To draw up a roster of every person on duty each day… this was something unheard of.

One had to understand — during the New Year, the household was at its most bustling. Whether the ladies and young misses were going out to call on others or guests were coming in, the maidservants and women servants were even busier than on ordinary days, snatching whatever chances arose to rest when the numbers thinned. If the daily duty roster were now to be set down formally, then those who were not on duty would naturally feel entitled to idle. But what if an important guest suddenly arrived on a day when staffing was short? This might be manageable for a day or two, but drawing it out all the way from today through to after the Lantern Festival — that would be a full half-month or more…

Qin Yiniang looked helplessly toward Wen Yiniang. Wen Yiniang hesitated for a moment, then glanced toward Qiao Lianfang, and caught the corner of her mouth curving in a slight sneer, her eyes briefly flashing with disdain.

Wen Yiniang’s heart lifted with a quiet spark of delight.

She understood perfectly well that Qiao Lianfang was somewhat at odds with Shiyiniang. From the tone of Shiyiniang’s words, she clearly intended to break from the old arrangements and do something new. Qin Yiniang had no mind of her own; and as for Qiao Lianfang — forget offering support, it would be good enough if she didn’t actively oppose — this was surely her own golden opportunity.

She immediately smiled: “Sister, what you’ve said makes sense to me. If something comes up in the household, this duty roster gives us someone to find immediately. Only — I have never heard of such a thing being done, and I have never managed a household. I am not quite sure how to go about it. Could you have Hupo teach me what to do? Once I have a clear picture in my mind, I can draw up the duty roster quickly and submit it to Hupo.” She assumed an air of complete support.

“Madam,” Qin Yiniang said quickly, not wanting to be left behind. “My thoughts are the same as Wen Yiniang’s. We are simply too narrow in our experience to have heard of such a thing. Won’t you have Hupo teach us?”

Qiao Lianfang lowered her head and took a quiet, measured sip of tea, said nothing at all, and wore the look of someone who had heard nothing.

Shiyiniang gave a faint smile.

No wonder the late Yuanniang had also been very fond of Wen Yiniang — she was truly a person of considerate understanding.

Now it was two to one; Qiao Lianfang’s attitude naturally no longer carried the same weight.

She told Hupo to bring out the duty roster from her own room for Wen Yiniang to see: “…This is the one Hupo drew up beforehand. Have a look. Afterward, Hupo will come to each of your rooms and explain how the shift arrangements are made.”

Wen Yiniang took it and looked it over. She found that Shiyiniang had first set out all the tasks in her own room in order, then assigned people to each task accordingly — specifying a time for each person.

Though detailed and somewhat laborious, it was not beyond managing.

She gave a slight smile and was about to agree without reservation, but then her thoughts turned over.

Shiyiniang wasn’t even managing the household — yet she was introducing such innovations within her own room. Why go to all this trouble?

She thought of her first confrontation with Shiyiniang in the small courtyard, and of Shiyiniang’s yielding to Qiao Lianfang — yielding that seemed like a retreat but harbored infinite cutting purpose within it… It could not be this simple.

Wen Yiniang lowered her head and studied the list carefully, searching for something in it.

The tasks… were the same tasks as before… The people… were the same people as before… No, wait — the numbers were not right…

She had always possessed a gift for numbers.

A single read-through and she never forgot.

In a flash of sudden clarity, she understood.

This duty roster — it was genuinely something quite considered.

At first glance, it appeared to simply assign every person a regular shift. But on closer examination, one could see that under these arrangements, the little maidservants and coarser women servants in Shiyiniang’s room would each have one day off, while the senior maidservants and the respected nannies would have two.

A flicker of wariness passed through her eyes.

