Nanny Tao’s feet slipped — if not for Tao Cheng’s quick eyes and quick hands, she would have fallen flat on her back.

“Who in the world had such audacity!” The blood rushed straight to her head. “How dare they set a con and pull you in!”

Tao Cheng’s shoulders shrank a little more: “It was Ying Da from Daxing.”

Nanny Tao was momentarily at a loss for words.

The late First Madam’s farmland was in Daxing, and this Ying Da was an idle hand-for-hire there who regularly ran errands for the prefect and handled small matters on his behalf, and as such was shown a measure of deference throughout the Daxing district.

“Which is why I did not pay enough attention.” Tao Cheng said with some dejection. “At the time I saw three hundred mu of wheat fields being sold for two hundred taels and assumed Lord Ren had acquired them somewhere and needed to dispose of them quietly. So I bought them. Who could have known that when I sobered up, the two hundred taels had become two thousand taels?”

Nanny Tao’s expression grew cold.

Since this Ying Da was capable of running errands for the Princess of Changning’s estate, he had presumably seen some of the world. One did not strike a dog without heeding its master. Given that he had pulled off such a brazen swindle for such an enormous sum, was he not afraid they would simply throw caution to the wind and report the matter to the authorities, dragging him into a litigation?

She asked with lingering reluctance: “Have you seen Ying Da?”

“No.” Tao Cheng helped Nanny Tao to the embroidered footstool by the table and poured her a cup of tea. “His wife says he has not been home for seven or eight days.” He then said: “Mother, after the fact I also felt something was not quite right.” Tao Cheng lowered his voice and said, “Which is why I came to find you in such a hurry. Could it be that we have offended someone without knowing? Or… could it be…” he paused here, as if making an oblique reference to something: “…that someone is deliberately trying to give us trouble?”

“You need not even ask!” Nanny Tao paid no heed to her son’s attentiveness and said, deliberating: “Two thousand taels — an ordinary person would not have such resources.” With that, she instructed her son: “Go and see if Lu Yonggui is home. He moves about widely and is full of ideas — he may be able to find out something.”

If it was not someone from outside, then it had to be someone from within.

At the thought of this, her teeth ground together with a sound like cracking bones.

Tao Cheng was somewhat hesitant: “Lu Yonggui is a difficult man to deal with…”

“You are nothing more than a farmland manager, yet someone has gone to the trouble of enlisting Ying Da to deceive you — this may well be aimed at the Young Heir.” Nanny Tao said coldly. “This is not a matter that concerns only our family. He has no grounds to refuse.”

Tao Cheng nodded and went to the western servants’ quarters where Lu Yonggui lived.

Several women were standing in the courtyard cracking melon seeds and chatting. One of them wore a pair of glittering solid-gold willow-leaf earrings, and when she saw Tao Cheng, she came forward smiling to greet him: “Is this not Tao Daye? What wind has blown you here today?”

Tao Cheng looked more carefully and recognized her as Yang Huizu’s wife.

He smiled: “I have come to see Manager Lu. Is Brother Huizu home?”

“He is, he is, he is!” Yang Huizu’s wife answered eagerly. “He just got back from the storehouse — he is right at home.” She then said: “You come at a bad time — Uncle Lu left first thing this morning. But why not sit in our room for a bit?” And she walked toward her own side chamber while calling out loudly: “Husband, Tao Daye from the estate is here!”

Yang Huizu came out, shuffling in his shoes: “What a rare guest!” He pulled him inside. “Come in and have some tea.”

Tao Cheng wanted to ask about Lu Yonggui’s whereabouts, and smilingly went in.

Yang Huizu’s wife brought out tea.

The pale green tea, the leaves fully unfurled, fragrant and aromatic — it turned out to be excellent Biluochun.

Tao Cheng could not help but laugh: “You have done well for yourself, my friend!”

Yang Huizu’s wife heard this and her eyes crinkled into pleased slits, with a touch of self-satisfaction: “Not nearly as well off as Tao Daye…”

Yang Huizu knew his wife was not the sort to make a good impression in company, and frowned as he shooed her away: “…Go fry a few dishes to go with wine — I want to have a couple of cups with Tao Dage.”

Yang Huizu’s wife grinned and headed to the kitchen.

Tao Cheng explained his purpose: “…Do you know where he has gone? When will he be back?”

“That I haven’t paid attention to.” Yang Huizu smiled. “The Fourth Madam seems to have given him some errand — he has been leaving early and coming back late every day.” At that, he gave a surprised sound: “He went to Daxing a few days ago too — how is it he did not stop in at Tao Dage’s place?”

Tao Cheng’s heart began to pound. He recalled the words Ying Da’s wife had said when he had gone to find Ying Da: “Tao Daye, you and my husband have always known one another — you know better than anyone what kind of man my husband is. Now that he has gotten his hands on such a large sum of money, there is no telling where he has gone off to enjoy himself. Even if you find him, I am afraid the money will be long gone. I think you would be better off going into the city and thinking of another way. Whatever else you are, you are still the Young Heir’s manager. And your household’s old madam is the Young Heir’s late mother’s nursemaid. That is more practical than wandering about searching for someone.”

He had assumed at the time that Ying Da’s wife was telling him to seek out a powerful backer — but now it seemed he may have misread her meaning entirely.

Tao Cheng could no longer sit still. He made a few vague remarks and then rose to take his leave.

Yang Huizu went and knocked on Lu Yonggui’s door.

The one who came to the door was Lu Yonggui himself.

“I have said what you told me to say.” The two went inside, and Yang Huizu said: “What if Tao Cheng kicks up a fuss? I am rather worried about that” — quite concerned — “he is not the sort who can restrain himself.”

