Ever since that night when Xu Sizhun met with his accident, the Eleventh Miss had not seen Cha Xiang again.
In the face of survival, every person is no more than a mayfly.
The Eleventh Miss did not wish for Xu Sizhun to encounter such truths too soon, yet neither did she wish to deceive him.
“Cha Xiang is your personal maid, and her duty is to take good care of you. In the dead of night, she took you out without informing the Grand Madam or Nanny Du, made a decision she had no authority to make — she had already failed in her duty. She cannot come back to serve you.”
Xu Sizhun was taken aback.
He had asked many people, including Nanny Du, and all had said that as long as he recuperated properly and recovered his health, the Grand Madam would be pleased and might very well allow Cha Xiang to return to his service. This was the first time anyone had told him so plainly and directly: Cha Xiang could not come back.
“But,” Xu Sizhun could not help but speak up on Cha Xiang’s behalf, “it was I who told her to take me out. Cha Xiang was merely following orders.”
“She is older than you and knows more than you. That is precisely why the Grand Madam assigned her to your rooms — and even gave her authority over Bi Luo and the others. Whether with a master or with a child, to communicate like this is rare and valuable. The Eleventh Miss answered Xu Sizhun with patience and care. “You were in the wrong, and she should have pointed it out and stopped you. If the difference in status made it impossible for her to stop you directly, she should have informed Nanny Du, who oversaw her. Instead she made her own private decision and took you out.”
Xu Sizhun lowered his eyes.
Mother’s reasoning was sound. But for some reason, it left a strange feeling in his heart.
He thought it over for a long while, then said: “But — but she is only a maid?”
“Exactly,” the Eleventh Miss said with a smile. “That is why some maids and manservants rise to become stewards and head-matrons, while some little maids are married off when they come of age and some manservants run errands for those same stewards until they are old. Some maids and manservants earn two taels of silver a month and are often rewarded by their masters; others have no monthly wages at all and are frequently penalized. This also has to do with how diligently a person does their work.”
Xu Sizhun listened, and gave a slow, thoughtful nod.
The Eleventh Miss smiled and drew him close by the shoulder: “All right — get some rest early. First thing tomorrow morning, I must ask the outer household stewards to send three sacrificial offerings to Tao Mama.”
A look of grief returned to Xu Sizhun’s face.
Some things must be taken slowly.
The Eleventh Miss watched Xu Sizhun lie down, pulled a thin blanket over him, moved the lamp to the outer room, gave a few instructions to the wet nurse, and then went out the door.
The Grand Madam had not yet retired and was speaking with Nanny Du about something. Seeing the Eleventh Miss come out, the old lady smiled and beckoned her over with a wave of her hand: “Come and sit.”
The Eleventh Miss smiled and sat down beside the Grand Madam. The Grand Madam took her hand: “Did you go to tell Zhun Ge about Tao Mama?”
Nanny Du personally brought over a cup of hot tea.
The Eleventh Miss nodded: “I did.” She added: “I waited until I saw him settle down to sleep before coming out.”
The Grand Madam let out a quiet sigh, then said: “Today Nanny Du went to see Qin Yiniang. She is not doing well — her speech is confused, and she didn’t even recognize Nanny Du. I think you had better send another person to Le’an to ask Yu Ge to return home sooner.”
Whether Qin Yiniang was truly ill or not — everyone present knew the truth. Nanny Du had gone to Luoye Mountain, and Qin Yiniang’s condition had worsened… The Eleventh Miss’s expression grew faintly dim, and she replied: “Yes.”
That night, as she lay thinking over all that had happened these past weeks, sleep was nowhere to come. Not wanting to wake Xu Lingyi lying beside her, she lay perfectly still, staring blankly at the sachet hanging from the canopy above.
Xu Siyu was not the same as Xu Sizhun — a few comforting words would not see him through.
“Better to read a thousand books than to travel ten thousand miles.” Over the past two years, he had been traveling back and forth between Yanjing and Le’an, studying under that celebrated teacher Master Jiang — he was nothing like the second young master who had once been raised up in the inner quarters by women. And yet the people in the household had very little contact with him and did not truly understand how he had changed. If one were to lay out before him, in plain and complete terms, everything that Qin Yiniang had done — that might clear the responsibility for Xu Lingyi, the Grand Madam, even for herself. But what of the bond between them?
