Eleventh Young Lady considered carefully and said: “And what does Elder Brother’s intention come down to in the end?”
“Sixth Yiniang made such a spectacle of herself at home, and Father kept saying things in her favor. In the end, Elder Brother neither agreed nor refused outright — he simply sent her along to the capital.” Luo First Young Madam said: “Elder Brother’s meaning is for Eleventh Cousin to help come up with a plan that will not bring shame upon the Luo Family name. After all, you are ‘well acquainted’ with the customs and proprieties of Yanjing. One word from you is worth ten from us.”
This Sixth Yiniang…
Eleventh Young Lady nodded: “I understand. Please have her come to see me tomorrow.”
Luo Fourth Young Madam exhaled with relief, and said with some embarrassment: “Cousin is in her confinement — it is really not right to let these troubles worry you… But if this were happening in Jiangnan, it is very possible that Sixth Yiniang would have had her way all along!”
The key lay in Luo First Master’s attitude!
Eleventh Young Lady understood the situation fully and nodded: “Sister-in-Law, do not stand on ceremony. What Sixth Yiniang intends really is going too far. If it truly becomes difficult for you, just have Sixth Yiniang come and see me.” Then she told Luo Fourth Young Madam of Madam Zhou’s intentions: “…The Wang Family would like to get the wedding done before the year’s end. Please go and tell your Fourth Brother when you get back, so he can give the Fourth Son-in-Law an answer in return. If he agrees, have the Fourth Son-in-Law pick a date, so they can sit down with the Wang Family’s people and settle the wedding date; if not, you all can pick a date and have the Fourth Son-in-Law go and explain matters to the Wang Family’s side.”
These proprieties were something Luo Fourth Young Madam did understand, and she smiled and said: “I think it would be best to pick a date before the year’s end. Twelfth Younger Sister is not young anymore — she is ready for marriage. And the Wang Family’s concerns are not without reason. What if the mother-in-law were to pass away — and then there would be those two years of mourning to observe… We must also think of others.”
She settled the matter of setting the wedding date directly, without consulting anyone else, with quite the air of “my consent is sufficient.”
Eleventh Young Lady thought of Luo Zhensheng’s character, then thought of Luo Fourth Young Madam’s capable and astute manner, and could not help wondering privately whether the reason Luo Zhensheng had managed the household affairs these past two years at all was precisely because he had so capable and strong a partner in Luo Fourth Young Madam.
She smiled and said: “Then I will tell Madam Zhou exactly what you have said, Sister-in-Law.”
Luo Fourth Young Madam nodded, lifted her teacup to moisten her throat, and then looked up to see Eleventh Young Lady resting against the great red bolster pillow, her complexion pale. Something stirred in her heart, and she said hesitantly: “As for Fifth Young Lady and Tenth Young Lady… I intend to go and call on them tomorrow. I wonder whether Tenth Young Lady… do you two see each other often?”
Since the Dowager Marchioness’s funeral, Eleventh Young Lady and Tenth Young Lady had not seen each other again. At every New Year and major festival, the Wang Family would send seasonal gifts, and the Xu Family would send return gifts, but these were purely matters of surface formality. Even for Jin Ge’er’s third-day bathing ceremony, Tenth Young Lady had sent someone over with five small silver ingots in the shape of top scholars’ hat crests, but had not come in person.
Hearing Luo Fourth Young Madam mention her, Eleventh Young Lady’s expression grew complicated. She shook her head gently and said in a low voice: “Tenth Sister uses her widowhood as a reason to keep her doors shut and stay home. She and I have almost no contact anymore.”
Luo Fourth Young Madam listened and let out a long, sorrowful sigh: “Tenth Young Lady — she is a pitiable woman.”
Eleventh Young Lady leaned against the bolster pillow and said nothing.
Whether it was that Sixth Yiniang had made such a commotion, or that Luo Fourth Young Madam simply wanted to resolve this hot coal of a problem quickly, the very next day Luo Fourth Young Madam used the pretext of sending something to Eleventh Young Lady and dispatched Sixth Yiniang to come and see her.
