Ancient times

          It was noticed all over the Han manor that Jiangxue was no longer the person she used to be before the accident. She was no longer the weak and submissive girl she used to be. She was strong and now had an aura of pride surrounding her. She no longer did chores as she was forced to before, she wasn't clumsy anymore and she wasn't scared to stand up to anyone who tried to oppress she and the members of her courtyard.

        Mingxiang was the first to receive her defensiveness first hand. She came and met Jiangxue practicing her calligraphy in front of her room. "Jiangxue" called out Mingxiang.

         Snowfall slowly rose her head and stood up smiling slightly at Mingxiang, "greetings jiejie, what brings you to my here".

        "I'm I no longer welcome here" asked Mingxiang arrogantly.

     
        "Of course not I just didn't think that you'd leave the comfort of your courtyard to pay me a visit, either way now that you're here please take a seat" said Snowfall, ignoring the tension that had built up just by both of them standing in the same room.

           Mingxiang looked down at the tattered stool, afraid of ruining her dress, she kindly rejected the offer. "So let's quite the chitchat what do you want" asked Snowfall nonchalantly, continuing with her writing.

         Mingxiang was stunned by her boldness, never in her entire life had Jiangxue talked to her in such a manner, she was usually even too scared to look her in the eyes. She decided to brush it away and said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes "well Jiangxue if you must know, you have to wash my clothes today".

         "Oh" Snowfall replied, placing her brush back in place, finally seeming to have interest in what was being said. She pretended to think for awhile "but that's strange, among all the children from the family of Han, you have the most servants, why do you need me to wash your clothes" she asked.

           "B..b.. because I want you to wash it" replied Mingxiang not expecting Jiangxue(Snowfall) to actually question her.

            "No thanks, I'm busy" said Snowfall as she said uninterested, as she picked up her brush and continued with her writing.

            Mingxiang was stunned and angered by the audacity of the girl. She slammed her fist on the desk and screamed furiously "HOW DARE I TELL YOU TO DO SOMETHING AND YOU REFUSE".

           "Hey easy, don't spill the ink on my paper, I've been working on it for a while now, no need to ruin my effort" she said lifting up her paper away from the ink the avoid spillage and started to blow it to dry, completely ignoring Mingxiang.

          Mingxiang got angry and pull her by the arm, making her rise from her seat. "You dare ignore me, I am your elder sister and I'm telling you to wash my clothes, how dare you refuse me" she seethed angrily.

          Surprisingly, Snowfall pull her hand from the grip that Mingxiang thought was so powerful, pushing her a few steps back from the force of the release. She raised her hand and pointed at Mingxiang saying "you listen here young lady, I am the eldest di daughter of this family, borne of the legitimate wife of this family and I won't let an ordinary shu daughter abuse me, motherless or not I still stand as the only pride of this family so you better watch what you do, remember zumu has entrusted extra eyes around the manor so you better be careful what you say or do because it can lead you to a whole lot more trouble than you bargained for".

 
          "Are you threatening me" Mingxiang asked in disbelief.

          "No I'm politely asking you to give me your clothes to wash, of course I'm threatening you, unlike you I don't hide my intentions, I make them loud and clear" replied Snowfall sarcastically.

           Mingxiang just stared at Snowfall dumbfounded, her lips parted as she stared at the timid little girl she once use to bully becoming an empress in her own realm. She only recovered from her shock when her maid nudged her side with an elbow. She then glared hatefully towards Snowfall. "You are really pushing your luck girl, and soon all that luck will run out, let's go juntao, I shall not be humiliated further" she said as she stormed out.

         Just as she was about to leave she heard Snowfall call out to Bai Jun "come Bai Jun, come and hang the name of the courtyard, I finally finished it". She decided to hide at a corner and see her terrible handwriting for herself.

 
            She was dumbstruck when she saw the refined calligraphy of Jiangxue (Snowfall). It was so neat and beautiful, she doubted if she had seen a prettier calligraphy than those of Jiangxue, she wasn't even sure that those of the royal family were this beautiful. She knew that consort Yi was educated but wasn't trained in the arts of calligraphy so how could Jiangxue possibly have such a beautiful handwriting? She had never seen any scholar with such refined calligraphy. Something was off and she intended to find out, could it be that Jiangxue was replaced by an evil spirit after she fell into the pool? No no no, evil spirits didn't possess weaklings she told herself. She continued to wonder as she walked back to her courtyard.

          Back at her courtyard, Mingxiang went to her mother's room to rant. She was so angry, insulting and cursing Jiangxue as she reported the incident to her mother. She broke a cup when she narrated Snowfall's threat.

        Consort chen stayed quiet as she watched her daughter rant. All this year's that she'd trained her to keep calm and handle every situation with patience felt like it had gone to waste. She shook her head after she broke a cup. When Mingxiang was done ranting, she asked "are you done" as she sipped her tea.

         Mingxiang was shocked by her mother's attitude, she had just narrated how Jiangxue humiliated her and there she was drinking tea like nothing in the world was happening. "Mother what do you mean I'm I done, didn't you hear what I just said! That whore's daughter humiliated me and your sitting there drinking tea!" she asked angrily.

          "Well you are the one who let yourself be humiliated, I have always told you to handle every situation with patience and planning but it seems all my lessons are to no avail" replied consort chen, nursing her cup of tea.

           "But how was I supposed to know she would threaten me, all her life she has always been meek, silent and submissive. How was I supposed to know she'll change overnight" she retorted impatiently.

