Ling’er hurried through the covered walkway with her head down, making her way toward the cold and quiet row of rooms on the western side of the courtyard.

Outside, the eighth month blazed with scorching heat; yet her heart felt as though it had plunged into a pit of ice, chilled to the bone. People all said that among the imperial princesses, the Senior Grand Princess of Qingning was the most formidable in all the realm — yet in her view, her own mistress’s mother-in-law was a woman of far more quiet, unshakeable ability. The princess and her husband shared four sons, and of these it was only her own young master who had scholarly achievement and official standing. If things went badly now, there was no telling what the Senior Grand Princess of Qingchang would do to her.

Gu Tingcan was pacing back and forth inside the room with restless anxiety. Five matrons lounged lazily in the courtyard, stifling yawns. When they saw Ling’er entering the courtyard, they immediately broke into mocking smiles: “Well, isn’t this our Mistress’s great favorite? Where have you been all this time? The Mistress has all but worn a person’s shadow into the floor in there.” The others broke out laughing.

Before Ling’er could open her mouth, the room door creaked open. Gu Tingcan stood at the door, cold and rigid, barely containing her anger: “I have words for Ling’er. As it is hot today, all you matrons may go down and rest.” It was unlike her to have ever spoken so politely to servants.

One of the matrons rose slowly to her feet and piled on an artificial smile: “Listen to Mistress — how precious do we servants think we are, really? Whether it’s hot or cold, isn’t it our duty to serve the master and mistress? Oh well — whether we live or die, we’ll just go on suffering through it. Otherwise, when Mistress goes all over the household again saying ‘the servants here all look down on you,’ that will be something now, won’t it!”

Gu Tingcan bit down on her lip, wishing she could bring her whip down hard on these matrons. In the days when her mother was still living, she had never suffered such an insult. Ling’er saw that things were going wrong, and before Gu Tingcan could open her mouth, she quickly stepped forward and reached into her pocket to pull out a small purse. Without daring to check how much in loose silver and copper coins remained inside, she handed it directly to the matron who had spoken, smiling ingratiatingly: “Matron, you are teasing — our Mistress is simply a direct person, and what she says she rarely truly means. Please, all of you, take this for a drink.”

The matron weighed the purse in her hand, and was satisfied. She smiled: “Since Ling’er is being so gracious, we couldn’t very well be disrespectful. Right then — let’s go, ladies, and work out these stiff joints.”

Watching the matrons file out of the courtyard, Ling’er hurried inside after her mistress and turned back to shut the door behind her.

Gu Tingcan sank furiously into the chair behind the writing desk and slammed her palm down on the surface, cursing: “Those black-hearted wretches — now that they see the other one has the master’s favor, they think nothing of me! Hmph — making a great fuss over that little wretch, and that heartless man still dares to call himself a gentleman, a member of the imperial family by connection — not a shred of manners, and even the Princess…”

Watching her mistress speak with less and less restraint, very nearly reaching the point of saying something about the mistress of the household, Ling’er immediately let out a loud, deliberate cough and gave a pointed look toward the little maidservant who stood nearby, then said with a smile: “Mistress, there you go again — it’s too hot for a bad temper. What are you saying? Lady Yan Yiniang is from a respectable family as well, and I hear Young Master Yan has also passed the examinations — it’s natural enough that the Princess and Master should regard her somewhat more favorably. Besides, the boy Yan Yiniang has borne will still have to call you Mother, won’t he?”

Gu Tingcan was about to snap “who wants that lowborn creature calling me Mother,” when she noticed something strange in Ling’er’s eyes and glanced sideways at the little maidservant standing in the corner. She forced back her anger: “Ling’er, come into the inner room with me.” She then barked at the little maidservant: “You — go stand watch under the eave outside the door. Don’t let anyone in, or your skin will suffer for it!”

Little Lotus Flower had only just turned twelve that year, yet she was already quite perceptive. At these words she acknowledged the order at once, without a single extra word.

Before stepping out of the room, Ling’er called her back and pressed two small silver ingots into her hand, saying with a kind smile: “The weather is terribly hot. I don’t know if there are any mung beans left in the room — after you are done with your watch, go ask the kitchen matron for a bowl of iced mung bean soup.”

Little Lotus Flower looked at Ling’er’s warm and gentle face and felt moved at heart; she took the coins and quickly slipped out the door.

As she went, she turned it over in her mind — people all said the mistress of this household was the most difficult to serve, and it was perfectly true. She was temperamental and fussy and loved to put on airs, with no thought for the people under her; the several dowry maidservants who had come with the Mistress had long since all vanished to who knew where, with only the capable Ling’er remaining, doing the work of an ox and a horse for her mistress, smiling apologies on all sides, swallowing insults and anger, and still the Mistress called out to her and drove her as she pleased. By the look of things, Ling’er was already approaching thirty, and these years the Mistress seemed never to have thought about arranging a match for her — simply using her up day after day like this.

