Zhang Shi thought: Fourth Daughter-in-law has heard quite a bit. She immediately said, “How can he just take whatever he wants? You don’t need to worry about this matter. I’ll dispel his notions myself. Tomorrow we’re taking in Mo Zi, and my heart has been uncomfortable about it all along. If Zheng’er wants to take in Bai He as well, you’re all deliberately trying to shorten my life. Sending away one, yet wanting to keep two to irritate my eyes. Mo Zi is one thing, but Bai He is a maid who’s grown up in the mansion since childhood. Old Fifth has seen her many times before but never took notice. How did he suddenly take a liking to her? Most likely that maid is shamelessly seducing my son.”
Jiang Suxin had met Bai He and spoken with her. If it weren’t for Qiu Si taking a fancy to Mo Zi, she would have preferred the kind and guileless Bai He. As for appearance, there was nothing to criticize—more delicate than flowers. One look told you she was a proper maiden, unlike Ai Lian and the maids Old Fifth usually played with, each and every one alluring with seductive eyes and bodies. Why would Bai He go seduce the frivolous and useless Qiu Wu? Most likely she had unintentionally caught Qiu Wu’s eye, making him fixate on her.
But of course Jiang Suxin wouldn’t say this to her mother-in-law. She just smiled as if in agreement.
“By the way, were you looking for me?” Since Jiang Suxin had heard so much, she must have been waiting quite a while and certainly came for some matter. “If it’s about Mo Zi, you needn’t say anything. When she returns, I’ll tell Sanniang to send her over to you on an auspicious day.”
“With Madam making the decisions on this matter, this daughter-in-law has no concerns.” Jiang Suxin’s tone remained neither cold nor warm as she said this.
Zhang Shi found this strange. When Jiang Suxin had initially approached her about helping Old Fourth take Mo Zi as a concubine, she’d gone on and on, leaving Zhang Shi unable to object in the end. Now, though the person hadn’t even agreed yet, Jiang Suxin had already become indifferent. Was this confidence, or had she changed her mind?
“Then what did you come for? Don’t tell me when you were looking at the dowry list with Sanniang, she was dissatisfied and showed you displeasure?” That was certainly possible. The eighty chests she’d cobbled together were each only half full, and everything was old stuff from the storehouse that nobody wanted. Calculated, it didn’t even amount to three thousand taels of silver. As for shops or estates, she hadn’t given a single one. She’d heard the master gave two properties, but she knew in her heart those were ancestral Qiu family properties that had long fallen into disrepair. If it were her, she’d definitely make a fuss.
“Sanniang looked over the list and said nothing, only thanked me and Madam for taking the trouble.” Everyone said Qiu Sanniang had a temperament fiery as flame, but Jiang Suxin thought otherwise. She remembered Qiu Sanniang’s expression after reading the list—that half-smile, the composed acceptance of what she’d already anticipated, the pride of not caring at all about Zhang Shi’s hundred forms of obstruction. At that moment, she’d thought: indeed, this was a woman chosen to marry into a prince’s mansion, with extraordinary bearing.
Zhang Shi first heard that Qiu Sanniang wouldn’t take Jiang Suxin’s silver, then heard that Qiu Sanniang could still say thank you after seeing such a dowry list. She couldn’t help but furrow her brow, feeling something was wrong, yet couldn’t figure out what.
“Could she be plotting something?” Though Zhang Shi was somewhat displeased with Jiang Suxin, she was ultimately her trusted daughter-in-law.
“She may not be plotting anything. She’s just too proud to complain. After all, this marriage is beyond reproach, and Madam has given approval. She should be grateful.” Jiang Suxin hadn’t come to figure out Qiu Sanniang’s thoughts. Someone about to marry out posed no threat to herself. “Madam, I came to ask you to help me identify something.”
Zhang Shi thought: What good thing would require her inspection? She then saw Jiang Suxin take a sachet from her sleeve, turn its opening downward over a pear-wood plate on the table, and pour out a perfectly round small ball.
The small ball was golden, with hollow carved patterns, and a consecrated sandalwood Buddhist bead in the center. Below the ball hung lake-blue silk tassels, and from the top dangled a gold chain twisted like two intertwined serpents.
