Yan Rong stood with a straight posture and a small, somewhat reserved smile. Xiu Yuan was talking to her, face wreathed in a fawning, ingratiating grin, one hand covering her mouth.

Hupo frowned. “What is she up to?”

Eleventh Lady gave her a knowing wink. “When you think about it, Xiu Yuan has quite a hard time of it too. We really ought to go over and say hello!” And with that, she sauntered over.

Fragments of their conversation drifted across.

“…Yan Rong, there’s no need to stand on ceremony with me. The Yiniang’s rooms have two nannies sent by the Grand Madam to look after things, and I have nothing to keep me occupied. I’m free as it is.”

“To be perfectly honest, Qiu Yu — Hupo’s personal maid — has already made me six pairs of summer socks. Any more and I won’t be able to wear them all. Besides, there’ll be new styles next year anyway.”

“Then let me make you an embroidered skirt!” Xiu Yuan remained undeterred. “Yiniang just gifted me a length of pale white glossed silk…”

Yan Rong cut her off: “Since it was a gift from Yiniang, Xiu Yuan jie should keep it for herself. My Lady gifted me a length of Hangzhou silk and a length of fine ramie cloth just a few days ago…” Just as she said this, she caught sight of Eleventh Lady and Hupo approaching. She called out with a smile, “My Lady!” and dropped Xiu Yuan where she stood to come forward to greet her.

Xiu Yuan dared not be careless either and hurried after Yan Rong to curtsy before Eleventh Lady.

“It’s Xiu Yuan!” Eleventh Lady’s expression remained even.

Xiu Yuan quickly explained with a smile, “This servant came specially to ask a few of the elder sisters here about embroidery.”

“Embroidery?” Something like amusement showed in Eleventh Lady’s expression as she looked Xiu Yuan up and down.

She was wearing a light pea-green sleeveless vest over a white silk jacket, her thick, lustrous black hair pinned up in a conch coil, her lightly powdered face framed beneath it — altogether quite pretty and eye-catching.

Xiu Yuan could not help feeling a little ill at ease. “My Lady…”

Eleventh Lady’s gaze did not leave her. “I haven’t paid much attention before, but looking carefully today, Xiu Yuan really has grown into quite a young woman. It’s about time she started thinking seriously about her sewing.” She smiled and turned to head toward the main room, adding with a laugh, “I wonder what lucky young man will be so fortunate!”

Hupo, Yan Rong, and the others quickly followed.

Xiu Yuan, however, had gone quite pale.

She had come with Qiao Lianfang into the Xu household, which meant she was now a servant of the Xu Family. Eleventh Lady, as the mistress of the house, naturally had every right to assign her as a wife to any manservant she chose.

The very thought made her stomach drop with fear. She hurried off toward the east corner gate.

Eleventh Lady watched her retreating figure with a cool gaze, then asked Yan Rong, “Has the Marquis returned?”

Yan Rong replied softly, “He returned about half an incense stick’s time ago. He came in and immediately asked after you, My Lady. When he was told you had been called to the Third Madam’s rooms, he had Xia Yi attend him while he changed and freshened up. By now he should have retired for the night.” She added, “Xiu Yuan was making all sorts of roundabout inquiries asking whether the Marquis had come home, but I kept putting her off…”

Her last words carried an implicit question in them.

Eleventh Lady paused.

The night breeze stirred the leaves, sending them rustling softly. The chill was gone from the air that now met her face.

“If she comes asking again, you may just go ahead and block her.” Her voice was low, half-swallowed by the wind, now present, now gone. “But if it is Qiao Yiniang who comes… you needn’t block her.”

Yan Rong was briefly taken aback.

Eleventh Lady had already turned and walked into the main hall.

Yan Rong followed quickly.

Hupo had already lifted the curtain to the inner chamber for Eleventh Lady.

“What did Third Sister-in-law call you over for?” Xu Lingyi was sitting cross-legged on the wide kang by the window reading, and he looked up at the sound of movement, a smile already in his eyes.

“Some matters to discuss.” Eleventh Lady answered vaguely. “When did the Marquis return?”

“Just now…”

The husband and wife exchanged a brief glance. Eleventh Lady went to the washroom to freshen up, and when she came back out, Xu Lingyi had already gotten into bed, reclining against the headboard with his book. Seeing her finished, he set the book aside in preparation for sleep, and remarked offhandedly, “How did the account-checking go? Third Brother spoke with me today — they plan to set out on the sixteenth of the second month.”

“So soon!” Eleventh Lady climbed into bed. “The daily expense ledgers have all been settled and accounted for, but the storeroom ledgers — thirty-six volumes in total — only twelve have been checked so far.”