“For you to behave this way, Yiniang — never mind Elder Brother, even I find it rather unreliable when I hear it,” Eleventh Young Lady said, coming straight to the point. Sixth Yiniang was a sharp woman. “What would Twelfth Son-in-Law think, learning that our Luo Family had given one thousand taels in goods as a dowry and set aside four thousand taels as concealed pocket money? The Wang Family may be modest in means, but they are hardly in need of our Luo Family to go about rescuing them in this fashion.”
Seeing that Eleventh Young Lady had spoken plainly, Sixth Yiniang did not pretend otherwise. “I had no choice,” she said. She had a stomach full of grievances, and she let them out: “Think about it — Twelfth Young Lady’s marriage was arranged so quickly, and if we use the family’s fields and lands from home as part of the dowry, what happens when money is urgently needed? There is no familiar, trusted person there to manage sales and purchases — relying on brokers, you would be lucky to get five taels for something worth ten. And buying property in Yanjing on such short notice means paying over the odds; even if you sold at market price later, you would still lose a third. It would be better to simply give the money outright.”
Eleventh Young Lady was puzzled by Sixth Yiniang’s persistent desire to convert the dowry into cash.
Sixth Yiniang smiled bitterly: “I have thought it through clearly. The reason Twelfth Son-in-Law is no longer pursuing his studies — is it not because he has a younger brother who is better at studying than he is? When Twelfth Young Lady marries in, she will be the elder sister-in-law. How can she not eventually be called upon to put money toward supporting her brother-in-law’s studies?
“Raising a candidate all the way through to a successful degree — even in the Jiangnan region, which produces more of them than anywhere else, how many families can sustain it without being truly wealthy? It is not that other families’ sons are less intelligent; it is that raising a perfectly healthy young man who cannot lift a carrying pole or do a day’s labor, and supporting him for decades on end, is simply beyond what most households can manage.
“For families that are somewhat less well-off, they can only pool the resources of the entire clan. Never mind other expenses — just the travel costs for county, provincial, and capital examinations add up to no small sum. If a candidate must go through several rounds of testing, many families end up selling everything they have. Those who have average talent but no particular gift often manage to scrape by with the status of a licentiate and consider it done. Take our own Fourth Son-in-Law — his family still had officials among his forebears, and yet without Second Master’s support, where would he be today? And I have heard it said that in those years, Second Madam could not even add a single piece of clothing to her wardrobe.
“Twelfth Young Lady will have many places where she needs money in the years ahead. What is the use of fighting over face right now? Besides, Twelfth Son-in-Law — if he were not a man of genuine good character, would a licentiate of his standing have willingly lowered himself to learn the work of a household manager under a steward? I have also thought that Elder Master sent me to the capital precisely because it suited his own purposes. I too wanted to come and speak my mind to you. In this family, I have come to think that you are the only one who can see clearly. I am not thinking of anything else — I only want Twelfth Young Lady’s days ahead to be easier. Every little bit saved is a little bit gained.” She added: “Besides, I have also thought it through carefully. Once Twelfth Young Lady is married off, my life’s great wish will be fulfilled. As for where I go from there, it comes down to a single word: death. Casting aside all fear, one can pull an Emperor from his throne. I am going to plan and scheme carefully in Twelfth Young Lady’s interest.”
Eleventh Young Lady was taken aback. Yet there was a certain truth to Sixth Yiniang’s reasoning — in the eyes of the world, with all things ranked beneath scholarship at the very top, Wang Ze was a licentiate who had set aside his scholarly pursuits to manage money and goods, and that was indeed considered a willful lowering of oneself.
She could not deny that Sixth Yiniang’s considerations had their own logic.
And yet the Luo Family also had the Luo Family’s position to consider. Marrying off a daughter could not mean spending the money and then having it fold back in on itself. Moreover, Sixth Yiniang’s manner of carrying on — living and dying by this cause — left Eleventh Young Lady feeling somewhat unsettled.
Among the three forms of unfilial conduct, leaving no heir is the greatest — but so too is the conduct described as “complying with one’s parents and bending them toward wrongdoing,” which is itself a form of unfilial behavior. Luo Zhensheng simply did not want Twelfth Younger Sister to be put in a difficult position. Otherwise, Luo Zhensheng could have easily held up Eleventh Young Lady herself and Fifth Young Lady and Tenth Young Lady as comparisons — she had received the most substantial dowry because her husband was the Marquis Yongping; Fifth Young Lady and Eleventh Young Lady had one married to a scholar-gentleman and the other to the heir of a ducal household. By comparison, Wang Ze was merely a small-time licentiate. To insist on dowering Twelfth Young Lady at the same level as Fifth Young Lady was something even Luo First Master would have had little recourse against.
