The Grand Lady was overjoyed at the news. She sat a while longer with Eleventh Young Lady, then rose and went to visit the Fifth Madam.

A little maidservant came in to announce: “The Fourth Young Master’s wife has arrived!”

Qiuyu lifted the curtain and welcomed her in.

“It is a good thing I had the Eleventh Young Lady speak on our behalf,” she said as soon as she crossed the threshold with a smile. “The yiniang came to seek me out on her own initiative yesterday and said things like she had never studied or understood propriety, and that everything before had been her fault. She asked me to be magnanimous and not hold it against her.”

Eleventh Young Lady smiled and had a little maidservant bring a padded stool for the Fourth Young Master’s wife to sit on: “The yiniang was acting for the sake of the Twelfth Young Miss, and you too were acting for the sake of the Twelfth Young Miss. Now that the matter has been talked out in the open, is it not all better?”

The Fourth Young Master’s wife sat down, and the little maidservant brought tea and refreshments.

Eleventh Young Lady told her everything — the letters she had written to Zhu Anping and Fourth Young Lady, and Xu Lingyi’s willingness to help: “…In the end it is still the Fourth Young Master’s wife and Fourth Young Master who must make the final decisions.”

This resolved the great difficulty.

The Fourth Young Master’s wife sighed: “Eleventh Young Lady, you have been of enormous help. I will have your Fourth Elder Brother come to see the Marquis tomorrow.” And with an apologetic look: “I was truly at my wits’ end. That is why I came to impose upon you so shamelessly.”

“We are family. You would not speak like that to a stranger.”

As the two of them talked, Jin Ge’er woke up.

Eleventh Young Lady quickly called Madam Gu to help with the chamber pot.

The Fourth Young Master’s wife, watching, began to speak of Fifth Young Lady’s son, Xin Ge’er: “…What a rascal he is. Two maidservants cannot keep up with him. Good thing there is Zhuotao. Without her, there really would be no one who could manage him.”

“Zhuotao!” Eleventh Young Lady smiled as the image of a little girl wearing a pale green cotton-gauze jacket arose in her mind. “She must be twelve or thirteen by now.”

“Twelve,” the Fourth Young Master’s wife nodded with a smile. “She has grown into quite a lovely girl.”

“She was pretty even as a small child,” said Eleventh Young Lady with a smile. “Last year Sui’er also married and left. Of all those who came with Fifth Elder Sister from Yuyao, only Zhuotao remains.”

“That is precisely why she is so capable,” the Fourth Young Master’s wife smiled. “Xin Ge’er fussed about wanting to eat noodles. She was afraid they’d be too hot for him, so she sat fanning them cool before feeding him.” And then: “Xin Ge’er doesn’t resemble Fifth Brother-in-law at all — he looks like Mu Ge’er, the very image of him.”

“Cousins from maternal and paternal sides share blood — of course he’d resemble him,” said Eleventh Young Lady with a smile. She asked after Qian Ming: “Is Fifth Elder Brother-in-law at home?”

“Not at home!” The Fourth Young Master’s wife smiled. “He went to a Buddhist temple outside the city called the Iron Mountain Monastery to study — with Fifth Brother-in-law at home, guests coming and going endlessly, all of them close friends, and it would not do to refuse any of them; seeing them meant eating and drinking, which disrupted his studies, so he had to withdraw to the monastery to concentrate on his reading.”

Let us hope he truly concentrated on his studies.

Eleventh Young Lady gave a faint nod.

The Fourth Young Master’s wife’s smile dimmed slightly: “I also went to see Tenth Young Lady.” A glimmer of something like unshed tears flickered in her eyes. “She is thin as a skeleton, though her spirits are still all right. With those two capable girls, Silver Bottle and Gold Lotus, helping her, the household affairs are running in an orderly manner — even a little better than when the Wang Grand Lady was managing things.”

The Xu family’s maidservants and the Wang family’s servants came and went between the two households, and certain things had reached Eleventh Young Lady’s ears as well. After Wang Chengzu was adopted as heir in Tenth Young Lady’s name, Madam Jiang Wang Lin’s return to her natal family was only ever to visit her mother and pay respects at her father’s grave — she no longer involved herself in the domestic affairs of the Wang household. Tenth Young Lady, in her capacity as the mother of the Mao Guo Duke, took charge of the Wang residence’s affairs. Though she had no familiarity with managing a household, she understood how to reduce expenditure. She sold off several properties in Yanjing that had been standing empty, dismissed a batch of servants, and kept to a simple lifestyle at home. Though the days were plain, they were no longer the constant patchwork of borrowing from one side to fill another — the family lived more steadily now.

