Xie’s mother in the inner room had already heard his voice. She opened her eyes with a start, sat up in bed, threw a garment over her shoulders, got down, and came rushing out, calling as she came: “Is my son home?”

Xie Changgeng removed the soaking wet rain cape from his body and handed it to A’Mao, who had come running toward him. He then stepped over the threshold and walked quickly toward his mother.

Qiuju had reached out to take it only to find her hands empty. She saw A’Mao happily hugging the rain cape and looking at herself smugly. Qiuju’s face stiffened, and she stared with loathing at the thread of mucus hanging from under A’Mao’s nose.

“Put it away properly! The ground is all wet! What if the Old Madam slips and falls while walking!”

A’Mao was not upset; she sniffed her snot back up, grinned, and pointed at Qiuju’s lapel: “Your collar…”

Qiuju looked down and only then noticed that her collar still had a few melon seed shells stuck to it. Her face immediately flushed crimson. She hastily brushed them off, then looked up to see A’Mao looking utterly gleeful at her misfortune. She lowered her voice and snapped: “You had better watch yourself! If you keep playing dumb and making trouble on purpose, I’ll see to it that one day I cut off that runny nose of yours!”

A’Mao had fallen ill when she was five or six years old and had been abandoned near a relay station. It was the dead of winter, she was in rags, curled up in the snow like a kitten, on the verge of freezing to death. Xie’s father found her and could not bear to leave her there, so he brought her home. Xie’s mother had complained for a bit but then raised her all the same, treating her as an extra rough-use maidservant for the household.

A’Mao was not very bright, rather simple-minded, and had probably damaged her nose during her frostbitten childhood — her nose ran whenever the weather changed. In earlier years it had been much worse; after the mistress arrived last year, she had treated her condition, and A’Mao had taken medicine for a period of time and been gradually nursed along. Though it was not entirely cured, compared with previous years it had already improved considerably.

She was not afraid of Qiuju. She gave a contemptuous snicker and muttered: “Dabbing rouge on her face the moment the master comes home — like a monkey’s backside, ever so pretty…”

Qiuju’s expression shifted and she moved to come and pinch her ear. A’Mao blew her nose, then gave it a flick in Qiuju’s direction.

Qiuju’s face changed; she quickly stepped back.

A’Mao gave a huff, raised her chin, hugged the rain cape firmly, turned, and ran off.

Qiuju ground her teeth in fury, wishing in her heart that she could hack this idiotic maidservant into a thousand pieces. Then she heard Xie’s mother’s and Xie Changgeng’s voices coming from inside. Only then did she suppress her anger, silently crept to the doorway, pricked up her ears, and listened.

Xie Changgeng reached out to steady his mother as she came hurrying toward him, a smile spreading across his face.

“Mother, it is I. I am home.”

Xie’s mother was overjoyed. She seized the arm of the son she had not seen for more than half a year, looking him up and down, muttering over and over that he had grown thinner and darker. Seeing that both the clothes on his body and the boots on his feet were soaked through with rain, she called out: “Qiuju! Come in quickly and help with changing his clothes!”

Qiuju called out in response, hurried in with a smile on her face, and said: “Master, come sit — let me take off your shoes first!” As she spoke, she squatted down and extended her hands.

Xie Changgeng did not move; he only told her to go light a brazier for his mother’s room.

Qiuju bit her lip, slowly drew her hands back, gave a quiet reply, rose, and walked out.

“Mother, the weather has turned cold. How is your health?”

Xie Changgeng helped his mother sit down on the edge of the bed.

“I am just fine! Don’t worry about me! Just take care of yourself out there!” Xie’s mother said, laughing happily.

“How is it that you came back alone?”

She glanced toward the doorway.

Outside it was perfectly quiet, with no other sounds.

“Were the prefectural officials, the county officials, not following behind you? Could it be that the campaign has not gone well?”

Xie’s mother was accustomed to the sight of many local officials following in her son’s wake every time he returned, and seeing this unusual scene now, she could not help feeling a little concerned.

“Mother, don’t worry — the campaign has gone well. I simply did not wish to cause a stir, so I came back on my own first.”

Xie’s mother let out a breath of relief.

“That is good. That is good. Changgeng, you must be hungry. Look how thin you’ve become! You rest first — Mother will go make you something to eat!”

Xie’s mother rose to go out, but Xie Changgeng stopped her, saying he was not hungry. He turned his head and glanced toward the east wing, hesitated a moment, then asked: “Mother, where is my new wife? When I passed the east wing courtyard just now, it seemed as though there was not a soul inside.”

Hearing her son ask about the Mu clan woman, Xie’s mother’s earlier full-hearted joy vanished at once. She let out a huff: “She left! She went back to her maternal home half a month ago! I couldn’t stop her no matter how I tried!”

Xie Changgeng was taken aback.

Xie’s mother poured out a flood of complaints.

