Seeing White Peony brimming with happiness was what Peony could stand the very least. After marrying Wang Tu, White Peony didn't reduce her household duties due to the enhancement of her status, but she worked even harder than before. However, this didn't stop her from being delicate and charming. Without Wang Tu in her room and her bed, Wu Xianggui became indolent. Although she applied vanishing cream to her face every morning and evening, it couldn't stop her from ageing. The vanishing cream had been bought by Wang Tu. Every time he went to the county, he brought her back a box of vanishing cream. She hadn't done any housework since the day she first applied vanishing cream. That was when she gave birth to her youngest son. She became a contributor to the Wang family after giving birth to the boy. Wang Tu thought so, and so did she. Wang Tu bought her the vanishing cream that she had never seen before, and told her that it could protect her face and hands, and that the women in the cities apply it because it can delay ageing. After receiving the vanishing cream, Wu Xianggui followed a vanishing cream regime and dropped her heavy housework. Later, her youngest son died suddenly, taking away her glory as a contributor. But by then her hands had moved farther and farther away from doing housework, so she maintained her habit of applying vanishing cream and continued to avoid toil.
Wang Tu still brought vanishing cream for her when he came back from the county. The difference was that he had started to bring two boxes of cream, one of which was for White Peony. Her hands were rough in winter, so Wu Xianggui felt it was a pity. She didn't feel pity for White Peony's hands, however, but for the vanishing cream. She thought that vanishing cream was wasted on White Peony, but she didn't say it out loud. She just held White Peony's hands and examined them. No one realized that the pity in her eyes was for the vanishing cream, not for White Peony.
"Your hands are the only parts of you that are more beautiful than others," Peony said to her mother derisively.
Wu Xianggui was displeased to hear such words, but she knew that Peony was right.
"It's all because of her," Peony added.
The increasingly sharp contrast between Wu Xianggui and White Peony made Peony realize the importance of a man to a woman. In her opinion, White Peony had become a swan from an ugly duckling because she was with Wang Tu; however, her mother had reverted back to an ugly duckling from a swan because Wang Tu had left her. Peony didn't understand what magic power her father had, but she strongly sensed its existence. She couldn't stand White Peony's monopolization of that magic power, and she also desired it herself.
She began to think hard.
She resolved to steal White Peony's vanishing cream. First, she tailed after Wang Tu. Seeing him drinking in the bar at the roadside, she ran home, cleaned herself up and applied vanishing cream to her face. Wang Tu usually got home late if he went out drinking. Peony then waited, not at home but on Wang Tu's way home. She was afraid of the dark but she waited in the darkest place. At length, Wang Tu came along smelling of alcohol from a distance. Peony blinked and saw him approaching her, unsteady on his feet. Her heart beat fast and her body trembled inexplicably. She did not understand what was wrong with her. She wanted to walk up to him, to get close to the man with magic power, but she was afraid. Wang Tu approached, bringing the magic charm that so fascinated her within her reach. She stood up involuntarily and blocked his way.
Wang Tu stopped. It was pitch-dark so he didn't feel like opening his eyes to try to make out who was in front of him. Misled by the fragrance of vanishing cream, he thought it was White Peony. He held her in his arms, violently, overbearingly and peremptorily. He spoke in her ear with his mouth full of wine fumes, "Darling, you're waiting for me in this dark place? Do you miss me so much that you can't wait to see me?" He then stopped talking and kissed her face and lips ... Peony was trembling. She felt that she was drunk, even more so than her father. Her legs gave way and she couldn't keep her feet. She pushed Wang Tu away and said, "Dad, it's Peony!"
This incident reinforced Wang Tu's determination to marry her off early. "We should marry our daughter off as soon, she's grown up," he said to Wu Xianggui.
Wu Xianggui didn't know what had happened and disagreed with marrying Peony off so early. First, Peony was still too young. Second, if she got married, there would be no one that she could trust. But Wang Tu was very serious. He never usually took such a serious attitude towards household affairs, of which Wu Xianggui was in charge. She was lost in his serious look for a long time. Finally, she assumed that Wang Tu had made this decision because of White Peony, thinking that it was because Peony always picked on her and this would stop if Peony was married early.
"Peony is your daughter," she said.
"Would I be concerned about her marriage if she were not my daughter?"
"I mean you shouldn't side with White Peony without reservation."
"This has nothing to do with White Peony. She has so much housework to do every day. Only you and Peony are in the mood to make blind and disorderly conjectures."
Wu Xianggui fell silent, finding that Wang Tu had sided with White Peony explicitly while Peony only had her. She clearly felt that she couldn't stand still on this matter. Fortunately, she had more than two hundred acres of land. This parcel managed to consolidate her position in the family. But this rift made her very sad, and she said with tears in her eyes, "You just live a comfortable life and I'll look after my daughter."
