Madam Lin the Elder was stunned.

“She is to be married far away, and seeing each other will not be easy — I wish to keep her with us a few more years…” Eleventh Young Madam explained to Madam Lin the Elder the Xu family’s feelings of reluctance to part with Zhen Jie’er. Madam Lin the Elder thought of Hui Jie’er and naturally understood the Xu family’s feelings. She quickly said, “I will speak to my brother about this matter.” After Eleventh Young Madam left, she immediately wrote a heartfelt and eloquent family letter and sent it off to Cangzhou.

As soon as Eleventh Young Madam returned to her room, Yan Rong followed her in.

“I have found out everything about last night’s matter,” she said in a low voice. “It is said that Qin Yiniang spoke of the Second Young Master to the Marquis. She said that Le’an is a remote country place, nothing like the abundance and richness of Yanjing. Life there is austere. The Second Young Master has only one small maid attending him, with no experienced head-matron to oversee things. Should anything happen, she feared he would not know what to do. She wanted the Marquis to send all of the Second Young Master’s attendants Meixiang and the others from home to serve him.”

Eleventh Young Madam paused in slight bewilderment.

“At first the Marquis listened carefully. But presently his expression began to grow displeased. He said that the Second Young Master had gone to study, not to live in comfort. What was the use of so many attendants? Qin Yiniang, seeing the Marquis was unhappy, hastily knelt and asked for pardon. The Marquis’s expression eased a little. He called for Cui’er to help him change his clothes. Then Qin Yiniang again brought up the Second Young Master’s marriage. She said the Second Young Master was a few days older than the Young Miss, and in these past days, Madam had with wholehearted dedication been finding a match for the Young Miss, even summoning Wen Yiniang to talk things over. Yet there was still no word about the Second Young Master’s marriage. Now that the Second Young Master had gone off to Le’an to study — by heaven, earth, the sovereign, parents, and one’s teacher, with the parents so far away, it was only natural that the teacher became paramount. With the Second Young Master’s looks, bearing, and family background, he was sure to be without equal in Le’an. If some poor scholar who was on close terms with Teacher Jiang were to set his sights on him, and Teacher Jiang, constrained by that friendship, found it awkward to refuse, and things became muddled along to a betrothal, would that not ruin the Second Young Master’s prospects? She begged the Marquis, no matter what, to arrange a proper match for the Second Young Master as soon as possible — someone from a family well-matched in status and standing…”

Was Qin Yiniang truly worried or merely pretending? Teacher Xu Siyu had two parents, not one. Regardless of whom Teacher Jiang wished to play matchmaker for, he would have to inform Xu Lingyi first. How could he rashly give his word without any such word from the Xu family?

Eleventh Young Madam listened, and raised an eyebrow.

“The Marquis, on hearing this, immediately threw the handkerchief in his hand into the washbasin, splashing Qin Yiniang’s face full of water. He said that Teacher Jiang was not someone she had any right to criticize. He also asked Qin Yiniang outright — was she truly dissatisfied with the Second Young Master going to Le’an? Or was she dissatisfied with Madam arranging the Young Miss’s betrothal before the Second Young Master’s?” Yan Rong said, stepping closer and lowering her voice to Eleventh Young Madam’s ear. “Qin Yiniang was so frightened she stood there stunned, not even daring to wipe the water from her face.” As though imagining the scene, she pressed her lips together in a suppressed smile before continuing. “The Marquis, seeing that Qin Yiniang couldn’t say a word, was so enraged his face went blue. He told Cui’er to prepare the east wing room and said he would sleep there. Qin Yiniang suddenly panicked and knelt on the ground, throwing her arms around the Marquis’s legs and weeping. She kept saying she had only been too worried about the Second Young Master and had therefore spoken out of turn.

“Qin Yiniang was sobbing, all snot and tears. The Marquis frowned more and more, and had Apricot Blossom help Qin Yiniang to her feet, then went outside himself. Cui’er came running after him and knelt on the ground to intercede for Qin Yiniang. The Marquis simply went off to Banyue Pond…”

Just as she was speaking, a small maid entered to announce, “Madam, Qin Yiniang has come!”

It was not yet time for the evening greetings.

Eleventh Young Madam had the small maid bring her in.

