Phoenix Rising

002

"You're looking much better today, Miss Zi-ning," Shujin said cheerily as she walked into her young mistress's room, carrying a fresh basin of water and a towel for the morning. She quickly set the basin down on the table and took out one of Zi-ning's favourite dresses from the wardrobe, made of the most opulent bright yellow silk brocade with intricate embroidery of flowers all over the skirt.

Zi-ning shook her head. "Bring me the maroon one, with the silver trim."

"The maroon dress? But you've always disliked that one," Shujin remarked, looking puzzled.

Zi-ning always had a penchant for brightly-coloured dresses because she liked attracting attention and believed that they made her stand out in the crowd. Even though her maids knew that those dresses with their garish embroidery only made their young mistress look embarrassingly unrefined, they had always known better than to openly say anything negative in front of her. It wasn't their place to say anything when Lady Min and the other ladies of the household always praised Zi-ning for her beauty whenever she showed up in one of those awful dresses.

Besides that, Zi-ning also loved wearing an excessively thick layer of make-up on her face whenever she went out, insisting that Shujin pile on the powder and rouge even though her skin was already naturally smooth and there was really no need for such excesses.

Surprisingly, Zi-ning asked for none of that today.

Instead, she opted for a light sprinkling of face powder and a lip shade that matched the deep maroon of the dress she had chosen.

"You look beautiful, Miss Zi-ning," Shujin said as she marvelled at her young mistress's reflection in the mirror.

It was almost as if she was looking at a completely different person from the one she had served all these years. The girl she was looking at now was regal and refined, her hair elegantly done up and held together with a simple white jade pin behind her head. Zi-ning had been born with delicate features that resembled her mother's, so all it took was the removal of those coarse and provincial layers that Lady Min had tricked her into putting on in order to reveal the true beauty beneath.

Zi-ning sat there for a couple of moments, staring at her own reflection in the bronze. This was who she really was, and this time round she would be facing the world with this face—not with the cheapened image that Lady Min had carefully fashioned for her.

"Get the horse carriage ready. I'll be heading in to town after greeting Grandmother," she said, standing up and heading for the door.

When Zi-ning reached the western annex of the Minister's manor, Lady Min, Lady Wan and their daughters were already there for the regular morning greeting, together with some of the minister's other concubines. As usual, the old madam of the household—Lady Sun—was seated at the head of the main hall, with her daughters-in-law and granddaughters sitting on both sides of her. The moment Zi-ning entered the hall, all eyes on the room shifted in her direction, and there was no shortage of stunned expressions on the faces of everyone present, including her own grandmother.

"Zi-ning pays her respects to Grandmother," Zi-ning curtseyed and greeted respectfully once she had reached the front of the hall.

"There's no need for such formalities," her grandmother said quickly once she had recovered from the momentary surprise, gesturing for her to get up, "you've only just recovered. How are you feeling?" There was no disguising the elation in her voice to see her precious granddaughter in front of her, with such poise and grace no less.

"Much better, thanks to Grandmother's concern," Zi-ning replied with an obedient smile. She slowly walked over to Meiyan, who was seated next to Lady Min in the chair that was typically reserved for her. The latter had obviously not expected Zi-ning to show up this morning and had unceremoniously been occupying her seat for the duration of her illness.