Matron Xiang was tremendously eager to please in front of Hupo, and in their back-and-forth, Hupo came to learn something of her home circumstances.

Her only son had died of illness before the age of twenty, leaving behind a boy and a girl. Unable to bear seeing her young daughter-in-law spend her life as a widow, she had let her remarry. Her husband worked in the stables, feeding the horses — his food and drink were covered by the mansion, and his monthly stipend was five hundred wen. With no proper position of her own, she was left with two grandchildren to raise, and life was genuinely difficult.

Shiyiniang listened and fell silent for a long moment.

Never mind that the coarse-duty matrons in her household were all conscientious — even if she did want to replace someone, she could not very well bring in a woman who talked too much. In her previous life she had known smooth sailing, yet when she had been pressed down to nothing by the circumstances in the Luo household, she too had lowered herself and had to beg others for help — which left her far more sensitive to such things than most. What you do not wish upon yourself, do not do unto others. To have given Matron Xiang such great hope and then dismiss her with an airy “we’re not changing anyone after all” — that would likely keep the poor woman awake for half a month. And those two roast chickens — who knew from what carefully saved money they had been bought? Her pity for the woman was bound up with her own past experience. Yet that Hupo felt some remorse in speaking of it was something that genuinely surprised her.

“How old are Matron Xiang’s grandchildren?”

Hupo’s eyes brightened. “The granddaughter is the elder — this year she is twelve, born in the fourth month, so she’s called Fang Fei. The grandson is the younger — this year he is ten, called Suo’er.”

Shiyiniang thought of a girl named Fang Fei in Yuan Niang’s household: “Is she the one serving in Elder Sister’s rooms?”

“No,” Hupo smiled. “From what I hear she is also quite quick and clever, so people around the mansion call the two of them Big Fang Fei and Little Fang Fei.”

Shiyiniang said thoughtfully: “Matron Xiang talks too much — she is not suited to stay here with us. When the time comes, see if there is any post somewhere that needs a maid, and find Fang Fei a position. Then give Fang Fei some guidance — tell her not to be like her grandmother with that loose tongue, and the post will naturally be a lasting one.”

Hupo was the most capable of Shiyiniang’s senior maids, and the entire Xu household knew it. Even without Shiyiniang having full charge of the household, if there were a vacancy in the mansion, it would not be difficult for her to place someone. Third Madam would not lose face over a matter this small. Hupo agreed cheerfully, and the two of them fell to talking about matters in the household.

“…The late Marquis took three concubines in succession. The first had been a serving girl in his household and bore Third Master. She died of illness in her thirties. The second bore no children and died of illness not two years after the late Marquis’s passing. The third was taken in his later years — when the late Marquis died, she was barely past twenty. The Grand Madam gave her a sum of money and let her leave. While the late Marquis was alive, each concubine took five days in turn; the remaining days he spent in the Grand Madam’s quarters. When Third Madam married into the household, she followed the same custom, and the first mistress Yuan Niang also followed this custom.”

Shiyiniang had not known that Third Master also had a concubine. “…How many? Do you know anything about where she came from?”

“There is only one, surnamed Yi — she came with Third Madam as a dowry attendant and was given formal status when Third Madam was pregnant with the eldest young master. She has never had children. She and our Qin Yiniang are quite close.”

Both of servant background — naturally they would have more in common.

Shiyiniang gave a faint nod.

“…Second Master passed away on the tenth day of the first month of Jianwu fifty-two. Wen Yiniang was formally raised to the position on the sixth day of the eleventh month. Qin Yiniang and Tong Yiniang were given formal status shortly afterward. The late Marquis died on the seventh day of the twelfth month.”

Qin Shi and Tong Shi had both been bondmaids, serving Xu Lingyi since childhood. It was said that Tong Shi had died long ago, and that Qin Shi had been raised to the status of concubine because she had borne his eldest son by a concubine…

“I remember — Qiu Luo was never raised to concubine status?”

“You remember correctly. She never was.” Hupo knew what Shiyiniang was asking, and lowered her voice. “Matron Xiang said that when Tong Yiniang died she was already four months with child — if the baby had been born, it would likely have been older than even the eldest young master… She also said that Tong Yiniang’s looks and temperament were something the whole household could not match to this day. When serving the Marquis, she never went about looking for excitement or entertainment. Even on New Year’s and Mid-Autumn, when the whole courtyard went out to play, she would stay in the room warming the Marquis’s quilts and keeping his tea hot. The Grand Madam was most fond of her — she was given formal status as soon as she was elevated, and then she became pregnant with her first child… yet in the end, both she and the child were lost.”

Beautiful, devoted, proper — given formal status the moment she was elevated, then pregnant with the first child… and in the end, both mother and child dead.

A chill spread through Shiyiniang’s heart. “Do you know how she died?”

Hupo’s face went slightly pale. “They say it was because of a disturbance to the fetus…”

But was it not said that the first three months were the most precarious? How could she still have lost the child in the fourth month…

“And my lord?” Shiyiniang asked quietly. “When he learned that Tong Yiniang had died — what was his reaction?”

“They say it was an unsettled time in Yanjing then, and the Grand Madam had sent the Marquis to the family’s ancestral home in Henan to keep vigil at the late Marquis’s tomb. By the time he returned, Tong Yiniang had been dead for nearly two years. It was hard to tell that the Marquis was any different. But not long after, the Marquis quarreled with the first mistress over the matter of Second Madam. After that, the two of them gradually grew distant.”

“Oh?” Shiyiniang sat up straighter. “Why did they quarrel?”

