March had just passed, a fine drizzle falling steadily, and An’er, now sure-footed, had begun teaming up with Gennu to get into mischief both inside and outside the house.

These days there wasn’t a hole they couldn’t dig, nor a place they couldn’t climb up to.

They went everywhere, really — anywhere except staying put on the ground.

Remembering how soft and weak the children used to be, Qiqian’er genuinely loved her own little monkeys from the bottom of her heart — sure, they were a handful, but a mother would simply handle being a handful right alongside them.

As the children grew day by day, and the household enjoyed increasingly peaceful days, around the third day of March, when a light wind picked up, Qiqian’er’s heart had felt unsettled for several days. Then Matron Cheng from next door, who’d climbed over the wall to visit, told her — congratulations, you’re with child again.

Being pregnant again was like a bolt from the blue. Qiqian’er looked down at her stomach, hardly able to believe it. Huh? There’s really someone else living in there now?

But thinking it over carefully, things were different now than before. That scoundrel of a husband came home often these days and was a nuisance about it, and An’er was already quite grown — having another one was only natural.

Besides, she wasn’t the only one expecting a second child — the First, Second, and Third Branches of the Chen family had all, one after another, had a second child too. This was simply how things went in this world.

On the surface Qiqian’er showed neither joy nor sorrow, but inside she was quite anxious, unsure how she should feel about this child.

The Fourth Branch was overjoyed at the news. The Old Madam was delighted, Chen Dasheng was happy, and even She Qingling, who still felt guilty for having taken the Chen family’s eldest grandson, was especially pleased. Only Uncle Xin, who’d just returned from Yuegong Mountain and heard the news, said to Qiqian’er with a face full of indignation: “My lady, you’re practically a figure of the old hidden world — how can you be struggling away here in the inner quarters, living a life like this?”

Qiqian’er was sorting through the local specialties he’d brought back from Yuegong Mountain — things like aged ginseng, deer antler, deer tendon, and so on — as she said: “Well now, what’s wrong with my life? It’s a fine life! That’s a funny thing to say. What kind of life should I be living, then? Should I be some carefree wandering soul? Or like you, traveling tens of thousands of li for the sake of strangers, coming back to find these local goods bought out of your own pocket — and after all that, people aren’t even grateful.”

Uncle Xin’s face immediately fell.

Looking at the old man, whose back seemed even more stooped now, Qiqian’er — who had long since come to think of him as family — sighed: “You really should stop wandering about from now on. You’re getting on in years, it’s time to accept that. How many more days do you think you can keep running around like this? Just think — the wandering knights the history books used to write about are long gone. The old dynasty is gone too. Baishi Mountain is gone. Even Huguo Temple has fallen into ruin. What are you, in the end? That jianghu of yours, the one you carry in your heart? If you ask me, it’s already long dead.”

Uncle Xin didn’t bother arguing, still crouched there as he was. This latest trip out had left him feeling his strength wasn’t what it used to be in quite a few places, and deep down he knew his body wasn’t what it once was either.

He gave a helpless smile, and after a good while finally said: “My lady’s right. This time, coming back, I’ve been thinking too… that I won’t go out again.”

Qiqian’er felt a weight lift off her chest, and her expression finally brightened into genuine joy: “That’s the spirit! Not going out anymore is for the best. I’ll have someone clear out a patch of land behind my old temple ruins and build you a proper house to retire in — you can spend your old age there. I’ll tell you, I’ve even found you a grandson to look after you in your old age. That child’s a good one.”

Uncle Xin, being a carefree sort by nature, simply laughed it off: “A man of the jianghu dies wherever he falls and gets buried wherever he lies — what do I need a retirement grandson for! No need to trouble anyone on my account, you don’t need to worry about me. This old beggar, whatever else you might say about him, has trained more disciples and grand-disciples than I can count — if I needed you to take care of my old age, the ancestors of the Beggars’ Sect would be covering their faces in shame underground. Truly, no need. It’s enough that you have the thought.”

