The Gu household was lively today. Firecrackers had only just stopped popping outside, and inside, the aroma of rice porridge mingled with the scent of fried turnip cakes.
Gu Mianmian stood outside the back kitchen door, quietly holding a bundle of scallions and soy sauce she'd queued two hours to buy. Her fingers were red from the wind, but she didn't step in.
Inside, her stepmother Bai-shi was laughing with her cousin Yuying.
"The engagement will be grand. The Lin family has agreed. Yuying, remember to wear that pearl-pink lace I saved, don't let your cousin lay eyes on it again."
Yuying's voice was soft and sweet. "Will Sister Mianmian be upset?"
"Hah, upset?" Bai-shi scoffed. "That girl was born soft. Just give her some pickles and say thank you, she'll think it's love."
She paused, voice lowering to a pleased murmur.
"She handed over her dowry herself, can you imagine? Said it was for the good of the family. Lin Feibai is no fool. He knows who the better wife is."
The soy sauce slipped from Gu Mianmian's grip. The bottle didn't break, just landed with a heavy thud against her heel.
She turned back, walked quietly into the courtyard, and set the groceries on the worn stone table by the well. A few snowflakes clung to the end of her scarf but she didn't brush them off.
Her room was still the same, cold, narrow, and clean because no one else ever came in.
She sat on the edge of the bed.
Closing her eyes to rest.
And then she entered a trance..
—
Ten years passed in a breath.
She saw herself, clad in coarse workwear, sleeves rolled up, running dishes at a restaurant her stepsister now owned after going to culinary school with her recipe book and money.
Yuying in silk, laughing at the table with Lin Feibai.
Her stepmother counting the coins in the back room.
The restaurant had her name on it once. Later, it was signed away with a red stamp and a false signature.
Her father got sick. Her little brother dropped out of school to work in a car repair shop.
She asked for help, but no one answered.
She died on a cold day. Slipped on an icy step carrying a bucket of slop and broke her back. The neighbors didn't even look outside.
They said she was always clumsy.
---
Gu Mianmian opened her eyes.
No tears.
Only stillness. That was a future she could never accept.
She got up and opened her bottom drawer, the one Bai-shi had once tried to toss out, calling it useless clutter.
From inside, she pulled out a red scarf embroidered with tiny plum blossoms.
"Too bright.." they'd said. "You'll look like a factory girl trying too hard."
She wrapped it neatly around her neck. Looked in the cracked mirror above her washbasin.
The scarf didn't look gaudy at all. It looked alive and brought out her skin.
She tied her hair with a black ribbon and went to the kitchen.
Bai-shi glanced up from stirring porridge and looked momentarily surprised. Yuying blinked but didn't say anything.
Gu Mianmian didn't say anything. She ladled porridge into bowls, set out two plates of buns, and placed a dish of soy-sauce with pickled vegetables in the middle.
The table looked just right.
Her father sat down, weary from the night shift.
"Yuying's getting prettier by the day.." he said without looking up. "Good match for Feibai. I'm glad she'll bring harmony to both families."
No one noticed how Gu Mianmian's hand paused just slightly over the chopsticks.
Wasn't she the one getting married to Feibai?
She smiled. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"The pink lace will suit her.." she said softly.
Bai-shi blinked. "What?"
"Cousin Yuying. She's thin. That pink lace… looked tight on me anyway…"
She picked up her own bowl of porridge and blew on it.
Yuying said nothing, though she was momentarily stunned by what Mianmian said. Bai-shi gave her a strange look, but the older woman quickly recovered.
"Well, if you understand, that's best. A girl's virtue lies in knowing her place."
Gu Mianmian took a sip of porridge and nodded. "Mm. That's what I've learned."
Then she stood, gathered her scarf, and excused herself to wash laundry.
The moment she turned, her eyes turned cold.
It was her wedding coming up and they were planning to let Yuying marry her fiance and the bastard probably knew.
She smiled darkly, very well..she would break up the marriage and take her dowry back.
She couldn't let those good profits go to waste, she would sell them off and get a bigger shop.
Her stepsister, Gu Xuelan had already run off with her savings and recipe book three years ago, cutting off her chances to go to culinary school.
But she didn't mind too much, she had started an even better recipe book and this one had ten thousand recipes just like her food stall name Ten Thousand Flavors House.
The previous ones only had 50 at best.
Getting back to her room, she stared at the red wedding qipao, they had used her hard earned money to get a better qiqao for Yuying and gave her this old one.
To think she used to call his people her family. Sending her brother to leave with her maternal grandparents had been the best idea. She had gotten his letter some days back that he had successfully gotten in highschool.
At 17, he was a very intelligent boy.
Her mind went back to her savings book, she would have to send them some money soon.
Laying down on the bed, Gu Mianmian took a deep breath, tomorrow…tomorrow she will end it all and take her life to the next level.
Away from these greedy leeches.
Morning came after than ever and she was woken up by the sound for rapid knocking.
She sighed, the door wasn't locked why did they insist on disturbing her sleep.
"Who is it?" She asked while walking towards the door.
"Who else you trap? Come out of this room and say your greetings to your sister Xuelan. She has come back for Yuying's wedding.."