Xu Siqin and Xu Sijian first settled into the Yuanxiang Pavilion, then went to the Grand Dowager’s quarters for supper.

Everyone was present except for Shiyiniang.

Nephews and brothers reunited, and after a lively round of greetings, the gathering broke up.

The two brothers Xu Siqin and Xu Sijian went to Xu Siyu’s rooms. Several half-grown young men had the outer courtyard’s kitchen put together a few dishes, and someone produced a jar of Jinhua wine. They shut the door and began catching up on all they had missed.

Xu Sijian was young in years and direct in temperament, and being in the company of his own elder brother and cousin, he was talked into round after round until Xu Siqin and Xu Sizhun had drunk him thoroughly under the table. Xu Siqin called for Xiao Luzi to attend to him and see him to bed, then he and Xu Siyu fell to talking.

“Don’t hide it from me — what made you suddenly decide to come back to Yanjing?” Xu Siyu, who had grown accustomed to carousing with his schoolmates in Le’an, had long since developed a full repertoire of tricks for deflecting wine and pressing it on others — far beyond the reach of Xu Siqin and Xu Sijian, who had always lived under their parents’ watchful eyes.

Xu Siqin was already somewhat wine-flushed. At these words he gave a rueful smile.

“You know what my mother is like — always wanting to push further up the pole, one step beyond where she already stands. The result was that she offended Father’s superior. Father had no choice but to send the two of us brothers back to Yanjing.”

“Offended his superior?” Xu Siyu was somewhat taken aback. “What exactly happened?”

Xu Siqin let out a long sigh. “The prefect of Shangzhou has a daughter the same age as Jian Ge. He wanted to form a marriage alliance with our family. But Mother considered their family’s rank too low and didn’t agree. Instead, she set her sights on the daughter of the Shaanxi superintendent of education…” At this point his tone faltered. “But the Shaanxi superintendent looked down on us brothers for having no academic distinction…”

Xu Siyu sensed the matter was not so simple, and reflected for a moment. “Even so, that hardly amounts to an offense.”

Xu Siqin looked somewhat awkward. “At the time, Mother had entrusted the Shaanxi military commissioner’s wife to act as matchmaker. But the superintendent of education was an exceedingly arrogant man — he refused outright on the spot, leaving the commissioner’s wife rather embarrassed. She came back and told Mother. Mother was also a bit vexed, and told the commissioner’s wife about how the Shangzhou prefect had wanted to ally his daughter with our family but we had declined — no matter whether it was me or Jian Ge. Somehow, as the story passed from mouth to mouth, it got twisted into the tale that the Shangzhou prefect was trying to marry his daughter into our family for anyone who would have her…”

Xu Siyu was dumbfounded. “The way that was told — it’s terribly cutting!”

“Isn’t it!” Xu Siqin said helplessly. “Father is a broad and lenient man. Seeing that some households truly couldn’t afford to pay their grain tributes and taxes, he turned a blind eye and let it go — so the grain tribute and tax collections for these past two years have fallen short. The Shangzhou prefect never said a word about it before. But ever since these rumors started circulating, Father has been rebuked by the Shangzhou prefect month after month. By the time I left, Father’s performance evaluation had been rated ‘poor.'”

Xu Siyu was momentarily at a loss for words, and could only refill Xu Siqin’s cup.

The room fell still and quiet.

Xu Siqin drained two cups in succession. Then suddenly he said, “Xian Jie’er… is she well?”

“I don’t know either!” Xu Siyu’s eyes dimmed for a moment. “Not long after you left, I went to Le’an as well…” So saying, he raised his cup and drank a deep draught, then lowered his voice: “Mother must know, I suppose. I’ve heard she and Lady Gan’s dowager has grown quite close.”

Xu Siqin made no reply. After a long silence he drew a deep breath, then smiled and said, “Right — what illness has your mother taken?” — steering the conversation elsewhere.

“She’s not ill!” Xu Siyu lowered his eyelids and murmured softly, “She is with child.”

“Ah!” Xu Siqin was somewhat surprised. Seeing Xu Siyu’s expression carry a tinge of bitterness, he smiled and refilled Xu Siyu’s cup. “Hey — didn’t you write me a letter last time saying that now you set your whole heart on how to pass the civil examinations, and that Fourth Uncle, seeing how diligently you apply yourself, would leave a measure of dignity for Qin Yiniang, and you would have no further regrets? What’s the matter? Were those not your true feelings?”

