Fifth Madam took the menu without even glancing at it and smiled: “I’ll go along with whatever Third Sister-in-law thinks is best!”

Third Madam’s face lit up with a smile.

Fifth Madam came over and took Shiyiniang’s hand: “Fourth Sister-in-law, whenever you have a moment, please sew a few things for my little one!”

Shiyiniang smiled and glanced at her belly: “As long as you don’t mind that my needlework is not very skilled.”

Fifth Madam smiled warmly: “Even Mother, with all her vast experience, says Fourth Sister-in-law’s needlework is excellent — how could I possibly have any complaints?”

Third Madam laughed and asked: “What has Fourth Sister-in-law made for Mother? Why didn’t you bring it out so I could have a look!”

The Grand Madam’s undergarment — never mind that it was not yet finished, even if it were, it would not be something to bring out and show off.

Shiyiniang smiled: “Just some trifling things, not worth mentioning.”

Third Madam pressed further, but at that moment Wei Zi lifted the curtain and emerged from the inner room. She smiled and curtsied to all three ladies: “The Grand Madam invites the Madams to come in!”

The three of them stopped their laughter and chatter and filed in one after another to pay their respects to the Grand Madam.

The Grand Madam then asked Third Madam about the ancestral rites on the first of the tenth month.

“Please do not worry, Mother,” Third Madam said with a smile. “Everything is prepared. The winter garments will be distributed to all the maids on the sixth.” She turned to Shiyiniang with an apologetic look. “The household has so many people that we began making winter garments as early as the seventh month. At the time, we still did not know how many attendants would come with Fourth Sister-in-law’s dowry. And so winter garments for your branch were not made. I will, however, compensate you with the equivalent in silver.”

What would she do with silver? She could hardly take the money and still leave the maids and nannies of her household without clothes to wear. Moreover, looking at how the maids and nannies of the Xu household were dressed, aside from the senior first-class maids in each branch and nannies of stature like Nanny Du, everyone wore uniforms. How could her own branch’s maids and nannies be an exception?

Shiyiniang smiled: “They will need clothes regardless. Third Sister-in-law need not compensate me in silver — just have the sewing room make up what is owed to them.”

The Grand Madam gave a faint nod at that: “As long as they are ready before New Year.”

“Yes.” Third Madam nodded at once on hearing this.

Back in her own rooms, Shiyiniang called Nanny Tao and asked: “When I was at home in my family’s household, first-class maids and nannies of standing received four sets of clothing a year, and the rest received two. What is the practice at the Xu household?”

Nanny Tao smiled: “First-class maids and nannies of standing receive eight sets a year here; the rest receive four. Because there are so many people, spring garments are made in winter, and summer garments are made in spring. Spring garments are changed on the sixth day of the third month; summer garments on the sixth day of the fifth month; autumn garments on the sixth day of the ninth month; and winter garments on the sixth day of the tenth month. It all follows the palace’s practice, except two days later.”

Shiyiniang nodded, privately grateful that the Grand Madam had not put her in charge of managing the household the moment she walked through the door. Otherwise these miscellaneous matters alone would have caused her no end of vexation.

Nanny Tao went on to explain many more of the Xu household’s rules and regulations, saying they largely mirrored those of the palace, just conducted less grandly and with more simplified ceremony. She also added with a laugh: “…Which is why our Empress manages the Six Palaces without the slightest strain.”

The two of them chatted while Shiyiniang worked on her needlework.

Nanny Tao noticed the fabric was in rather bright colors, not what Shiyiniang would wear herself. She smiled: “Who is Madam making needlework for?”

Shiyiniang smiled: “Some small things for Mother.”

Nanny Tao’s expression was quite complex.

After seeing Nanny Tao off, Shiyiniang called Dongqing in.

“…Move over there tomorrow. If anything is not ideal, just make do for now.” She also had Hupo hand her the last fifty taels of silver. “Use it carefully.” Knowing that having hope while in difficult circumstances gave one more fighting spirit, she added: “The Marquis has sent Steward Jia and Wan Yizong to look over our farm estates — once we get through this period things will improve!”

Dongqing smiled through her tears: “These fifty taels will last several months. And don’t forget — once upon a time we lived an entire month on just two taels of silver.”

