Eleventh Young Lady gazed silently at Yang Yiniang.

Wen Yiniang, meanwhile, had begun to break out in a cold sweat down her spine.

This was no intercession on Yang Yiniang’s part — it was clearly a confession of wrongdoing.

Just as the Madam had asked, whatever Yang Yiniang had done before this moment, she had not breathed a single word of it in Wen Yiniang’s presence.

No wonder Yang Yiniang had insisted on dragging her along to see the Madam.

Everyone in the household knew the Madam placed great trust in her. Without her, Yang Yiniang could never have managed to see the Madam in the dead of night — she could not even have knocked open that inner corridor door.

Thinking this over, Wen Yiniang felt a stabbing pain at the corner of her heart, and her face flushed a deep red.

All along, the Madam had declined Yang Yiniang’s overtures — she had seen through Yang Yiniang’s ungrateful nature from the very beginning. Only she herself had been blind, assuming Yang Yiniang was like her, burdened by her family’s troubles, and had let herself be moved by a sense of shared misfortune… She had been used as a stepping stone, and worse, had dragged the Madam into it as well.

Wen Yiniang could have slapped herself across the face.

She had kept to herself for over a decade in this household, guarding her own conduct — and now she had let Yang Yiniang, that meddlesome troublemaker, ruin everything.

Wen Yiniang shot a fierce glare at Yang Yiniang.

Yang Yiniang had no attention to spare for any of this. Her every thought was fixed entirely on Eleventh Young Lady.

Rivalries between wives and concubines were nothing new to her. Some principal wives were driven to spitting blood by their concubines yet still had to endure it — not because they had no means of dealing with the concubine, nor merely for the sake of a reputation for virtue, but ultimately because they feared offending their husbands and being held in contempt, and feared the effect it would have on their children’s standing and share of the family’s wealth.

Eleventh Young Lady was the sole, exclusively favored second wife; Yang Yiniang herself had never once been summoned to attend the Marquis. Their stations were as far apart as clouds and mud, and Eleventh Young Lady had accordingly treated her with a degree of casual indifference. Yet now, the gaze Eleventh Young Lady turned upon her was cold — cold, and shot through with a sharp, incisive edge.

Things were all too clear. When Xu Lingyi had returned earlier, he had already told Eleventh Young Lady everything that had transpired. He may even have recounted her every word and action at that time…

At the thought of this, tears welled in her eyes.

“Madam,” she began, “this servant heard from her household that her father’s promissory note for three taels of silver is now being demanded back as thirty thousand taels… Madam, think on it — is there any household whose interest rates are so extortionate?” She spoke, swallowing back her tears and letting out a choked sob. “I thought at first that these people, seeing my two uncles locked away in the Court of Judicial Review, were simply taking advantage of the situation as the world turns cold — opportunists kicking a man when he is down, as is the way of things. But when my father took the matter to the authorities, the authorities refused to intervene…” She looked at Eleventh Young Lady, her face filled with sorrowful indignation. “Madam, the common villagers may not understand the affairs of court — when a great wind sweeps through, they trample whichever tree has fallen. But surely the court’s own officials cannot be so ignorant? My two uncles have neither been convicted nor confined to the imperial prison. How can anyone be so certain they will never rise again? It is plain as day that someone has been directing them from behind, waiting for the Yang Family to sink into the mire so they can pile on.”

“Madam, when the Empress Dowager bestowed a niece from her own family upon the Marquis as a concubine, it was to foster good relations between the two households. Even in beating a dog, one must consider its master. Yet these people have disregarded all of this entirely, as though they were certain the Marquis would never speak up for this servant out of concern for appearances…” She stiffened slightly, her voice taking on a more grave and measured tone. “It may well be that someone is plotting against the Xu Family — using this as an opportunity to drag the Xu Family down with them. I thought to come to the Madam, yet I also considered that the Madam’s health is frail, and the Marquis, solicitous of the Madam, has left even household affairs to the Grand Madam to manage. If my suspicion proved correct, well and good, but if it did not — if I had simply been seeing danger where there was none and caused the Madam needless worry — the Marquis would blame me for it, and this servant feared that no amount of dying could atone for such a fault.”

“After much deliberation, this servant went to see the Marquis.”

