The night died. Darkness reigns in this grand mansion. The mournful cry of the dying electric light still reverberated in the air, and although it was low, it was omnipresent, and there seemed to be an extremely low cry even in the corner of the house. The time of joy has passed, and it is time to weep.

People lie down, take off the masks they wore during the day, and settle the day's ledger. They opened their hearts, their "corners of the soul", that hidden corner. They regret it, they weep, they waste it, they lose it, they live a miserable life. Naturally, there were a few proud people among the people, but they were already asleep contentedly. Those who are unfortunate are left, those who are disappointed, mourning their fate in the unwarm bed. Whether it's day or night, the world has two different faces, for two different people.

In the servant's room, a clay oil lamp gave a faint glow, and a large lamp flower hung down on the wick, and burned with a cry, making the room even more black. On the two wooden beds on the right, Sister-in-law He, who was thirty years old with Young Master Sun, and Sister-in-law Zhang, who was serving the eldest lady, snored intermittently. On the left there is also an identical wooden bed, on which sleeps the gray-haired old yellow mother; There was also a smaller bed, and the sixteen-year-old maidservant Mingfeng sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the lights infatuatedly.

It stands to reason that she had worked hard all day, and when Mrs. and Miss had slept well and temporarily regained the freedom of her body, she should rest early. However, during these days, Ming Feng seems to attach great importance to these free times. She wants to enjoy them and refuses to let them go easily, so she doesn't want to go to bed early. She's thinking, she's thinking. She was enjoying this rare "leisure", no one came to disturb her, and the voices of orders and scolding that rang in her ears all day long were gone.

Like everyone else, she was busy and laughing during the day wearing a mask, and at this time, in the precious free time she had recently had, she also took off the mask and opened her heart to see her "corner of the soul".

"I've been here for seven years," the first thought came to mind, which had been tormenting her a lot lately. Seven years is a long time! She often wondered how the seven years of her life had passed so uneventfully. Although a lot of tears were shed and a lot of beatings and scoldings were eaten, it was very common after all. Shedding tears and eating and scolding have become the embellishments of her ordinary life. She thought it was inevitable, and although she didn't necessarily want it to come, she had to endure it. She felt that everything in the world was arranged by an omnipotent and omniscient god, and that it was destined that she would come to this point. This is her simple faith, and it is exactly what others tell her.

But there was something else at work in her heart. She didn't know it existed, but it was starting to move. It stirred up a longing for her.

"I've been here for seven years, and I'm going to turn over eight years!" She suddenly felt the monotony of this existence, and felt a little sad in her heart, and began to lament her fate like those maidens of her kind. "When the eldest lady is here, she often talks to me about her destiny, and I don't know where my future destination is?" A vast wilderness appeared before her eyes, and there was no bright place to go. A familiar face shook before her eyes. "If the eldest lady is still here, then there is someone who cares about me. She taught me many things and taught me to read and write. She's dead now. It's pathetic. Good people don't live long! She muttered to herself, tears watering her eyes as she said this.

"I don't know how long it will be like this?" She asked herself sadly. The scenes of the past are back with horror. Her memories begin like this: Seven years ago, also in the snow, a vicious-looking middle-aged woman took her from her father, who had killed his wife, and sent her to the mansion. So he listened to orders, did hard work, shed tears, ate and scolded one after another. It all became an important event in her life. Ordinary, always so ordinary. In the meantime, she had some beautiful dreams like other girls of the same age, but these dreams passed in an instant. The cold, unforgiving reality always stands in front of her. She had also dreamed of fancy toys, gorgeous clothes, delicious food, and warm bedding, as the ladies she served enjoyed. However, the days passed with her pain, and they did not bring back anything new, not even new hope.

"Oh fate, everything is predestined." She comforted herself with such words, even when she thought of eating and scolding. "If only my life were as good as the ladies," she thought again! So she indulged in fantasies, imagining herself wearing beautiful clothes, enjoying the pampering of her parents, and being adored by the young masters. Later, a handsome young master came and took her away, and she lived happily in his house.

"Nothing, what a delusion," she smiled, as if reproaching herself. "That's not where I end!" Thinking of this, she restrained her smile again. She knew very well that her fate would never be like that. The truth will be that when she is quite old, his wife says to her, "You have done enough." A small sedan chair carried her out, and made her marry a man whom her wife had chosen, whom she did not know, perhaps a man in his thirties and forties. So she lived in poverty in that man's house, doing things for him, bore him children, or even returned to her old mansion after ten or twenty days to serve her old master, except that at that time she could get a little pay and not be scolded often. "Isn't that the Xi'er in the fifth wife's room?" She thought.

"It's really terrifying, isn't this kind of destination the same as no home?" Thinking about her future, she shuddered. She remembered that since Xi'er came back after she got married, her braids were changed to a bun, and she often saw Xi'er hiding in the garden alone and weeping. Xi'er sometimes tells people how her husband treats her badly. All this is just to predict Mingfeng's own fate.

"It's better to die like the eldest lady!" She sighed bitterly. The darkness around her enveloped her. The light became fainter as the sparks increased. On the opposite bed, the snoring of Sister-in-law Zhang and Sister-in-law He went straight to her ears. She stood up lazily, plucked the wick, and removed the spark, and her eyes lit up a lot. She felt a little more relaxed, so she looked at the bed opposite. The obese sister-in-law Zhang fell asleep on her side, the cover pressed heavily on her body, revealing only a messy hair and a small half of her face. Her snoring, which was similar to a strange scream, came out of the quilt one by one. Ming Feng scolded: "Sleep like this!" She smiled wryly.

The smile didn't take the weight off her heart. Darkness is still coming from all sides. Many smiling faces loomed in the darkness. The faces were closing in on her. Some of them turned into angry faces and opened their mouths to curse her. Timidly, she covered her eyes with her hands and sat down again.

The wind began to howl outside, shaking the windows violently, beating the paper on the panes miserably. The cold air filtered through the pasted window paper. The room suddenly became cold. The lights were shaking, too. A chill came from her sleeves. She shuddered again, then lowered her hand and looked around again.

"Hmph, don't be scary with the fourth wife's signboard!" Sister-in-law He suddenly said a word on the opposite bed. Ming Feng was taken aback, stretched out his head and glanced at it. Sister-in-law He turned over. Dropped his face inside, and it didn't sound again.

"Well, let's sleep," Mingfeng sighed and said listlessly, unbuttoning his jacket. She unbuttoned all her outer clothes, leaving only one undershirt inside. Two piles of soft flesh bulging out of the undershirt on the chest.

"It's not too young. I don't know what kind of fate I will have in the future? She sighed again at the thought of this. Suddenly, the face of a young man appeared before her eyes. He seemed to be looking at her and smiling. She understood who he was. Her mind unfolded immediately. A glimmer of hope warmed her heart. She waited for him to reach out to her. She thought maybe he would save her from this life. But the face gradually rose into the air, higher and higher, and suddenly disappeared. She looked at the dusty roof with dreamy eyes.

A chill hit her open chest and brought her back from her dreamy situation. She rubbed her eyes and lamented, "It's just a dream." She reluctantly looked around again, then took off her cotton pants, took off her clothes and pressed them on the quilt, and quickly got into the bed.

At this time, there was nothing, and the two big words kept spinning in her head, which was the "thin life" that the eldest lady often talked to her about before her death.

These two words kept whipping her heart, and she began to cry under the covers. The sound is low. She was afraid to wake people up. The lights dimmed again. The wind sighed loudly outside.