Can a bond between people be disentangled by something as clear-cut as responsibility?
And who was there to comfort and guide this fourteen-year-old boy?
The Eleventh Miss thought of the Second Madam.
She still remembered that when Xu Siyu had wanted to change his manservant, Qin Yiniang had urgently sent word to the Second Madam, who was then at the Western Hills retreat… Qin Yiniang had not gone to the Grand Madam, had not gone to Xu Lingyi — she had gone to the Second Madam alone, and the Second Madam had not disappointed her, arranging at once for Xiao Lu to attend Xu Siyu at his side. In Qin Yiniang’s heart, was the Second Madam someone she trusted even more than the Grand Madam or Xu Lingyi? And then there was Xu Siyu — who, having listened to the Second Madam’s counsel that day, had let go of his grudge and gone off to Le’an in good spirits. Each time he returned from Le’an, he would go and pay his respects to the Second Madam with proper courtesy, discussing matters of learning with her. Was the Second Madam, in Xu Siyu’s heart, someone he trusted even more than Xu Lingyi or Qin Yiniang?
When everything that Qin Yiniang had done lay exposed and plain before Xu Siyu, might the Second Madam — given her relationship with both Qin Yiniang and the mother-and-son pair — be able to step in and offer him some comfort?
Lost in thought, a pair of strong arms reached over and gently drew her close.
“What is it?” Xu Lingyi’s warm, measured voice sounded low in her ear, carrying a settling warmth. “Can’t sleep?”
“Mm.” The Eleventh Miss nestled a little closer into Xu Lingyi’s embrace. “I’ve been thinking over everything that’s happened these past weeks…”
Xu Lingyi was silent for a moment, then said: “I know as well… You are with child right now… Some matters, it would be right to let Mother help you manage… But these things you will have to take on sooner or later…” His voice carried an uncharacteristic hesitation.
“My lord need not worry about me,” the Eleventh Miss said quietly — this was indeed one of her responsibilities. “I only worry about Yu Ge. When the time comes and he learns about Qin Yiniang…”
Xu Lingyi lowered his head slightly and pressed a gentle kiss to the Eleventh Miss’s forehead.
“Yu Ge is nothing like Zhun Ge,” he said quietly. “He is clever and astute, careful and thorough, with a firm and resolute character. As for whether or not he had any part in this matter — that remains to be seen.”
The Eleventh Miss was taken aback.
Xu Lingyi continued: “Even if he has come to understand the ways of the world through his study under Master Jiang these past two years — if you do not speak plainly to him, he will certainly turn it over and over in his mind, and in doing so may easily stir up some complications. Perhaps years from now he might inadvertently raise the matter of the sorcery affair and end up causing trouble. If you speak plainly, he may grieve and suffer, but given his character, he will emerge from it fairly quickly. In the long run, it will be better for him.”
This was the first time Xu Lingyi had spoken so candidly about Xu Siyu in her presence.
If one were to set aside the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate, Xu Lingyi himself likely believed that Xu Siyu was better suited than Xu Sizhun to inherit the title of Marquis Yongping.
Could it be that this was precisely why his feelings ran so particularly deep?
The Eleventh Miss clasped Xu Lingyi’s large hand resting at her waist: “I believe Yu Ge is not that kind of person.”
Xu Lingyi knew what she meant.
In his emotions, he did not believe it either.
But in his reason, without evidence, he still had to suspect.
Such things, even to think about, felt deeply uncomfortable.
Xu Lingyi did not wish to dwell on it further with the Eleventh Miss.
“Get some sleep. Whatever needs to be said, we’ll talk when he returns.”
That was true enough — whatever was said now was only borrowing trouble; they would not know until Xu Siyu returned.
The days passed quickly, and soon it was the latter part of the sixth month. The lotus flowers in Biyi Lake were in full bloom, their heavy fragrance drifting through the entire courtyard in the evening air.
Someone came from Cangzhou to discuss the matter of betrothal gifts.