Shiyiniang smiled: “It’s good that you can see it that way.”

Dongqing went back to pack her things, and the next day Hupo and the others saw her off as she left the household — but that is another matter.

At midday, Shiyiniang went to the Grand Madam’s for lunch. That afternoon the Grand Madam would take Zhen Jie’er and Zhun Ge to Second Madam’s, and since Shiyiniang had needlework to attend to, she did not go to the Grand Madam’s after her afternoon rest.

With work to occupy her hands, time passed quickly. If Xu Lingyi had not come home she would not have realized it was already well past the hour of Shen.

Shiyiniang called Xia Yi in to help Xu Lingyi change out of his robes while she put away her needlework, and once Xu Lingyi came out of the washroom, the two went together to the Grand Madam’s. When Xu Sijin and the others were done with their lessons, everyone gathered to eat dinner together. Afterward they moved to the outer hall for tea and spent a good while talking and chatting before going their separate ways.

On the way back, Shiyiniang was very quiet. When they reached the rooms, she poured tea for Xu Lingyi, made up the bed, then blew out the lamp and went to sleep.

“Why have you stopped reading?” He asked, his tone flat, watching her burrow into the quilt.

“I spent the whole afternoon doing needlework and I’m a little tired,” Shiyiniang said with a smile. “I’m giving my eyes a rest.”

Xu Lingyi let out a quiet “Oh,” finding nothing else to say, and closed his eyes.

After quite a long while, he felt the breathing of the person beside him settle into an even, steady rhythm.

Xu Lingyi looked across in the moonlight and saw that Shiyiniang had fallen asleep.

“What a child!” He could not help but let the corner of his mouth curve upward.

……

Two days later, Steward Jia returned. Steward Bai accompanied him to call on Shiyiniang. Shiyiniang had already arranged for Wan Yizong to wait nearby; after the introductions were made, Wan Yizong and Steward Jia set out for Wanping.

Then the eldest young mistress arrived.

“…It has been agreed — two Yiniang, twenty taels of silver each per year, taking the tonsure at Ciyuan Temple to lead a life of Buddhist cultivation.”

Shiyiniang very much wanted to ask about the whereabouts of those five thousand taels of silver — she did not know whether the eldest young mistress and the others were even aware of that money. She thought it over, but in the end said nothing.

The eldest young mistress, seeing Shiyiniang look as though she wanted to speak but held back, assumed she was worrying about the annual allowance money, and smiled: “We owe a great deal to Fifth Brother-in-law’s help in this matter. That Reverend Jining opened by asking for one hundred taels per person per year. If Fifth Brother-in-law had not held firm with her, the minimum to come out of it would have been fifty taels per person.”

“Fifth Elder Sister’s husband has always been sharp-minded and persuasive,” Shiyiniang said with a smile.

“Who could say otherwise?” The eldest young mistress spoke of Qian Ming with great admiration. “Fifth Elder Sister is truly fortunate. Let us hope that the year after next Fifth Brother-in-law can pass the imperial examination and make his mark in the world.”

Shiyiniang asked about Madam Luo: “Does Mother know about this?”

“We still have not told her.”

“Then Tenth Elder Sister…”

“Your eldest brother said we cannot hide it forever. Yesterday morning he went to the Wang Mansion and told Tenth Elder Sister.” The eldest young mistress sighed. “Tenth Elder Sister neither cried nor made a fuss — she looked as though she had known all along. But the look she fixed on your eldest brother was terribly cold and dark. He came home still shaken. I’m afraid she may come to hate us all from now on…”

Shiyiniang smiled and exchanged some casual conversation with the eldest young mistress, and seeing it was growing late, the eldest young mistress rose to take her leave: “…The household cannot spare me right now.”

Shiyiniang accompanied her to pay respects to the Grand Madam and then personally saw her to the Drooping Flower Gate: “Bring Mu Ge over to visit often — we don’t want the cousins to grow distant.”

The eldest young mistress nodded repeatedly: “When I have a free moment I’ll bring him over to play!”

After seeing the eldest young mistress off, Shiyiniang wrapped the finished undergarment in white silk crepe and went to the Grand Madam’s.

