On the way back to Chengyuan from Ningyuan Marquis Mansion, the husband and wife had nothing to say to each other. That day, Gu Tingye remained in the outer study deliberating affairs deep into the night — first conferring with Gongsun Baishi on political matters, then dictating decrees for seven or eight scribes to draft in writing. It was not until the first quarter of the Chou hour that he finally returned to the bedchamber, bringing with him the cold dampness of the night air.
Upon entering, he gently reached out to lift the bed curtain, and through the embroidered silks he glimpsed half a cascade of dark, cloud-like hair. The rest of her was buried entirely out of sight, with only a single soft, rosy little foot peeking out from the corner of the bedding, its plump toes slightly upturned.
He gave a quiet laugh. Unable to resist, he poked that bare, round little toe, then turned and went to the washroom. After washing up and changing into a set of satin inner robes, he returned to the bedside — only to find that Minglan had already woken. She was propped sideways against the pillow, blinking at him with drowsy eyes.
“You’re awake?” The man smiled at the corners of his mouth and lifted the bedding to lie down.
Minglan nodded, looking like a cat just roused from sleep, stretching her little arms in a daze. “When you tickled my foot, I woke up.”
Gu Tingye’s expression faltered slightly. Without missing a beat, he gathered Minglan into his arms, and the two of them lay down embracing. Minglan pressed her face against his broad, solid chest and murmured something low. Gu Tingye had not caught it; he closed his eyes and asked casually.
Minglan rested her chin on the man’s chest and looked up at him directly. “Did you already know about what was happening at the Marquis Mansion?” she asked. Otherwise, how convenient that he had chosen precisely that moment to bring her along to inspect the estate.
Gu Tingye opened his eyes. Seeing her gazing at him with those clear, bright eyes, he smiled. “Liu Zhengjie did pass word to me, but it was also a matter of timing. I simply wished to take you away from it for a while.”
Minglan sat up in the bedding, hugging her slender knees, and sighed. “Though the monk may escape, the temple cannot — still, it is good to avoid it for a time. And yet…” She paused and turned to look at him, lowering her voice. “Are you truly resolved to stand aside entirely?”
Gu Tingye’s eyes were dark and deep. After a long moment, he spoke: “They were all entangled in treasonous crimes — how many ducal and marquis households have had their homes confiscated, their titles stripped? Even the Chengguo Duke’s mansion, where merits and faults were deemed to cancel each other out, was still penalized by having one year’s imperial gifts and five years’ stipend withheld. On what grounds should Ningyuan Marquis Mansion be the exception?” A sardonic smile played at the corner of his lips. “It is already generous of me not to add fuel to the fire — and they still expect me to help them escape accountability?”
Minglan let out a long, quiet sigh. Gu Tingye then added, “That said, I have already made a small move.”
Minglan widened her eyes to show she did not understand.
“I sent word to have the matter concerning Ningyuan Marquis Mansion set aside for now, and to handle the other suspects first.”
“Oh?”
Gu Tingye wore a perfectly composed expression. “At the very least, I should wait until after I am properly married — no sense having a cold and cheerless wedding hall.”
Minglan smacked her lips and collapsed back down listlessly. Seeing her drooping her ears and curling herself into a little ball, rocking gently in the bedding, Gu Tingye found her both adorable and amusing. He reached over, pulled her close, tucked her into his arms, and tapped her little nose. Smiling, he said, “What exactly are you worrying yourself over? You had no hand in what happened before, and what comes next is not on you either. Why do you look like this?”
Minglan was struck as if by sudden illumination.
That was right! From beginning to end, she had neither interfered nor known anything about this affair. What did she have to feel guilty about?
“My husband speaks with great wisdom!” She was abruptly filled with courage.
Gu Tingye could not help but smile. Then something else came to mind, and he said, “Today’s matters are not finished — there will likely be plenty of trouble ahead. It will be easier for me when I am out and about, but you will be worn down for quite some time. I fear it will give you a headache.”
Minglan declared with grand confidence: “What is there to have a headache over? If they come asking me to persuade you to help, I will simply agree to everything — whether you actually help, or whether it can even be done, that is another matter entirely.”
The man raised his handsome, well-defined brows, expressing admiration for her optimistic daring.
Very soon, Minglan would discover that her bold words held very little power. The very next day, the women of the Marquis Mansion came calling.
They came in pairs — sisters-in-law and mothers-in-law together, or leading small children by the hand; they came in clusters all at once, or in successive waves one after another. They arrived when Minglan was picking up her rice bowl; they arrived when she was about to go over accounts with the estate manager; they arrived again when she wanted an afternoon nap. If they happened to show up at mealtimes, she was obliged to receive them for a meal — yet how was one to eat, sitting at a table with a group of weeping, wailing women, each fixing you with a look of wretched reproach?
