“The flower buds are very small,” Ji Ting’s wife explained, trembling with apprehension. “They’re hidden among the leaf stems and hard to see at a glance. They bloom in the third and fourth months, giving off a fragrance like orchids. So I deliberately planted a number of them around the front and back of the house.” She added, looking toward Shiyiniang as if asking for help: “Not only were some planted near my lady’s rooms — a few were also planted near the Grand Dowager’s side.”

The culprit behind Shiyiniang’s relentless vomiting was nothing more than a few specimens of an improved variety of orchid grass growing in the courtyard. Who could have foreseen that after becoming pregnant, Shiyiniang would develop such an acute sensitivity to the scent of orchids?

The grass seedlings had been planted at the start of spring, when there had been no sign yet that Shiyiniang was with child.

The Grand Dowager turned the matter over in her mind and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She instructed Ji Ting’s wife: “Go through all the flowers and plants in the household and clear them out properly — no more planting those mixed-up things in the future.”

Ji Ting’s wife retreated in humble and fearful compliance. She sought out Lvyun, who was seeing her to the door: “Dear girl, I don’t know who found this orchid grass, but the most urgent thing right now is to have it all pulled up. It’s already afternoon, and with just the few women we have in the greenhouse, there’s no way we can finish today. I beg you, let me borrow some help for this.” As she spoke, she bent her knees in a deep curtsy toward Lvyun. “Your great kindness, I will repay properly once these few days are past.”

“Listen to what Mistress says,” Lvyun laughed. “We’re all busy on my lady’s behalf — what is there to talk about in terms of great kindness? Only, the matter of reassigning the maidservants requires Hupo’s say-so. Mistress, wait a moment — I’ll go ask Hupo right now.” She had just turned to go when the hall’s inner door curtain was lifted and Yuban walked out.

“Lvyun, the Grand Dowager asks who discovered the orchid grass — she wants them called in to speak.”

Lvyun smiled in acknowledgment, and called out to the group of maidservants standing nearby: “Shuangzhu!”

A small maidservant of seven or eight years ran over.

Lvyun pointed to Yuban: “This is Yuban, the Grand Dowager’s maidservant. Acting on the Grand Dowager’s orders, she is calling you to come and speak.”

The small maidservant named Shuangzhu followed along timidly.

The Grand Dowager, seeing this small maidservant with her fair and delicate features, slight and slender frame, and a pair of very lively eyes, smiled and took her hand and tucked several sweets into her palm, then asked her warmly what her name was, how old she was, what her mother and father did, how long she had been in the household, and where she had first worked…

Though Shuangzhu was nervous, her speech was clear and articulate.

Learning that she was a child born of household servants, her parents working on the estate, and that she had been introduced into the mansion by Chief Steward Bai, the Grand Dowager was somewhat surprised and asked curiously: “How do you come to recognize this orchid grass?”

Shuangzhu replied: “When I was on the estate I often cut grass to feed the pigs — and this is not an ordinary grass.”

The Grand Dowager laughed heartily at this and turned to Shiyiniang: “This child of yours — though mischievous, she is also blessed with good fortune. Think of it: of all the maidservants in the whole compound, how many of them would know the difference between ordinary grass and orchid grass? And yet she is just the one who found it here with you.”

When Xu Lingyi came home and heard the story, he also laughed merrily and stroked Shiyiniang’s brow: “You must certainly be carrying a daughter. How else could she be this delicate and precious!”

Shiyiniang, resting half-reclined against the pillow bolster at the head of the kang, could turn her head and look through the glass window to see the maidservants and older servants hunching over to pull up the orchid grass in front of the house.

She thought of the Grand Dowager’s elaborate mobilization of the whole household over this, and her face flushed pink. She quickly changed the subject and asked Xu Sizhun, who stood to one side: “Will you go to the temple again tomorrow?”

Xu Sizhun replied: “The masters said I needn’t go. But I want to go!”

The bond between mother and child — a blood tie that cannot be severed.

Shiyiniang nodded and said gently: “Then go rest now. You’ll need to rise early tomorrow morning!”

Xu Sizhun bowed and withdrew.

