Father is disappointed when I come home, making disparaging remarks about how I should have stayed in the Fulian Overpass…preferably forever. Then he leads Chang Ying back to his room and stays there for the rest of the night. Su Huian has a headache again, so Yin Cuifen directs the cooks in cooking our dinner. It tastes horrible, because Yin Cuifen spent most of the time admiring her reflection in a pot lid. By the time she looked up after realizing the food was on fire, it was already burnt to a crisp. Lisha and I pick at our food, trying to find parts that aren’t burnt.

“Lisu,” Lisha says through a mouthful of food. “Lina’s going away soon. She only came here to help us move but now she needs to go back to her husband.”

“Yeah,” I murmur distractedly, because I’m too busy thinking about how great of a cultivator I am. “So what are you worried about? Lina will be in Luoyang. That’s not too far away from here.”

“With Lina going away and you being busy with cultivation training, who will protect me from Liling?” Lisha’s eyes fill with tears. “She’s always bullying me when you or Lina are not around and Mother can’t do anything about it!”

“Don’t worry. If Liling bullies you, I’ll get revenge on her,” I assure Lisha. Su Huian is too meek and timid to even reprimand a 17-year-old, so someone will have to stand up in her stead. Of course, that someone will be me. “And training won’t take that long because I’ll probably learn everything really quickly and get to go home early.”

“Ok,” Lisha says, already reassured. Her emotions are quite fickle. “Anyways, want to try some of Yin Cuifen’s pastries?”

The pastries are less burnt than the main course, but still have a blackened edge to them. I’m not sure what Yin Cuifen was trying to cook, because everything is mushed together in an uneven ball, and there seems to be three different kinds of paste inside the pastry as if the maker forgot which one they were supposed to use.

“Is that a diamond in here?” I laugh, picking out an earring that was baked into the pastry. 

“She must have been too busy preening over herself to realize that!” Lisha replies, laughing.

“Since I’m such a benevolent, nice, sympathetic person, I will return this to her,” I decide, tucking the earring in my pocket to give to Yin Cuifen.

“You must have such great self-restraint to do that!” Lisha says with admiration. “If it were me, I would have just taken it for myself.”

I smile sympathetically at her. “Don’t worry. With enough practice, one day you might be as nice and amazing as me.”

Zhibin strides in. “Lisu, my mother wants to see you.”

I wonder what Su Huian wants me for. It must have something to do with my awesomeness, obviously, but exactly what I’m unsure about. “Let’s go, Xiao Yue.”

Xiao Yue follows me. “Miss Lisu, you didn’t finish your pastry. Shall I go get it?”

“Ah, it’s ok. Yin Cuifen’s cooking is kind of bad anyway. Don’t tell her I said that, though.”

We follow Zhibin to Su Huian’s door, where he nods to me and turns back around, walking back to the dining room. Evidently, whatever Su Huian wants to tell me is not something he’s allowed to listen in on. I knock lightly on her door, waiting for a response.

“Come in,” Su Huian’s voice calls from inside. “It’s unlocked.”

I step into the room. Su Huian is sprawled on her bed, sipping a cup of black tea. Her face is deathly pale, skin seeming to stretch over her bones. Su Huian has never been in the best of health, but now I realize how serious it is. 

“What have you called me here for?” I ask. “Are you alright? You look really sick.”

“It’s true that my health has been deteriorating as of late,” Su Huian explains quietly. “I can’t manage the house’s affairs well anymore, so my husband has pressured me into giving it to someone else.”

“Who?” I ask. “His evil concubine Chang Ying?”

“He left it up to me to choose, but his exact words were ‘choose someone who is actually competent and also young and also beautiful.’”

“Well, that’s definitely Chang Ying. Are you going to let her manage our house? She’ll make a mess of our funds and give the best food to her children!”

Su Huian grimaces. “He was obviously implying Chang Ying, but I know as well as you do that she’ll make life hard for everyone. The other concubine, Yin Cuifen, would spend all our household money on jewelry. So there’s no suitable adult I can pass the role on to.”

