At this moment, in the flower hall of the Luo Mansion on Bowstring Lane, cups were being swapped and toasts exchanged in a lively atmosphere.
A steward had come from the Mao Ducal Manor of the Wang Family to convey that Wang Lang had taken ill with a cold, and that Tenth Miss needed to tend to her husband — the two of them would be unable to come and pay their New Year’s respects to the eldest master.
The eldest master heard this without any particular concern and felt only relief, drinking merrily with his sons and sons-in-law. By the time the first quarter of the Wei hour arrived, the gathering still had not dispersed. First Young Mistress entrusted Fourth Young Mistress with entertaining Fifth Miss, Eleventh Miss, and the other women who had already left the main banquet, having them drink tea, eat pastries, and chat idly in the warm chamber, while she herself took Nanny Hang to the kitchen to make new arrangements for the dishes.
Fifth Miss immediately made the excuse of wanting to see the small garments Third Yiniang had been making for her unborn child, and dragged Fourth Young Mistress off to Third Yiniang’s quarters. Eleventh Miss likewise did not linger, instructing Hupo and Dongqing to look after Xu Siyu and the others before rising and heading to Fifth Yiniang’s quarters.
The one who came to answer the door was Sixth Yiniang.
She showed no surprise at seeing Eleventh Miss. Eleventh Miss, for her part, was equally unsurprised to see her.
The two women exchanged a smile.
Eleventh Miss said, “I noticed that Fifth Yiniang had no one attending her, and I was a little worried, so I came specifically to look in on her.”
Sixth Yiniang smiled and said, “Those maids are all so careless and clumsy — it’s more appropriate for me to help look after her.”
“Then I must trouble Sixth Yiniang.” Eleventh Miss smiled and stepped inside.
Fifth Yiniang was reclining against a large bolster pillow on the bed, looking somewhat fatigued. Hearing movement, she called out listlessly, “Who’s there?” The moment the words left her mouth, she saw her daughter walking in and quickly sat up, pulling a short jacket over her shoulders as she said, “Why has Eleventh Miss come? Today is your proper occasion. The eldest mistress — does she know you’ve come here? What are First Young Mistress and Fifth Miss doing?”
Eleventh Miss understood she was afraid of being caught at fault and giving someone a handle to use against her. She quickly stepped forward and sat on the edge of the bed, stopping Fifth Yiniang from rising further. “Yiniang, please rest. The eldest mistress has gone to sleep, First Young Mistress has gone to the flower hall. I saw Fifth Miss drag Fourth Young Mistress off to Third Yiniang’s quarters, so I came to you.” She gave a full account of everyone’s whereabouts.
“Who is looking after the young masters?”
“Both Hupo and Dongqing are there.”
Only then did Fifth Yiniang let out a breath of relief.
“Have you eaten?” Not knowing how many months along she was, Eleventh Miss phrased the question delicately while directing her gaze toward Sixth Yiniang.
“Just two months. It’s the most uncomfortable period. From the time she got up this morning until now, she has only drunk a bowl of plain congee.” Sixth Yiniang spoke with meaningful deliberateness. “I helped find a midwife to examine her and also had a physician take her pulse. Before there was any certainty, I didn’t dare say a word.”
Eleventh Miss nodded.
“I’m quite all right,” said Fifth Yiniang, a faint blush on her face. “You go attend to your own affairs! Sixth Sister is here looking after me!”
If she were truly all right, Fifth Yiniang would hardly be this unsettled.
Eleventh Miss was still turning this over in her mind when Sixth Yiniang, with characteristic perceptiveness, said, “Eleventh Miss, please keep Fifth Sister company for a while. I’ll go brew some tea.” With that, she rose and left, even thoughtfully pulling the door shut behind her.
Fifth Yiniang’s expression visibly relaxed. She studied Eleventh Miss carefully. “How are you, Miss? A few days ago I heard that the Marquis had brought a child home, and I worried about it day and night. Today, seeing how very attached that child is to you, I finally feel at ease.” She then slowed her speech, hesitating. “By rights, these words are not mine to say. But thinking that you have such a kind and gentle nature, and that child is a pitiable soul — I hope you will treat him with greater kindness. The Bodhisattva says that to save a life is like building a seven-tiered pagoda. You have planted seeds of virtue, and virtue shall return to you.”
Eleventh Miss quickly nodded. “Yiniang, please be at ease. I will treat him just as I treat Siyu.”
