After seeing the Third Madam Qiao off, Eleventh Young Miss returned to the inner room to find Xu Lingyi reclining against the bolster pillow by the window, lost in thought.

She stepped forward with a smile and poured him a cup of tea.

Xu Lingyi heard her and came back to himself, asking: “What do you think — shall we send the child back to the family home and have Xiangyi help raise him?”

A sturdily built woman with an honest and kind face rose in Eleventh Young Miss’s mind.

“She used to serve at Mother’s side,” she said. “My Lord knows her, and you are familiar with her character. If you think she is suitable, I expect she would not go wrong.”

Xu Lingyi rose: “Come — let us go to Mother’s quarters. This matter ought to be spoken of to her.”

Eleventh Young Miss felt this was something better left to Xu Lingyi to discuss with the Grand Madam on his own. If she was present and the old lady found it difficult to save face, she would only be adding to the awkwardness for nothing.

“Would my Lord not like to look in on the child first?” she said. “He has been without food all this time. I have been worried.”

Xu Lingyi hesitated for a moment: “Never mind — the child will be sent away in a few days regardless.”

He looked every bit like a man who feared too much contact.

In a flash of sudden clarity, Eleventh Young Miss understood.

People build attachments through contact.

Though she herself had been worried about the child’s situation, she had only called Hupo in to ask, and had not gone to see him personally. Stripped of pretense, that too was because she feared growing attached if she spent time with him…

She could not help giving a soft, quiet sigh.

Xu Lingyi, however, mistook it for disappointment in him, and was uncertain for a long moment before saying: “Or perhaps you yourself could go and look in on him? I will go to Mother’s quarters and speak with her about this.”

Eleventh Young Miss had never intended to go in the first place, so she agreed readily.

She saw Xu Lingyi off, and was still standing there, hesitating over whether she ought to go see the child after all, when Hupo came running in.

Her face was somewhat pale. She gave Eleventh Young Miss a hasty curtsy, then made meaningful eye contact with her: “My Lady, Steward Bai has sent me to find you.”

Steward Bai sent for her… Eleventh Young Miss’s first thought was that something had happened to the child.

She immediately brought Hupo to the inner room.

Hupo said urgently: “Young Master Fengqing has disappeared!”

Eleventh Young Miss’s mind went blank with a jolt, her heart hammering: “Explain clearly. What do you mean the child has disappeared!” Her face was as white as paper.

Hupo lowered her voice: “I brought things over, and Young Master Fengqing was huddled in the corner of the bed. No matter how we coaxed him, he wouldn’t come out to eat. He could be held down and bathed by force, but eating is a different matter… Later it was Elder Sister Dongqing who suggested we leave the food on the kang table and go outside — that he would eat on his own. We did as Elder Sister Dongqing said: left the food on the table and withdrew. After more than half a shichen had passed, we went back in, and both Young Master Fengqing and the food were gone.”

Eleventh Young Miss let out a breath. “The child has probably hidden in some corner to eat.”

Hupo shook her head, her expression somewhat agitated: “Steward Bai, Linbo, and Zhaoying have all searched — they couldn’t find him.”

Then Eleventh Young Miss suddenly thought of the person who had wanted to buy the child, and who had never been found…

She sensed that matters had grown serious.

“Go to the Grand Madam’s quarters,” Eleventh Young Miss said, her face grave, a composed and commanding air settling over her brow that made Hupo’s heart snap to attention. “Inform the Marquis without alerting anyone else. I will go to Half-Moon Pond.”

Hupo did not know as much as Eleventh Young Miss, but a three-year-old child vanishing from Half-Moon Pond without a trace — no matter how one thought about it, something was deeply wrong.

She nodded rapidly.

“Take a deep breath. Do not let anyone see through you.” Eleventh Young Miss instructed Hupo — and took a deep breath herself first.

What had happened could not be undone. Thinking too much would serve nothing. The only thing to be done now was to find a way to manage the aftermath.

With that thought, her mind settled at once.

Eleventh Young Miss walked out with straight-backed composure, Hupo beside her with an expression of perfect normalcy, and then called for Zhuxiang.

“They are tidying things at Half-Moon Pond. Let’s go have a look.” She smiled as she instructed Zhuxiang.

