“I had intended to use this occasion to speak to my elder brother about it. But elder brother’s mind was entirely on the Quanzhou affair,” Lanting lowered her head, pressing a handkerchief to the corner of her eye. “He even called me meddlesome…”

“In the end, each day of life must be lived for oneself.” Eleventh Young Mistress clasped Lanting’s hand tightly. “You might as well write a letter to console Cao’e. If you can offer her some counsel, all the better.”

Lanting nodded, and once her emotions had steadied somewhat, the two of them walked on toward the main hall.

Madam Gan was there speaking with Yang Shi, Huang Shi, and a woman dressed in a rich indigo-blue all-over-gold-thread short jacket. Hearing movement, the woman turned her head — it was someone Eleventh Young Mistress recognized — the Fourth Madam of the Zhongshan Marquis Tang Family.

“What a coincidence today.” Fourth Madam Tang rose at once and greeted Eleventh Young Mistress, looking genuinely pleased. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Eleventh Young Mistress returned her greeting with a smile.

Fourth Madam Tang then drew Eleventh Young Mistress to sit beside her and said with warm intimacy, taking her hand, “Last time at the full-month celebration, I heard you were not in the best of health, so I didn’t go to disturb you.” That day she had been listening to the opera in the flower hall. She said, studying her carefully, “But you look so much better than last time.” Given the actual depth of their acquaintance, her manner was somewhat overly familiar.

Eleventh Young Mistress slipped her hand free without drawing attention to it, smoothly raising it to tuck back a strand of hair at her temple, and smiled. “Many thanks for your concern, Fourth Madam. With Imperial Physician Liu’s superior skill, I am greatly improved now.”

Fourth Madam Tang’s face lit up with a bright smile. “That’s wonderful, that’s wonderful. You being ill like this — all the household affairs have been pressing down on the Dowager Marchioness. She is after all getting on in years. Some things still need you to make decisions on.” Then she pointed to the carnelian bead bracelet on Eleventh Young Mistress’s wrist. “The Fourth Madam of the Xu Family truly has a gift for elegance. In my jewel case I also have a string of carnelian beads — I kept them to use in hair ornaments, but they were too small; I thought of pinning them to my garments, but there were too few… I never thought of wearing them like you — strung into a bracelet on the wrist. At once eye-catching and beautiful. No wonder people say the Marquise of Yongping is the best-dressed woman in all of Yanjing.”

The carnelian beads Eleventh Young Mistress used to string her bracelet were some as small as grains of rice, others as large as soybeans, and rather irregular in shape — the sort generally used to decorate shoes. But she had simply taken a fancy one day to thread them and wear them on her wrist. They were not quite as useless as Fourth Madam Tang described. Even so, Fourth Madam Tang had a well-known talent for flattery, and everything that crossed her lips was given a measure of embellishment.

“You are too kind,” Eleventh Young Mistress smiled. “I only enjoy making something a little different.” Her eyes swept quickly around the room, and she noticed that Madam Gan was wearing a flower made of gathered silk on her hair, and said at once, “I see that gathered-silk flower Madam Gan is wearing — the style is so fresh and new. Is it the latest fashion from the palace?”

Madam Gan laughed and said, “Not a palace pattern. I had it bought on East Main Street. I’m told it’s a new Suzhou style out this year.”

Fourth Madam Tang, hearing this, spoke to Madam Gan about gathered-silk flowers: “…The craftsmen in the Inner Household Bureau nowadays — there’s really no one of skill left. It wasn’t like this when we were children. Back then, if someone said ‘Inner Household Bureau,’ you knew it meant quality goods.” She also pulled Huang Shi into the conversation circle. “You’ve just come up from the south — what are they wearing in the south these days?”

Huang Shi smiled. “When it comes to fashions, they change from month to month — it’s really hard to say. But the year I married and came to Yanjing, Hunan silk skirts were still eight panels. When autumn came, my sister-in-law sent two Hunan silk skirts for me — both were twenty-four panels. She said that was the new autumn style.”

Fourth Madam Tang let out an exclamation of surprise and looked toward Eleventh Young Mistress. “By that reckoning, we’re all old-fashioned then — except you, Madam Xu, who has at least kept half pace with the trend.”