Xu Siyu, hearing this, shot Xu Siqin a glare. “You and I — would I speak anything but my true feelings with you?”

“Then what is there for you to mind!” Xu Siqin laughed. “Even if Fourth Aunt were to bear ten or eight children, what is that to you?”

“I never said I minded in the first place!” Xu Siyu argued. “When did I ever say I minded?”

“If that is so,” Xu Siqin said, “then why the agitation?”

Xu Siyu fell silent, his lips moving without forming words, and after a long pause finally said: “You’re the one who always misreads me…”

Xu Lingyi returned to his rooms to find Shiyiniang eating millet congee with relish, helped along by the preserved garlic that Lady Gan’s dowager had sent over.

He smiled and ruffled her hair, went to the dressing room to change, and when he came out, Shiyiniang was using her chopsticks to pick up a clove of garlic with an expression caught between craving and uncertainty.

“What is it?” Xu Lingyi settled onto the kang across from her.

“It tastes wonderful.” Shiyiniang spoke and then set the garlic clove back down in the small dish. “But I worry that eating too much won’t be good for me.”

Xu Lingyi laughed out loud. “Would you like some apple instead?”

Shiyiniang shook her head. “Never mind — I don’t want to feel unwell again.”

Hupo attended Shiyiniang through her washing and preparations for bed. When she returned, the maidservants had already laid out the bedding on the kang — these past several days they had been sleeping at the head of the great kang near the east side room window.

Xu Lingyi then inquired about Yu Cheng’s marriage prospects: “…Has it been settled?”

“Most likely it will work out!” Shiyiniang climbed onto the kang, although inwardly she was puzzling over why Xu Lingyi had suddenly thought to ask this. “Fourth Elder Sister is very pleased.” As she said so, a thought struck her, and she smiled. “Surely Third Uncle hasn’t asked you to help find a good match for Qin Ge and Jian Ge?”

Xu Lingyi helped settle her coverlet. “Not entrusted to me. Entrusted to Mother!”

She had actually guessed right.

“Mother must be in quite a difficult position!” Shiyiniang’s mind raced swiftly. “Matchmaking is a matter of balance — it requires families on both sides to be of roughly comparable standing before anyone can act as go-between. I took it upon myself to find a match for Cheng Ge precisely because Fourth Elder Sister has a gentle nature and a good heart, and the niece who married into Lady Gan’s family would have no reason to be made difficult for. For any other family, I wouldn’t dare take it on.” She then told Xu Lingyi about how Third Sister-in-law had once quarreled with her own sister-in-law from her maiden family, resulting in Xian Jie’er’s hasty betrothal. “…If Third Sister-in-law cannot even get along with her own natal sister-in-law, how much less with an outsider?”

Xu Lingyi had seen the Grand Dowager looking greatly troubled over Xu Lingning’s letter, and recalling that Shiyiniang had been arranging a match for Fourth Elder Sister, he had wanted to put a word of caution to her — but it turned out she understood the matter far better than he had imagined.

“You, ah!” He laughed, removed his shoes, and climbed onto the kang. “Everything you do, you have a whole system to it.”

Shiyiniang smiled, pressing her lips together.

She was worried that Xu Lingyi might hand her the matter of arranging marriages for Xu Siqin and Xu Sijian. If a daughter-in-law came through the door only to have Third Mistress play the mother-in-law and make the new bride’s life wretched, how would she ever face the girl’s family?

Seeing that Xu Lingyi did not pursue the topic, she quickly lay down. “Let us retire early tonight!”

Xu Lingyi, seeing she had eaten well and was ready for sleep, laughed, blew out the lamp, and lay down — yet his hand moved quite naturally inside her garment to rest against her still-flat belly.

Shiyiniang shifted to find a comfortable position and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

On the third day of the third month, knowing that Shiyiniang was unwell, everyone came by briefly to look in on her, then went to the flower hall for their meal. After the meal they moved to the Dian Chun Hall to hear storytelling.

Lady Zhou, however, made her way to Shiyiniang’s side.

“Are you with child?” she asked, her sharp eyes cutting straight to the truth.

