The Dowager Madam laughed and chided the Fifth Young Master of Xu, “You always like to act up — aren’t you afraid of startling the young ladies?” She then looked behind her at the Fifth Mistress standing there. “Danyang, you really ought to keep a proper eye on him.”

The Fifth Mistress leaned a hand on the Dowager Madam’s shoulder and watched her husband with suppressed laughter.

“Fifth Uncle meant well!” The Third Mistress smiled. “With so many elders and sisters gathered here, surely we couldn’t have the performers come in to present the program themselves?” So saying, she personally went to take the playbill from the Fifth Young Master’s hands and presented it to the Dowager Madam.

The Dowager Madam, however, passed the playbill to Dowager Matriarch Zheng. “See what you fancy.”

Dowager Matriarch Zheng demurred and insisted the Dowager Madam choose first. “As the guest follows the host.”

Seeing her decline so sincerely, the Dowager Madam passed the playbill to Madam Huang beside her.

Madam Huang accepted it without ceremony, smiling. “With all of you passing it back and forth, you could have finished one whole act by now.” A maid behind her handed over a tortoiseshell pair of eyeglasses.

She took the glasses and read through the playbill carefully. “‘The Weaving Brocade,’ ‘The Shared Study,’ ‘The Pipa Record,’ ‘The Golden Sable,’ ‘The Golden Seal’… Let’s watch civil opera. This martial opera with all its crashing and banging — nothing but jumping and tumbling, and who knows what they’re even singing?” She looked around at those assembled.

No one raised any objection, and everyone said, “As you see fit.”

Madam Huang closed the playbill and said with a smile to the Fifth Young Master of Xu, “Then let them perform ‘Song of the Pipa’ — I enjoy listening to that one.”

The Fifth Young Master of Xu mimicked the manner of a teahouse attendant and gave a theatrical bow of acknowledgment, then took the playbill to the side rooms behind the stage.

Before long, the door of the side room opened, and several men carrying various instruments walked out and took their seats to the right of the stage.

A man in his forties came onto the stage and delivered a witty opening quip, and then a crash of gongs and drums rang out — and the opera began.

The Geyang vocal style was high-pitched and rousing, forceful and resonant. The accompaniment was led by large and small gongs and a drumboard — bold and powerful, clanging and clattering — and before a single voice had sounded, the scene was already alive with energy.

This was still a civil opera — what must a martial opera sound like?

Eleventh Miss found herself missing Yue opera, with its gentle, drawn-out notes and long sweeping water-sleeves — so full of mood and atmosphere.

This was a style she had never seen before, and she settled her mind to watch it attentively.

The first scene of “Song of the Pipa” was a parting. It told of the scholar Cai Bojie, newly wed, bidding farewell to his wife Zhao Wuniang to travel to the capital to sit the imperial examinations.

The performers onstage sang with deep feeling and precise expression — every gesture and gaze well-placed — but they sang and declaimed in a regional dialect, and Eleventh Miss had to concentrate fully just to catch about seventy or eighty percent of the words.

If only there were a booklet with the text printed out for the audience to follow along… Eleventh Miss recalled how, when she used to accompany her grandparents to the opera house, the theater always distributed such little booklets.

Someone suddenly tugged at her right sleeve.

Eleventh Miss knew without looking that it was Fifth Miss.

“Eleventh Miss, we cannot let Tenth Miss steal all the attention…” Her voice was very low.

Eleventh Miss simply turned around and opened her eyes wide. “Sister, what did you say? I can’t hear you!”

At just that moment, the drums and gongs paused for a beat, and her voice rang out clear and bright.

Everyone looked over.

Eleventh Miss turned to the assembled guests with an apologetic smile.

Fifth Miss gave an awkward smile and said, “I was saying you’ve moved into my space — you’re blocking my view.”

“Oh!” Eleventh Miss smiled and shifted her position, drawing closer to the First Madam.

The gongs and drums struck up again.

The second act was “The Triumph.” It told of Cai Bojie achieving the position of top scholar in the imperial examinations and his joy as he prepared to return home in glory — only for Prime Minister Niu to set his eyes on him and seek to take him as a son-in-law.

