Shiyiniang was a little surprised to hear this.

By her reckoning, Xu Lingyi had gone to Zhangqiu on business — even if things went smoothly, it would take ten days or so. Even if he managed to find a way to hurry back, it would be evening at the earliest — she had not expected him to arrive in the afternoon.

Lin First Young Madam was overjoyed: “Speak of the devil! What perfect timing!” She smiled and took Shiyiniang’s hand. “Then I shall await your good news!”

Her words had barely faded when a commotion rose beyond the decorative gate.

Both women turned simultaneously to look outside.

They saw Xu Lingyi, wearing a somewhat worn and faded indigo coarse cloth robe, riding a chestnut-red stallion as he drew slowly to a halt before the decorative gate. Behind him followed an extraordinarily splendid carriage adorned with a seven-colored glass canopy and emerald curtains, and a large cart laden with trunks and luggage.

Shiyiniang was mildly startled.

Having the carriage stop at the decorative gate naturally meant a female passenger was within. And among families of the great aristocracy, where propriety and gravity were paramount, such an ostentatious conveyance would never be used — so the person inside…

She raised a delicate brow, watching as Xu Lingyi dismounted.

“Shiyiniang…” He seemed quite surprised, and had just begun to say something when he caught sight of Lin First Young Madam standing nearby. A flicker of astonishment crossed his eyes. “Lin First Young Madam?”

“The Marquis has returned!” Shiyiniang smiled and curtsied, saying, “Lin First Young Madam came to attend your concubine’s coming-of-age ceremony!”

Lin First Young Madam’s gaze had already moved from the canopied carriage to Shiyiniang, and from Shiyiniang to Xu Lingyi. Taking in the situation at once, she quickly explained: “I was just leaving.” Then, turning to Shiyiniang, she said, “It is getting late — you have also had a long day. I shall call upon the residence another day.” She curtsied and took her leave of both Xu Lingyi and Shiyiniang.

The Lin family carriage had long been waiting to one side, and the attending matron hastily set down the mounting steps.

Shiyiniang offered the customary courteous words and accompanied Lin First Young Madam to her carriage.

“Shiyiniang!” Someone called her name.

Lin First Young Madam and Shiyiniang turned toward the voice in surprise.

They saw the curtain of the canopied carriage behind flicker, and a lovely, delicate face appeared.

Lin First Young Madam’s heart gave a startled lurch, but beside her, Shiyiniang cried out with joyful surprise: “Seventh Sister!”

The curtain of the canopied carriage was drawn back by the attending matron, and the richly adorned woman inside covered her mouth and laughed: “Were you not startled?”

With that playful manner — who else could it be but Seventh Young Miss, who had married into Shandong?

Shiyiniang shook her head in amused exasperation as she looked at her.

“You have no idea how fortunate the timing was,” the woman said, laughing as she was helped down from the carriage by the attending matron. “The Marquis was in a great rush to return, but his horse went lame on the road, and seeing that my carriage horses were fine, he absolutely insisted on buying them. Otherwise, we would never have crossed paths.”

Shiyiniang could not help but glance over at Xu Lingyi.

She hadn’t looked closely before, but now, taking a proper look, she could see that although his posture was upright and his gaze bright, his face was weathered from the journey, and there was a trace of weariness between his brows.

Xu Lingyi gave a faint smile and replied briefly: “At the time, there was no village ahead nor inn behind.”

Seventh Young Miss pressed her lips together to suppress a smile. “So I simply followed along with the Marquis to come see you!”

Insisting on buying someone else’s carriage horses, and refusing to take no for an answer — there was clearly a story behind all this. Thinking of Lin First Young Madam still standing beside her, Shiyiniang decided not to ask further, and introduced Seventh Young Miss to her: “This is my sister, who married far away in Shandong.”

Lin First Young Madam thought of her own assumptions a moment earlier and gave a quiet inward smile. She exchanged greetings with Seventh Young Miss, said a few courteous words, and departed in her carriage.

Hupo and the others stepped forward to pay their respects to Seventh Young Miss.

Seventh Young Miss gave each of them a tael of silver as a gratuity.

Shiyiniang welcomed Seventh Young Miss in through the decorative gate.

Xu Lingyi then said, “I’ll go to the Banyue Pavilion — you two sisters have a good chat!”

Shiyiniang saw Xu Lingyi off, then climbed into a small oil-cloth curtained carriage together with Seventh Young Miss.

“What brings you back to Yanjing? And in a carriage like this?”

