After seeing the concubines off, Eleventh Young Mistress could not help but press her fingers to her brow.

She had no idea what Qiao Lianfang was thinking — even she, standing at the side watching, found it wearying.

At noon she saw to it that Xu Sizhun and Xu Sijie were fed, and then Lady Zhou arrived.

‘Knowing you would not be going, I came to see you instead.’ She smiled and settled beside Eleventh Young Mistress on the large kang by the window.

Eleventh Young Mistress received the teacup from the maidservant and set it before Lady Zhou: ‘It must be quite lively over there!’

Lady Zhou nodded: ‘Everyone has arrived. Only you are missing.’ Then she glanced around the room and remarked with some curiosity, ‘Why is there no sign of your newly arrived Yang Yiniang?’

‘She is in her own courtyard,’ said Eleventh Young Mistress. ‘I asked Wen Yiniang — the first to enter the household — to look after her. To keep her from being unfamiliar with the Xu household’s customs.’

Lady Zhou heard this and pressed her lips together in an amused smile: ‘Your approach is the right one. It also saves you from having to act directly yourself.’

Eleventh Young Mistress knew Lady Zhou had misunderstood — that she was using one concubine to deal with Yang Shi. But this was a household matter, hardly something to broadcast far and wide for all to know. She returned Lady Zhou a smile and pushed the fruit dish heaped with white peaches toward her: ‘These are said to have come from Wuxi. Try some, Sister Zhou.’

Lady Zhou picked up a toothpick fork and tasted a slice, then asked: ‘What does your Yang Yiniang look like?’

Eleventh Young Mistress answered with complete impartiality: ‘She has a thousand charms and a hundred graces — exceptionally beautiful.’

Lady Zhou was taken aback, and then laughed: ‘I always thought the women of the Yang family were no more than middling in appearance. I had not expected them to produce two with such striking looks. She cannot be from a collateral branch, surely?’ The words carried a good measure of mockery — though they also, by implication, confirmed that Lady Zhou’s own Yang Shi was a woman of outstanding beauty.

Eleventh Young Mistress laughed and agreed: ‘Is that not what they say — that she is from a distant branch?’

‘Indeed.’ Lady Zhou pursed her lips in a smile and ate a few more slices of white peach, then said, in a slow, unhurried way: ‘Actually, you need not be so cautious.’

Eleventh Young Mistress was briefly taken aback.

Lady Zhou kept her eyes lowered, eating several more slices of white peach one after another, without speaking.

Eleventh Young Mistress understood. She dismissed all the servants from the room.

Lady Zhou looked at her with a smile and said: ‘Even our man knows that Yang Shi cannot be touched, to say nothing of yours…’

Eleventh Young Mistress could not conceal her astonishment.

Lady Zhou covered her mouth and laughed.

Eleventh Young Mistress could not help but feel a little chagrined.

Lady Zhou’s expression then grew grave: ‘Some things I can only say to you.’ A thread of melancholy appeared between her brows. ‘As long as the Empress Dowager lives another day, our men will keep in mind how this woman came to be here, and they will naturally rein themselves in. But once the Empress Dowager is gone — I am afraid that will be the day we must steel ourselves and deal with her in full force.’

Eleventh Young Mistress knew Lady Zhou spoke the truth.

With the Empress Dowager alive, they were constrained out of deference to her, and no matter how dissatisfied the two households might be, neither could do anything to Yang Shi. But once the Empress Dowager was gone, Yang Shi would be a rose with its thorns pulled out — whether to be gathered or cut down would be entirely at another’s discretion. In such circumstances, men typically found a new surge of tenderness and pity. It might well allow Yang Shi, poised on the brink of ruin, to find new life and flourish again…

Seeing that Eleventh Young Mistress said nothing, Lady Zhou reminded her: ‘Rather than guarding against the present, you would do better to think ahead to what you will do when the Empress Dowager dies.’

Eleventh Young Mistress very much wished to know what Xu Lingyi would do at that time.

She allowed her mind to drift a little, and asked a small maidservant to bring in more freshly cut white peaches.

Third Young Mistress Huang arrived.

‘I noticed someone was missing, and guessed she must have come to your side.’ She grinned, pointing at Lady Zhou. ‘How could you not call for me as well!’

‘We were having a private conversation between us two. What would you be wanted for?’ said Lady Zhou, lazily propped against the large pillow, her tone straightforward yet carrying three parts of warmth and familiarity.

