At the guest hall, a six or seven-year-old novice monk came forward, joining his palms in greeting: “Female Bodhisattva, the vegetarian meal isn’t ready yet. Please return later.” Xianglan returned the greeting and withdrew, walking around the courtyard to observe her surroundings. She saw several red plum trees in bloom, along with green pines and cypresses that remained lush despite winter’s arrival. Finding the plum blossoms particularly beautiful, Xianglan thought to pick a branch to place in a vase as a Buddhist offering. As she reached for a flower, she suddenly felt someone watching her. Her heart went cold as she whirled around, but saw no one—only a few sparrows fluttering their wings as they flew skyward.
Du Bin lurked by the doorway, secretly peering through the gap. Under the plum tree stood a beautiful woman in a bright red felt cape. Even her silhouette was graceful, and when she turned her head, revealing a jade-white face, her beauty was even more stunning. Du Bin’s fingertips tingled with desire as he thought to himself, “She’s grown even more beautiful since I last saw her. No wonder even a romantic like Lin Jinlou was ensnared by this young woman. Tomorrow I’ll capture her too, and have the Marquis reward her to me. If not, I should at least get to taste her charms.”
Meanwhile, after attending to Old Madam Lin, Madam Qin, and Madam Wang returned to their rooms. The vegetarian meal needs no further mention. In the afternoon, Old Madam Lin, Madam Wang, and Lin Dongying went to watch opera in the rear tower and toured various places, while Madam Qin continued her Buddhist worship. By evening, Old Madam Lin was exhausted from the day’s activities and had caught some mountain wind, feeling unwell. The doctor prescribed some medicine, which she took before sleeping soundly. Fearing something might go wrong, Madam Qin saw that Old Madam Lin was somewhat stronger the next day and sent half their people to escort her home, which needs no further elaboration.
Nothing else happened for a while. By the second evening, as everyone was preparing for bed, Xianglan shared the outer room of Madam Qin and Lin Dongxiu’s chambers with Hongjan. After serving her mistresses, Hongjan blew out the lamp and went to sleep, but Xianglan couldn’t sleep. She got up, put on her clothes, and took out a peony-patterned bundle, holding it in her arms lost in thought. She had carefully sewn this over several months, telling others it was needlework for Master Dingyi’s birthday, but it was actually tailored to her own measurements. Master Dingyi had become the head abbess of a temple in Yangzhou. Xianglan had originally planned to secretly slip away from the Lin family, first going to nearby Jingyue Temple to find her dharma sisters and travel together to Yangzhou to seek refuge with her master. After a few years, when things had settled down, she would bring her parents. Who knew Lin Jinlou would pierce through her intentions and use her parents to threaten her, directly cutting off her plans. Xianglan sighed—if she couldn’t leave for now, she might as well donate these clothes to the temple monks as an act of merit.
Suddenly she heard soft footsteps, and Lin Dongxiu emerged from the inner room. Xianglan quickly moved to light a lamp, but Lin Dongxiu waved her hand and said softly, “No need. I couldn’t sleep and heard movement outside, so I came to find someone to talk to.” She sat beside Xianglan.
Lin Dongxiu had been tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Since childhood, she had envied Lin Dongqi and Lin Dongying for being born to the proper wife, and with her competitive nature, she struggled to stand out among her sisters. Lin Dongqi was still considerate of others’ face, but Lin Dongying intentionally suppressed her and spoke with barbs, often causing her anger and secret resentment. Now that Lin Dongying was about to do something shameful, she could vent her pent-up anger and possibly gain an excellent marriage match—why wouldn’t she take advantage of such good fortune? However… she still felt uneasy in her conscience, sensing something was wrong but unable to pinpoint what.
Xianglan said softly, “I noticed you ate little this evening. You must be too hungry to sleep well. Madam still has half a box of pastries—Young Lady should have some with tea.” She got up to pour tea and fetch the pastry box.
Lin Dongxiu stood up, exhaled deeply, and slowly walked to the door, thinking to herself, “That actor said he would act tonight—I wonder when he’ll elope with Third Sister.”
Xianglan brought the tea over and smiled, “What are you looking at?” She peered through the door gap. It was past the third watch, and a half-moon hung in the sky, casting what looked like a layer of silver frost over the courtyard, making it sparkle. Suddenly, seven or eight figures emerged on the roof of the opposite wing, landing lightly in the courtyard, each holding a gleaming sword. In the courtyard, the leader made a gesture, and the men first headed toward the east wing where Madam Wang and Lin Dongying were staying.
Xianglan’s heart jumped, and she quickly covered her mouth, turning to Lin Dongxiu: “Something’s terribly wrong—bandits have come. Young Lady, don’t make a sound, quickly get dressed.” She went to wake Hongjan and hurried to the inner room to alert Madam Qin.
Lin Dongxiu had thought it was Lin Dongying’s lover coming to elope with her, thinking Xianglan was overreacting. But when she peeked through the door gap and saw more than ten tall, strong men standing in the courtyard, her soul nearly left her body. She stumbled back to the bedroom, saw Madam Qin was already up, and said tearfully, “Madam, there really are bandits, all carrying swords. What should we do? Didn’t… didn’t Elder Brother leave guards and protectors?”
