Those inside the room heard it all, expressions darkening. The two nannies, however, shuffled cheerfully into the inner chamber.

Seeing Qiao Lianfang lying in bed with Embroidered Eave standing beside her, Nanny Tian made an exclamation. “So Yiniang was already awake.” Her expression showed no awareness whatsoever that her words had been inappropriate. She noticed the small bowl on the nearby stool, still bearing traces of dark brown medicine residue, and realized that Embroidered Eave had already given Qiao Lianfang her medicine. With a smile she said, “We hurried back precisely because we were thinking about Yiniang’s medicine — had we known, we would have stayed a while longer.” Her manner showed not the slightest remorse at having failed to personally oversee Qiao Lianfang’s medication.

Qiao Lianfang felt a surge of indignation and was just about to deliver a pointed remark when Nanny Wan spoke up from the side with a smile: “Getting a bargain and then gloating about it — if you hadn’t been rushing back to make Yiniang’s medicine, you wouldn’t have lost those two strings of cash.”

“That’s debatable,” Nanny Tian said, a touch of wounded pride in her voice. “Wen Yiniang is famously free with her money. If the card game had continued, there’s no telling who would have come out ahead.”

Qiao Lianfang was momentarily stunned.

Wen Lianglian had also gone to Binju’s wedding?

That thought crowded out everything else, and she had no room left to bother with the nannies’ lapse in propriety.

Softly she asked, “Wen Yiniang went to Gold Fish Lane?”

“Indeed!” Nanny Tian said with a smile. “Not only did Wen Yiniang go — Nanny Du went as well. I heard from Zhuxiang that Madam even asked her to go and comb Binju’s hair for her.” Her eyes shone with undisguised envy. “If only my own daughter’s wedding could have Nanny Du come and help with the hair-combing ceremony…”

Qiao Lianfang’s heart became a tangle of conflicting feelings.

Nanny Du had gone too. So the Grand Madam…

Her complexion shifted subtly.

She heard Nanny Tian going on nearby: “…Qin Yiniang didn’t go, but gave the same thirty taels as Wen Yiniang. From the way Wen Yiniang spoke, it sounded as though they had both originally intended to give more — but since the Grand Madam had given Binju forty taels, they didn’t feel they should exceed that. So they gave thirty. And Madam herself couldn’t very well exceed the Grand Madam’s amount, so she gave thirty-six taels.”

This was news to both mistress and maid. They exchanged a glance and, simultaneously, fell silent.

Nanny Wan then said gently, “Qiao Yiniang, I think you ought to send along some congratulatory silver too. Even Easy Yiniang gave two taels. If only you are left out, it won’t look well on you either.” She and Nanny Tian glanced over together.

No one knew better than Embroidered Eave that Qiao Lianfang had barely twenty-odd taels of private money left. Never mind that she couldn’t produce it — even if she could, she would never do something that brought credit to Shiyiniang.

With that thought, she quickly smiled and said, “Our Yiniang is currently confined to these quarters — how can she go out? If the Marquis were to find out…”

“That needn’t worry you,” Nanny Wan replied with a smile. “Otherwise, Wen Yiniang would never have gone to Gold Fish Lane.” The implication was that Xu Lingyi had given his permission for Wen Yiniang to leave the compound.

Qiao Lianfang was shaken.

Embroidered Eave was also at a loss, and hesitated, looking to Qiao Lianfang for guidance.

“I think we’ll let it pass,” Qiao Lianfang said at last, with a flat, measured calm, after quite a long pause. “I am someone who has committed an offense — better to cause as little trouble as possible.” She closed her eyes with a display of weariness, declining the two nannies’ suggestion with gentle finality.

Nanny Wan was not ready to let it go and called out “Qiao Yiniang,” about to press further, when Nanny Tian had already caught hold of Nanny Wan’s sleeve. “Since Yiniang is tired, we shall take our leave for now.” She exchanged a glance with Nanny Wan. Nanny Wan, seeing this, said nothing more. She stepped forward to collect the medicine bowl, and together the two nannies gave a curtsy and withdrew.

