With Zhun Ge now in the party, Eleventh Young Miss needed to attend to the First Young Madam, Zhen Jie’er needed to entertain Hui Jie’er, and so Eleventh Young Miss had Nanny Tao summoned: “Watch carefully — not even the smallest mishap is permitted.”
Nanny Tao understood full well what was at stake and nodded repeatedly: “Madam, rest assured. My eyes will not leave him for a single moment.”
Since she had been left behind by the late Madam Luo, any harm that befell Zhun Ge would fall most heavily on her. There was no bond more solid than shared interests. Eleventh Young Miss smiled and nodded, entrusted Zhun Ge to Nanny Tao’s care, and went with the First Young Madam to the western side room, while the three children went to the eastern side room.
Before long, the sound of Zhun Ge’er’s childish chatter and Hui Jie’er’s cheerful laughter drifted over from the eastern side room.
Eleventh Young Miss smiled and said, “You needn’t worry — children warm to each other far faster than adults.”
The First Young Madam sighed. “What has become of the children of today? In our time, it was nothing like this. If the nursemaids said not to open one’s mouth wide in laughter, one did not dare to open one’s mouth wide; if they said one must not make a sound while walking, one would not dare wear phoenix-head hairpins for fear one’s sisters and cousins would say one lacked propriety. I had two sons and together they are not half as mischievous as Hui Jie’er — I honestly suspect I must have lit one less stick of incense before the Bodhisattva when I was carrying her, and what should have been a son turned into a daughter halfway through.”
Eleventh Young Miss laughed in spite of herself. “The way you speak of it! I think Hui Jie’er is lively and cheerful, with a straightforward manner — she is wonderful.”
The First Young Madam smiled at this as well. “What a pity your Zhun Ge is a little too young — otherwise I’d send Hui Jie’er to you as a daughter-in-law and see whether you’d still say such things.” Then she said, “What of the match between your Zhun Ge and the Jiang family? I heard mention of it earlier, but then after your sister passed away, the matter seemed to drop from everyone’s lips.”
Eleventh Young Miss smiled. “As you know, when it comes to Zhun Ge’s marriage, I am not well-placed to intervene — that must be left to my lord and to Mother.”
The First Young Madam nodded in understanding. “That is true as well. Take the two daughters of the Gan family — Madam Gan has little say in their marriages; everything is decided by Master Gan. The Seventh Miss’s match is not too bad — the Liang family is, after all, known and familiar to them. But as for the son-in-law from the Jiang family — no one has ever set eyes on him.”
Eleventh Young Miss was inwardly alarmed. “Is there any word going around?”
“No talk as such,” the First Young Madam said with a sigh. “Only sometimes one cannot help thinking — if the Third Miss’s birth mother were still alive, she certainly would not have wanted her daughter married off to Fujian. Once she goes, there’s no knowing when she’ll ever return to Yanjing.”
True enough. So far away, and even if she suffered any wrong, there would be no one she could turn to. No matter how prominent the family’s standing, what use would that be?
Eleventh Young Miss let out a quiet sigh in her heart and smiled as she steered the conversation elsewhere: “I have heard that the First Young Madam’s natal home is in Cangzhou?”
The First Young Madam nodded, a faint pride already rising in her brow: “I am from Cangzhou. The Shao family of Cangzhou.”
Eleventh Young Miss had already asked Nanny Du beforehand about the background of everyone in the Lin family, so she naturally knew the First Young Madam’s origins — from the previous dynasty to the present day, the Shao family of Cangzhou had produced thirteen military scholars, and their sons served predominantly in the military. Three or four out of every ten high-ranking generals in the Northwestern Army had ties to the Shao family of Cangzhou. Raising this topic was also not without its own purposes.
She smiled. “I have heard that the young ladies of your family can bring a grown man to the ground with a single rolling pin — is that true?”
The First Young Madam covered her mouth with her sleeve and laughed. “That is ancient history.”
Eleventh Young Miss gave her a good look up and down. “The way you carry yourself, First Young Madam — slender and graceful as any girl of seventeen or eighteen… You are simply afraid I’ll pester you to teach me your family’s secret arts, so you deny them.”