The Third Madam was managing the household now; whatever money the common fund allocated was hers to determine. But how that money was used within each branch — that was for each branch to decide. Shiyiniang could not change what the household gave them for the New Year, but she could decide how this New Year would be spent… The Xu household was not a small establishment — the relationships among the servants were a complicated tangle, and some of them had been serving since the time of the Old Marquis. As a new bride, the surest way to establish herself quickly in this household was to show these people favor. Giving money was an approach that would never reach an end; but a scheme like this — inventing a way to give them rest days during the New Year — cost not a single coin and caused no difficulties whatsoever. Yet for women servants who had not a single day off throughout all four seasons of the year, the chance to rest over the New Year was a welcome piece of news indeed. When the people of the other branches heard of it, they would likely be full of admiration and unanimous in praising Shiyiniang for her benevolence and generous ways with people. Truly — a fine reputation for virtue, bought without spending a single coin.

Coming to this realization, she steadied her mind and went through the list once more with great care.

Qin Yiniang knew that Wen Yiniang was always clever and never made a misstep. She need only follow along in agreement, neither being the first to speak out nor the last to understand. That was quite enough.

Seeing Wen Yiniang go over the list again and again, she couldn’t help growing somewhat anxious, clenching her fists and staring hard at Wen Yiniang, trying to read something from her expression.

Qiao Lianfang looked on with contempt.

This Qin Yiniang — she only knew how to trail behind Wen Yiniang waving a banner, never once forming her own opinion. To understand how to govern a great nation is to know that the smallest adjustments set everything in motion. Those old rules were all interlinked — one thread pulled, and everything shifted; they could not simply be altered on a whim. For Shiyiniang to be so unconventional in her methods amounted, at bottom, to wanting to measure herself against the Third Madam. Were she in Shiyiniang’s position, she might do the same. But to go straight to implementing it during the New Year without first testing it on a smaller scale — who knew what might go wrong? And when it did, would it not only create more trouble for the Marquis?

Thinking this, her heart felt as though cut by a blade.

The Marquis had spent last night in this room again…

She gripped the teacup in her hands tightly, the tips of her fingers turning faintly pale.

Shiyiniang looked at Qin Yiniang’s tense expression, Wen Yiniang’s concentrated face, and Qiao Yiniang’s somewhat distracted air, and raised her teacup to take a quiet sip, patiently waiting for the three Yiniángs’ responses. Next spring she would be taking over the management of the Xu household. Before bringing order to external affairs, one must first settle matters within. Given the Third Madam’s character, what she handed over would certainly be a handsome-looking mess on the outside and chaos within. She needed to gauge the attitudes of the three Yiniángs clearly, and quickly, lest she end up with things slipping out of hand the moment she thought she had them under control.

“Sister!” After quite some time, Wen Yiniang lifted her head and looked at Shiyiniang with a warm smile. “On the first day of the New Year, after you have entered the palace to offer congratulations to Her Majesty the Empress, the guests coming to call on you will surely begin to multiply.” She pointed to Hupo’s and Binju’s names on the roster for the first day. “I can see that Sister has added more hands. But one can never be too careful. This is your first New Year in the household, and visitors paying respects are likely to be more numerous than in past years. If Sister does not mind — may I and my Qiuhong come and help? We may not manage much else, but pouring tea and passing cups — that, I imagine, we can do without making errors.”

Shiyiniang was mildly surprised.

She had not expected Wen Yiniang not only to see through her intentions so quickly, but immediately to express her support in such direct terms. She truly was a remarkably clever person!

Shiyiniang smiled and nodded: “If we truly find ourselves overwhelmed, I will certainly have to trouble the Yiniang to come and help.”

Qin Yiniang, seeing this, immediately added: “I can come and help too.”

Shiyiniang nodded. Qin Yiniang’s and Wen Yiniang’s gazes then fell upon Qiao Lianfang. But Shiyiniang, who had long since read Qiao Lianfang’s attitude, no longer needed her to say anything at this point. Before Qiao Lianfang had even had a chance to react, Shiyiniang was already saying with a smile: “This matter is rather pressing — let us all disperse.” And with that, she picked up her teacup to bid the guests farewell.

All three were taken aback.

Qin Yiniang had not expected that Shiyiniang — who had always been so gentle and magnanimous toward Qiao Lianfang — would not even ask for her opinion, presenting instead such a firm, unyielding stance… This made her somewhat uneasy. Young though she was, Shiyiniang was still a daughter of the Luo Family. She thought of what the late Yuanniang had been like once… She quickly shook her head, as though the gesture alone could cast those memories from her mind.

