In the days that followed, the child in her womb played hide-and-seek with Xu Lingyi. Whenever Xu Lingyi happened to lay his hand on Shiyiniang’s belly without thinking, the child would stir on a whim; but if Xu Lingyi stroked carefully and attentively, the child would go perfectly still.

Xu Lingyi was full of anticipation for this child: “This one must have a very lively temperament!”

Shiyiniang smiled brilliantly.

Lively and mischievous — there was only a thin line between the two, after all!

Before many days had passed, the Gan family sent over a crimson gold-sprinkled invitation card.

Cao E’s wedding date had been set for the tenth day of the ninth month.

“It is better to marry her off sooner rather than later,” Shiyiniang sighed to Xu Lingyi. “Staying in that household — who knows what else might happen. Though she will be a stranger in her husband’s family at first, as long as she has her dowry in hand, she will at least feel secure in her heart.”

Xu Lingyi smiled but said nothing.

Not every family could remain unmoved by a daughter-in-law’s dowry. Without a powerful family behind her, it was very difficult for a woman to protect her own trousseau.

“Cao E is getting married — will you go to see her off?” he asked now, concerned about this very question.

Shiyiniang understood Xu Lingyi’s meaning and smiled: “I won’t go on the day she leaves her family home. But I do want to deliver the trousseau gifts in person — it will also give me the chance to properly bid Cao E farewell.”

Cao E was marrying and going to Fujian. Perhaps they would never have the chance to meet again in this lifetime.

Xu Lingyi gave a slight nod.

Shiyiniang chose a cool day after rain and went to the Zhongqin Earl’s mansion.

There was no festive joy of a daughter being married off anywhere in the mansion; on the contrary, the faces of the maids and serving women all showed a careful, timid anxiety.

Madam Gan received the palace-crafted plum blossom cold-weather pink-enameled tea set that Shiyiniang had brought as a trousseau gift for Cao E, and managed a somewhat strained smile: “It was so troublesome for the Fourth Madam to make a special trip.” Then she accompanied Shiyiniang to Cao E’s rooms.

Cao E’s gaze toward Madam Gan held a touch of coldness. She personally poured a cup of tea for Shiyiniang, and her expression softened considerably as she asked: “Are you well?” Her eyes fell on the swelling of Shiyiniang’s belly.

“Very well!” Shiyiniang smiled and tactfully explained her reason for coming.

Cao E had already guessed the purpose of her visit and smiled: “I have only myself to blame for choosing poorly.”

Madam Gan looked somewhat displeased at this and said: “This date was calculated by the Bureau of Astronomy and Calendar. If we had listened to your elder brother and set it in the tenth month, that would have fallen right on the Fourth Madam’s confinement date — then she could not possibly have come at all!”

Cao E did not even glance at her, let alone reply. When Madam Gan had finished speaking, she smiled at Shiyiniang: “I simply did not expect you to come so early.” She then instructed the small maid beside her: “Go and bring out that dark sapphire-blue bundle of mine.” Then she turned her head to look at Shiyiniang. “Mother says that she herself is a widow and fears it would be inauspicious. So she entrusted me to make some clothing and shoes and socks for the little young master who has yet to come into the world… and there is also a cloak, just a few final stitches short of being finished. In two days when I am done, I will have a small maid deliver it over.” As she spoke, the small maid carried in a large bundle.

Shiyiniang was deeply grateful and quickly rose to express her thanks: “You have your own needlework to do, yet you have troubled yourself to make small garments for me.”

“My things were prepared long ago by my late mother,” Cao E smiled. “It was merely a matter of taking them out of storage. Fourth Madam, please do not stand on ceremony!”

Every word and sentence was directed squarely at Madam Gan. Madam Gan stood to one side looking sheepish, her expression quite unpleasant, yet with Shiyiniang present she could not very well say anything.

Every family had its own difficult scriptures to recite.

Shiyiniang pretended not to notice, and had Zhuxiang pay her respects on her behalf to the Elder Madam Gan, then rose and took her leave.

Returning home, Hupo — now dressed in a married woman’s attire — was talking with Nanny Song under the eaves.

Seeing Shiyiniang, both hurried forward to pay their respects. Nanny Song smiled: “I came specially to pay my respects to you, but you had gone to the Zhongqin Earl’s mansion.”

