To think she had been worrying about Bowstring Alley all this time. Who would have expected that her eldest brother not only knew about it, but had even risen early to rush to the Xu household to deliver a warning.

With that thought, whatever lingering unease Fifth Miss felt dissolved entirely.

She asked Eleventh Miss in a low voice: “What did Elder Brother say when he came?”

Eleventh Miss only relayed the part where Luo Zhensheng had urged her not to let the matter of the child cause a rift between husband and wife.

Fifth Miss then asked Eleventh Miss what she planned to do.

“What can I plan?” Eleventh Miss replied. “If things are truly as they seem, it still depends on what the Marquis decides.”

“That’s true.” Fifth Miss smiled. “After all, you are the stepmother — it really isn’t your place to take the lead on this.”

Eleventh Miss nodded. Not wishing to continue on this subject, she smiled and changed the topic: “How is Elder Sister keeping? Is your health all right?”

“Quite well.” Fifth Miss smiled sweetly. “I eat and sleep, sleep and eat, all day long. I’ve put on quite a bit of weight.”

“A good appetite and sound sleep are blessings.” Eleventh Miss chatted amiably with her. “I wonder what Elder Sister is fond of eating? I can have something prepared.”

Fifth Miss heaved a long sigh at that: “How can I afford to be as particular as I was when I was still a girl? I eat whatever is available!”

Eleventh Miss heard something unspoken in her words but could not quite make it out, so she played ignorant: “I’ve noticed that Fifth Brother’s wife has been craving pickled bamboo shoots since she became pregnant. Shall I have some brought for you to try? If you like it, you can take some back with you.”

Fifth Miss shook her head. “Never mind. It’s easy to grow accustomed to luxury, but hard to give it up again. I’m afraid that if I develop a taste for it and then can’t get it anymore, I’ll only feel worse.”

She was putting on such a display of hardship right to her face — could it be that she had her eye on another business venture and wanted her to invest?

Eleventh Miss pondered this, then said with a smile: “Listen to you, Elder Sister. Pickled bamboo shoots are nothing special. If you like them, I’ll just have Dongqing make some for you.” Then she rose and called for Lvyun, sending her to bring out a small dish of pickled bamboo shoots.

Lvyun went off at once.

“Ah!” Fifth Miss watched and let out a sigh. “This really does prove the old saying — every family has its own troubles. You don’t worry about food or clothing; a single word from you and there are people waiting on you hand and foot. And yet the Marquis… As for me, my husband may be handsome and well-read, but his family background is thin, without any foundation. We live entirely off my dowry. You of all people should know this best. People say we brought so many things in the betrothal, but when it comes down to it, we can barely manage day to day. Otherwise, why would I go out and expose myself to the public doing business?” As she spoke, her smile turned bitter. “And then my luck turned out to be so wretched. I ran into a blizzard the likes of which comes once in several decades. Lost hundreds of taels for nothing.”

Eleventh Miss herself had known hard days. If it were her, she would have been heartbroken too. She understood Fifth Miss well enough.

She consoled her: “Think of it as paying for a lesson. In the future, when you’ve identified a business opportunity, start small first. Once you’ve got a firm footing, there’s no harm in expanding.”

“I suppose that’s all one can do.” Fifth Miss said helplessly. “Your brother-in-law told me the same — he said to think of it as a bad harvest year, when not a single grain is reaped.”

Though Qian Ming was a bit of a snob, he did have his own sense of dignity. Eleventh Miss smiled: “Since Brother-in-law feels that way, Elder Sister should all the more put her mind at ease.”

Fifth Miss gave a sound of acknowledgment, then, as if suddenly remembering something, leaned sideways across the low table on the heated bed and asked Eleventh Miss in a low voice: “How is your dowry holding up?”

Eleventh Miss had not expected her to bring this up, and paused for a moment.

Fifth Miss had already continued: “A plot of sandy land and a plot of hillside. Never mind that neither of us can tell one crop from another — even the servants who came with your dowry are from the south. What would they know about farming sandy soil or slope fields? It must be very difficult for you, Little Sister.”