She had heard that many years ago, Steward Han’s son, who had set up as a shopkeeper outside, had admired Ling’er and wanted to ask for her as his wife, only to be flatly refused by the Mistress — she didn’t know whether that was true…

Thinking of this, Little Lotus Flower could not help sighing inwardly, thanking her good fortune for having an old mother and father, and brothers who had made something of themselves. She had only to endure a few more years, and then she could petition to be released and given away in marriage.

Inside the inner room, Gu Tingcan grew more agitated than ever, sitting heavily on the heated bed. After staring blankly for a moment, she suddenly let fall a tear: “If Mother were still here, seeing me in this state — even a little servant has to be spoken to kindly — I don’t know how much she would have pitied me.”

Ling’er poured a bowl of tea and, with no time to wipe her own sweat first, brought it forward to soothe her mistress: “Mistress, don’t upset yourself. Even a great beast is mocked when it falls to a low place — such is the way of things with no remedy for it. Whatever the case, Master still has some feeling for you, and your food, clothing, and monthly allowance have never been short. We must look on the bright side, must we not.”

After being coaxed for a good while, Gu Tingcan finally lifted her spirits somewhat, and asked: “…Stop talking about things that don’t matter. How did it go? Did you manage to see Elder Sister Xiang outside?”

Ling’er wiped her forehead and said quietly: “I saw her. Elder Sister Xiang says that though the official surnamed Xu is not of high rank, he has a fine reputation among the scholarly circles and his words carry some weight. Having once received assistance from our Lady, he is at the very least bound by gratitude to repay it. He is willing to submit the memorial on our behalf — however…”

“However what?” Gu Tingcan pressed urgently.

Ling’er’s expression showed her difficulty: “Mistress, consider — a person who relies on others for financial assistance, one can imagine the state of his household. This memorial is not one that can reach the Emperor’s ear in a single step; there are several hurdles along the way, each of which requires certain… arrangements…”

Gu Tingcan understood, slapped the heated bed edge, and gave a light snort: “It’s only money! Fine — as long as it can avenge my mother, any amount of silver will do!”

Ling’er felt a chill in her heart: “…Mistress, you really must think this through carefully. If the Princess finds out, what will we… what will we do then?”

“What do you mean, what will we do?” Gu Tingcan said with complete indifference. “Is she going to kill me? I am, after all, the legitimate daughter of the Ningyuan Marquis household! Even if they are willing to lose face over it, the Gu family still is not!”

Looking at her mistress, forever willful and unable to be made sensible, Ling’er very much wanted to remind her that between the Qin family members who had come to bleed them dry over the years, and various other expenses and payments, the once-substantial dowry had long since dwindled to next to nothing. Yet Mistress never paid the least attention to such mundane matters, always under the impression that her silver was inexhaustible. Seeing the futility of this endeavor — no different from an egg dashing itself against a rock — Ling’er could not help feeling the color drain from her expression.

Gu Tingcan noticed her face and smiled: “Don’t be afraid — this dynasty governs through filial piety. No matter what she did, she was after all Gu Tingye’s step-mother by law. If he dares defy human relations and harm his step-mother, I will make sure he cannot escape the reckoning!”

Ling’er could not hold back: “Mistress, do listen to me just this once — we cannot cast aside all other considerations for the sake of revenge. Your most pressing matter right now is to quickly bear Master a legitimate heir. Let the rest wait!”

At these words, Gu Tingcan stamped her foot and cursed: “Don’t even mention that heartless man! Look at how Father treated our Great Aunt back then — it was nearly ten years before a son was born! If he truly had my wellbeing at heart, whether or not there was a child, he should have treated me the same! After only a few years, he was rushing for heirs, not caring if I lived or died, welcoming that wretch into the house. Now I see clearly — that heartless man is not fit to hold Father’s shoes!”

Every time this topic arose, Mistress would always bring up the late Ningyuan Marquis as comparison, and Ling’er had nothing to say to that. The Han family’s young master had married late, so how could he not be anxious for a son? Not to mention that Mistress had no idea how to conduct herself as a daughter-in-law, making scenes and provoking anger every two or three days — and the Senior Grand Princess of Qingchang was no ordinary mother-in-law to be considerate of her daughter-in-law’s feelings. She was nothing like the late old great-grandmother, who had been helpless before the first Lady Qin Shi.

“Furthermore,” Gu Tingcan said with quiet tears, “now that Mother and Elder Brother are gone, and that side of things wishes me dead — two years ago, the Emperor declared that the Qin family descendants were unworthy, stripped them of their title and confiscated their estate. What support do I have left. Better I use this opportunity to make a good show of it, to make the people of this household not dare look down on me! Don’t try to dissuade me anymore — you aren’t a coward afraid to die, are you!”

