The day of the Empress Dowager’s selection of a consort for the Prince Regent was fast approaching. Gu Qiurong did not think she stood a chance of becoming the Prince Regent’s consort, but she would no longer allow the Pingding Marquis Estate to tarnish her reputation.
She had to turn the tide. She would take the initiative and change how she was perceived in the capital.
After much deliberation, Gu Qiurong’s eyes lit up. She knew how to make ink—specifically, the most precious Tongyan Hui ink in all of the capital. Three years ago, upon returning to the Marquis Estate and learning that Gu Wangci loved calligraphy and was particularly fond of Tongyan Hui ink, Gu Qiurong had begged Chen Wenjin to send her to study under a master craftsman when the latter was heading into the palace. She had even caused a scene in the palace to get her way. Chen Wenjin, feeling humiliated, had been furious with her for a long time. It was only thanks to the Empress Dowager’s pity that Gu Qiurong was eventually allowed to apprentice with the craftsman.
The process of making Tongyan Hui ink was complex; it could not be mastered in a day or two. During those fifteen days in the palace, Gu Qiurong’s hands were scalded countless times, and she spent her days covered in soot and grime. She never rested at night, working until she had thoroughly mastered the craft, only returning to the Marquis Estate once she was finally satisfied.
When she first presented the Tongyan Hui ink she had made to Gu Wangci’s study, he had been genuinely pleased. Back then, Gu Wangci still harbored some affection for her; seeing her scalded hands, he would even ask with concern if she was in pain. But that concern had only lasted once. Afterward, no matter how much precious ink she made for him, he took it for granted. Eventually, seeing the scars on her hands, he would merely frown impatiently: "Have you no sense of propriety? What noble lady would be as crude and unrefined as you?"
Those words had pierced Gu Qiurong’s heart, once full of hope, until it was riddled with holes. From then on, she vowed never again to subject herself to such self-inflicted torment.
The Pingding Marquis Estate was notoriously extravagant, and tung oil lamps were not hard to find. Gu Qiurong first retrieved the lamps from her room and began attempting to make the ink according to the process.
By the time Qingzhi finished preparing breakfast, Gu Qiurong had already managed to extract some ink. She rubbed it between her fingertips, her clear eyes sparkling with excitement. "Qingzhi, look at this ink. What do you think?"
Qingzhi gingerly touched it and exclaimed in surprise, "Miss, this is Tongyan Hui ink!"
"I plan to make more," Gu Qiurong nodded.
However, the production of Hui ink required raw lacquer. When she had made it for Gu Wangci before, her hands had swelled up like pig’s trotters from handling the resin. But without it, the color of the ink would not be satisfactory. After weighing her options, Gu Qiurong decided to go to the back hills to gather the lacquer herself.
She instructed Qingzhi to wait in the courtyard and set off. She was gone for half the day. By the time she returned at noon, her hands were red and swollen from the lacquer, but she paid it no mind, mixing the sap with the lamp soot she had prepared. Fortunately, the materials she had used for Gu Wangci were still stored in Rongan Courtyard, and she made use of what was at hand.
Qingzhi rolled up her sleeves to help with the heavy lifting. "Miss, how is this soot I’ve collected?"
Gu Qiurong smiled gently. "Very good." Qingzhi beamed at the praise.
As the moonlight faded, the mistress and her maid toiled in Rongan Courtyard until evening. Finally, having boiled the glue, the two began to beat the mixture in turns. Gu Qiurong sat exhausted on a stone chair, damp strands of hair clinging to her pale cheeks.
Qingzhi looked up and saw streaks of soot on her mistress’s face and stains on her skirt. She lacked any of the refinement expected of a noble lady, yet Qingzhi thought her mistress looked more vibrant than ever.
"Miss, your face looks like a little tabby cat," Qingzhi said, unable to stifle a laugh at Gu Qiurong’s disheveled appearance. Gu Qiurong reached up to wipe her face, only to smear more soot across it. Qingzhi burst into uncontrollable laughter.
When Chen Wenjin arrived with her entourage, this was the scene that greeted her from afar. Her daughter was horsing around with her maid, having taken up the hammer herself. The smiles on the two young girls’ faces were bright and carefree—a look of such uninhibited joy that Chen Wenjin had never seen on Gu Qiurong before. It was a look Chen Wenjin herself had possessed before she was married.
But the moment passed in a heartbeat. The voice of the Marquis of Pingding suddenly echoed in her mind: *She is a young lady of the Marquis Estate; she should act like one! Behaving so crudely only brings shame upon the house!*
Her fleeting sense of relief instantly curdled into anger and irritation. This unsightly scene was an eyesore. Her brow furrowed, and she strode forward, snatching the hammer from Gu Qiurong’s hand. "What do you think you are doing? You are a lady of the Marquis Estate! Acting like a common servant, day in and day out—why do you insist on debasing yourself like this?" Chen Wenjin demanded, her voice full of fury.
Confronted by Chen Wenjin’s sudden intrusion and the wild rage on her face, the warmth vanished from Gu Qiurong’s eyes. She silently reached out and took the hammer back from Chen Wenjin.
"I spent three years in the imperial prison, and you never saw fit to manage me then. Why must you meddle now?"
The coldness in her tone made Chen Wenjin’s eyes sting. "I am your mother! If I don't manage you, who will?" Chen Wenjin barked. "Gu Qiurong, do not forget who you are. You are of the Marquis’s blood, a daughter of this house. Get all this filth out of my sight!"
Chen Wenjin’s expression darkened. "As long as you are in this house, you will follow its rules. If you continue to act as ignorantly as you did three years ago..."
"As I did three years ago?" Gu Qiurong looked up, locking eyes with her. "Should you send me back to the imperial prison? If that is the case, then send me now, so I will no longer be an eyesore to you."
"You—" Chen Wenjin looked as if she might faint from the sheer stubbornness of the girl.
Mammy Li, standing beside her, hurried to support her, looking at Gu Qiurong with pained reproach. "Fifth Miss, why must you be this way? Her Ladyship has you in her heart! The yellow jade hairpin and the jade headpiece you admired—Her Ladyship specifically ordered the shopkeeper to deliver them, wanting to mend your relationship. To be so aggressive and hurt Her Ladyship's heart like this..."
Gu Qiurong remained unmoved. If she truly had her in her heart, would she have stood by while Princess Mingli humiliated her? Would she have allowed her to be forced to kneel and apologize to Gu Lingwei in public?
"Gu Qiurong!" Just as Chen Wenjin seemed on the verge of collapsing, a sharp, angry shout rang out from outside Rongan Courtyard. Gu Wangci had just returned from his duties. Seeing the scene, his usual composed and scholarly demeanor shattered, his eyes filled with seething rage. "Must you drive our mother to her grave before you are satisfied?"
He strode forward and grabbed Gu Qiurong’s wrist. "I told you before: stop acting as if the world owes you something. Your time in prison was of your own making."
Gu Wangci’s voice was cold and lacked any warmth.
"Since that is the case, Elder Brother," Gu Qiurong replied, "then the Marquis Estate should cast me out. Why keep me here, if the mere sight of one another is such a torment?"