“Biwei, you should go back first.” She walked over in earnest to persuade Shen Biwei. Seeing that Shen Biwei looked as though she wanted to argue, Han Yueqi smiled gently and said, “Don’t worry — I know what I’m doing.”
Shen Biwei looked at her and slowly shook her head.
“I feel that our family has gone about this the wrong way…” she said.
Master Shen had claimed to punish Shen Yunze, then let him off so lightly. That woman Yanliu was still locked in the woodshed; the Shen Family’s intentions were already perfectly clear — they simply wanted Han Yueqi to do as other principal wives in other households did: vent her anger on the concubine, while the matter of holding Shen Yunze accountable was the elders’ affair.
But Han Yueqi had already anticipated exactly this.
“There is no right or wrong about it — this is my home too.” Her tone was gentle. “Even if it is wrong, I will make it right.”
She sent Shen Biwei away and returned to sit in the warm chamber. She watched as Shen Yunze was helped in by a maid, his pressure visibly eased without Shen Biwei present, though he still wore a somewhat sheepish expression.
He also knew what a predicament Han Yueqi had been put in at the Spring Welcome Banquet. And yet Han Yueqi now seemed wholly untroubled; she gestured to Lv Yue to pour him hot tea, saying, “Add a few slices of ginger — it dispels the cold.”
“I was in the wrong,” he said, feeling that this admission was already sufficiently conciliatory. He picked up the tea and drank. “I shouldn’t have taken a concubine without telling you. It happened rather suddenly, and I hadn’t yet worked out how to tell you. Yanliu was impatient and came to find me herself…”
Han Yueqi was not looking at him; she was embroidering, her head bowed. Nor was she listening to what he was saying — otherwise she would not have interrupted him like this.
“Does my lord husband truly think having three wives and four concubines is a good thing?” she asked evenly, her eyes downcast to her embroidery hoop. She had a gentle, oval face — without cosmetics she seemed even more approachable.
Shen Yunze felt an inexplicable dryness at his throat.
But Master Shen had not made him apologize for any of it, so naturally his wife could not either. They had only been married four years, and she was already managing him this strictly — his colleagues at the Hanlin Academy had laughed about it, and he was after all the celebrated and admired top scholar who had placed third in the imperial examination.
A red-sleeved beauty for company, a virtuous wife alongside lovely concubines, to enjoy the life of a man of many pleasures — that was his prerogative. Even if he exercised that prerogative, there was nothing to reproach him for. Besides, he had married young, and had never had the opportunity to do anything improper.
“Although Yanliu and I met at a banquet, she is still an accomplished entertainer from a reputable establishment — a woman who shares my interests and sensibilities. We are kindred spirits, like Yu Boya meeting Zhong Ziqi. It is not what you imagine. Her origins are pitiable, and my arranging lodgings for her in Xiao Hua Zhi Lane was to rescue her from a wretched place. You have always had the generosity to be broad-minded…”
“My lord husband has already defiled this courtyard of mine — please do not further defile the name of Zhong Ziqi.” Han Yueqi said this with perfect composure.
Shen Yunze was momentarily convinced he had misheard.
“What did you say?”
Han Yueqi did not even lift her head to look at him. She simply embroidered at her hoop, unhurried and steady — it appeared to be a small qilin.
“I said — Han Niangzi, take a few of the older serving women and clear my lord husband’s belongings from my room. Have Qing Xiao Pavilion put in order for Yanlu and my lord husband to reside in. Also ask Han Liu whether Yanliu’s things from Xiao Hua Zhi Lane have been moved back — bring me her bond of indenture; the rest of her things can all be burned. Madam is ill, and it is not suitable for things from outside the household to enter the estate.”
She gave these instructions with calm composure, and Han Niangzi immediately added: “And the clothes Yanlu is wearing ought to be completely removed and burned as well, I should think — and have her step over a brazier of fire to cleanse the ill fortune.”
She was of the older generation after all, and her ire was still directed entirely at Yanlu.
Han Yueqi laughed.
“As for my lord husband’s belongings — burn whatever cannot be moved. While the weather is clear today, have the floor of Shen Xiang Pavilion scrubbed as well. I have already arranged to take tea with Aunt Yang of the Yang Family this afternoon; I will be leaving shortly.”
Only now did Shen Yunze fully grasp what was happening.
“Yueqi, what do you mean by all this?” He was stunned, his eyes wide as he seized Han Yueqi’s sleeve. “You are driving me away?”
Han Yueqi said nothing — she only cast a brief glance at the hand Shen Yunze had grabbed her sleeve with. At once Han Niangzi stepped in to break his hold, and a maid added soothingly, “Young Master, please don’t do this — it would look so unseemly if anyone saw.”
The servants in Shen Xiang Pavilion were all from the Han Family’s household; to Shen Yunze they appeared respectful, but they answered entirely to Han Yueqi, and immediately moved to pull him away.