The Grand Madam examined the neat, close stitching and was very pleased, telling Nanny Du to put it away. When Xu Lingyi returned that evening, they dined together at the Grand Madam’s before going home.

Xu Lingyi asked Shiyiniang: “Steward Jia has returned?”

Shiyiniang smiled and said “Yes.”

Ever since that night, Xu Lingyi had sensed that her spirits seemed very low.

He sighed quietly to himself.

Two more days passed, and Wan Yizong came to report back: “…Steward Jia says the sandy land is best for growing sweet melons, and the sloping land is best for fruit trees. Neither crop has skilled hands in our Xu Family’s estates. However, he can help search for some. He asks me to come back to Madam with this question: if suitable people are found, would she prefer to hire them outright or send someone to learn from them?”

“What is your own view?” Shiyiniang asked Wan Yizong.

“Hiring outright would be best,” he said, his voice carrying a note of dejection. “If we send people to learn, I fear they won’t be able to learn well in any short time.”

Under the laws of the Great Zhou, even a ducal household the caliber of the Xu Family was entitled to no more than twenty bond servants. The Luo Family had no such standing at all. Men like Wan Yizong — impoverished, with no land to farm — worked for the Luo Family for meager annual wages. But whenever a family crisis arose — a wedding, a funeral, an illness — the wages barely covered it, and they would turn to borrow money from their employer. Little by little the debt grew, and each year’s wages were not enough to pay it back. Over time, the employer became their largest creditor, and combined with the custom of children bearing their fathers’ debts, these men became people who possessed freedom in name but could not exercise it in practice.

If Shiyiniang were to hire outsiders to manage her farm estates, these people would have not even a meal to eat — how could he not feel dejected?

“Don’t you have three sons?” If she could not even protect her own accompanying household, how could she expect those who had followed the late Madam to follow her? Shiyiniang had already painted herself into a corner — and beyond that, she truly did not wish to abandon the households who had come with her. They had traveled a thousand li from Yuhang to the capital, all for a meal to eat.

Wan Yizong’s eyes lit up: “Madam, please rest assured. If we can find a master grower of sweet melons and fruit trees, we will follow diligently with all our hearts and learn.”

“It may not be so simple,” Shiyiniang said with a smile. “You are snatching someone else’s livelihood — why would they hand their livelihood over to you so willingly?”

Wan Yizong smiled: “The master opens the door; the cultivation rests with the individual.”

Now that was the right attitude!

Shiyiniang gave a satisfied smile, and then carefully instructed Wan Yizong: “Go and find out in the marketplace what melons and fruits sell for per jin. We should have some sense of the numbers ourselves.”

Wan Yizong acknowledged the instruction and departed.

That evening when Xu Lingyi returned home, he noticed Shiyiniang’s mood had improved considerably. He asked: “Would you like to go back and stay for a few days?”

Shiyiniang was momentarily startled, and it took a good while before she understood his meaning.

In a couple of days it would be the tenth of the tenth month.

Without her quite realizing it, she had been married into the Xu household for one full month.

Honestly speaking, she had no real desire to go back home.

“Let me think it over and tell you tomorrow!” She needed to go and ask Nanny Tao how many days Third Madam, the late Madam, and Fifth Madam had each stayed when they returned to their own families.

Xu Lingyi, knowing she was characteristically careful in her conduct and guessing she would certainly go ask Nanny Tao and the like how many days would be appropriate, said: “I will speak to the Grand Madam.”

Please do not!

Shiyiniang said this quietly to herself.

What mother-in-law would be pleased to see her son defending his wife to her face… At the very least, the Luo household had no such custom.

She quickly smiled and said: “Mother is always gentle and kind — it is not as though I would be afraid to say these things before her. It is truly that I have not yet made up my mind.” Afraid Xu Lingyi might press further, she smiled and changed the subject: “Eldest Sister-in-law came today. She says Fifth Brother-in-law has already come to an agreement with Reverend Jining — twenty taels of silver per person per year as the annual allowance…”

Xu Lingyi watched her swiftly change the subject and fell into thought.

Was she truly undecided? Or did she simply not want to go back at all?

—