The opportunity came sooner than expected.

Every other day, Jin Shengyu drank a bowl of nourishing tonic — this was an unbreakable routine. That morning, a maidservant from the main rooms in the front courtyard sent over some premium fish gelatin, with instructions for the kitchen to prepare it, and to make an extra portion for Yinniang Zhou’s serving as well. The instructions given, she left. Maids of status were all like this — no one would stand here watching the pot. Their job was only to come and collect once the tonic was ready and carry it to their mistress. That was the extent of their duty.

The kitchen cook who was skilled at making tonics received the order and began rolling up her sleeves to work — washing, trimming, preparing, and placing the ingredients neatly into the covered cooking vessels.

Today, for some reason, her stomach was feeling unsettled. She rummaged through the cabinet for some paper, and while doing so, reminded Qi Zi: “First bring it to a boil over high heat, then lower the flame and let it simmer for half an hour. Don’t let it cook for too long.”

Qi Zi said yes. “Cook Liu, are you unwell? Did something disagree with you?”

The cook had no time to answer. She waved her hand dismissively and strode quickly toward the outhouse.

In a noble household’s kitchen, a great many dishes and pastries were prepared each day, and people were coming and going without stop — especially in the mornings, which were the busiest time of all. But once the master of the house had taken the morning meal, there was a quiet stretch. Most people, if they had no duties to attend to, were unwilling to linger anywhere that smelled so heavily of raw meat and grease.

Qi Zi crouched before the stove opening, feeding split wood into the fire, and kept a careful eye on the kitchen’s comings and goings. She waited a long time. No one came. She slowly rose, slowly lifted the steamer lid— suddenly voices floated in from outside. She hastily replaced the lid and, spinning around, snatched up a cleaning cloth and pretended to be wiping down the stove.

Fortunately, the two maids did not come inside. She could only hear them going on about something: “Jue’er is so picky about food — where would you find pea shoots this time of year… No help for it, mix some brined cabbagecould into the chicken broth and fob him off with that. He’s just a child — what does he know…” Their voices trailed away again as they moved on.

Qi Zi let out a quiet breath of relief. She looked out at the courtyard — empty, not a soul in sight. Taking advantage of this moment, she pushed aside the steamer lid, drew out the paper packet, and sprinkled the powder into Yinniang Zhou’s covered vessel. The powder was remarkably well-behaved — it sank into the liquid almost immediately rather than floating on the surface like ordinary powder. Qi Zi stirred it a few times with a chopstick, then replaced the steamer lid.

When the cook came back in and saw her still sitting by the stove feeding the fire, she said with a smile: “Yours is really the most comfortable work — you’re warm all day in winter.”

Qi Zi grinned back: “Cook only sees how I get to enjoy the warmth in winter. You don’t see me drenched in sweat all through the summer.”

“True enough.” The cook sighed with feeling. “No matter whose service you’re in, there is no easy work.” As she spoke, she lifted the steamer lid to check — the cooking time looked about right. She turned to call out to the spare hand outside: “Go and let the front courtyard know that the Lady’s tonic is ready. Tell them to come and collect it quickly.”

These nourishing tonics would turn bad if left too long. The front courtyard maids could be so slow — the last time, the bird’s nest had practically reduced to water before they came to collect, and when they were scolded for it, it was somehow the kitchen’s fault. The people at the bottom always ended up swallowing the grievances in silence.

So after that incident, they had made a point of always sending to hurry them along. That way, once word had been given, any delay was on the front courtyard’s shoulders, not theirs. The cook finished with this, and went to busy herself with arrangements for the midday meal. Qi Zi still had a new fire to start on another stove, but all the while she watched in secret — which vessel the front courtyard Lady’s maid collected, and which the Yinniang Zhou’s maid collected. As long as no one picked up the wrong one, Liu Yinniang’s instructions could be considered fulfilled, and she could wait for Nanny Kong to deliver the remaining ten taels.

Liu Yinniang paced circles in her room, and when Nanny Kong came to report that the tonic had been sent into Yinniang Zhou’s courtyard, her heart at last grew steady.

Nanny Kong lowered her voice: “If Yinniang Zhou is lucky, the baby will come out all at once — it won’t cause her too much harm, and she’ll still be able to recover her health. But if her luck does not hold and she suffers a hemorrhage, if she can never again carry a child for the rest of her life, that too would be her fate — and has nothing to do with Yinniang.”