“Yes, I’ve been worrying myself sick over it!” Eleventh Miss did not deny this. “But my knowledge is limited and I have no particularly good ideas. If Fifth Sister has any suggestions, please do tell me.”

“But of course.” Fifth Miss agreed readily. “We are of one heart and one mind — if not you, then who would I help?” Then she put on an air of utter candor. “Still, you really must put more effort into this matter. You must understand, your situation is quite different from mine. I run a small, simple household — whatever is in the pot, whatever is on my back. But you have a large, prosperous household with all its complex, deeply entrenched entanglements. Without some private money tucked away, you’d have trouble even tipping the maids, let alone subduing those senior household managers who think themselves above everyone else just because they once served the Grand Madam!”

Fifth Miss had actually hit the mark.

She truly had been worried about this.

Barring any unexpected turns, she would most certainly be overseeing the Xu household’s domestic affairs come next year. Treating these senior household managers to refreshments or gifting them a piece of jewelry now and then as a way of winning loyalty was unavoidable. But the Xu household was no modest little family — long years of wealth had cultivated broad tastes and high expectations in everyone who served there. These household managers had seen and heard enough that their standards ran high. Give too little and it might not only fail to win anyone over, but actually invite contempt, leading to half-hearted service and passive resistance that would undermine her authority entirely.

Seeing that Eleventh Miss had fallen silent, Fifth Miss lowered her voice: “Little Sister, there is a business venture with very handsome profits. If it succeeds, it will not only resolve your difficulties but let me rest easy until after I give birth.”

A flicker of helplessness passed through Eleventh Miss’s eyes. She declined graciously: “Anyone else wouldn’t know, but Elder Sister ought to understand better than most. I cannot produce a great deal of capital.” She had phrased it carefully — saying she could not produce a great deal, which left the impression that she had money, just not much of it.

This was entirely deliberate.

If she said she had money, she feared Fifth Miss might ask for a lion’s share that she could not deliver, which would damage the surface harmony the two sisters maintained. But if she said she had no money at all, she worried Fifth Miss would think she was pleading poverty and unwilling to help.

At her words, Fifth Miss covered her smile with her sleeve: “This venture requires no capital.”

Eleventh Miss’s heart gave a small leap at that, and she kept her expression neutral as she cautioned: “When has anything ever fallen from the sky?”

“This one does!” Fifth Miss laughed. “Of course there are some difficulties. But what is a difficulty for others would be effortless for Eleventh Sister.”

Something that is a difficulty for others but effortless for her… it could only mean borrowing Xu Lingyi’s name and standing.

A chill crept into Eleventh Miss’s heart. Clinging to a thread of hope, she smiled and said: “Could it be about opening an embroidery shop? I might have some confidence in that.”

“An embroidery shop? That still requires capital.” Fifth Miss laughed, and told Eleventh Miss about the salt licenses. “…Tell me, is this not something dropped from the sky?”

A flicker of mild irritation crossed Eleventh Miss inwardly.

Merchants pursue profit — who would willingly push away money that had fallen into their hands? The Wen family’s willingness to do so could only mean one of two things: either they were dangling bait, using an easy, lucrative-seeming venture to draw Qian Ming and his wife in, then gradually shifting from simple to complicated, leaving the two of them unable to back out and eventually taking desperate risks; or this matter, though profitable, was not easy to carry through — one might even say the money being earned was relationship money, payment for access.

To approach Fan Weigang had originally required eighteen hundred dan of grain to smooth over the middlemen. Now it required only five hundred. Where did the rest of the profit come from? Naturally, from the layers of officials who had been cut out of their share. That made it no different from snatching food from a tiger’s mouth. Once or twice might be overlooked, but over time, even the most powerful patron could not prevent those officials from nursing resentment and looking for a chance to trip them up. When that moment came — a calculated strike against those caught off guard — even the sturdiest of dikes could collapse from a tiny breach.

