When the initial excitement had passed, Qiao Lianfang sat at her writing table with the brush in hand, but a look of uncertain hesitation had come over her face. She sat for a long time without setting brush to paper.

“My Lady, what is the matter?” Xiu Yuan was puzzled. “Do you doubt Qin Yiniang’s words?”

Qiao Lianfang shook her head. “She has not lied. I also heard vague accounts of the matter back then. That Reverend Changchun’s reputation grew even greater because of it, and quite a number of families came to believe in him. It is just that to have Reverend Changchun personally involved, it would most likely require my great-aunt to make the request in person…”

And whether Qiao Furen would be willing to do that for them — that was still very much an open question.

Xiu Yuan understood what Qiao Lianfang meant. She hesitated. “You sent so many things back to her on your last visit… This matter concerns your livelihood itself. Furen cannot possibly fail to act.”

But Qiao Lianfang was not so certain.

She gave a bitter smile. “Let us hope so.”

The muffled sound of Nanny Tian and Nanny Wan’s quiet laughter drifted in from outside.

Xiu Yuan heard it and swiftly pulled the partition screen of the inner chamber shut.

The two nannies exchanged a glance and smiled at each other.

And at that very moment, Hupo was quietly stepping out of Eleventh Lady’s inner chamber, leading the other maids with her.

Eleventh Lady looked with gentle warmth at Binju, whose face showed traces of exhaustion, and said softly, “Why did you not stay a few more days.”

Binju shook her head. “I have finished the errand you gave me, and I was not at ease staying there. Better to come back.”

“Very well.” Eleventh Lady smiled. “With you gone from my side, I really did find myself at a loss.”

Binju seemed on the verge of saying something, then stopped.

“What is it?” Eleventh Lady asked with a smile. “Surely there is nothing between us that cannot be said!”

Looking at Eleventh Lady’s smile, warm and gentle as it had always been, Binju felt strangely at a loss.

She felt as though the girl who had once needed her protection had grown up — without her even noticing — into someone who no longer needed protecting. And more than that, it seemed as though she herself had become a burden to her… Back in Jinyu Lane, she had turned it over and over in her mind. If she had been as clever as Hupo, then perhaps when Nanny Tao came in, she might have seen through her intentions and blocked Dong Qing inside the room, or refused to be used as a weapon against Eleventh Lady in that confrontation — and things might have turned out differently.

Binju had lain awake with regret for several days over this.

It was part of the reason she had been in such a hurry to get back…

But when she thought of the decision she had arrived at, Binju felt her eyes begin to sting.

“My Lady, please… find a match for me.” Her vision blurred suddenly. “I heard about Qiao Yiniang the moment I returned. Everyone says that Yan Rong is the very image of a second Hupo — clever and capable, everything done with method…” Her face was already wet as the words came to an end, and she quickly bowed her head. “If I go, it also frees up the position of a first-rank maid…”

Ever since the incident with Dong Qing, Binju’s once bright and easy laughter had vanished from her face. She had grown timid and overcautious in everything she did.

Eleventh Lady had been quietly worried by this change, yet had never found the right moment to sit and talk with her properly.

Hearing her speak these words now, Eleventh Lady seized the moment and brought her palm down on the kang table with a loud clap, putting on an air of genuine fury. “What is the meaning of this? Is that the kind of thing you should be saying?”

Binju’s heart lurched.

“My Lady, I mean every word.” Tears came streaming down. “I cannot bear to leave you. But I also know that there is nothing I can do to help you anymore…”

At that, Eleventh Lady’s expression showed a trace of disappointment. “Binju, I never imagined that in your heart, I am the kind of person you think I am.”

Binju froze, her face wet with tears as she looked at her.

“I am the Lady of Marquis Yongping now. If I wished, I could find a dozen maids as clever and deft as Yan Rong to serve at my side. If I were dissatisfied with one, I could even send Steward Bai south to Guangdong or west to Gansu — sweep the entire territory of Great Zhou to find maids to my satisfaction, and it would not be beyond doing.” Eleventh Lady’s voice grew grave. “But I was still only Luo Family’s Eleventh Daughter when I was confined to bed and could not move, and even then I remember — it was you who kept me alive, one spoonful of porridge, one ladle of water…” As she spoke, fragments of old memories drifted up to the surface, and her eyes filled with tears. “If you leave too, would you have me remain here alone?”

“My Lady!” Binju flung herself down against Eleventh Lady’s knees and wept — all the grief, pain, and worry of these long days pouring out with her tears. “It was I who spoke nonsense… it is all my fault. I will stay by your side. Wherever you are, I will be there…”

Eleventh Lady wept too, clutching Binju’s hand, her voice catching. “Then you must never say such things again…”

“I won’t!” Binju nodded again and again.

When Xu Lingyi came home, he found all of Hupo and the others standing beneath the eaves. He asked in surprise, “What has happened?”

“My Lady is inside speaking with Binju jie.” Hupo curtseyed and stepped forward. “I will go in and announce you.”

“No need.” Xu Lingyi thought for a moment. “I’ll come back in a little while.” He turned and went to the study in the outer courtyard.

Hupo then heard Eleventh Lady calling her name.

She quickly went into the inner chamber.

She found both pairs of eyes and noses red.

“Bring us water to wash our faces.” Eleventh Lady dabbed at her face with a handkerchief. “The Marquis should be coming back soon.”

“The Marquis just left. He heard that you and Binju jie were talking inside, and gave way.” Hupo said this, then instructed the small maid to go fetch water.

Binju jumped up in alarm. “This won’t do at all — let me go and apologize to the Marquis!”

“Since he chose to give way, it was a kindness deliberately meant.” Eleventh Lady’s manner was perfectly easy. “It would also be wrong to disregard his good intentions.”