Seeing Mistress so obstinate, and having her loyalty suspected, Ling’er immediately wanted to speak in her own defense — but then she heard Little Lotus Flower call out loudly from outside: “Master! Oh — you’ve come!” The voice carried into the room, and both mistress and servant gave a start at once. Ling’er quickly stepped aside.

Han Cheng pushed open the door and strode into the inner room. Seeing his wife sitting on the heated bed with her expression composed as usual, he could not help but speak in anger: “Why, for no good reason, have you again not gone to pay your respects to Mother for several days now? Fourth Brother’s wife has just entered the household — this is precisely when the rules should be set. As her eldest sister-in-law you can’t even set a proper example, and yet you leave me to be scolded by First and Second Brothers without cause!”

Gu Tingcan, seeing her husband, who had not been home for several days, coming at her with reproaches the moment he arrived, could not help it — tears rolled down her face one after another. She said in a mournful voice: “How cruel of you, Husband — in this heat, knowing full well I have always been delicate, and still you force me to go out under the scorching sun to do this and that! Do you wish me to die?”

A woman of ten who still put on such a show of frail and wilting delicacy was, in truth, rather jarring to witness. Han Cheng’s temples twitched and he roared: “You are not the only one who feels the heat — Second Sister-in-Law is still with child and she too goes to keep Mother company. Besides, Mother’s rooms are full of ice basins — would you truly die of the heat there?! Filial piety and respect for parents come first. In ancient times there was the man who lay on the ice to catch carp for his stepmother, and the man who buried his son so he could better support his mother — you are an educated woman; can you not understand even this much basic principle?!”

Gu Tingcan could tolerate nothing less than a lecture on proper conduct, and at this she leapt up from the heated bed and cried out loudly: “So it seems only you are truly filial under heaven. But you don’t only have a mother — you also have a wife! My father was far more capable than you, and he knew how to cherish Great Aunt. For a couple who share one pillow over the years — I am the person you should cherish most and hold most dear. You know only blind and empty filial piety without a shred of consideration for your wife’s pain and suffering — what kind of man does that make you!”

Han Cheng rubbed his temples. He truly could not understand — asking his wife to pay respects to his mother, to be filial to his mother, was the most upright and undeniable principle under heaven, something no one could find fault with. Yet when it reached his own wife, it was like trying to get a chicken to talk with a duck.

He had, in the beginning, genuinely been charmed by Gu Tingcan.

From his youth he had been intimidated by powerful, domineering women like the Senior Grand Princess of Qingchang, yet found tame, meek women dull and uninteresting. That year at the chrysanthemum poetry gathering, he had read the poetry of the seventh daughter of the Gu household and been deeply moved; then hearing word that this beauty was as lovely as the western beauty Wang Zhaojun, he had gone eagerly to ask his mother to propose the match. Sadly, the bliss of the married couple lasted only a few brief months; very quickly, all sweetness was replaced by endless quarreling. His wife was like a child who could not grow up — ceaselessly demanding that others humor her and indulge her. Any slight dissatisfaction was met with crying and making scenes without end.

Han Cheng deeply envied his respected teacher. His teacher’s wife could compose poetry in harmony with her husband, and also managed household affairs; and there were two beautifully accomplished and charming secondary companions who understood the ways of gracious living — what a refined and elegant existence that was. How did his own life come to this?!

Gu Tingcan was still weeping, and as she wept she grew more incensed: “The books say ‘do not elevate a concubine to the station of a wife.’ What kind of man of learning are you — one principal wife and four concubines, still bringing in a second household, setting your properly wedded wife aside, going with that wretch one after another to have children! If Father were still living, he would surely beat you to death for being such a man of no principle…”

Han Cheng forced himself to suppress his anger and sat on the edge of the heated bed. He spoke in an even, measured tone: “Candan, please listen to what I am saying — Mother has never favored you, and Yan Shi was taken in by Mother’s own decision. For all intents and purposes, whether you look at it from the Buddha’s perspective or from human consideration — if you go on like this…”

He thought of what the Senior Grand Princess of Qingchang had said to him a few days earlier, and his heart lurched with a sudden dread.

“Or what?” Gu Tingcan swept Han Cheng’s hand sharply away and said with a cold laugh, “Does the Princess’s household dare to divorce a wife? Whatever happens, I am still the legitimate daughter of the Ningyuan Marquis household! You may be willing to lose that face, but the Gu family still is not! You call yourself a man, yet with ‘Mother, Mother’ forever on your lips, you can’t even protect your own wife — hmph, back in those days, Great Aunt went seven years without giving birth, and yet Father…”

“Enough!” Han Cheng could bear no more. Through all these years, mindful of the obligations of filial piety, he had never spoken a word against the late Ningyuan Marquis. But today the heat was oppressive and his temper was frayed, and finally he could not restrain himself from saying with bitter sarcasm: “Your father’s encounter with the Qin family woman was the most catastrophic luck in eight generations! Nearly left him without an heir, and in the end, nearly brought the whole family to ruin — the ancestral estate of decades burned down by that fine son of his! I may be worthless, but I would not dare to aspire to be like my father-in-law!”