Wen Yiniang found the whole thing quite interesting. She was a legitimate daughter, and from childhood had watched all the battles between wives and concubines. A woman like Qiao Lianfang — beautiful and of distinguished status — was precisely the sort most likely to provoke a principal wife’s wariness. The way Shiyiniang treated Qiao Lianfang spoke either of not placing her in her eyes at all, too uninterested to even bother fighting her, or of having already settled upon her plan, and this simply not being the right moment to act. Then, too, thinking of how Xu Lingyi had been spending most of his nights in Shiyiniang’s room during this period, she felt all the more certain her reading was correct. The glance she cast toward Qiao Lianfang carried just a hint of gloating.

Qiao Lianfang, however, was burning with fury.

What did Shiyiniang mean by this? An air of treating her as though she were beneath notice. Did she think she could put on the airs of the principal wife before her?

She was so angry her face had gone completely crimson.

Nothing but an ignoble daughter of a concubine — elevated to the position of Marchioness of Yongping by her elder sister’s scheming and manipulation — and now she truly believed herself to be something precious and worthy.

She wanted to say something, but then felt that opening her mouth now would only seem like weakness, and would only give Shiyiniang cause for satisfaction; yet if she said nothing, Shiyiniang would surely think her afraid, and might take liberties with her freely from then on… Just as she was caught in this surge of conflicting feelings, Wen Yiniang had already risen with a smile: “Then we shall return to our rooms first.” Qin Yiniang naturally followed at once: “The New Year is almost here and there is much to do — Madam, please take good care of yourself. I will have the duty roster for my room drawn up by this evening and bring it for you to look over.”

The two of them, without quite thinking about it, had already put some distance between themselves and Qiao Lianfang. Without so much as glancing at her, they curtsied together, smiled, and withdrew.

Qiao Lianfang felt the shift in Qin Yiniang’s and Wen Yiniang’s attitude toward her quite plainly.

Her face went from pale to crimson and back again. Then she heard Shiyiniang’s easy, unhurried voice asking a little maidservant: “Go and see if the curtain has been hung properly — we don’t want the Marquis to come back and find the house still in disarray.” — as though she simply did not exist.

Yet at these words, Qiao Lianfang’s gaze gave a sudden flicker, and she let out a quiet, cold smile. She curtsied respectfully to Shiyiniang and withdrew.

Binju, watching all this, could not help feeling vexed: “That Qiao Lianfang — she really does take herself for something remarkable.”

Ever since Shiyiniang had given Hupo a stern talking-to, Hupo had developed toward Shiyiniang a sense of trust that she could not quite explain — always feeling that as long as Shiyiniang was there, things would never fall so far that they could not be salvaged. So she was not troubled by any of this. She smiled and asked Shiyiniang: “What should we watch for with regard to the duty rosters for the three Yiniángs’ rooms? And should we also draw up duty rosters for the Second Young Master, the Young Miss, and the Fourth Young Master?”

Hupo was becoming ever better at seizing on the crux of a matter.

“For the Yiniángs’ side — so long as there is no gap in coverage, just follow however the Yiniángs choose to arrange it.” Shiyiniang smiled. “As for the rooms of the young masters and young miss, you may simply go yourself and have a word with the senior maidservants in each room.”

Hupo smiled, answered, and withdrew.

Shiyiniang, seeing there was still time before dinner at the Old Marchioness’s quarters, went to Dongqing’s room.

Dongqing’s room was kept as neat and tidy as ever — a sewing basket with threads and needles scattered about, and a few pairs of finished shoes stacked on the small platform bed table.

Seeing Shiyiniang come in, she was startled.

“Madam, why have you come here yourself?” She quickly slipped on her shoes and climbed down from the bed to guide Shiyiniang. “Whatever you need, you need only send a maidservant to let me know.”

Shiyiniang sat on the platform bed, accepted the tea that Dongqing brewed herself, and looked at the finely embroidered women’s shoes on the small table with something of a wistful feeling: “Dongqing, now that you make a pair of shoes every four days… staying home like this every day — you must find it terribly dull?”

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