On the riverbank, a carriage came rolling slowly along, its wheels creaking at every turn — a sound that grated on the nerves the longer you listened to it.

The person inside sat frowning with eyes closed, fanning herself. After a while the maidservant accompanying her called out “Madam,” and she opened her eyes to find they had arrived at the front steps of the Kaiguo Marquis’s residence. She stepped down from the mounting block, but did not go in — she simply had someone send word inside.

Liu Shi, hearing the news, hurried out with a smile. “Second Sister, you are not a stranger — why have you sent someone ahead to announce yourself! When did you set out? How could you travel in the height of the afternoon?”

Madam Peng frowned. “I traveled through the night, but that carriage had split its seams — we could not go quickly at all, just inching our way here.”

Liu Shi glanced at the carriage. It was old, and ill-maintained, and looked thoroughly worn and shabby. She forced a smile and changed the subject: “Second Sister has had a tiring journey. Do not stand in the sun — come in and rest.”

Then she stepped forward affectionately to take her arm and support her through the door.

They settled in the front parlor and had sweet bean soup brought. The two sat by the moon-latticed window drinking it, and as she drank, Liu Shi watched Madam Peng’s expression — the woman had come in without so much as a single bundle of luggage, and Liu Shi had already begun to suspect: it seemed the matter had not been accomplished.

As for Madam Peng — she had originally not even intended to make this trip, on such a sweltering day, with no money to bring as her return. Two days ago she had gone to the Duke of Weiguo’s residence and been shown the door without even a cup of tea; she was still seething from that. But then she had come across a piece of extraordinary news, and this suddenly revived her completely — she thought that with this in hand, she could at least extract some benefit from Liu Shi.

Liu Shi’s long, enticing eyes swept over to her, and seeing she was not volunteering anything, Liu Shi could not help asking: “Did Second Sister pay a visit to the Duke of Weiguo’s residence?”

Madam Peng set down her covered teacup. It struck the table with a small clatter.

“I was thoroughly rebuffed — left with nothing but a scalded nose and my head so low I could barely raise it. Many thanks, dear little sister-in-law, for your thoughtfulness to me.” She said with a sour, mocking air. “I was perfectly fine at home, and on your account I went and made a fool of myself before others. It serves me right, truly! But on second thought — surely little sister-in-law deliberately set a trap for me? Knowing full well that this is a noble family, you still urged me to show up at their door to borrow money, with not a thought for my husband’s official career, nor a care for my children’s prospects.”

Liu Shi, since the matter had not been handled, was already losing patience with having to deal with her. She thought: useless creature — good for nothing but freeloading, not capable of any real effort. Now she has been turned away and sent back where she came from, and she still has the nerve to show up here. She must be after a bit of compensation money for her trouble.

Sure enough — rather than address what Liu Shi had not said, she simply came right out with it herself: “If my brother were to find out about this, who knows what he’d think of me. Little sister-in-law can see how hard a spot I am in — the least you can do is make sure I have not made this trip for nothing.”

Liu Shi was inwardly contemptuous, but she could not afford to offend her, so she made a sound of acknowledgment: “Of course I can see how much trouble you have gone to. The matter may not have been done, but there is still merit in the effort. And on such a hot day — the trouble you have taken to come all the way to Youzhou… How about this: I have a couple of bottles of fragrant hair oil from the magnolia flower — take them when you go.”

Madam Peng thought: fragrant magnolia hair oil? She is fobbing me off with alms! So she smiled and said: “That won’t be necessary. The household is not short of a couple of bottles of hair oil. I came today because both of my boys need to enter the prefectural school, and money is a little tight — I wanted to ask little sister-in-law to help out.”

Liu Shi nearly burst out laughing. This Jiang Fengyu — who looked so simple and dull ordinarily — had actually picked up the trick quite quickly. When that approach had come to grief at the Duke’s residence, she had turned right around and tried the same thing on her.