“You dare speak ill of my father!” Gu Tingcan was beside herself with rage. She snatched up the ink stone from the writing table and hurled it.

A loud crack — the ink stone struck the floor and shattered, ink splattering in all directions. Fortunately Han Cheng was quick enough, dodging aside in an instant, or it would have split his skull open. Looking at his wife — her hair loose and tangled, her brows drawn sharp with rage, nothing left of the clear and delicate beauty of former days, her entire face twisted with spoiled viciousness — Han Cheng was furious beyond words: “You — you are beyond reason!” He flung back his sleeves, kicked the door, and left.

Gu Tingcan’s fury only mounted further. She smashed everything within eyeshot in the room, then flung herself over the writing table and wept, sobbing without stopping. Ling’er simply and silently told Little Lotus Flower to fetch water, and carefully began to tidy up the wreckage in the room.

After a long while, Gu Tingcan slowly reined in her tears, raised her head, and said through gritted teeth: “I will have my revenge — I will. They all see that I have no father, no mother, no one to depend on now, so they come to bully me! If they make my life unbearable, I’ll see to it that they don’t have an easy life either!”

Mistress and servant spoke together in hushed voices. Ling’er quietly implored: “Mistress, the sum of silver required is not small — we truly cannot produce that much anymore. Please, think this through once more.”

Gu Tingcan considered for a moment, then said with resolute finality: “Tonight have Elder Sister Xiang come to see me — I will give my instructions face to face.”

Ling’er had no choice but to agree.

That night, Ling’er bribed a matron at the gatekeeper’s quarters, asking her to let someone in. The matron doorkeeper saw it was the woman from the Xiang family who often came to visit the Mistress, had no suspicions, took the silver, and let her through.

Elder Sister Xiang was in fact only in her forties, yet her hair had already gone gray and white.

Gu Tingcan saw her aged and worn appearance, and for once, with something like compassion stirring in her, found that her tears — which usually came so readily — now could barely be squeezed out. She only pressed her sleeve against her eyes in an attitude of weeping: “Elder Sister Xiang, you have suffered these past years.”

Elder Sister Xiang knelt on the ground weeping: “With Mistress’s compassion to keep me going, life has still been bearable. Only, thinking day and night of Lady’s benevolence and grace, and of my husband who died young, and my mother-in-law, I… I… truly…”

Gu Tingcan was pleased with these words and smiled slightly: “Mother always trusted and relied on Nanny Xiang above all others, and now I see the whole family is just as faithful. Now, I have only you and Elder Brother Xiang to depend on. This household’s people all bully me…”

As she said this, she could not hold back, and began to weep again.

Elder Sister Xiang pressed her face to the ground and wept loudly: “Mistress must not say such things! The Lady’s grace to our family — our mother and child could die ten thousand times over and never repay it. Mistress is a precious treasure of a person, raised by the Lady as the apple of her very eye, and that Han family just doesn’t know good fortune when they have it — to not cherish you properly, to let you suffer such grievances — they deserve a thousand cuts!”

Gu Tingcan’s heart felt soothed and comforted. Ling’er, seeing that her mistress had still not told the woman to rise, said softly: “Elder Sister Xiang, please do get up — this cold stone floor will injure you if you kneel on it long.”

Without waiting for Gu Tingcan to say a word, Elder Sister Xiang waved her hands cheerily: “No injury, no injury! Being able to see Mistress — this old woman’s heart feels sweeter than if she’d eaten honey. Kneeling a little while before Mistress is more comfortable than lying down anywhere else! Our Mistress — what sort of person is she? When Mistress was just born, didn’t the Lady have someone read her fortune? They said our Mistress was a fairy maiden at the Queen Mother’s side, descended to the mortal world to repay a debt of grace — even the old Marquis himself believed it. Even if one encounters a little difficulty along the way, it can only be suffering that passes and sweetness that follows.”

Gu Tingcan seemed transported back to the time before she had been married, when there had been an indulgent father above her and a mother capable of all things below, surrounded on all sides by flattering servants. She could not help but feel pleasantly exhilarated, and with proud dignity she gave a slight elegant wave of her sleeve and smiled with the air of the highborn and distinguished: “Please do rise then. Ling’er, fetch a stool.”