“Do not worry!” Lu Yonggui’s expression was somewhat wooden. “Nanny Tao is a sharp woman. She will not let him cause a scene. Even setting aside the fact that this matter has no evidence or proof as of yet, even if there were proof, the Marquis would not allow Nanny Tao to create a disturbance, for the sake of his wife’s dignity. Nanny Tao understands this better than anyone. Even if she knew, she could only swallow it down with blood and teeth both.”

“That is for the best.” Yang Huizu gave a quiet sigh. “Cut the knot swiftly. Better to have this business exposed sooner than later, so that they stop meddling everywhere and dragging everyone else down with them.”

Lu Yonggui thought of Shi’yi niang’s smiling face, and for no reason he could explain, felt a faint chill run through him.

Tao Cheng waited a while in Nanny Tao’s side chamber before she finally returned.

He saw his mother walk in, her face an ashen grey, and was startled: “What has happened to you?”

Nanny Tao did not answer but instead asked him: “What happened? Was Lu Yonggui home?” Then, without waiting for Tao Cheng’s answer, she said with cold detachment: “I have just been making inquiries — over the past half month, Lu Yonggui has been coming into the household every few days to see the Fourth Madam.” Her gaze hardened. “He is almost certainly mixed up in this!”

Tao Cheng had not expected his mother to gain such leads so quickly, and hurriedly told her about his visit to the western servants’ quarters.

The matter was now quite plain.

“Then… then what should we do?” This business involved Shi’yi niang, and he found it deeply troubling. “She and the Marquis are husband and wife — one tumble in the same bed and all grudges and grievances dissolve away. Why else did Elder Sister dread a stepmother in the first place?”

Nanny Tao shot to her feet: “Come. Let us go see Lu Yonggui!”

“Yang Huizu said Lu Yonggui was not home…”

Tao Cheng was still saying this as Nanny Tao had already swept the curtain aside and was gone.

He had no choice but to hurry after her to the western servants’ quarters where Lu Yonggui and Yang Huizu lived.

In the fading evening light, Tao Cheng spotted Lu Yonggui at a glance.

He was standing beneath the toon tree at the corner of the wall, the evening glow illuminating his face, making his expression look somewhat murky and indistinct.

Nanny Tao slowed her steps.

“What did you gain from this?” She fixed her gaze on Lu Yonggui, her expression somewhat ferocious. “You had best not forget — without the Young Heir, you are nothing at all.”

“Without the Young Heir, I am indeed nothing at all.” Lu Yonggui’s voice was somewhat flat. “Which is why I would like to advise you to go with Tao Dage back to the estate. That would be better for you, and better for the Young Heir!”

Nanny Tao spat at Lu Yonggui: “You ungrateful wretch! Do not forget that if not for Elder Mistress, you would be nothing today…”

Lu Yonggui looked at Nanny Tao shaking with fury, lowered his eyes, murmured “those who walk different paths cannot plan together,” and then turned and walked away without looking back.

Left standing there, Nanny Tao and her son were both dumbfounded, and neither could collect their thoughts for quite some time.

After a long silence, Tao Cheng, acutely aware that this time he had gotten himself into serious trouble, said with great unease: “Mother, what are we to do? Two thousand taels — we cannot lay our hands on that much money at short notice. The Fourth Madam has had her eye on us all along and will never give us time to gather the funds. When the moment comes, failing to explain ourselves is the lesser concern — but if Mother’s lifelong carefully cultivated reputation is completely ruined, that is the greater matter…”

Nanny Tao, hearing this, thought of Shi’yi niang.

What a mistake it had been to nurture a tiger.

Had it not been for her, how would all these troubles have arisen?

A sharp pain stabbed beneath Nanny Tao’s ribs, and she could not help but reproach her son: “Now you have ideas — why did you not use your head in the first place, instead of going to drink with that sort of person?”

Now that things had come to this point, not only had she become meat upon the chopping block herself, but Zhun Ge was also dragged into it — her heart felt as though it were being sliced open.

Tao Cheng saw his mother’s eyes grow faintly moist and assumed she was worrying on his behalf, and quickly consoled Nanny Tao: “Mother, why don’t we go directly to the Elder Master and tell him everything. Whatever punishment comes — flogging or worse — I will accept it all. Perhaps the Elder Master, in consideration of our years of faithful and diligent service, will simply send us away and have done with it!”

“Send us away!” Nanny Tao’s gaze darkened. “That would still require waiting for the Elder Master to travel all the way from Yuhang to Yanjing first!”

This would not do, that would not do — what on earth was there to be done?

This was a responsibility that could be pushed onto anyone else, but not onto him.

As this thought flashed through his mind, Tao Cheng had a sudden inspiration. He thought of the furnishings in the late First Madam’s room, and his gaze drifted involuntarily toward the courtyard where the late First Madam had lived.

“Mother,” he tugged at his mother’s sleeve, “what if you were to lend me the things in Elder Mistress’s room for a short while…”

“Do not even think it!” Nanny Tao cut off her son’s daydream with finality. “Those things all belong to the Young Heir — they can be verified against the account ledger.”

Tao Cheng’s lips parted slightly, and in the end he said nothing.

He had always known it — no matter what happened, the person Mother thought of first was always Zhun Ge…

And Nanny Tao, looking at those prying figures lurking behind the window lattice, her complexion grew still more clouded: “Let us go inside before we give people something to laugh at.”

Tao Cheng said “mm” and quickly helped his mother back to the side chamber.

Nanny Tao gave her son quiet instructions: “You go back first. Sell whatever in the household can be sold — scrape together whatever you can. The estate is, after all, Elder Mistress’s property — the Fourth Madam cannot very well make direct inquiries there. Let us try to patch up the shortfall before she makes her move. That way, she will have nothing to say either.”

* * *