“Your two boys have not even passed the qualifying exams — what prefectural school are they entering!” Liu Shi said with a smile. “And even if you wanted to plan ahead for the children, it is still too early — autumn has not even come yet.”

Madam Peng heard the implication in her words, felt thoroughly vexed, and gave a sardonic little laugh: “Little sister-in-law… ah, I can call you little sister-in-law now, but before long I may not be able to. You are, in the end, my brother’s concubine. Once a proper sister-in-law has passed through the door — if people heard me calling you that, it would be a breach of all protocol.”

Liu Shi had been perfectly at ease until she heard these words, which hit her like a bolt of thunder. She bolted upright on the lounge, and cried: “What did you say?”

Madam Peng adopted an expression of surprise. “What? You don’t know yet?”

Liu Shi’s ears were buzzing, her hands and feet almost limp. She could not even work the fan anymore, and stretched her neck to ask: “What in the world is happening? You heard something in the capital — stop speaking in riddles. Tell me quickly.”

But Madam Peng had her on the hook and was in no hurry to speak; she smoothed her sleeve edges instead. “With little sister-in-law’s capabilities, do you even need me to bring you the news? Very well — I made this trip for nothing, I suppose. Let no one say I am always after something for nothing; autumn hasn’t even arrived, yet here I am killing myself to earn my keep before the season starts.”

Liu Shi regretted her earlier brusqueness — it turned out the woman had been holding this card all along. Now to pry her mouth open would not be easy, and she would have to spend something again. She turned and called for Nanny Kong: “Bring the thirty taels from my room.” Then she turned to Madam Peng with a smile: “Sister, did you not say the carriage had split its seams? If it broke down on the road in this heat, that would be such trouble. It really should be repaired. And as for the boys’ schooling money — once we have moved to the capital we will be seeing each other all the time, and whenever you need it, just come and ask. Children’s education is important; one should rather let the adults scrimp so that the children do not suffer.”

Seeing Liu Shi’s conciliatory smile, Madam Peng chose not to press further. In any case, there would be plenty of times in the future when Liu Shi would be groveling — she would probably end up shoving money into her hands without being asked.

“Ah…” She gave a long sigh. “I also only just heard this news — they say the Chancellor’s wife is acting as matchmaker, arranging a proper principal wife for my brother. It is only right, after all — my brother is still in his prime, and has at least twenty more years in office. Besides, he is a full-standing marquis — how could he not take a second wife? But I feel for little sister-in-law too. After all, she has followed my brother all these years, and borne him three children, and toiled day and night managing the household — only to hand everything over in the end to a newcomer. It is truly not fair.”

She had not said a single word of substance, making Liu Shi curse her silently a thousand times over.

At last Nanny Kong brought the silver, and when it was placed in Madam Peng’s hands, Liu Shi pressed in urgently: “Tell me clearly — what family’s daughter is this, who is to fill this position?”

Madam Peng took the money pouch, handed it without a glance to the maidservant behind her, and then said at a leisurely pace: “They say it is the younger sister of General Zhongwu — divorced her husband a couple of years ago, and has been living at the general’s residence since.”

Liu Shi let out an “ah.” “So she comes from a military family…”

“What of it? Her ancestors were military, she herself is not — surely you do not think she will come and wrestle with you in the ring!” Madam Peng gave a contemptuous little laugh. “She comes from a great family and will carry herself with self-regard. You are clever, and you have three children to your name — she has no one. How could you fail to manage her?”

Liu Shi felt utterly wretched. “She is, in the end, the principal wife — even as a second wife, she will have a place in the ancestral hall.”

Madam Peng clicked her tongue. “There are plenty of principal wives who live like something neither quite human nor ghost. And as for the ancestral hall — when she is dead, who knows where her spirit will wander? Just a plaque on a shelf. I cannot believe you have taken that to heart.”

But this kind of despondency — no amount of outside consolation could touch it.

