lady Ning had placated herself that after years of suffering away from home, she would be welcomed back with open arms. Hardship had turned her into a bit more of a realist than she was in her youth – while she knew that she would never be able to show her face at the capital's social gatherings and she would have to rely on her mother's backing to have any face, Lady Ning had at least expected a warmer reception for herself and her child.

She had heard her family's illustrious name, even in the balmier climate of Jiangnan whispers of the Ning family and the Duke of Gao floated around the air. They often opened soup kitchens and porridge stations around the empire, building a good name for themselves. The outer branches of the family that had settled in various towns and prefectures had long built up reputations as honest and kind officials who put the people before themselves.

But alas, it had become all too clear that she was a sacrifice meant to stay far, far away from the prosperity of the Ning family that she had helped protect. After the late emperor saw how the Ning clan didn't rally to protect the Shen family at all despite being related in marriage, it placated him that the Ning clan, as powerful as they were, would still defer to imperial might. Today, with a newer, weaker emperor, the Duke of Gao Mansion was one of the few titled families that had maintained their might.

This solemn realization nibbled at her normally calm temperament, causing the hands that rested upon the dour, gray fabric on her lap to shake and quiver from the unfairness of it all.

The signs had been there for years she could now see. When her sister-in-law had married in with a grand dowry and ceremony that was the largest seen for a non-royal wedding, Lady Ning had not understood why her eldest sister-in-law treated her with contempt, and even more so why her own mother failed to stop it. But by then, they already saw her as disposable no doubt. And now today, her brother's wife, the current Duchess Gao and a first-ranked noblewoman, had a daughter of her own, just as pampered and loved as Lady Ning had been in the past.

Lady Ning could see herself in the beloved Ning Cailing, soon to wed Prince Jing and enjoy the blissful life she thought she would once enjoy. And unlike her, her own mother would never push her into the fire pit for familial benefits.

Somehow, it all felt quite unfair.

"Alright," Lady Ning answered before she could help herself. She looked up at the surprised Lin Xiao, who no doubt expected more pushback, and a serene Meifeng, whose deep black eyes seemed to glimmer with understanding. "I will help you on one condition."

"Say it." Shen Meifeng didn't outright decline.

"The main branch of the Ning family – Lord Ning, the Duke of Gao." Lady Ning's eyes were glassy and distant, watching a past where her older brother had played ball with her when she was lonely and specially bought her tanghulu as the restrictive era they lived in did not allow for a young noble girl of her station to walk out on the open street.

He had come to her courtyard, then the most favored and decorated courtyard in the entire family home, and promised her that he would make sure she married the best groom in the capital. Where was that boy? Had he even been real? Lady Ning did not even know what her older brother looked like now. He did not even care enough to show his face before the little sister he had cast out so callously for his own future.

"I want to take everything away from him and his wife," she continued without emotion. This was not Lady Ning speaking, it was the Pushan Nun who had braved fire and blood, who had learned how to trick and lie in order to carve out a place for herself in a world that was so cruel towards cast-out women.

"Not your mother?" Meifeng leaned in, curious about the former nun's response.

A grim smile spread across Lady Ning's lips. "My brother is her life. I was foolish not to see that before. Hurting him and his kin will hurt her more than anything else I can think of."

"Done."