Everyone’s gaze fell on Eleventh Young Mistress’s twelve-panel skirt.

“This was made by Master Jian of our Embroidered Brocade Shop,” Eleventh Young Mistress smiled. “I hadn’t really been paying attention to these things.”

“Spoken like a true master of the craft,” Fourth Madam Tang laughed. “Not like us — we stare at the palace fashions, then we stare at the few tailors on East Main Street, and wear the same things over and over, nothing but the same soup with different garnishes, all alike.” She then asked Lanting, “That skirt you’re wearing — whose workmanship is it, the Suzhou tailor’s or the Hu tailor’s?”

Round and round the conversation went, with no one directing a word toward Yang Shi.

Yang Shi sat to one side, her expression flickering between dark and light.

Eleventh Young Mistress, taking advantage of a moment when Fourth Madam Tang turned her head to speak with Madam Gan, gave Lanting a meaningful look.

Lanting understood, inclined her head slightly, and stood up. “It’s getting late, dear sister-in-law. I’ll be making my move. Xian Jie’er’s trousseau procession day, we’ll come again.”

Yang Shi and Huang Shi, hearing this, both rose to their feet as well.

Madam Gan quickly said, “Seventh Young Mistress doesn’t come home very often — do stay and eat before you go!”

“No need!” Lanting smiled. “The three of us sisters-in-law have all been out — there is no one attending upon our mother-in-law… We’ll come and pester you again another day!”

Eleventh Young Mistress noticed that as Lanting said these words, Yang Shi’s lips curved with unmistakable contempt, and a flash of mockery crossed Huang Shi’s eyes.

It was evident that Lanting’s situation too was quite difficult.

She was still thinking on this when she also rose. “I will take my leave as well. The child is at home, and I always feel uneasy.”

Fourth Madam Tang appeared to want to leave as well.

“Guests leave and the host rests easy,” she laughed, and took Madam Gan’s hand. “You are kept so busy right now. Once this stretch of busy days is behind you, we’ll sit down and have a proper talk.” Madam Gan, seeing that they had all made up their minds to go, kept up a stream of hospitable urging as she walked them all to the inner gatehouse.

The path was long, the covered corridor winding and turning. Each person walked at her own pace, and the group gradually spread out.

Fourth Madam Tang kept up her conversation with Madam Gan the whole way, the two of them walking shoulder to shoulder at the very front. Fourth Madam Tang would frequently turn her head to say something to Huang Shi, who consequently kept close behind them.

Eleventh Young Mistress and Lanting were on the best terms, so naturally the two of them walked together.

Only Yang Shi was left — she stepped forward a pace, and Huang Shi was occupied listening to Fourth Madam Tang and Madam Gan; she fell back a pace, and Eleventh Young Mistress and Lanting were huddled in a murmured exchange… She walked in the middle with a stiff expression, not knowing that Eleventh Young Mistress and Lanting were at that very moment talking about her.

“What is going on?” Eleventh Young Mistress jutted her chin toward Yang Shi’s back. “I noticed Fourth Madam Tang was a bit cool toward her.”

People like them, going out to socialize — they would never single someone out for coldness or draw someone in with excessive warmth out of mere personal feeling.

“You haven’t heard!” Lanting said quietly. “A few days ago in Jiangling, a dike was breached by rain flooding. A censor impeached the Director of the Yellow River Administration for corruption — and the matter implicated the Marquis of Jianning… The Emperor was furious and ordered the Censorate to investigate thoroughly.”

Eleventh Young Mistress murmured, “Your meaning is that the Emperor intends to move against the Marquis of Jianning…”

Lanting nodded. “My father-in-law has been somewhat uneasy over this matter. He had tactfully asked me about the nature of my relationship with you.” She added, “I’ve heard that the Marquis of Zhongshan is also somewhat entangled in this affair.”

They were both intelligent women, and nothing more needed to be said.

That evening when she encountered Xu Lingyi, Eleventh Young Mistress said, “…My lord, have you heard of this matter?”

Xu Lingyi replied obliquely, “Counting by the days, the Emperor should have been ready to act by now.” Then he drew her into his arms. “These things — I have them in hand. You just concentrate on getting your health restored.”

