The eighteenth day of the first month. The Grand Baleful Star lies to the west. Favourable for: breaking ground, repairing graves, construction, accepting a son-in-law into the family, travel, seeking wealth, and seeking medical attention. Unfavourable for: marriage, raising beams, settling disputes, dividing a household, and accepting betrothal gifts.

At the first light of dawn, the gates of the Luo Mansion were thrown wide open. At the head of the procession came a carriage with jade-green canopy and jewelled tassels of eight treasures, followed by two carriages with vermilion wheels and ornate canopies, then more than twenty black-lacquered flat-topped carriages falling in behind, the whole convoy wrapped in three concentric rings of guards — the clip-clop of hooves and rumble of wheels filling the air with a clamorous din as they charged off toward the eastern post road.

All of Yuhang was startled awake. Early risers heading to market gathered in twos and threes by the roadside to watch the spectacle.

“Look — those are the Luo family’s carriages…”

“What a grand procession!”

“Just past New Year’s — where are they headed?”

“Word is they’re off to Yanjing to see their daughter and son-in-law!”

Shiyiniang sat upright inside the carriage. Unable to hear the chatter outside, she kept her hands tucked into her sleeves, fingertips tracing lightly over the cool, mirror-smooth facets of a gemstone, while her heart churned like a river in flood.

It was a sapphire the size of a pigeon’s egg.

Fifth Yiniang had pressed it into her hands the previous night, when Shiyiniang went to bid her farewell.

“Everything in my room that First Madam gave me is in the account books — I cannot touch a single thing. Only this sapphire — the Master gave it to me when I first went to Fujian, and no one else knows of it… You are going to Yanjing, thousands of li away, and I cannot be at your side. Take good care of this. If ever you find yourself in difficulty, you can exchange it for silver to protect yourself. On the road, you must listen to First Madam and never make her angry. Get along well with Fifth Miss and avoid quarrels. In all things, show forbearance… be careful in everything…” By the end, tears were falling like rain. “I have thought it through clearly too. Come to see me less often. Only if First Madam is pleased with you will you have a good future… All I ask in this life is that you find a good home…”

Had she truly thought it through clearly?

Most likely she had simply had no other choice.

At the thought, Shiyiniang already felt a faint ache at the back of her nose.

Fifth Yiniang had long since fallen out of favour. When Shiyiniang had fallen ill, her private savings had been nearly used up. This sapphire was most likely what Fifth Yiniang had kept in reserve as a final protection for Shiyiniang’s life…

“Yiniang, please do not worry. Mother has been generous with me these past years, and has even had new jewellery made for me. I am not short of money… Please keep this for yourself!”

She already felt a pang of guilt for having taken over this body — how could she also take her possessions?

Yet Fifth Yiniang had pressed it on her insistently: “…Though you have not often come to see me these past two years, every Duanwu, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Spring Festival you have come to pay your respects to me without fail, never once missing. When you are with me, you show only happiness and never weariness. Foolish as I am, I understand it in my heart — you are afraid that if we are too close, it will make others uncomfortable… And even now, you still tell me nothing…” She wept like rain on pear blossoms. “You have grown up, and have your own thoughts. Since you will not speak of it, I will not ask. After you leave, I do not know whether we will ever meet again… I only want to say one thing from my heart. Do not worry about me. No matter what happens, you must go on living. Only by living can you hope for better days. That is the only way your birth will not have been in vain.”

It was as if something had been cast suddenly into the stillness of her heart, sending rings upon rings of ripples outward — shattering the hardened walls she had built — and all the emotions she had buried beneath the surface came pouring out all at once. Her tears rose without warning.

Fifth Yiniang, a little clumsily, reached to wipe them away: “Don’t cry, don’t cry. This stone is of no use to me sitting here. As long as I behave, First Madam will not trouble me. You are different — you will be far from home, with no one to depend on… The things First Madam bestowed are all gifts given openly, things that are known to all. With this to protect you, it might even save your life someday. If you refuse to take it, how can I have any peace of mind… Quickly, put it away — don’t let anyone see it…”

Shiyiniang sat dazed in the carriage, lost in the memory of Fifth Yiniang pressing the sapphire into her hands, her heart a tangle of feelings she could not quite name.

She only knew that she owed Fifth Yiniang far too much…

Hupo gazed at the silent Shiyiniang, her thoughts in disarray.

Yesterday at noon, Nanny Xu had come to tell them that Binju would be allowed to come along after all!