Qiao Lianfang’s eyes flew open.

Her complexion had turned ashen, and her teeth were clenched with a soft grinding sound.

“Miss!” Embroidered Eave looked at her with some worry.

“I’m fine!” Qiao Lianfang said, her words at odds with the truth. “Never mind me. Let me rest for a while — I’ll be better after I sleep.”

Embroidered Eave dared not say more. With quiet, gentle movements she helped Qiao Lianfang lie down and sat herself on the small stool at the bedside, doing needlework and keeping watch over Qiao Lianfang.

Qiao Lianfang did not sleep peacefully. She turned and shifted restlessly without cease.

Embroidered Eave knew that she was in anguish, but could find no way to comfort her.

To be one of the yiniiang, yet not have thirty taels to offer while the others spent without a second thought. To be one of the yiniiang, yet while one went to pay respects at a memorial and another went to offer congratulations at a wedding, all on behalf of the Fourth Household, this one sat confined to a courtyard. To be one of the yiniiang, yet while one had given birth to the eldest illegitimate son and another had a daughter raised in the care of the Grand Madam and the Madam — living out quiet days and simply biding her time for the good times to come — this one had been plotted against, stripped of the very thing she had staked everything on… As these thoughts accumulated, Embroidered Eave’s vision began to blur. Come to think of it, they had both underestimated these women entirely. They had thought that as long as they could hold the Marquis’s heart, that would be enough. They had never once considered that there would be women ready to stand in the way. Let alone ask for help — they couldn’t even get a word in before the Marquis to defend themselves. To say nothing of deploying all those thousand-and-one arts and stratagems in hopes of winning back his favor.

The thought passed. She recalled the day Shiyiniang had remarked with a sigh that she herself was no longer young.

Miss was the Marquis’s cherished concubine. She was the personal maid at Miss’s side. Shiyiniang could not touch Miss — but she could touch her.

Those words hung above her like a blade, and there was no knowing when it would fall. She had pinned all her hopes on Miss delivering a young master who could speak on her behalf before the Marquis. Now, with things as they were…

The more she thought, the more her heart trembled. She felt wetness on her face and, not daring to disturb Qiao Lianfang, pressed the back of her hand quietly against her cheeks to wipe away the tears.

Suddenly she heard a sharp thud from close beside her.

Embroidered Eave turned at once toward the sound.

There was Qiao Lianfang, tears streaming down her face, grabbing the bolster and pillow from the head of the bed and flinging them in all directions.

Embroidered Eave was frightened. She dropped her needlework and rushed forward, pressing her hands down to hold Qiao Lianfang still. “Miss, miss — what has come over you?”

“I am such a fool, I am such a fool,” Qiao Lianfang wept, tears pouring down her face. “Mother warned me again and again, and I never took her words to heart… I put my faith entirely in the Marquis’s affection, thinking that so long as he cared for me, nothing else mattered… I never once thought that while I might not mind those things, others did. I never went out of my way to harm anyone, and yet they — seeing how the Marquis treated me — came to harm me… And now I have made a terrible mistake, lost the Marquis’s favor… It is too late to regret it now.” She said this, and then buried herself in Embroidered Eave’s arms and wept openly and without restraint.

Embroidered Eave, looking at those heaving, thin shoulders and thinking of all her former vitality, felt sorrow well up from somewhere deep within her and began to cry as well.

“Miss. It won’t be like this,” she said, using the words with which she had consoled Qiao Lianfang countless times before. “The Marquis is only angry for the moment. Give it a little time and he will calm down — it will be all right. Miss, please don’t cry anymore. Your body is what matters…”

“You’re right,” Qiao Lianfang said — and to Embroidered Eave’s surprise, she abruptly stopped crying. “What you said is right. The Marquis is only angry for now.” Embroidered Eave watched as Qiao Lianfang slowly sat upright, her large eyes still brimming with tears, but carrying, through them, a gleam of resolve. “So I must see the Marquis.”