Once Madam Peng had been seen off, Liu Shi could neither sit still nor stand easy in the room, waiting restlessly like a lamp being melted down to nothing, until Jiang Heng finally returned in the evening. The moment he was seated in the main room, she burst into tears, choking out an obsequious bow: “Allow me to congratulate my Lord. My Lord is to welcome a new wife — how is it that you did not think to mention it to your concubine, so she might prepare and help arrange the betrothal gifts?”

That word had reached her ears so quickly — Jiang Heng felt a twinge of guilt, but also felt alarmed that her network of informants was so extensive, that his every move was apparently being watched. At once a feeling of displeasure rose in his heart.

“There is not even a shadow of a plan yet — what new wife is there to welcome?”

Liu Shi looked distraught, lowering her head to say: “How can there not be a shadow of a plan? The Chancellor’s wife has no particular dealings with us, and if she is acting as matchmaker now, it must almost certainly be at the instigation of our young Madam. What a formidable young Madam she is — a daughter making arrangements to find her father a wife. If it were said aloud, is she not afraid of being laughed at?”

Jiang Heng frowned. “Do not make things so complicated. Whether she invites ridicule or not, I do not know — but the spectacle you are making of yourself will certainly invite ridicule.”

Liu Shi looked startled. “I am not the one making arrangements for my own father. Who would laugh at me?”

Jiang Heng felt she was utterly lacking in any sense of propriety, and said in a raised voice: “Do you truly believe that with your standing you could be the mistress of the marquis’s household?”

With that one sentence, he shattered Liu Shi’s dream entirely. She had not considered that in his heart, she was ultimately nothing more than a concubine unfit to be seen in public. All the favor he had shown her over the years — had it been no more than a passing fancy?

She panicked, and pressed after him: “My Lord — have I done something wrong? I bore you three children, and I have served at your side in a position below yours for more than ten years. Now that my Lord is to take a new wife, have you forgotten your old devotion?”

Jiang Heng felt there was no way to reason with her, and did not even bother to engage with her; he swept his sleeve aside with a dismissive “preposterous,” and sat down to drink his tea.

Liu Shi felt a breath choke inside her chest, nearly suffocating her. She murmured incoherently: “I… I am preposterous?”

What was to be done? It truly seemed she was about to lose this man. Everything she had built in her life up to this point had rested on his affection; if that affection was gone, what did she have left?

She edged toward him. “My Lord — you used to care for me so tenderly…”

Just hearing that reminded him of how furious he was. Jiang Heng said: “Yes, I cared for you that tenderly — and look at what you have done with that. You used the earthquake as a pretext to shut Si Si out, deliberately trying to ruin her reputation — or did you think I did not know? Yet I chose to let it go, out of consideration for our past. I even failed my own daughter. Have I not done enough for you? And now she is married and gone to the ducal household — it has been only four days since her wedding, and you are already inciting Fengyu to come to the door borrowing money, saying there was not enough to set up the new residence… Did you consult me about any of this? How many of your private little schemes have you hidden from me!”

Liu Shi was thrown into complete confusion and said frantically: “There truly was not enough money to set up the residence — I had no choice. I did not want to trouble my Lord, so I thought of asking our young Madam to help us out.”

“And you had no qualms about asking for help! Think about it — what relationship have you with her, that you should open your mouth so wide and ask her for four thousand taels?”

Liu Shi was stupefied. “Four thousand taels? I never asked her for four thousand taels…”

Only now did she understand — it had been that despicable Jiang Fengyu who had stirred the pot. And just a moment ago, that woman had squeezed thirty taels out of her…

She seethed with fury and started crying: “That second sister — she truly intends to be the death of me!”

Jiang Heng sighed and looked away. “If you had not been scheming yourself, Fengyu alone would not have had the nerve to go making trouble at the ducal residence.”

Liu Shi had nothing to say to that. She wept on and on in a drawn-out, pitiful way, as if she were breathing her last.

