“When have I ever gone back on my word!” Xu Siyu said with a laugh. “I said I’d take Jin Ge’er rowing, so I will definitely take Jin Ge’er rowing. Besides, you can’t just cram everything in at the last minute before an examination!”

Fang Shi, standing behind Xu Siqin, gave a quiet nod at that.

The Second Madam, hearing this, came over as well: “Effort made day by day is what counts. The fact that you can think this way shows you have put in hard work over these years — your foundation is solid!”

Xu Siyu’s expression turned slightly abashed.

Xu Siqin felt a little awkward.

The way Second Aunt had said it made it sound as though he had not been diligent enough in his studies.

Xu Sijian quickly jumped in to rescue his brother. He pointed at Jin Ge’er, who had already stopped crying: “Look, look — Jin Ge’er isn’t crying anymore.” He then threw his arm around Xu Siyu’s shoulder. “Looks like you’ve been tricked by our Jin Ge’er! Remember to take him rowing tomorrow.” He added, “Better yet — why don’t we all go along to keep you company? One person having fun is not as good as a whole crowd having fun!”

Everyone was amused by him and laughed.

Eleventh Young Lady joined in playfully and instructed Jin Ge’er: “Well, go on then — thank your Second Elder Brother!”

Jin Ge’er parroted back obediently, “Thank you, Second Elder Brother.”

Xu Siyu smiled and pinched his little hand: “We go rowing tomorrow!”

Xu Sizhun hesitated, then said, “Mother, may I also come along?”

Xu Sijie, who always followed Xu Sizhun’s lead, immediately spoke up: “Mother, and me too — I want to come along too!”

He said it with great conviction, and loudly enough that everyone in the room heard.

The whole room could barely suppress their laughter.

The Grand Madam, in particular, pointed at Xu Sizhun and Xu Sijie: “These two children…” Her tone was full of warmth and fondness.

Emboldened, Xu Sizhun tugged at the Grand Madam’s sleeve: “Grandmother, let’s come rowing again tomorrow!” He wanted to get it settled. Afraid the Grand Madam might not agree, he thought for a moment and added, “Didn’t Second Aunt say so herself — effort day by day is what counts, you can’t just cram it all in at the last moment. If I study properly every day, one extra day of play doesn’t matter!”

It was the first time the Grand Madam had ever heard Xu Sizhun speak so clearly and logically. She was overjoyed and hugged him close: “All right, all right, all right. Tomorrow we row again for another full day.” She then instructed Eleventh Young Lady, “For Jie Ge’er, ask Teacher Zhao for a day off — our Teacher Zhao rests on the first and the fifteenth of the month anyway, so one extra day won’t matter.” She also said to Xu Siqin and Xu Sijian, “Bring your wives along next time too — we’ll play tiles again!”

Everyone laughed and chimed in their agreement.

Xu Sizhun disentangled himself from the Grand Madam’s arms.

“I’ll come wake you up first thing in the morning,” he told Xu Sijie, then thought of how this whole outing had come about because of Jin Ge’er, and went to take Jin Ge’er’s hand too. “We’re going rowing together with Second Elder Brother tomorrow!”

Jin Ge’er grinned wide.

A loud crash of shattering porcelain rang through the room.

Everyone started, and turned toward the sound.

They saw that the tea table beside Xin Jie’er was now bare, and scattered around her feet were shards of porcelain large and small.

“Jin Ge’er started it!” She stamped her foot, glaring at the grinning Jin Ge’er, her face flushed with indignation. “He hit me first!”

“Enough!” The Fifth Madam’s face went through several rapid shades. She instructed Xin Jie’er’s wet nurse, “Take her back and discipline her properly,” and gave Eleventh Young Lady an apologetic smile. Then she curtseyed slightly toward the Grand Madam, “Mother, it is so hot — I am going back to take a few Snow Relief Pills and then return.” With that, she hurried both children’s wet nurses along.

Xin Jie’er refused to accept this, kicking her legs in the wet nurse’s arms.

Shen Ge’er, startled by Xin Jie’er’s behavior, let out a wail of fright.

