Having made up her mind to set the inner household in order, she began with Xuzhu Courtyard. Duke Weiguo’s residence had no small number of servants — handmaids combined with the rougher labor bought from outside came to a total of eighty-six people.

In truth, counting both concubines, the main family consisted of only seven people to be attended to. Each person had their own close handmaids and matrons. There was, in practice, no need for so many people. Older ones could not be released; younger ones had not yet been trained up. The number only kept swelling, and was bound to generate resentment among some.

Yun Pan gave the order, instructing Nanny Yao to select eight clever and nimble girls to begin learning from the smallest tasks: sweeping the courtyards, serving tea, carrying water. Most of these girls were household-born daughters — raised from childhood amid the splendor and customs of a great noble household, they were perceptive beyond their years, and their manner and bearing were naturally appropriate. With a little guidance, they could soon be deployed close to the mistress.

Yun Pan sat in the gallery pavilion, the morning sun coming in at a slant, spilling a gentle light on her upright and dignified figure. The mistress of the household had beautiful features and exquisite bearing — each glance, each smile, like a gilded Bodhisattva. She watched the nanny directing the little maids as they tidied the courtyard and tended the plants and flowers. These children moved with a composure beyond their years, and even when they were a little too eager or quick at times, she did not grow impatient — she guided them patiently and gently.

Ruolan brought up a cup of fragrant drink. She knew the courtyard’s daily reorganization of the handmaids was being done for her sake. There were many things in her heart she did not know how to say to Yun Pan. She withdrew to one side, hesitating to speak, and it was a good while before she finally asked: “Does the Lady find it to your taste? If it is not sweet enough, I will add another spoonful of honey.”

Yun Pan said it was just right, and turned to look at her. Seeing her hesitant manner, she smiled and asked: “What is it? Is there something you wish to say to me?”

Ruolan lowered her head even further, and said haltingly: “I came with you to this household, thinking I would serve you all my life. I never expected things to turn out this way. I feel ashamed — these past days I have been unable to eat or sleep for the guilt of it. I have failed your kind regard.”

Ruolan had been sold to Duke Shuguo’s residence by her parents at the age of twelve, when times at home had grown hard. By now it had been ten full years. At the time, Madam Ming had not investigated her background thoroughly and did not know she had been informally betrothed to her cousin as children. Over the years, seeing her honest and capable, Madam Ming had appointed her as one of Yun Pan’s attendants and sent her to serve at Yun Pan’s side.

Ruolan had long assumed that with so many years having passed, the childhood betrothal would have counted for nothing anymore. But her cousin had found himself a position as a clerk at a government office, and knowing she served at Duke Weiguo’s residence, had taken to visiting frequently under the pretext of kinship. With the betrothal still lingering between them, one thing leading to another, Ruolan had formed feelings of her own. Yet she found it too difficult to tell Yun Pan directly, and eventually devised a way of hinting at it through Qin Dan, passing the information to her mistress indirectly.

When Yun Pan learned of this, it naturally required careful consideration. A person who had set her heart on leaving could not be forcibly kept. This courtyard was full of young women, and if Ruolan were to do something foolish, it would harm her own reputation and risk setting a bad example for the other handmaids.

And then, right at this moment, came the matter of Ou’er entering the inner bedchamber uninvited — two events together only strengthened her resolve to let people go. Using this occasion as a starting point, she could also begin adjusting the household staffing.

Ruolan did not know the full depth of her mistress’s thinking and only kept feeling she had let her down. Yun Pan replied with generous warmth: “You served at the Western Residence for many years, and now you have come of age — with someone waiting for you from your childhood betrothal, even if you were to leave, I would have no worry on your account.” She glanced at Ou’er, who stood attendant to one side. “The household rules ought to be made more flexible. Not just for you — from now on, apart from the household-born servants, any handmaid past twenty who has formed her own plans will not be kept by me. After all, a person’s life spans only a few short decades. Past service well rendered can be exchanged for future freedom. If one has served well in ordinary times, I will also prepare travel money for the road, so they may return home and be reunited with their parents.”