Embroidered Eave was seized with alarm.

What she feared most, right now, was Qiao Lianfang acting in desperation — since Nanny Du had attended Binju’s wedding, it was clear the Grand Madam had already thrown her weight behind Shiyiniang. And Shiyiniang had surrounded this entire courtyard — they had nowhere to turn, no one to appeal to. Then there was Qin Yiniang, who believed in Reverend Master Ji Ning herself, yet had told them that Daoist Master Changchun had a secret remedy for conceiving a son — clearly nothing but ill intent, tripping them up at a critical moment. And there was Wen Yiniang, always smiling and cheerful, yet not a single thing that happened in this household escaped her notice. Whatever she was really plotting, no one could say. They were under attack from every side — if Miss could not contain herself for even a brief while longer, what awaited them would be nothing but complete and utter isolation.

With all this in mind, Embroidered Eave could only say carefully, “Miss, we should take things slowly…”

“No,” Qiao Lianfang said with a quiet shake of her head.

Embroidered Eave cried out in a rush “Miss,” then raised her eyes and saw the expression of settled determination in Qiao Lianfang’s brow. “No — we are not going to rush. We are going to think things through carefully and bide our time.” The words were decisive and clear, and her soft, lovely face took on a quality of sharpness she did not usually carry.

“Miss…” Embroidered Eave felt something stirring inside Qiao Lianfang — something that had not been there before. It felt like the clarity she had long wished to see in her, and yet also like the strength she had always hoped Qiao Lianfang would have. It made her glad, and yet there was an ache in it too, and a small kernel of fear. She could not say what it tasted like — a mixture of too many things at once.

“And that contemptible wretch Qin Liubao!” Qiao Lianfang’s expression twisted slightly. “She reduced me to this state — I will not let her go unpunished.”

—

“…The golden lanterns, green fans, canopy umbrella — every one of them accounted for, a full set of ceremonial procession items. At the wedding feast, ten courses were served across ten tables of guests.” The wife of Liu Yuanrui, who had escorted the bride’s party, returned to give her report to Shiyiniang with a face full of beaming joy. “The mother-in-law’s gift to the bride was a pair of silver bangles weighing two taels each; the father-in-law gave two small silver ingots. The household is well-furnished and well-kept — Binju will not suffer any hardship when she gets there.”

“That is good to hear!” Shiyiniang gave a slight nod, then added, “From this point forward, they must make their own way in life.”

The wife of Liu Yuanrui smiled and said quickly, “Who doesn’t say the same. A good daughter doesn’t wear her mother’s old clothes; a good son doesn’t fight his father for his inheritance. Madam has thought of everything for them — now the days ahead are theirs to build. But I can see that Da Xian is honest and steady, and Binju has had the benefit of Madam’s guidance. Those two will surely build a warm and flourishing life together.”

Shiyiniang gave a faint smile and said nothing, then moved on to another matter. “I heard that Jiang Binzheng has found work outside. And that all the affairs of my courtyard have been left entirely with his wife to look after?”

This was something the wife of Liu Yuanrui had passed on to Shiyiniang through Embroidered Child’s mouth. She quickly smiled and said, “I’ve heard about this too. I’ve just been so busy of late that I haven’t had a chance to go over and check. Shall I go and have a look on Madam’s behalf one of these days?”

Chang Xuezhi was currently assigned to serve as a young manservant in the outer courtyard’s reception office.

Shiyiniang smiled and said, “A woman going to deal with this sort of thing would hardly be appropriate. I think we should let the Chang boy look into it on my behalf.”

The son of the wife of Liu Yuanrui, Liu Taiping, had been posted to odd jobs in the outer courtyard.

She heard this and felt a faint pang, but very quickly brightened and said warmly, “Thank you for placing such trust in him, Madam. I’ll pass the word along to him right away.”

Shiyiniang looked on, relieved.

She had genuinely been worried that the wife of Liu Yuanrui was the sort who would not tolerate others sharing her responsibilities.

—