In fact, Peony had been paying attention to White Peony since she started to work as a servant in her family, and she never ignored her. This was because they were of the same age. A 13-or 14-year-old girl can't ignore the other girls of the same age around her. Although she was a servant, she was bound to be a competitor. White Peony's advantages over Peony ignited her envy and hatred. Peony didn't know that White Peony stuffed cloth balls into her clothes. She thought White Peony's overnight change developed naturally and was created by God. Actually, Peony was the first to believe White Peony's trick. On the first day White Peony stuffed her clothes with cloth balls, Peony saw her and believed her eyes. Because of this, she didn't have breakfast. She returned to her room, shut herself in and studied her breasts and hips for the whole morning. They were inscrutable and didn't show her even a glimmer of hope. Peony believed that she had placed hope on them earlier than White Peony. She hoped to have a well-shaped body by the time her mother Wu Xianggui gave birth to her younger brother. She didn't see how her mother's figure had gradually developed. When she became interested in her own figure, she had seen her mother's mature figure, so she mistakenly thought it was because her younger brother sucked her mother's breasts. She was crazy about her mother's maturity, and dying to develop her own. She placed her hopes in her younger brother. She showed love for her younger brother and took him away from Aunt Pear Flower several times a day. Every time, she took him to her room, closed the door and nervously put her immature nipple into her brother's mouth. She trembled every time, and there was an indescribable feeling behind the tremble. It seemed that many trees grew in her body with many caterpillars in the trees, and her trembling set off a gale which made the trees shake and the caterpillars crawl hastily. It also seemed as though there were many small closed eyes inside her. The trembling her brother brought opened these eyes, and the rustling eyelashes made her giddy. Either way, she believed her brother's sucking was a call that would certainly awaken her body and bulge her breasts and hips soon.
But her brother was too young to understand. She didn't have milk and her nipples were immature like green plums. Once he found he was fooled, he spat the nipple out. If she wanted to have another try, he would cry. Then Aunt Pear Flower would take him away. Even so, Peony kept her chin up. It would take years for her brother to grow up, so she was patient enough. Unfortunately, the unprecedented Yuqiu Disease took her brother away and left her entirely hopeless.
Peony spent a morning studying her body, trying to figure out why it didn't develop. It was no use. She lacked experience and could not find the reason.
She thought of White Peony. As she couldn't find the reason in her body, she could try to find it in her. White Peony was washing the dishes when Peony entered the kitchen. Without looking at her, White Peony said, "Your meal is in the hearth corner." The hearth of the Wangs was very large. On one end was a big pot which was used to cook meals for long-term hired workers; on the other end was a small pot which was used to cook meals for the family members of the Wangs. Peony looked at White Peony instead of at her meal. Her gaze made White Peony uneasy, so she had to counterattack with her eyes. Peony stared at her breasts instead of her eyes. White Peony flinched instinctively because the truth was hidden inside. Peony's eyes showed her suspicion that White Peony had stolen something. White Peony was a thief. White Peony knew she couldn't give in now. Although she was scared inside, she had to pretend to be fearless. She stared at Peony's eyes even though Peony didn't make eye contact with her, so that Peony couldn't read her easily. She had to find a way out. Peony moved her eyes from White Peony to the meal. Although she didn't have any appetite, she had to do so carefully. It was her favorite: fried rice with eggs and fried tine peas. She had asked White Peony to cook it many times before so as to torment her, but today she was disgusted by it. She knocked over the bowl and plate and kicked them far across the room. Then she said, "Who told you to cook this? I didn't tell you to!"
White Peony said, "You didn't, but it's your favorite."
"It was. But today it isn't."
"Then what do you want?"
"What do I want? I want to eat you!"
White Peony retreated instinctively, fearing that she would be eaten.
Peony cursed, "What are you afraid of? Bitch! You're not ashamed of your plump breasts!"
White Peony said, "You have them too."