I brighten up, haven come up with an idea. “Not to brag or anything, but not only am I extremely competent, I am young and beautiful and way better than Chang Ying and Yin Cuifen combined. You could make me the head of the household!”

“That’s just what I wanted to call you here for!” Su Huian exclaims. “You are obviously the best person to take care of the household, because you’re so amazing at everything!”

She hesitates. “But will you be able to accomplish all of your duties even with your new wugong training?”

“Don’t worry, I’m a really good multitasker,” I assure her.

Su Huian breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Lisu. Now I can nurse my health in peace.”

“No problem!” I say cheerfully. “You’ve always been kind to me even though I’m not your birth daughter. If you are in need of help, of course I will provide it!”

Su Huian calls for a servant to bring the house’s papers with the finances over to my room and another servant to report the news to Ma Fu. As for me and Xiao Yue, we return back to our room to begin my new tedious work. Well, tedious for everyone else but for me it will be ridiculously easy because of my amazing intellect. 

“You’re so amazing, Miss Lisu. Becoming head of the house in such a short time!” Xiao Yue gushes. 

“Thanks. I know, it’s because I’m so amazing,” I brag. I think I’ve earned enough cause to brag, because this is a very big deal. I suddenly think of Hu. What will he say now that I’m the head of finances? I can already imagine it in my head. He’ll drop his tough act and tell me how amazing I am.

I’m daydreaming about Hu when Father and Chang Ying burst through the door. “Ma Lisu. What is this?”

“What is what?” I ask innocently. 

“Is it true that Su Huian gave all the finances to you?” Father is so furious, his face is bright red with anger.

“Yes,” I shrug. “I mean, you didn’t really expect she would give the jurisdiction of the house over to an evil concubine who thinks nothing of people not related to her, right?” 

“Evil?” Chang Ying simpers, giving me a faux wounded look. “I just want to be the best wife there is to my husband.”

“That’s right! Chang Ying is my favorite wife!” Father supplements.

“You’re a little bit wound up, which I understand after your ordeal meeting that monster. Why don’t you give the responsibilities to the grownups?” Chang Ying adds, giving me another one of her sickly sweet smiles.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” I reply, resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at her.

“Lisu, I order you,” Father booms. “You are my daughter, so you must listen to me!”

“Actually, you can’t. The control of the house finances is decided by whoever holds that title and even the patriarch can’t change it. Remember? You wrote that yourself in our house rules. Since I currently am the head, what I say goes.”

“You will pay for this!” Father snarls at me, before turning his back to the door and storming out. 

“Not a very nice thing to say to your daughter!” I call after him, which makes him stamp his foot on the ground like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. Someone coughs behind me. Chang Ying has not yet left. What could she want?

“You’ll need more servants if you want to be the head of the house,” she smiles. “You can borrow two of my servants. Luo and Dao will be under your orders from now on.”

Luo and Dao, two sour-faced servants, come in. Luo is a young girl who lowers her head timidly, not meeting my eyes, while Dao is older, holding herself in a way that demands authority. I mentally curse. This is bad. Even if Luo and Dao are supposedly listening to me now, they are still loyal to Chang Ying. It’s the oldest trick in the book to bring down a woman you don’t like: stick some loyal cronies in their household, and have them watch every step, every misdemeanor she makes and report everything back to you. I have no choice but to accept because otherwise it would look bad for me to refuse such a ‘gift’. Chang Ying may be horrendously evil, but she is also terribly smart. 

I take a deep breath. “Thank you, Chang Ying. That is much appreciated.”

“Great,” Chang Ying gives me another false smile. “Good luck.”

Shaking her sleeves out in a great display, she saunters out. Internally, I seethe, but I turn to the new servants with my best smile. Maybe I can win them over, but I’m not counting on it. For now, I’ll put them in low position jobs so they can’t sabotage me as much. “Luo, Dao, since you are new, you will work in the lowest part of my servant squad. You will wash the floors and take care of the bathroom. Do you understand?”