Seventh Young Miss curled her lip dismissively. “This is the Zhu family’s carriage — and it’s already the most modest one they have!”

Shiyiniang was speechless. She sat down beside her.

But Seventh Young Miss immediately squeezed over to Shiyiniang’s side: “Ask the Marquis to help me sell this carriage — and get me a plain black-lacquered flat-topped one in exchange. All the way here I didn’t dare show my face, for fear people would take me for a nouveau riche.”

Shiyiniang laughed heartily. “I can lend you a carriage — there’s no need to sell yours.”

“Oh wonderful, wonderful!” Seventh Young Miss brightened. “Then I’ll just give you this carriage as a gift!”

Shiyiniang shook her head in amusement. “What would I do with this carriage?” She thought of her second uncle’s residence at Old Lord Hall Lane — a rather modest property with no room for two carriages. “You can leave this carriage here for now. When you return to Gaoqing, you can come and collect it then.”

But at this, a shadow came over Seventh Young Miss’s eyes. “I’m not going back to Gaoqing,” she said, her voice flat and desolate.

“What has happened?” Shiyiniang immediately gripped her hand tightly.

Seventh Young Miss’s eyes filled with tears that spun without falling: “Zhu Anping, that wretched man — he, he mistreated me!”

Shiyiniang’s thoughts fell into turmoil. She was about to ask for details when the small oil-cloth carriage came to a stop.

She thought for a moment, then instructed the matron driving: “Take us to my quarters first — let Seventh Aunt freshen up before paying her respects to the Grand Matriarch.”

The matron acknowledged this with a “yes,” and the carriage rolled slowly toward the garden.

Shiyiniang sat back down. Seventh Young Miss had already pulled out a handkerchief and was pressing it to her face, weeping.

Shiyiniang did not press her, but put an arm around Seventh Young Miss’s shoulders.

Seventh Young Miss buried her face against her shoulder and sobbed.

In the rumbling sound of the carriage wheels, Shiyiniang gently patted her on the back.

Gradually, Seventh Young Miss’s weeping eased.

“I only brought Mu Fu and two of the rough-work matrons with me,” she murmured between hiccups. “You’ll have to find me a few maids and matrons to serve me!”

She was still thinking clearly enough to make demands — her spirits couldn’t be too badly damaged.

But judging by what she’d just said, it sounded as though she had no intention of going to Old Lord Hall Lane…

“Of course,” Shiyiniang said with a smile. “As for money — if you don’t have enough, have Mu Fu find Hupo and draw some from her later.”

“I took a stack of banknotes from his study, and also took a bag of gold from the storeroom.”

Shiyiniang was startled.

“He certainly wouldn’t expect me to take money,” Seventh Young Miss said with a faint smile. “He’ll most likely search the area around Gaoqing.” A small, satisfied gleam of triumph showed in her smile. “He never thought I’d come back to Yanjing.” Then she tugged at Shiyiniang’s sleeve: “Don’t tell Eldest Brother, Fourth Sister, or Third Brother either. If they know I’ve come to Yanjing, they’ll surely tell Mother. Zhu Anping won’t find me and will go ask Mother instead. Then he’ll track me to Yanjing!”

So many certainties, so many absolutes… Shiyiniang suddenly realized her own worry had been entirely unnecessary.

“Understood,” she said with a laugh. “So what do you plan to do?”

“Stay at your place for a few days first, then decide,” Seventh Young Miss said without hesitation. “Now that I’m back in Yanjing, I absolutely must go to Huguo Temple for rice sausage, and to that shop on the West Main Street to buy almond-milk drink, and also Yu’s horn combs — I must bring back a few…”

Hadn’t she just said she wasn’t going back to Gaoqing? Then where was she bringing the combs from Yu’s?

Shiyiniang privately found this amusing.

Fortunately the carriage stopped, cutting off Seventh Young Miss’s list.

They entered the Water Pavilion.

“Mother!” Zhen Jie’er had been playing sandbags with Xu Sijie, and gave a slight start upon seeing Seventh Young Miss.

Shiyiniang introduced them.

Seventh Young Miss slipped off the pair of jadeite bracelets from her wrist and gave them to Zhen Jie’er as a first-meeting gift, and presented Xu Sijie with ten one-tael silver ingots. It was evident that none of this had been prepared in advance.

Shiyiniang couldn’t help but wonder what had happened on the road. Had Seventh Young Miss planned all along to come to Yanjing, or had meeting Xu Lingyi been the impulse that set her in motion?