“This is my home — you are driving me away?” Shen Yunze still stared at her, unable to believe it.
In her heart, Han Yueqi laughed coldly.
Yet her expression remained that of the poised and gracious mistress of a great household. She replied with soft composure, “This is my home as well. I am the acting young mistress of this household — Madam has designated Shen Xiang Pavilion for my residence, and all domestic arrangements are entirely under my authority. I am to live in Shen Xiang Pavilion; naturally Shen Xiang Pavilion is mine. My lord husband is suited to Qing Xiao Pavilion; naturally Qing Xiao Pavilion is my lord husband’s. The new year has brought many matters, and there has been the Flower Season Banquet as well — I have had no time to attend to my lord husband, and so I am entrusting that to Yanlu. This is only natural. My lord husband himself speaks of three wives and four concubines — surely he understands this reasoning. Yang Niangzi, please escort my lord husband across.”
The serving women of Shen Xiang Pavilion were utterly devoted; they at once descended upon Shen Yunze from all sides and took hold of him. Shen Yunze had always prided himself on being a scholar — a graduate who had placed third in the imperial examination — and would not stoop to scuffling with serving women; he was powerless to resist.
“How dare you!” Shen Yunze cried out in fury, but his words carried no weight at all. He was truly very handsome, as all the Shen Family were fine-looking — just as the opera verse goes, a perfect match of talent and beauty, to last as long as heaven and earth endure.
It was only that he had arrived at today after all.
Han Yueqi stood in the warm chamber. Her face seemed to wear a smile, yet the light in her eyes went cold, degree by degree.
“Wait.” The moment she spoke, all the serving women immediately stilled and listened. Shen Yunze looked at her in astonishment, hearing her continue at an unhurried pace: “That’s right — I nearly forgot to give my lord husband this.”
A glance from her was enough; Tong Yun stepped forward and placed a sheaf of documents into Shen Yunze’s hands.
“These are Yanlu’s travel permit from when she entered the capital, and the written statement from the brothel mistress — just a little prompting was all it took for a full confession.” Han Yueqi looked at Shen Yunze with perfect composure. “She is no person from Yangzhou. She is one of more than ten young women purchased by Young Master Chen and his wife in Jizhou, kept for half a year in Chunyi House to be trained in the lute, chess, calligraphy, and painting. The story of the accomplished entertainer from a reputable house is nothing but a pretext. Before my lord husband, she had kept company through the night with two other newly appointed scholars, talking of poetry — only my lord husband wished to rescue her from her wretched circumstances. Perhaps that is what makes you kindred spirits.”
She looked at Shen Yunze’s reddening face, and gave a light, unhurried smile.
“Do not worry — I have no intention of separating my lord husband from Yanlu. Qing Xiao Pavilion has been prepared for you both.” She said this with easy indifference. “I only hope that my lord husband will counsel Yanlu — whatever she was before, now that she is in this household, she is a member of this household. In the future she must conduct herself properly. What happened yesterday, causing both myself and Madam to lose so much face, must never be allowed to happen again. If it does, it will not be a matter of the woodshed.”
“All right — the day is not getting any younger. Escort my lord husband over, please.”
At a word from Han Yueqi, the serving women briskly escorted Shen Yunze out of Shen Xiang Pavilion. His belongings were moved to Qing Xiao Pavilion with swift efficiency — and with thorough care as well: soon Qing Xiao Pavilion was fully arranged, the half-fainted Su Yanlu was carried out of the woodshed and placed in the room with two maids assigned to attend to her, and then the serving women all went to Han Yueqi for their reward.
Shen Yunze’s young manservant Wu Cheng did come looking for him. Shen Yunze had always devoted himself seriously to his studies from an early age, and the page boys assigned to him were all sharp and capable, having become proper manservants as they grew up — but however sharp they were, this situation was beyond any of them to comprehend. Seeing Shen Yunze standing woodenly with the sheaf of documents in his hand, staring fixedly at them, and knowing that Shen Yunze normally could read anything in a single glance, Wu Cheng could not help but ask, “Young Master? I just went to Shen Xiang Pavilion to find you, and the Young Mistress’s maid told me to come here. Is the Young Master to be living here from now on?”
This question, wherever it had struck, provoked Shen Yunze — that ever-cultivated, elegant graduate who had placed third in the imperial examination — to suddenly hurl what was in his hand straight at Wu Cheng, shouting, “Get out!”
Wu Cheng, seeing the state of things, could only bow repeatedly in apology as he backed out of the room. In truth, he had a vague sense that it was all tied to that woman Yanlu — and speaking honestly, it really was the Young Master who was in the wrong. Plenty of young gentlemen in the capital kept concubines, but a concubine was a concubine — who would allow their concubine to so publicly strip the principal wife of her dignity like that?
His own Young Master — so brilliantly clever when he was at his best, and yet when he was foolish, somehow more foolish than anyone.