She still remembered the way Eleventh Miss had looked in that moment — not the warm, gentle smile she wore like sunlight, but a smile like the sky after rain: clean and clear and luminous.

In a flash of sudden clarity, she understood.

So this was the smile that truly came from within.

Her heart gave a faint, stinging pang.

It was only before those she truly trusted that Eleventh Miss would smile like that.

And so, after Nanny Xu had delivered her message, Hupo had offered to see Nanny Xu out — to put some distance between herself and the joy that was about to fill the room.

But as they stepped out of Lvyun Tower, Nanny Xu took her hand and studied her for a long moment with a warm smile, then spoke a single sentence that made Hupo’s heart lurch: “Hupo has grown up, and grown prettier too. But she must also remember — whose grace it is she has today!”

Nanny Xu would not have said something like that without reason.

As she thought about it, a chill crept down her spine.

No one knew what had actually happened in Yanjing. No one knew First Madam’s true purpose in bringing them along. And if something were to go wrong between First Madam and Eleventh Miss — it would not only be a matter of being caught between two sides. If anything truly happened, she would most likely be the unlucky one left holding the blame.

The carriage was perfectly still; the sound of the horses galloping outside came through clearly. Eleventh Miss had closed her eyes to rest, but Hupo felt suffocating with unease.

After the carriage had travelled for more than two hours, it gradually slowed to a stop. A servant woman from First Madam’s side, surnamed Jiang, came to ask Shiyiniang: “Would Miss like to use the facilities?”

Shiyiniang lifted the curtain and saw a modest roadside tea stall. The Luo family’s guards had formed a perimeter around it, and several stout, thick-set serving women were setting up screens of coarse black cloth around the stall.

“The accommodations are plain, I’m afraid — but the next chance to stop will not come for another hour. Miss is better off making do.” Nanny Jiang urged gently.

Shiyiniang saw First Madam step down from her carriage, supported by Nanny Xu, and walk toward the tea stall.

“Thank you, Nanny!” Shiyiniang smiled and thanked Nanny Jiang, then donned her veiled hat and stepped down from the carriage with Hupo’s support.

She had just descended when Fifth Miss, sitting in the carriage ahead, also stepped down supported by Ziwei.

The two exchanged a smile through their white gauze veils and walked toward the tea stall.

The stall was divided into two sections — outside, a bamboo-pole shelter served as an awning; inside was a small room.

The two waited beneath the awning for a moment. First Madam came out supported by Nanny Xu, and upon seeing that Fifth Miss and Shiyiniang were both properly wearing their veiled hats, she gave a slight nod of approval and smiled: “The road is not like home — you will both have to bear with it.”

Both dipped into curtsies and murmured their assent.

First Madam boarded her carriage. Shiyiniang let Fifth Miss go first, and only entered herself once Fifth Miss had come out again.

Inside, the room was divided into front and back halves. The front was a small tea space; the back held the cooking stove. A red lacquered night-soil bucket sat squarely in the middle of the tea space.

Shiyiniang forced herself to suppress her discomfort, attended to her bodily needs, then stepped back out to wait for Hupo, after which the two returned to their carriage.

Shortly after, peals of lively laughter drifted over from the tea stall. Shiyiniang lifted the carriage curtain and saw Dujuan, Duwei, and Fifth Miss’s junior maids Zhuotao and Sui’er chatting and giggling as they headed into the stall.

It feels rather like a highway service station…

The corners of Shiyiniang’s mouth curved upward, and she smiled.

Then came Nanny Jiang’s voice: “Young ladies, mind that you don’t make a scene.”

The junior maids either stuck out their tongues or made faces, but at last quieted down.

After they had been stopped for roughly half an incense stick’s time, the carriages set off again.

Past noon, the procession reached Hangzhou Prefecture — but rather than entering the city, they skirted around it heading north, until they reached the wharf.

A large three-masted red-lacquered sailing ship was already waiting there. The stewards had set up cloth screens to form a covered passageway, and coarse-work serving women were posted along the red-lacquered boarding ramp, ready to help the party board.

The carriages stopped on a stretch of cleared open ground before the passageway. A man of about thirty approached with an elderly white-haired man and a handsome young fellow of about twenty, and stepped forward to pay their respects to First Madam. First Madam spoke a few words with them from behind the carriage curtain, after which the old man and the young fellow withdrew respectfully to a respectful distance.

