Upon learning of this, Xu Lingyi’s expression darkened with displeasure. “There is no need to give way for Yang Shi. Whatever else may be said, Wen Shi entered this household first.”

“But I have already given the order,” said Shiyiniang. She had always believed in preventing trouble before it arose — if the Yang Family grew dissatisfied, she would at least have this precedent to use when reasoning with them.

Having heard her out, Xu Lingyi found he could say nothing further against it. He considered for a moment, then said, “A few days ago, the palace sent down a batch of imperially-commissioned porcelain. Among them was a set of peach-blossom famille rose ware that is quite fine — have Steward Bai bring it in and present it to Wen Shi as a gift.”

That would do nicely. With Xu Lingyi’s gift in hand, the maids and matrons of the household would not so readily assume that Wen Yiniang had fallen out of favor.

Shiyiniang smiled and agreed.

Xu Lingyi then asked about her afternoon visit to the Dowager Lady’s quarters to discuss arrangements for the Third-of-the-Third banquet. “…Has everything been settled?”

“All settled!” Shiyiniang said with a smile. “The guest list has already been submitted to the household affairs office. On the day, guests will be received in the flower hall, and the Changsheng troupe has been engaged to perform opera all day. The Fifth Young Mistress will accompany the Dowager Lady in receiving the guests, while I oversee the banquet provisions and tea service.”

She was in mourning, and it would not be proper for her to attend such a gathering. Yet to wash her hands of it entirely would risk overtaxing the Dowager Lady’s health.

Xu Lingyi gave a small nod. “For anything you need, just instruct Nanny Du and Nanny Song. They both assisted the Dowager Lady with the spring banquets of the Third-of-the-Third in earlier years.”

But Shiyiniang proposed that Zhen Jie’er take part and help as well. “…The Shao Family is large and prosperous, with many sons and grandsons. When Zhen Jie’er marries in as the wife of the eldest son and eldest daughter-in-law, she will not only manage the household’s inner affairs but also have no shortage of relatives, friends, and neighbors to socialize and entertain. I thought to begin from today having her follow me and learn some experience in managing household affairs, so that after she marries, she will not be caught off guard and flustered without any plan, giving her mother-in-law reason to look down upon her.”

“Very well!” Xu Lingyi felt it was indeed time for Zhen Jie’er to begin learning household management. “This matter, you can decide as you see fit.”

On the day of the Third-of-the-Third festival, Zhen Jie’er arrived early in the morning with Xiao Li in tow, and stood quietly to one side watching how Shiyiniang dispatched the household affairs matrons. Nanny Shi accompanied Xin Jie’er to Lijing Pavilion. The Dowager Lady and the Fifth Mistress received guests in the flower hall — inviting only those who came and went regularly, such as the Marchioness of Yongchang, the Marchioness of Weibei, the Countess of Zhongqin, and Madam Jiang.

Among the arriving guests, some knew that Xu Siyu had passed the county examination, and brought gifts of brushes, ink, paper, and the Four Books and Five Classics; those who had not yet heard offered congratulations upon learning the news, and afterward sent along items such as brush rests and inkstone warmers.

Two days later, Xu Siyu’s former residence had been refurbished anew, and Wen Yiniang moved in.

Shiyiniang, attended by a cluster of maids and matrons, went to inspect Wen Yiniang’s new quarters, and in front of everyone presented her with Xu Lingyi’s gift. “…Since you are moving house, here is something to brighten your rooms.”

Wen Yiniang was a woman who knew how to make the most of an occasion. She immediately arranged the plum-blossom vases and flower pots on the long table in the main hall.

The soft, delicate colors lent the room considerably more charm.

The maids and matrons, their eyes sharp, all competed to offer their congratulations to Wen Yiniang.

Wen Yiniang smiled with delight and warmly urged Shiyiniang to stay for tea.

Qiao Lianfang, when she heard of it, ground her teeth in resentment. “What a talent she has for playing the virtuous one!”

Qin Yiniang went directly to Wen Yiniang’s quarters. “What was the point of it! Had I known it would come to this, I would have traded places with you.”

“You may want to trade with me, but I have no wish to trade with you,” said Wen Yiniang, laughing and brushing the remark aside. “My rooms have just been freshly whitewashed, with new window gauze and bed curtains — are they not a hundred times better than yours?”