It was strange — what had once seemed so pitiful and touching to him now moved him not at all. He even turned and said to her: “When will you ever cry out loud for once?”

Liu Shi’s face went crimson with shock; she was so astonished she even forgot to cry, and could only stare wide-eyed as he shook his head with a sigh and walked away with his hands clasped behind his back.

She sank back down into the armchair, her head throbbing with rage, and said through gritted teeth: “This is what men are. When he loves you, even your breath smells sweet. When he stops loving you, he finds your crying offensive — finds that you have spoiled his fine mood for taking a wife.”

Nanny Kong could do nothing but stand to the side with hands folded, saying: “It is only because my Lord has been spending too much time with those people in the past few days. Once the whole household moves to the capital, the Yiniang will be with him every day, and his heart will naturally come back to you.”

“But what about right now? He is taking a new wife, and he has already treated me like this today — once she comes through the door, will there even be a place for me to stand?”

Nanny Kong turned it over in her mind for a while, then lowered her voice: “Then find a way to keep the person from coming through the door. If they gain the upper hand, it will be too late for regrets.”

Liu Shi finally grew calm. She picked at the carved pattern on the armchair’s armrest, thinking carefully. Fortunately no betrothal gift had been sent yet, and there was still room to maneuver. Even if the Chancellor’s wife was acting as matchmaker — so what? As long as that general’s sister refused, nothing anyone else said would matter.

Unfortunately Jiang Heng was in Youzhou these days, and she could not make any move. She could only serve him with every attentiveness, lulling him into letting his guard down. He even said to her: “Even when the new bride comes through the door, she will be the face of things in public, but you in the inner household will still live quite comfortably.”

Liu Shi assented meekly, but in her heart she thought: is it not always the case that the new surpasses the old? When she herself had once been new, she had watched with her own eyes as the County Princess and him grew estranged and distant. For a concubine to live with dignity before the mistress of the house — that was nothing but a man’s empty talk!

Seeing her subdued, Jiang Heng assumed she had accepted her fate. His four days of leave ended, and on the morning of the fifth day he set out early for the capital.

Liu Shi stood at the door to see him off, then went back inside, fidgeting and scratching for an hour, calculating that he must by now be well on his way. At last she hurriedly gave the order to prepare the carriage, and with two maidservants, headed directly to the capital.

Where the residence of General Zhongwu was, she did not yet know; she would have to make inquiries once she was inside the city gates. She looked down at the two food boxes resting by her legs. In this heat, the pastries inside would certainly have gone stale by the time they reached the capital. No matter — they would never have any dealings after today anyway. As for dignity — what was dignity? Even if people tore her apart with their words afterward, so long as she achieved her goal, it would be worth it.

“Faster,” she leaned forward to urge the driver. With Jiang Heng by her side she could still feel at ease, but the moment he left for the capital, she was afraid that at any moment they might proceed to the formal gift ceremony.

Bringing a new wife into the household was not as involved as a first marriage — as long as the basic forms were observed, things could move swiftly. If she hesitated half a step further and let them arrange the new residence behind her back and leave her in Youzhou to watch over the house, then her life would be over — and the futures of her three children with it.

So she had to move quickly. The carriage rattled along at a near-bone-shaking pace, but she bore it. After the long journey, she finally entered the city by late afternoon, and inquired until she found that the General’s residence was on Gaotou Street. She drove there directly, sent word to be announced at the gate — requesting to see Second Mistress Jin — and of course the gatekeepers asked who was calling. She smiled and told the gatekeeper: “I am a member of the Kaiguo Marquis’s inner household.”

The two elderly maidservants with her were clearly far more apprehensive than she was, having no idea whether announcing herself so openly would even get them through the door. They glanced sideways at Liu Shi, who wore a look of complete resolve — a determination to succeed or die trying.

