“Children’s affairs are always sunshine one moment and rain the next,” Old Madam Guan said with a smile, consoling Old Madam Guo. “You needn’t blame yourself. Just consider it a lesson learned!”
Old Madam Guo couldn’t help but smile: “At my age, I’ve learned countless lessons—this is one I could have done without!”
Old Madam Guan laughed as well.
Behind Old Madam Guo, Yuan Shi’s eyes flashed with a sharp gleam as she asked Zhou Shaojin in a voice soft as a breeze: “That Miss Wu—does Second Miss know her well?”
Zhou Shaojin nearly laughed aloud.
How could she have forgotten about Yuan Shi!
If Wu Baozhang dared damage Cheng Xu’s reputation, Yuan Shi could devour her.
Zhou Shaojin had no desire to get involved. She smiled and said: “Including today, I’ve only met Miss Wu twice. I really don’t understand her character.”
Yuan Shi nodded thoughtfully.
Only then did Zhou Shaojin notice that Madam Wu and Cheng Xian were not in the main hall.
Where could they have gone?
As she pondered this, Old Madam Tang entered, nominally supported by Jiang Shi.
Pan Qing followed behind them.
The Duke of Liangguo’s wife was conversing with the wife of former Personnel Vice Minister Sun, who had retired and returned to his hometown. Hearing the commotion, both turned their heads, and the Duke’s wife asked: “How did things turn out?”
Everyone in the hall looked toward them.
Under everyone’s scrutiny, Pan Qing looked at Zhou Shaojin standing quietly beside Old Madam Guan and Old Madam Guo, feeling very uncomfortable.
This matter had clearly been started by Zhou Shaojin, yet now it seemed as if she were the troublemaker. No wonder Mother held Fourth Branch’s Old Madam Guan in such high regard, saying she was shrewd without being aggressive, magnanimous without being timid. She had merely sent a young maid to call Zhou Shaojin away early, and thus quietly extricated Zhou Shaojin from the situation.
Old Madam Tang glanced at Pan Qing and said with a whitewashing smile: “It’s nothing. Just young ladies quarreling—once they explained themselves, everything was fine!”
Pan Qing froze.
Jiang Shi nearly spat blood.
With this one sweeping statement, Old Madam Tang would leave the madams and ladies present with the impression that Pan Qing was narrow-minded, unable to yield, unwilling to forbear, and fond of causing trouble—even if she wasn’t at fault. And these two years were precisely when Pan Qing should be finding a marriage match…
Jiang Shi was not the type to swallow losses silently.
She immediately sighed and said helplessly: “Young ladies these days—I don’t know what’s wrong with them. They believe rumors immediately, and can turn the tiniest matter into a huge uproar…” She recounted the entire incident: how Zhou Shaojin had been sent by Old Madam Guo to fetch something for Cheng Xu; how Wu Baozhang hadn’t felt dizzy earlier or later, but just happened to go out for air precisely when Zhou Shaojin was walking with Cheng Xu and saw them; how Wu Baozhang had self-righteously reprimanded Zhou Shaojin for walking alone with Cheng Xu, and how Zhou Shaojin, flustered with anger, had run to find Pan Qing as a witness… She spoke as if she had been watching from the side. Zhou Shaojin became the victim, Pan Qing was defending justice, and if anyone was at fault, it was entirely Wu Baozhang.
Wu Baozhang wasn’t present, and even if she were, few would recognize her. Meanwhile, Zhou Shaojin and Pan Qing—one gentle and compliant, the other dignified and gracious—matched Jiang Shi’s description perfectly. Even if someone doubted Jiang Shi’s account, seeing these two young ladies made it difficult to maintain that doubt.
The Duke of Liangguo’s wife listened with furrowed brows, shaking her head: “Truly the decline of moral standards! Such a decline!”
Cheng Jia looked as if she were hearing a fantastic tale, her eyes wide as copper bells as she stared at Zhou Shaojin in confusion.
Zhou Shaojin deeply admired Jiang Shi.
She truly could speak of the living as dead and the dead as living.
Previously she had been somewhat afraid of Jiang Shi—now it seemed her fear was well-founded.
For Jiang Shi to manage the third branch’s household affairs was clearly no matter of luck.
Of course, some people felt Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Xu were in the wrong.
“Boys and girls should not sit together after age seven,” said the wife of the retired former Personnel Vice Minister Sun to Old Madam Guo. “Fortunately this was in their own home with maids and servants attending. If it had been elsewhere, wouldn’t it have caused a huge incident?”
Yuan Shi’s face darkened, her eyebrows raised as she was about to stand up, but Old Madam Guo stopped her with an icy glare.
“How is this a huge incident?” Old Madam Guo lifted her teacup, blew on the floating leaves, took a delicate sip, and only then said: “The Buddha sees beautiful women as piles of dry bones, while pampered young masters see beautiful women as celestial beings. I can only manage my own affairs—how could I control who becomes a Buddha and who descends to the eighteen levels of hell?”
Old Madam Sun’s expression soured.
Instructor Lin’s wife quickly smiled and said: “What Old Madam Guo just said reminds me of something.” She spoke eloquently: “Years ago, my husband had a student whose home was near an incense and candle shop. He often saw a young, beautiful Daoist nun selecting incense and candles there. One day, when the shopkeeper’s son was minding the store, the nun came again. After they spoke for a while, a young apprentice took over the shop, and nearly an hour later, the shopkeeper’s son escorted the nun out.
“He became suspicious and always looked closely whenever he passed that shop.
“Through observation, he discovered that the shopkeeper’s son would mind the store on the first and fifteenth of each month, and in the afternoon, the nun would come to select incense and candles. Afterward, they would go into the back room, and an hour later, the shopkeeper’s son would escort the nun out.