“My son, let me tell you, this new bride of yours — there are truly no words for it, I don’t know how to begin describing her to you! After you left, in those first few months, she was still rather well-behaved, coming to check on me morning and evening. I can honestly say I treated her without any shortcoming either. And then — all of a sudden, half a month ago, out of nowhere she gave me a face to look at and opened her mouth to say she was going back to her maternal home! I tried to advise her, saying it wasn’t as though you had abandoned her on purpose and that you would likely be back soon, telling her to wait a bit longer. She wouldn’t listen to a word of it — that very same day she packed up and walked out, taking every last person with her!”

Thinking back to the scene at the time, Xie’s mother felt the anger rise in her again.

Xie Changgeng thought for a moment and asked: “Did she say why she suddenly wanted to leave?”

Xie’s mother shook her head: “Just nothing at all! Decided to go and went! She had me absolutely furious! My son, tell me — is there such a daughter-in-law as this? It is nothing but trading on her family’s standing! What could I do? I had no choice but to let her go!”

Xie Changgeng’s brow furrowed faintly, and he said nothing further.

Xie’s mother thought for a moment and began to console her son.

“Never mind! Don’t be vexed. Let her go if she wants to go — her legs are her own, we can’t chain her here, and we don’t need to. Mother wants to tell you about something good.”

A look of pleased satisfaction spread across her face.

“Since she has acted this way, I simply went ahead and mentioned Fengyi’s situation. I’ll say this for her — she had enough self-awareness not to object. Mother was thinking: once you come home, we’ll welcome Fengyi into the household.”

Xie Changgeng made no reply.

Xie’s mother continued: “Our family was poor before; your father was no more than a relay station official. It was thanks to the Qi Family’s patriarch — who had the vision to see what you would one day become and came forward to propose the marriage alliance with us — that we owe a debt of gratitude we must carry in our hearts for an entire lifetime. It’s a pity the marriage did not come about, and I was not fated to have that daughter-in-law. Then you got into trouble and left, and it was also thanks to the Qi Family’s care that Mother was able to get through those years in safety and live to see you return. And now that we have risen, it is the Qi Family that has run into misfortune.”

Xie’s mother gave a sigh.

“Fengyi has not had an easy time of it. All those years when you were away without a single word — not knowing if you were alive or dead — she served and attended to me just like a birth mother. Then you came back, and said you had already arranged a betrothal while you were away. Mother knew what she felt for you and had no choice but to ask whether she would be willing to be a lesser wife. Not one single word of objection from her — she nodded right then and there.”

“A woman this good — my son, you must not let her down!”

Her son still made no sound. Xie’s mother was immediately displeased.

“Changgeng, now that you have married a woman of noble birth, you haven’t started to look down on Fengyi, have you? I am telling you — we must not be ungrateful people!”

Xie Changgeng gave a faint smile.

“Mother, please do not be angry. That is not what your son means. Since Mother has already spoken with the Mu clan woman about it, we will wait for her to return and then bring Fengyi in.”

Xie’s mother was somewhat mollified, but still felt a little dissatisfied with her son’s words.

“She left on her own whims — with no regard for me as her mother-in-law, and even less for you, Changgeng. Why should we wait for her to return? Who knows when she will come back? What if she never comes back at all — are we supposed to leave Fengyi waiting indefinitely?”

Xie Changgeng pondered for a moment.

“Your son will head there in a few days and bring her back.”

Xie’s mother became upset.

“Absolutely not! She has only been married here half a year and already behaves like this! And now you want to go and fetch her? I will not allow it! If we do that, she will only grow more presumptuous and want to go back to her family every other day! She left on her own — if she wants to return, she can come back on her own!”

Xie Changgeng said patiently: “On this trip back, your son had in any case planned to make a visit to the Kingdom of Changsha. When the late Prince of Changsha passed away three years ago, your son was stationed at Xiutu City in Liangzhou and was unable to return to pay his respects at the time. Over the past few years I have also not had a moment to spare. Now that there is finally some time, I should go to offer my respects — that is my duty. I will also bring her back along the way.”

Xie’s mother, upon hearing her son’s reasoning, reluctantly conceded: “Very well then — go early and return early. Don’t keep Fengyi waiting too long!”

“She has already waited for you so many years!”

After a brief pause, she added one more sentence.

Xie Changgeng agreed.

Xie’s mother at last grew cheerful again and wished to personally go and tidy the east wing new bedroom for her son, but Xie Changgeng stopped her, saying the servants could take care of it and that his own belongings were not much.

Xie’s mother raised her voice and called for someone.

Qiuju carried in a brazier and set it on the stove in the corner of the room.

Xie Changgeng went over and personally adjusted the charcoal inside, pressed the lid on, told Qiuju to attend well to his mother, and then went out of the room and headed back toward the east wing.

He walked along the covered walkway.