Zhang Shi was so familiar with it because she had personally bought this gold ball as a birth-year birthday gift for Qiu Wu to ensure his safety.
“This gold ball is Zheng’er’s. How did it end up in your hands? Really, I’ve reminded him so many times to carry it with him this year to ward off evil and disasters. Old Fifth’s wife too—not helping to be mindful, letting him run wild.” A mother-in-law protecting her son by nature—anything bad was the daughter-in-law’s fault.
“I picked it up.” But Jiang Suxin’s face was deathly pale, her eyes sharp and fierce. “I picked it up together with this sachet. Fifth Brother’s gold ball was inside the sachet.”
Zhang Shi didn’t need to look closely. Just seeing the pair of lovebirds embroidered on the sachet, she knew it belonged to a woman. Looking up again, she found Jiang Suxin’s face extremely unpleasant, and silently groaned inwardly. Could it be that Zheng’er had taken up with some maid in the Fourth Household and casually gave her the gold ball, which Jiang Suxin discovered? This son of hers—just moments ago he was here making a fuss about wanting Bai He, yet he’d given such a precious item to another maid. Really quite the troublemaker.
“Perhaps Zheng’er was afraid of losing it and gave it to a maid in his household to keep safe, but the foolish maids took it outside and forgot to bring it back. Fortunately you found it, otherwise who knows who might have secretly stolen it to sell for money.” Zhang Shi reached out to take the gold ball.
But Jiang Suxin clenched it tightly in her palm. “Madam, don’t rush. First look whose sachet this is.”
Zhang Shi was displeased. What was this? Was she going to pursue this with her? Even if Qiu Wu had touched one of her dowry maids, she was just a maid. At worst, she’d have Zheng’er elevate her maid to concubine status. Why should she have to look at her daughter-in-law’s displeasure?
“Suxin, what do you mean by this? You know Zheng’er is playful and loves romantic affairs. But he’s still young, his temperament not yet settled. After playing around for a few years, he’ll naturally settle down. If he’s offended one of your maids, you have every right to be angry. Tell me about it, and I won’t wrong her. But if you’re going to pursue this endlessly, isn’t that going a bit far?”
“Madam wrongs me. If Fifth Brother took a fancy to one of my foolish maids, it would be their good fortune. But this sachet—” Jiang Suxin’s dowry maids had been selected one by one by her natal family’s matron—capable, clever, and sensible, but absolutely not beautiful.
Before Jiang Suxin finished speaking, Zhang Shi anxiously picked up the sachet to examine it. The embroidery was extremely fine and extremely familiar.
Paired lovebirds, twin lotus flowers, verdant mugwort by the water’s edge.
She quickly called Ai Xing to fetch a pair of new pillowcases from the inner room for comparison. Except for the absence of lovebirds, the embroidered patterns of lotus flowers and mugwort were identical to those on the sachet.
Not understanding the situation, Ai Xing even said, “Madam, this is Sister Ai Lian’s sachet, isn’t it?”
Zhang Shi felt as if struck by five thunderbolts. For a moment she was stupefied, her mouth working wordlessly for a long time, her entire body trembling.
Jiang Suxin sent Ai Xing away, stood up and came forward, gently patting Zhang Shi’s back, saying, “Madam, please don’t be anxious, lest you harm your health. As for what exactly happened, we need to investigate carefully to know.”
Zhang Shi’s vision darkened and she nearly fainted. With great difficulty she recovered, pushed Jiang Suxin away, collapsed limply on the soft couch, and said through gritted teeth, “What more is there to investigate? The evidence is plainly laid out here. That little harlot is shameless, actually seducing her husband’s younger brother. You… where did you pick this up?” Despite cursing like that, she still held a thread of hope, after all Ai Lian had once been her most trusted senior maid.
“I picked it up in…” Jiang Suxin saw Zhang Shi’s well-maintained face suddenly show signs of age, and didn’t know whether she should continue.
“Speak!” Zhang Shi’s eyes flashed open with ruthless determination.
