Nanny Tao’s affairs were left to others to handle. The attention of the old dowager and those around her was fixed entirely on the now-recovered Xu Sizhun. Doctor Liu, beaming like a figure of contentment, said: “…The Young Master has been through an ordeal these past days. His diet should be as light as possible. I will prescribe two more doses of tonics to replenish his vital energy and restore his blood — and there should be no further impediment to his recovery.” He paused here. “That said, the Young Master’s constitional deficiency was present from birth, and medicine can only do so much. It might be better to find someone skilled in medicinal cuisine to attend to him — the effect would be far greater for far less effort.”
Xu Lingyi took these words to heart. After seeing Doctor Liu out, he consulted the old dowager: “I am afraid this matter will require Mother to take some trouble as well.”
The old dowager, however, turned her gaze to Second Madam: “Yizhen, do you know anyone suitable?”
Second Madam thought it over and said: “Let me try.”
No one said anything further, and the matter was entrusted to Second Madam.
Xu Lingyi then raised the matter of having the Daoist Master Changchun perform a ritual and of going to Ciyuan Temple to burn incense. “…As for Daoist Master Changchun — he can summon trouble out of thin air where none exists. Since Zhun Ge’er has woken, I see no need to invite him.” His tone carried evident impatience. “Besides, having someone come to the house to perform a Daoist rite would mean setting aside a courtyard especially for it. All that coming and going of people would be chaotic — and if someone strayed to the wrong place, that would be most inconvenient. I’ll have Head Steward Bai prepare a generous red envelope to send along to him. As for Ciyuan Temple — we had originally planned to go early tomorrow morning, and that need not be changed. There are always many women of distinguished families at that temple. If anyone asks, we can simply say we have gone to fulfill a vow.”
The “someone straying to the wrong place” referred to the fear that someone might discover Yi Yiniang being held under confinement. The “many women of distinguished families” referred to the fact that many wives and daughters of the capital’s noble and high-ranking households were fond of burning incense at Ciyuan Temple — which was also precisely a good opportunity to deflect any rumors.
With Xu Sizhun awake, the old dowager felt as though a great weight had lifted from her body. She smiled and agreed: “Very well, that is settled then.” And she added: “And I too must go to Ciyuan Temple and light a stick of incense for the Bodhisattva. Zhun Ge’er has escaped danger — it is truly the Bodhisattva’s blessing.” Then, smiling, she instructed Gjin and Yuban: “Send word to Danyang’s side — let her rest easy. And to Qin Ge’er, Jian Ge’er, Jie Ge’er, and Zhen Jie’er as well — have someone go with messages to all of them.” Then, seeing the hour was not early, she added: “I think it must be nearly time for the midday meal — tell the kitchen to prepare a few extra dishes, and let Danyang and the others all come. We shall all sit down together for a proper meal.”
Gjin and Yuban smiled and went off to carry out these instructions, one directing the little maids to pass on the messages, the other going to tell the kitchen to add to the menu.
The room fell quiet again.
Xu Lingyi went to support the old dowager into the east side room.
But the old dowager headed all the way to the east inner alcove.
“Just now Nanny Tao came.” The old dowager sat down on the reclining couch, and Xu Lingyi, Shiyiniang, and Second Madam gathered around her. “She was saying something vague about having received word from Shiyiniang, so I had her brought in…”
The old dowager related everything that had happened, leaving nothing out.
Xu Lingyi was not greatly surprised. Zhuxiang had not gone directly to Head Steward Bai to summon a physician but to Zhaoying, who served close to Xu Lingyi. And more than that — Zhaoying had been told the full account of what had occurred. What Zhaoying knew, Xu Lingyi knew. With so many people present, Xu Lingyi had said nothing at the time, but that evening he had taken Shiyiniang’s hand and asked quietly: “Were you frightened earlier?”
Shiyiniang nodded.
Xu Lingyi drew her into his arms and sighed softly. “Bear with it a little longer — it will not be much more time before you can return to the main quarters.”
“It is nothing,” said Shiyiniang. She felt that staying here with the old dowager, keeping her company and being a steadying presence, was itself a way of helping Xu Lingyi. “Things are quite good here. And I can keep an eye on Zhun Ge’er.”