Neither wet nurse dared delay. One held Shen Ge’er, the other held Xin Jie’er, and they turned to leave the water pavilion.

“Bring the children over to me!” The Grand Madam beckoned to the two wet nurses. She took Shen Ge’er first into her arms and gave him a sweet to eat. He stopped crying immediately. Then she smoothed Xin Jie’er’s slightly disheveled hair, “You are the elder sister — you must look after your little brother. You cannot go around frightening him like that. Do you understand?”

Xin Jie’er pursed her lips and nodded.

“Good girl!” the Grand Madam said warmly, patting Xin Jie’er’s cheek. She then looked up at the sky and said, “Do you still want to pick lotus pods? The sun is almost setting — this is just the right time to go on the water…”

The Grand Madam had not even finished her sentence when Xin Jie’er cried out joyfully: “Yes, yes, yes — I want to pick lotus pods!”

“Sijian!” the Grand Madam instructed. “You and your wife take Xin Jie’er to go pick lotus pods!”

Xu Sijian had been standing there completely dumbfounded by everything he had just witnessed. He came back to himself only when he heard the Grand Madam call his name. He immediately answered with a bright “yes!” and stepped forward to take Xin Jie’er by the hand.

Xin Jie’er shot Jin Ge’er a victorious look, and happily followed Xu Sijian and Jin Shi out of the water pavilion.

Jin Ge’er’s phoenix eyes went wide.

The Grand Madam then instructed Xu Sizhun: “The sun is about to set, and the garden is cooling down nicely — you and Jie Ge’er take Jin Ge’er to go play cuju!” She then said to Eleventh Young Lady, “Go see how dinner is coming along.” She waved the Fifth Madam over: “With the children all out of the way, let’s get in a few more rounds!”

Fang Shi’s gaze swept the room. She rose with a smile and went to support the Fifth Madam, whose expression was still faintly dazed: “Fifth Aunt and I are both the big losers today — this is our last chance to make it back!”

The Fifth Madam understood that the Grand Madam was offering her a way out. She called out “Mother” with some relief, and settled herself at the tile table with a sheepish air.

The Grand Madam handed Shen Ge’er to his wet nurse to carry away, then said with grave and gentle deliberateness, “You and Fifth Son have grown up never having been flicked so much as one fingernail’s worth. But you cannot raise your own flesh and blood by going straight to scolding at the top of your voice.”

The Fifth Madam bowed her head in shame.

The Second Madam smiled faintly and began to draw her tiles.

The bright clinking of jade tiles rang through the room once more.

After dinner at the Drooping Line Water Pavilion and returning home, Eleventh Young Lady first coaxed Jin Ge’er to sleep, then called in the forthright A’jin to ask: “What exactly was the fight between Second Young Miss and Jin Ge’er about?”

A flicker of hesitation crossed A’jin’s face.

Eleventh Young Lady’s expression darkened.

A’jin quickly said, “Second Young Miss saw that the leaf card in Sixth Young Master’s hand had a Guanyin painted on the back and wanted to trade her Pagoda King card for it. Sixth Young Master took Second Young Miss’s Pagoda King card but then refused to hand over the Guanyin. Second Young Miss came to grab it back, and Sixth Young Master wouldn’t give it up. She slapped him on the hand. Then she gave another slap that ended up hitting Sixth Young Master’s face. Sixth Young Master grabbed Second Young Miss’s hair in return… Third Young Mistress was standing right there and didn’t know what to do. It was Second Young Master who separated them. And then he stayed there comforting Sixth Young Master the whole time after…”

Eleventh Young Lady fell into thought.

Qiuyu came hurrying in: “Madam, the Grand Madam has come!”

Eleventh Young Lady was startled.

“At this late hour…”

She hurried out to greet her.

The Grand Madam had only Nanny Du accompanying her.

“How is Jin Ge’er?” the Grand Madam asked as she went, passing right by Eleventh Young Lady and heading straight for Jin Ge’er’s warm inner room.

“He just fell asleep!” Eleventh Young Lady followed the Grand Madam into the room.

The attendants beside Jin Ge’er’s bed all bowed in greeting.