Ling’er quickly brought a small stool; Elder Sister Xiang sat on only the very edge of it, and then Gu Tingcan said: “Elder Sister Xiang, that matter… do you have confidence in it…?”

Elder Sister Xiang quickly replied: “I wouldn’t normally have dared bring this up. But recently has there not been all manner of news coming from Sichuan suggesting that Marquis Gu has behaved improperly in several respects? Official Xu says — why not take advantage of this momentum while it is still running, and strike while the iron is hot?”

Gu Tingcan did not understand politics, but had vaguely heard that the Prince of Shu seemed deeply displeased with Gu Tingye. She smiled: “If that is indeed the case, then wonderful! Hmph — Gu Tingye drove his step-mother to her death, poisoned and harmed my nephew and niece. Heaven itself cannot permit this. It is only a pity that the Han family is afraid of entanglement, not willing to touch this in the least. Once the memorial is submitted, I’ll see how he bears being condemned by all under heaven!”

Ling’er listened inwardly, shaking her head with continuous bitter amusement — she truly could not fathom how a woman as sharp and capable as the late Lady could have raised a daughter so innocent of the ways of the world as her own mistress. A high official serving under the Emperor’s direct mandate — how could he possibly “bear the condemnation of all under heaven” on the basis of accusations that were empty to begin with? And what leisure did “all under heaven” have for such things?

Gu Tingcan drew a letter from within her sleeve and handed it to Elder Sister Xiang: “This is written in my own hand. Deliver it to Official Xu and tell him that once the matter is accomplished, I will have a generous additional reward for him.”

Elder Sister Xiang received it with both hands, listened attentively to a few more instructions, and then hurried out of the household.

That night, Gu Tingcan slept especially soundly. She dreamed that the grievances of her mother and elder brother had been brought to light, that the Emperor had thrown Gu Tingye into prison, sentenced to exile in a distant frontier, never to be permitted to return to the capital; and that Sheng Shi had been punished by being sent to the Entertainment Office, there to please men with her charms every day. She herself once again became that proud and esteemed Seventh Miss of the Gu household, with her mother-in-law and husband both deferring to her dared not offend her, and of course that woman surnamed Yan would meet with no good end either — sold into the lowest and most degraded establishment, with the several whelps she had borne all sold off to distant places to serve as others’ slaves…

Right in the midst of this lovely dream, there was suddenly a tremendous commotion outside. Gu Tingcan jolted awake in fright. She saw a great crowd of people swarming into the room — terrified, she shrank back toward the inner side of the bed. Five powerfully built matrons surged forward and seized her all at once: some bound her hands, some tied her legs, some stuffed her mouth with cloth.

Gu Tingcan strained to raise her head, kicking and struggling with her legs. She saw, standing in the doorway, the familiar silhouette of a woman — it was Pan Mama, the most trusted and capable servant at the side of the Senior Grand Princess of Qingchang.

Pan Mama said coldly: “The Mistress has fallen ill with a fit of madness — take her quickly to the quiet room at the rear of the estate. Send for a physician afterward to treat her properly.”

Gu Tingcan shook her head frantically and tried with all her strength to spit out the cloth stuffed in her mouth, just about to cry out — and then she saw, clutched in Pan Mama’s hand, a letter envelope, unmistakably the very same letter she had given to Elder Sister Xiang only a few hours ago!

Gu Tingcan was stunned.

Pan Mama looked at her, expressionless: “From now on, the Mistress will rest and convalesce properly here, and there is no need to trouble herself with any more writing.”

Gu Tingcan immediately understood it all. She was dumbfounded for a moment, then erupted in frantic screaming: “What have you done to Elder Sister Xiang?! Where is Ling’er, Ling’er?! How dare you?! My father is the Ningyuan Marquis — I am the legitimate daughter of the Gu household!…You low and debased wretched servants — how dare you treat me with such disrespect! Ling’er, Ling’er, come quickly!…”

The matrons paid none of this the slightest heed; they bound her up tightly on all sides, and as her struggling went on, Gu Tingcan grew frightened, and began to cry out without care for what she said: “…Husband, I don’t know anything, I knew nothing about this — that letter… go ask Ling’er… it must have been her acting on her own, yes, it was her, she wanted to vent her anger on my behalf, she can write too…”

Very shortly thereafter, the Seventh Miss of the Gu household had her mouth stopped, and could say nothing more.

In the main chambers of the principal courtyard, doors and windows were shut tight. The Han family’s father, mother, and sons sat or stood; the Senior Grand Princess of Qingchang held in her hand several thin sheets of paper, on which was the very handwriting of Han Cheng’s wife, so familiar to him from daily life.