What would word come back as from inside? Perhaps they would not receive her — which would mean this mistress of the general was a very proper woman who observed all decorum. And the more proper a woman was, the more she would be thrown off by someone who did not play by the rules. But if she was received — well, that was even better. Allow her to make Jin Shengyu’s heart turn cold toward the marquis’s household, and even if an eight-bearer litter came to carry her in, she would not cross the threshold of the Kaiguo Marquis’s residence.

She waited and waited, until at last someone came out from inside with a message. The gatekeeper came forward with a slight bow: “Our Mistress asks that you enter.”

So the woman was fully acquainted with the state of the marquis’s household. Well, naturally — in the eyes of those noble families, was she herself not just a sharp-clawed common concubine? Very well then — she had done this before and could do it again.

She turned to signal the two maidservants to pick up the food boxes, then followed the guiding servant to the inner courtyard gate, where another maidservant led them to the reception room in the flower hall. Entering, she saw a woman with bright, clear eyes seated at the head, a woman of about thirty, dressed in a cross-collar narrow-sleeved garment the color of misty smoke at dusk and a lower skirt of red vine-pattern gauze — this must be Jin Shengyu. Perhaps because she was a guest living at her brother’s house, there was no one standing beside her for support, only two young maidservants. At the sight of Liu Shi, her expression was cool, and she said nothing — she simply looked her up and down, evidently also weighing up her opponent.

Liu Shi shaped her face into a smile and curtsied softly: “Your concubine is from the marquis’s residence, and has come especially today to pay a call on Mistress.”

Jin Shengyu was not a mild-tempered woman, and gave a neutral sound of acknowledgment: “I know who you are — the Yiniang of the Kaiguo Marquis’s household.”

Liu Shi was long accustomed to that form of address, and smiled: “Precisely. I apologize for the intrusion today — please do not take offense, Mistress. I heard that you were in discussion of a match with our Marquis, and my heart was eager to come and meet you. In future we will be one family; if we become familiar early, it will be easier to speak openly with each other.”

What a fine phrase — “speak openly with each other.” This was clearly a show of force.

Jin Shengyu invited her to sit, then looked her over once more. She took in the supple, willowy figure — that snake-like waist — and thought to herself that this woman did indeed have every qualification to be a concubine. Word about the Kaiguo Marquis’s household trouble had already reached her ears the previous month. She had not expected that barely a few days after the Chancellor’s wife and the Consort of Prince Liang had paid their visit, this woman had already shown up at her door.

Truly extraordinary. Jin Shengyu restrained her temper and said: “This matter has only been tentatively mentioned — nothing has been agreed upon. For Madam Liu to come rushing to the General’s residence in such haste is something that genuinely surprises me.”

Liu Shi paid no attention to Jin Shengyu’s unfriendly tone — she was not counting on making a good impression. She merely smiled: “Mistress need not pretend — since a match has been discussed, there is surely no reason for it to fall through halfway. I have come in complete sincerity; I left at dawn and traveled a hundred li to come and pay my respects to you.” Then her tone shifted to one of complaint: “It is just that the residence in the capital has not yet been arranged — the property we have in mind is still short by a few thousand taels, and to this day it still has not been funded. If the new residence could be completed earlier, I would be closer to Mistress and could come every day to keep you company and talk with you.”

Was this disclosing the poverty of the marquis’s household? The implication seemed to be that the Kaiguo Marquis’s residence was an empty shell — glamorous on the outside, destitute within.

Jin Shengyu had by now worked out her purpose completely, and looked at her with a faint smile: “I suspect Madam Liu has another goal in coming today?”

Liu Shi hurriedly said no. “I am simply here to see Mistress. And while I am here, I was also wondering — when does Mistress plan to arrange the wedding with our Marquis? In my humble view, the sooner the better. It would be best to formalize everything before the year’s end. After all, the betrothal gifts can be prepared in the capital, and Mistress’s dowry would not need to be transported all the way from such a distance — would that not be convenient for both sides, saving unnecessary trouble?”

With that, she smiled with an expression of pure innocence.