With many hands working together, they settled Mei Fen on the couch. The physician administered acupuncture and wrote a prescription, and Mei Fen gradually came around. The first words out of her mouth upon opening her eyes were still: “I will not marry.”
Madam Ming wept, not knowing what to do. Dabbing at her tears, she said: “You stubborn child — how can you be so obstinate? This is a match long since settled. Based on your single word of refusal, how are the family elders to manage things? Who in the capital does not know that we have formed a marriage alliance with Duke Weiguo’s household — even His Majesty and the Imperial Consort at court have heard of it, and asked at the last birthday banquet when the wedding would take place. With such a commotion, if you say you will not marry, Duke Weiguo’s household will surely lose face; your father still has to move about in official circles — how will we explain it to people?”
All this earnest, painstaking persuasion yielded only Mei Fen closing her eyes and turning her face to the wall.
Madam Ming grew even more anxious: “Just what is it? What is it about Duke Weiguo that does not suit you? You may very well say — even if we dissolve the engagement, we need some grounds for it. You close both eyes and leave everything for your parents to agonize over — is this what filial piety means to you? Is this how I raised you from childhood?”
But no matter how much she said, it simply could not pry open Mei Fen’s mouth. She maintained her posture, holding people at a thousand miles’ distance, and Madam Ming sighed and groaned, completely at a loss with her. She turned to look at Xiang Xu: “Son, what can be done about this?”
Xiang Xu glanced at Mei Fen. “She is probably exhausted — let her rest a while. Let us talk outside.”
Yun Pan stepped forward to support Madam Ming, and the three of them moved to the outer room.
The sun blazed down fiercely on the blue stone steps outside; inside the room, hanging curtains were arrayed in a staggered pattern, making the inner recesses dim and drowsy.
Yun Pan guided Madam Ming to sit in the armchair, then said: “Elder Cousin was overcome by the moment — once this spell passes, she will come around on her own.”
Madam Ming patted Yun Pan’s hand wistfully: “You have no idea — your sister has always had this strange temperament. When she makes up her mind about something, ten bulls cannot drag her back. She made a fuss when the engagement was settled too, but then we did not take it very seriously. We thought the same thing: given enough time, she will surely come around. But two years have dragged by, and she is still exactly the same.”
Xiang Xu’s heart ached for his sister, and he always took her side: “If she truly is unwilling, we cannot force her. It would be better to explain the situation clearly to Duke Weiguo and ask him to choose another match.”
“Nonsense.” Madam Ming rejected this immediately. “When Duke Weiguo was serving as the Xizhouteam Training Commissioner, he was away on military service for years, and we used the excuse of wanting to keep Mei Fen home a few more years — they could not object. Now Duke Weiguo has been recalled to the capital; when two families run into each other every time one turns around, and we kept the Duke waiting until he was twenty-four — bringing up breaking off the engagement now, how could they simply let it go? Besides, if this match does not succeed, Mei Fen’s whole life is ruined. This kind of household she still looks down on — what family would have the nerve to claim they are above Duke Weiguo and dare come seeking to be made a fool of?” The more she said, the more disheartened she felt. She leaned back in the armchair and just kept heaving long sighs: “Oh dear, I am worried to death. What perfectly good girl refuses to get married? Does she truly intend to enter a Daoist convent and become a Daoist nun?”
But Mei Fen had that kind of temperament; in truth, she was not suited to marriage, and particularly not to Duke Weiguo’s household. Duke Weiguo’s Dowager Lady had once been a favorite imperial consort of the late emperor; when the late emperor passed away, she had followed her son Prince Liang out of the palace to live with him. A person who had spent more than twenty years navigating the deep palace would likely not be easy to manage. And Mei Fen was straightforward and frank, unable to read others’ feelings or moods. Once she went to live in their household, simply being put through her paces would be ordeal enough.
Xiang Xu was somewhat indignant as well, and said in a low voice: “Duke Weiguo still wore fox fur in early spring; Mei Fen’s health is fragile too. Married as a couple, it may not be a good thing.”
Madam Ming was stumped by what he said and fell silent for a long while. “Then what solution do you have?”
A way to dissolve the engagement was not entirely unthinkable, but everyone knew that once such a thing was done, it would harm the enemy at the cost of wounding oneself eight hundred out of every thousand. That reasoning was understood by all.
Yun Pan saw them at an impasse and said softly to Madam Ming: “Aunt, please do not fret. Let me try talking to her again once her temper cools. The news came so suddenly — she could not turn the corner all at once. There is plenty of time to let her think it over more.”
Madam Ming sighed and nodded, then, recalling that they had just come back from the market fair, she changed her expression to smile and ask: “Did you have a good time out with your brother?”
Yun Pan said yes. “We ate honeyed crisp apple blossom dessert and bought incense-making ingredients. The restaurants in the capital are truly numerous, and the streets are so lively — riding in the carriage all that way, I watched the whole time and just looking was already a delight.”
