Leaving the Eleventh Young Lady’s chambers, they found a light rain had begun to fall outside.
A fine drizzle pattered against the tips of the bamboo and the dried leaves, carrying a note of cool, quiet clarity.
Xu Sizhun asked Nanny Du, who had come to check whether he had settled in for the night: “Do you still remember my birth mother’s birthday?”
Nanny Du thought for a moment, then smiled: “It is the twenty-sixth of the fifth month” — then she wavered a little — “or should be the twenty-seventh.” She explained: “This old one is getting on in years and cannot quite remember clearly. Why does the Fourth Young Master suddenly ask about this today?”
“It’s nothing.” Xu Sizhun lowered his gaze, his long, thick lashes like a small fan casting crescent-shaped shadows — a sight terribly endearing. “I just thought of it all of a sudden.”
Nanny Du embraced Xu Sizhun with affection: “Sleep early! You still have to go to school first thing tomorrow morning!”
“Mm.” Xu Sizhun answered obediently with a soft murmur and rustled his way into bed.
Nanny Du tucked the corner of his blanket in for him, said a few words of instruction to Cha Xiang who was on night duty, and then went to the Grand Madam’s quarters.
Cha Xiang closed the door and lay down on the reclining couch nearby.
The room grew quiet.
The drops from the eaves fell at steady intervals, one after another — clear and distinct — the sound of them too persistent to let Xu Sizhun sleep. Images kept floating up before him: the faint, flattering smiles of the senior nurses and household managers.
In the past, all of that had belonged to his birth mother alone — but now, it belonged to someone else.
The very thought of it made him ache inside.
“Cha Xiang,” Xu Sizhun could not sleep, “what kind of person is your mother?”
The person lying in the bed had been tossing and turning, and Cha Xiang had not dared close her eyes.
“My mother?” Cha Xiang said with a laugh. “She used to serve in this household, waiting on the Grand Madam — though she was only raised to a third-rank maidservant before she was matched into a marriage.” She thought of how her mother had been overjoyed when she heard Cha Xiang was being assigned to the Fourth Young Master’s room, and her expression softened with happiness. “She tells everyone I’ve done well, that I’m a hundred times better than she was at my age. She keeps telling me to serve the Fourth Young Master properly — that when I leave service one day, I’ll be someone with standing…”
Xu Sizhun listened for a few lines before his attention began to drift.
His birth mother had not been like that. His birth mother had only to sit there with a smile, and even those senior household managers would stand with their hands at their sides. To say nothing of third-rank maidservants. His birth mother would not go about talking to everyone either — it was always others who spoke, and she who listened with a serene and composed expression. And when she did speak, every voice in the room would fall silent to hear her…
Thinking on this, a sudden longing to see his birth mother rose within him — and with time that longing grew stronger and more insistent, until it could not be put aside.
Xu Sizhun suddenly sat up, shoved his feet into his shoes, and climbed onto the large platform bed beside the window.
Cha Xiang, with no time to put on her outer garment properly, grabbed the lined jacket draped over her bedding and followed after him.
Xu Sizhun lifted the window curtain and looked outside.
The rain seemed to have stopped. The big red lanterns cast their glow over the rain-washed bluestone pavement, shimmering with an alluring display of five colors.
“Cha Xiang, I want to go see my birth mother.” At this moment the longing was so fierce it had left him restless, beyond the capacity to simply sit or stand.
Cha Xiang was badly startled: “Fourth Young Master, it’s already very late. Let us go tomorrow…”
Before her words were finished, Xu Sizhun had already slid off the platform bed and run to the clothing rack, pulling out a sapphire-blue robe and pulling it on over himself.
Cha Xiang hurried over: “Fourth Young Master, if the Grand Madam finds out, she will be displeased…”
Xu Sizhun suddenly turned around, his gaze fixed and steady upon Cha Xiang, his eyes clear and transparent as glass.
For no reason she could explain, Cha Xiang felt deeply flustered.
Xu Sizhun had already lowered his head: “My birth mother’s birthday is the twenty-seventh of the fifth month, and yet no one remembers it…”
A drop fell and landed at her feet.
An ache rose involuntarily in Cha Xiang’s heart.
The self-striking clock on the wall began to chime — dong, dong, dong.