The double-happiness characters that had been pasted on the doors and windows when he was married in early spring were still there. Only the red had faded, and they had been soaked by the wind-blown mist and rain — wrinkled and clinging together. A gust of wind blew through, and suddenly one of them peeled away from the door with a soft “pat” and fell to the ground.

Xie Changgeng glanced at it briefly, then stepped over the threshold into the new bedroom.

His personal attendants had already brought in his travel belongings. A’Mao and another rough-use maidservant were busy making the bed and wiping the table. Seeing him return, they called out “Master.”

Xie Changgeng gave a nod, and stood to one side.

The two girls finished tidying the room and moved to undo his travel pack and put his clothes away. He stopped them, saying he would do it himself.

The two bowed to him and withdrew.

Xie Changgeng took out his own clothes, opened the wardrobe door — and a faint, lingering fragrance immediately drifted to his nostrils, seeping into his lungs.

He raised his eyes.

The wardrobe was filled with a woman’s garments — a full array of pink silk and red gauze, light as smoke and soft as mist. In the corner, a beautiful, finely embroidered sachet bearing orchid flowers hung in perfect stillness.

Xie Changgeng’s gaze paused. In his mind, a vision of his wedding night from earlier in the year suddenly surfaced.

At that time, he had just entered the bridal chamber. He had barely lifted the bride’s head covering and had not yet had a chance to see clearly what the Mu clan woman looked like when someone knocked urgently on the door, announcing that an urgent imperial summons had arrived.

He had rushed out, then stripped off his wedding robes, bid farewell to his mother, and left home in haste through the night.

He had left in early spring; he returned today, already deep in autumn.

Now, trying to recall his bride’s appearance, he could not picture her face.

He could only remember — red candles swaying, her head bowed deeply, her dark hair like clouds. Vaguely, it seemed he had caught a glimpse of a pale and quiet face slightly bowed, gentle as water.

Xie Changgeng stood there for a moment, closed the wardrobe door, and set his own clothes to one side. He heard A’Mao in the corridor softly humming a tune as she swept, and he hesitated for a moment, then walked to the doorway and called her name.

A’Mao dropped her broom, ran to the doorway, and leaned her head in with a grin: “Master, are you looking for me?”

Xie Changgeng asked her: “After the mistress entered the household, did she attend to my mother dutifully?”

A’Mao was extremely fond of the new bride from the Kingdom of Changsha — the one who had never minded her dirtiness — and hearing this, she immediately stepped inside and nodded with great enthusiasm: “She was very dutiful! Every single morning she was at the Old Madam’s door first thing, waiting to comb her hair and put on her shoes!”

“Then do you know why she suddenly went back?”

A’Mao spread both hands: “The mistress didn’t tell me…”

Xie Changgeng thought for a moment, then nodded: “All right, that’s all. You may go.”

A’Mao gave a soft “oh,” turned to go out, took a few steps, sniffled, and then a sudden intuition struck her.

“Master, I think I do know! But I’m afraid to say — I’m scared you’ll scold me…”

She looked at Xie Changgeng, haltingly.

Xie Changgeng said: “It’s fine. Whatever you know, go ahead and say it.”

From the time she was small, A’Mao had always been making mistakes and making the Old Madam angry, and being called stupid. But the master’s temper was very good — he had never once scolded her.

The master had been exceptionally good at his studies from a young age — at only ten years old he had already placed first in the village examinations. But the neighbors whispered behind his back that the master, though he appeared to be a refined sort of person, in truth killed without blinking an eye.

They were all very afraid of him; A’Mao was not. With that encouragement, her courage grew, and she leaned closer and said quietly: “Master, when you weren’t home, I was always hearing the Old Madam say good things about Second Miss Qi in front of the mistress. Just the other day, Qiuju was talking in front of us, saying that if the master hadn’t left home in those years, Second Miss Qi would already be the master’s wife long ago. I got angry and argued with her, and she pulled my ear. So I ran and told the mistress.”

“Was it because the mistress was upset about this that she left?”

A’Mao finished speaking, and seeing that he said nothing, his brow slightly furrowed as though he were displeased, her heart grew uneasy again. She watched his expression carefully and said with great caution: “Master… have I done something wrong again… I won’t speak out of turn anymore… please don’t be angry…”

Xie Changgeng came back to himself, gave a slight smile, and said gently: “It’s nothing. I understand now. You may go.”

A’Mao, seeing that he did not blame her, finally let out her held breath. With a burst of courage she added: “Master, when are you going to bring the mistress back sooner! She is such a good person, and she helped me with my illness too! My nose is already much better! Qiuju is always calling me a snotty-nosed good-for-nothing — it makes me so angry!”

Xie Changgeng gave a nod.

A’Mao bowed to him and walked off in high spirits.

Xie Changgeng glanced around the new bedroom, then strolled over to the south-facing window. Standing with both hands clasped behind his back, he gazed out at the overcast clouds hanging low outside, the autumn rain falling in a fine, steady drizzle — and gradually, he fell into a reverie.