“Any discrepancies?” Xu Lingyi asked as he lay down. “Apart from the ancestral heirlooms and the imperial gifts, the rest you can handle as you see fit. Shanyang is a poor place. And even once they return to the capital in future, they will all be establishing their own separate households… They still have a long road ahead of them.”

“I understand what the Marquis means.” Eleventh Lady adjusted her pillow and lay down as well. “The storeroom accounts have been slow — but not on account of that.” She relayed to Xu Lingyi the whole affair of Xu Siqin and the others sneaking to meet Yuan Jie’er, being discovered by Gan Da Nainai, and the matter being brought to the Third Madam. She touched only lightly on her own confrontation with the Third Madam and told him of how she had dealt with Xu Siyu.

Xu Lingyi listened, nodding. “You handled this well. Confining him to his quarters both removes him from the situation and gives him the chance to reflect quietly.” He furrowed his brow slightly. “I always thought he conducted himself with steady judgment — who would have thought even he could do something so reckless.”

“Yu Ge’er may be composed and steady, but he is still a boy of barely a dozen years.” Eleventh Lady offered gently. “Some lessons can only be learned through careful guidance.” She added, “Yu Ge is clever and perceptive. If you encounter him, don’t lose your temper with him. Say what needs to be said calmly and properly. He is not a child who cannot be reasoned with.”

Xu Lingyi gave a quiet “mm” and moved on to the subject of Yuan Jie’er. “After all this commotion, her days will likely not be easy. I think — if things truly come to it — you might consider going to see Gan Furen yourself. The children are still young, after all. You could negotiate something with her to smooth things over. This incident was, in the end, Yu Ge and the others’ fault.”

“Let’s first wait and see what movement comes from Third Sister-in-law’s side.” Eleventh Lady said. “Should she find her conversation with Gan Da Nainai unsatisfying, it won’t be too late for us to step in as peacemakers then.”

Xu Lingyi nodded, then turned the conversation to the matter of hiring a private advisor for the Third Master. “…Ma Zuowen’s recommendation. I’ve met the man — socially adept and well-versed in financial affairs. But I still have some concerns. I’m thinking of sending Song Buyer from the purchasing department to Third Brother’s side to serve as his head steward. Otherwise, if Third Sister-in-law starts making trouble, I worry Third Brother won’t be able to rein her in.”

“Every head steward worth his salt is a man trusted by the household’s own master.” Eleventh Lady replied tactfully. “This is something you really ought to discuss properly with the Third Master first — otherwise it may leave a knot in his heart.”

“You make a fair point…”

The couple talked over household matters for some time before finally settling down to sleep.

The very next morning, Qin Yiniang arrived early. She served Eleventh Lady tea and water with a face full of gratitude, though she remained awkward and tongue-tied throughout. Just as Eleventh Lady was about to leave to pay respects to the Grand Madam, she said haltingly, “My Lady, I — I’ll make you a pair of shoes!”

With Xu Lingyi present, Eleventh Lady could hardly refuse, and simply smiled. “Qin Yiniang needn’t overexert herself.”

Qin Yiniang lit up like a child who had just received a New Year’s red envelope. “It’s no trouble, no trouble at all!”

Eleventh Lady smiled and went with Xu Lingyi to the Grand Madam’s quarters.

As it happened, the Third Madam had come with Nanny Gan to take her leave of the Grand Madam, saying that as she was to follow the Third Master to his new posting, she needed to make the rounds and bid farewell to her relatives. She handed the account-checking duties over to Qiu Ling.

The Grand Madam readily agreed.

The Third Madam herself was out early and back late every day, and when she returned she invariably vented her temper. Xu Siqin, with the matter of Gan Da Nainai’s wish to betroth Yuan Jie’er to him fresh in his mind, bore every tirade with good cheer. Xu Sijian sat nearby the whole time, quietly laughing to himself.

Eleventh Lady asked around in a roundabout way twice; both times the Third Madam said, “Nothing to worry about, nothing at all. I’m still talking it over with my elder sister-in-law.” She could not very well press further.

Two more days passed like this, and finally the storeroom ledgers were fully checked. Though there were occasional discrepancies of two or three items in each volume, the overall picture was in good order.

Eleventh Lady listened without so much as a flicker of expression, simply directing Hupo and the others to have the ledgers freshly copied and sent to the Grand Madam.

The Grand Madam did not even glance at them; she only asked, “Were there any losses among the major items?”

“None.” Knowing the Grand Madam missed nothing, Eleventh Lady could not help but smile. “Only a few minor items were missing.”

“That’s good then!” The Grand Madam smiled. “They say clear water has no fish — but one cannot let the fish eat all the grass either.”