Peony's face went red suddenly. She thought White Peony was taunting her flat chest. In a rage of humiliation, she rushed at White Peony to pull her hair before measuring her opponent's strength. White Peony fought back. The counterattack brought Peony no advantage and pushed her far away. Peony fell on the ground with a loud sound which disturbed Wu Xianggui. Peony seized the chance to make a scene, but Wu Xianggui realized what had happened when she saw the meal on the floor. She took a look at Peony who was making a scene on the floor, and asked White Peony to clean away the meal. "You can eat this meal at noon. What a rich meal!" she said to White Peony. White Peony went up to clean, trying to prevent the meal from being stained with mud. However, Peony protested her decision to give the meal to White Peony and said that she'd rather give it to a dog than to White Peony. Wu Xianggui gave her a dirty look and say, "Give it to a dog? You can, but your father and I can't. If you don't want White Peony to have it, then you eat it." Wu Xianggui's tone was severe enough. Peony lost interest and stopped making trouble.
Wu Xianggui said to White Peony in an even more severe tone, "Don't miss a grain of rice. Pick them all up and eat every one!"
White Peony cleaned up the meal from the floor. Peony stopped crying and said, "Don't imagine you can eat my meal."
White Peony said, "I don't want to eat it. I leave it to you."
"I don't eat food that's fallen on the floor. Only dogs do."
"Give it to a dog then."
"I'll give it to the dog and tell everyone that it was you." The corners of her mouth showed viciousness.
Before White Peony could speak, she continued, "But I won't do it if you let me see your breasts."
White Peony looked at her breasts instinctively and said, "You have breasts. Look at your own."
"Mine aren't plump."
Thinking of the cloth balls in her clothes, White Peony blushed, but then became calm again and said, "It's easy to make them plump."
"Tell me how."
"Let men touch them."
Peony was startled. She turned pale and shouted, "You're shameless!"
White Peony ignored her and continued to wash the dishes. Peony stood up from the floor, dusted her hips, walked up behind her and asked in a soft voice, "Really?"
Without turning around, White Peony replied, "Of course."
"Who did you ask to touch you?"
White Peony uttered no sound, thinking that if Peony insisted on getting to the bottom of the matter, she would tell her that it was her father Wang Tu. Thinking about this, she felt glad in her heart.
Peony then drew a conclusion which she thought clever: "Was it my father? You empty the chamber pot for him every day. Does he touch you every day?"
White Peony thought it unnecessary for her to say anything more. She chuckled to herself, thinking that all the people around her were fools who did good deeds with bad intentions, and this helped her. Peony was silly enough. She assumed she had figured out White Peony's secret. She filled her immature eyes with malice, stared at White Peony and asked aggressively, "Did you seduce my father?"However, she suddenly ran away before White Peony could answer. She ran to her mother and told her, "White Peony is a thief."
"What did she steal?" Wu Xianggui asked.
"She stole my father!"
Wu Xianggui was stunned. Peony added, "We can't let her stay. Sell her."
Wu Xianggui came to herself and asked seriously, "How do you know this?"
"Don't you see her breasts and hips? There's the evidence."
Wu Xianggui gave Peony a dirty look and said, "You're a little girl. Don't talk nonsense!"
Although she told Peony so, she still called White Peony to interrogate her in private. When White Peony denied the accusations, Wu Xianggui became irritated and slapped her across the face. White Peony said, "I told you, I didn't, but you don't believe me. Could it be that you hope I did?"
Of course Wu Xianggui didn't hope so, so she said, "I knew you dared not."
When Peony made trouble again, Wu Xianggui said she was just "talking nonsense" again in a more positive mood.
Peony was very disappointed in her mother, thinking that she was stupid and she had to save her. She ran away from Wu Xianggui to find White Peony. Although she was out of breath, she looked quite calm. She wanted to remind White Peony that she was just a servant, and even if her father liked her, she was still just a servant. Peony didn't do this to save her mother but to save herself. She didn't envy White Peony because of her mother; it was because of herself. When White Peony told her that her body would gain the power to develop after being touched by men, it was her father's hands rather than White Peony's body that ignited her envy. As a servant, how could White Peony get the benefit when she couldn't? She told White Peony, "Don't be so shameless. My parents are stupid but I am not. You'd better stop or else you'll pay the price."
It seemed that Peony was not only putting difficulties in White Peony's way to achieving her important goal, but had also become a considerable stumbling block.