Xu Lingyi made no reply.
The next day, he left Shiyiniang at home while Second Madam and Fifth Madam accompanied the old dowager to Ciyuan Temple. After Doctor Liu had come to give Xu Sizhun his follow-up examination, Xu Lingyi asked Doctor Liu to take Shiyiniang’s pulse while he was there.
Doctor Liu had no knowledge of the circumstances and could not help but wonder inwardly whether Xu Lingyi placed too much importance on matters of lineage. He offered a tactful reassurance: “All medicines carry some degree of caution. Your honored wife’s pulse is deep and steady with a strong force — from a medical standpoint, I can find no cause for concern. I would suggest that she follow the same medicinal cuisine regimen as the Fourth Young Master.”
Xu Lingyi truly did give this consideration, and in the end engaged two physicians particularly skilled in medicinal cuisine — one to attend to Xu Sizhun, and one to attend to Shiyiniang. But this is a matter for another time and need not be elaborated here. We turn now to Xu Lingyi’s sending Doctor Liu away, whereupon Head Steward Bai came in, all pinched smiles.
“My lord, Daoist Master Changchun has said that he did nothing — how could he accept the Marquis’s gratuity? If the Marquis truly means it kindly, he asks that the Marquis have a gilded plaque made and sent over, and that shall be considered as the fulfillment of the worldly bond between himself and the Fourth Young Master.”
Xu Lingyi was deeply displeased on hearing this, yet still agreed. He told Head Steward Bai: “You decide what characters to gild — whatever suits.”
Head Steward Bai knew that he had no liking for Daoist Master Changchun, and had been bracing himself as he came — he had not expected him to agree so readily. Afraid he might change his mind, he smiled his acknowledgment and hurried out.
Xu Lingyi then said to Shiyiniang: “Watch — Daoist Master Changchun will take our household’s plaque and broadcast it everywhere, claiming how he foresaw all of this and how grateful I am to him.” His tone carried a note of indignation.
Shiyiniang smiled brightly: “And yet because of it, everyone will be all the more convinced that what happened to Zhun Ge’er was the will of heaven!”
“Otherwise, why would I let him carry on like this?” Xu Lingyi muttered.
But the matter turned out to be more complicated than either of them had imagined.
Daoist Master Changchun received the gilded plaque sent by the Xu household, then announced to his followers that, in gratitude for the kindness shown to him by Marquis Yongping’s household, he had decided to come to the Xu mansion in person and perform a blessing ceremony for Xu Sizhun — free of charge.
And just like that, things had come full circle — and in a way that left Xu Lingyi unable to refuse. Since he had sent the plaque, he had acknowledged Daoist Master Changchun; and having acknowledged him, to refuse Daoist Master Changchun’s offer to perform a blessing ceremony for Xu Sizhun would be a plain contradiction.
In truth, this was an excellent opportunity to draw everyone’s attention away. But because the man was Daoist Master Changchun — whom Xu Lingyi found most insufferable — he paced back and forth in his study for half an hour before he could barely contain his fury.
Shiyiniang laughed until she could not straighten her back.
When the old dowager and the others returned from Ciyuan Temple and heard, they too had a good laugh over it.
It was at just this moment that the Third Master’s reply arrived.
He instructed Xu Lingyi to handle the matter in full on his behalf.
Xu Lingyi set down the letter and at once told Head Steward Bai to prepare a carriage and horses: “…After all, she served the Third Brother once. And since Zhun Ge’er has come to no great harm — send Yi Yiniang to Shanyang. Let the Third Brother deal with her.”
Qin Yiniang heard this and grew uneasy: “Cui’er, go and find out — was she truly sent to Shanyang, or somewhere else? Shanyang is so far away, through wild and desolate country — nothing will happen to her on the road, will it?”
Cui’er dared not now see anyone, afraid of implicating others. Being told by Qin Yiniang to go and gather information, she was filled with resentment.
If not for her, how would she have ended up in this state?
