Zhao Yuechan secretly glanced at Madam Qin’s expression and fabricated her story: “It wasn’t anything significant. This morning, my maid found Concubine Lan’s copied Buddhist scripture in the garden. Out of goodwill, fearing she would worry about losing it, I delivered it and wanted to have a heart-to-heart conversation with her. After just a few words, I noticed it was about to rain and prepared to leave. On the steps, I wanted to ask her a few more things about the Master, but since these were private boudoir matters, I couldn’t let the maids hear, so I had them withdraw. Who knew that after just two questions, Qinglan blushed, became coy, and refused to speak? When I pressed further, she stepped backward and accidentally fell from the steps… Ah, thinking about it now, it was all my fault, I really shouldn’t have…” She immediately knelt facing the door, repeatedly kowtowing with loud thuds, “May Heaven have mercy, all of this is my unforgivable sin. I beg Heaven to protect my Sister Qinglan and her unborn child. In the future, I will willingly walk through mountains of knives or caldrons of oil, or lose twenty years of my life – I won’t utter a single complaint.”

How could someone as astute as Madam Qin believe such an explanation? She thought to herself: “Zhao Yuechan is quite the smooth talker, using ‘private boudoir matters’ to silence me and prevent further questioning.” She said coldly: “Very well after Qinglan delivers her child, I’ll ask her what kind of ‘private boudoir matters’ made her so panicked that she fell from the steps.”

Zhao Yuechan’s heart sank, internally wishing Qinglan would die right then, but outwardly said: “I too hope Concubine Lan will be safe and sound…”

Before she could finish speaking, she saw Yindie tumble into the room, crying out: “Reporting to Madam and First Madam, Concubine Lan is gone!”

Madam Qin jumped to her feet, while Zhao Yuechan first showed shock, then let out a long sigh of relief. Seeing Madam Qin beside her, she covered her face with a handkerchief and wailed: “Sister, my poor-hearted sister, how could you leave with the Master’s child just like this!” She cried while beating her chest and stomping her feet, causing quite a commotion, though the corners of her mouth turned up slightly – had Madam Qin not been present, she might have laughed out loud.

When Madam Qin went to the east wing and saw Qinglan’s death state, she couldn’t help but shed tears of grief. Seeing Madam Qin cry, everyone else began wailing loudly. After a while, Madam Qin finally composed herself and ordered the funeral arrangements. She had rushed to the east wing earlier, getting half her body soaked in the rain, and now with this emotional turmoil, she felt a chill as the wind blew, and her head throbbed like being pricked by needles.

Seeing Madam Qin’s pale complexion and weakened state, Hongzhen grew worried and approached, saying: “The person has passed, Madam must take care of herself. If you won’t go rest, at least have something to eat.”

Madam Qin shook her head and said: “The person has just died, there’s a pile of things to arrange, and with no capable people available, I must handle it myself. Moreover…” Moreover, Qinglan’s death was unclear and suspicious, and she wanted to investigate thoroughly.

After trying to persuade Madam Qin several times without success, Hongzhen went out to speak with Qiangwei, another maid who had come along: “Go back and bring a cloak for Madam, and tell the Master that Concubine Lan has just passed away. Madam needs to handle the funeral arrangements but won’t rest despite feeling unwell. As servants, we can’t persuade her, and we’re worried about her health, so we need the Master’s instructions.” Qiangwei nodded and left.

Shortly after, Lin Zhengzheng came personally. Seeing Qiangwei place a cloak over Madam Qin’s shoulders, he sat nearby and said: “What exactly happened here? Such chaos, how could a perfectly healthy person suddenly die? Also, you need to take care of your health – it’s just our son’s concubine who died, what is the First Madam’s wife doing? Why must you personally handle everything?”

Madam Qin replied: “You don’t understand, I’ve observed that this matter is connected to Lady Zhao.” She lowered her voice and continued: “Concubine Lan fell from the steps right after hearing just two sentences from Lady Zhao – isn’t that strange? You know Lady Zhao’s character well enough – she’s clever as can be, and all the deaths in our son’s chambers seem to have her shadow behind them.”

Lin Zhengzheng frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and said: “Even if she is connected, what can we do? The Zhao family’s influence is at its peak, and our son’s father-in-law is said to be up for promotion after this winter. Even with strong connections, we can’t make him divorce his wife, can we? If so, what’s the point of investigating thoroughly? Exposing everything would only make both families lose face. Better to warn and restrict her movements. You’ve already taken away her household management authority – what waves can a woman confined to the inner quarters make?”

Madam Qin said: “Now that Concubine Lan has died while carrying a Lin family child if we don’t deal with this strictly, the entire inner household will be in chaos. Moreover, I feel we’ve failed Qinglan and her family…”

Lin Zhengzheng raised his eyebrows and said: “If we feel we’ve failed them, we can compensate with more silver. Find another concubine for our son… That scoundrel, spending his days in brothels, he’s not one for lasting affection. After some time, he’ll have a new love and won’t care about this concubine anymore.”

Though Madam Qin disapproved of Lin Jinlou, she couldn’t bear to hear others speak ill of her eldest son. She glared at Lin Zhengzheng and said: “Nonsense! How is our son a scoundrel? He’s hardworking, progressive, and capable of enduring hardship!”