Zhuxiang suspected nothing, and said cheerfully: “I have been wanting to go see. Does My Lady want to go have a look too?”

“Indeed!” Eleventh Young Miss chatted idly with her as they made their way into the back garden. At the garden gate Hupo parted ways with Eleventh Young Miss, taking the narrow passage alongside the lattice wall toward the Grand Madam’s quarters. Eleventh Young Miss led Zhuxiang across the Biyi floodgate pavilion, then along the east-west blue-stone main path, past the Chunyan Pavilion, and up a narrow winding trail along the hillside.

Zhuxiang, calm and observant, saw some brambles extending across the path ahead and stepped in front of Eleventh Young Miss to walk first. Soon a river about one zhang wide came into view, with a half-zhang-wide red wooden bridge spanning across it.

This must be the small bridge that Lvyun had mentioned — the only route through the back garden into Half-Moon Pond.

She turned and helped Eleventh Young Miss: “My Lady, take care.”

Eleventh Young Miss nodded, surveying the three thatched cottages on the slope ahead.

All around, enormous trees that would take two arms to embrace rose to the sky. The surrounding fence was plastered with yellow mud and thatched straw, the height of a man, with plots of land marked out in rows within. A stone well platform and a willow-wood windlass stood ready — if only some geese and ducks and chickens were added, it would be a perfect image of a country farmstead.

The two walked quickly to the wicker gate. Just as they were about to call out, a clear-faced young boy of sixteen or seventeen stepped out. Seeing Eleventh Young Miss, he brightened: “My Lady. You have come.”

It was Zhaoying.

Eleventh Young Miss nodded.

Zhaoying was already taking long strides over to open the wicker gate: “I was worried Young Master Fengqing might have hidden somewhere, so I have been keeping the gate shut.” He explained.

“Better to be careful!” Eleventh Young Miss responded, and entered Half-Moon Pond with Zhaoying.

Unlike the simple, natural exterior, the inside of the thatched cottage had blue-stone flooring, glass windows, gauze screens and brocade lattice partitions, and furniture of yellow pear-wood.

Steward Bai and Linbo were already hurrying forward to pay their respects.

Eleventh Young Miss said with quiet composure: “What areas have been searched?”

Her manner carried a calm authority that startled Steward Bai and Linbo into a brief pause. After a moment, Steward Bai replied: “Everything has been searched. We were just about to search the outer courtyard.” Before he had finished, Dongqing and Binju crept out from the east room, their eyes swollen red like walnuts, timid and abashed.

“My Lady, it is all our fault,” the two said simultaneously, kneeling. “We failed to carry out what you entrusted to us.”

“Get up.” What was the use of laying blame now? What mattered was that everyone work together to find the child.

Zhuxiang stepped forward and helped the two to their feet.

Eleventh Young Miss, accompanied by Steward Bai, Linbo, and Zhaoying, surveyed the rooms carefully.

The east room was a study — filled with rack upon rack of books, a large kang by the window with a square kang table, and a copy of the Heart Sutra on the kang side table. The west room was the bedchamber: a six-post bed in the “ten-thousand unbroken characters” pattern inlaid with nanmu wood, hung with a half-worn blue-gray brocade canopy, with a sapphire-blue mattress and deep-blue bedding. Beside the bed stood a screen of aloe wood in four panels. A tall four-door cabinet. A Longquan sword hung on the wall. On the long table by the window, a guqin.

“Where exactly did the child disappear from?” she asked.

Dongqing murmured: “He disappeared from the bedchamber.”

Eleventh Young Miss examined the room carefully. There was no rear door to be seen. She asked Zhaoying: “Aside from the wicker gate we came through, are there any other ways in or out?”

Zhaoying led Eleventh Young Miss outside, and standing on the stone steps, pointed to a blue-stone path winding down the hillside to one side: “This leads directly to the outer courtyard’s narrow passage. Following the passage all the way west, there is a side gate. Pass through the side gate, and you reach the outer courtyard. However, that side gate is kept locked at all times, and only Linbo and I have the keys.” He reached into his collar and produced a copper key on a red cord. “This is mine.”

