“Minister Chen?” Wu Baozhang asked in astonishment. “Which Minister Chen?”

The messenger smiled: “Minister Chen—which other Minister Chen could there be? Of course it’s Chen Li, the Grand Eunuch of the Qianqing Palace! He served the Emperor when His Majesty was still Crown Prince. After the Emperor ascended the throne, he became the Grand Eunuch of Qianqing Palace—that’s a position below one but above ten thousand!

“Minister Chen has no heirs, right? Fortunately, he has a younger brother who had two daughters. The younger daughter was adopted by Minister Chen, who dotes on her so much he fears she’ll break if held and melt if kept in his mouth. Her food, clothing, and expenses are no less than those of young ladies from noble families. He’s been looking for an ideal husband for his eldest daughter.

“But Minister Chen, having served the Emperor, has different standards. Besides family background, he also looks at character and learning. What with one thing and another, Miss Chen has been delayed. She’s twenty-two this year and still hasn’t married. Minister Chen simply kept Miss Chen at home and put out word that he would take in a son-in-law for her.

“Your cousin is quite a fine figure of a man. He happened to be studying at Sanming Academy when Minister Chen encountered him by chance and thought highly of him. Learning that he had lost both parents and was destitute, Minister Chen conceived the idea of taking him as a son-in-law.

“Your cousin is a man of principle too. He said he couldn’t accept being adopted in, but could agree that after marriage, his second son would take Minister Chen’s surname and continue his line.

“Minister Chen valued your cousin even more after that.

“They’ve set a date—they’ll marry at the end of this month.

“He’s even gotten your cousin enrolled at the Imperial Academy.

“Next year he’ll take the provincial examination.

“Don’t you see, now that your cousin has latched onto Minister Chen, this big tree, won’t you all benefit from it too?”

Cheng Lu had actually become a live-in son-in-law to a eunuch.

Hearing this, Wu Baozhang nearly fainted.

She knew Cheng Lu was finished. But she hadn’t expected him to willingly degrade himself like this.

Wu Baozhang grabbed her teacup, wanting to throw it at the messenger. But remembering this person was a well-known gossipmonger and that offending such a person would do more harm than good, she took several deep breaths to suppress her roiling emotions. Smiling, she had someone bring a red envelope for the messenger, thanking him profusely with great courtesy. She had a maid lead him out before finally smashing the teacup on the floor.

The servants in the room were frightened into trembling. Wu Baozhang was so angry her hands and feet shook.

※※※

Zhou Shaojin was also curiously asking Nanny Shang: “Minister Chen? Which Minister Chen?”

Nanny Shang gave a simple and clear introduction of Chen Li.

For a long moment Zhou Shaojin didn’t know what to say.

In her previous life, when Cheng Lu had nowhere else to turn, he chose this path—becoming son-in-law to a wealthy merchant in Ningbo. She hadn’t expected that in this life he would still walk this path. But with the Cheng family pressing him relentlessly from behind, this time the “father-in-law” he chose was rather controversial. Even if he passed the palace examination, he would likely find it difficult to have a smooth career in officialdom.

“Madam needn’t worry.” Seeing her displeased expression, Nanny Shang comforted her. “Fourth Master instructed us not to let him have it too easy, so our people have been following him, letting him scheme this way and that. Although Minister Chen is the Grand Eunuch of Qianqing Palace, Fourth Master isn’t without means to deal with him. With just a word, he could make him live or die. However, Huo Dongting said this matter still depends on Madam’s wishes, so he had me come tell you. If that Chen Li knew Cheng Lu’s background, he certainly wouldn’t take him as a live-in son-in-law…”

Zhou Shaojin thought of what Cheng Lu had said to her when he came looking for her after the Cheng family was raided in her previous life… She couldn’t stand by and watch Cheng Lu continue deceiving people.

“Then have someone go remind Minister Chen!” Zhou Shaojin felt that if Chen Li could become Grand Eunuch of Qianqing Palace, he must have his own ways of handling matters.

Nanny Shang smiled and agreed.

But a few days later, she told her with great difficulty: “I’m afraid this won’t work… Minister Chen’s side, reportedly he already knew about Cheng Lu’s background long ago. He knew he was a son of the Jinling Cheng family, which is why he’s taking him as a live-in son-in-law…”

Zhou Shaojin’s eyes widened.

Nanny Shang sighed and explained in a low voice: “This Chen Li isn’t any upright gentleman. In his view, the matter of Cheng Lu being stripped of his scholarly status back then is nothing at all…”

“If that’s the case, then we shouldn’t interfere in this matter.” Zhou Shaojin said. “When Cheng Lu causes trouble later, let’s just hope he doesn’t regret it.” Saying this, she quickly added: “Does Fourth Master know about this? We should tell him. Chen Li is the Grand Eunuch of Qianqing Palace—I’m afraid that Cheng Lu might speak ill of Fourth Master to Chen Li, which would be disadvantageous.”

Nanny Shang nodded: “Huo Dongting has already sent someone to Kaifeng…”

Before she finished speaking, a young maid ran in: “Nanny Shang, Master Huo is here.”

Zhou Shaojin asked: “Is it Huo Dongting?”

“It’s him!” Nanny Shang said. “I’ll go see what he wants, then come back to report to Madam.”

“Good!”

Zhou Shaojin waited in her room for Nanny Shang. Before long, Nanny Shang returned covered in sweat: “Fourth Madam, fortunately you only had us reveal Cheng Lu’s background to Chen Li. Fourth Master says he has something coming up that requires Cheng Lu’s small assistance, which is why Cheng Lu ‘coincidentally encountered’ Chen Li. He wants us to stop interfering from now on and just watch from the sidelines.”