Wu Xianggui finally agreed to arrange Peony's marriage, but she was obviously reluctant. Actually, the marriage of a daughter involved dowry purchasing and date selection, but she made trouble by stalling. For example, she took Peony to the fields of the Wangs to learn how to check the crops, estimate the harvests of tenants and increase the rent on that basis. Wang Tu thought it was unnecessary, but Wu Xianggui found many reasons to give him, saying, "As Peony will marry a man from a rich family, she will face these affairs in the future. If she learns these things, the family fortune won't be dissipated even if she marries a man who doesn't attend to household affairs." Her words hid allusions and innuendos, and Wang Tu had to hold his tongue.
For Wang Tu, the terrible circumstance was not Wu Xianggui's purposeful delay but being unable to escape from Peony. On that night, he had slapped her. He originally hoped that the slap would effectively cut off the embarrassment and guilt, but he gradually found that he was wrong. Peony was crazy if not stupid. She didn't avoid him; instead, he couldn't avoid her. He came across her everywhere except in his and White Peony's room. The way she looked at him was different. It was not a look that a daughter should give her father, but the look that a girl longing for love has for a man. He had no choice but to slap her again and tell her harshly, "I'm your father!" But it was no use. In fact, it only made her more obsessed. It seemed he was a wizard whose slap had powerful magic. The way she looked at him was different and she blushed easily. It was she who would find him, but then she seemingly became shy, suddenly fearing to see him.
Wang Tu decided to move to the county.
He told Wu Xianggui, "I'll come back when you marry Peony off."
Wu Xianggui asked, "Why are you so unsatisfied with Peony?"
Wang Tu said nothing and left.
Peony was not in the mood to tour the fields with Wu Xianggui and learn needlework from her. After her father left, she liked to visit White Peony. When she saw her, she always asked, "When will my father come back?" It seemed she was unsatisfied no matter what answer White Peony gave. She didn't leave after asking, but just stayed and stared at White Peony. In fact, she was absent-minded at all times except when she was staring at White Peony.
"What are you thinking?" White Peony asked.
"It's none of your business," Peony replied.
"You want to get married, right?"
"No, it's you who wants to get married."
"I am married!" White Peony laughed, then added, "It'll be OK when you get married."
"Don't be complacent."
"You can be complacent after you get married."
"Even if you marry the best man, You're still just a concubine."
"Sure. But you'll be a legal wife after you get married."
"I'm glad you understand."
Peony squinted at White Peony's body, which seemed fully mature in sharp contrast with her own. Although Peony's chest was flat, she looked down on White Peony's body because she had begun to feel the change inside her. Her chest and abdomen were somehow telling her that her father's magic acts on her and her body would soon make it like White Peony's, and send out tinges of maturity like the spores of wild mushrooms even more strongly than White Peony.
That night, White Peony went to Wu Xianggui's room. Wu Xianggui was embroidering a pillow. White Peony asked, "Is this a dowry for Peony?" Wu Xianggui neither admitted it nor denied it. She thought White Peony's question unnecessary. White Peony said, "I'm not skilled, so I can't help you."
Wu Xianggui said, "I don't need help. I can embroider slowly."
"You should hurry up."
Wu Xianggui moved her eyes from the pillow, gave her an angry stare and said, "Wang Tu has only been away for two days. Can't you stand the loneliness?"
White Peony blushed. "I don't mean that. I'm in Peony's shoes."
Surprised, Wu Xianggui asked, "In Peony's shoes?"
"Haven't you noticed that Peony is different?"
Wu Xianggui suddenly scowled and said in a deep voice, "You're not in a position to intervene in my daughter's business."
Wu Xianggui finally decided to seize the day to marry Peony off.
Peony's fiancé was Deng Yipin, Deng Dajiao's eldest son. Deng Yipin was already over eighteen and had been hoping to get married for a long time. The matchmaker came to the Deng family home and asked Deng Dajiao whether he wanted his son to marry Peony early. He couldn't wait to tell the matchmaker, "Yes, yes, yes!" Deng Dajiao was delighted and asked the matchmaker to tell Wu Xianggui, "The sooner, the better."
The wedding day was selected by Wu Xianggui's uncle Mr. Wu, and the two families set about making preparations for the wedding.
Wu Xianggui asked Zhu Daxiu to call Wang Tu back. Following that, Peony got married. Brides must kowtow to their parents before leaving the family home. Wu Xianggui wept. When Peony came to her, her face was wet with tears. However, Peony didn't look at Wu Xianggui. She only looked at Wang Tu, giving him all her reluctance and complaints because he held the most important position in her heart. She didn't know what would happen in the future. She only knew that this man with magic power was behind her after her wedding, and the distance between them would grow further and further. She had already realized that her hopes had sunk low.
However, Deng Yipin rekindled her hope. She didn't know that Deng Yipin had sexual experience with a young woman who was more mature than him. All she knew was that Deng Yipin's sexual experience was richer than her father's, and his performance was better. She found that her insatiable desire was satisfied. She found that her father was not the only man with magic power; Deng Yipin had it too. When Peony visited her family home three days later, her face was full of pride originating from an abundance of satisfaction and her possession of a promising future. When she saw White Peony, she wore that pride on her face. She intended to show off, but it helped White Peony to rest assured.