He turned to leave, then seemed to remember something and turned back to tell Qiqian’er: “I’m heading back now, but there’s one more thing I should mention — I saw a notice posted over by Qingfeng’s arena about relocating graves. Has my lady seen it?”

Qiqian’er was taken aback: “A grave relocation notice — what does that have to do with me?”

Uncle Xin, though, looked puzzled: “How does it not concern you? I recall my lady mentioning before that you were from Huo Family Village.”

That much was true, and Qiqian’er nodded, then asked in surprise: “Huo Family Village is relocating graves? Who’s relocating them, and why?”

Uncle Xin patted his forehead and sighed: “You really don’t worry about the things you should be worrying about. That notice was posted at the start of last year — after a few rounds of rain, the paper’s probably rotted through by now. Wasn’t it at the end of last year that His Majesty granted Consort Shun’s family a thousand piculs of land? That old Huo Family Village land now belongs to the Liu family.

The Liu family, thinking about their new estate, didn’t want so many outsiders’ graves scattered across the land, so they put up a notice saying that if anyone came forward to claim a grave before Qingming in April, they’d give a subsidy of twenty strings of cash per grave relocated. Any unclaimed graves remaining after the start of next month would be gathered together into a communal grave mound, to be relocated together up to Baiquan Mountain.”

Since this concerned her own birth mother, Qiqian’er immediately took the matter to heart. She stood up and said: “Ah! I really had no idea.”

Seeing her grow anxious, Uncle Xin asked with concern: “Is there a grave there?”

Qiqian’er nodded: “There certainly is! That — well, I do have the surname Huo, but I’m, well, I count as a daughter married out, and I’m not even in their family register. It’s my birth mother who’s buried over there.”

Uncle Xin nodded: “Ah, then my lady had best hurry and find a good shop to have a proper burial outfit made for the Old Madam, then find an auspicious plot and a good date to relocate her grave. I just happened to mention it in passing — I’ll be off now.”

The old man said his piece and left just like that. Well, credit him for being carefree about it, but somehow it left an uncomfortable feeling in her chest — here she’d been worrying over him for months, and he just walked off like nothing had happened.

Qiqian’er took a breath, rubbed her still-flat stomach, and sat in a daze for a good while before finally calling out toward the door: “Siyue.”

Before long, Siyue, her hair now styled in the bun of a married woman, came in from outside and asked Qiqian’er with a smile: “Did you need me, my lady?”

Several years into her marriage now, the maids around her — the ones called by month names — had all grown up too, and starting last year they’d gradually been matched up with young manservants in the household. The first batch of boys the family had taken in had turned out well, and one by one they’d been promoted into various managerial positions. As it happened, Siyue had caught the eye of Chunfen, and the two of them had gotten together.

These days, everyone outside referred to her as “Chunfen’s Siyue.”

Qiqian’er instructed: “Tell your husband to go to the old camp and fetch the master home — tell him there’s an important family matter…”

Before she knew it, it was the fifteenth of March — the almanac for that day read favorable for breaking ground and relocating graves. Qiqian’er changed into plain, unadorned clothing, and bringing along two prepared coffins, sought out a well-known local shaman woman, Granny Wang, to go to Huo Family Village to relocate her mother’s grave.

Even now, Qiqian’er still didn’t know exactly which grave mound held her mother’s remains. In the end she simply prepared two coffins, planning to relocate that unnamed aunt’s grave alongside her mother’s.

As a married-out daughter, and now a Chen family wife besides, she couldn’t very well go digging through unrelated graves in the Huo family’s burial ground herself to identify bones — seeking out Granny Wang really was the only option left to her.

The Old Madam, worried that Qiqian’er was still young and pregnant besides, feared that grief might disturb the pregnancy, so she ordered Madam Li to accompany her.