The First Young Madam was delighted by this and laughed. “There are no secret arts whatsoever. Just remember: ‘a hundred steps after every meal keeps you alive to ninety-and-ten’ — follow that, and you’ll be slimmer than me in time.”
The two spoke a while of casual matters, and then Eleventh Young Miss raised the subject of Hui Jie’er: “Haste makes waste — it would be better to have Hui Jie’er come and spend more time here. I’ll work it in little by little, guiding her in that direction whenever the chance arises.”
The First Young Madam was very grateful. “The new year is nearly upon us and you have the Grand Dowager to attend to — I really am embarrassed to trouble you like this.”
“We live right next door to each other — what talk of trouble.” Eleventh Young Miss smiled. “Besides, Hui Jie’er is lively and spirited; with our Zhen Jie’er being such a gentle, quiet girl, when she comes there’ll be laughter and cheerfulness — the household will be so much livelier.”
Before the words had left her mouth, laughter from both Zhun Ge’er and Hui Jie’er floated over from the other side.
The First Young Madam laughed and said, “Then let her come and be a nuisance to you!”
“No nuisance at all — I shall love having her,” said Eleventh Young Miss with a laugh.
The First Young Madam smiled. “Then let’s see what day works for sending Hui Jie’er over.”
Eleventh Young Miss thought for a moment. “Why not do it this way — have Zhen Jie’er send her an invitation to come and play. Besides, I intend to have Zhen Jie’er help me with some needlework over the next few days. I’ll let the two of them work that out between themselves.”
She had privately asked Zhen Jie’er beforehand and knew she had studied needlework under the Grand Dowager’s Nanny Du — she could manage ordinary shoes and socks, but was not particularly proficient. Needlework was a matter of practice making perfect, and thinking that Zhen Jie’er already had her studies, and on top of that had to find time for zither practice, she estimated there had not been much time left for needlework, which was why she was not proficient. Taking advantage of this period when her studies had paused and practicing the zither was also inconvenient, she wanted to give Zhen Jie’er some needlework to do and let her get more practice.
“That is a fine idea!” The First Young Madam found it far more effective that Eleventh Young Miss, rather than lecturing Hui Jie’er at length — which would only result in Hui Jie’er talking her into silence — used Zhen Jie’er as a means of gentle influence.
The two settled on their plan. They chatted a while more about things happening in other households, and seeing the hour growing late, brought the children to the Grand Dowager’s for dinner. On the way they encountered Xu Siqin, Xu Siyu, and Xu Sijian, the three brothers coming to pay their respects. Since the two families were close and the children still young, no great ceremony was made of it. The three half-grown boys stood there with eyes downcast and proper bearing, though their sidelong glances all kept drifting toward Hui Jie’er — Eleventh Young Miss noticed and privately found it amusing. Once the Third Madam arrived, Zhen Jie’er led Hui Jie’er to the eastern side room to have a separate table set up for them, and Zhun Ge’er followed and sat with them. The rest of the party sat by order of seniority, and they all ate a cheerful meal together before seeing the Lin family guests off.
The Third Madam then asked about Hui Jie’er: “…I wonder whether she has been promised to anyone yet. She would be a fine match for our Second Young Master.”
Xu Siyu was of concubine-born birth. When the First Young Madam had been joking a moment ago, she had not mentioned Xu Siyu so much as once — so for the Third Madam to say this was rather unkind.
Eleventh Young Miss said lightly, “If you recall, Third Young Master is the same age as our Second Young Master.” — Returning the Third Madam’s move directly.
The Third Madam was taken aback, and then a somewhat embarrassed expression crossed her face.
Not wishing to say too much in front of the Grand Dowager, Eleventh Young Miss smiled and raised the matter of Zhen Jie’er with the Grand Dowager: “…I was thinking of asking her to help me with some needlework.”
The Grand Dowager nodded and looked at Zhen Jie’er with a smile. “Your mother’s needlework is truly outstanding — take advantage of this opportunity to learn well from her.”
Zhen Jie’er answered yes with a shy smile, then bent her knees in a curtsy to Eleventh Young Miss, after which she was led away by her wet nurse to return to her room along with Zhun Ge’er.
The Grand Dowager then asked her, “Did Zhen Jie’er comport herself with composure?”
Eleventh Young Miss smiled and praised her generously: “They took to each other like real sisters within no time at all.”