“The imperial physician says the pulse is not yet entirely distinct,” Shiyiniang replied with a smile. “We shall know more clearly after a follow-up examination in a few days.”

“That lot of imperial physicians,” Lady Zhou laughed, “are simply afraid to take responsibility. I have experience with this sort of thing — I’m certain I’m not wrong.”

Shiyiniang smiled and instructed the maidservants to bring tea for Lady Zhou.

“These first few days haven’t been comfortable, have they!” Lady Zhou sat on the edge of the kang, chatting. “It will pass in time. Spring is here now, and eggs are plentiful — eat more eggs…” She spent a good while imparting her accumulated wisdom, then asked: “What do you intend to do about the Marquis?”

Shiyiniang, too embarrassed to say that Xu Lingyi had been staying close to the inner quarters these days, hedged vaguely: “I haven’t made any particular plans.”

“That won’t do!” Lady Zhou lowered her voice. “You must take precautions — get ahead of things and choose your own attendant women. Keep a close watch,” she said, gesturing toward the east courtyard, “and don’t let anyone take advantage of the opportunity.”

Shiyiniang smiled and said nothing.

There were some things she could not refuse, but she would not be the one to arrange them.

Lady Zhou, taking this for understanding and agreement, let out a long sigh. “As for our Yang Yiniang — she has passed on — I will have to comfort our lord in our household and help him take a concubine.”

Shiyiniang could not conceal her surprise.

“So he won’t think I couldn’t tolerate the Yang woman.” Lady Zhou smiled. “This time I didn’t elevate any of the maidservants from around me — instead I found someone from outside, from a respectable family of scholars, and what is more she is exceedingly pretty, no less lovely than that Yang woman was.”

Just then Third Lady Huang arrived.

“I knew you’d be hiding in here whispering secrets with Shiyiniang!” Third Lady Huang laughed, looking Shiyiniang over. “Are you with child?”

There was truly no keeping it from these mistresses who managed their own households.

Shiyiniang explained again.

Before she had finished speaking, First Lady Lin arrived.

“I just knew there was something about you that looked like you were with child,” First Lady Lin laughed. “This is wonderful — you’ve finally come through the hard part.” Then she spoke candidly: “Never mind all those tangled affairs — your own health is what matters, and bearing a son is what matters.” She also inquired about Shiyiniang’s eating and daily routine.

Shiyiniang chatted with all of them and found she felt no discomfort at all. The company sat together until evening, when the dinner hour came and they took their leave.

Several days later, the senior imperial physician Liu came again to take her pulse, this time pronouncing with full certainty that it was indeed an auspicious pulse. The Grand Dowager and the others finally dared to make the news known. Xu Lingyi moreover wrote a letter and had it carried to Yuyao. The Second Mistress and the Fifth Mistress brought tonic gifts to visit her. Xu Siyu and Xu Sijie chattered and buzzed around Shiyiniang, guessing whether it would be a younger brother or younger sister. Xin Jie’er walked back and forth before a full-length standing mirror watching her own reflection play. Zhen Jie took out several embroidery patterns to let Shiyiniang choose: “Shall I make a belly band with the ‘abundance year after year’ design? Or would a ‘joyful union’ belly band be better?”

Shiyiniang laughed and said: “Whichever you think looks prettiest — embroider that one!”

As they were speaking, both the Empress and the Crown Princess sent palace eunuchs to inquire about her condition and deliver tonic gifts.

No sooner had these departed than Fourth Elder Sister, having received word, arrived with medicinal herbs to visit her.

“Fifth Yiniang won’t know how pleased she’ll be when she hears!” She clasped Shiyiniang’s hand, and thinking of Seventh Elder Sister, she felt a surge of emotion she could not entirely suppress.

Shiyiniang also thought of Seventh Elder Sister, who still had no news of her own, and kept the conversation to cheerful things. “I hear that Cheng Ge’s betrothal has been settled?”

Fourth Elder Sister, not wishing to bring up Seventh Elder Sister and dampen the mood, smiled. “The small betrothal ceremony is planned for the fifth month. They’ll wait until the young lady has her coming-of-age ceremony before the wedding. Our Cheng Ge can apply himself to his studies in peace for a few years.” She added, “I came today, first to see you, and second to ask the Marquis to serve as matchmaker!”