By Eleventh Miss’s estimation, the Luo Mansion occupied approximately thirty or so acres of land. To the east was the Zhiyun Pavilion, in the center was the Sizhi Hall, and to the west was the Shuangxing Courtyard. At the rear gate of the Shuangxing Courtyard was a sluice that drew water from an outer river to form a lake. Beyond the sluice lay a small compound of some ten rooms called the Linfang Studio, and to the east of the Linfang Studio was the rear garden of the Luo Mansion.

Lvyun Tower stood in the northwestern corner of that rear garden.

Eleventh Miss, accompanied by Binju, followed Nanny Yao out of Lvyun Tower, passed through the corridor connecting Lvyun Tower to Zhiyun Pavilion, and arrived shortly at Zhiyun Pavilion.

As they entered, they encountered Nanny Xu coming out accompanied by four or five maids and serving women.

Nanny Xu was Madam’s most capable attendant, assisting Madam in managing the finances and staffing of the inner household. Nanny Yao, for her part, assisted Madam in managing the day-to-day affairs of the inner household.

Eleventh Miss greeted her respectfully: “Nanny.”

Nanny Yao and Binju stepped forward to give Nanny Xu a respectful bow, and greeted her warmly: “Whatever are you busy with?”

Nanny Xu was somewhere in her forties, fair and pleasantly plump in appearance. Though she was Madam’s most capable attendant, she wore a smile for every person she encountered, and everyone throughout the Luo Mansion was inclined to feel at ease with her.

She smiled and gave a proper bow to Eleventh Miss, then returned the greeting to Nanny Yao and Binju, before saying: “Madam has sent me to deliver lamp oil money to Ci’an Temple.”

Nanny Yao was taken aback: “Wasn’t the head monk from Ci’an Temple coming here to collect it?”

Nanny Xu smiled: “Madam wishes to light another eternal flame.”

This puzzled Nanny Yao even further.

Ci’an Temple was more than twenty li away — a full day’s journey there and back. If they were going to go, why had they only now set out at this hour?

She was about to ask further, but Nanny Xu had already struck up a conversation with Eleventh Miss: “…And you even kept it in mind — you specially had Dongqing bring me pickled soybeans.”

Eleventh Miss smiled politely: “It’s nothing worth speaking of. Please don’t stand on ceremony, Nanny!”

“Now that is you being too ceremonious.” Nanny Xu smiled. “Wasn’t it Dongqing’s sister-in-law who came last time? You had Dongqing bring two jars to me then as well. I said to myself then — whose handiwork is this? How could it possibly taste so good? I’ve lived more than forty years, and I’ve never eaten pickled vegetables so delicious…”

One was on an errand to see Madam, the other was on Madam’s business going out on a task — neither could linger too long. After exchanging a few pleasantries, they each went their separate ways.

Nanny Yao led Eleventh Miss to the eastern ground-floor room where Madam habitually spent her days, received guests, and took her rest: “Eleventh Miss, please have a seat — I’ll go and announce you to Madam!”

She left Eleventh Miss and Binju behind and turned to go upstairs. The small maids brought tea and refreshments to attend to them in the meantime.

Binju could not help but look around at the décor of the room.

On the lacquered black luohan daybed with its continuous swastika-pattern border and three-sided frame, a tiger-skin drape was spread. A small table atop the bed held a cloisonné enamel King Wen ding vessel and an incense box. On the tall stands to either side sat potted landscape arrangements fashioned from jade stone, with emerald leaves and jade branches forming eternal green sculptures. Before the glass partition screens stood a large armchair draped with a chair cover of blue-grey ground and gold coin serpent-scale brocade. The stone floor tiles below were so polished they shone like mirrors, faintly reflecting the figures moving upon them…

It was usually Dongqing who accompanied Eleventh Miss to Zhiyun Pavilion. This time, Eleventh Miss had brought her along instead.

The furnishings of this room were entirely different from when she had last been here.

The last time she had visited, the household was still in mourning — white draped everywhere, a bleakness that made the heart uneasy to look upon. This time, the room held a cold and exquisite splendor that made her feel a sense of inadequacy and unease.