This manner of assault severely disrupted Minglan’s orderly daily routine.
One moment they would sob out their grievances, the next they would plead — clutching at Minglan’s sleeves and alternating between soft entreaties and veiled pressure, going on about how pitiable it would be for children to lose their fathers, all the way to the bleak prospects of widows and orphans scraping by in years to come. Quite a performance, all of it.
The Fifth Elder’s Wife slapped the table and cried out, her finger nearly jabbing Minglan in the nose, refusing to hear any of Minglan’s explanations, stopping just short of demanding she swear an oath guaranteeing that Gu Tingye would personally intervene to settle everything. Ding’er the Second and Bing’er the Second seemed to have arranged a signal between themselves — at a single glance, the children would erupt into earth-shaking wails, while the other female relatives around them made their entreaties and persuasions, openly or quietly.
Both ears ringing, head spinning, eyes blurring — in the space of just a few days, Minglan was worn to utter exhaustion, like a frost-bitten eggplant: limp, drained, and without a shred of vigor. When pushed to her limit and unable to catch her breath, she did not even need to pretend — she could simply faint on the spot. And yet the others fainted faster than she did, their performances so earnest and heartfelt that one of them nearly dashed her forehead against the corner of a table.
Minglan could not hold out.
Gu Tingye looked at the state she was in and could not help suggesting, “Why not go back to your parents’ home for a few days? Come to think of it, since we married, you have not even gone back to stay for the customary one-month return visit.”
“Would that… be appropriate?” Minglan was greatly tempted but hesitated somewhat. During the early days of their marriage, Chengyuan had been in urgent need of a mistress to manage the household, and she could not leave — naturally she had foregone the tradition of the new bride’s return visit. But going back to stay now…
In the end, Minglan decided to go back first and take stock of the situation.
Early the next morning, the husband and wife set out by carriage and horse toward Sheng Mansion.
They went to Shou’an Hall to pay their respects to the Grandmother. Wang Shi sat smiling to one side, and Hai Shi stood quietly behind her with head slightly bowed. As the married-out daughter and her husband were considered honored guests, they rose and took their seats after completing the greeting ceremony. Seeing that Hai Shi was still standing, Minglan felt rather awkward and said, “Sister-in-law, do sit down — we are all family here.”
Hai Shi, ever observant of propriety, would not take a seat; she simply smiled and turned to attend to the tea and cool towels with careful thoroughness, and also brought out fresh fruit her own family had sent up from the south, along with mung bean and osmanthus pastries, to serve the guests.
“You should have sent word before coming.” Grandmother’s eyes showed concern. “Arriving so suddenly like this — is something the matter?”
Wang Shi, afraid that Gu Tingye might take offense, quickly said, “Listen to Grandmother — it is our own daughter and son-in-law; when are they not welcome to come?” She turned to Gu Tingye with a smile. “Son-in-law, please do not take it to heart — the Old Ancestor simply speaks this way out of habit.”
Gu Tingye smiled mildly. “It is nothing at all.”
Minglan smiled softly and let her gaze travel over the women of the Sheng household.
Wang Shi was the same as ever — since the arrival of her grandchildren, she had grown even more plump and prosperous-looking, like a wealthy landowner’s wife. Hai Shi had largely recovered from the weight she had gained after childbirth; her figure was gradually returning to its graceful slenderness. She wore an outer robe of rain-sky-blue crinkled gauze embroidered with flowering plum branches on the bough, and a bracelet of white mutton-fat jade encircled her full, smooth wrist — she looked all the more dignified and refined.
Minglan lowered her eyes. Poor Hualan had not even had the ordinary postpartum weight to contend with — after delivery, she had been nothing but a thin bundle of bones. She would have to go back to the storeroom later and find some good nourishing things to send over to her.
The change in Grandmother’s appearance actually startled Minglan somewhat. She had not seen the old woman for a stretch of time, and not only had she not aged — she seemed more spirited than before, her voice louder too. Minglan’s gaze shifted and landed on Quan Ge’er, who stood a little distance away being held by a wet nurse.
The small, round-faced little boy was nearly two years old — cheerful and carefree, white and plump and delightful, his little arms and legs all rolling curves of healthy sturdiness. He threw off the hand of the maidservant who was trying to steady him and went toddling forward at his own pace. Upon seeing Gu Tingye, he showed not a trace of fear, greeting him with open, easy confidence, and fixed that tall, imposing man with a pair of bright, round, curious eyes.
Some of the hard lines of Gu Tingye’s features softened. He reached out and patted the little round head, and Quan Ge’er actually laughed and tried to pry apart his wrist, grinning to reveal a row of small, milk-white fine teeth and a little dimple. Gu Tingye smiled faintly and slid an antique jade thumb ring of deep muted green from his own thumb to give to the boy.