Liu Yinniang nodded, settling back into the armchair. “Can this medicine be relied upon?”

Nanny Kong said yes. “This medicine can damage the root of the child. Even if it cannot bring about an early delivery, the child born later would be missing limbs, male or female — in either case, nothing to fear.”

Liu Yinniang said good. A cruel light surfaced in her eyes. “Then no one will ever be able to compete with my Jue’er. What else do I have to worry about?” She paused briefly, then said: “Go — send someone to keep an ear on the movements in that courtyard. As long as she drinks it, I can rest easy, and we won’t need to go to this kind of trouble a second time.”

Nanny Kong agreed, and went to the covered walkway to post a young maidservant to keep watch near the courtyard gate. The two courtyards were not far apart, and in the barren stillness of a winter’s day, any movement in the neighboring courtyard could be seen and heard from here.

“It won’t take effect immediately — we’ll need to wait a while longer.” Nanny Kong said: “Yinniang should keep this in mind: if Jin Shengyu uses this to come after you, just keep saying you know nothing, that you have had no dealings with that household, and Jin Shengyu cannot do anything to you.”

Liu Yinniang said of course: “She lost the child — what does that have to do with me? If Jin Shengyu tries to pin this on me, I will go straight to the Master and make my case. If anything, it is she who had the greater reason to do it — she is the one who was jealous of Yinniang Zhou for carrying a child. Between the two of us, she is the more suspicious one.”

Having made up her mind, there was nothing more to be nervous about. Liu Yinniang had even taken up embroidery lately — her skill was nothing to admire, but she was managing something presentable all the same.

The window to the east was propped half-open. Snow was still falling outside, great flakes descending with a slow and solemn stillness. Every now and then came the small crackling sounds from the coal brazier. Cui Jie poked at the coals with a fire iron and tossed in a dried jujube — within moments, a sweet fragrance began to drift through the room.

One quarter of an hour passed. Then another. Liu Yinniang glanced at the water clock on the table, measuring the time.

Suddenly a sharp cry broke the silence. Her hand jerked. Her heart lurched.

Sure enough — not long after, a maidservant came running breathlessly in to report: “Yinniang — Yinniang Zhou is bleeding…” She made a circle with her arms. “A whole basin this size came out — it was frightening.”

Liu Yinniang’s face showed no expression. The closer she came to a moment like this, the calmer she grew — and even a faint smile crept to her lips. She turned to Nanny Kong: “Later, let us go and pay Yinniang Zhou a visit.”

But before they could leave, the matrons from Jin Shengyu’s inner household were already at the door.

Nanny Jiao, leading the group, swept a fierce gaze around the room and raised her hand in a sharp signal: “Bind everyone in this room!”

Liu Yinniang was thrown into a panic. She struggled and called out in protest: “What is the meaning of this! What law have I broken, that you come in here binding people at will?”

Nanny Jiao cut her a sideways glance and laughed coldly: “Yinniang need not hurry. All will be made known in time. What you have done this time is no small thing — I rather expect the authorities will need to be called in.” With that, she gave her commands, and had them all dragged into the front hall.

Jin Shengyu was seated in the main hall. When she saw the matrons push Liu Yinniang in, she smiled without warmth: “I thought you had settled down, and I was willing to extend some tolerance to you — but who knew your heart was as treacherous as a serpent’s, and you would go so far as to take a life. Not even the King of Heaven himself can protect you now.”

The commotion had been so great that the entire household had come to watch. Jiang Heng happened to have just arrived home from his duties, and almost immediately was ushered into the main hall.

He walked in and found Liu Yinniang trussed up like a New Year’s offering once again, together with several matrons and maids under guard. His head immediately started to ring. He pressed a hand to his forehead and said: “What is it this time? What kind of scene are we staging now?”

Jin Shengyu looked at him. “This time, I fear it will not be settled within the household — we may truly need to report it to the authorities.”

Jiang Heng was bewildered. “Report to the authorities? We don’t have enough trouble at home, we need to bring in the authorities?”

Jin Shengyu saw his reflexive peacemaking expression, and stood up abruptly. “Yinniang Zhou has miscarried. I take it the Marquis did not know. This morning, everything was perfectly well, and then after she drank the tonic from the kitchen, she suddenly lost the child. Something like this — a deliberate attempt to harm the Marquis’s offspring — surely it warrants a proper investigation?”