Third Young Mistress Huang declined the grand chair the maids brought and squeezed in beside Lady Zhou instead, teasing her: ‘I quite forgot — you two are kin by marriage now, unlike myself!’

Lady Zhou gave Third Young Mistress Huang a playful dismissal, and laughed: ‘Marry your daughter to me as my daughter-in-law, and you and Eleventh Young Mistress will be kin by marriage too.’

‘Whether you think that wild girl of mine is worthy of your consideration.’ The two of them chatted and laughed together, and the room came alive at once with warmth.

The two of them lingered until around the fifth hour of the afternoon, when it was nearly time for the banquet to begin at the other house, and then they went over.

Meanwhile, Qin Yiniang was at Yang Shi’s quarters.

‘…Sister, could you copy out that new chrysanthemum medallion pattern for me as well?’ she said politely. ‘I would like to make a pair of socks for the Fifth Young Master at some point.’

Yang Shi agreed readily and generously opened her chests, bringing out a thick sheaf of patterns for Qin Yiniang to choose from.

‘Who did you learn your needlework from, Sister?’ Qin Yiniang studied the collection with an expression of genuine surprise. ‘To have so many new patterns. This is my first time ever seeing such an abundance of new designs. Even the Madam’s collection, I imagine, might not equal this.’

‘Please do not say such things, Sister,’ Yang Shi said quickly when she heard. ‘If word of this were to get out… the Madam is magnanimous and broad-minded, but there is no guarantee that someone might not embellish the tale and stir unpleasantness for all.’

‘I misspoke!’ said Qin Yiniang, laughing a simple-natured laugh at herself as she selected two straightforward patterns. ‘My skills are poor — I should start with the simpler ones and work up to the harder.’ Then she rose and took her leave.

Yang Shi rose as well and personally walked her to the door.

‘By the look of things, this Qin Yiniang is an honest and steady sort,’ said Yang Mama, collecting the covered bowls that had been used to receive the guest.

Yang Shi responded with an unconcerned smile: ‘Honest and steady? Could an honest and steady woman have borne the eldest son outside of wedlock?’

Yang Mama was taken aback.

Yang Shi was already saying: ‘Please take these new chrysanthemum medallion patterns to Qiao Yiniang’s quarters.’ She finished speaking, and gave a cold smile. ‘She wanted to learn from me, did she? Then let her learn properly.’

Yang Mama assented and went off to carry out the errand.

Yang Shi turned and glanced at two stems of canna lilies in the corner of the room, their blooms still tightly furled, and smiled to herself.

The Xu household was lush with trees and dappled with green moss; the heated greenhouse kept seasonal flowers year-round. By comparison, the Marquis of Jianning’s mansion was far more splendid in its adornments, yet it lacked the composed and unhurried dignity of an old noble family.

She then thought of Qin Yiniang — by all accounts her favor had been uninterrupted and constant, but of late, owing to some matter involving the Second Young Master, she had angered the Marquis and been set aside. Viewed in that light, the Marquis was a man of lasting sentiment after all. At the Marquis of Jianning’s mansion, concubines past the age of twenty were kept in solitary rooms…

At these thoughts, Yang Shi picked up the half-finished sock and continued her needlework.

She intended to make a pair more splendid than Wen Yiniang’s — then, whenever the moment arose, she could present them to Eleventh Young Mistress at will.

Meanwhile, Qin Yiniang took the patterns and turned back toward the Third Master’s quarters.

The Third Master’s Yi Yiniang was seated upright on the kang, flying needle and thread. When she saw Qin Yiniang enter, she looked up and said ‘have a seat,’ then kept on until the thread on her needle ran out and she needed to re-thread, only then lifting her head properly.

‘Just one sleeve left and it will be finished!’ Her voice was delicate and timid, as though speaking too loudly would startle someone. ‘Has the Fourth Madam been urging you?’

‘Not at all.’ Qin Yiniang picked up the blue-and-white handled teapot from the kang table and poured two cups of tea — one for Yi Yiniang, one for herself — with perfect ease and no ceremony at all, making it plain that the two were on unusually familiar terms. ‘The Madam only wishes to keep me occupied in my room. The Fifth Young Master can hardly be waiting on my needlework to clothe himself.’ She spoke, and then pulled the chrysanthemum medallion patterns from her sleeve for Yi Yiniang to see. ‘What do you think of these? Did Yang Yiniang come up with them herself? Have a look — I want to learn them.’