“When I think about it, all your sisters are quite capable,” the Fourth Young Master’s wife said with a smile. “I hope our Ying Niang, when she grows up, will be like her aunts.”

At the mention of Ying Niang, Eleventh Young Lady smiled: “Bring her over to play sometime when you are free.”

“Now that we are in Yanjing, we will certainly be pestering you all,” the Fourth Young Master’s wife laughed, and after talking with Eleventh Young Lady for a little while about the children, rose to take her leave. “Once the matter is settled, I will come back to give you the news.”

Eleventh Young Lady was somewhat fatigued and did not press her to stay. She had Qiuyu see the Fourth Young Master’s wife out.

Imperial Physician Liu arrived.

Without Xu Lingyi present, even if she herself was willing to accept the acupuncture from Imperial Physician Liu, Imperial Physician Liu alone would most likely not dare administer it.

She instructed Qiuyu to go and invite Xu Lingyi.

Xu Lingyi was in the outer courtyard, and walked in holding a large red card sprinkled with gold flecks.

“What kind of year is this?” he said with a laugh. “Yesterday the household of General Li took a bride, and today the Zhong Qin Bo family is sending off a daughter.”

“Is it Xian Jie’er?” For the sake of her marriage, the Zhong Qin Bo had hastily married off Cao E’s son.

Xu Lingyi did not know what the Zhong Qin Bo’s daughter was called, and said: “It may well be. They say it’s the eldest daughter.” Then he sat on the edge of the bed and asked her softly: “Would you like to go — the date is set for the fourth of the twelfth month.”

Eleventh Young Lady removed her light jacket: “Looking like this, where could I go?”

Xu Lingyi’s eyes went slightly dim. He instructed Hupo to bring in a brazier: “Be careful not to catch cold in a moment.”

“Better not light the brazier,” Eleventh Young Lady said softly. “Jin Ge’er is still very small, and the room already has the heated kang — if a brazier is added on top, the child could get too heated.”

“In that case, let the wet nurse take Jin Ge’er to rest in the warm room off the main hall,” said Xu Lingyi, helping Eleventh Young Lady remove her inner garments. “Then you wouldn’t need to worry about all of that, one thing after another.”

Eleventh Young Lady lay face down on the bed. “Being in confinement is no fun either. Having him here with me at least saves me from being so bored.”

Xu Lingyi had Hupo go and summon Imperial Physician Liu in, and smiled: “All he does is sleep and cry — what company can he possibly be?”

As they were talking, there came the sound of leather soles scraping against the floor.

Eleventh Young Lady knew it was Imperial Physician Liu entering, and said nothing more.

The needling was completed. Xu Lingyi saw Imperial Physician Liu out, and Hupo, seeing Eleventh Young Lady had fallen asleep, crept quietly over to tuck the quilt around her.

That evening Xu Lingyi once again stayed in Eleventh Young Lady’s room, and Jin Ge’er slept at his father’s pillow side.

“Do you not think that wrapping him like this might be uncomfortable for him?” Xu Lingyi leaned back against the bolster pillow on the bed, talking with Eleventh Young Lady.

Eleventh Young Lady also had a feeling Jin Ge’er might be uncomfortable. But Nanny Tian and Nanny Wan were both experienced women who said that Xu Lingkuan had been swaddled just this way when he grew up… Seeing Xu Lingkuan’s tall, upright frame, she really had no grounds to object.

“Nanny Tian says he can be freed of the wrapping once he is a full month old,” she said. “It is to keep his legs from forming a bow shape.”

“He’s such a well-tempered boy,” Xu Lingyi smiled. “He doesn’t fuss or cry at all.”

The two talked idly, and Eleventh Young Lady drifted off to sleep without noticing.

She awoke with a start — and found that it was broad daylight.

Eleventh Young Lady was astonished.

How had she slept so deeply? Jin Ge’er had to wake twice in the night. Who had been looking after him? Had he cried?

As she was thinking this, she turned her head to look for the child.

The bed was empty — and Xu Lingyi was nowhere to be seen either.