Qin Yiniang seized Wen Yiniang’s hand and burst into tears. “She has not even entered the door yet, and already she is making you give up your room. Once she has come in, how are any of us to go on living! We must think of some way out of this!”

Wen Yiniang listened, her lips twitching slightly, and could not resist a barb. “Surely this Yang Yiniang who is about to come through the door cannot be even more beautiful than our Qiao Yiniang?”

Qin Yiniang’s face flooded crimson at these words. She murmured a few evasive replies and then rose to take her leave.

Shiyiniang went to inspect the courtyard prepared for Yang Shi.

The walls had been freshly whitewashed, the woodwork newly lacquered, peach-pink bed curtains hung in place; a painting of peonies and pheasants adorned the center wall, and on the long table stood a blue-and-white plum-branch flower vase. The effect was bright and festive, fresh and new.

Two more days passed. Steward Bai had procured all the bedding and cushions needed; Shiyiniang also selected two general-duty matrons to be stationed there, and at last everything that needed preparing had been prepared.

It was at this juncture that Xu Siyu proposed returning to Le’an.

Xu Lingyi, greatly pleased, agreed, and instructed Shiyiniang to prepare generous gifts for Xu Siyu to bring to Le’an, setting the departure date for the tenth day of the third month.

But the very next day, Qin Yiniang fell ill.

Xu Siyu went to visit his birth mother.

Qin Yiniang lay in bed with an air of listless exhaustion, but the moment she caught sight of Xu Siyu, tears fell at once from her eyes.

Xu Siyu hesitated a moment, then knelt at the side of Qin Yiniang’s bed.

Cui’er, who witnessed this, went pale with alarm and quickly moved to pull Xu Siyu to his feet. Qin Yiniang also struggled to sit up.

“Quick, get up, get up.”

Xu Siyu insisted on remaining on his knees and said in a low voice, “Yiniang, set your mind at ease. So long as I pass the imperial examinations, Father will not forget me.”

At these words, Qin Yiniang wept all the harder.

“But are the advanced imperial examinations so easily passed? Yi Yiniang says that the Third Mistress’s father spent a lifetime taking the examinations and still only achieved the rank of Recommended Man!”

“I know!” Xu Siyu’s voice dropped lower still. “But not everyone ends up that way. Look at my maternal uncle’s household — Maternal Grandfather passed the examination, and so did both great-maternal-uncles, and so did First Uncle; and there is Fourth Maternal Aunt’s husband, who not only passed the examination but placed third in the palace examination…” He spoke on, and a look of resolute determination came into his eyes. “I will pass as well! Then I, too, will be like Master Jiang — coarsely dressed and simply clothed, yet no one will dare look down upon me…” At this, he noticed Qin Yiniang staring at him with wide-open eyes and an expression of thunderstruck disbelief, as though she had seen a ghost. His gaze dimmed. He rose to his feet. “Yiniang, rest well. I will take my leave first.”

“Second Young Master…” Qin Yiniang buried her face in her hands and wept.

But Xu Siyu walked away without turning back.

Outside, the sunlight was brilliant. The narrow lane paved with green flagstones held a quality of antique stillness.

Several small maids came laughing and chattering from the far end of the lane. Catching sight of him, they all sobered at once, and curtseyed respectfully. “Second Young Master!”

Xu Siyu could not help but straighten his back, gave a small nod, and turned to mount the steps of the main corridor.

Behind him drifted voices thin as the buzzing of gnats.

He knew they spoke of him; he also knew that this group of young maids was going to sweep the courtyard prepared for the fourth concubine his father was about to take into the household — Yang Shi.

Passing out through the main corridor, he could not help but lift his gaze to the sky.

The sky overhead was divided into a square by the walls of this courtyard — nothing like Le’an, where the horizon stretched endlessly, and the clouds would become a peony bloom one moment and a galloping horse the next.

“When two meet on a narrow path, the braver one wins — this applies equally to adversity and to the fortunes of men.” Master Jiang’s words struck without warning into his mind. “Your foundation is thin, though fortunately you are diligent enough. On this return, pass the county examination and come back. Next year, attempt the prefectural examination. Three years after that, sit the academy examination.”

Looking back now, had Master Jiang already calculated that he would pass the county examination but not the prefectural one?