‘But why!’ said Yi Yiniang, taking the patterns and examining them carefully. ‘These designs are quite intricate — but they are rather too gaudy. For the mistresses of this household to embroider these on their skirt hems and sleeve borders, that is gilding the lily — but if we ourselves were to use them…’

Qin Yiniang then told Yi Yiniang something of what had come to pass: ‘…That way I would have every reason to be at home doing needlework all day, a proper excuse to keep my door closed against visitors, and also a proper reason for going in and out of Yang Shi’s quarters!’

Yi Yiniang understood: ‘You do need to find a way to stay in your room. The Daoist nun Zhu said it must be forty-nine consecutive days — chanting the spell at the exact hour that person was born — and if interrupted, it loses its efficacy. We are both women without agency over our own time; how can we ensure we are always free at that hour each day? If this can serve as an excuse, nothing could be better. As for Yang Shi — Sister Qin, it is better to tread carefully there. Best not to give others cause for suspicion.’

‘I know,’ said Qin Yiniang, nodding. ‘This is merely a precaution on my part.’ Then she showed a trace of hesitation: ‘That Daoist nun Zhu — is she capable?’

‘How could she not be!’ Yi Yiniang lowered her voice and said quietly: ‘Back when I was with the Third Madam at her parents’ home, the Fifth Daughter-in-law of the Gan family had engaged this very nun Zhu, and afterward the Third Madam’s mother engaged her as well… If not for that, how would I have come to know her? And she made no modest pretense about her fee — she took your five hundred taels without the slightest hesitation.’

Qin Yiniang nodded deeply.

That evening when she went to pay her respects to Eleventh Young Mistress, she took the initiative and brought out the patterns to show her: ‘…I also went to Yang Yiniang to ask for a couple. I intend to embroider a pair first for the Fifth Young Master. If the Madam finds them pleasing, I will then embroider a pair for you as well.’

Qiao Lianfang’s expression subtly darkened at the words.

Eleventh Young Mistress, however, declined politely: ‘…The Fifth Young Master is still young — there is no call for anything so intricate.’

At that moment, Xu Lingyi returned.

On learning the new patterns were Yang Shi’s handiwork, he made no particular comment, glanced at them, and returned them to Qin Yiniang, then instructed Eleventh Young Mistress to help him change his clothes.

The concubines, seeing this, curtsied and withdrew.

Both Qin Yiniang and Qiao Yiniang began to learn to embroider the chrysanthemum medallion socks.

For a time, wearing chrysanthemum medallion socks became the fashion at the Xu household.

Eleventh Young Mistress paid little attention to any of this.

On the eighth day of the fourth month, the Birthday of the Buddha, she first accompanied the Second Young Mistress-in-law and Fifth Young Mistress-in-law in attending the Grand Madam’s incense offering at the Medicine King Temple, then began making arrangements for the Grand Madam’s birthday banquet. Since Eleventh Young Mistress was still in her mourning period, at the Grand Madam’s insistence only close relatives and old friends were invited, and ten tables were set out in the flower hall; in the afternoon they enjoyed a half-day of theatrical performances. By the middle of the fifth month, good news came from Lanting — she had given birth to a son. Eleventh Young Mistress specially commissioned a solid gold ruyi pendant and gold necklace to be sent as the gift for the child’s one-month celebration. By the middle of the sixth month, the Gan family’s lawsuit had at last come to a conclusion. Lanting’s elder brother — the current Marquis of Zhongqin — with the exception of the ancestral fields and the family residence, divided the household property equally among the other legitimate and concubine-born brothers.

The Third Madam’s father was said to have wept with such emotion he was moved to tears, and immediately purchased a three-courtyard residence on the western side of the city and moved in.

‘…So these past few days the house has been in an uproar — one person crying out that such-and-such a thing has gone missing, another saying such-and-such a thing is unwanted, everyone rushing about moving house.’ Gan Grand Madam brought over a bowl of sour plum broth to help Eleventh Young Mistress beat back the summer heat. ‘Things like mung beans, which are cooling by nature, are best eaten sparingly.’

Eleventh Young Mistress smiled and nodded, sipping her sour plum broth while leaning against the bolster on the couch, chatting with Gan Grand Madam: ‘The Marquis went to great lengths over this lawsuit. With a ruling of equal division… is he faring well?’

* * *