Thinking of what she had not had the chance to say to Eleventh Miss just now, and seeing that all the small maids had withdrawn to the doorway, leaving only Eleventh Miss and herself inside, Binju stepped forward a few paces and said in a low voice: “Eleventh Miss, if it happens that… Dongqing’s situation cannot be pushed aside… you should just agree to it!” As she spoke, tears she could not hold back welled up in her eyes, glistening. “This is also what Dongqing told me to say to Miss before she came back. She also said that we will need to ask favors of people in many matters to come — there is no need to cause Madam displeasure over something so small…”

Eleventh Miss looked at the famille-rose porcelain tea bowl with its design of Magu Offering Longevity beside her hand, and said nothing.

Binju had spent three years at Eleventh Miss’s side and knew that though she appeared easy-going, once she had made up her mind about something, even nine bulls could not drag her back. She could not help but urge quietly: “If you feel pained for Dongqing’s sake, then after you marry and set up your own household, you could designate her and her husband as accompanying servants. With someone to stand behind her, and with Dongqing’s qualities, she can still make a good life for herself…”

“Mind your voice — there may be ears on the other side of the wall.” Eleventh Miss spoke softly, and yet the words were enough to bring a flush to Binju’s face.

Binju knew she had been too hasty, and gave a meek murmur of assent, standing behind Eleventh Miss and not daring to speak further.

Accompanying servants!

Those two maids had thought of a worthy outcome — yet even if it came to the point where there was no other path to take and one wished to go down that road, it was not something she alone could decide. It would likely require a great deal of maneuvering and effort.

Eleventh Miss allowed herself a bitter smile.

Zhiyun Pavilion was full of servants and attendants, and with several of the concubines present to flatter Madam, the atmosphere there was always lively. Today, walking all the way here, she had seen only a handful of small maids — and every single one of them wore a vaguely guarded look on her face… It carried all the feeling of winds gathering before a great storm.

Could it be that Nanny Yao had said something to Madam?

Much as she had once guided Madam — subtly leading her to the conclusion that Nanny Yao’s nephew, trading on the position Nanny Yao held in Madam’s household, had been peering into the inner compound… Had Madam now sent away those closest to her, in order to discipline her in return?

Eleventh Miss’s mind worked swiftly.

This very morning, when she had come to pay her daily respects, Madam had been in fine spirits — she had even smiled and said that the yam cakes she had made were delicious, and asked her to bring a few more tomorrow, and had gifted her a gold-and-jade longevity hairpin set with blue stone… If something had changed, it must have happened after she had left… It was a pity that Nanny Yao had kept too close a watch on her; she hadn’t been able to slip away. Otherwise, Shanhu, Madam’s second-tier maid, who had always been close with Dongqing, was someone she could have asked — that might have given her some clue…

Thinking of this, she touched the gold-and-jade longevity hairpin she had deliberately worn before coming… She hoped that when Madam saw this hairpin in a moment, she might recall the obedience and gentleness Eleventh Miss had shown before her these past few years, and find it within herself to spare her some measure of dignity when speaking and acting.

Though Eleventh Miss was quietly calculating all this in her mind, her body was like a bowstring drawn taut, alert at every moment to the slightest sound around her.

Before long, she detected the faint drift of sandalwood incense, then the soft sound of footsteps, and the rustling whisper of silk skirts moving against each other.

Madam observed a lifelong practice of Buddhist devotion, and always carried about her a faint scent of sandalwood incense…

Eleventh Miss immediately rose to her feet, and saw the curtain sway as a young girl dressed in a cherry-red padded cotton jacket entered, supporting the arm of a stately woman of elegant and commanding bearing.

Behind them, a procession of seven or eight maids and serving women followed in single file — Nanny Yao was among them.

“Madam!” Eleventh Miss went forward with a smile to take hold of the woman’s other arm in a gesture of support.

“Look at the two of you!” Madam’s smile was warm and welcoming. “Anyone would think I was seventy or eighty years old and couldn’t walk on my own.”

“Mother is as young as ever — how could you possibly not be able to walk?” The girl in red flattered her with ready words. “It’s just that we wanted to take the chance to be close to you. You really mustn’t see through us.” Her tone was playfully endearing, with an artless, girlish charm that anyone hearing it would find delightful and clever. And then she looked to Eleventh Miss with a smile and asked: “Isn’t that right? Eleventh Sister!”

“It is indeed, Fifth Sister.” Eleventh Miss smiled brightly at her, as though she greatly admired her lively and outgoing nature.

This young girl was Eleventh Miss’s elder sister, Fifth Miss. The fourth young master of the Luo family, Luo Zhensheng, was her own full brother.