Yet thinking of her parents, brothers, and sisters at home, she could not bring herself not to caution Qin Yiniang: “Yiniang, at a time like this, we can barely manage to keep out of the way — how can we go nosing about for news of Yi Yiniang? Do not forget — the Fourth Madam specifically raised this very matter with you before. Do not go stirring up more trouble.”
Qin Yiniang did not press further. She reflected that she had always been so careful — it was only in front of Yi Yiniang that she had ever let slip a few words, and it was this very person who had repeated what she said. If Yi Yiniang had truly been sent to Shanyang, all was well enough — to save her own skin, Yi Yiniang would certainly not dare say anything. But if she had not been sent to Shanyang, then a cornered dog would leap the wall — if Yi Yiniang revealed everything, Xu Lingyi would in all likelihood not spare her.
She lay on her bed tossing and turning, unable to sleep. At midnight she called out “Cui’er”: “Tell me — how might we get the Second Young Master back?”
A tiger may be cruel, yet it does not devour its own cubs. Even if the Marquis had a heart of iron and stone, surely he could not kill a birth-mother in front of her own son?
Cui’er burrowed her head beneath her quilt.
She had heard that the drug, once administered, caused the organs to cramp and shred — that one suffered for three full days and nights before finally dying. How else could so many people, upon hearing they were to be given the drug, be frightened half to death?
With that thought, she began to shiver uncontrollably.
She had heard Qin Yiniang call out “Cui’er” twice before she registered it, and answered with ill-concealed reluctance: “Yiniang always has so many ideas — I do not know.” There was undeniable resentment in her tone.
“What has come over you?” Qin Yiniang, grown somewhat jumpy and quick to alarm, sat up at once. “Have you heard something?”
“Your servant has heard nothing at all!” Cui’er knew this was the moment to soften her voice and make it gentle — but the words came out with a certain stiffness just the same.
Qin Yiniang grew all the more unsettled. She climbed out of bed and sat down beside Cui’er, saying in a low voice: “Child — what has gotten into you?”
Cui’er thought of how things had been between the two of them in days past — and of how Qin Yiniang would call to her just like this. Who could have imagined that this very person, with her warm and gentle smile, was the one who had brought her to where she stood today.
She could not even bring herself to look at her. She turned her head away: “Yiniang, do go to sleep. I truly have heard nothing.”
Qin Yiniang did not believe a word of it. Afraid that Cui’er might reach a breaking point and leap up to seize her by the throat, Cui’er found a way to distract her: “I hear that Autumn Red’s wedding has been set for the sixth day of the sixth month, and Hupo’s for the first day of the eighth month…”
“Ah, so it is that,” said Qin Yiniang, and her manner eased. She returned to her bed, lay down, and drifted into her own thoughts, asking nothing more.
But Cui’er had nearly drawn blood from her own lip with her teeth.
Wen Yiniang was something else entirely — a class above the ordinary. And that Qiao Yiniang? Surely even you, Qin Yiniang — you who bore the eldest illegitimate son — you could not be less capable than a Qiao Yiniang who had no children and had long since lost favor? And that Qiao Yiniang had even gone so far as to reject her mother’s wish to arrange a match for her embroidered-curtain with a footman of Duke Chengguo’s household, and had instead brought four sets of gifts to Nanny Du to help find the girl a good match herself. And you, Qin Yiniang — born a maidservant yourself — had not one warm word to say to the maids who served you.
Thinking on all of this, she regretted all the more having followed the wrong mistress.
She lay awake, eyes open, until the sky grew light.
From the outer courtyard came the intermittent sound of gongs and drums.
The little maid who came to pour water and help them wash and dress arrived all smiles: “The Fourth Young Master is better, and the masters and mistresses are all so happy. They have invited Daoist Master Changchun — the one who can divine everything in all of Yanjing — to come and perform a blessing ceremony for the Fourth Young Master!”
Cui’er had no interest in any of this anymore. All she prayed for was some change in her present existence.
She gave a quiet “mm,” and with a distracted air sprinkled tooth powder onto her brush and scrubbed her teeth vigorously.
Shiyiniang, meanwhile, stood staring blankly at her toothbrush.
“Zhuxiang.” Her voice carried a note of surprised delight. “I — I don’t seem to feel anything at all!”