“So he reported it to the authorities.
“He claimed the shopkeeper’s son and the nun were having an illicit affair.
“Who knew that when the authorities investigated, they discovered the nun was over forty years old, but because she was a Wudang disciple who practiced internal martial arts, she appeared to be in her early twenties. The candle shop owner’s wife was the nun’s biological elder sister, who had been bedridden for several years. When the nun’s wanderings brought her to Jinling City and she learned of her sister’s condition, she would come every first and fifteenth to massage her sister. The shopkeeper’s son was her own nephew…”
The hall erupted into discussion, with all kinds of comments.
Even the elderly Duke of Liangguo’s wife, who had heard countless strange tales, became interested and asked Madam Lin: “What happened afterward?”
“What could happen?” Madam Lin sighed. “He held an official degree, so the authorities dismissed the case with a simple ‘misunderstanding.’ But that scholar refused to admit his error, insisting the shopkeeper’s son was at fault—that men and women should not touch hands when passing objects, and though she was his maternal aunt, he should still have avoided her!”
Old Madam Sun said: “There is some logic to those words.”
“What logic?” A young married woman in a bright red jacket embroidered with a hundred butterflies among flowers, who had barely spoken until now, suddenly interjected: “That candle shop owner was just from a humble household—who knows if he could even read and write? You expect him to observe such rules—would he even understand them? Why else would the court now include ‘moral education’ as one of the criteria in officials’ annual evaluations?”
Old Madam Sun felt somewhat embarrassed: “Lord Liu is indeed a ‘capable official’—even Madam Liu is so well-versed in these matters of officialdom.”
So this young woman was the wife of Jiangning County Magistrate Liu Mingju.
Judging by her manner of speaking, her natal family likely also had officials.
Zhou Shaojin was observing her when Madam Wu and Cheng Xian entered with quiet laughter, their conversation still audible: “…I also feel Yu’s rouge is better than Xie Fuxiang’s, but Xie Fuxiang’s face powder is better than Yu’s.”
Cheng Xian said: “Exactly. So every year I have people bring me ten or so boxes of Xie Fuxiang’s face powder from Jinling City—I can use it myself and also give it as gifts.” As she spoke, she raised her head as if just noticing the additional presence of Zhou Shaojin and Pan Qing in the hall, then said indulgently to Pan Qing: “Where did you run off to, child? I searched everywhere for you!” Then she asked Zhou Shaojin: “Weren’t you supposed to be with Miss Wu? Why don’t I see her?”
Zhou Shaojin’s eyes flickered slightly, instinctively sensing Cheng Xian’s malice.
But before she could speak, Madam Wu laughed and said: “I sent her home early—relatives from my husband’s hometown came to visit, saying they had watched our eldest daughter grow up and came specially to see her.”
Whether this was true or false, no one would spoil the mood by investigating further. Everyone smiled and let the matter pass.
When the banquet began, Zhou Shaojin took Wu Baozhang’s seat.
Pan Qing made forced conversation with Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin maintained her usual taciturn manner—Pan Qing would say ten sentences before she responded with one. Pan Qing was exhausted, while Cheng Jia was furious. Before the banquet ended, she pulled Zhou Shaojin aside and whispered: “Why is Pan Qing being so friendly with you? Did you speak up for Pan Qing earlier?”
“Why couldn’t it be that Pan Qing spoke up for me?” Zhou Shaojin said. “Why do you care what she wants? She’ll be leaving in a few days anyway.”
Cheng Jia was half-convinced.
Zhou Shaojin had never entangled herself with others like this before. Now that the crisis had passed and she saw the elders’ disdain for Wu Baozhang, she felt no joy of victory—only deep exhaustion.
She drank two bowls of shad soup and broke into a light sweat before regaining her energy.
After watching the fireworks and helping the second branch see off their guests, Zhou Shaojin and the others returned to the fourth branch. The second watch had already been struck.
Old Madam Guan looked weary and instructed Zhou Shaojin and the others: “All of you go rest! Whatever needs discussing can wait until tomorrow.”
Everyone curtsied and withdrew.
Mian Branch’s Great Madam reminded the sisters about things like “being careful with candles,” then parted ways with them.
Seeing no one around, Zhou Shaojin had Shi Xiang, Chi Xiang, and the others follow at a distance, and quietly told Zhou Chujin what had happened after returning to Siyi Hall.
Zhou Chujin was shocked, then found it somewhat absurd: “So you’re actually proud of yourself! How fearlessly ignorant. With so many people sitting in that hall—each one could come up with a scheme with just a roll of their eyes—yet you dared to scheme against Wu Baozhang. If you’d been exposed, how would you have dealt with it?”
As she spoke, they entered Wanxiang Residence.
Zhou Shaojin said: “I was just so angry at the time, I didn’t think it through.”
Looking back now, it had indeed been very dangerous.
If this had happened in her previous life, given her timidity, nine times out of ten she would have endured it.
Wu Baozhang would have either used this incident to threaten her or to curry favor with her. Whether the former or the latter, things would have unfolded as in her previous life—feeling guilty, she would have had no choice but to frequently associate with Wu Baozhang. Wu Baozhang would have met Cheng Jia, and through Cheng Jia’s close relationship, met Zheng Shi…
But today, everything was different.
After being “critiqued” like that by the Duke of Liangguo’s wife, Wu Baozhang could forget about integrating into Jinling City’s circle of noble ladies—even families of modest standing wouldn’t allow their daughters to associate too closely with her.
Between herself and Wu Baozhang, there should be little interaction in the future, right?