Shen Yunze was too proud for his own good: since Han Yueqi had cleared him out of Shen Xiang Pavilion, he took himself off in a sulk and truly did not go back to Shen Xiang Pavilion, but settled in and lived in Qing Xiao Pavilion. Though they were living in adjoining buildings within the same compound, outsiders simply assumed he had taken a new concubine. Wu Cheng watched this with growing urgency, and tried to counsel him: “Young Master, this puts you at such a disadvantage. The Young Mistress will hear about this too, and she won’t be at ease. This Yanlu didn’t come from a proper situation — why not send her away? If the Young Master goes back to the Young Mistress and shows some humility, wouldn’t it be better to reconcile?”
Shen Yunze only replied, “Mind your own business.” And Yanlu, having overheard, secretly made an attempt on her own life — which of course she did not succeed in, as a maid happened upon her in time and pulled her back. She only wept plaintively: “I am a frail and fated creature — I have brought shame upon my lord; it would be better if I were dead, rather than invite all this talk.”
Shen Yunze, worn out by her weeping and pestering, gave Wu Cheng a scolding and told him not to enter Qing Xiao Pavilion to wait upon him. Wu Cheng, his heart having grown cold, asked to be dismissed — saying he wished to go serve the new scholars in the family’s clan academy, which was better than staying here to listen to someone’s scheming slanders.
While the fires burned in Shen Yunze’s inner courtyard and his head spun with it all, Han Yueqi’s side was entirely unaffected. He borrowed the pretext of a missing brush and came to Shen Xiang Pavilion looking for it. He arrived just as Han Yueqi was listening to the older serving women report the year-end accounts, with Lv Yue and Bai Rui at her side helping to take notes — one listening while the other wrote. He saw Han Yueqi reclining there in her outer robe, listening, and said, “Let me write it — my writing is clearer than theirs.”
It had been just after Han Yueqi first married in. Because Madam Shen’s health was truly poor, the new bride had no choice but to begin learning how to manage the household. In those days, when she would catch sight of Shen Yunze, she would still look rather shy and demure; Shen Yunze had liked to tease her, taking the brush from her hand to help her keep the accounts, and in the lamplight stealing glances at her faintly reddened cheeks. Only as she gradually grew more accomplished and seasoned did that girlish quality of hers appear less frequently.
But this time she immediately moved away, drawing her robe closer around herself: “There is no need to trouble my lord husband.”
The cold and distant manner was bearable, but that pulling of her robe was a genuine wound. Shen Yunze had grown so accustomed to Han Yueqi’s gentle warmth and ready compliance that he had never encountered this face of hers. Even his excuse was seen through at once — Han Yueqi only said that the matters were trifling and complicated, not suitable for a gentleman to listen to, as it might disturb his studies, and had the servants half-escort, half-steer him back to Qing Xiao Pavilion. Half an hour later, a maid came over with a packet of silver, her manner stiff and formal: “The Young Mistress says no brush was found. She sends some silver for the Young Master — the Young Master may have Wu Cheng go out and buy one.”
Shen Yunze, infuriated, sulked alone for another day. Yanlu took the opportunity to play the lute for him to lift his spirits, and to offer up poetry riddles for his amusement, but none of it managed to bring him any ease. She leaned close against him, speaking in soft and coaxing tones — and just at that moment Tong Yun happened to come by to deliver something. She lifted the curtain and caught this sight; being gentle by nature, she said nothing, only lowered the curtain and walked away with her eyes cast down.
Shen Yunze immediately rushed out after her, calling for Tong Yun. He caught her arm, but found he didn’t know what to say. He could only manage: “It is not what you think.”
Tong Yun only kept her eyes lowered and said, “The Young Master doesn’t need to explain anything to me. It is not me the Young Master has wronged.”
In truth, Shen Yunze did not particularly feel he had wronged her. He knew Tong Yun was Han Yueqi’s person.
Tong Yun, having seen this, would certainly tell her.
Tong Yun was also sharp-minded. She saw the calculation in his expression and understood it, and let out a bitter, quiet smile. Shen Yunze also came to understand it in the next moment, and said, “I am not afraid of her.”
Tong Yun only shook her head.
“When my parents were alive, they were devoted to each other. My father was a gatekeeper for the Young Mistress’s family, and the other gatekeepers used to tease him for being afraid of his wife. My father said: ‘Being afraid of one’s wife is nothing shameful — it is your own life you are living.'” She looked at Shen Yunze and asked, “You once told me, Young Master, that your colleagues at the Hanlin Academy made fun of you, saying you were afraid of the Young Mistress — and so every rest day, you would come home as late as possible. I have never understood it. Are those colleagues more important to you than the Young Mistress? Are they the ones you are living your life with? Now that things have reached this point, and the Young Mistress no longer cares to manage the Young Master’s affairs — is the Young Master truly happy?”
Having asked this, she did not wait for Shen Yunze’s answer, but set down what she had brought and left. It was Shen Yunze who was left standing, stopped cold by her words, turning them over in his mind.