No sooner had he left Shiyiniang’s courtyard than a junior maidservant came running: “Fourth Young Master! Fourth Young Master! Nanny Tao sent me to ask whether you are going to the Nian’en Hall for the memorial prayers today!”

Xu Sizhun recognized the girl as one of Nanny Tao’s attendants and said: “I was just about to go!”

The junior maidservant led the way at the front, and they went to Yuan Niang’s former residence.

On the east wall of Yuan Niang’s former bedchamber hung a half-length portrait of Yuan Niang.

Xu Sizhun stepped forward, bowed in obeisance, and offered incense. Nanny Tao invited him to the side room and asked him to sit down on the large kang by the window. She poured tea with her own hands.

“Nanny, do sit down as well,” Xu Sizhun said politely. “It is thanks to Nanny that Mother’s former residence has been so well looked after.”

Nanny Tao did not sit, but stood respectfully before Xu Sizhun. “This is only what I am duty-bound to do,” she said. Between the words, she noticed that Xu Sizhun’s eyes had already grown faintly moist, and after a moment’s hesitation, she lowered her voice and said: “Fourth Young Master, you seem to have grown taller still compared to a couple of months ago!” Her tone was full of feeling.

Xu Sizhun laughed and said: “Master Zhao told me to walk ten circuits around the small courtyard behind the back building every morning.” As he spoke, he jumped down from the kang cheerfully and bounced up and down on the spot right there.

“Nanny, see — am I stronger than before?”

Nanny Tao thought that if Yuan Niang were here to see Xu Sizhun like this, she would not know how overjoyed she would be. The corners of her eyes grew wet, and she nodded repeatedly. “Stronger than before, stronger than before!”

Xu Sizhun, hearing this, brightened at once, suppressed a smile that carried a touch of childlike innocence, and looked just as Yuan Niang had in her day.

Nanny Tao looked and started, a sourness rising in her heart.

Xu Sizhun had already fallen to chatting with Nanny Tao about nothing in particular: “Why hasn’t Nanny come to look in on me these days?”

Nanny Tao quickly gathered herself and smiled: “Nanny is getting old. These past days I caught a chill and was afraid of passing the illness to Fourth Young Master, so I didn’t come to pay my respects.” As she spoke, a junior maidservant brought in poria cakes, and Nanny Tao took them and set them on the kang table with her own hands. “These were made by my own hand — Fourth Young Master, please try them and see whether they suit your taste.”

The poria cakes were fragrant, soft, and sweet, with a few raisins tucked inside. Xu Sizhun smiled warmly and nodded: “Delicious!”

Nanny Tao poured Xu Sizhun a cup of clear tea: “Putting raisins in the poria cakes — that was an idea your mother had. If Fourth Young Master finds them good, I’ll make them often for Fourth Young Master to eat.”

Hearing that this had been learned from his late mother, Xu Sizhun ate two more pieces.

Nanny Tao then inquired about Xu Sizhun’s visit to the temple.

“The original plan was to hold the water-and-land memorial service in the side hall. But when the reverend nun Jining saw that Father had come, she moved the ceremony to the rear hall of the Grand Hall of the Great Hero. Four sets of seven makes twenty-eight people in all. Reverend Nun Jining’s senior disciple led as the presiding seat, conducting the chanting of the Lotus Sutra and the performance of the Samadhi Water Repentance.”

If Father had not gone, the ceremony for Mother would have been held in the side hall instead.

With these thoughts, Xu Sizhun’s words held a trace of disappointment.

If only Mother had not been ill…

Nanny Tao, hearing all this, a flash of hatred passed through the depths of her eyes. She let out a soft sigh: “If it had been at home, how could there have been only twenty-eight — four sets of seven? No matter what, there should have been thirty-five — five sets of seven!”

Xu Sizhun shook his head: “But Master Zhao said: with the Grand Dowager still living, one cannot exceed five sets of seven.”