Lin Zhengzheng raised his eyebrows and said: “How am I talking nonsense? I’ve long heard about his carousing outside. I’ve scolded him, beaten him, but he won’t change. I figured since he’s just a military man, spending his days training with weapons in the wind and sun – it’s not easy. As long as he doesn’t cause major trouble, I can turn a blind eye to his wild behavior outside. But there’s never been peace in his household. A chambermaid died two years ago, an unformed fetus died this year, and now a concubine dies with two lives lost – one after another. Either this courtyard has bad feng shui, and we need to invite an expert to deal with the evil spirits…”

Madam Qin sneered: “The evil spirit in Zhichun Hall is that First Madam. We don’t need any kind of expert. After Qinglan’s funeral, I will deal with her properly.”

Lin Zhengzheng frowned again and said angrily: “Zhichun Hall, Zhichun Hall, even the name is frivolous, sounds like a brothel. Our son is just improper, always using such flowery words. Tomorrow I’ll have that plaque smashed and replaced with something more dignified!”

Seeing Lin Zhengzheng’s anger, Madam Qin quickly said: “Yes, yes, yes, we’ll change it tomorrow, we’ll ask someone to write a new one.”

Lin Zhengzheng rubbed his temple and returned to the previous topic: “Let’s settle this matter as is. However the concubine died, so investigating it thoroughly won’t help, and might even cause more trouble. Let’s just compensate generously – we’ll provide Three Thousand Taels, and we’ll contribute another Thousand Taels between us, making Four Thousand Taels total. We’ll also hold a grand funeral, and that should be the end of it.”

Madam Qin sighed, somewhat swayed by Lin Zhengzheng’s words. Indeed, the outcome would be the same whether they investigated or not. They couldn’t divorce Zhao Yuechan now, and Lin Jinlou already disliked her – if the truth came out and angered him, the household would be in turmoil again. As for poor Qinglan… well, they could only compensate her parents generously. As Madam Qin’s thoughts continued, her headache worsened. She managed to say: “If that’s the case, let’s ask Second Madam to help handle the funeral arrangements.”

Lin Zhengzheng said: “Very well.” He called out loudly: “Hongzhen! Come help your Madam back to rest!”

Hongzhen immediately entered and supported Madam Qin as they left. Qiangwei went to request Madam Wang from the Second House to take charge.

Lin Zhengzheng gave Chunling some brief instructions before leaving with a flick of his sleeves.

It was now three-quarters past the hour of Shen, well past lunchtime. In the east wing, everyone was exhausted. Seeing that Concubine Lan was dead, Madam Qin had left, and Second Madam Wang was delayed in coming to take charge, the maids and servants grew less diligent in their busy work.

Chunling selected several simple but elegant clothes for Qinglan’s burial attire and chose some of Qinglan’s favorite hairpins and rings for dressing the corpse. After sealing the boxes containing jewelry and clothes, she said she was going to the storehouse for white cloth, but slipped away and disappeared.

Yindie said: “My head hurts terribly, probably from being in the wind earlier. I need to lie down.” She went to her room and didn’t come out again.

Xiaokuan was anxious, pulling at Xianglan’s sleeve in the corridor: “Now that Concubine Lan is dead, where will the east wing maids go? Yindie’s family has served for generations, and Chunling came from Madam’s quarters, so they both have places to go, but I…”

Xianglan comforted her: “Don’t worry, you’ve served the Concubine well. I’ll ask Mother Wu to find you a good position.”

Xiaokuan said: “I don’t want to go anywhere else, I’ll just follow you. Xianglan, your fortunes are about to change, you’ll soon become a mistress, and the Master will elevate you…”

Before she could finish, someone coldly snorted. Xianglan turned to see Chunling entering the room with a swaying walk. She knocked Xiaokuan on the head, saying: “How thoughtless, the Concubine has just died, what nonsense are you talking about! Quickly go help with the arrangements.” She followed them into the room, silently sighing to herself – everyone said she would soon have “glory,” but who knew how anxious and frightened she really felt.

In the room, several servants were boiling water and cleaning the floor, while some braver ones helped clean Qinglan’s body and change her clothes. Surprisingly, Huamei was also in the room helping change the bedding, working efficiently and tirelessly, earning everyone’s praise.

Xianglan was secretly amazed, thinking: “Huamei is clever, usually staying far away from such matters, but now she’s changed her nature and isn’t afraid of offending the First Madam.”

After everyone had been busy for a while and the room was properly arranged, Xianglan thought of how kindly Concubine Lan had treated her and cried again. With red-rimmed eyes, she quietly chanted the Amitabha Sutra once for Qinglan’s soul.

By evening, the mourning hall had been set up in the east wing, decorated entirely in white mourning cloth.

Xianglan was both exhausted and hungry, her limbs trembling. After eating her evening meal and having an extra bowl of porridge, she finally felt better. When she returned from taking her bowls back to the kitchen, she saw Yindie suspiciously searching through her pillows and bedding. Xianglan coughed loudly and said coldly: “What are you doing?”

Yindie jumped in fright, looked up to see her, quickly threw down the pillow in her hands, and forced a smile: “No-nothing, I lost an earring, just looking around…” She secretly stuffed a red ruby hairpin with eight treasures and gold into her sleeve.