Eleventh Miss noticed Gan Seventh Miss sitting there, sneaking glances left and right with an expression of helpless, barely-contained boredom, while Gan Third Miss was listening with evident absorption — even going so far as to clench her fist tightly at the moment Prime Minister Niu announced his intention to take Cai Bojie as his son-in-law.

She looked at the other young ladies.

Qiao Lianfang seemed somewhat distracted, Lin Miss had her brow lightly furrowed, and although Tang Miss was sitting up primly, her expression shifted with the emotions of the performers — now smiling, now sorrowful.

Eleventh Miss could not help but feel inwardly amused.

She glanced at the Fifth Mistress.

Unexpectedly, she, like Tang Miss, was completely absorbed in the story.

Eleventh Miss considered for a moment, then looked back at Fifth Miss and Tenth Miss.

Fifth Miss’s complexion was iron-grey — not even powder could conceal her furious agitation; she had no heart for watching opera at all. And Tenth Miss — she gazed at the stage with a contented, satisfied expression.

The saying “when the sandpiper and the clam fight, it is the fisherman who profits” suddenly came to Eleventh Miss’s mind.

When the second act ended, there was a brief intermission.

A troupe of comic performers came out to clown about.

This drew everyone in, old and young alike, and laughter broke out on all faces.

The Dowager Madam offered a reward.

A red-lacquered gold-painted plum-blossom tray was brought forward bearing five gleaming large ingots.

Eleventh Miss clicked her tongue.

Each ingot was a full twenty taels — the whole tray was a hundred taels. She had spent more than half a year on needlework and barely managed to earn that sum, and only because Master Jian had helped find buyers for her…

The third scene was “The Forced Marriage.” It told how Prime Minister Niu persuaded the Emperor to grant an imperially bestowed marriage and how he forced Cai Bojie to remain in the capital.

As the scene reached the part where Cai Bojie sat alone in his study in melancholy, an unbound young servant boy came running in, hovered outside the side room peering inside, but did not dare enter, his face written all over with anxious urgency.

The Third Mistress noticed and quietly stepped over to speak briefly with the boy, then hurried back to murmur a few words in the Dowager Madam’s ear.

“Fourth has come back!” The Dowager Madam gave a slight start. “Why so early today? Is there nothing happening at court? Let him come in — there is no one here who is an outsider.”

She then said with a smile to Dowager Matriarch Zheng at her side, “The Marquis has returned. Hearing that the ladies are all here, he wishes to come pay his respects.”

“We could not possibly deserve that!” Dowager Matriarch Zheng was quite pleased, though she spoke words of demurral.

Madam Huang smiled. “I haven’t seen the Marquis for some years — the year before last, he was away at war; last year, I was unwell and couldn’t attend the palace banquet. By now he must be even more settled and steady.”

The Third Mistress, having received the Dowager Madam’s meaning, went out and gave the servant boy a few quiet instructions. The boy nodded repeatedly and darted off.

The Dowager Madam smiled warmly. “He was steady even as a child — now he is simply reserved and quiet.”

“I don’t think I have ever seen anyone more demanding than the Dowager Madam!” Madam Tang teased. “In my eyes, Fifth Young Master is so fine — always bringing joy to his parents, entertaining his elders so devotedly. You call it ‘fooling around’ on one hand and ‘an unruly monkey’ on the other. As for the Marquis — praised by everyone as ‘composed and restrained,’ and in your mouth it becomes ‘reserved and quiet’… Ah, I wonder when my two children will manage to be as ‘reserved and quiet’ as the Marquis, or as ‘unruly’ as Fifth Young Master. I would die content.” These words were cleverly crafted — praising Xu Lingyi and the Fifth Young Master of Xu alike, flattering the Fifth Mistress as well, yet conspicuously leaving out the Third Mistress, who had been attending on them all the while.

Eleventh Miss’s gaze moved quietly across the room.

The Dowager Madam laughed warmly, her face full of contentment.

Everyone else laughed along — all except the First Madam, in whose eyes a brief shadow of loss passed.