She could not help biting her lip.
It was only just past the hour of the Dog — still early. The late Fourth Madam’s courtyard was right behind the Grand Madam’s courtyard. There were people like Nanny Wang and others living in that courtyard, and there were also night-watch attendants in this courtyard… surely it would be all right.
“Fourth Young Master, in that case we’ll need to let Bi Luo and the others know first…”
Xu Sizhun lifted his head. His eyes, washed clean by tears, were exceptionally dark and lustrous.
The corners of his mouth slowly curved upward into an arc of quiet joy.
The rain had indeed stopped, but the wind had now picked up.
Cha Xiang took Xu Sizhun by the hand, and the two of them crept stealthily out the door.
The courtyard was perfectly still, and the light in the Grand Madam’s inner chamber had already been extinguished.
Cha Xiang paused slightly.
The Grand Madam had retired so early…
“Fourth Young Master, watch your step.” She murmured softly, and together with Xu Sizhun she rounded the ear-room beside the main hall and made her way to the back courtyard.
Perhaps because the light rain had fallen earlier that evening, most of the back service rooms where the maidservants lodged had their lamps lit — but the courtyard itself was entirely without a soul.
Cha Xiang stood beneath a window and called softly to the matron on night duty inside: “Auntie, this is Cha Xiang from the Fourth Young Master’s room — I left something behind in the late Fourth Madam’s chambers and must go fetch it urgently.”
The matron immediately opened the door.
The creak of the turning bolt carried far in the quiet, setting Cha Xiang’s heart hammering several times: “Auntie, please keep your voice down. If Nanny Du finds out, I’ll be in real trouble!”
The matron looked up and caught sight of Xu Sizhun following behind Cha Xiang, and her voice dropped a full eight notes all at once.
“I know, I know!” She gently unhook the key at her waist and opened the back gate for them.
Cha Xiang pressed two small pieces of broken silver into the matron’s hand: “Auntie, wait for us a moment — we’ll be right back.”
The matron did not dare accept the silver: “Go quickly, Miss Cha Xiang, and come back soon — I’ll keep watch right here.” Her face was wreathed in smiles.
“This is the Fourth Young Master’s small token of thanks.” Cha Xiang pressed the silver into her hand once more.
Only then did the matron accept it with delight, and warmly said: “Fourth Young Master, please go at ease — no one will notice.”
Cha Xiang offered her quiet thanks and set off with Xu Sizhun through the back gate.
On both sides of the path stood great trees heavy with foliage. When the wind blew through, the branches swayed and rustled in wild, sweeping motions, making a soft shushing sound — like the sound of silkworms devouring mulberry leaves. Just the thought of it sent a chill down one’s spine.
Xu Sizhun edged a little closer to Cha Xiang.
Cha Xiang quickly draped an arm around Xu Sizhun’s shoulders: “It’s nothing — just the wind!” Her voice trembled slightly.
“I — I’m not afraid!” Xu Sizhun protested, as though the denial itself were proof of guilt — but his eyes were fixed on the great red lantern swaying in the wind not far ahead. That was where his birth mother lived. Once we reach there, birth mother will protect me.
Cha Xiang nodded, and her steps quickened involuntarily.
Suddenly, a dark shape darted out from the side of the grove.
“Ahh!” The two clutched each other and let out a sharp, piercing shriek.
The dark shape seemed to have been startled by them in turn, and spun around abruptly.
A pale white face, blackened hollow eye sockets, and a long red tongue hanging from the mouth.
Xu Sizhun’s eyes rolled back, and he crumpled softly to the ground.
The Eleventh Young Lady had already retired for the night, but Xu Lingyi was still sitting up against the headboard reading.
A burst of noise came from outside.
“What’s happened?” She propped herself up on her elbow and sat partway up.
“You rest,” Xu Lingyi said, his brow lightly furrowed. He set down his book. “I’ll go take a look.”
The Eleventh Young Lady lay back down.
Xu Lingyi had only just shoved his feet into his shoes when Hupo lifted the curtain and entered.
Her complexion was grim. She performed a hasty curtsy and said in a low voice: “Just now, the maidservant Ge Jin from the Grand Madam’s side came over. She said the Fourth Young Master has had a terrible fright, and asks the Marquis to please go over quickly.”