Sitting in the carriage, the two sisters-in-law chatted idly, and when Madam Li asked about it, Qiqian’er finally said with a smile: “To be honest with you, sister, I don’t even know my mother’s surname. Back then, the older servants in the household all just called my mother ‘Concubine Jiao’ — I’d guess her name had a ‘Jiao’ character in it somewhere.”

Qiqian’er was indeed born of a concubine, a side-branch daughter, but her character and capabilities had always stood firm on their own, and so she spoke openly of her origins without shame — these days, who would dare look down on her for it.

The Old Madam had likewise arranged for a senior clanswoman to accompany her, and even Chen Dasheng had brought along his personal guards, changed into plain mourning clothes, and rode along on horseback to join them.

Just from this alone, one could tell what a rare and wonderful son-in-law he truly was — not one in a hundred husbands from ordinary families would go to such lengths for something like this.

Madam Li studied Qiqian’er’s expression carefully, and seeing no sign of distress, reached out and patted her: “We’re all just living, breathing people — who among us doesn’t have hardships? If your aunt has any awareness left in the world beyond, seeing you living well now would surely bring her comfort. But I did promise A’Nai before we left that I’d keep an eye on you — I can’t have you collapsing in tears there once they start breaking ground.”

Qiqian’er laughed softly at this: “I won’t! I don’t even remember her — all I know is that she’s the one who gave birth to me.”

In truth, it wasn’t very far at all — Huo Family Village was right next to Qingfeng City, just a short distance from Quanhou Street, no more than the time it takes two sticks of incense to burn.

When they arrived, the Chen family’s procession of carriages could go no further.

Chen Dasheng reined in his horse and called out to the carriage: “Qian’er, Qian’er…”

Qiqian’er lifted the carriage curtain, about to say she’d heard him, when she looked outside and got quite a shock herself — a good crowd of people had gathered at the entrance to old Huo Family Village.

Looking out from the carriage, it was clear at a glance that every single one of them was dressed in plain mourning clothes, there to relocate graves.

Chen Dasheng looked over and asked: “Are these — relatives of your Huo family?”

Qiqian’er said blankly: “How would I know?”

She looked carefully around at everyone, but they all looked quite ordinary, none of them particularly wealthy-looking, and none of the faces looked familiar either.

She stopped a passerby to ask, and learned that Huo Family Village had belonged to several different surnames before, and it was only later that the Huo family had bought up the land and it became known as Huo Family Village.

The crowd, seeing a wealthy-looking family arrive from a distance with coffins in tow, all curiously stood up, trying to figure out who they were.

But after everyone had gotten a good look, Qiqian’er and Chen Dasheng’s faces meant nothing to any of them, and they sat back down, disappointed.

Chen Dasheng comforted her, then called Chunfen over and said: “Go up ahead and ask who’s in charge of things on behalf of the Qing’an Earl’s household — bring whoever’s overseeing this to me, I want to ask some questions.”

Consort Shun’s family had been granted the title of Earl of Qing’an. Chen Dasheng himself had been made heir of the princedom the year before last, and since he held a proper official rank, people outside mostly referred to him as Marquis Chen.

Moreover, his father She Qingling was a proper cousin, on his mother’s side, to the Emperor himself — and though Consort Shun was indeed an imperial consort, she wasn’t the primary consort; that honor belonged to the Cao family.

Ranked among the imperial in-laws, Chen Dasheng’s family actually outranked the Consort Shun’s family in standing by quite a margin — for him to go stand in line to collect that twenty strings of cash would have been quite improper.

And even if he had gone, the Liu family wouldn’t have dared accept it from him.

Chunfen went off for a while and came back leading a whole crowd of people.

When the group reached Chen Dasheng, they all knelt together and kowtowed to him.

These had to be servants of the Qing’an Earl’s household stationed here — if the head of the family himself had been present, they wouldn’t have knelt like that.