“That’s good, that you can think it through.” A faint shadow of melancholy drifted across Fifth Yiniang’s brow. “Children do not understand these things — whatever has happened is the business of adults. You must not take out your feelings toward the Marquis on this child. You have given him clothes on his back and food in his belly, and saved his entire life. When he grows up and understands the world, he will repay you.”
She was afraid Eleventh Miss still harbored resentment in her heart over Xu Lingyi’s affair and his time with the outside woman.
Eleventh Miss thought for a moment and said quietly, “Yiniang, I understand everything you have said. To speak honestly — as far as the Marquis’s situation is concerned, forget me, even if Elder Sister were still alive, she would have had no ground to quarrel with the Marquis over it. What is more, I am not treating this child well in hopes of his gratitude — I act according to my conscience, so that no ghost shall knock at my door in the night.” She smiled openly as she said it.
Fifth Yiniang was wholly in agreement, her face full of warmth and relief. “Eleventh Miss has always thought more carefully than I have. It is I who was overthinking things.”
Eleventh Miss had not come solely to say all this. Seeing that Fifth Yiniang had set her heart at ease, she smiled and changed the subject. “Yiniang, why didn’t you tell me when you found out you were with child? It had me worried for quite some time.”
Fifth Yiniang looked a little embarrassed. “This isn’t exactly good news… and I’m at such an age…”
“How is it not good news!” Eleventh Miss laughed and interrupted her. “Think about it — if you have a daughter, then I will have a full-blooded younger sister. The two sisters will look out for each other and neither will be lonely. If you have a son, you will have someone to depend upon in your later years, and I can rest easy as well. How is that not good news?”
She knew Fifth Yiniang worried most about her, so she brought herself into the reasoning, hoping to give Fifth Yiniang the courage to carry this child to term.
Fifth Yiniang’s eyes brightened immediately. “You — you want to have a younger full-blooded sibling?”
“Of course.” Eleventh Miss smiled and tucked the blanket around her more snugly. “When I see Fifth Sister and Fourth Brother together, I feel quite envious.”
Fifth Yiniang smiled looking at her, her eyes and brows like a white lotus slowly unfurling — beautiful and pure.
Eleventh Miss looked on with admiration. She picked up a small hand mirror, pressed her cheek to Fifth Yiniang’s, held it up, and feigned complaint while looking at their reflections: “How is it that I didn’t inherit Yiniang’s looks?”
Her playfulness surprised Fifth Yiniang greatly, and delighted her. She laughed and drew Eleventh Miss into her arms. “Eleventh Miss is far lovelier than I am. I am a woman without much to offer.” There was a note of wistfulness in her voice.
Eleventh Miss coaxed her into cheer. “If only I could have a daughter as beautiful as Yiniang — how wonderful that would be!”
Fifth Yiniang startled at this, looking at her abdomen with hesitation. “Eleventh Miss…”
“No, no.” Eleventh Miss shook her head. “I was only idly imagining.”
Fifth Yiniang let out a long breath and smiled. “It’s still better to have a son.” She then gently smoothed Eleventh Miss’s hair at the temples. “If you have a son, you will truly have established your footing in the Xu household… The child’s looks would best favor the father — that way the Marquis will dote on him more… I once caught a distant glimpse of the Marquis. His features are very fine. The child will certainly be an endearing little one…”
Just as they were speaking, someone outside coughed loudly twice.
Fifth Yiniang’s expression immediately went rigid. “Who is there?”
Eleventh Miss couldn’t help shaking her head at the sight.
With nerves strung this tightly, how could she carry a healthy child?
Sixth Yiniang’s smiling voice came from outside: “Fifth Sister, it’s me.” She pushed the door open and entered.
Seeing it was Sixth Yiniang, Fifth Yiniang’s face did ease into a smile, though her nerves did not relax by much.
Eleventh Miss took note of this. She accepted the tea from Sixth Yiniang, exchanged a few more idle words with Fifth Yiniang, then rose to take her leave. “I will come to see Yiniang in a few days.”
Tomorrow was the third day of the New Year — the day for children to visit their maternal uncles. The Dowager Marchioness had no full-blooded younger brothers, and the distance was considerable besides, so there was room to maneuver: she could arrange for Xu Siyu, Zhun Ge, and Xu Sijie to come pay a New Year’s call on Luo Zhensheng and Luo Zhensheng. But this matter required consulting Xu Lingyi, so it was not appropriate to make promises now. She kept things vague, only saying “a few days.”