Qin Yiniang came in with red and swollen eyes. She had barely reached Eleventh Young Madam when — with a dull thud — she dropped to her knees before her. “Madam, it was I who had my heart clouded by foolishness and spoke reckless words. Please, in your great generosity, overlook the fault of one so small, and for the sake of the Second Young Master’s wellbeing, forgive me this once!” Having said this, she pressed herself flat on the blue stone floor to knock her head.

Yan Rong’s hand was quick — she caught Qin Yiniang by the arm. “Yiniang, what has come over you? You come in without explaining a thing and start kowtowing. Even if you have a mountain of grievances, how is our Madam to take your part?”

Qin Yiniang did not rise, but she stopped trying to kowtow. Her tearful eyes looked up at Eleventh Young Madam. “I saw the Heir’s investiture settled, and the Young Miss’s marriage also beginning to take shape. Only the Second Young Master is still all alone, and I worried about his marriage. So last night when the Marquis came, I said a few ill-considered words and angered the Marquis. Madam — the Marquis respects you above all else. I beg you to take pity on me — I have never read a book and do not know propriety or reason — and before the Marquis, plead my case.”

She was actually asking her to speak on her behalf before Xu Lingyi… Eleventh Young Madam was momentarily at a loss for words.

Qin Yiniang moved to kowtow again, but was held back by Yan Rong.

“Madam,” Qin Yiniang said urgently, “I was originally a servant in the Marquis’s household, and it was by the grace of the Grand Madam and the Marquis that I was raised to the status of concubine. I have long since counted myself fortunate and wanting for nothing. What is more, I am now at the age where one should be well past the bloom of youth. If the Marquis is angered with me, it is only what I deserve, and nothing is too great a punishment. What I fear is that the Marquis, because of me, might think the less of the Second Young Master — that he too is someone without self-discipline… Madam, as long as the Marquis does not take his displeasure out on the Second Young Master, I will accept whatever is asked of me and have not a word of complaint.”

Eleventh Young Madam was somewhat surprised.

Was Qin Yiniang telling her that in her heart there was only Xu Siyu, that as for Xu Lingyi’s favor — she had long since ceased to care?

Eleventh Young Madam thought of the first time she had met Qin Yiniang, and Zhun Ge’er’s rejection of her. She thought of Qin Yiniang’s respectful deference toward herself from the very first, and of that one overstep on that winter rainy night when she had come out to meet her… and a strange feeling rose in her heart.

“Get up!” The silence of the hall was suddenly broken by Xu Lingyi’s voice.

Eleventh Young Madam quickly composed herself and curtseyed before Xu Lingyi.

Xu Lingyi did not even glance at Qin Yiniang kneeling on the floor. He told Yan Rong, “All of you step out. I have something to say to Madam.”

Yan Rong curtseyed in assent and looked at Qin Yiniang. Qin Yiniang gazed at Xu Lingyi’s stern expression. Her eyes dimmed; the corners of her mouth fluttered. She withdrew with Yan Rong.

Eleventh Young Madam poured Xu Lingyi a cup of tea. “Is there something urgent, my lord?”

But Xu Lingyi’s expression had already softened. “Nothing of importance! I simply wanted her to stop all that weeping and wailing.” He said no more of the matter, changed his clothes, and went with Eleventh Young Madam to the Grand Madam’s rooms for supper. Afterward he did not go to Qin Yiniang’s rooms either, but lay against the kang bolsters in Eleventh Young Madam’s inner chamber reading. Eleventh Young Madam had no idea what he had up his sleeve. Thinking of how he had gone to Banyue Pond the night before, and of how Qin Yiniang had come today to kowtow before her, she did not wish to become entangled in it — she sat on the kang sewing a pair of shoes for Madam Zhou, accompanying him in comfortable silence.

When the first quarter of the hai hour arrived and Eleventh Young Madam felt her eyes beginning to ache, Xu Lingyi suddenly stood up. “I am going over now.”

Eleventh Young Madam’s mind turned this over before she understood.

She set down her work. “Safe travels, my lord!”

Xu Lingyi’s footsteps paused briefly — then, as though offering an explanation, as though speaking to himself, he said, “Since she came to acknowledge fault before you, I ought at least to give you a measure of face.”

Eleventh Young Madam watched his departing figure, deep in thought.