Linbo, hearing this, quickly pulled out his own copper key hanging at his neck to show Eleventh Young Miss: “This is mine.”

“We checked just now. The side gate key was exactly where it should be, the mark we left last time was still intact, and no one had touched it.”

Eleventh Young Miss nodded and went back inside with Linbo, Zhaoying, Steward Bai, and Zhuxiang.

She instructed Zhuxiang: “Fetch brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and write down every place that has been searched, to see if anything has been missed. Then divide by area and search again — a child is no object, after all; he moves about.” She turned to Steward Bai: “I must also trouble Steward Bai with this. Tell the others that Half-Moon Pond has lost something, and ask Steward Bai to investigate: aside from ourselves, who else has entered Half-Moon Pond? In half a shichen, please give me a word. I will have it in mind and make the necessary arrangements accordingly.”

Steward Bai saw that Eleventh Young Miss spoke quietly and gently, yet went about things with methodical precision and clear, specific instructions — and this was precisely how he himself would have handled it. Then he recalled that the Marquis had already had his everyday belongings moved to the main room… He bowed deeply in assent and went to investigate the movements of the household staff.

Zhuxiang deftly brewed a cup of hot tea for Eleventh Young Miss first, then gathered together with Binju, Dongqing, Linbo, and Zhaoying to draw up a list of all areas already searched.

“Under the bed, behind the canopy, behind the screen, inside the tall cabinet, under the study desk…”

It seemed every possible place had been checked.

Eleventh Young Miss asked Zhaoying: “Who was responsible for the east room? The west room? The front hall?”

Zhaoying replied: “Dongqing and Binju were responsible for the east room. Linbo and I were responsible for the west room. Hupo and Steward Bai were responsible for the front hall.”

“Very well. Now: Dongqing and Zhaoying take the front hall; Binju and Zhuxiang take the east room; Linbo takes the west room. Everyone search again.”

The six assented in unison and swept through all three rooms once more — and came up empty again.

With even a capable and seasoned figure like Steward Bai overseeing the search yielding nothing, it was impossible that her own presence would produce any qualitative change. This had been within Eleventh Young Miss’s expectations all along. Yet with matters of such gravity, she could not let it rest without one more search of her own — she had not quite been able to accept it.

Now it seemed there was nothing to do but wait for word from Steward Bai.

Everyone was disheartened, particularly Dongqing and Binju — they looked like frost-wilted eggplants, utterly deflated.

It had been Dongqing who had made the suggestion; Binju who had gone along with it. If blame were apportioned, they were the prime culprits.

Eleventh Young Miss gave everyone a reassuring smile: “Let us all sit down and rest a moment — everyone has been busy half the day and is tired.” She then asked Zhuxiang to brew tea for everyone. “It will sharpen your focus. Then we will search the courtyard again. A child is no object — the child moves.”

Something had happened, and no one had wanted it. What was important now was staying clear-headed — this was no time to start laying blame and chilling everyone’s resolve. If another search was needed later and everyone was afraid of taking responsibility and doing only the minimum to protect themselves, no one would exert themselves fully.

Zhuxiang, deft and capable, went to brew tea.

Aside from Dongqing and Binju, who still looked miserable, the others’ expressions had softened somewhat.

But Eleventh Young Miss’s mind had not stopped working.

She kept feeling that if someone had carried the child off, they would not go to the extra trouble of taking the food along as well.

Yet the entire place had been searched top to bottom. If he had not been taken by someone, could he simply have sprouted wings and flown away…

A thought flashed through her mind, and she could not help tilting her head to look up at the ceiling.

Perhaps to match the simplicity of the thatched cottage, Half-Moon Pond had no ceiling panels — the beams and pillars were left exposed, lacquered black.

“Linbo, Zhaoying — come with me.”

The two dropped their teacups at once and followed Eleventh Young Miss to the west room where Xu Lingyi slept.

“Go up and look.” She pointed to the top of the six-post bed in the “ten-thousand unbroken characters” pattern.

The two were startled, but said nothing.

Linbo quickly fetched a small stool. Zhaoying stepped up on it, gripped the post, and craned his neck to peer upward.

“My Lady!” He turned his head to the side, his face bright with joy. “Young Master Fengqing is up there.”

—