Jiang Heng was stunned. The joy of just a few days ago was still vivid in his memory, and now the child was gone, just like that? Shock and disbelief turned his gaze toward Liu Yinniang. His finger wavered toward her: “Is the Lady’s meaning… was it her? Was it truly her?”

Liu Yinniang refused to admit anything, and struggled against her restraints. In her mind she was trying to piece things together — it had all unfolded so fast, in a way that seemed almost beyond the natural order of things. From the moment Yinniang Zhou drank the tonic to the moment she herself was bound up, barely an hour had passed. Could Jin Shengyu truly have solved this case so quickly?

She refused to accept it. She suspected this was simply Jin Shengyu’s habit of blaming her whenever anything went wrong. She fought hard against the ropes, straining to hold her head up: “Even if the Lady dislikes me so much, she cannot use something like this to falsely accuse me. I have been in my own courtyard all this time, minding my own affairs — what connection do I have with that courtyard? Yinniang Zhou’s situation, whether good or ill, has to do with the people attending to her. We barely pass through each other’s gates. How can this be laid at my door now?” Then she called out loudly to the Master: “You know perfectly well how carefully I conduct myself lately — I calculate which foot to step with first every time I walk. Yinniang Zhou has miscarried — why look first at those who might envy her, and then come accuse me, who has raised three children in this household? What kind of sense does that make!”

Still she remained stubborn. Jin Shengyu simply watched her in calm silence. When she saw Jiang Heng was on the verge of trying to intercede, she issued an instruction to those outside before he could speak: “Bring in the witness.”

Everyone turned. The kitchen fire-tending maid Qi Zi was pushed inside, her arms pinned behind her back. Liu Yinniang stole a quick glance at Nanny Kong, and from Nanny Kong’s expression she understood — things had taken a very bad turn.

The rough-work maid, unused to scenes like this, had gone pale with terror, her whole body shaking. “My Lady… my Lady, please spare me, I did not know… I did not know…”

Jin Shengyu said coldly: “If you confess everything, from beginning to end, honestly and completely, I may still spare your life. Otherwise, you will be beaten to death here on the spot and your parents can come to collect your body.”

Qi Zi began to wail out loud. “My Lady, I am only a girl who does coarse work—”

“No more wasting time!” Nanny Jiao snapped. “Say what you are told to say. If you dare to give a false account, the caning rod goes in right now.”

“Don’t, don’t — I’ll say it…” Qi Zi looked sidelong at Nanny Kong, tears running down her face. “A few days ago… a nanny from Liu Yinniang’s courtyard came to the kitchen to find me and gave me a paper packet. She said it would make whoever ate it come out in a rash, and told me to put it in Yinniang Zhou’s tonic. I was not very willing, but Nanny Kong offered me twenty taels of silver — gave me ten first, and said the other ten would come after it was done…”

Nanny Kong went white with shock. Once a thing like this came to light, there was no surviving it — and she shouted furiously, accusing Qi Zi: “You worthless creature, talking absolute nonsense! When did I ever come to find you? Who paid you anything? You are making up lies to put the blame on me!”

Nanny Kong denied everything, and someone would have to take the fall — Qi Zi, terrified she would be left to fill that hole, scrambled into her garment and pulled out the silver note, weeping as she held it up for all to see. “Master, my Lady — I have not had a chance to change the note yet, it is still here.”

A maidservant beside her took the note and brought it to Jin Shengyu. Jin Shengyu glanced at it and passed it to Jiang Heng: “Silver notes carry the issuing bank’s mark. Take it to the treasury and have it traced — check who it was originally issued to, follow the trail down, and the truth will come out.”

But Liu Yinniang still would not confess. She burst into tears, crying out: “Master, using this silver note as evidence shows this was all planned in advance. I am a woman with children — what concern of mine is it whether Yinniang Zhou has a child or not…”

“How is it of no concern?” Jin Shengyu cut off her words. “If she gives birth to a son, and that son is recorded under my name and raised as a legitimate heir, the family estate will one day pass entirely to that child. Your son would not inherit so much as a single coin — are you not anxious? So you sought to destroy Yinniang Zhou’s child, to ensure your son remains the only one in this family. You are probably even planning for me to fall into your hands one day as well — you and your son together.”

