Chapter 60: Quasi Mistress
The next day at dawn, Da Qiao pushed Gan Ning awake. “General, get up quickly!”
“Mm! What time is it now?”
“It’s exactly two quarters past mao!”
Two quarters past mao is six-thirty. Gan Ning flipped over and sat up. Da Qiao hurriedly put shoes and socks on him, then went to fetch the chamber pot. Gan Ning quickly waved his hand. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll handle it myself. You go call two maidservants to fetch hot water.”
Da Qiao had been lost in wild thoughts all night. She had figured it out: the general cared about her and wouldn’t share a room with her. But since she was already his woman, she couldn’t keep avoiding certain things forever. She just needed to adapt slowly.
She stubbornly stood by without moving. Gan Ning glanced at her and saw that although her face was flushed with shame, her gaze was very determined.
He sighed inwardly. Women of the Three Kingdoms Period really were different!
He had no choice but to get up and relieve himself. Da Qiao fetched a wet towel and silently followed him, standing nearby.
Gan Ning laughed. “Why don’t you turn around? If you keep watching like this, I can’t pee!”
Da Qiao had no choice but to blush and turn away. Gan Ning finally peed freely and quickly put it away.
Da Qiao turned back around, holding the wet towel, and paused. “General, shouldn’t you wipe it clean?”
“This… no need for now. We’ll talk about it later!”
Gan Ning was extremely embarrassed and hurriedly turned to leave.
Whether it was Gan Ning from his previous life or this era, he had always been from a rough background and had no idea that the lifestyle of wealthy families could be so extravagant and particular.
Gan Ning’s two maidservants were named Chun Shui and Qiu Lu. They lived in the side room next to the courtyard. Strictly speaking, the room where Da Qiao lived was where they should stay. But Gan Ning didn’t want them serving him and originally planned to send them to the front courtyard. They knelt and begged for a long time before he let them stay.
The maidservants had already fetched hot water. Gan Ning washed up, then sat down to let Da Qiao comb his hair.
Gan Ning had a question weighing heavily on his mind. He finally couldn’t hold back and asked, “Da Qiao, how do you know to wipe it clean?”
Da Qiao’s face turned red. She immediately understood and gently pinched him, then whispered in his ear with a laugh, “Don’t overthink it. Mother taught me yesterday. I’ve never seen that ugly thing before.”
“Oh! I see.”
Gan Ning’s heart settled. After a pause, he smiled and asked, “What else did your mother teach you?”
Da Qiao tapped his head with the comb. “You rascal, I’m not telling you.”
“Tell me!”
“Fine! Mother told me to serve you well. It’s very cold, so at night I have to warm your bed.”
“That sounds good!”
Da Qiao gave him a glance. “I’ve thought about it. I’ll prepare a bed warmer for you. Tonight, it can warm your bed.”
“That works too!”
Gan Ning gave a dry laugh. “Anything else?”
“There are other things, but not now. Wait until I slowly adapt. Anyway, she said those things are too shameful. I… I don’t want to do them.”
“Alright! We’ll take it slow.”
At this moment, Chun Shui curtsied at the door. “Master, Madam, breakfast is ready.”
Da Qiao jumped in fright and was about to speak when Gan Ning took her hand and said to Chun Shui, “Have the butler call everyone.”
“Yes!” Chun Shui hurried off.
Da Qiao said anxiously, “General, I’m not the madam!”
“Why not? In the future, you’ll be Madam Da Qiao, and your younger sister will be Madam Xiao Qiao. If there are other women, they can be called Madam Zhang, Madam Wang, Madam Xu, and so on.”
In the late Han and Three Kingdoms Period, due to warfare, the gap between wife and concubine wasn’t large. Generally, it was the mother who was honored by her son, just like how Cao Cao’s main wife was Madam Ding, but he valued his concubine Madam Bian more.
Liu Bei was the same. He valued Concubine Gan more because she bore him Liu Chan. So it didn’t matter who was wife or concubine—what mattered was the son. Whoever bore a son had higher status.