She instructed Hupo to help Mu Fu attend to Seventh Young Miss’s freshening-up and change of clothing, and went herself to Banyue Pavilion.

Xu Lingyi had already changed into a lake-blue Hangzhou silk taoist robe, and was sitting with a grave expression on the raised daybed by the window, speaking with Linbo about something. The atmosphere in the room felt somewhat heavy. When he saw Shiyiniang enter, he stopped the conversation and asked with a smile: “Who served as Principal Guest at today’s coming-of-age ceremony?”

Linbo quietly slipped out.

“Princess Fucheng!” Shiyiniang said with a smile. “The Attendant was Madam Gan, and Fifth Sister-in-law served as Presiding Officer.” She then pointed to the white mutton-fat jade five-bats ruyi hairpin in her hair: “This was bestowed by Her Majesty the Empress.”

Xu Lingyi was clearly surprised.

“It was all Mother’s doing,” Shiyiniang said, a trace of gratitude in her smile that she herself was perhaps unaware of. “The guests she invited were all close family friends. It was very grand.”

Xu Lingyi looked at her with a warm and gentle gaze.

“What is it?” Shiyiniang sat down on the daybed across from him.

“Nothing,” Xu Lingyi said with a smile. “Mother is very fond of you.”

Shiyiniang smiled and nodded. “And I am very fond of Mother.”

Xu Lingyi smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair.

Shiyiniang disliked this gesture. She leaned back slightly, trying to avoid his hand: “I’ve already come of age now…” Before she could finish the sentence, she felt a sudden lightness at the top of her head. In a flash, she thought of the hairpin bestowed by the Empress — Shiyiniang’s face drained of color in alarm. “Xu Lingyi, Xu Lingyi, my hairpin…”

Xu Lingyi, sitting directly across from her, had a clearer view of the situation than she did. The very moment the hairpin began to slide, he shoved aside the daybed table in front of him and lunged forward, catching the hairpin in his hand. By the time Shiyiniang cried out, the two of them were already face to face, mouth to mouth, collapsed onto the daybed.

The deep crimson jacket embroidered with bright blue interlocking coin-and-gold-thread brocade floral medallions was vivid and resplendent, setting off the pure, unadorned clarity of her face — a beauty white and flawless as pear blossom, stirring something in his heart.

“Say it once more,” he said, slowly burying his face in her black hair, which carried a faint fragrance of roses. His low voice held an indescribable allure. “Call my name once more — Xu Lingyi.”

Shiyiniang was momentarily stunned, then her face blazed red as evening clouds.

She had only ever called him by his full name in one particular kind of moment…

The breathing beside her ear grew heavier and heavier. Her earlobe was gently taken between warm lips, and a large warm hand moved softly across her back — a tingling, melting sensation spread along her spine in all directions.

She drew in a sharp breath.

She pushed him: “…Today is my coming-of-age day… and there’s Seventh Sister… it’s the Dragon Boat Festival… Mother said we’re all eating dinner together…”

He lifted his head, his eyes bright and luminous as he gazed at her — then slowly lowered his face toward hers, as if to kiss her lips.

Shiyiniang turned her face aside.

Xu Lingyi paused.

From outside came Linbo’s voice: “My Lord — Lvyun says Seventh Aunt has freshened up and is asking when Madam will be ready.”

Like the sound of heavenly scripture, Shiyiniang shoved Xu Lingyi away and sat up straight.

“I’ll be right there!”

But Xu Lingyi caught her around the waist.

“My Lord…” Shiyiniang’s tone carried a mild reproach.

“Come — sit back down,” said Xu Lingyi, his voice even and warm, like aged liquor. “Let me put the hairpin back in for you.”

……

The Grand Matriarch was delighted to see Seventh Young Miss and took her hands, looking her over from head to toe: “What a beauty.”

Seventh Young Miss smiled as sweetly as honey: “That’s because both Eleventh Sister and I married well! So we’ve only grown more beautiful.”

“Oh my!” The Grand Matriarch laughed until her eyes curved into crescent moons. “Seventh Aunt certainly has a way with words.”

“Please just call me Seventh Young Miss, Grand Matriarch!” Seventh Young Miss said with a beaming smile. “This is something my mother always says: a girl is like a canola seed — plant her in good soil and she flourishes, plant her in poor soil and she withers. Not that I need to say it for others to see — Eleventh Sister used to be so thin and small, and now look at her: so fair and slender. Does that not prove exactly this?”

The Grand Matriarch burst out laughing.

—