Binju thought it over and, though she felt Eleventh Lady had a point, there was still some unease in her heart. Fortunately, the small maid came in with water just then to serve them as they washed their faces and rinsed their hands, and for the moment there was no opportunity to press the subject further.

They all sat back down. The small maid brought tea, and Eleventh Lady, looking at Binju — whose face had recovered some of its smile — felt a stirring in her heart. She dismissed the attendants around her and kept only Binju to speak with her privately.

“You said just now — you wanted me to find you a match…” She looked at Binju with a faint smile.

Binju’s face went crimson. “I was talking nonsense just now…”

“No, no, no.” Eleventh Lady smiled. “Have you met Wan Daxian? What do you think of him?”

Binju’s face reddened until it looked like it might bleed. “When did I ever meet Wan Daxian? My Lady is asking the strangest thing!”

— Though she sounded much more like her old self again.

“The Wan Family has asked me to find Wan Daxian another match…” Eleventh Lady said.

“Goodness!” Binju stood up at once to leave. “My Lady, why would you tell me such a thing?”

Eleventh Lady quickly took hold of her and said earnestly, “Binju, I am being completely sincere. I have looked Wan Daxian over again and again…”

Binju bowed her head, cutting in softly: “I only want to stay with My Lady…” Her voice was barely above a whisper, growing quieter until it was nearly inaudible.

—

Wan Yizong received the news with a start, then broke into a broad smile: “My Lady truly is as kind to our family as a mountain is deep — who could have thought she would again choose one of her own personal maids to bestow upon our Daxian.”

Wan Yizong’s wife was well satisfied too: “Dong Qing was too beautiful. I had misgivings about that from the start.”

The two of them began making plans — plastering the room, hiring a cook.

Nearby, Wan Daxian slipped out of the room on quiet feet.

Wan Erxian noticed and, eyes darting, softly slipped out after him.

Wan Daxian had set aside the fine figured silk padded coat he wore for duty at the Xu household and placed it on the stone roller to one side. Now in plain garments, he was there splitting firewood.

“Elder Brother!” Wan Erxian stacked the wood Wan Daxian had split off to one side. “Are you still thinking about Dong Qing…”

Wan Daxian’s movements slowed. He said nothing. Only the force of his strokes as he split the wood grew larger.

Wan Erxian watched and sighed inwardly. “Mother is right — Dong Qing was too beautiful. The Marquis is an upright man, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is the same… There’s that saying, how does it go? ‘Excellent match not a blessing’? Maybe this is your good fortune.”

Wan Daxian shot his younger brother a sideways look. “It’s not ‘excellent match not a blessing.’ It’s ‘too great a disparity is no match.’ If you can’t say it right, don’t say it. No one will take you for a mute.”

Though his tone was curt, at least his elder brother had opened his mouth at last — Wan Erxian breathed a quiet sigh of relief. From the moment Wan Daxian had learned that Dong Qing was to have her betrothal broken off due to illness, he had sunk into silence.

“Right, right, right.” Wan Erxian put on a show of admiration. “Elder Brother has been serving at the Xu household — your learning is even better than before.”

Looking at his younger brother trying to coax him into better spirits, Wan Daxian lifted his head and let out a long, slow breath.

“Your elder brother isn’t a fool. Some things, I understand clearly in my own heart.” He clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I’ll work hard. I won’t let Bin… Binju…” The unfamiliar name still sat a little awkwardly in his mouth. “I won’t let Binju suffer for having married me.”

Wan Erxian felt that something about the way his brother said that was rather peculiar.

But seeing his brother show signs of rallying, he immediately pushed the thought aside and slung his arm around his brother’s shoulder with a grin. “Elder Brother, you can’t go and get a wife and forget about your brother. There’s still me to think about. Once you’re doing well, you have to bring me along too. At the very least, once sister-in-law moves in, have her put in a word with My Lady and arrange a marriage for me as well.”

“Get away with you.” Wan Daxian gave Wan Erxian a light punch.

The brothers looked at each other and laughed.

—

Wan Yizong made very energetic moves to seek a new match for his son — not only bringing in Liu Yuanrui’s wife to speak on his behalf, but also specifically asking Steward Bai to go before Xu Lingyi and sound things out.

Xu Lingyi laughed. “I hadn’t expected this Wan Yizong to be such a quick-witted one.” He then asked Eleventh Lady, “Who is to go?”

“Binju!” Eleventh Lady was rummaging through her jewelry box to find something to give as a gift for the bride.

Nanny Wei Zi came over from the Grand Madam’s side: “My Lady, the Grand Madam heard that Binju is to be matched, and she is asking to see her.”

Eleventh Lady was taken aback.

The Grand Madam never interfered in her daughters-in-law’s household affairs. Not even when the Fifth Master took in a chamber wife had she called the girl in to look her over, let alone when a daughter-in-law’s personal maid was being matched with a manservant.

This was a rare honor indeed.

She quickly had a small maid call for Binju, whispered a few words of instruction, and then had her go with Nanny Wei Zi to the Grand Madam’s quarters.

After about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Binju came back.

Her face was flushed pink. “The Grand Madam gifted me a pair of gold bracelets and forty taels of silver as a wedding gift.”

Eleventh Lady was genuinely happy for her.

Hupo came hurrying in. She leaned close and said quietly, “My Lady, Qiao Yiniang is trying to get someone in the outer courtyard to send a letter out.” She then drew a letter from her robe and held it out.

Eleventh Lady did not spare it a glance. “In front of both nannies, take this letter personally and deliver it directly into Qiao Yiniang’s own hands. Then hand that little manservant over to Steward Bai to deal with.”

Hupo acknowledged the instruction and left.

Not many days later, word went around that Qiao Yiniang had fallen ill.