Words like these, falling on an honest person’s ears, would naturally inspire a sense of the mistress’s benevolence — that if one worked diligently for a few years, there was still hope of going home. But in the ears of someone with a guilty conscience, they carried an entirely different flavor worth chewing over.

Yun Pan saw Ou’er’s face flush red, her expression turn uneasy, and felt all the more certain of her own suspicions.

A handmaid who overstepped her bounds and harbored improper ambitions was the most unforgivable thing. Earlier she had even invented a story about a maid named Jinji supposedly scheming to climb into the master’s bed, and used it to drive away the Cao family mother and daughter. How ironic, then, that in the end a real Ou’er had materialized — leaving Yun Pan to stew in quiet resentment for several days, lying awake through the nights, unable to sleep soundly.

Ruolan was filled with gratitude and dabbed at her tears. “To have served at your Lady’s side was my blessing. You have the heart of a Bodhisattva, my Lady — I thought surely you would be angry with me, thinking me so ungrateful, and that you would find it difficult to account for things to Madam Ming of the Western Residence as well.”

Yun Pan soothed her naturally. “This is a happy occasion — Aunt will not blame you. Since we have raised it today, let us take advantage of this auspicious day and release you from the household.” She glanced at Qin Dan: “Go and fetch Ruolan’s registration papers.”

Qin Dan received the order and returned to the inner chamber. Nanny Yao stood to one side with her hands clasped, smiling at Ruolan: “Congratulations, young lady.”

Ruolan flushed and curtseyed to Nanny Yao, saying: “These past years you have looked after me so kindly, Nanny. I have not yet been able to repay you or the Lady properly, and now I must take my leave…”

Nanny Yao said: “The Lady has granted you this grace, and of course wishes you well. Go home and live happily with your young man — so long as you are well, you will not have failed the Lady’s good intentions.”

Ming Ke, standing nearby, added a word: “If you are still in the capital when things are settled, come and visit us sometime.”

Ruolan nodded shyly. “I will.”

By now Qin Dan had returned with her household registration papers. Yun Pan handed them over along with a small bundle, saying in a gentle voice: “Keep these papers safe. Go to the authorities and have your household registration converted to commoner status — from that day on you will be a free person. Here also is fifty taels of silver — a small gift from me as a betrothal supplement. You may use it to start a small business, or to furnish a home. It is only a token of my good wishes — do not think it too little.”

Ruolan took the papers and the silver, and tears immediately streamed down her face. She knelt at once and knocked her head against the ground repeatedly, saying over and again: “Thank you, my Lady — what can I say of your kind heart, my Lady… When I get home, I will make a long-life tablet and offer it up to the Buddha, praying for you to be blessed with all you wish for, and for your prosperity to be everlasting.”

Yun Pan reached out and helped her to her feet, smiling: “I receive your good wishes gladly — but the tablet truly is unnecessary. Quite frightening, honestly.” She looked her up and down with a lingering tenderness, and finally let out a long sigh: “Go then. Go and live well, with your young man.”

Ruolan, her face streaked with tears, kowtowed three more times before rising, and was accompanied out of the inner courtyard by Ming Ke.

Only then did Yun Pan turn her gaze to Ou’er. She said in a composed voice: “Ruolan was originally responsible for attending to my dressing. Now that she has gone, I am one person short nearby. From today onward, you will take her place and attend on me.”

Ou’er’s duties and Ruolan’s had been the same — the difference being that Ruolan attended to Yun Pan, and Ou’er attended to Li Chenjian.

Now that the order had been given, Ou’er could not refuse. She answered yes with her mouth, but her expression was troubled. She hesitated and said: “If this servant is permitted to attend on the Lady, that would be more than I could ask for — but the Master too cannot go without someone to attend to his dressing…”

Yun Pan heard this and narrowed her eyes with a smile that was not quite a smile. “It seems there is no capable person in this entire household who can serve the Master — as if he cannot manage without you?”