She sat up in some alarm.

The black lacquered folding screen blocked her view, and she could not see what was happening on the other side. Eleventh Young Lady called out loudly for Nanny Gu.

Madam Gu and Hupo both came around from behind the screen.

“My lady, you are awake,” Hupo said with a smile. “The Marquis said you were sleeping soundly and told us not to wake you.”

Madam Gu then smiled: “The Sixth Young Master just had his milk. The Marquis is playing with the Sixth Young Master now.”

Before her words had faded, Xu Lingyi came in carrying the child: “I cannot imagine how anyone can have so much sleep. I was talking away and he was sleeping right through it.” So saying, he sat on the edge of the bed and gently laid the child at Eleventh Young Lady’s pillow side. “Did you sleep well last night?”

Eleventh Young Lady gazed at his warm and gentle eyes, and slowly nodded: “Last night, it was my lord who looked after Jin Ge’er, was it not?”

Different from his usual bright and vivid expression, Eleventh Young Lady’s eyes held something deeper, even taking on a quality of stillness.

Xu Lingyi was a little surprised: “What is the matter?”

“Nothing at all!” The corners of Eleventh Young Lady’s lips curved upward, and her face brightened. “I just slept very well!”

Xu Lingyi felt that his wife’s manner today was a little unusual, but looking more carefully, found it no different from the ordinary — he could not say what seemed strange.

“Good, then,” he said with a brief smile, and rose to his feet. “I will wait until Imperial Physician Liu has come and examined you before going to the outer courtyard.”

With the year’s end approaching, the stewards of the Xu family’s shops, the heads of the farmsteads, and the like were either returning to Yanjing to go over the accounts or bringing gifts for the season. Xu Lingyi had been busy these past two days meeting with all of these men.

Eleventh Young Lady smiled and nodded, and allowed Hupo to help her slowly make her way to the dressing room to wash and comb her hair.

* * *

Yang Shi was surprised: “The Marquis has been staying in the side chamber these past few days?”

“I hear my lady has not been keeping well,” Nanny Yang said in a low voice. “Imperial Physician Liu has been coming to the residence to see my lady for five days running now. The medicine in the side chamber has not stopped either.” She added: “The Marquis is afraid the wet nurse and the maidservants will not look after the Sixth Young Master properly, so he has been personally attending to the Sixth Young Master these past few days.”

A son, after all — that is how different it is!

Thinking this, a faint sting pierced Yang Shi’s heart. She bit her lip and asked quietly: “Then do you know what the Marquis has been doing these past few days?”

“In the outer courtyard during the day,” Nanny Yang said. “Leaves in the morning after seeing Imperial Physician Liu off, returns at the xu hour in the evening, pays his respects to the Grand Lady, and then goes back to the main chamber.”

Yang Shi gave a faint nod and fell into quiet thought.

* * *

Xu Lingyi returned to the room, and Eleventh Young Lady and the child had both fallen asleep.

He came out of the dressing room and got into bed quietly and carefully.

Eleventh Young Lady was still roused. Sleepy-eyed, she murmured: “My lord is back.”

“Yes,” said Xu Lingyi. Seeing Jin Ge’er sleeping soundly, he drew her into his arms.

Eleventh Young Lady made a soft sound, shifted about for a comfortable position, and fell back asleep.

Xu Lingyi looked at Jin Ge’er at the edge of the pillow, then at Eleventh Young Lady in his arms, and thought of what Imperial Physician Liu had told him that morning when he left.

“Acupuncture combined with the Tonifying the Center and Replenishing the Qi Decoction is of great benefit to my lady’s condition.”

At those words, he had felt a loosening in his chest. But then Imperial Physician Liu’s tone had shifted: “Even so, for my lady to make a full recovery — without three to five years, I fear it cannot be hoped for.”

He thought of Imperial Physician Liu’s earlier evasions and roundabout manner, and had been about to tease him a little — but then he had seen a pair of utterly earnest eyes.

In other words, it was the plain truth.

The thought passed through him, and Xu Lingyi could not help letting out a quiet sigh. With a tenderness born of his feeling for her, he pressed his cheek against her thin face, and his arm drew her more tightly and naturally into his embrace.

“Mo Yan, you may look soft and yielding, but you have always been resilient. This time too, you will surely turn this danger into safety.”