Hupo explained quietly from behind Shiyiniang: “The middle-aged man is surnamed Tao — he is the Luo family’s head steward in Hangzhou. The white-haired elder is Old Head Steward Niu — he runs a small silk and cloth shop in Hangzhou Prefecture, getting his stock from the Luo family’s main store. He comes every year at Duanwu, Mid-Autumn, and Spring Festival to pay his respects to First Madam. The young man following him is his youngest son, Niu Jin, who manages the Niu family’s cloth shop.”

A man who remained remembered long after his people had gone — that was true competence…

Shiyiniang gave a small nod and continued to hold the carriage curtain aside, looking out.

She saw two bearers carrying a sedan chair with a pewter grey top and dark curtains approaching in their direction. Beside the chair walked a capable-looking woman of about forty. Seven or eight bailiff runners in dark clothing preceded and followed the chair.

Hupo smiled: “That is the wife of Prefect Zhou of Hangzhou.”

Her words had barely fallen when Shiyiniang saw First Madam, supported by Nanny Xu, step down from her carriage and walk toward the sedan chair. The woman beside the chair caught sight of this, leaned in and murmured a few words to the person inside, and the chair came to a halt. The bailiff runners fanned out to form a protective perimeter. A woman of about forty, dressed in a sapphire blue brocade robe with bright ornamental embroidery, her hair adorned with a large, vivid green floral headdress, stepped down from the chair. The two women exchanged greetings from a distance, smiling broadly as they clasped each other’s hands. A few words passed between them. Nanny Xu presented several boxes of gifts. First Madam saw the woman back into her chair and watched the procession depart before turning to give Nanny Jiang a few quiet instructions, then boarded the ship with Nanny Xu.

Nanny Jiang first hurried to Fifth Miss’s carriage to pass on a few low-spoken words, then came to Shiyiniang’s: “Eleventh Miss, First Madam wishes you to disembark and board the ship.”

Shiyiniang watched Fifth Miss step from the carriage, supported by Ziwei, one foot to the mounting block. She then stepped down from her own carriage, supported by Hupo.

Both followed behind First Madam and boarded the ship in turn.

The ship was large, divided into two decks: the guards and coarse-work serving women were housed on the upper deck, while their own party occupied the lower. First Madam had four cabins; Shiyiniang and Fifth Miss had two each.

Hot food had already been laid out in the great cabin.

First Madam told them all: “…We set off in half an hour.”

Neither of them was hungry — they had eaten refreshments along the way. But neither dared to defy First Madam’s intentions, and both managed to eat small half-bowls each. During the meal, they could hear the heavy tread of footsteps passing along the corridor beside the great cabin at intervals. By the time they set down their chopsticks, the sound had already ceased. Nanny Xu went out to check and returned to report to First Madam: “All the trunks and cases have been stored away.”

First Madam nodded and instructed Nanny Xu: “Then let us set sail. Try to make it to Suzhou tonight.”

Nanny Xu went to carry out the order, and returned quickly: “Half an incense stick’s time and we can depart.”

First Madam nodded, then said to the two sisters: “You have all been tired out on the road. Go and rest in your own cabins.”

Shiyiniang dipped into a curtsy and withdrew. Fifth Miss, however, said: “Mother must be tired too — shall I massage your legs for you?”

“No need!” First Madam smiled. “This is your first time on a boat — I do not know yet whether either of you will be prone to seasickness. Take care of yourselves first.”

Seeing that First Madam’s mind was made up, Fifth Miss smiled and withdrew.

Luoqiao promptly fetched water to help First Madam freshen up and rest. Nanny Xu still had to go with Shanhu and Daimao to take stock of the trunks and cases.

When Shiyiniang returned to her cabin, Dongqing was also taking inventory of the cases.

Knowing they had all come on board together with Nanny Jiang, she could not help asking: “Have all of you eaten yet?”

Binju’s face still carried traces of the joy of being allowed to go to Yanjing, and she immediately smiled: “We haven’t eaten. But we’re not hungry — we had refreshments on the road.”

Dongqing also smiled: “Miss need not worry about us. Nanny Jiang said to go to the small cabin in half an hour — food will be ready for us there, and she asked each cabin to first finish taking stock of their belongings.”

Seeing that everything was being managed in an orderly fashion, Shiyiniang said nothing more, allowed Binju and Qiuju to help her settle down to rest, and slept soundly through the night.

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