Xu Lingyi’s expression shifted at once: “How did this happen?”
“What has occurred?” The Eleventh Young Lady felt a sudden surge of unease in her heart and sat up.
Xu Lingyi had already bent down and pulled on his shoes, snatching up his outer robe from nearby and draping it over himself.
“Mother is there — you rest first. I’ll go take a look and come straight back.” He gave a brief instruction, then strode out of the inner chamber in long, sweeping steps.
The Eleventh Young Lady then called out: “Hupo.”
Hupo hurried forward and helped the Eleventh Young Lady put on her shoes: “Ge Jin said nothing at all, and I had no time to ask in detail.” As she spoke, she helped the Eleventh Young Lady stand and assisted her in putting on her outer jacket.
There would be no knowing what had happened until they got there.
The Eleventh Young Lady and Hupo went to the Grand Madam’s quarters.
Lights blazed inside the room and out. When they entered, they saw the matron who had been on night duty in the Grand Madam’s rooms kneeling in the middle of the courtyard with her head bowed low, trembling all over — while the usual attendant maidservants and matrons all stood under the eaves looking utterly terrified.
At the sound of their arrival, a sharp-witted young maidservant came forward to support the Eleventh Young Lady, while others lifted the curtain: “Marquis, Grand Madam — the Fourth Madam has arrived!”
Before the words had faded, Yu Ban came hurrying out.
“Fourth Madam, however did you come!” As she spoke, she ushered her inside.
“Where is Zhun’er?”
Xu Lingyi was standing in the center of the main hall, his expression as hard as iron. Cha Xiang, the maidservant who attended Xu Sizhun most closely, was kneeling at Xu Lingyi’s feet, her face streaked with tears.
At the sound of the Eleventh Young Lady’s voice, Cha Xiang’s body stirred — yet she still maintained her cringing posture and did not look back.
Xu Lingyi’s brow was knitted tightly: “Why have you come as well?” Then he added, “He is resting in Mother’s room.”
The Eleventh Young Lady could not be concerned with anything else, and turned immediately toward the Grand Madam’s inner chamber.
The Grand Madam was sitting with her head bowed by the edge of the large platform bed beside the window, wiping her eyes. Only Nanny Du was in the room attending to her.
“Mother!” The Eleventh Young Lady walked quickly over, and caught sight of Xu Sizhun huddled on the platform bed.
His face was ashen, his jaw clenched tight, and the expression of terror from his fright still lingered on his face.
“Has a physician been sent for?”
“You have come!” The Grand Madam took the Eleventh Young Lady’s hand. “Steward Bai has already gone to fetch the physician.”
Nanny Du had already brought over a brocade footstool.
The Eleventh Young Lady sat down without ceremony.
“What has happened?”
“Cha Xiang says Zhun’er suddenly wanted to go pay his respects to his birth mother, and she thought the hour was still early, and that there were Nanny Wang and others to look after things in that courtyard…” The Grand Madam recounted the entire course of events. “…By the time the matron on night duty rushed out, both Zhun’er and Cha Xiang were found collapsed on the ground.”
This was plainly someone in disguise as a ghost, deliberately frightening them.
The Eleventh Young Lady’s expression grew cold and sharp.
The timing and location had been calculated with such precision — this was not something just anyone could manage.
Her thoughts churning, she raised her eyes and looked toward the Grand Madam.
She saw a face full of grief — yet in the depths of the Grand Madam’s eyes, a few shards of keen severity glinted.
“As for Zhun’er…” The Eleventh Young Lady was very worried.
She was uncertain whether there were any effective treatments in Chinese medicine for such a condition.
The Grand Madam did not answer directly, but only urged her: “You are carrying a child — you cannot afford to be jolted about like this. Go quickly and rest. With me and the Marquis here, nothing will go wrong.”
With Zhun’er like this, how could she sleep?
The Eleventh Young Lady let out a soft sigh: “I’ll wait until the physician comes and hear what he has to say before I go to rest.”
“You child.” The Grand Madam understood her feelings and patted her hand. “Then come and lie down on my bed!”
The Eleventh Young Lady was just about to decline politely when Xu Lingyi entered, his expression as somber as still water.
—