His meaning was to worry less about such things.

Since he had said it this way, then why had the Dowager Marchioness, at her very first formal social occasion in Yanjing, put her to the test on all these intricate relationships? It was obvious she had hoped her daughter-in-law would have some degree of political acuity.

Was it because her health was poor, and Xu Lingyi was afraid that too much thinking and fretting might weigh upon her, and so had said this to her?

Eleventh Young Mistress cradled Jin Ge’er in the crook of her arm, rested her cheek against her son’s head, and closed her eyes.

Xu Lingyi had good intentions, but she simply could not do it — though she had no power to influence anything, once she lost all connection with the outside world, she would gradually lose her ability to survive independently, and become a clinging vine with nothing of its own to stand on.

Still, since Xu Lingyi knew of this matter, he must surely have his own plans.

With this thought settling her mind, she drifted gradually into sleep.

Xu Lingyi gazed at the two faces nestled close together, and a faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.

He had been keeping Eleventh Young Mistress company these past days — she must feel some guilt about it.

Otherwise, that night, why would she have reached out on her own initiative…

Strange to say — though he was not a man given to denying himself day and night, he was not a man of strenuous self-suppression either… Yet ever since Eleventh Young Mistress’s pregnancy, he had had a singular anticipation for this child, counting the days toward the birth. And after Jin Ge’er was born, his greatest pleasure had been watching his son grow day by day. Just like now — he only needed to look at the two of them, mother and child, and his heart felt perfectly at ease.

Xu Lingyi thought on this, then smiled as he tucked the blanket more snugly around them both.

Then, unbidden, the Dowager Marchioness’s words floated up from the depths of his mind.

“The Yang Family’s matter — it will be resolved one way or another before or after the new year. Yang Shi’s situation — you ought to make a decision. You cannot keep putting it off like this indefinitely.”

After Xian Jie’er’s wedding came Twelfth Young Mistress’s marriage.

Eleventh Young Mistress, worried that the sound of firecrackers might startle Jin Ge’er, did not bring the child along. She and Xu Lingyi returned to the house on Bowstring Lane.

Fifth Elder Sister’s son Xin Ge’er was quite mischievous and terribly curious — there was no corner he did not want to peel back and peer into. Zhuo Tao trotted along behind him trying to keep pace everywhere he went. By comparison, Ying Jie’er, equally lively, was far quieter, and played in the courtyard with the young maidservant who cared for her.

Fourth Elder Sister, wearing a loose wide-sleeved robe that concealed her pregnancy, sat on the heated platform bed by the window and looked out through the glazed-glass panes at Luo Zhensheng, who wandered about the courtyard like a lord of leisure with nothing to do. She smiled and said to Eleventh Young Mistress, “Fourth younger brother-in-law is a fortunate man — he married well.”

Twelfth Young Mistress’s wedding, from beginning to end, had been entirely arranged by Luo Fourth Young Madam.

“Fourth Elder Brother is not only fortunate — he also knows how to enjoy good fortune,” Eleventh Young Mistress heard this and smiled as she sipped her tea. “Otherwise, if Fourth Elder Brother were the sort to be forever pointing and directing, always finding fault whether fairly or not, then however capable Fourth Sister-in-law might be, Twelfth Younger Sister’s wedding could hardly have gone as smoothly as this.”

“You make a fair point.” Fourth Elder Sister nodded with a smile. The curtain was lifted aside, and Fifth Elder Sister walked in.

“The two of you are really something — here everyone else is running about in a frenzy, and you two have the gall to hide away in here being idle.” She laughed and settled in next to Eleventh Young Mistress.

Fourth Elder Sister laughed back, “We are the young ladies of the family who have married out. If we don’t sit here watching the show, are we supposed to go and help?”

Just then the sound of firecrackers erupted from outside.

The Wang Family’s party had arrived to receive the dowry.

Fifth Elder Sister dragged at Eleventh Young Mistress. “Fourth Sister is in the family way — let us two go and watch the excitement.”

Eleventh Young Mistress was rather nervous about firecrackers and hesitated.

Fifth Elder Sister kept giving her pointed looks.

* * *