She thought of the words Luo Zhensheng had used to counsel her.

It was quite clear he was treating her as a child who had not yet grown up…

Eleventh Miss put on a look of nervousness: “But I don’t know Lord Fan… I’m afraid the Marquis would have to be the one to approach him…”

Fifth Miss’s eyes shifted, and she repeated what Qian Ming had told her before she left: “A small matter like this hardly requires the Marquis himself. You only need to tell the head steward and have one of the Marquis’s name cards drawn — we will take care of everything else.”

“That… doesn’t seem quite right!” Eleventh Miss appeared flustered. “If the Marquis were to ask about it, what would I say? No, no, I cannot!” Her head shook like a rattle.

“Oh, the Marquis has so many affairs to attend to every day — why would he notice something like this?” Fifth Miss laughed. “You really are too timid.”

Eleventh Miss gave an embarrassed smile: “Elder Sister knows very well how timid I am. I think it’s best I speak with the Marquis first before doing anything.”

Seeing that she would not budge, Fifth Miss put on an expression of exasperated disappointment and let out a long sigh: “What is to be done with you? I worry on your behalf, yet you carry on as if none of this concerns you. Don’t take it amiss if your Elder Sister speaks plainly. You and the Marquis are a second marriage, and he is not yet thirty — he already has an eldest son by a concubine, a legitimate son, and an eldest daughter by a concubine. You ought to be clear-headed about these things. You still have a long life ahead of you, and who is to say another concubine won’t enter the household someday? If not for your own sake, then think of the children you may have in the future — you need money set aside. Say nothing of anything else: just look at Fifth Madam in your household. She came in with a hundred and twenty-eight tiers of dowry goods, an imperially bestowed county princess title, and the status of eldest daughter born of the principal wife of Marquis Dingnan’s household — quite an illustrious background, wouldn’t you say? And yet she still opens shops outside the house. Everyone knows that money in hand means peace of mind. Stop acting as if you haven’t grown up yet, afraid of this and afraid of that…”

Eleventh Miss listened attentively, nodding along in deference, yet she refused to be drawn into the topic.

Seeing that no matter how she argued Eleventh Miss continued to look timid and afraid, Fifth Miss felt inwardly anxious, but could not push too hard. She gradually steered the conversation toward the child: “…There’s nothing to be afraid of. He’s not even the eldest son. In a few years, find him a wife, give him some silver, and let him set up his own household.”

Seeing that the hour was growing late, Eleventh Miss interrupted: “You’ve come all this way, Elder Sister — please stay for the midday meal!”

Fifth Miss had come intending to leave early enough to report back to Bowstring Alley. Now that she learned Luo Zhensheng had been there ahead of her, that urgency had softened considerably. Besides, remembering that Qian Ming had asked her to spend more time with Eleventh Miss, she agreed with a smile: “I haven’t even gone to pay my respects to the Grand Madam yet!”

Seeing her agree readily, Eleventh Miss called Hupo in, instructed her to arrange the midday meal and send someone to inquire after Xu Lingyi’s whereabouts, then changed into fresh clothes and accompanied Fifth Miss to the Grand Madam’s quarters.

The Grand Madam was delighted to see Fifth Miss, asking her all manner of questions. Just then a junior maidservant came to report that Xu Lingyi was taking his meal in the outer courtyard, so the Grand Madam summoned Third Madam to join them and kept Fifth Miss for the midday meal. After they had eaten, she personally walked Fifth Miss to the door of her room before turning back inside.

Fifth Miss’s expression shifted between clouds and clear sky. It was only when she sat down in Eleventh Miss’s room that she said: “I didn’t expect you to get on so well with your mother-in-law.”

Eleventh Miss smiled: “Mother is gentle and accommodating with everyone. It isn’t that I’m especially good at pleasing her.”

Fifth Miss said nothing. When she thought of the look of deference that the First Madam always wore whenever she mentioned the Grand Madam, a faint bitterness settled in her heart.

—