The one leading them was a man in his forties, wearing a dark, plain long robe of old silk, round and portly, with small eyes and thick lips, his chin sporting a scraggly beard of mixed yellow and white. He kowtowed, then lifted his face, looking rather flustered: “Greetings to the Young Master and Young Madam. This lowly one is Liu Cheng, ordered by my master to assist in overseeing the grave relocation matters for the new estate. This lowly one truly had no idea this involved your esteemed family’s honored graves — had I known, how — how would I have dared put up that notice first? And now that you’ve come in person, sir, this really shouldn’t have happened at all!”

This man was clearly badly frightened. Ever since Liu Zhenzhi had passed away, the Liu household’s standing had already crumbled by half, and even having a Fifth Prince as an in-law relation didn’t help much anymore.

After all, this was the maternal family of a prince who hadn’t amounted to anything.

And She Qingling — who was he? The only person the Emperor himself acknowledged as a true brother, the Hidden Chancellor of Daliang, a proper prince in his own right.

Everyone knew that the prince’s heir, this Marquis Chen who’d come up from Laodao, was a son taken in later in life — so it wasn’t so strange that he’d have ancestral graves at Huo Family Village.

But while it made sense for them, it spelled disaster for the Liu family.

Ancestral graves were no small matter to begin with — even for ordinary graves the Liu family had been willing to pay twenty strings, and even for unclaimed remains, they were willing to establish a proper communal grave and handle things respectfully. They didn’t dare risk damaging their own fortune’s merit by mishandling such things.

In truth, the Liu family was unfairly wronged in a sense — if the Emperor had known Chen Dasheng’s family had ancestors buried on this land, he would have asked Chen Dasheng directly: do you want this land? If not, I’ll give it to you.

It might very well never have been granted to the Liu family at all.

And besides, even the Liu family themselves had no wish to build their new estate here — they had no desire whatsoever to offend Chen Dasheng, one of this new crop of powerful upstarts.

Good heavens — half the imperial guard corps was practically related to this family by marriage. Had the Liu family lost their minds?

Chen Dasheng, in good spirits, told them to rise, and once this steward had gotten up, he said: “This isn’t your fault. In truth, it’s my mother-in-law’s grave, and we only found out about it ourselves a couple of days ago. There’s no need to alarm anyone today — we’ve already arranged everything on our end, and we’ll properly retrieve the remains and be on our way shortly.”

Chen Dasheng cared nothing at all about Qiqian’er’s background — indeed, these days even Yandu’s noble families didn’t put much stock in family origins anymore.

This was a new dynasty, after all, full of newly risen households. Never mind indentured servants — even among the court officials, there were several who’d once been sentenced to exile and tattooing, and families that hadn’t been through such things couldn’t very well look down on those who had.

Since everyone’s origins were more or less humble these days, no one had much grounds to look down on anyone else.

Liu Cheng let out a long breath — even in the cool weather he’d broken out in a cold sweat, wiping at it with his sleeve — before saying with an ingratiating smile: “We had no idea, none at all. May I ask where your esteemed in-law’s honored ancestor rests? This lowly one will have people go stand guard right away. Young Master, Young Madam, please forgive us — even if my own master came in person, we wouldn’t dare touch so much as an inch of your family’s land.”

Notably, he didn’t address Chen Dasheng as “Marquis Chen” — using the in-law form of address instead carried a note of pleading, hoping that for the sake of the relation, they wouldn’t hold this against them too harshly.

Qiqian’er lifted the carriage curtain and said to Liu Cheng: “Steward Liu, no need to panic. It’s simply that as a daughter married out, I was never able to have a proper headstone made for my mother, and that’s how this misunderstanding arose. Now that His Majesty has granted this land to the Liu family, it’s only right that you go ahead with the grave relocation and groundbreaking. Besides, your household has clearly been handling everything by the proper rules — tell your master there’s truly no offense taken toward anyone here. Even if you hadn’t relocated it, we’d have planned to move it ourselves within the next year or two anyway.”

Hearing the young madam speak so reasonably, Steward Liu finally relaxed somewhat, though he still didn’t dare touch the grave itself.

He thought it over, kowtowed again in thanks to Qiqian’er, then stood and cautiously asked: “May I ask where your esteemed ancestor’s blessed resting place is located?”