The Grand Dowager listened and let out a quiet sigh. “In the late Emperor’s final years, everyone was on edge, watching their backs wherever they went — no one had any mind to spare for these few children. Afterward, when the Emperor came to the throne, your brother-in-law was always away on campaigns in the east and west. Your elder sister’s health was poor, and she could only attend to Zhun Ge; Yi Zhen lives in widowhood and nearly all her old friends have drifted away, so this child has had even fewer chances to see the world. I can see that you are fond of her — take her with you from now on.”
Eleventh Young Miss felt a quiet joy rise in her heart.
With her, at least Zhen Jie’er would not be so isolated and alone as she was now.
And there was another benefit to it as well. This way, Zhun Ge and Zhen Jie’er would have to be separated. Zhen Jie’er had always been so good to Zhun Ge — he would surely miss her, and would almost certainly find reasons to come over to her side every few days. Children had a way of sensing who was kind to them and who was not. This would give her the opportunity to improve her relationship with Zhun Ge.
She was about to answer yes when the Grand Dowager said, “However, keep her away from those of the Wen family.”
Eleventh Young Miss found this somewhat unexpected, yet also entirely within reason.
Xu Siyu had been raised by Qin Yiniang until the age of ten before going to the outer courtyard — while Zhen Jie’er had grown up at the Grand Dowager’s side since childhood. It seemed the Grand Dowager harbored an aversion to Wen Yiniang, and that was precisely why she had personally raised Zhen Jie’er.
As she was turning this over in her mind, the Grand Dowager gave a cold, brief laugh. “I may as well speak plainly with you. That Wen family — they are simply laughable. Made a bit of money, and now they have no idea of their own worth. They have had the impudence to set their sights on Zhen Jie’er. She may be Wen Yiniang’s daughter, but she is the rightful First Young Miss of the Marquis of Yongping’s household — not some thing to be paired off with just anyone they see fit to drag out. Keep what I have said in mind.” By the time she reached the end, her voice had taken on a considerable severity.
Eleventh Young Miss’s heart gave a jolt.
If it was truly as the Grand Dowager said, then the Wen family had gone too far — let alone the fact that as a concubine-born daughter’s natal family, they had no standing to speak of. Even she herself, as a stepmother, could not hold a candle to a first wife like the late Madam Luo and could not simply decide Zhen Jie’er’s marriage on her own. However, looked at from another angle, the more the Grand Dowager valued Zhen Jie’er, the more protected her future would be. The Grand Dowager knew a great many people. With her old ladyship keeping watch, and Eleventh Young Miss herself helping to assess things in due course — there should not be any serious misstep.
Eleventh Young Miss quickly answered yes and gave her assurance: “Mother, rest easy — I will keep Zhen Jie’er by my side.”
The Grand Dowager, seeing that she spoke with genuine gravity, let her expression soften slightly. Just then Nanny Du came in with the almanac, and they proceeded to discuss having Zhen Jie’er move to Eleventh Young Miss’s quarters on the twenty-eighth day of the eleventh month.
Eleventh Young Miss hesitated. “And Zhun Ge’er…”
“Originally, it was because Madam Luo had just passed on, and Zhen Jie’er was such a thoughtful child — that was why she was kept to keep Zhun Ge company,” said the Grand Dowager. “Now that more than a year has passed, he should be pulling himself together. This is a good opportunity to separate them.”
“Mother has truly thought this through.” Eleventh Young Miss gave an inward nod.
Everyone had a different temperament. For a child like Zhun Ge, raised from infancy in Madam Luo’s arms, suddenly placed in an environment requiring independence — he might not necessarily be able to bear such an abrupt change. It was better, just as the Grand Dowager had handled it, to bring about the change gradually.
The Grand Dowager further instructed her: “Whatever furniture or furnishings you need, take my tablet of authority and draw freely from both the inner and outer storerooms.”
Eleventh Young Miss immediately answered yes, and no sooner had she returned to the courtyard than she called for Hupo and the others, instructing them to begin clearing out the eastern wing room first thing the following morning to prepare it for Zhen Jie’er.
Wen Yiniang, who had come to pay her respects to Eleventh Young Miss, heard this news — and stood rooted to the spot.