“I understand Yiniang’s meaning,” Eleventh Young Lady said gravely. “But sometimes a person cannot simply be calculating everything to her own advantage.” There were two sides to every matter, and arguing back and forth would not necessarily persuade anyone — nor was there much point to it. Solving the problem was the goal. Saying other things might not make Sixth Yiniang understand; better to simply follow her train of thought. She considered carefully and said: “There is a saying — even a great fortune will be consumed if one simply sits on it. You are doing all of this for Twelfth Young Lady’s sake — have you not thought more carefully?
“The way you put it, your only hope is that Twelfth Son-in-Law’s younger brother can be brought through to his degree, and once that is done, Twelfth Young Lady’s hard years will be behind her. But what if he cannot be brought through? All that money will have gone straight into the water for nothing.
“Rather than pouring silver away piece by piece, it would be better to establish some property and earn some income, large or small, year after year. Even if Twelfth Son-in-Law’s younger brother never achieves his degree, the family will at least have something to live on in years to come. Moreover, Twelfth Young Lady will have her own children eventually. What if one of them turns out to be like his uncle — also suited to scholarly pursuits? Will she then support him or not? And with what money? To go back a step further: even if Twelfth Son-in-Law’s younger brother does pass the imperial examinations and enters officialdom, can Twelfth Young Lady’s own children rely entirely on their uncle for support? Even between husband and wife money must pass through one hand before reaching the other — let alone between relatives!”
Sixth Yiniang listened, and her expression shifted. After a long silence she said: “What you are saying, Madam, is that one should still hold something back for oneself?”
Not left, then right. Even now this Sixth Yiniang was thinking it over in the wrong direction!
“What I mean is: divide the money into several portions. Some to purchase property and estates, some to buy fields and farmland, some to keep in hand for ready use. That way, whatever happens, there is always a fallback.” Then she added: “Since there is not a great deal of money, we should think carefully about how to make the most of it — help Twelfth Young Lady acquire property that will not lose its value. For buying a house, look for locations near the Da Shi Workshop, the Xiao Shi Workshop, the Renshou Ward, or the Chengqing Ward. Property in those areas is either close to the palace or close to the East and West Markets — even if it ever needs to be sold, the loss would not be too severe. As for farmland, try to look in Shandong. It is close to the capital, and the land there yields better returns than farmland in the greater capital area.”
Sixth Yiniang nodded and said in a low voice: “I understand your meaning, Madam — it is just that such good locations are not so easily found…”
Eleventh Young Lady had been waiting for precisely this. “Your Fourth Son-in-Law serves in the Bureau of Protocol and is constantly in contact with high-ranking officials and nobles — setting aside all else, his access to information is unparalleled. And Seventh Elder Sister married into Shandong — her husband holds the title of ‘Lord of Xue Yi.’ In that region, there is no one he does not know…” She intentionally left herself out of it, and looked meaningfully at Sixth Yiniang. “Elder Brother does not hold any of this against anyone — he simply hopes that all our brothers and sisters can live in harmony and fare well. A single tree does not make a forest; it is only by combining one’s strength that one can break iron. If Yiniang is truly planning for Twelfth Young Lady’s sake, there are some things she should think through more carefully. When Twelfth Young Lady marries in, there will be many sisters-in-law and many disputes to contend with. The first few years will certainly be like feeling one’s way across a river by touching the stones. Surely you want to give her a solid walking staff to lean on, do you not?”
Sixth Yiniang listened, and understanding dawned on her face. She was also quick-minded, and immediately pressed her advantage: “You are completely right, Madam. Then I shall rely entirely on Madam to be the one to make the decisions and take charge of everything!”
Well, then — whoever came up with the plan would be the one to carry it out!
Eleventh Young Lady smiled and said: “We still have capable sisters-in-law at home in the Luo family — why should it fall to me, a daughter who has already married out, to go poking my hand into things? Yiniang would do well to change that disposition of yours.”