Liu Yinniang was so winded by this that she couldn’t think of a thing to say in response. She clung to one principle: she absolutely could not admit this was her doing. She shot back: “You are clearly the pot calling the kettle black — you were the one jealous of her for conceiving a child, afraid she would rise on the back of her son. You say Yinniang Zhou lost the child because she drank the tonic — but you are the one who always sends her tonics as gifts. For all we know, it was you who tampered with the tonic, and now you are shifting the blame to me. You think I don’t see your scheme to kill two birds with one stone?”

Jiang Heng’s head was spinning from all of this. This domestic war of concubines — such a tangled mess — was truly draining him beyond endurance. He had even begun to wonder if perhaps there was no grand conspiracy at all, and it had simply been an ordinary miscarriage.

But Jin Shengyu had no intention of letting this go. “Do not be hasty. To prevent anyone from saying I have colluded with others to cook up evidence — let us have the medicine shop’s clerk come in and identify the person himself.”

As she spoke, she gestured for a maidservant to untie Nanny Kong, and had seven or eight matrons stand in a line together. She then had the medicine shop’s clerk brought in to make his identification.

Jiang Heng watched blankly as the clerk moved from face to face, scrutinizing each one — and finally stopped before Nanny Kong. He raised his hand and pointed: “It was this nanny. That day it was snowing, and there were few customers in the shop. She came in and bought only two qian of shattered bone root — that is why I remembered it especially clearly. She had her face covered with cloth when she came in, but when she paid, the cloth slipped, and I happened to see her face. I am ready to stake my life on it — it was this nanny, without a doubt.”

Even Jiang Heng was dumbstruck now. He turned on Liu Yinniang in disbelief: “Was it truly you? Was it truly you?”

Liu Yinniang absolutely would not confess. She wept and pleaded her case to Jiang Heng: “Master, whatever sort of person I am, surely you know better than anyone. I don’t even have the heart to kill a chicken — how would I dare do something like this to a living person…”

Jin Shengyu had heard enough. She said with a frown: “There is no more need for all this. Report it to the authorities, and let the Control and Compliance Office decide whether you are guilty or not.”

Jiang Heng floundered, and said in desperation to Jin Shengyu: “My Lady, this is not a matter to take lightly — if it goes to the yamen and the whole capital hears about this trouble in our household, is that a reputation anyone would want?”

Jin Shengyu’s gaze swept over him, its chill within striking distance of a man’s life. In an instant, Jiang Heng closed his mouth.

“So it seems the Marquis is still unwilling — is that so? It has come to this, a life nearly taken, and still he refuses to call for justice — is that so?” She pressed forward, step by step, her eyes bright and cold as ice water — eyes that would not be met. “Yinniang Zhou came to this household with me. She was not willing at first, and it was I who lowered myself to plead her case. Now she has suffered such an outrage under your roof, and I cannot seek justice for her — then I am useless. Since that is the case, I will take her back to the General’s residence, and leave this Hou household to you. Let the two of you be a fine pair of lovebirds in peace.”

This was enough to make Jiang Heng fold immediately. He tried to get Yinniang Wei to say a word on his behalf, but she had already deflected him right back.

Yinniang Wei even looked at him with a faint edge of contempt: “The Lady of the House oversees the affairs of the inner household. Why should the Marquis need to be present for this? Yinniang Zhou harmed Yinniang Zhou’s child by poisoning the tonic — this is a matter of a life. It is no longer a small domestic matter. We have only recently entered this household, not as old in the Marquis’s favor as Yinniang Liu — which means, I suppose, that in the Marquis’s eyes, only Yinniang Liu is a real person, and the rest of us who are still breathing do not count as people at all. Is that right, Marquis?”

Jiang Heng gaped, unable to find a single word to defend himself, and let out a helpless groan, stamping his foot: “When did I ever say such a thing!”

“Then why is the Marquis protecting this wicked woman? Because Yinniang Zhou did not die, so there is no need for this wicked woman to pay with her life? Or is the Marquis going to bring up the young master and the young ladies again — with them to shield her, Yinniang Liu can rip open a hole in the sky itself, and the Marquis will find a way to patch it back up?” Yinniang Wei said coldly. “What is so special about those children — we will also give birth. The Marquis need not worry about having no sons and daughters to care for him in his old age, keeping only Yinniang Liu’s children around to bury him when he dies.”

