On the day of their full moon celebration, [1]In the flower hall, Zhenyuan's face was as unyielding as polished jade. "The Second Miss shall be adopted into the first branch," he decreed.
"How can this be?" Liu Meiyuan, the second madam, gasped, her voice trembling. "We are her parents! She belongs in us!" She turned to the Grand Matriarch, her forehead hitting the floor in a desperate kowtow. "Mother, have mercy! Let me keep my child!"
"Silence!" Old Madame Guo's voice cut through the air. "Do you wish to deny your own daughter the status of a lineal heir of the first branch? She will be a phoenix among birds!"
Long Hongshan looked at his brother, his expression hardening into a mask of pragmatic resolve. "I agree to the arrangement, brother. "
As the second madam's protests died in her throat, Zhenyuan spoke with a finality that chilled the room. "It is settled. Your branch will be compensated beyond measure. From this day, the Second Miss must never know her true origin, and the firstborn… she shall be known as the twin of the second miss."
Along with the elevation of the Second Miss came the exile of the first.
"She will live in the northwest corner," Old madame Guo decreed. "Let the courtyard be named the Autumn Cicada Pavilion." It was a fitting name—a place for a creature destined to cry out in the cold before dying in the frost."
Beside Long Zhenyuan, the First Madam sat like a wilting flower. She did not scream or plead. She knew the hierarchy of the Flower Hall too well. Beneath the watchful eyes of her husband and the Grand Matriarch, she was a wife first and a mother second. Silent tears traced paths through her powder, falling onto her silk robes as she bowed her head in a bitter, forced submission. She had accepted the death of her daughter's future.
Old Madame Guo took a sharp sip of her tea, her eyes narrowed. "It is the only way! Birth a jinx and you birth a fire that consumes the house. If we do not separate her, we will all be meeting our ancestors before the year is out!
She added.
"Mother's wisdom is absolute," Hongshan added, his voice steady and devoid of sentiment. "I, too, give my consent." With those words, the blood-bond was traded for political standing.
Just like that, the lineage was rewritten. Once the family pact was sealed in the Flower Hall, the "Great Cleaning" began. Within days, a new batch of servants arrived at the Long Manor—strangers with no memories of the previous month's births. They were blank slates, coached to recognize the Second Miss as the only jewel of the First Branch, while the path to the Northwest corner was quietly struck from their duties.
[1] When a baby is 30 days old