“What? I was part of Chang Ying’s advisor team. I helped direct the other servants; shouldn’t I do that here too?” Dao spits. “I’m fifty-five years old. You want an elderly woman like me to work my back off?”

“Of course, I will give you easier work like mopping or wiping down surfaces where you don’t have to bend down,” I say. “I’m not a monster. But I already have a servant to direct the other servants, Xiao Yue over there.”

“That girl? She can’t be much older than you. You need someone with experience to help,” Dao insists. “Don’t be rash, girl. Now that you are head of finances, you’ll need to be more careful about how you present yourself.”

“Are you threatening me?” I snap, glaring at her. 

“No-no, I was just providing a suggestion,” Dao backtracks. 

“Good. Then get to work. I have no more to say to you two,” I turn my back to them and hold my hand out to Xiao Yue. “Let’s go take a walk in the garden.”

Xiao Yue and I walk out to the garden that separates my section of the house from Su Huian’s. It’s not as big as the one in our house at Yucheng, but still big enough to provide a buffer for any prying ears. I walk over to a copse of sickly maple trees, and stop in the middle of them. This should provide enough cover to prevent Dao and Luo from hearing us.

“This is bad,” Xiao Yue frets. “Please tell me you have a plan, Lisu.”

“Of course I do,” I say calmly. “I wouldn’t be alive if I didn’t have ways to fend off Chang Ying. Here’s what we’ll do. Luo is young, and evidently inexperienced, so we shouldn’t worry about her too much yet. However, we need to get rid of Dao. Chang Ying will complain if we don’t give her a good position.”

“So what will we do?” Xiao Yue asks me.

I tip my head to one side, contemplating my options. “We’ll make a show of doing something that would impact Chang Ying, and then make all the servants stay inside the house. Xiao Yue, you’ll be in the bushes next to my sitting room waiting for Dao to come out and warn her.”

“Why would she come out of there?” Xiao Yue asks me. “And will that be enough to get her fired?”

“You’ll see,” I give her a mysterious smile. 

“Ok! I have complete and utter faith in you!” Xiao Yue chirps. “I’ll stand out there for hours if Miss Lisu wants me to!”

After she’s run off, I take a second to compose my expression before following her. Once I’m back in my room, I sit down and pull out the scroll containing the finances. Before long, I am able to find the table that states all of Chang Ying’s supplies. It looks like she’s manipulated Su Huian into giving her many more commodities than are afforded to the rest of us. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dao come in with a dusting cloth, where she makes a show of dusting off a porcelain vase.

“Hmmm,” I say loudly. “I think Chang Ying doesn’t need as much coal as Su Huian does. After all, Su Huian’s health is very bad and she will need warmth during the winter days. I think I’ll give a third of this coal over to Su Huian.”

Dao startles, nearly knocking over the vase but catching it at the last second. 

“Oh, also I require many servants to make a Flaky Pastry with Lotus Paste. It’s quite time-consuming, and I want them done by tonight. Have you noted that down, Qingtu?” I ask my other servant, who is currently filling in for Xiao Yue as she stands in the bushes.

“Yes, Miss Lisu. I will immediately notify the servants that no one should go outside before the pastry is finished,” Qingtu bows low before leaving.

 Dao seethes, one hand tightly gripping the cloth. I turn towards her and give her a sweet smile. “Is something the matter?”

“No,” Dao mutters, before quickly exiting. However, she slows down after walking a few feet, wanting to hear what else I will say. I smile. She’s playing right into my hands.

I turn to the other two servants in the room. “You two, go guard our entrances. Make sure no one goes out or in; if anyone does catch them and bring them to me for discipline.”

“Yes, Miss Lisu,” one servant says. “It may be presumptuous of me as a servant to speak up, but why don’t you want us to leave that much?”

After making sure Dao has left, I lean down and whisper. “Don’t actually guard it. Go help the other servants make the pastry. That was only a ruse to trick the new servant.”

The two servants bow. “Yes, Miss Lisu.”

After they’ve left, I settle back into my chair to work out the rest of the finances. Now it’s only a matter of time before Dao is captured, so I might as well get some work done.