Their birth mother, Ke Shi, ranked third among the concubines. She had originally been Madam’s personal maidservant, one who had served her since before her marriage to the Luo family. Though she had later been elevated to the status of a concubine and had given birth to a son and a daughter, she continued just as before, sleeping on the chaise in the outer chamber of Madam’s bedchamber, and attending to Madam with devoted care. Madam in turn treated her with great warmth and affection, raising Ke Shi’s children — Fifth Miss and the fourth young master — in her own quarters, educating them the same as she did her own legitimate children, the eldest daughter and the eldest son. The bond between them was truly unlike the ordinary.

Seeing the two sisters in such warm and affectionate exchange, Madam’s smile took on a few additional degrees of satisfaction.

She first gave Eleventh Miss’s hand a comforting pat, and then extended her index finger to tap Fifth Miss gently on the forehead: “Just look at you — daring to embarrass your younger sister right in front of me!”

The words carried a tone of indulgent affection, and Fifth Miss naturally did not take Madam’s rebuke to heart. Laughing, she turned to Eleventh Miss: “Mother says I embarrassed you — so tell me, did I or didn’t I?”

Eleventh Miss said nothing, but only hid her smile behind her sleeve.

Fifth Miss then tugged at Madam’s sleeve and made a show of pouting: “See, look — even Eleventh Sister has nothing to say. You’re simply partial, afraid that Eleventh Sister might suffer even the slightest grievance. How is it that you never spare a thought for me? I’m the same as Eleventh Sister — I can’t bear any grievance at all!”

Madam was made to laugh outright by her childlike manner. She took Fifth Miss by the hand and settled onto the luohan daybed: “Very well, very well, very well. I have wronged our Fifth Miss — I have let Fifth Miss suffer a grievance.” Then she instructed the small maids to bring an embroidered footstool for Eleventh Miss.

“Exactly as I said!” Fifth Miss pushed out her lips in a mock pout and perched at the edge of the luohan daybed. But when she saw the maids bringing in the tea, she stood up and carried a cup to Madam: “Mother, some tea!”

Madam accepted it with a smile.

Fifth Miss then carried a cup to Eleventh Miss: “Eleventh Sister, some tea!”

Eleventh Miss quickly stood to receive it.

Fifth Miss poured one for herself as well, then squeezed herself onto the footstool beside Eleventh Miss. In a voice just loud enough for Madam to hear, she whispered to Eleventh Miss with exaggerated secrecy: “You see this tea… when I arrived just now it was Longjing, and now it’s Wuyi. So Mother truly is partial!”

A few words were enough to make everyone in the room burst into laughter.

Madam pointed toward Fifth Miss and addressed those around her: “Just look at her — look at her — how did I ever manage to raise such a little monkey? Stirring up trouble and giving me no peace, day after day.”

Fifth Miss, hearing this, burrowed right into Madam’s arms: “If the little monkey doesn’t stir up trouble for the Queen Mother, who should she stir up trouble for?”

The maids and serving women around them also laughed: “That too is because Madam has indulged her so.”

Madam pressed her hand to her forehead and exclaimed “Oh dear, oh dear,” with an expression of utter helplessness.

For a time, the room was filled with laughter and lively chatter, warm and cheerful beyond measure.

Eleventh Miss sat to the side, hiding her smile behind her sleeve.

Madam, seeing this, assumed a serious expression and asked her: “I hear from Teacher Jian that you are now able to do double-sided embroidery?”

The Luo family had engaged an elderly scholar to teach their daughters at home, had engaged the most renowned embroidery mistress in Hangzhou Prefecture — Teacher Jian — to teach needlework, and had the kitchen matrons teach their family’s private recipes.

After long deliberation, Eleventh Miss had chosen to focus her efforts on needlework and culinary arts.

Dongqing had not been without concern: “There is no shortage of women skilled at needlework and cooking — it is the ability to compose poetry and paint that truly commands respect…”

“In my position, performing my proper duties is what is called for.” Eleventh Miss waved her off with a gesture indicating she should say no more. “Were it not that I feared Madam might think me foolish for being unable to master anything, and look down on me for it hereafter, I would not even trouble myself with needlework and cooking.” From that point on, she had thrown herself wholeheartedly into learning needlework from Teacher Jian. Teacher Jian, seeing her dedication, taught her with equal enthusiasm, and even passed down her finest technique — the art of double-sided embroidery — to Eleventh Miss.

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