“Be quiet, all of you!” the Grand Madam said, looking at the soundly sleeping Jin Ge’er. “Be careful not to wake Sixth Young Master.” She then softened her footsteps and sat down on the edge of the kang. She asked Nanny Gu to bring the lamp closer, put on her glasses, and bent down to examine Jin Ge’er’s little face carefully. After a long moment she straightened up, removed her glasses, and said, “Good — it hasn’t swollen.” She then motioned for Eleventh Young Lady to help her out of the warm inner room.

“Children of the same age — squabbling and scuffling is normal. Don’t take it to heart. Xin Jie’er does have quite a fierce temper. I’ll have a proper talk with Danyang and have her work on curbing Xin Jie’er’s disposition.”

The Grand Madam coming so late at night to check on Jin Ge’er, and counseling her so warmly — even if Eleventh Young Lady had harbored any lingering grievance, it would have melted away.

She said sincerely, “Mother, our Jin Ge’er was also in the wrong…”

“I know what I’m dealing with.” The Grand Madam waved her hand, signaling she need not say more. She asked after Xu Lingyi, “…Still not back? What has he been so busy with?”

Eleventh Young Lady was thinking of Xu Lingyi herself, but dared not say anything to the Grand Madam.

“He’s usually back quite early — something must have come up today.”

The Grand Madam had only asked casually. She advised her to get to bed early, and left with Nanny Du.

Eleventh Young Lady sat on the kang distractedly, doing needlework.

It was not until the hai hour that Xu Lingyi returned.

Eleventh Young Lady helped him change his clothes.

“The Wang family is most likely finished,” he said at last, once they were in bed, and told her everything. “Fortunately Wang Jiubao was quick-thinking enough to send the child away…”

Eleventh Young Lady’s heart was hammering: “And the Wang family?”

Xu Lingyi held Eleventh Young Lady’s hand — as though doing so could put her at ease.

“The best outcome is exile after having their property confiscated.”

His expression was somewhat somber.

Eleventh Young Lady let Xu Lingyi hold her hand and said nothing.

The two of them sat there side by side against the headboard bolsters.

“Enough,” Xu Lingyi said softly after a long while. “Let’s not talk about this anymore. How was the family banquet today? Did everyone have a good time?”

Eleventh Young Lady did not want to bring up Jin Ge’er’s incident and put a damper on things.

“Everyone had quite a good time,” she said lightly. “We’ve already made plans to go rowing again tomorrow.”

Xu Lingyi smiled to hear that.

Eleventh Young Lady then sat up straight and looked at him intently: “My Lord — the death of the heir of the Marquis of Jing’an… was Wang Jiubao behind it?”

Otherwise, how had Xu Lingyi moved so easily?

After all, the Qu family had been established in Fujian for generations.

Xu Lingyi thought for a moment, then gave a quiet nod: “I had the men, but not the intelligence.”

So it was that Xu Lingyi had supplied the manpower, while Wang Jiubao had gathered the information. Could that be the reason the Qu family had taken action against the Wang family today?

Eleventh Young Lady began to feel a rising worry.

Xu Lingyi, seeing this, drew her into his arms: “The Qu family has taken heavy losses and cannot move against me. They are venting all their fury upon the Wang family. They stirred up one of Wang Jiubao’s former subordinates to go back to engaging in illicit trade.” At this point, his gentle gaze turned as keen and sharp as a hawk’s. “But the Qu family expended considerable manpower, resources, and wealth to lay this trap — they are most likely spent now, their momentum exhausted. And Wang Jiubao is also a hero of his age.” There was genuine admiration in his voice. “By entrusting his grandson to me, he was simply telling me: no matter the circumstances, he would never expose what we once did together. And I am not the sort of man to shrink back from difficulty. Whatever comes to pass, I will help preserve whatever remains of the Wang bloodline.” His tone was firm and resolute. “If only he had listened to me back then — endured that moment of anger, and not gone on making these futile entanglements with the Qu family. The Qu family would never have found a reason to sacrifice one of their own limbs to make an example of the Wang family.” His voice trailed off toward the end, heavy with regret.