However, there was another stumbling block on White Peony's way to the goal: Wang Chong. He was 20 years old and he fully understood what the changes in a girl's body meant. Besides, he knew better what a 20-year-old man needed. Wang Chong suggested that he marry White Peony after his mother's death. But White Peony didn't agree and the debt to the Wangs was involved, so he didn't marry her.
Wang Chong's family were also tenants of the Wangs. His father thought the matter needed more consideration.
Wang Chong had no doubts. He wanted to marry White Peony as soon as possible, and he told his father so. His father said, "Don't even think about marrying her. White Peony's debt to the Wangs is not paid off. Will you pay the debt for her?"
Wang Chong said, "The debt means nothing. White Peony is important. If she stays at the Wangs, I'm afraid she will disgrace us."
His father understood his meaning, so he decided to support his son.
As such, they went to the Wangs with a matchmaker.
Wu Xianggui said, "I don't care when you marry White Peony, but who will pay her debt?"
"I will pay," Wang Chong replied.
"You?"
"A strong man like me is worth more than two girls like White Peony. Aren't you satisfied?"
"Fine. But make a written pledge in case you change your mind."
Wang Chong went back to make preparations to marry White Peony, looked for suona (a double-reed horn) performers and chose an auspicious day. Wu Xianggui dug out a piece of patterned cloth from the box with which to make a wedding gown for White Peony. They never considered any other possibility in the matter, and they ignored White Peony.
After all, White Peony was the key to the success of the matter. They ignored her, but that didn't mean that she would ignore the matter. White Peony was not one to give up her goals easily. Moreover, if she wanted a stable, well-fed and well-clothed future, she had only one choice. Peony was a stumbling block, and now Wang Chong was another. She couldn't foresee what Peony would do, and Wang Chong was forcing her to marry him. She finally lost her temper. If she didn't have the courage to surpass these two stumbling blocks, she would never have a chance of reaching the finishing line.
She decided to go for broke.
The next morning, she stood still in front of Wang Tu's bed when she went to the room to empty the chamber pot. He woke up uneasily under her close watch. Seeing Wang Tu open his eyes, she said gravely, "Although I'm your servant, you don't have the right to marry me to Wang Chong."
Wang Tu was not completely awake. He couldn't figure out the meaning of her words. He asked absently, "Then who do you want to marry?"
"I want to marry you."
Wang Tu woke up.
White Peony said, "Although I'm your servant, I want to marry you." She hoped that Wang Tu would understand her. She added, "I'm young. I can give you many sons." White Peony took her youth as a trump card because Wu Xianggui was old and couldn't give birth to a son. However, White Peony was young and had many opportunities to give birth to sons in the future. At that time, the cloth balls in her clothes were useless, and all she could count on was her youth.
Wang Tu looked at her for a long time. She met his gaze. Inside her petal-like eyes were pitch-black pupils in which her determination shine. Wang Tu finally giggled and said, "You're just a little g ..."
"No I'm not," she interrupted.
Wang Tu continued to giggle. "Your maturity is artificial. I know your clothes are stuffed with cloth balls," he said.
White Peony was stunned for a while, but she soon calmed down. She simply took out the cloth balls and put them on Wang Tu's bed, saying, "If I marry you, then these are useless."
Looking at the cloth balls and White Peony, Wang Tu thought he had to become serious.
"Is it me or the life of my family that you want?"he asked.
"I like you as well as the life of your family," she replied.
"But I should marry a girl from a family of equal status ..."
"But if a family of equal status doesn't have a girl as young as me who is willing to be your concubine, you can marry a servant." She continued to speak not with her mouth but with her eyes. Her eyes were telling Wang Tu, "Besides, I am beautiful and tender." Although White Peony's background made her inferior, she was quite confident about her appearance. That was why she dared to aim so high. She lacked life experience, but with her awakening and inherent sensitivity towards men, she could fully understand men's thoughts about women: "A woman should be beautiful first." Wang Tu was sure that he saw a cute cat-like expression in White Peony's face, and he could clearly feel himself surrender to it. So he said, "Indeed, you are beautiful." As soon as Wang Tu said so, Wang Chong was doomed to lose, and Wang Chong's failure was White Peony's victory. This was actually the result that White Peony had longed for. However, it surprised her that victory had come so easily.