Madam Qin instantly became flustered and hurriedly grabbed a cape. They heard subtle sounds at the door, as if someone was trying to pry open the bolt. Hongjan’s legs had already gone soft, and she huddled with Lin Dongxiu, both trembling.
Xianglan thought to herself, “No movement from the guards—something must have happened.” Her hands and feet were ice-cold, her heart threatening to jump out of her throat, but seeing all the women in the room panicking, she instead became calm. She said softly, “While the bandits don’t know we’ve noticed them, let’s slip out through the meditation room’s back door. There’s a door in the back courtyard that leads to the monks’ quarters where some young novices stay. This morning when Old Madam returned home, she took twenty guards with her, but there were still more than twenty in the front courtyard. Let’s quickly call them to rescue us.” She turned back, grabbed the thick cotton monk’s robe she had sewn and put it on, closed the meditation room’s bedroom door, and went to the back tea room where she found a door. She opened the latch and pushed it gently, saw it was quiet outside, and quickly helped Madam Qin out. They had only stumbled a few steps when they heard a piercing scream that seemed to be Zidai’s voice, crying loudly, “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I’m just a maid—the Madam, Young Ladies, and Master’s concubine are in the next room. The guilty should pay for their crimes, don’t come after me!”
This cry set off a chorus of barking dogs, and the courtyard instantly erupted into chaos. Zidai’s voice then fell silent. Shutong had shared a room with Zidai—she likely met the same fate. Lin Dongxiu felt an icy chill through her whole body.
Xianglan’s heart sank. Such a commotion should have alerted the guards and protectors, yet outside remained eerily quiet, showing the attackers were well-prepared. She gritted her teeth and gripped Madam Qin’s arm tightly, charging forward without looking back. When they reached the small back gate, they found it locked. Behind them, the noise grew louder with the sound of doors being kicked in and footsteps approaching. Tears streamed down Lin Dongxiu’s cheeks as she nearly cried out, swaying unsteadily. In their panic, Xianglan suddenly spotted a high pile of firewood in the corner and was overjoyed. She quickly helped Madam Qin over to climb the woodpile.
Fortunately, being the temple’s inner courtyard, the wall wasn’t high. The four of them scrambled up to the top of the wall and jumped down with closed eyes, landing in soft mud where flowers were planted. Xianglan looked around and said, “Because we came to this temple, the monks were moved out—even the abbot went to stay elsewhere. Only novices under ten remain, whom we can’t rely on. When I was young, I visited Qixia Temple with my master and vaguely remember the monks’ quarters are right in front of the sutra library. That place is very secluded—let’s hide there.”
From earlier, Xianglan had become the backbone of the group. Everyone agreed, and they supported each other to the sutra library. Xianglan poked through the window paper, reached in to unlatch the window, and helped Madam Qin and the others climb inside. When it was finally her turn, Hongjan reached out to pull her in, but Xianglan said, “The sutra library has a second floor—you all hide up there. They won’t search here for a while.” She started to close the window.
Madam Qin anxiously asked, “My child, where are you going?”
Xianglan replied, “They’ll search here eventually—we can’t just wait to die. I’ll go ring the bell tower. The Qixia Temple monks are staying nearby, and when they hear the bell, they’ll know something’s wrong in the temple. When they come, Madam will be saved.”
Madam Qin startled and hurried forward to grab Xianglan’s hand: “But when the bandits hear the bell, they’ll surely come for you! Hide with us—with such a commotion, surely the guards in the front courtyard must have heard by now.”
Xianglan shook her head: “I’m afraid the front guards are already useless…” Madam Qin’s face changed color, but Xianglan smiled at her and said softly, “If something happens to me… please take care of my parents, find someone to support them in their old age…” With that, she closed the window and left.
Madam Qin was stunned. Hongjan burst into tears, choking out, “Such great virtue and righteousness, Miss Xianglan…” She covered her mouth, trembling all over, crying uncontrollably as Madam Qin slid down the wall to the floor. Hongjan hurriedly pulled her up, crying softly, “Madam, please take care of yourself. Let’s go upstairs first—don’t let Xianglan’s noble intentions be in vain.” She forcibly helped Madam Qin up, and they felt their way in the dark toward the stairs.
Madam Qin seemed dazed and after a long while sighed, “I wronged her before…” Before she could finish, tears poured down her face.
Lin Dongxiu followed behind, already crying uncontrollably, stuffing her fist in her mouth to stay silent. She never imagined things would turn out so badly—it was clearly her Third Sister planning to elope with the actor, how did it lead to bandits? Had she known, she should have told Madam Qin from the start, but things had already reached this point. She couldn’t say a word now, only biting her lip hard as tears streamed down her face.
The half-moon hung high, and the cold wind howled desolately. Xianglan ran frantically to the bell tower, panting as she climbed to the top. She grabbed the bell hammer and struck the great bell, producing a series of deafening “dong dong dong” sounds that pierced the air. Du Bin’s face changed instantly as he shouted, “Damn it!” and immediately led his men toward the bell tower.