Ou’er instantly went pale, knowing she had misspoken, and began to stammer and make excuses: “That is not what this servant meant.”

“Then what did you mean?” Yun Pan said, her face now composed and stern. “I hear you have been serving the Duke for three years — truly a long-standing, intimate acquaintance. As for me, the Lady of the house, I arrived only a few months ago. In your eyes, I am still an outsider, I suppose?”

Ou’er panicked. Though in her heart she did genuinely feel this way, to actually say so aloud would be a clear-cut offense. She could only flatly deny it, saying hurriedly: “Not at all — the Master is the master, and the Lady is even more the mistress of the household. This servant’s heart and soul are devoted to serving both the Master and the Lady, and wherever the Lady directs me to go, I shall go…”

Yun Pan said there was no need. “Before, I had been considering keeping you close by me, to give you a respectable position. Yet later, I saw that you were reluctant and only wished to attend the Duke. Such a great deity as you are — this small temple of mine evidently cannot accommodate you. In any case, today we are already releasing people, and you may take this opportunity to leave as well. Do not worry — I will naturally assign someone else to attend to the Duke’s dressing, and he will not be neglected.”

Ou’er was at a loss, not having imagined she would actually be dismissed from the household. She knelt at once, saying: “My Lady, please be appeased — this servant knows her error. From this day forward, this servant will attend on the Lady…”

But now that she had offered to comply, Yun Pan was even less inclined to keep her. Senior maids close to the master of the house typically regarded themselves a cut above the other handmaids — by virtue of their proximity to the master and their ability to put in a word for or against others. Given time, they tended to lose their sense of their proper place.

This happened in other households all the time. A maid attending to a master’s hair and grooming, or to his dressing, often held herself in anticipation of one day being taken into the master’s household — as though accepting such a posting was by its nature being prepared as a prospective concubine.

Ou’er may well have entertained exactly such thoughts. Her usual demeanor of few words and aloof superiority was, at bottom, a disdain for being lumped together with other handmaids. She was therefore not a person to be kept. Better to clear her out entirely and have done with it, before more problems could take root over time.

Yun Pan smoothed the folds in her skirt, lowered her eyes, and said: “I had people look into your household registration — you were not sold into service; your background is clean. Your parents are most likely expecting you to distinguish yourself and then take care of them in their old age. In this household, however much you toil for twenty more years, you will still only be a handmaid with no prospects. You had best go. Perhaps in another household, you will have great fortune.”

At this, Ou’er burst into tears and said, blotting at her eyes: “My Lady — I have served the Duke for many years and have never committed any fault…”

Yun Pan’s face turned cold in an instant. She had originally considered reasoning it out with her — but on reflection, there was no need. A young handmaid who slips into the master’s bedchamber while the mistress of the house is away? A woman of good character would never do such a thing. To speak of it openly would shame not only Ou’er, but would also be an insult to Li Chenjian himself.

Nanny Yao, standing nearby, understood everything at a glance. That day when the Lady had entered the inner bedchamber and Ou’er had come out shortly after — at the time she had been startled, wondering why that girl had been in there. Now it was perfectly clear: a servant grown too comfortable in her position had begun to fancy the taste of being a mistress. Caught by the mistress of the house herself, she still refused to go. Truly, her face was thicker than a city wall.

She was weeping and wailing — were they to leave the Lady to waste her breath arguing with her? Nanny Yao stepped in front of Ou’er, took her by the arm, and said: “No need to weep, young lady. When the master sends away a handmaid, there is never any need to give an explanation to anyone. When the service no longer suits, there is a change — that is the most ordinary thing there is. After serving in this household for so long, can you truly not understand this? As for whether any fault was committed — heaven knows, and earth knows. The Lady has spared you your dignity. You should count your blessings. When all is said and done openly, it becomes unpleasant for everyone.”

As she spoke, she beckoned to Lu Tan and Ming Ke: “You two, go with her and help her gather her things. While it is still early in the day, see her out. And leave word with the gatekeeper — she is no longer part of this household, and entry must require prior notification.”