“Well? I said it long ago — this disaster cannot be left in place. Your son simply had to be compassionate, and now what do you two have to say for yourselves?” The Senior Grand Princess of Qingchang held those papers with an unhurried air. “Fortunately, my daughter-in-law is a complete fool — if she had been even the slightest bit more clever, and truly managed to bribe one or two censors to let this matter come out in the open, what would be left of our dealings with Marquis Gu from this point forward?”

Han Cheng’s forehead was drenched in cold sweat, and he could not utter a single word.

The Han Princess Consort was nearly sixty years old, yet his bearing was still upright and his voice resonant. He swung one palm hard across his son’s face and roared: “Unfilial son! Your mother’s words, you refused to heed more than once, and now we have nearly brought catastrophe upon ourselves! Gu Tingye and Wang Shanzhi were dispatched on imperial orders into Sichuan — one to reclaim military authority, the other to reclaim administrative authority and finances — everything they have done is the Emperor’s intention. Is this someone we can afford to offend at will?!”

The Senior Grand Princess of Qingchang said in a measured and unhurried tone: “Some things the outside world does not know, but can we not know? That great fire at the Ningyuan Marquis household all those years ago — the Emperor intended to settle scores for Marquis Gu, and had originally planned to punish your mother-in-law together with the others. It was only when the physician reported that your mother-in-law had only a few days left to live that Marquis Gu petitioned the Emperor to grant her a proper end… and yet, in your daughter-in-law’s mouth, it has become Marquis Gu who drove his step-mother to death. How utterly absurd!”

Having said all of this, she laughed in self-mockery for a moment: “Strange — back then, how did I fail to see clearly that she would turn out to be such a complete fool?”

The Han Princess Consort stared at those sheets of paper with furious eyes: “And then there is that pair of children from Gu Tingwei’s line. Was that case not settled long ago? Elder Academician Yu personally had the abandoned wife Fang Shi delivered to the relevant judicial authorities. Fang Shi also confessed to everything herself — confessing that she had done it to take revenge for Qin Shi’s betrayal, and she nearly dragged in the disgraceful affair of Marquis Gu’s first wife, Lady Yu, and her supposed infidelity, giving quite a fright to the various gentlemen of the Court of Judicial Review, who hastily closed the case. This, this… how does your daughter-in-law manage to be entangled in this as well…”

Han Cheng slowly wiped the cold sweat from his brow, and his expression gradually steadied. He said in a quiet voice: “This is entirely my fault. Such a wife I can no longer keep. As for what is to be done going forward, I ask Father and Mother to direct me.”

“You are not to interfere in matters of this inner household.”

The Princess extended her finely maintained, slender fingers and picked up the sheets of paper, holding them lightly over the candle flame, then releasing them to fall to the floor. The flame quickly consumed those thin sheets, and in the span of a moment, all that remained on the floor was a small clump of dark ash.

“Marquis Gu has made it clear: as long as there is no formal divorce, and the reputation of the Gu family’s daughter is not destroyed, he has no other concern. Your father and I are not heartless people. After all, she was brought in through the proper ceremony of eight-bearer sedan chair. Going forward, your wife will stay in the quiet room at the rear of the estate, and not set foot outside the door.”

Han Cheng thought of those rooms, cold and damp as a ghost’s dwelling, with only a few strangely reclusive mute matrons to keep watch, and could not help but feel a stirring of pity. Though it was blazing summer outside, he suddenly shivered as though it were deep autumn, and his nostrils caught the faintest, almost-imagined trace of chrysanthemum fragrance — as if that autumn day, chrysanthemums in full bloom across the hillsides, he had first read Gu Tingcan’s verses at the poetry gathering, his heart so moved, so entranced.

The Princess reached out and gently helped her son to stand, saying softly: “My son, you have suffered. Your luck in marriage has not been good, and it has delayed so much. Once this passes, put her from your mind — think more on your own future and career.”

The chrysanthemum fragrance vanished all at once. Han Cheng nodded, and said in a calm and composed voice: “As Mother says.”

Perhaps it had only ever been an illusion. Perhaps he had married the wrong wife.

In the eastern courtyard of the Han household, in the main room of the chambers, Lady Yan gently stroked her sleeping infant, carefully tucking in the corners of the blanket, then turned and walked out of the inner room into the side room — where she found a shadowy figure standing in the corner.

“You have worked hard.” Lady Yan picked up a small bag of silver from the table and held it out.

The figure stepped back a pace, and a low female voice came from within: “This servant would not dare accept it. I only beg that Lady Yan in her great compassion will allow me to leave the household.”

Lady Yan smiled and set the bag of silver back down. She was petite and enchanting in appearance, with a natural sweetness in her speech, even when the subject matter was anything but sweet.

“You really did guess correctly. The matrons who accompanied you came back and reported that your mistress, just before her mouth was stopped, was calling out to put all the blame on you.”