There had been a great deal of groundbreaking happening in the area recently. Qiqian’er looked around and pointed toward a visible grove of camphor trees: “Over there — the two graves beneath that camphor grove are my family’s.”

The moment she said this, Steward Liu’s face changed dramatically. He sucked in a sharp breath and said: “That — that can’t be right! Those two graves under the camphor trees — someone already relocated them last month!”

The instant the words left his mouth, Qiqian’er’s face changed too, and she leapt down from the carriage in one motion.

This gave Chen Dasheng quite a fright. He jumped down from his horse and caught her, urging: “What are you panicking for, what’s wrong?”

Qiqian’er looked at him and said: “How could I not panic?”

Someone had taken her own mother’s remains under false pretenses.

Without waiting for anyone else to say anything, Qiqian’er strode off toward the camphor grove.

Steward Liu looked around anxiously, and finally, breaking out in a full sweat, led the large crowd after her toward the grove.

When the group reached the spot, sure enough, there were two large pits in the ground. At the bottom of the grave pits, after several rounds of rain, green shoots had already begun to sprout.

Seeing this, Qiqian’er’s legs went weak beneath her, and her eyes instantly reddened. She turned to Steward Liu and asked: “Who — who took my mother away?”

Steward Liu’s legs went weak too. He looked around and, spotting a young servant boy approaching with some account ledgers, said in a trembling voice: “Young Madam, please don’t panic, please don’t panic, we keep records of everything, we do! Your esteemed mother-in-law can’t have gone far, truly, there’s no need to worry.”

When the boy arrived, Steward Liu snatched the ledger from his hands and dropped to the ground, flipping rapidly through page after page. After searching for a while, he finally pointed to an entry and said: “Found it, found it, Young Madam, please take a look.”

He held up the ledger for Qiqian’er to see: “This is from the Liang family of Daniuyan Village, fifteen li from here…”

At this point, Steward Liu smacked himself and said: “This lowly one was truly blind! Look, over a dozen of them came, all seeming honest and simple folk. The one leading them said his younger sister had been sold to the Huo family as a maidservant long ago, and later became a concubine in the Huo household. They had witnesses vouching for them, so we allowed them to go ahead with the groundbreaking… look here.”

Steward Liu swallowed and pointed to a row of handprints at the top: “The local ward chief and village head both co-signed as guarantors, and only then did this lowly one dare release the funds. It’s just that on the day they came, there were two graves, and we couldn’t quite tell which was which for the Liang family — oh, which one was your esteemed mother-in-law’s? We ended up giving an extra five strings on our end and let them relocate both graves together…”

Eldest Sister-in-law Madam Li, seeing Qiqian’er’s face covered in sweat, came over to support her and comfort her: “Qian’er, you mustn’t panic. What’s done is done, and with your condition, you absolutely cannot let yourself get too worked up.”

Chen Dasheng nodded too: “Right, right, I’ll go find them myself right now. Be good now, don’t worry, it’ll be fine, it’s not lost for good.”

The way he said it startled everyone standing around into a fright.

In all of Yandu, no head of household ever spoke to his wife with words like “be good.”

This young madam was clearly held in very high regard indeed.

And so, everyone grew even more apprehensive.

Having someone to lean on made a woman soften, and Qiqian’er finally let her tears fall, saying through her heartbreak: “Then hurry up and go!”

Chen Dasheng turned to leave, but Qiqian’er grabbed hold of him: “Wait a moment.”

Chen Dasheng stopped and looked at her.

Qiqian’er said very seriously: “I need to make a few things clear to you first.”

Chen Dasheng nodded: “Go ahead.”

Qiqian’er said: “That Huo family has some distant relatives nearby — even if it’s a stretch, they still share the Huo surname. We’re not to interfere with their grave.”

Chen Dasheng thought it over: “Fine, then we’ll offer some compensation — it’ll sound better for our reputation too.”