That drew laughter from everyone present.

Nanny Gan ushered the Third Madam in.

Her face was all smiles, her manner bright and spirited, a complete transformation from her usual anxious, fretful demeanor. The moment she came through the door she announced cheerfully, “I’ve passed this burden off to Fourth Sister-in-law!” Her mood was unmistakably buoyant.

Eleventh Lady found this remarkable. As soon as she had completed the handover with the Third Madam, she immediately sent Hupo off to find out what had happened. “What in the world is going on?”

Hupo returned and said, “Yuan Jie’er of the Gan Family has been betrothed — her future father-in-law is a hereditary Thousand-Commander of the Yulin Guard.”

Eleventh Lady hurried to look up the *Grand Zhou Register of the Nine Regions*.

To the west of Yulin Guard lay the Sheyan River; to the north, the Black River, which ran south through the guard post, where the Sancha River joined it…

But her eye was drawn only to the last line: *”One thousand, one hundred and twenty li from the Provincial Administration.”*

Eleventh Lady’s heart sank by half.

She sat in thought for a long while, then copied out the passage from the *Geographic Gazetteer* concerning Yulin Guard.

“Take this to the Second Young Master.”

Hupo’s eyes dimmed faintly. She accepted the slip of paper, dropped to a curtsy, and murmured her assent in a low voice before going to Lijing Pavilion.

When the news spread, not one of the three children wore a smile. The change in Xu Siqin was the greatest. Where before he had merely been quiet, he was now silent. His face — still holding onto a trace of boyish softness — carried a desolate shadow that was painful to behold.

Xu Siyu, too, became subdued all at once.

He did not stir from his rooms, spending his days at home practicing his calligraphy.

As for the Third Madam, the instigator of it all — whether because the joy of her impending departure had made her oblivious, or because things had reached a point where there was nothing more to be done, she showed no sign of having noticed any change in her son’s demeanor. Before Eleventh Lady, her manner remained unyielding: “You need to catch a thief with the stolen goods, don’t you? Surely we can’t just take whatever my elder sister-in-law says as the truth and let our own children’s reputations be dragged through the mud!”

Eleventh Lady had no desire to pursue the conversation and instead asked how her preparations for the journey were coming along.

The Third Madam instantly perked up. “Everything is ready — just waiting for the custom-made official sedan chair to arrive.”

As the two women talked, a young maidservant came in to announce, “My Lady, the First Madam of the Luo Family from Bow-String Lane has arrived.”

After a round of pleasantries between Gan Da Nainai and the Third Madam, the Third Madam excused herself and left. Luo Da Nainai then asked Eleventh Lady with a smile, “How does it feel to be running the household?”

“Quite smoothly, all in all!” Eleventh Lady invited Luo Da Nainai to sit on the kang. “At first the Grand Madam worried I wasn’t accustomed to it, so she had the senior managing nannies report back to her in the east side room while she sat in the east alcove listening. After two days of that, she had me move to the main hall to give instructions herself, saying the commotion was giving her a headache.”

“That’s wonderful, that’s wonderful.” Luo Da Nainai was genuinely pleased for her. “After all, you had never dealt with any of this before. I was quite worried for you!”

“I had at least spent a few days learning from the Third Madam before.” Eleventh Lady replied without elaborating, and smiled as she took the tea a young maidservant had brought and set it before Luo Da Nainai. “What brings Elder Sister-in-law to find me?”

“Fourth Young Madam has been ill for some time now.” Luo Da Nainai said quietly. “I only heard yesterday, and I wanted to ask if you’d like to go visit her together.”

Eleventh Lady was quite startled. “What illness? She seemed perfectly well when I saw her in the first month.”

“A goiter,” Luo Da Nainai said. “They say she has grown so thin that a strong wind might blow her away.”

Eleventh Lady quickly had Hupo help prepare gifts and ready the carriage, then went with Luo Da Nainai to pay respects to the Grand Madam, and had someone send word to Xu Lingyi before the two of them set off to visit Fourth Lady.

That evening, Xu Lingyi returned from the outer courtyard, paid his respects to the Grand Madam, and came back to his own rooms only to find them empty and quiet. He could not help asking in surprise, “Has the Lady of the House not returned yet?”

“She has not yet returned, my Lord!”

Lv Yun came forward to attend him as he changed, then brewed hot tea and saw him settled on the wide kang by the window in the inner chamber.

Xu Lingyi had just lifted his teacup for a sip when a commotion sounded from outside.

His brow furrowed slightly. The curtain to the inner chamber was already being lifted lightly, and a pale-robed figure came rushing in.

“My Lord…”

—