Seeing this, Jiang Suxin didn’t dare hesitate. She said, “In Ai Lian’s room. She wasn’t feeling well this morning, so I went to check on her. I was sitting in the main hall when suddenly this sachet fell down from the roof beam. The sachet wasn’t tied securely, and the gold ball rolled out. Not only did I see it, all the maids widened their eyes. However, I’ve already instructed them not to speak carelessly. This gold ball—I had indeed seen it with Fifth Brother, but I feared I’d seen wrong, so I came to Madam to ask.”
“Then the child in Ai Lian’s belly…” Unwilling to think in that direction, but unable not to, Zhang Shi’s voice trembled with rage. “Doesn’t your husband know in his own heart? Also, didn’t you help calculate the dates?”
Jiang Suxin’s face flushed, but she still had to say, “Madam, at this point I can’t keep hiding it from you. My husband really didn’t go to Ai Lian’s room many times. Each time I had to urge him repeatedly to go. After the New Year, I hardly let Ai Lian serve him at all. After Ai Lian became pregnant, my husband came to ask me about it, because he didn’t remember entering Ai Lian’s room. I did remember one time. That day my husband was drunk, and I happened to be on my monthly cycle. Afraid of bringing him bad luck, I had the maids help him to Ai Lian’s room. I thought it was most likely that time, but when I told my husband, he couldn’t remember it at all.”
“How foolish, not remembering such a thing.” Zhang Shi wanted to sit up but was completely without strength.
“Madam, don’t be anxious. Based solely on a gold ball and a sachet, it may not mean anything.” Even to Jiang Suxin’s own ears, this statement lacked credibility.
Naturally Zhang Shi believed it even less. “You needn’t try to console me. If this were reversed, saying Ming’er was having an illicit affair with a maid in Fifth Household, with evidence so clear, I wouldn’t believe it either. But Zheng’er—I’ve always considered him young and ignorant. In any case, the maids who fool around with him aren’t decent girls anyway, so I’ve let him run wild in the garden. That little hussy Ai Lian—though I doted on her, I saw through her petty cleverness. Since Ming’er doesn’t enter her room, she must want to have someone to rely on. Status through bearing a son has worked since ancient times. With her capabilities, seducing Zheng’er would be as easy as turning her hand. I just truly didn’t think she’d dare to think it and dare to do it. Though she’s only a chamber maid, she’s equal to Ming’er as husband and wife. Having an affair with Zheng’er disrupts moral order. If it’s truly so—”
Zhang Shi suddenly couldn’t catch her breath, the pain clutching at her heart, sweat covering her face.
“Madam, please stay calm.” Jiang Suxin hurriedly rubbed her back. She couldn’t interject now—she had to see what her mother-in-law wanted.
“If it’s truly so, the child in Ai Lian’s belly cannot be kept, and also…” Zhang Shi didn’t finish her words, but her gaze was cold as forest frost, without a trace of mercy.
Jiang Suxin was also a woman of means, in some aspects even stronger than Zhang Shi, but to help handle such a matter—this was her first time, like a maiden ascending a bridal sedan. She felt fear just looking at Zhang Shi’s expression. Yet she also understood clearly that showing weakness now, if this matter got out, the Qiu family’s reputation would be finished. Especially the several unmarried young ladies—they could probably forget about any good marriage prospects.
So she calmed herself down and said to Zhang Shi, “Madam, in my opinion, let’s not alarm Ai Lian first. What if the child in her belly is my husband’s? Wouldn’t it be a pity to abort it? Better to ask Fifth Brother first. Doesn’t he want you to obtain Bai He for him? You can use this to test the waters. Moreover, Fifth Brother is filial. If you ask, he won’t fail to tell you honestly.”
Jiang Suxin used the banner of filial piety for Qiu Wu, making Zhang Shi feel slightly better. In truth, this younger son of hers was wildly reckless to the point of shamelessness. Anyone he’d fooled around with—as long as she asked, he had no qualms admitting it all.
She sent someone to call back Qiu Wu who had just left. Zhang Shi prayed to Buddha in her heart for there to be nothing wrong.
A spring swallow, its wings skimming the wind, suddenly folded them and dove into a secluded corner outside Green Lake, vanishing from sight.