Qiqian’er nodded: “This grave was also only pointed out to me by others — that’s how I even learned my birth mother was resting here. I grew up here until I was in my teens, and in all that time I don’t recall a single stitch of clothing or thread ever coming from my mother’s family. I never would have imagined they lived just fifteen li away all along. Not to mention anything else, but the ledger itself says my mother was sold to the Huo family — which means there’s no real relation between us anymore, you understand?”

Chen Dasheng immediately understood what Qiqian’er meant, and he nodded: “Understood. As far as your mother’s side goes, our family won’t be maintaining ties with that concubine’s relations either. Rest easy — we won’t be acknowledging this branch of relatives.”

Once Chen Dasheng had given her his word, Qiqian’er finally let him go.

In her past life, things had turned out so badly that she’d had no relatives to speak of at all to rely on — in this life, she wanted even less to do with acknowledging them.

After Chen Dasheng left, Qiqian’er sat down in a chair that had been brought over and waited for news. The wait stretched on for two full hours. During that time, the new Earl — Liu Zhenting, younger brother of the late Liu Zhenzhi — also rushed over upon hearing the news, but since Chen Dasheng wasn’t present, he couldn’t be received.

Even the Old Madam, worried, had someone harness a carriage to bring her out as well. Once there, the Old Madam took hold of Qiqian’er’s hand, half-embracing the child she treasured most, her whole heart and eyes full of worry that she might be suffering, doing everything she could to comfort her like a small child.

This left the group of Liu family servants rather taken aback.

In all of Yandu, no matter whose grandson’s wife it was, none of them would ever be shown such regard and care by the family matriarch — this Fourth Young Madam of the Chen family was truly something else.

So what if she was born of a concubine? A woman who managed to live her life this well — that alone made her worth something.

However it was, everyone waited, and waited, until finally Chen Dasheng and his group returned.

Seeing them from a distance, Qiqian’er immediately sprang up, and as Chen Dasheng drew near, she saw that he was carrying a red-cloth-wrapped ceramic urn on his back — truly like a filial son carrying his ancestor, he’d carried his mother-in-law’s remains home on his own back.

Qiqian’er looked around but didn’t see a second urn, and asked: “Why is there only one?”

Chen Dasheng let out a long breath, called for the shaman woman to bring over a red umbrella to shield the urn, and then said to Qiqian’er: “Well! This is a long story — don’t panic, though. This really is our mother… and it’s actually good news too. You wouldn’t recognize her, but ah, well, those two elderly folks from the Liang family were both there, and they confirmed it — they knew our mother was missing the big toe on her left foot, and they saw it the day they exhumed the remains. That’s not something they’d have arranged beforehand — and there was still that extra five strings owed, so they took it and left.”

Just then, another crowd came bustling over from a distance, and the moment they arrived, they all knelt down in a row.

Qiqian’er looked over and immediately knew who they were.

She didn’t bother paying them any attention, simply reached out and touched the urn with a sigh: “Did you make everything clear to them?”

Chen Dasheng nodded: “Yeah, made it clear. You’re a young lady of the Huo family, nothing to do with them — rest easy, we’re not acknowledging this branch of relatives. You have no idea… when I got there, they were in the middle of breaking ground to build a new house. Selling a daughter’s bones for money twice over — if I hadn’t shown up, they really would have gotten away with it.”

Looking around at the group, all of them thoroughly terrified, Chen Dasheng leaned in close to Qiqian’er’s ear and said: “Wife, I got some justice for you — I tore apart both their old house and their new one, and got the money back too…”

Qiqian’er couldn’t help but almost laugh, but then, glancing up, she caught sight of a woman looking at her with a faint, ambiguous smile.

This woman was none other than the eldest daughter-in-law of the Huo family — the one whose son had died in that cellar, who’d gone mad afterward, and whom the Huo family’s eldest son had sold off.

Sometimes you think you’re the only lonely soul left in the world, and then you turn around, and well — there are familiar faces everywhere.