Madam Ming gazed at that bright, lovely face and sighed to herself: the same young girls — Si Si had lost her mother and met such an unjust father, yet she could still live with such vitality. Compare that to Mei Fen, with parents doting on her and a brother watching over her, never allowed to suffer the slightest injustice — and yet she had grown a strange, difficult temperament. Having fallen into a pond once, ten years were not enough to heal the affliction of her heart.
If only Mei Fen could be like Si Si, what a great deal of worry that would save! But such is the way of the world — things seldom go as one wishes. And the more she thought of it, the more she felt for Si Si, so she told Xiang Xu: “Mei Fen cannot fulfil her duties as host now. From here on, whenever your sister wants to go out, keep a close eye on her.”
Xiang Xu said yes, and smiled at Yun Pan. “There is not much official business at the Imperial Academy; I am often free. If there is anything Younger Sister needs, just come to me.”
Yun Pan acknowledged this, then turned and curtsied to Madam Ming: “Aunt, I will go in to keep A’Jie company.”
Madam Ming nodded, and added: “Si Si, I have been counting on you for your elder cousin — now I see that she will not listen to anyone, and it seems she has fallen into some obsession that no one can reason her out of. Still, she had one thing right…” Madam Ming looked at Yun Pan warmly and said gently: “To take you as a daughter and let you stay on long in our Duke’s household. You have no idea how dearly Aunt thinks of you — since you came to be near me, I simply cannot let you suffer a single grievance.”
To someone who had been shut out by her own family, hearing words like these — the warmth they stirred was beyond description.
Yun Pan’s eyes reddened; she bowed her head and said: “How fortunate that I have Aunt — even though my own home has no place for me, I still have Aunt’s love.”
But Nanny Yao beside them made a teasing remark: “Madam is mistaken — even if she takes her as a daughter, there will come a day she marries out. If Madam wants to keep the young mistress in the household long term, the only way is to betroth her to our Young Master. Cousins marrying is common enough elsewhere; in our household, it would be a charming story too.”
The warmth Yun Pan had felt a moment before was thoroughly startled away by Nanny Yao’s words. She was mortified and stammered: “Nanny, please do not… do not jest — Elder Brother is like a brother of this very household; I have no such thoughts whatsoever.”
Nanny Yao was Madam Ming’s own dowry nanny; she would not have ventured to say this offhand without first knowing Madam Ming’s mind.
Madam Ming saw the shock on Yun Pan’s face and said with a smile: “Nanny is only teasing you — do not take it seriously. But, speaking of it, you have been in your brother’s company for half a day — what do you think of his character?”
As for Xiang Xu’s character, there was certainly nothing to find fault with. The saying “time reveals a person’s heart” was no doubt true, but whether one’s bearing was upright or not could sometimes be discerned in a single glance.
Yet with Nanny Yao having set the stage, she now felt ill at ease offering any opinion. She weighed her words and said simply that it was very good: “Elder Brother looks after me very well. Mother only had me, and I have always envied Elder Cousin Mei for having such a devoted elder brother.”
Calling him a devoted elder brother made it plain there was nothing else intended. Madam Ming was a perceptive woman; hearing this, she understood, but still mentioned in passing: “Your uncle comes from a military background — years of campaigns left him with ailments throughout his body, and he has no wish to see your brother enter the military and be drilled. Hexu also loves his books; currently he holds a post at the Imperial Academy, and in another year or two he will certainly be entering the court as an official…” She noticed Yun Pan gazing at her blankly, and suddenly felt the absurdity of what she was doing. She laughed at herself and said: “Enough — what is the point of all this! You have just come back from outside without even a moment’s rest, and then you spent half the day with your sister in all this commotion — you must be exhausted. Go and rest. Do not take what she said earlier to heart; once she has let off steam, I will give her a good scolding.”
Yun Pan said yes, gathered her skirts, gave a slight bow, and withdrew from the main room.
Watching her walk away toward the courtyard gate, Madam Ming murmured: “From the way she spoke, it seems she has no such feelings for Hexu.”
Nanny Yao tucked her hands and said: “Girls are modest by nature, and she is, moreover, a daughter of a Marquis’s household. Even if the Marquis has been foolish, she was raised under a County Princess’s guidance since childhood and naturally observes propriety.”
Madam Ming rested one hand on the low table, her air very much that of someone who had seen through the red dust of the world, murmuring: “These past years I had indeed been thinking of finding a good match for my children — not to say useful connections for the future, but simply to preserve the family’s prosperity without squandering it, and that would be sufficient. But look at how Mei Fen has made a mess of things — as if we were pushing her into a vat of boiling oil. She has latched onto such a fine household yet cannot explain herself, and that is deeply worrying. I thought it over just now: the master’s title cannot go any higher for someone of outside lineage; when Hexu enters officialdom, there is no need to depend on others’ favors — with a little of our own family’s connections, there is nothing that cannot succeed. In the end, let him choose someone he himself likes. One Mei Fen has already worried me into grey hairs; add Hexu on top of that and I would not be able to live.”