“That is exactly why it is better to hold it at home!” Nanny Tao smiled. “In one’s own home, one need not observe such restrictions. Making it five sets of seven would not be out of the question.” She sighed again: “At least it was good that the Marquis went. Otherwise, how could it have been moved to the rear hall of the Grand Hall of the Great Hero? It is also the ill fortune of our First Young Mistress, to have encountered the Fourth Mistress feeling out of sorts. Had it not been so, the Grand Dowager would not have decided at the last moment to hold the ceremony at Ciyuan Temple, and the First Young Mistress’s death anniversary would not have ended up so desolate.”

Xu Sizhun, hearing this, actually reassured Nanny Tao instead: “It is only this year that things have been different. In other years it has always been done at home!”

Nanny Tao, seeing his expression of innocent unawareness, grew more anxious, and after a brief reflection asked: “Fourth Young Master, I heard that the Fourth Mistress was not well because she caught the scent of some flower?” Then she added: “As a matter of speaking, our Fourth Mistress is a person of elegant taste. She loves to arrange water narcissus herself, and she often has Ji Ting’s wife plant unusual things according to her own wishes. Say no more of other things — take the gardenia. That is a flower of the southern regions, not easily cultivated in the north. She specially drew out her own silver and gave it to Ji Ting’s wife, and had her nurse it until it flourished. She even gave plants away on all sides. So everyone who spoke of our household’s greenhouse would praise it and say it was grander than even the Fengdao Flower Farm that supplies the imperial palace directly. The greater your fame, the greater your danger — when I heard of it, my heart sank with misgiving, afraid the palace might hold it against the Marquis on account of it!”

The Grand Dowager had always told Xu Sizhun to conduct himself modestly and avoid drawing attention. Hearing Nanny Tao’s words, he found them somewhat similar to what the Grand Dowager said. He spoke earnestly: “Nanny need not worry. I will bring this up quietly with Mother. Once Mother knows, she will certainly not go on giving away flowers to everyone.”

Even as he said it, he was already picturing Shiyiniang’s startled expression — and then the look of heartfelt conviction and gratitude she would show, thankful for his timely word of caution. In his heart rose a small surge of excitement.

Nanny Tao was most astonished at how completely without guard Xu Sizhun was where Shiyiniang was concerned. She reflected for a moment and said: “The Fourth Mistress is an elder, and Fourth Young Master must take care in how he speaks. If you want to caution the Fourth Mistress, it would be better to speak to Nanny Du — that way there is an intermediary, and the Fourth Mistress also has an easier time saving face.”

Xu Sizhun had a vague feeling that this was not quite right. He thought it over and said: “In that case, would Grandmother not also learn of it?”

“You don’t quite understand how these things work,” Nanny Tao said with a smile. “Nanny Du is the most capable person at the Grand Dowager’s side. She has her own sense of what should be said and what should not. Otherwise, if she went and reported everything to the Grand Dowager, what good news is fine enough — but if something was not good, wouldn’t the Grand Dowager have been worn out long ago?”

The serving women’s practice of telling the good news and keeping back the bad, and weighing carefully what to report — this Xu Sizhun knew.

He gave a slight nod.

And in the depths of Nanny Tao’s eyes a smile bloomed. She added one final sentence: “A person fond of flowers and plants who nearly brought calamity upon herself through those very flowers — that kind of reversal could be called learning to swim and drowning in the water, could it not!”

“She went to Nanny Tao’s place!” Shiyiniang said languidly, reclining against the pillow bolster. “Do you know what was said?”

Yan Rong shook her head slightly and replied: “At the time the servants in the room were sent away. But when Fourth Young Master went in, his spirits were high, and when he came out his expression was heavy with thought. When he went back he barely ate a few bites of his meal before saying he was full.”

Shiyiniang gave a slight nod and reflected quietly: “By the look of things, I’ll have to speak with Master Zhao.”

Yan Rong, hearing this, lowered her voice: “My lady, in my view — why not find some pretext to send Nanny Tao back to her son’s household…”

“Tell me then — what pretext would do?” Shiyiniang listened and looked steadily at Yan Rong.

Yan Rong found herself at a loss and murmured hesitantly: “She now does nothing but pay her respects to Fourth Young Master, going nowhere else at all… And you are now with child, my lady. I fear that in the eyes of those who have thoughts about it, it would appear that you, emboldened by having a child, can no longer tolerate even a grain of sand in your eye…”