Lu Tan and Ming Ke said yes, and gestured: “Come along then.”

Ou’er had no recourse. Wiping her tears, she cast two glances back at Yun Pan before finally being pulled away toward the rear servants’ quarters.

With that done, Yun Pan turned to Nanny Yao: “From now on, have Lu Tan attend to the Duke’s dressing. Have Ming Ke show her how things are done for a couple of days. I have always found Lu Tan honest and straightforward — and she has only recently come to the upper quarters, so she will not be the type to grow arrogant on the strength of long service and cause trouble.”

Nanny Yao agreed: “The one who was attending the Duke before truly did carry herself as though she were above the rest. By making an example of Ou’er, those others will know to be more careful now.”

Yun Pan nodded: “Keeping peace in our household is no small thing. Those nearest to the master must be watched most carefully — a girl who does not know her boundaries cannot be kept, not even one. I had even considered placing her in my service.” She gave a helpless smile. “As you saw — she was not willing.”

Today the courtyard had undergone a sweeping reorganization of staff. Though the young maids were not yet very practiced, with the senior experienced handmaids guiding them, the larger and smaller tasks could all be managed well enough.

When Li Chenjian returned, Yun Pan went out to the corridor to meet him. She led him into the inner chamber, and then had Lu Tan prepare his everyday clothes for changing.

The wind after the Beginning of Winter carried a biting chill. She had someone bring in a three-panel folding screen to block it, and sat down before the screen herself. The eave-light fell warmly on half her body. When he came out and took his seat, she slid the small table toward him with the osmanthus-infused warm drink on it: “Duke, refresh yourself.”

The trailing sleeve of his robe brushed over a saucer of osmanthus petals, scattering a few golden ones here and there. Those long, fair three-fingered hands lifted the small cup — delicate, pale-tipped fingers, looking not at all like hands that had wielded sword and spear, but more like hands that held a brush.

He had been smiling the whole time — even as he sipped his tea, the corners of his lips curved upward. Yun Pan glanced at him and asked: “Did the Duke encounter something amusing today?”

He said no — but his expression was thoroughly content and self-satisfied.

She was all the more puzzled. If nothing amusing had happened, why the constant smile?

Never mind him, she thought. She stretched out her limbs, every part of her pleasantly at ease. Drowsy from sitting in the warm sun for so long, she closed her eyes and let herself enjoy it.

He looked at her from the side. Warmed by the sun, her complexion — pink and serene — glowed like a cherry blossom pastry from the summer imperial table, with a tranquil beauty shining from within. He watched her in quiet for a long while, and in the end could not suppress the happiness in his heart. He called out: “My Lady,” and then, as if making idle conversation, asked: “The handmaid who attended to my dressing — she has been changed?”

Yun Pan made a sound of acknowledgment. “I forgot to mention it to the Duke — Ou’er who served before has returned to her hometown.”

He nodded, was silent for a brief moment, then said: “Most likely she found that her monthly wages had not been increased for some time, and found it too much to bear.”

He finished the warm drink in his cup at a leisurely pace, then added some fresh osmanthus flowers to the small brazier to toast them, then inverted the cup over it, waiting for the flower essence to evaporate and infuse the rim of the cup.

Yun Pan turned to look at him, knowing full well he was saying this intentionally. He clearly understood everything and yet chose to play the part of one who knew nothing — was he doing it to preserve her face as the manager of the household?

She shifted in her seat, turned toward him, and asked: “That handmaid had served for three years. Changing her all of a sudden — is the Duke accustomed to it?”

He lifted the earthen pot from the small burner, which had been gently simmering white tea all along, removed the lid of the covered cup and poured the hot water into it, then divided the tea into her cup as well. As he did so, he said: “I spent five or six years in the army, and was always used to taking care of myself. In truth, I could dress myself by the time I was three. And yet here I am, grown past twenty, being dressed by others all over again. If you ask me, it is quite unnecessary.”