“There’s nothing the matter here. You needn’t make a special trip for me.” Fifth Yiniang rose to see her out. “It’s the New Year, and the Marquis has many guests. Do not let these small matters vex the Dowager Marchioness or the Marquis on my account.”
This was not something she could commit to on her own. Not wanting to make promises she couldn’t keep, Eleventh Miss smiled and said yes, then asked Sixth Yiniang to see her out: “It’s cold outside, Yiniang — please rest well. Sixth Yiniang can see me out just fine!”
Fifth Yiniang likely had no wish to step outdoors herself. She walked Eleventh Miss to the doorway and watched Sixth Yiniang accompany Eleventh Miss from the side room of the main hall around to the main courtyard until they disappeared from sight, then turned back inside.
Eleventh Miss and Sixth Yiniang walked together, talking as they went.
“Twelfth Sister grows more fresh and beautiful by the day. Her bearing is gracious and natural — one cannot help but take a liking to her. Once Zhen Jie’er returns in a few days, I shall speak to my eldest sister-in-law and suggest she bring the child over to my place for a visit.”
This was partly her way of presenting a condition to Sixth Yiniang, and partly a genuine wish to create an opportunity for Twelfth Sister.
Do not do unto others what you would not have done unto yourself.
She still remembered that feeling of old — the anxious clinging to hope, the constant apprehension, the endless tossing and turning at night.
A flash of wild joy shot through Sixth Yiniang’s eyes. She immediately composed her expression into a smile with just a touch of reserve, and dropped into a curtsy for Eleventh Miss. “Many thanks to Eleventh Miss. To think that back when Twelfth Miss was staying in the same room as Eleventh Miss, I would always remind her — Eleventh Miss is the cleverest and most capable person in our household. If ever you don’t know what to do, just follow Eleventh Miss’s example…”
Eleventh Miss was taken aback.
She recalled the strange and eerie silence from Twelfth Sister’s room on the day Tenth Sister had been hurling things from the rooftop.
—
On the way home, Eleventh Miss rested her elbow on the carriage and sighed, chin propped on her hand. “I so wish I could go see Yiniang tomorrow!”
Xu Lingyi smiled. “I’ll speak to Mother. You can take the children back to Bowstring Lane tomorrow to pay New Year’s respects to Zhensheng.”
“Thank you, Marquis!” Eleventh Miss immediately broke into a beaming smile of gratitude.
Xu Lingyi stroked his chin. “Looking at your father-in-law’s manner, he seemed quite pleased.”
“I was quite pleased as well.” Eleventh Miss smiled contentedly, her thoughts drifting — should she sew a few small garments for Fifth Yiniang, and bring some medicinal herbs when she visited tomorrow? And money, she should probably bring some of that as well… Her mind wandered pleasantly all the way back to Lotus Lane.
The Dowager Marchioness was delighted to hear that Fifth Yiniang was with child. “Adding new life to the household is a wonderful thing!”
Eleventh Miss smiled and assented.
Xu Lingkuan and Fifth Young Mistress had already returned. Fifth Young Mistress was sitting beside the Dowager Marchioness, holding a dish of apples and eating them. When she heard about Fifth Yiniang’s pregnancy, her eyes went wide immediately. “Your family’s concubine must be quite beautiful, I imagine?”
At first hearing, it sounded like simple curiosity. But on closer reflection, it was really a comment implying that the concubine had risen by trading on her looks.
Eleventh Miss herself felt nothing in particular about it — Fifth Yiniang was indeed very beautiful.
But Xu Lingkuan, standing nearby, found it grating. He frowned. Wanting to correct his wife, he noticed that both his mother and his elder brother were present, making it an inappropriate moment to speak. His lips parted slightly, but in the end he said nothing.
Fifth Young Mistress, who had been watching her husband from the corner of her eye, felt a sudden chill in her heart.
So this man had indeed, just as she had expected, taken Eleventh Miss’s side.
It seemed her father had been right after all.
Xu Lingyi, seated below the Dowager Marchioness, also felt that his younger sister-in-law had been somewhat inappropriate in her words today. He quickly smiled and redirected the conversation. “In that case, I think we should let Eleventh Miss take some medicinal herbs and cloth tomorrow and pay Bowstring Lane a visit. To look in on Yiniang.”
—