Qin Yiniang had come to acknowledge fault before her in full public view and begged her to plead her case. If Xu Lingyi had not gone to Qin Yiniang’s rooms that evening, people would say tomorrow that Eleventh Young Madam was jealous, or that she was petty and narrow-minded, or even that she carried no weight in Xu Lingyi’s heart.

Qin Yiniang truly knew Xu Lingyi well!

The next day, Xu Lingyi slept in Eleventh Young Madam’s room, and from that time on, whenever Qin Yiniang encountered Eleventh Young Madam, her deference toward her was noticeably more marked than before.

Eleventh Young Madam could not help but give a wry smile.

* * *

Before many more days had passed, Madam Lin the Elder’s elder brother — Shao Zhongran’s father — arrived in Yanjing, and together with the Xu family discussed the details of the marriage arrangements.

Xu Lingyi had the outer courtyard allocate ten thousand taels of silver to Eleventh Young Madam to put toward part of Zhen Jie’er’s trousseau. Eleventh Young Madam entrusted the money to Zhuxiang and handed the accounts to Wen Yiniang. “…There is not a great deal of money, but spent well it can be done up properly enough. Watch over things — don’t let the money be spent without the matter being done well.”

This was the sum Xu Lingyi had set aside for Zhen Jie’er to buy furnishings and toilet articles. The landed property and houses were to be arranged by the outer courtyard stewards. Three or five thousand taels would already make for a very handsome trousseau, let alone ten thousand taels. But Wen Yiniang thought of how, when she herself had entered the household as a concubine, her mother had saved up all manner of things that had never been put to use. Now she had money in hand — if she did not spend it on Zhen Jie’er, was she going to take it with her to the grave?

Thinking that Eleventh Young Madam had been fairly evenhanded in how she dealt with people, Wen Yiniang hesitated for a moment, then said with some uncertainty, “The Wen family is in trade — people come and go constantly, all of them in business. If Madam is willing to trust me, I would not have them help with any great discounts. But at the very least they would sell us goods at face value without cheating us.” In the end she did not dare bring up her own private savings. She added, “Zhuxiang is a young unmarried girl after all — she is bashful and thin-skinned, and not like me, who grew up in a merchant household and can show my face to talk terms with shopkeepers and managers. I think: let me handle the money, and Zhuxiang keeps the accounts. What does Madam think?”

Zhen Jie’er’s trousseau concerned not only the face of both the Xu and Shao families, but also Zhen Jie’er’s life after marriage. Since Wen Yiniang had the instincts of a seasoned merchant, Eleventh Young Madam trusted she had the good sense to weigh what mattered and what did not. Without stopping to think much further, Eleventh Young Madam agreed, but still cautioned her. “Yiniang must take great care — do not let any mistakes occur. Not only would that lose face for the Xu family, it would also wound Zhen Jie’er’s heart and make her life difficult at the Shao household.”

A smile spread across Wen Yiniang’s face, impossible to conceal. “I may be small-minded, but I know this is a major matter. I will certainly not do anything to harm the Young Miss’s affairs.”

Right then and there, Eleventh Young Madam instructed Zhuxiang to hand over to Wen Yiniang the ten thousand taels of banknotes allocated by the outer courtyard, with signatures and seals stamped on both sides as acknowledgment. As soon as she was back in her own room, she called Qiu Hong and Dong Hong in.

“Dong Hong’s handwriting is good — you write out a few sheets of vermilion gold-flecked paper headings. I am going to prepare the trousseau items for the Young Miss!” Her tone carried a current of joy.

Qiu Hong and Dong Hong, hearing this at first, could not help exchanging a look of bewilderment. Coming to their senses a moment later, both broke into expressions of delighted surprise. “The Marquis has agreed!”

“It is not the Marquis,” Wen Yiniang said with a smile, lifting her teacup and taking a sip with an air of pleasant feeling. “It is Madam who agreed.” She said this, then was moved in some vague way. “Madam truly handles things with decisiveness and clarity.” She thought of the scrutinizing look Xu Lingyi gave her, and added under her breath, “Not like… it leaves one feeling uncomfortable.”

Not like whom? She left the words vague and trailing off — it was surely someone Wen Yiniang herself would not lightly speak of.