The evening breeze drifted gently, and the lamplight in the room swayed and flickered. In the shifting light, a face was illuminated — white and smooth-complexioned, with delicate and clear features — it was unmistakably Ling’er!

Ling’er said nothing.

Lady Yan seemed very much in the mood to talk, gazing at the ceiling and speaking in a measured, wistful tone: “That year, Mistress’s servant Shuang’er pushed me and caused me to lose a fully formed baby boy. I was heartbroken, yet I had no evidence whatsoever; had your mistress been willing to say a few words on Shuang’er’s behalf, the girl might have had her life spared… but your Mistress did not say a single word. Such a pity — one whole human life, and the Princess had her beaten to death with the rod… There was also Min’er before that, and Liang’er… all gone.”

Ling’er still said nothing.

Lady Yan suddenly turned her head and looked at her, smiling: “Now that you can speak — was the incident with Shuang’er something she did on her own initiative, standing up for your mistress, or was it done on your Mistress’s orders?”

Ling’er’s expression was cold, her voice colder still: “Lady Yan already knows the answer, does she not? What is the point of asking me. I must say I admire you, Lady Yan — after suffering so much, you managed to endure through all of it.”

Lady Yan smiled ruefully, her voice clear and sweet as water: “What choice did I have? I did not have your Mistress’s good fortune — I could only endure on my own. Sigh — had your Mistress caused just a little less trouble, Master would still have had feeling for her, and there would have been no need for me at all.”

Recalling past hardships, her heart ached; she paused for a moment, then raised her head to look at Ling’er: “One last question — doing what you did, don’t you feel guilty toward your mistress, with a troubled conscience?”

Ling’er suddenly raised her head; her gaze flared with a light fierce as flame. She spoke word by word: “I entered Mistress’s service at the age of seven. Now I am twenty-seven — twenty years in full, and I have never once done a single thing that was a betrayal of my mistress, nor have I ever intended to. Before Shuang’er breathed her last, she said to me: sisters, I am the last one remaining — every debt of gratitude owed to Mistress has already been repaid. She said to me, from now on, I should think a little more for myself.”

Lady Yan was left speechless.

Ling’er’s voice was entirely without emotion: “Every day during this time, I urged Mistress countless times to step back from the edge. Every word, every single character, was said in her true interest — spoken from the deepest sincerity. If so much as half a character was false, let me be struck by five bolts of lightning and die without a whole body to be buried!”

She let out one long breath, as though years’ worth of turbid air had been expelled at last. Ling’er fixed her gaze on the other woman and said: “…Very well — enough of all this. Please give me a clear answer, Lady Yan — are you letting me go or not?”

Lady Yan looked steadily at Ling’er for a long moment: “You won’t go out and immediately turn around and accuse me, will you?”

Ling’er said with bitterness: “Who would believe the words of someone who betrayed their mistress?”

As the sky grew faintly light, not far from the back gate of the Princess’s household, a gray-canopied carriage stood waiting. A young man sitting at the carriage head driving the horses anxiously kept leaning out to look toward the Princess’s household, until at last he cried out with delighted surprise: “Coming, coming, Mother — she’s coming!”

From inside the carriage, a woman with white-streaked hair immediately thrust out her head — it was Elder Sister Xiang. She looked, then exclaimed: “Why, it’s her!”

Ling’er came out through the small back gate of the Princess’s household wearing plain clothes and simple hairpins, a simple bundle under her arm, and walked with measured steps to the side of the carriage. Elder Sister Xiang wept: “Good child, you’ve finally come — the two of us have been waiting half the night, afraid that… afraid some misfortune might…”

“All right, stop — let’s go quickly.” The young man was beaming with joy, leaped down from the carriage at once, and with warm and attentive gestures helped Ling’er up into the carriage, then cracked his whip and drove swiftly away.

Inside the carriage, Elder Sister Xiang stroked the back of Ling’er’s hand, smiling through tears: “I was afraid they wouldn’t release you — but heaven is just after all… you have suffered so much through all this…”

“I was afraid too.” Ling’er nestled against Elder Sister Xiang’s embrace and said softly: “But I told Lady Yan: if I died within the Princess’s household, rumors would spread through the capital afterward — that Lady Yan had plotted against the principal wife, all manner of evil deeds. I am only a lowly servant girl — I could not harm so great a household as the Princess’s, but it is not so difficult to ruin the reputation of a concubine-wife.”

Elder Sister Xiang clapped her hands with a laugh: “That’s the thing exactly. With the principal wife about to fall, and Lady Yan’s father and brothers having just entered official service — she cannot afford so much as a single misstep at this moment.”

After a pause, she sighed: “Tell me — how long do you think the Seventh Miss can last?”

Ling’er’s complexion was bleak: “Given the Mistress’s temperament, not very long.” Life in such a cold, bleak and desolate room was not something Gu Tingcan, a tender flower raised in a greenhouse, could endure.