          "Well if you had use your brain you wouldn't have been humiliated like that, you would have averted disaster before it was too late!" Consort chen snapped at her. "Either way it has passed, we will just have to look for a way to humiliate her at the lantern festival, after all that old witcb said she must come, so we'll use it as the perfect opportunity to humiliate her in front of the whole capital, besides we've received an invitation to celebrate with the empress this again this year".

         "But what are we going to do mother" Mingxiang asked curiously.

         "Come here, you know the walls have ears" said consort chen as Mingxiang moved closer to hear her whispered plan.

         The next day, Snowfall was in front of her courtyard looking at her beautiful calligraphy. She was now grateful to her parents for forcing her to take calligraphy classes, it was like they knew her future. At the thought of her parents. she saddened. She missed them terribly, she wondered what was happening now over at there time. Did Jiangxue really go back to replace her.... or are they all alone worried sick about there missing daughter. She was so lost in her sadness that she didn't notice Bai Jun walk towards her.

         "My lady" Bai Jun called out, making Snowfall jump a little, dragging her from her thoughts. "Sorry to disturb you my lady but the dressmaker is here, said Bai Jun, her eyes dancing with excitement.

        
          Snowfall forced a smile on her face and said "alright, bring her to the visiting room".

         Sheng Yourong was the most popular and best tailor in the capital. She was born of a famous merchant family known as the Sheng clansman that we're  known all over the capital. Her talents were so refined, she only tailored for the imperial family and high ranking officials. As she was lead to the jewels courtyard, she couldn't help but notice the fine calligraphy hanging above the entrance. She had never see one so beautiful. Bai Jun noticed her staring and praised smugly "my lady's hand writing is truly amazing".

          "Your lady wrote this" Miss Sheng asked in amazement. Bai Jun nodded happily. "Wherever did she learn such regal handwriting" she inquired eagerly.

           "No one thought her, consort Yi only taught her how to write, she didn't teach her the arts of calligraphy, I guess my lady is just blessed" said Bai Jun happily.

            Sheng Yourong was shocked, how could such a young lady write such beautiful calligraphy without a teacher. She continued to stare at the words trying to see if she could recognize the handwriting from any of the famous scholars.

          Seeing that Miss Sheng was still in a daze, Bai Jun quickly butted into her thoughts saying "we best be going now Miss Sheng, my lady is waiting for you".

          "Ah yes, let's go" replied Sheng Yourong, not before taking one last glance at the beautiful calligraphy.

          Inside the courtyard, Miss Sheng was shocked. This was the ugliest courtyard she had ever seen. How could the eldest di daughter of the family be living in such a horrid place, she mused. She had seen the other courtyards and how beautiful and we'll furnished they were, how come this one was different. Was it possible that the miss was so ugly and ill-mannered that they felt she should leave under such terrible conditions.

            She waited in the visiting hall for the miss to show up. She was eager to see this mysterious di daughter of the Han family that had been hidden away from the world due to her poor health, as it was said. But what she didn't expect was that she would be so beautiful.

           Snowfall stepped in scanning the room before her eyes set on the dressmaker. She smiled kindly towards her. Sheng Yourong was shocked, she was so beautiful, even more than Han Mingxiang. Her skin was the colour of ivory, ever so fair, and her hair was a dark black charcoal colour flowing over her back as she didn't wear a hair pin or even bother to tame it. It was obvious she only combed it and let it flow wildly. She also had a pair of perfectly pink lips, and cute dimples when she smiled. She looked like an angel descending heaven, even with her old clothes.

          After her a cute girl of fourteen followed behind her. She was practically bubbling with excitement. She was also very pretty, but not comparable with her sister's. "Greetings Miss Sheng" both sisters greeted, pulling her out of her reverie.

         "Greetings second miss and sixth miss" she said quickly curtseying. The angel in rags quickly helped her up. "oh there's no need for such formalities Miss Sheng. Come let's look at the materials" She said smiling kindly.

           "Oh yes, bring the bolts of clothes in" Miss Sheng instructed her apprentices. Several bolts of material of different colours wear brought in. Ningjing excitedly starting picking her own materials.

          Snowfall looked at the materials, although they were in no way comparable to modern textiles, they weren't bad. If Snowfall had ever bothered to learn anything about clothing she would have probably advised her on how to improve her materials but then again she was never interested in textile making, she only liked to wear.

           As she looked around, Miss Sheng came towards her and asked "I see you haven't picked anything yet my lady". Snowfall turned around and saw that Ningjing already picked a lot of materials with pretty colours such as pink, yellow, lavender etc. She also saw that consort Yi had joined them and had started picking some materials for herself.

          "Well Miss Sheng, if you must know I want all my dresses to be either ivory and royal blue, or silver and royal blue or white and red. And I want my dress for the festival to be white..." said Snowfall.

          "But Miss, white is a mourning Colo...." Interrupted miss Sheng but was cut off by Snowfall.

          "Hold your horses Miss Sheng, I'm not done yet. I said I want it to be white with red linings, and golden embroidery" finished Snowfall.

          Miss Sheng's eyes widened, she hadn't ever tried such a style before. As she thought about it, it might actually come out great.

         By now everyone in the room were already staring at Snowfall. She simply ignored them and asked "are you all done, choosing your materials". With no reply she continued "well then let's go and get our measurements taken, Bai Jun get me a hair band to hold my hair in place, it shouldn't get in Miss Sheng's way" she instructed. Although she was now in the past where it was required for a lady to tame and style her hair, she still preferred to let it loose. She was even about to shorten it's length before she got here, but well she guessed things were delayed for this reason. 

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          Hello lovelies, longest times. This is the latest chapter of faces of time hope you enjoy and please tell me what you think about it. Thanks for reading, please vote. Lady Phoenix loves you😘😘😘.