Master Zhao read the note in Hupo’s presence, then burned the seal in her presence as well, and smiled as he said to her: “Go and report back to your Madam. Tell her that in a few days I intend to begin teaching the Young Heir the section on human affairs from the Primer of Youth — in particular passages such as: ‘When slanderous tongues converge, a rumor of tigers in the market gains credence; when gathered villains stir up trouble, a swarm of gnats can amass into thunder. Fabricated accusations weave a web of harm — such is how slander brews calamity; the shadow-shooting river sprite speaks of how malicious schemes harm men.'”

Hupo went back and made her report.

Shi’yi niang breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Xu Sizhun had already gone with Xu Sijie to the rear garden, where a great crowd of maidservants and matrons were attending them as they flew kites.

Nanny Tao arrived with two young maidservants, bringing tea and pastries.

Seeing this, Xu Sizhun came running over, drenched in sweat.

“Nanny, Nanny, what did you bring for me!”

Nanny Tao quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from Xu Sizhun’s face.

“I made the Fourth Young Master’s favourite poria cocos cake, and the Fifth Young Master’s favourite rose pastry.”

Xu Sijie, who had been right behind Xu Sizhun, let out a cheer when he heard this: “There is something for me too?”

“Whatever the Fourth Young Master has, our Fifth Young Master naturally has as well!” Nanny Tao laughed, covering her mouth.

Xu Sizhun happily pulled Xu Sijie into the cool pavilion, where they sat at the stone table covered with a scarlet cushion and drank tea and ate pastries.

The manservants who had been holding the kites let out a sudden cry of alarm — Xu Sizhun’s butterfly kite had become tangled with Xu Sijie’s hundred-legged centipede kite.

Xu Sijie grew anxious, jumped up and ran out at once, and the maidservants and matrons attending him followed after him.

Xu Sizhun, however, was held back by Nanny Tao, who wiped the sweat from his back with a handkerchief and said tenderly: “My precious little master, do rest a while. The kites are in the manservants’ hands — nothing will happen to them.” Then she asked him in a low voice: “Young Master, did Nanny Du mention the matter of the Fourth Madam sending flowers to the Grand Madam?”

The Grand Madam had not raised the matter in front of the children, so Xu Sizhun assumed the Grand Madam knew nothing of it.

“She did not!” Xu Sizhun shook his head, and thinking of how Nanny Tao had confidently predicted that Nanny Du would know which words to say and which to leave unsaid, he raised his face with a smile. “Nanny, you were right about everything. Grandmother said nothing at all. But Mother called me in to speak with her. Mother even praised me and said I was a good young heir…”

“Is that so?” He was about to share everything Shi’yi niang had said when Nanny Tao cut him off with a laugh, then answered him with something entirely unrelated to what he had asked: “The Fourth Young Master is still small and does not understand certain things yet. At present, it is the Fourth Madam who holds sway over this household. Whether it is Nanny Du or Xi’er, they all depend on her for their livelihoods. I am different. I was your mother’s own personal attendant — I eat from the provisions your mother personally left, wear garments your mother personally gifted. Certain things, therefore, only I am in a position to speak of.”

The topic had shifted so abruptly and so awkwardly that Xu Sizhun was momentarily bewildered.

Nanny Tao saw this and laughed: “Young Master need only remember that Nanny Tao is utterly loyal and speaks only the truth to you.”

Xu Sizhun thought of his late mother’s dying wishes and nodded, though with some confusion.

Nanny Tao then smiled and rose to her feet: “Young Master, go and play. I must go back as well. It is time to burn incense at the altar for the First Young Mistress.”

Xu Sizhun nodded, straining to hold onto that increasingly fading image in his mind, and felt no more desire to play.

Xi’er, standing outside the pavilion, watched Nanny Tao’s figure recede into the distance and glanced back at Xu Sizhun.