Besides, the rank of Founding Marquis’s household was in truth not low, and the legitimate daughter was sought by a hundred families. Just now at Zilanyard, she had noticed Xiang Xu standing there staring fixedly at the curtain hanging behind where Yun Pan had been — and Madam Ming had already seen what was afoot. She had made up her own mind as well: no matter how disgraceful Jiang Heng was, he would not cast away his own daughter. When the time came for Yun Pan to return, he would come to settle the betrothal first thing, and then in a few days she would be brought back to the Duke’s household — first, sparing her from further humiliation; second, gaining a pleasing child-in-law in a perfectly proper way. How good that would be!
Only this idea of Madam Ming’s had not yet been discussed with Duke Shuguo when the Duke learned that Founding Marquis’s household had held the funeral rites — and his anger had no place to vent.
That day at court, they had dealt with Youzhou’s disaster situation in audience. After court was dismissed, the officials withdrew from the Daqing Hall and passed through the wide central passage and out through the Yide Gate. Duke Shuguo walked with his distinctive unhurried gait toward the rear, while Jiang Heng walked some distance ahead of him.
He had in fact been holding back all morning, wanting to see whether Jiang Heng would take the initiative to inform him of Yun Pan’s “death.” But he had waited and waited, until they were almost about to go their separate ways to their carriages, and still not a word had come from Jiang Heng.
A man forged through years of battle had no tolerance for such behavior. Duke Shuguo finally held back no longer; a voice like a great bell — “Marquis Jiang, please wait” — rang out and made many colleagues nearby turn their heads to look.
Jiang Heng naturally also sensed the tension in the air. He turned back toward Duke Shuguo, cupped his hands in a salute: “Brother Jingqing, to what do I owe this?”
Duke Shuguo paced over with a smile that did not reach his eyes: “I heard that your household recently held funeral rites — why no word to us? We are relatives after all.” Seeing Jiang Heng’s expression turn sheepish, he gave a long sigh: “This bout of natural disaster has brought suffering to so many families — I never expected your household, too, to have… If I might ask, who was it who passed? Judging by how simple the arrangements were, it must have been a concubine. Alas — last year the County Princess departed this world, and this year another person is lost. Your household has suffered successive losses of people; that is truly heartbreaking.”
Duke Shuguo’s character was something Jiang Heng understood very well. He was not the sort to normally meddle in trifling matters, and yet today he had made this whole loaded, insinuating speech — he had evidently heard something.
Jiang Heng felt a wave of melancholy. Speaking of Si Si pained him, but this was a family matter and outsiders had no right to question him. So he composed himself and said: “I was just about to inform Brother Jingqing. During the earthquake… the one who perished was my eldest daughter. I had originally intended to send someone to your household to report the mourning, but, as Brother Jingqing says, last year the County Princess passed away, and this year Si Si too is gone — I also feared that Elder Sister would be too overcome with grief and harm herself, so I kept the news from her.”
“So it was consideration for my wife.” Duke Shuguo tucked his audience tablet and said: “Yet Brother Yuzao should not forget — the County Princess, before she died, entrusted Elder Sister to look after Si Si. Now that the child has met with misfortune, you have not even sent a word of notice. It seems you have forgotten that the child still had an uncle and an aunt to depend on!”
Jiang Heng felt impatience rising within him, yet he could not let it show. He forced a bow and said: “Not sending immediate word was my negligence; in truth, with such an event in the household, I have been too overwhelmed to attend to anything else. Brother Jingqing is a reasonable man — surely you would not hold this against me.”
Duke Shuguo paced slowly in a small circle, then gave a cold smile: “Hold it against you — of course not. But there is one thing I cannot make sense of: how can a man believe every word his concubine says? If someone used the earthquake as a pretext to harm Si Si, and you were not at home, then would Si Si not have died a death of terrible injustice?”
Jiang Heng’s devotion to shielding his concubine was truly something the sun and moon could attest to. He changed color, and, barely controlling himself, squeezed out a few words through his teeth: “Duke Xiang, my household has just endured great misfortune — it is already difficult enough. Why must you fabricate things out of nothing and stir up trouble?”
Duke Shuguo then fixed him with a measuring look for a good while, and finally flicked his lower lip in contempt: “Very well. Since Marquis Jiang insists that Si Si is gone, then there is nothing more to discuss. I presume Si Si’s household registration has already been cancelled — from this point on, she and Marquis Jiang have nothing to do with each other. My household has been short of people; in time to come, we shall rename the child Xiang Zhufen. I think that is most fitting.”