At the end of the seventh month, Shiyiniang had entrusted Wen Yiniang with overseeing Hupo’s wedding, and had Head Steward Bai clear out three side rooms in the western servants’ quarters to serve as the bridal chamber. On the first day of the eighth month, Hupo was happily married off. Shiyiniang had instructed her not to return to duty until the tenth month — and yet here she was today, already back.

“Why didn’t you send word first!” Shiyiniang let Hupo support her as she went inside. “Is there something the matter?”

“There is indeed something I need to ask of you!” Hupo said with a grin, casting a glance at Nanny Song.

Nanny Song also pressed her lips together in a smile.

Shiyiniang climbed awkwardly onto the heated sleeping platform and smiled: “What is it? So secretive about it.”

Nanny Song laughed and sent the serving maids out of the room: “Steward Qing’s wife wishes to ask the Madam to keep someone on.”

Steward Qing’s wife — that was Hupo.

It took Shiyiniang a moment to adjust to this form of address.

These past days, she had been selecting maids for her household.

“I heard of this by chance, and that is what gave me the idea,” Hupo explained in a low voice. “There is a girl called Xiulian, who since childhood has been betrothed to a guard in the outer courtyard’s attendants’ quarters named Wu Liu. I heard Steward Qing say that this Wu Liu’s father was originally a hired escort, with an excellent martial lineage passed down through generations, and he is especially well regarded by the overseer of the attendants’ quarters. As for Xiulian, I also secretly went to see her — she has a fair and refined appearance, her needlework is good, and her temperament is gentle and docile. Whether she can rise to become a senior maid depends on her own fortune, but she is certainly capable of serving as a second-rank maid.”

The outer courtyard of the marquis’s mansion had one head steward overseeing all external affairs, with thirteen managing stewards beneath him, each respectively overseeing the reception office, the attendants’ quarters, the study, the accounts office, the storeroom, the ancestral hall, the kitchen, the tea room, the needlework room, the night-watch room, the horse stable, the farmstead, and the shops. Of these, the reception office managed the mansion’s social obligations and receiving of guests; the accounts office managed the household ledgers and financial transactions; and the attendants’ quarters was responsible for the mansion’s guards and protection. These three offices most closely reflected the movements of the entire marquis’s mansion.

At present, Wan Daxian was in the accounts office, while Steward Qing and Steward Cao An were in the storeroom, and Steward Chang Xuezhi was in the reception office. Steward Qing, moreover, because of his connection to Hupo, could no longer remain in the storeroom. The reception office and the farmstead had the richest pickings — the former from red envelopes given by guests, the latter from inflating the farmstead rents for private gain. Neither was staffed by the Elder Madam’s people, nor by Xu Lingyi’s or Xu Lingkuan’s people; it would not be easy to insert someone there, and it would also draw attention. Besides, Steward Qing had no martial skills to his name, so the best outcome would be to arrange him to a nearby shop or farmstead.

The affair with Qin Yiniang had made Shiyiniang feel acutely the fragility of life beneath a rigid hierarchy of rank and status.

Perhaps this same thing existed in the society she had come from, which prized equality and freedom — but she had not been of a special class back then, and so the impact had not been this powerful.

It also strengthened her resolve: since she could not be as swift and decisive as the Elder Madam in cutting and killing, it was best to wait until the young lady of the Jiang family entered the household, and then gradually hand over the authority of managing the inner domestic affairs to the young heir’s wife.

Yet Shiyiniang also understood clearly in her heart that people change with their circumstances. Once she relinquished power, if she had to rely entirely on Xu Sizhun’s filial devotion to live a life of dignity, that would be nothing more than an ideal — she would end up becoming nothing but a second Elder Madam Gan. She needed to keep abreast of the Xu family’s movements at all times, so that she would be informed of everything, and could make correct judgments when conflicts arose, safeguarding her own interests. Otherwise, why would there be that old adage: “You must not have a heart that seeks to harm others, but you must not be without a heart that guards against being harmed”?

To accomplish this, however, required connections — or more precisely, to have people stationed in the accounts office, the reception office, and the attendants’ quarters…

Shiyiniang gave her instructions to Nanny Song without any hesitation: “You will handle this matter yourself.”

Nanny Song solemnly assented.

Shiyiniang went to the Elder Madam’s quarters.