Yun Pan knew he would not take it to heart, yet she worried that dismissing a long-serving attendant might leave him with some misgivings —

A handmaid who had developed ambitions was indeed worth nothing — but if it ended up causing friction between husband and wife, that would be a poor exchange indeed.

Fortunately, he did not seem to have any dissatisfaction whatsoever. Yun Pan felt reassured, and murmured to herself: “Good.”

Yet still, neither spoke directly of it. Neither of them would analyse what had happened that day. They had long since reached a shared understanding — neither of them wished to bring another person into their bedchambers. If one were to bring it up again every time a small incident occurred, it would be like over-roasting the osmanthus in the small brazier — heat it too much and it chars, and the fragrance loses its purity.

However, that evening when they visited the Maoyuan Courtyard, the Princess inadvertently brought it up: “I heard that some people were let go from the courtyard today?”

Yun Pan said yes. “My personal attendant who came with me as dowry was betrothed to someone in the countryside long ago. Now that she has grown older and has her own plans, I returned her household registration papers to her and gave her some silver — to let her go and live her own life.”

The Princess nodded. “Those girls lead quite difficult lives. If they have a good place to go, it really is not right to hold them back.”

But the Dowager Countess was not so easily put off. She set down her chopsticks, dabbed her mouth, and said: “I heard that two people were let go? If this keeps up, do not let it come to the point where there are not enough people to serve. They are all long-time staff, familiar and easy to work with. To train new ones to be useful will take a great deal of time and effort.”

Of course, this was not something that required Yun Pan to answer. Li Chenjian had already smoothed things over on her behalf, saying only: “That handmaid was one I had Baisi dismiss. She had grown too reliant on her seniority and had become increasingly unruly of late — I found her quite objectionable. Today, using the occasion of releasing Ruolan, I had her sent away at the same time. This way, her dignity is preserved. Had she been singled out and dismissed on another day, both face and standing would have been lost entirely.”

Yun Pan also added a few supporting words, smiling: “She is not a household-born servant, and holds no household registration papers. She no doubt had plans of her own. Besides, in the circumstances our household finds itself in at present, we cannot afford to keep handmaids without a proper paper trail. For that reason too, letting her go offers us some security.”

The Princess, who invariably sided with her son and daughter-in-law, said: “Quite right — this is something I have been calculating for a year already. Our household has enough household-born handmaids, serving women, and manservants without needing to bring in outside people. Without a single document binding them to us, they are not in the same boat as us, and if they harbor any ill intent, there is simply no guarding against it.”

Hui Cun was eating her fruit. She looked up and said: “The other day I heard a story, and I found it deeply unjust. They say that a family in Nan’an Wang’s household had a painting from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, which they kept with great care. And then a servant in the house developed sticky fingers and stole it away. Since everyone knew which household this painting had come from, it could not easily be sold — so when the Nan’an Wang household tracked it to the thief’s home village, the thief’s mother, in order to clear her son of blame, set fire to the painting and burned it.”

The Dowager Countess was instantly indignant. “Two worthless lives not worth a corner of that painting — and yet such people were the ones to destroy a peerless masterpiece. It is worse than a boat capsizing in a ditch. Truly nauseating.”

Hui Cun said wasn’t it just, and glanced slyly at Yun Pan as she spoke.

Hui Cun was an expert at leading the old lady off the subject. The Grandmother was getting on in years, and so long as one rambled in a few different directions, she would entirely forget whatever it was she had been pressing about before.

Yun Pan was grateful to her, and smiled quietly in her direction.

Li Chenjian went off to discuss that criminal case with the Dowager Countess and the Princess. Yun Pan turned her head and noticed a blue and white glass bead bracelet inlaid with gold on Hui Cun’s wrist and said with surprise: “Is this a new purchase? How distinctive.”

Hui Cun lowered her head shyly and stroked the bracelet on her wrist. “Geng Fangzhi came by today and specifically brought this for me.”