“The house we are living in now — the upper courtyard, east of the main hall — is where the Marquis and his wife of every generation have resided. After Second Master married, he originally lived in the courtyard where the concubines now live. At that time, Dian Chun Hall had not yet been demolished; the Marquis and the first mistress lived there, and Fifth Master, who was still young, lived in the western side room of our courtyard. Later, Second Master died. As a widowed woman, Second Madam should by rights have moved to a quieter, more secluded spot. But at the time she was ill and confused — in broad daylight she said she heard Second Young Master coughing in the study and had a maid bring him his cloak… The Grand Madam was moved to tears and sat there weeping with her, and no one dared raise the subject of moving. Then, when Second Madam had recovered somewhat, the late Marquis died and the Grand Madam fell ill. As it happened, the family ran into trouble — it was said the late Marquis had been aligned with some faction or other, and the title was in danger of being stripped. Fortunately our Old Master stepped in to mediate, and disaster was averted. So when you married into the household, everyone said the Xu family was repaying the Luo family’s kindness.”

The Xu and Luo families had such history — Shiyiniang was hearing of it for the first time.

“…The Marquis and Third Master were out running about every day. The first mistress managed the household. Third Madam was with child, and the Grand Madam’s side was inevitably a little neglected. It was Second Madam who dragged herself out of illness to attend the Grand Madam, serving her medicine and soup and overseeing Fifth Master’s studies — at the time she had wasted away to almost nothing. Once everything had passed, the Marquis and Third Master went to the ancestral home in Henan to keep vigil. Second Madam helped the Grand Madam manage the household properties, spending nine days in ten in the Grand Madam’s rooms. Naturally no one brought up the matter of having her move again.”

Shiyiniang was astonished. “Second Madam helped the Grand Madam manage the household properties?”

“Yes.” Hupo said with gravity. “I asked several times to be sure. Matron Xiang said that back then the outer courtyard stewards brought all matters to Second Madam for her direction. Inner courtyard matters went to the first mistress.”

Shiyiniang fell into thought.

Hupo continued: “Later the Marquis and Third Master returned. Third Master took over managing the household properties. Second Madam then raised the matter of moving to where the Grand Madam now lives. The Marquis would not hear of it, and said — ‘I haven’t come back to drive my widowed sister-in-law out.’ Hearing that, Second Madam could no longer raise the matter herself. The Grand Madam saw that this would not do, and had two new courtyards built beside Dian Chun Hall — which became the one where Fifth Master now lives and the one where the first mistress originally lived.”

“So Fifth Master’s courtyard and the first mistress’s house were both built later?”

“Yes!” Hupo nodded. “And when those two courtyards were being built, the first mistress invited the Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau’s Changchun Daoist to read the geomancy. As he was speaking, the Daoist drifted to the subject of the Marquis’s heirs — saying that the first mistress’s quarters, being to the west, were in conflict with the Marquis’s birth chart, which was why heirs were few. But if she could move to the dwelling on the auspicious south-facing position of the Xu household, not only would the Marquis be protected from misfortune and the family flourish with descendants, but the first mistress might also experience a reversal of fortune and give birth to a son. Upon hearing this, the first mistress immediately asked the Daoist to perform a ritual…”

Shiyiniang had seen more than enough of messy human affairs in her previous life handling divorce cases, where the most trivial matter could serve as the spark. She could piece together what happened next: “And the auspicious south-facing position in the Xu household happened to be the very courtyard we are living in now!”

Hupo nodded repeatedly: “The new courtyard beside Dian Chun Hall wasn’t finished yet at that time. Second Madam, upon hearing this, moved immediately to the house in the back garden where she now lives. The Marquis resented the first mistress for making things difficult. He said — ‘A lone widowed woman in the back garden — you might as well have sent her to a nunnery; at least she’d have someone for company.’ The first mistress felt deeply wronged and said she had not made a sound the whole three years Second Madam lived in the upper courtyard, and if she had wanted to drive her out, she would have done so long ago. But when the Marquis heard that, he grew even angrier — he asked whether the first mistress had been coveting that upper courtyard all along, and said, ‘Now I am the Marquis of Yongping; I’ve made something of myself — are you satisfied now? Happy now?’ The first mistress wept bitterly, saying, ‘Did I not live with you as husband and wife before you became the Marquis?’ The two of them kept saying things that cut deeper and deeper. The Marquis, who had never so much as raised his voice before the first mistress, smashed the yellow pear-wood platform table beside him with a single palm blow, and the fright sent Wan Xiang running to fetch the Grand Madam.”

“And then the Grand Madam scolded the Marquis?”

Hupo stared at Shiyiniang with wide eyes. “How did you know?”

Shiyiniang smiled faintly. “The Grand Madam has always taken the side of the weak over the strong. Second Madam is alone in the world, so she takes pity on her; Fifth Master is like a child who never grew up, so she worries Fifth Madam might feel wronged; Third Madam has two sons to lean on, and Third Master defers to her in everything — the Grand Madam certainly has no worry that Third Madam’s days are unhappy, which means she pays her the least attention, and naturally concerns herself least with her.” She had seen many such mothers-in-law. Daughters-in-law often felt the mother-in-law was not even-handed; but the mother-in-law simply hoped everyone would live well, and felt — you are capable, so you don’t need my help anymore. “Just then Elder Sister and the Marquis quarreled, so naturally the Grand Madam would help Elder Sister rebuke her son, and smooth things over.”

A glimmer of admiration crossed Hupo’s eyes. “As it turned out, the Marquis, who never uttered a word against the Grand Madam’s wishes, in a fit of anger moved out to the back garden himself.”

“Ban Yue Pond?”

Hupo nodded.

“And then Elder Sister moved in a huff to the house we are in now.” Shiyiniang could not help but smile. “How did the two of them make up afterward?”

Otherwise, how would there be a Zhun Ge’er?