For families of great standing, marrying off a daughter involved many elaborate formalities, with particular emphasis on the principle of raising the bride’s status high and keeping the groom’s family in a posture of humility. Reserved and dignified as they were, it was not uncommon for a single match to be negotiated over three to five years. Counting back to the day they had made their agreement with the Shao family, the time had indeed come for the two households to sit down and discuss the marriage arrangements.
Once an engagement had reached this stage, it was no longer a matter for the women. It fell to Xu Lingyi and the stewards of the outer household. Yet Wen Yiniang was deeply anxious, going over the dowry list again and again with Donghong and the others, afraid of overlooking anything.
The Eleventh Miss made some calculations. Xu Lingyi had first put forward twenty thousand taels of silver, and later added another ten thousand, but looking at the dowry Wen Yiniang was preparing for Zhen Jie’er, it seemed as though forty to fifty thousand taels would not be enough. On top of that, Xu Lingyi had also prepared approximately twenty thousand taels’ worth of farmland and properties for Zhen Jie’er… Zhen Jie’er had, in a manner of speaking, become a young woman of considerable fortune.
She could not help but privately calculate: between Xu Siyu, Xu Sizhun, Xu Sijie, and the one still in her womb, how much money would Xu Lingyi need to spend before all these duties were fulfilled!
Finding a free moment, the Eleventh Miss went to pay a visit to the palace.
The great princess had the look of a child carved from powder and jade — lively and adorable. The Emperor and Empress both treasured her beyond measure, and contrary to custom, had not assigned her to a separate palace in the care of nannies, but were keeping her in the Kunning Palace with the Empress.
When the Eleventh Miss arrived, the great princess, a little over a year old, was being guided by the Empress in practicing her steps.
The Empress waived the need for her to bow and led her to the side chamber to speak.
“On such hot days, and at this advanced stage of your confinement — if you have something to say, you could simply have sent Xu, the commander of the guard, into the palace to relay your message to me.”
Xu, the commander of the guard, was Xu Lingkuan.
Knowing that the Empress and the Second Madam were close friends, and that the Second Madam was a rather direct person, the Eleventh Miss smiled and replied: “I am someone who never comes to the temple without reason — how could I trouble the Fifth Master with such an errand?”
The Empress was not put out, and even smiled at that. She had a brocade stool brought for the Eleventh Miss to sit on, and instructed Lady Huang, the palace official, to serve the Eleventh Miss a lotus seed and lily soup.
The Eleventh Miss thanked her, settled herself on the stool, drank the lotus seed and lily soup, and then stated her purpose: “…Zhen Jie’er is in the midst of negotiating her engagement with the Shao family. I have come to beg your grace and good fortune — might you bestow one of the first-quality Fu Lu Shou figurine sets for the occasion?”
“For something like this, you needn’t make a trip to the palace yourself,” the Empress smiled. “I’ll go and take a careful look through the storerooms presently. I’ll find three figurines — not too large, but of exceptional craftsmanship.”
This was precisely what the Eleventh Miss had hoped for. Her expression relaxed visibly.
The Empress noticed and gave a quiet nod, then began to chat with her about family matters. Naturally the conversation turned to pregnancy and childbirth: “…It should be around the tenth month, yes? The Marquis has had difficulty with heirs, and Imperial Physician Liu came to report it to me — I’ve been counting the days. There is a woman in the palace by the name of Peng; she was the one who assisted at my own delivery. She also has some medical knowledge, and I found her most capable, so I have kept her in the palace in preparation for your confinement. At the time, I will have her go to assist at your birth. As for a wet nurse, there is no need to worry about that either. When the time comes, I will have two or three women of fine appearance selected from the imperial nursing quarters to attend you.”
Just as they were speaking, an inner attendant arrived from the Crown Prince Consort’s side.
“Congratulations to Your Majesty the Empress — the Crown Prince Consort is with child.”
“Oh!” Both the Empress and the Eleventh Miss were greatly surprised.
The Empress broke into a smile and said: “These two young people really do have a tender bond…” Then she turned to the Eleventh Miss and said: “Let us hope that this time heaven will grant a son.”
* * *