Yinniang Wei and Jin Shengyu were breathing through the same nostrils, and together they practically talked Jiang Heng into the ground. He found he simply could not win an argument with women, and wanted to raise his voice but didn’t dare. In frustration he snapped: “I never said I was going to hold her up! My point is that with something like this happening in our household, it would be better to resolve it quietly behind closed doors. I have a career in the official world — having people laugh at my household troubles doesn’t exactly do wonders for my name, does it?”

Jin Shengyu said: “Whose fault is it that the name sounds bad? I am telling you plainly — this report to the authorities will be made whether you agree or not. If you step aside and let us send her to the yamen, the Control and Compliance Office will handle the interrogation and that will be the end of it. If you refuse to step aside, I will have Yinniang Zhou carried through the streets on a stretcher to beat the drum at the court’s gate and cry her grievance aloud — and at that point, I expect even the Marquis’s underclothes will be stripped off along with everything else. The Marquis would do well to think carefully.”

Liu Yinniang saw that they had already moved on to debating whether to report this to the authorities, and her terror was growing by the moment. She cried out: “Master… Master, you can’t… if they report this, what will become of my three children — Jue’er has to enter government service one day, and Xue Pan and Yu Pan still need to be married off…”

At that moment, Xue Pan and Yu Pan heard the commotion and came rushing back, having asked leave from the etiquette instructor. They burst through the door and broke into sobs, and though they were intimidated by their stepmother and did not dare make a scene, they cried out plaintively to Jiang Heng: “Father, we are all one family — whatever has happened, can it not be talked through? Why does it have to come to this?”

Jin Shengyu looked at the two girls, signaled the matrons to pull them to one side, and the matrons simply said: “This is an adult matter, and has nothing to do with the young ladies.”

Xue Pan pushed the matron away: “What do you mean nothing to do with us — they are sending my Yinniang to the authorities, and you say it has nothing to do with me?”

This drew Jin Shengyu’s gaze to narrow in on Xue Pan. She looked at her steadily and said: “Has the second young lady not yet learned her lesson from before — is she looking to commit another act of insubordination today? Yinniang Liu put poison in the tonic and harmed the child of Yinniang Zhou. I was just about to ask whether you knew anything about it — and here you are, already raising a cry on her behalf.”

This stopped Xue Pan dead in her tracks, her heart suddenly flooding with dread.

Had Jin Shengyu somehow found out about the conversation between her and her mother that night? How could she possibly be dragged into this for no reason? She had not been directly involved, but she had offered advice — and having offered advice, the guilt was there. She did not dare provoke Jin Shengyu, and could only shake her head in frantic denial: “I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”

Jin Shengyu watched Xue Pan for a long moment, and then suddenly smiled. “Let me put it plainly for both of you. As long as this Yinniang Liu remains in this household, your futures will inevitably be tainted by her name. But if she is gone, I will handle everything myself, and it will be far more convenient. Both of you young ladies should think carefully about which is better — letting the adults deal with this, or forcing your way in. If you wish to force your way in, just say the word that you are willing to share Yinniang Liu’s punishment, and I will not report this to the authorities. Instead I will send her far away to one of the country estates, and you will go along with her. So — report, or don’t report — the choice is yours, young ladies. Think it through.”

Neither girl said a word. Jin Shengyu clicked her tongue, and said to Liu Yinniang: “Human nature truly does not hold up under testing — even between mother and daughter.”

She was cutting down to the very soul. All of Liu Yinniang’s schemes had been for the sake of her children — and when it came to it, not one of them would stand beside her. She let out a wail that tore through her whole being.

There are things one can never see clearly until the very last moment. She looked at the victorious smile on Jin Shengyu’s face, and the question that had plagued her all this time finally became clear. She understood at last why all of this had unfolded so swiftly.

“Jin Shengyu — it was you! You laid the trap and let me walk right into it. Every single step of this was your scheme!”

Success and defeat, in the end, came to this.

Jin Shengyu wrinkled her brow with a look of tired contempt. “Did I force you to go and harm someone? You have come to this point and are still raving. There is no helping you.” Without another glance at Jiang Heng, however reluctant he might be, she issued her order to Nanny Jiao: “Together with all those involved, send them to the Control and Compliance Office. Guilty or not guilty, let the Embroidered Guard come and decide.”