The next day at school, Xu Sijian recounted with gleeful animation how he and several older cousins had gone on a spring outing and happened upon Academician Han of the Hanlin Academy enjoying himself with a courtesan. Master Zhao smiled and said he had a sharp tongue, then proceeded to teach the four brothers — Xu Siqin, Xu Sijian, Xu Sizhun, and Xu Sijie — about human affairs from the Primer of Youth.

Xu Siqin and Xu Sijian were rather embarrassed; Xu Sizhun and Xu Sijie listened in a state of general puzzlement.

Master Zhao sighed inwardly.

Whether it was learning or conduct, one must progress step by step. Forcing growth like this would certainly yield poor results.

After reflection, he had a manservant go and tell Hupo: “We are currently studying the Primer of Youth, but I fear the Fourth and Fifth Young Masters are too young to fully absorb its essence.”

Shi’yi niang thought it over, and just as Xu Sizhun was about to finish lessons, she called in several newly placed young maidservants to play a game — she had them stand three or four feet apart from one another. Hupo quietly whispered something to the first maidservant on the left, and that maidservant then quietly passed it to the one standing next to her, continuing in this fashion until the last maidservant on the right spoke aloud what she had heard — then the first maidservant on the left declared what Hupo had originally told her.

What Hupo had said had naturally been garbled beyond recognition in the transmission.

The young maidservants could barely contain themselves, every face contorted in strange expressions.

Xu Sizhun and Xu Sijie finished their lessons and returned.

Seeing the scene, they could not help but be curious.

Hupo explained it to them with a cheerful smile.

Xu Sizhun’s eyes went wide: “How could the message get so distorted?”

Shi’yi niang had been waiting for just this question. She smiled and drew Xu Sijie close: “If you do not believe it, Zhun Ge’er, try it yourself.”

Xu Sizhun eagerly volunteered to stand at the far left.

The result, of course, spoke for itself.

He laughed so hard he could barely stand: “It is all these little maidservants who do not know how to repeat a message properly.”

Shi’yi niang smiled and called over Hupo and Lv Yun and the others, and they all played the game together.

The message was distorted in the end no matter what.

Hupo and Lv Yun, unlike the little maidservants, dissolved into helpless laughter.

Xu Sizhun laughed so hard that he doubled over into Shi’yi niang’s lap, startling Hupo and the others into pulling him back up: “My little master, mind the Madam’s condition — you cannot throw yourself at her like that.”

He wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes and nodded repeatedly.

Shi’yi niang then gently reprimanded the young maidservants not to gossip and not to pass on distortions for others to believe.

Xu Sizhun had been listening; he jumped up, waited until Shi’yi niang had finished speaking and the young maidservants had withdrawn, then said excitedly: “I understand what Master Zhao meant now. This is how messages get distorted, which is why ‘rumors die in the presence of the wise.'”

Shi’yi niang took the opportunity to smile: “So a truly discerning person would never rush to conclusions at the first hint of wind and grass rustling.”

Xu Sizhun nodded emphatically.

Afterward, Master Zhao also told the story of Three Men Make a Tiger, and the story of the Shadow-Shooting Sprite. Nanny Tao’s words were thus slowly consigned to the back of his mind.

But Shi’yi niang had not forgotten.

She had originally thought that if Nanny Tao merely vented a few complaints over the anniversary memorial for the late First Madam, she would let it pass. But now Nanny Tao had gone so far as to provoke Xu Sizhun a second time — that made her weary of the matter.

Taking advantage of a moment when Xu Lingyi had been invited by Yu Yiqing to his home to discuss the marriage arrangements for Yu Cheng, Shi’yi niang summoned Lu Yonggui.

“Nanny Tao’s son, Tao Cheng, may be employed as a manager at the estate, but as he and you are both personal attendants of Elder Sister’s household, you ought to be fairly familiar with and knowledgeable about one another.”

Ever since Shi’yi niang had placed a dull-witted young manservant to follow at his side every day, he had been quite clear in his own mind: Shi’yi niang was signaling to him that unless he managed to go his entire life without making even the smallest error, she could ruin him at any moment.

He kept his head slightly bowed and replied respectfully: “This servant has had some dealings with him.”