Her tears rolled down and her forehead struck the polished blue stone tiles: “Madam, please save this servant’s life! This servant was only selected and given to the Marquis because she is a distant branch of the family — she has never harbored any improper ambitions. She only wishes to serve the Madam and the Sixth Young Master with all her heart, and to ask for no more than cloth enough to cover her body and food enough to fill her belly… Madam, please save this servant’s life. In the next life, this servant will repay your kindness as an ox repays its master.”

The servants attending in the room had long since fallen utterly still and silent the moment Eleventh Young Lady had begun to speak, each one standing to the side with downcast eyes, still as wooden posts. The sound of Yang Yiniang’s head striking the floor rang out again and again — peng, peng, peng — distinct and sharp, filling the room with an oppressive, storm-before-breaking tension that made everyone unconsciously hold their breath.

Wen Yiniang and Zhuxiang both looked over toward Eleventh Young Lady.

Eleventh Young Lady was reclining at an easy angle against the large bolster pillows, idly turning a cloisonné enamel hand mirror painted with a design of birds and flowers in a pattern of “a hundred years of marital bliss” over in her hands. The sorrow, indignation, gravity, and anxiety that Yang Yiniang had displayed had not touched her in the slightest. Her expression remained wholly serene, entirely at ease.

The two of them were taken aback.

Eleventh Young Lady spoke at her leisure: “I am not sure what wrong Yang Yiniang has committed that she should ask my forgiveness.”

A single sentence rendered all of Yang Yiniang’s weeping and performing superfluous, baffling, entirely beside the point.

Yang Yiniang’s heart sank.

For Eleventh Young Lady to have married Xu Lingyi as a concubine-born daughter and become his second wife, winning the affections of everyone from the Grand Madam down to the smallest maidservant — she was no simple person at all. The moment an opportunity presented itself, she was already going on the offensive, looking to pronounce her guilty…

She raised her forehead, red from the knocking, and through her tears said: “The Marquis rebuked this servant for crowing like a hen at dawn, for meddling in affairs of state, and for bringing dishonor upon the Xu Family. This servant does not dare hold a single objection. But it was truly done without forethought on this servant’s part. Though this servant was raised in the alleys and lanes, she still knows the saying — ‘beneath a toppled nest, what egg remains intact?’ She would never dare use her own family’s affairs to give others a hold over the Xu Family…”

Not only was this an answer that sidestepped the question entirely, but it also exploited people’s natural curiosity about secrets to redirect the conversation — subtly raising the subject of what had passed between herself and Xu Lingyi, while insinuating through her words that the only reason Xu Lingyi had been displeased with her visit was because she had spoken of things she ought not to have.

If one had little confidence in Xu Lingyi — if one were a little more given to curiosity — one would most likely follow her lead and press further.

Eleventh Young Lady now had some understanding of why Yang Yiniang had dared to come to her.

Setting everything else aside, on the strength of her tongue alone — a tongue that rivaled the legendary persuaders Su Qin and Zhang Yi — she did indeed have some measure of confidence that she could turn peril into safety.

“Yang Yiniang,” said Eleventh Young Lady, setting down the hand mirror and composing her expression, cutting Yang Yiniang’s speech short without ceremony, “you have said so much, yet I still cannot make out for what matter you seek my forgiveness. If you mean you fear I will blame you for going to the Marquis without telling me — you have already made that quite clear: you were afraid of worrying me. If you mean that the Marquis has rebuked you and you fear his further censure — the Marquis has neither confined you nor sent an attendant to call you to account. I truly cannot fathom why, upon seeing me, Yang Yiniang should cry out for her life to be saved.” She paused, then shifted her tone, pressing forward with a sharper edge: “Or can it be that Yang Yiniang has been speaking nothing but alarmist nonsense, spreading wild talk to mislead others? I think the Marquis had a point. The hen that crows at dawn brings ruin to the household. You had best return and rest, reflect carefully on the Marquis’s words, and take stock of yourself. In time, you will know what ought to be done, and what ought not.” She reached out and took hold of her teacup.

Every fault had been laid squarely at Yang Yiniang’s feet.

Wen Yiniang had been steeped in self-reproach and guilt ever since she understood Yang Yiniang’s intentions. Now that Eleventh Young Lady had spoken, and knowing it was she who had brought Yang Yiniang here, she stepped forward at once to help Yang Yiniang up, hoping to make amends: “Yang sister, the Madam is right. None of this is a matter for us women to be fretting over. What you did was truly improper. Since the Madam has told you to go back and reflect carefully, let us not disturb the Madam’s rest any further…”

If she simply left now, then what had been the point of all the effort to see Eleventh Young Lady? And in these circumstances, having lost this opportunity, she would not necessarily find a second one.