Elder Sister Xiang saw that Ling’er’s expression was troubled, and said to console her: “Don’t take it to heart. I know the Seventh Miss’s nature — even without our help, she would have found her own way to do this, and then it would have been nothing more than a needless death for you as well.”

“I have no regrets.” Ling’er shook her head and said with detachment, “Continuing to stay at Mistress’s side would have had only one outcome. And I… I still remember Miss Gu Tingyan.”

At the mention of that eldest daughter of the Gu household — who had married young, long since cut off from dealings with her mother’s family — Elder Sister Xiang immediately became animated and slapped her knee: “Exactly! Not a one of the Qin family people was any good! I heard the old people say: back then, Miss Gu Tingyan’s mother — who had been so loyal and faithful to her own mistress — had already a perfectly suitable family arranged for her marriage, when that sickly wretch on the verge of death still had to harm people in her dying moments! In order to spite Bai Shi’s Lady and to ensure that Young Master Gu Tingyu would have someone to care for him, she… she just…”

Elder Sister Xiang thought of that Qiu Yiniang who had died so early, and her indignation grew all the stronger: “The Qin family people showed no gratitude for kindness — all those fine words at the beginning, and the moment Lady came through the door, they started looking on Miss Gu Tingyan and her mother with contempt. Sigh, poor Miss Gu Tingyan — coaxed by that Lady into getting the old Marquis to send her so far away in marriage. Who knows if she can ever return to the capital in this lifetime!”

Ling’er nodded, and said softly: “For servants like us, in the eyes of our masters, we are nothing more than objects — useful, we are used; no longer useful, we are carelessly cast aside.”

And then she suddenly recalled something, reached out and began to rub Elder Sister Xiang’s knee: “I remember your old ailment of cold knees has never healed — last night you were kneeling for so long again; does it hurt now? Let me rub it for you.”

The moment her hand touched the knee, Elder Sister Xiang drew in a sharp hiss, and cursed with feeling: “That mother and daughter were two of a kind — never treated servants as human beings! Our family served them body and soul generation after generation; my husband was even beaten to death as an innocent victim of their troubles. And when my mother-in-law breathed her last, that Lady never gave us mother and son a single word of accounting — just told us to go on enduring our miserable service! Pfft!”

“All right — what is past is past. Let us get out of the capital quickly and find a quiet place to settle down.” Ling’er said. “With these silver coins, we will never go wanting.”

Elder Sister Xiang smiled: “Quite right, quite right.” Then, suddenly worried: “Will the Senior Grand Princess of Qingchang let us go? She won’t change her mind, will she?”

Ling’er broke into a smile: “For this matter to have come about at all, do you think Lady Yan could have done it on her own without the Princess’s tacit approval?”

Elder Sister Xiang was startled: “You mean — the Princess herself wanted to be rid of the Seventh Miss?”

“Had Mistress been well-behaved, the Princess might not have been unable to accommodate her.” Ling’er said coldly. “But Mistress kept urging Master to defy and disobey his mother. Long before now the Princess had stopped wanting this daughter-in-law. But afterward, when the Lady died, the Princess was unwilling to let it be said on the outside that the Princess’s household had changed with the wind, fearing the power of the Gu family, and so had been unable to move against her immediately — and so it was dragged out for all these years more.”

“Good child, you are so clever!” Elder Sister Xiang was overjoyed, and pulled Ling’er into her embrace: “From now on, our whole family will live well together.”

Ling’er, who had always known how to humble herself and yield to others, put on an expression full of gratitude: “I am two years older than your son Qing, yet you do not think less of me for that; from now on I will certainly serve you devotedly… serve you well…” Her face flushed scarlet, overcome with shy bashfulness.

Elder Sister Xiang laughed, her eyes crinkling: “What do you call me.”

Had things still been as they were in the old days when she was living well at the Gu household, she would certainly not have looked upon Ling’er as worthy of being her daughter-in-law. But these years of decline — deceived in business ventures, bullied when selling her labor, going through a period of scarcely enough to eat or wear — had made her suddenly realize that what the household truly needed was a capable daughter-in-law. One like Ling’er: clever and capable, wholeheartedly devoted to her own son, with no family of her own to rely on, no one else to turn to but her. And her own advancing years only made this the more pressing, since Ling’er would be all the more fearful of being discarded, and would therefore be doubly respectful toward her.

Ling’er quietly watched the self-satisfied expression on Elder Sister Xiang’s face, smiling to herself inwardly, while her face remained as shy as a girl of sixteen. She said with gentle compliance: “I will certainly be devoted in serving Mother from this day forward.”

Days are what people make of them. A husband who is strong and willing to listen, a mother-in-law who is not too difficult to deal with — she simply refused to believe she could not make a good life out of this.