“Hupo came specially today to pay her respects to me,” she said to the old woman during a break between rounds of leaf-cards. “She wants to find Steward Qing a position. I thought, since they have only just been married and are a young couple, I came especially to ask the Elder Madam to bestow the favor of arranging a posting for Steward Qing here in the capital.”

The Elder Madam smiled at this: “I don’t manage these things anymore. Discuss it with Fourth Master and do as you see fit!”

Shiyiniang moved to sit beside the Elder Madam: “It would still be better if you were to bring it up with the Marquis yourself!” She adopted the air of someone who found it difficult to raise the matter herself.

The Elder Madam looked at her and chuckled.

That evening, she made a special point of mentioning the matter to Xu Lingyi.

Xu Lingyi was mildly surprised, and looking at Shiyiniang sitting hand-in-hand with the Elder Madam in a close and affectionate manner, he agreed respectfully.

Back in their rooms, he could not help teasing her: “So you know how to flatter Mother!”

“What flattery!” Shiyiniang said with a reproachful pout. “This is called respect!”

“Oh!” Xu Lingyi raised an eyebrow, gazing at her with a half-smile, his expression suggestive. “Then how are you going to show some respect to me — the one who actually arranges these things?”

Shiyiniang thought of the way he had pressed up against her hip each morning these past few days, that pent-up eagerness… her face involuntarily flushed crimson. But she refused to take the bait, and instead took the teacup from the small maid’s hands and presented it to him with a respectful bow: “My lord Marquis, please have some tea!” Yet her eyes were bright and sparkling, full of playful mirth.

Xu Lingyi burst into hearty laughter, pulled her into his arms, and planted a firm kiss on her cheek.

He found this quick-witted Shiyiniang utterly endearing.

Within a few days, Fangxi and Qiuyu from Shiyiniang’s household had been promoted to second-rank maids, and three new junior maids — Xiulian, Yumei, and Honglian — were added.

Shiyiniang turned her attention to finding a match for Lvyun, and before she knew it, the time for admiring chrysanthemums and eating crab had arrived.

Jiting had long since cultivated several rare varieties, piling them into a small chrysanthemum hill in the Elder Madam’s courtyard, and arranging the flowers in vases and basins throughout each room of the mansion. Wherever one looked, the entire inner courtyard of Marquis Yongping’s mansion was filled with chrysanthemums. On top of this, the grand mistress of the mansion in Nanjing had someone send over four baskets of crabs. Xu Lingkuan promptly clamored for a family banquet at home, with music, flower-viewing, and crab-eating.

Crabs were a cold food — Shiyiniang could not have them, and Xu Sizhun did not dare touch them either.

The Elder Madam smiled and said: “What kind of banquet can four baskets of crabs support? If you want to eat and make merry, go outside and do it — you are not to come home and make everyone’s mouth water.” She had Nanny Du distribute the four baskets of crabs: “One basket to the old Marquis in Red Lantern Lane, one basket to Madam Huang of Yongchang Marquis’s mansion, one basket to Madam Lin next door, and one basket to Fourth Aunt.”

The Fourth Aunt the Elder Madam referred to was Shiyiniang’s cousin, Fourth Miss.

Shiyiniang and the Fifth Madam both smiled and thanked the Elder Madam.

Fourth Miss sent four crocks of Jinhua wine as a return gift.

“Our Madam is with child,” said the serving woman who had come to deliver the return gift, standing respectfully at the door. “She is troubled by the pregnancy and could not come herself. She asked this servant to convey her message to the Elder Madam — that once the child settles down in a few days, she will personally call to pay her respects and offer thanks.”

The Elder Madam was delighted to hear this, and asked a whole string of questions — “How many months along? Is the pregnancy going well?” — before letting the serving woman go.

With the Elder Madam’s words, Fifth Master Xu Lingkuan used it as a pretext to go out every day to play with colleagues and friends, and on several occasions even had the Fifth Madam dress in a page boy’s clothes and come along. This made Xu Sijian terribly envious — he kept insisting that Teacher Zhao ought to be given time off so that he too could disguise himself as a page boy and go out with Teacher Zhao to climb mountains, take in scenery, and visit friends.

Xu Siqin found this all rather exasperating, yet Xu Sijian’s words did give him an idea. He found a few rare chrysanthemum plants in the greenhouse, and on his day of rest, pulled Xu Sijian along to visit Fallen Leaves Mountain.

* * *