What mattered most now was to stay.

While there is life, there is hope.

Yang Yiniang immediately pushed aside Wen Yiniang’s outstretched arm and turned urgently to Eleventh Young Lady: “Madam, this servant has taken every word you said to heart. But the Marquis…” She paused, covering her face and weeping. “The Marquis intends to send this servant to a temple!”

By the way Yang Yiniang spoke, the reason Xu Lingyi was sending her to a temple was simply that she had said things improper for a woman to say about sensitive matters and he could no longer tolerate her.

Zhuxiang and the others who knew the truth bowed their heads. Those who did not, like Wen Yiniang, could not help but show expressions of shock.

Eleventh Young Lady let out a cold laugh inwardly.

Had her understanding of Xu Lingyi been shallower — had her trust in him been any less — she might well have believed Yang Yiniang’s version of events.

“You have brought trouble upon yourself with your words,” said Eleventh Young Lady, her gaze fixed sharply on Yang Yiniang. “The Marquis is sending you to a temple rather than ordering me to impose household punishment upon you. Can it be that you still harbor resentment? Why else would you be crying out for your life the moment you see me?”

“No, this servant harbors not the faintest resentment.” Yang Yiniang hastened to protest. “This servant is simply afraid.” As she spoke, she crept forward on her knees to the edge of the bed platform and gripped the railing. “Madam, you were born into a family of scholars, raised under strict and proper guidance. Even when you occasionally accompanied your parents and brothers to a temple, it was only to places of well-established virtue and reputation — to sit in the meditation chambers and drink tea, to eat a vegetarian meal. How could you know the vile deeds done by those with ill intentions…”

She flushed as she spoke.

“There are those idle and dissolute men who, noting that the nunneries observe the same rites and courtesies as the monasteries, will go there often for amusement. When they see devout women who have come to burn incense, they do not avoid them — they ogle and comment on their appearance, and offer money for private assignations. There are others, more malicious in nature, who will go to any lengths to abduct such women — selling them into houses of ill repute, or setting them up elsewhere as kept mistresses. And this is the fate of those who still have families, fathers, and brothers to speak for them. What of those solitary, homeless women who have taken religious vows? Being drugged, abducted, and sold off with the connivance of the abbess is no rare occurrence. How much more so for a servant like this one — a niece of condemned officials, sent to a temple by her master’s own hand?”

Her tears fell like rain.

“This servant may be of lowly birth, but she has read the Admonitions for Women and the Biographies of Exemplary Women. This servant does not fear the cold austerities of temple life. She only fears encountering those circumstances where she can neither call upon Heaven nor the earth for help…” She had intended to say, “If it should come to that, I would rather die,” but on reflection, if Eleventh Young Lady simply had Xu Lingyi grant her death, she would be bringing trouble upon herself. So she paused, lowered her head, dabbed at the corners of her eyes, and passed over the matter without saying it. “Madam, since the Marquis has decreed this servant be sent to a temple, this servant does not dare defy his word. This servant only entreats the Madam to permit her to take her vows in the family’s own temple, so that she may be spared from falling into that state where life is not worth living and death cannot be found — and avoid bringing disgrace upon the Marquis and the Madam. This servant will pray day and night for the Marquis, the Madam, the Young Masters, and the Young Misses, beseeching the Bodhisattva to bless the Xu Family with prosperity and flourishing descendants.”

“The family temple, you say.” Eleventh Young Lady looked at her tear-streaked face.

So that was her true purpose.

Stay first — deal with the rest later.

But having seen her methods, how could Eleventh Young Lady possibly dare keep her here?

Her home should be a place of rest, not a battlefield.

“The Buddhist hall in the back garden has only one old attendant to tend the incense and candles — it can hardly be called a place of genuine spiritual cultivation,” she said quietly. “I think the Dajue Temple, where Qiao Yiniang once went, would be more suitable… After one stay there, Qiao Yiniang may not have learned much else, but she at least learned to keep to the rules. Yang Yiniang, would you not agree? That ought to qualify as a place of well-established virtue and reputation.”

* * *