The thought only made his longing to see Master Jiang more urgent.

With Xu Siyu seen off, the household turned to preparations for Yang Shi’s entry.

In truth, there was little that needed preparing.

There was no red silk to hang, no lavish banquet to hold. On the appointed day, a small blue sedan chair and four green palace lanterns were sent to carry the woman in at the first quarter of the Hour of the Dog, and four tables of wine and food were set out in the outer courtyard. For his part, on the twelfth day, Xu Lingyi went about his day as usual — first attending to various matters in the outer courtyard, then going to the residence of Wang Li — Minister Wang had just returned from his official inspection tour to Fujian.

He dined at the Wang household and did not return until the second quarter of the Hour of the Sheep.

He changed his clothes and freshened up. Then Prince Shun, Ma Zuowen, Master Jiang, Yu Yiqing, and several others who had finished court attendance arrived. The company clamored noisily that they had not eaten, demanded wine and dishes, and had barely sat down when Qian Ming, Luo Zhenda, and others came in one after another. Everyone exchanged greetings and fell to talking of the situation in Fujian over recent months; the atmosphere grew quite lively.

By contrast, the inner courtyard was considerably quieter.

The Second Mistress had come in the morning to accompany the Dowager Lady in Buddhist prayers; the Dowager Lady had kept her to stay for midday rice, and the two were now reclining together on the heated platform, speaking of Master Zhao. “…You have seen for yourself — Zhun Ge is quite different now from how he used to be. I hear he has been compiling some sort of book. I mentioned it to the Fourth, and told him that if Master Zhao finishes the book, we will help have two thousand copies printed. Then we will send one to every relative and friend.”

“I hear that Master Zhao holds the rank of Recommended Man,” said the Second Mistress. “Why did he not continue sitting for the advanced examination?”

“They say he sat twice without passing,” the Dowager Lady replied. “A considerable sum from his wife’s dowry has gone into it. He intends to wait a few more years before trying again. I think that arrangement is quite fine. By then, our Zhun Ge will also be older.”

“It is in hardship that true feeling is shown,” mused the Second Mistress. “What if we invited Master Zhao’s family to come and stay? It is only one more mouth to feed.”

The Dowager Lady nodded. “That is a good idea of yours.”

As they were speaking, Nanny Du lifted the curtain and entered.

“Xin Jie’er is well — she had a little cough last night, but it has passed now. The Fifth Mistress has taken her to the garden to sit in the sun.” Then she added, “They encountered the newly-appointed young maid Sizi at the Fourth Mistress’s side — the girl was directing the rough-work matrons to move flower trees, saying they were to be sent to the Dowager Lady of the Gan Family. Watching her, one could see she was quite steady and composed.”

The Dowager Lady smiled at this. “I had no idea that Shiyiniang and Fu Zhen would have such an affinity.” She also asked about Sizi. “A maid from Shiyiniang’s household?”

Nanny Du nodded. “Xiulan was moved up to the First Young Miss’s room; a girl called Xiu’er was brought in; and then there is this one called Sizi.”

The Second Mistress offered a tactful reminder to the Dowager Lady. “Your quarters ought to take in two new maids as well.” As she spoke, her gaze swept briefly over Weizi and Yaohuang.

Both girls ducked their heads in some agitation, their faces flushing rosy as sunset clouds.

The Dowager Lady laughed. “I know that Shiyiniang has a good eye for people. What a pity she happens to be occupied today. Otherwise, I might well have called her over to help deliberate.”

“There is no rush for this.” The Second Mistress smiled. “We must wait until she is past this busy spell.”

At that moment, Shiyiniang was seated on the large heated platform by the window in the inner chamber.

“…I am still in mourning, and I would not wish to clash with auspicious affairs. I will remain in the west side-chamber; when the time comes, she may simply come and offer me a cup of tea. As for everything else, I will leave Wen Yiniang to manage the proceedings.”

Wen Yiniang smiled and agreed.

A small maid ran in. “Madam, Steward Bai sends word that in one quarter-hour the sedan chair will set out.”

Shiyiniang smiled at Wen Yiniang, Nanny Song, and the others standing before her. “The auspicious hour is the second quarter of the Hour of the Dog. Go and make your preparations.”

Wen Yiniang and the others curtseyed and withdrew from the inner chamber.