Moreover, in this period, marrying widows was normal. Most of Cao Cao’s women were remarriages, including Sun Quan’s Wangfei Madam Xu, who was also a widow.
It wasn’t until the later Cao Wei period, after the Nine Ranks system was established, that the distinctions between wife and concubine, legitimate and illegitimate, and scholar-commoner became an insurmountable gulf.
Of course, madam was one rank higher than concubine, equivalent to equal wife, only slightly below main wife. That was why Da Qiao jumped in fright—she could only be called Qiao Shi even as a concubine.
After bearing a son, the mother would be honored by him and receive an imperial title to be called madam. Otherwise, only the main wife could be called madam.
But Gan Ning didn’t care about all that. He called all his wives and concubines madam.
“But… I’m not ready yet!” Da Qiao said anxiously.
“I know, but these people are very snobbish. If they find out you’re not yet my woman, they’ll look down on you, pay lip service while acting otherwise, or even bully you. So I have to make the rules clear to them. Even if you’re just the prospective female master of the house now, you are still the female master.”
Da Qiao was moved and hugged Gan Ning’s waist, nestling in his arms. She looked up and whispered, “Give me some time. I’ll slowly become your true woman!”
Soon, the butler and all the servants assembled in the courtyard. Gan Ning led Da Qiao to the courtyard and pointed at her, saying to everyone, “This is my wife. You can call her Madam Qiao. From today on, she is in charge of all affairs in the household.”
Everyone curtsied together. “Greetings, Madam Qiao!”
Da Qiao’s pretty face flushed slightly, but she mustered her courage and said to everyone, “As long as everyone follows the house rules and doesn’t make mistakes, you’ll slowly find out after spending time together that I’m easy to get along with.”
Gan Ning went to the government office, but Xiao Qiao sneaked over to see her older sister.
Xiao Qiao’s little face was excited. “Elder Sister, you’re the prefect’s madam now?”
“Who said that behind my back?”
“Everyone in the household is saying it! Didn’t General Gan announce it publicly this morning? From now on, they call you Madam Qiao.”
“Actually, I wasn’t prepared for this at all.”
Xiao Qiao smiled ambiguously. “Did you two do it last night?”
“No, General Gan and I share a room but not a bed. I sleep in the next room. He said to wait until I’m a bit older.”
“That won’t do!”
Xiao Qiao got straight to the point. “What if he has a child with another woman? When that woman brings the child into the household, what will you be?”
Da Qiao was stunned. She had never thought of that. Would General Gan find another woman outside?
Xiao Qiao looked at her older sister for a moment and saw her dazed expression. She sighed. “Sigh! I knew it. No wonder everyone calls you Qiao Woodhead. You’re so clueless. Good thing I asked.”
“Little Sister, you’re still young. Don’t worry too much about these things. You don’t understand.”
“I’m younger than you, but I’ve understood more than you since I was little. I know very well: you’re Madam Da Qiao, I’m Madam Xiao Qiao. We sisters have to stick together! Elder Sister, tell me the truth: does he dislike you?”
Da Qiao knew her younger sister was a little imp, clever beyond her years. She sighed. “General Gan doesn’t dislike me. He just said I’m not fully grown yet, and sexual intercourse would hurt me. In another two years, we’ll truly sleep together.”
“I’ve never heard of a man who dislikes small ones. Don’t those men like small ones?”
Da Qiao said in surprise, “Who told you that?”
“In Wan County, those men gathered in the Plum Pavilion all day talking about such things. I hid behind the wall and eavesdropped. Women do the same—they chat about sexual intercourse whenever they’re free.”
Da Qiao was stunned. “How did I not know?”
“You’re Qiao Woodhead! You’re always writing or painting. When do you care about such things?”
After a long pause, Da Qiao said, “General Gan really is different from ordinary people.”
Xiao Qiao giggled. “Whether he’s different or not, you have to try to find out.”
Da Qiao’s pretty face darkened. “A Yu, don’t mess around.”
Xiao Qiao winked mischievously. “Don’t worry! I know my limits. I won’t let my future husband dislike me.”