Shi’yi niang smiled: “What manner of man is he?”

Lu Yonggui considered carefully: “Elder First Mistress’s farmland has been in his hands, and every few years he acquires a few more plots of land. Over the years, the holdings have grown by nearly a hundred additional mu of fertile fields. During lean years he has also managed to keep the farmhands from going hungry without having to open the granaries.”

Shi’yi niang smiled: “By that account, he is quite capable.”

Lu Yonggui smiled and answered with an affirmative.

Shi’yi niang nodded, lifted her teacup, and sipped from it without hurry, then asked: “I wonder what hobbies he has?”

Lu Yonggui started, glanced up at Shi’yi niang, only to find her gaze looking directly back at him. He lowered his eyes somewhat flustered: “Hobbies… it seems he does not have any particular hobbies!”

“How can a person have no hobbies at all?” Shi’yi niang said with a smile, rubbing the teacup. “Take Manager Lu, for instance — he enjoys collecting bronze coins. And take me — I enjoy tending to flowers and plants. You yourself said Tao Cheng acquires a few plots of land every few years. Who is to say his hobby is not buying land!”

Lu Yonggui felt his heart tighten as he heard this.

Shi’yi niang smiled faintly and said nothing more, using the lid to brush the floating leaves from her teacup. Occasionally the clear, crisp sound of porcelain against porcelain rang out in the quiet room, adding a few layers of tension to an already somewhat oppressive atmosphere.

Seeing this display, Lu Yonggui understood that Shi’yi niang would not relent until she had achieved her purpose. His mind worked rapidly.

Tao Cheng was nothing more than a minor estate manager. That Shi’yi niang could recall his name at all was surely because of Nanny Tao.

In the inner household, there was never any right or wrong.

Lu Yonggui had no wish to be dragged into it.

He feigned ignorance and managed a strained smile: “Tao Cheng is a cautious and careful man in his conduct. If he has a hobby, it would be that he enjoys a drop of wine. Unfortunately his tolerance is rather poor — nine times out of ten he ends up thoroughly drunk.”

Shi’yi niang nodded and smiled: “Since Manager Lu knows Tao Cheng so well, I think there is a matter that will need Manager Lu to handle it personally.”

Lu Yonggui groaned inwardly but had no other choice. He smiled and said: “The Fourth Madam was a young miss from the Luo family, and I was once a servant of the Luo household. The word ‘Luo’ cannot be written with two separate strokes. Whatever the Madam requires, I naturally will not shirk. Only I am slow-witted — if there is anything I do not handle well, I beg the Fourth Madam’s indulgence.”

Shi’yi niang smiled: “When it comes to it, this matter is quite simple. Since Tao Cheng enjoys his wine but gets drunk nine times out of ten, I wonder — if he were to have a few cups and then go and discuss buying land with someone, might he not be swindled?” She finished and looked at Lu Yonggui with a bright smile. “I would ask Manager Lu to help look into this. That way, should others find out, our Luo family’s reputation will not be tarnished.”

Lu Yonggui drew a sharp breath, and after a long moment replied in a hushed voice: “Since it is the Madam’s instruction, I will do my very best to carry it out!”

Shi’yi niang gave a satisfied nod and raised her teacup to bid him farewell.

More than half a month later, Tao Cheng came rushing into the household in a panic to see his mother.

Nanny Tao snatched the feather duster from the incense stand and proceeded to beat him soundly.

Tao Cheng covered his head: “Three hundred mu of wheat fields at the height of their season — who would not have been tempted! How was I to know the man was not the real landowner?”

“How dare you argue back!” She knew her own son better than anyone. “Were you drunk when you signed that land deed?”

Tao Cheng dared not admit it. He gritted his teeth: “No. Absolutely not.”

What was done was done — beating him was useless, scolding was equally futile.

Once Nanny Tao’s temper had run its course, she walked toward the inner room and asked Tao Cheng as she went: “How much is short?”

Tao Cheng said timidly: “Two… two thousand taels!”

* * *