Eleventh Miss let out a quiet sigh.

If Yuan Niang were not ill, the First Madam would surely feel a sense of pride and honor too.

A servant boy called out in a loud voice: “The Marquis has arrived!”

The stage, which had been so lively, came to an abrupt halt — silence fell over everything, and the musicians and performers all stood perfectly still where they were.

The Fifth Young Master of Xu suddenly appeared from somewhere. “What happened? What happened?” He was still wearing the same clothes as before, his face half-painted for a comic role.

The Fifth Mistress laughed so hard she almost doubled over. “The Marquis has returned — didn’t you hear?”

“Oh no!” He let out a startled cry and dashed into the side rooms. “Whatever you do, don’t say I’m here…”

Everyone in the courtyard laughed until they couldn’t stand straight.

The Third Mistress smiled and led the young ladies to step behind the folding screen to the west.

Behind the screen was a resting area. Everyone found their seats, except for Gan Seventh Miss, who pressed herself against the gap in the screen and peered outward.

Gan Third Miss hurried to pull her sister away. “What is there to look at? Grandfather’s birthday celebration is in a few days — the Marquis will be there, and you can look to your heart’s content. Don’t make a spectacle of yourself here.” The last sentence was spoken very softly, but with no one talking in the room, everyone heard it perfectly clearly.

Gan Seventh Miss shook off her sister’s hand. “Oh come on, I’m just looking. Sixth Brother goes on about how remarkable he is all day long — I want to see for myself whether he has three heads and six arms.”

Gan Third Miss kept hold of her sister’s hand and would not let go. “If you keep this up, I’ll never bring you out again.”

Lin Miss covered her sleeve with a laugh. Tang Miss wore an expression of undisguised disdain. Only Qiao Lianfang, thoughtful and quiet, watched Gan Third Miss with a considering gaze.

Outside, a clamor of greetings rang out: “The Marquis has arrived!”

A warm, steady voice cut through the noise and bustle and reached straight to the heart: “Greetings, Mother.”

The Gan Family’s two misses went still in front of the screen. Everyone else sat up straight, holding their breath in silence — Eleventh Miss included.

“Rise, quickly, rise!” The Dowager Madam’s voice brimmed with joy she could not conceal. “Why are you back from court so early today? Is everything all right at court?”

“These past few days have been rather quiet.” That voice came unhurried and even-paced, carrying with it the assurance of a person entirely at ease in themselves. “Hearing that the ladies were here, I came particularly to pay my respects.”

“You are too kind!” Several of the ladies demurred in turn, though one could hear in their voices that they were quite pleased by Xu Lingyi’s gesture.

Gan Seventh Miss’s eyes darted sideways, and she pressed herself against the screen crack again to look out. Gan Third Miss stood there in an agony of indecision — pulling her would make noise, not pulling her was an extreme breach of propriety. She was caught between going forward and retreating, thoroughly mortified.

Qiao Lianfang covered her mouth and laughed quietly. Even Eleventh Miss could not help but smile.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Xu Lingyi rose to take his leave. “…I would not wish to interrupt the ladies’ enjoyment.”

Everyone said in turn, “Safe travels, Marquis.”

Gan Third Miss seized the moment of commotion outside to give her sister a fierce tug. “When we get home, I am telling Mother.”

Gan Seventh Miss showed not the slightest fear, and looked around at everyone with a triumphant air. “I saw what the Marquis looks like!”

Qiao Lianfang and the others exchanged looks, at a loss for words. But Tenth Miss smiled and said, “Well — does he have three heads and six arms?” Her tone was perfectly playful.

Gan Seventh Miss looked at Tenth Miss with surprise, and her gaze shifted to one of approval. She swept the rest of the room with a glance, lifted her chin, and announced with glee, “Only we two wanted to know what the Marquis looks like.” There was a trace of mischief in her manner. “Come here — I’ll only tell you.”

Tenth Miss gave a light smile and, completely at ease, actually walked over.

Fifth Miss panicked. “Tenth Miss, what are you doing?”

—