Every woman present in the room knew the value of such things. Hai Shi said at once, “Oh, how could this be proper? It is far too precious — we really cannot accept it.”
Gu Tingye made a slight gesture declining the formality and said nothing. Minglan smiled and picked up the thread for him: “Sister-in-law, please don’t decline — I’ve been told this jade has a certain significance attached to it, a most auspicious omen. Let Quan Ge’er wear it for health and peace.”
Grandmother took the thumb ring and examined it carefully, then said straightforwardly, “In that case — very good.”
Wang Shi was very pleased; the look she gave Gu Tingye had several layers of complexity to it. Hai Shi gathered her skirts and expressed her thanks, then instructed the maidservant to find a silk cord so the ring could be threaded for Quan Ge’er to wear around his neck.
Seeing the atmosphere had grown considerably warmer, Minglan smiled and began to speak of what she had seen and heard during her recent stay at the country estate, selecting the more interesting bits to share with everyone. “…Then we spent a few days up in the hills — I had some fresh wild vegetables and fruits sent over; among them was an excellent variety of snow fungus, and whether simmered in soup or stir-fried, it is wonderfully delicious!”
Hai Shi covered a smile with her hand. “And now Grandmother and the rest of us can stop worrying — Sixth Sister is just as she’s always been; the moment food is mentioned, she lights right up. Quan Ge’er, now that he can string two words together, chatters all day long about wanting to try different things to eat — so it turns out he takes after his aunt!”
Minglan’s face went slightly pink. She mumbled, “Sister-in-law might as well just say I am a glutton and be done with it.”
Gu Tingye had said very little through all of this, only watching the women with a quiet smile. But seeing that Minglan seemed a little embarrassed, he could not help saying, “Having a good appetite is actually a fine thing.”
The moment he said that, every woman in the main hall burst out laughing, unable to suppress it. Wang Shi dabbed at her eyes and turned beaming to Grandmother: “You see — the son-in-law is so protective of his own wife. Grandmother can set her mind at ease now!”
Grandmother’s brows gradually unknitted, and she looked at the young couple with warm eyes; her gaze toward Gu Tingye had grown considerably more kindly than before.
While the women chatted, Gu Tingye kept watching Quan Ge’er. The little boy did not fuss or clamor, simply tottering on his short legs among the grown-ups — now tugging at Wang Shi’s skirt hem, now pulling at Hai Shi’s fingers; from time to time he would waddle over to Gu Tingye, tilt back his little head to stare up at him for a while, then, seeming to remember Minglan and finding her warm and welcoming, he would clamber straight up into her lap, press a loud, enthusiastic kiss to her cheek, then clap his small hands over his mouth and scurry to hide behind Grandmother.
These antics sent the room into gales of laughter. Even Gu Tingye could not help curving his lips in a smile; he looked over at Minglan with eyes that were bright and deep.
Minglan hugged the small, chubby little boy and declared proudly, “Isn’t my little nephew absolutely lovable!”
The depths of Gu Tingye’s eyes rippled with a faint trace of aggrieved displeasure; he turned his face aside, as if faintly reproaching someone for being oblivious.
After a few more exchanges, Gu Tingye rose and excused himself, going outside to pay his respects to Sheng Hong. The moment he left, the women’s conversation flowed much more freely. Wang Shi, however, let out several soft sighs — seeing Gu Tingye’s composed and commanding bearing, and how much he clearly valued Minglan, she felt a faint ache rise in her heart.
Hai Shi was perceptive; noticing Wang Shi sighing as she watched Gu Tingye’s departing figure, her expression tinged with a certain wistfulness, she moved over to her mother-in-law’s side and smiled. “Come to think of it, all the daughters of our household have been blessed with good fortune. Just a few days ago, the Fifth Son-in-law came back with Fifth Sister — the way those two looked together… goodness, even falling into a jar of honey couldn’t compare to that!”
Wang Shi’s expression brightened at once and she gave a genuine laugh. “Your Fifth Brother-in-law is a solid, straightforward man — his treatment of your sister is beyond reproach. She’s only been married a short time and has already put on quite a bit of weight!” Then she glanced over at Minglan, and found her just as slender as before — chin still pointed, her expression carrying a hint of the weariness of managing a household. Having heard that the Gu household was not without its upheaval, Wang Shi imagined there were no shortage of taxing and vexing matters to deal with. This thought brought her a measure of quiet satisfaction.
Grandmother was also watching Minglan. She furrowed her brow slightly and remarked, as if in passing, “It is just as well you’ve come today — it saves sending you a message. Rulan is with child.”