So this was Cheng Chi’s arrangement all along.

Zhou Shaojin couldn’t help feeling relieved: “Did I, did I really not ruin his plans?”

“No, no.” Nanny Shang quickly said. “Fourth Master had Dongting make this trip precisely because he feared Madam would blame herself. Fourth Master said it’s good that Madam had someone warn Chen Li. Otherwise, if he encountered Cheng Lu at Chen Li’s place someday, he’d have to take the trouble to explain. This way is perfect—if that Cheng Lu causes trouble, even if Chen Li wanted to blame someone, he couldn’t blame us.”

Only then did Zhou Shaojin’s anxious heart settle. When writing to him, she complained to Cheng Chi: “You could have said so earlier! You made me worry for nothing.”

Cheng Chi wrote back apologizing, saying “This matter wasn’t convenient to discuss. I figured since he’s so good at scheming, I’d just let him scheme to his heart’s content. Don’t worry about him anymore—let him jump around however he wants.”

Zhou Shaojin had always trusted Cheng Chi. After expressing her feelings, she let the matter drop.

Wu Baozhang, however, on the day of Cheng Lu’s wedding, hired a sedan chair to pass by Chen Li’s residence near Fucheng Gate. The throngs of guests filling the entrance, the festively decorated doorway, the noisy flattery, and Cheng Lu in his groom’s attire with a large red silk ball looking spirited as he stood with Chen Li at the entrance greeting guests—all of it nearly made Wu Baozhang tear the handkerchief in her hands.

She sneered and ordered the sedan chair: “Return to West Direct Gate.”

The sedan bearers, not understanding why, carried her back to West Direct Gate.

Wu Baozhang took a deep breath and had the maids help her down from the sedan chair.

In broad daylight, instead of attending to customers at the teahouse, Cheng Nuo was in the inner room rummaging through chests and cabinets.

Wu Baozhang watched him coldly: “What are you doing? Those who know would say you’re looking for something. Those who don’t would think you’re trying to steal something.”

Cheng Nuo’s face turned red as he mumbled: “Someone introduced me to a big merchant from the west. I’m going to meet him. I came back to change clothes.”

Wu Baozhang was too lazy to bother with him and had a maid help Cheng Nuo find clothes.

After changing, Cheng Nuo tidied himself at the dressing table before putting on his seal and purse and leaving.

The maid looked at Wu Baozhang, wanting to say something but hesitating.

Wu Baozhang didn’t notice the maid’s expression at all. She sat on the large kang by the window, thinking about Cheng Lu.

She had lent Cheng Lu over a thousand taels of silver in total. Now that Cheng Lu was that eunuch’s son-in-law, shouldn’t he repay that thousand-plus taels?

And then there was that urgent dispatch.

With the Grand Eunuch of Qianqing Palace’s authority, adding a seal to a letter she wrote would surely be as easy as turning his hand.

Wu Baozhang pondered this at home for several days. Thinking that the wedding must be over and Cheng Lu should have started attending the Imperial Academy, she finally sent her personal maid to find Cheng Lu.

After the midday meal, her personal maid returned with an ugly expression. Calling out “First Madam,” her eyes were already moist: “That Cheng Lu is too vicious. When I went to find him, he actually said he didn’t know me and had someone drive me out. Let alone repaying that thousand taels of silver…”

Wu Baozhang’s mouth fell open. It took her a long while to recover.

But before she could go find him, Cheng Lu came to her door first, sneering at her: “I’m grateful you lent me silver before. But then again, if it weren’t for the letter and handkerchief you gave me, you wouldn’t have lent me silver either. Let’s not beat around the bush. I’ll tell you straight—I married in, I wasn’t adopted. I have no silver and no ability to help you with anything. Don’t think that knowing my background gives you leverage to threaten me. Chen Li has long known who I am and how I was stripped of my scholarly status. Your tricks won’t work on me. On the contrary, you yourself should be careful not to keep running to my place all the time, lest people become suspicious and think there’s something between us. I’m a man—a prodigal son’s return is worth more than gold. But you’re a woman. If your reputation is ruined, death is your only path. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” With that, he flicked his clothes and stood up to leave. “Don’t come looking for me again. If you do, you’ll get the same treatment as today.”

That expression, those actions—as if she, Wu Baozhang, were dust on his clothing that he could easily flick away.

Wu Baozhang was so angry she nearly stopped breathing. After a long while, she ground her teeth and cursed “Bastard,” tears streaming down her face.

It wasn’t that she’d never been looked down upon, but she’d never been so despised by someone she had helped before.

If not for her, could he have lasted until now?

He was only so arrogant because he had Chen Li’s backing, wasn’t he?

Just because Chen Li had known his background all along and hadn’t disdained him?

She wanted to see if Chen Li truly didn’t care about Cheng Lu’s past!

Wu Baozhang wiped her tears and ordered her personal maid: “Go hire a sedan chair. I’m going to Fucheng Gate to visit that Madam Chen.”

The maid’s face paled in fright. She called out “First Madam,” but Wu Baozhang shot her an icy glance. The maid immediately lowered her head and hired a sedan chair for Wu Baozhang.

Madam Chen was a woman of very ordinary appearance, except for her eyes which flashed with keen intelligence. After learning Wu Baozhang’s purpose, she smiled warmly and invited Wu Baozhang to have tea, instructing a maid beside her: “Quickly have the steward fetch the young master back. Tell him his cousin from Jinling has come to see him.”