Xu Lingyi simply looked at Shi’yiniang. “You said you had needlework to do — the light is better over here!”

Is that so?

Shi’yiniang’s gaze drifted involuntarily to the Chinese crabapple tree outside the window.

The woman in charge of tending the garden plants had taken excellent care of it, keeping it at a height that consistently exceeded the window frame by about a foot. It grew in a lush, full clump, and the sunlight outside streamed in at a leisurely pace. Those inside who looked toward it would see, at the turn of spring into summer, clusters of blossoms as brilliant as flowing silk sashes; and at the turn of summer into fall, the slightly reddish, unripe crabapple fruits still touched with green.

The Chinese crabapple stood at the very center between the west secondary room and the end room. She sat on the west side of the large kang by the window in the inner chamber, while he sat on the east side. If one were to speak of better light, wouldn’t her side be the brighter one?

Shi’yiniang muttered quietly to herself, then turned her head away — only to catch sight of Xu Lingyi leisurely leafing through a poetry collection titled You Meng Yin that he had just set down on the kang table.

He simply wanted her to sit beside him, didn’t he?

Shi’yiniang smiled and picked up her needlework, bowing her head to continue sewing his undergarments.

Xu Lingyi leaned back at an angle against the large ink-splattered bolster pillow, resting his feet on her lap.

Shi’yiniang was somewhat surprised.

She raised her head and looked over at him. He was looking down at his book, the corners of his mouth curved in a faint smile, his expression one of perfect ease, as though he were entirely unaware of what he had just done.

Shi’yiniang could not help but smile to herself inwardly.

The room was perfectly still. Jin Ge’er’s cheerful laughter drifted over in waves — now high, now low, now loud, now soft. Her hands slowed, and her eyes and brows took on a touch of that same joy.

Xu Siyu’s celebratory banquet was lively and boisterous.

Madam Xiang stepped out of Marquis Yongping’s residence, and the smile slid from her face.

Xiang Yijia quickly moved to support his mother. “Are you tired? It’s still half an hour back. Let the nannies massage your legs, and you can rest a little!”

Madam Xiang looked at her son, whose expression still carried the lingering traces of a smile, and hesitated. “The second young master of the Xu family… is his scholarship truly that impressive?”

Xiang Yijia laughed when he heard this. “When it comes to scholarship, how could he compare to Third Brother-in-law? That said, what he has studied is well-rounded and solid — very practical for sitting the imperial examinations.” At this, his tone became rather touched. “Master Jiang of the Jinxi Academy truly lives up to his reputation. In these past few years, their academy has produced quite a few men of distinction.”

For some reason Madam Xiang could not quite name, hearing this left her feeling vaguely stifled.

She rested her hand on the shoulder of the nanny beside her and stepped up onto the footstool. “And yet you were chatting with him so merrily?” she said, with a hint of reproach.

Thinking of Xu Siyu’s refined and cultured manner, Xiang Yijia did not want his mother to misunderstand. He quickly said, “Xu Siyu has a witty nature, and his every movement carries the grace of a true gentleman. He is someone worth befriending…”

Madam Xiang, who had one foot already on the carriage step, paused ever so slightly, then ducked inside the black-lacquered flat-topped carriage.

A rich, enveloping fragrance of magnolia greeted her.

Madam Xiang’s brows snapped into a scowl. “Who burned this incense? Why is it so overpowering? Are we some newly-rich family that doesn’t know its own station?”

The maidservants and nannies both inside and outside the carriage trembled, not daring to say a word. The incense in the carriage had been burned according to Madam Xiang’s usual preferences; when they had set out, everything had been perfectly fine — so why was she flying into such a rage now?

Xiang Yijia also found his mother’s sudden fury inexplicable and baffling.

He quickly laughed and said, “I was the one who asked for it to be burned — I wanted to sleep in the carriage!”

In front of the servants, Madam Xiang naturally could not continue her outburst.

She let out a cold “hmph” and ordered the nanny accompanying the carriage: “Back to the residence!”

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Some helped Xiang Yijia into the carriage, while others carefully guided the carriage out of Lotus Lane.

The sun was sinking in the west. The shopkeepers along West Main Street were busy shuttering their stalls, their chatter and laughter filling the air.

Madam Xiang sat inside the carriage with her eyes closed, and her mind drifted back to the lively scene she had witnessed at the Xu household.

Not only had the Xu family’s various relatives by marriage come, but even the wife of Elder Liang, the wife of Elder Dou, and the wife of the Transmission Commissioner had all attended — each and every one offering congratulations to Shi’yiniang on having raised such a fine son, and to Xu Siyu for bringing glory to the Xu family.

At this thought, an image surfaced unbidden in her mind: her second daughter, Xiang Rouner, sitting on the large kang by the window in the inner chamber, bent over her needlework — her head bowed, her dark hair loosely coiled into a bun at the nape, revealing a snow-white neck, the corners of her lips carrying a sweet smile, like the spring light of the Jiangnan region in the third month — warm and gentle.

A faint, sharp ache pricked at her heart.

Eighteen years she had cradled this daughter in the palm of her hand…

Madam Xiang’s teeth ground together.

Look at the matches people had proposed for her daughter. Either men fixated on the dowry who wouldn’t let it go, or men suspicious that Rouner had some hidden ailment, or dull, wooden types who couldn’t string three sentences together…

Madam Xiang’s eyes snapped open. She yanked back the carriage curtain and called out loudly: “Go to my maternal uncle’s house!”

The nanny accompanying the carriage was startled so badly that her words slipped out before she could stop them: “At this hour? It’s nearly dark…”

“So many words!” Madam Xiang snapped. “Where I tell you to go, you go. Do you think it’s your place to tell me what to do?”

“Madam, I spoke out of turn,” the nanny immediately corrected herself. “I’ll give the order to the driver at once!”

Even so, Madam Xiang’s anger was not fully spent. She snapped the curtain shut with a sharp swish, and only then did she feel the slightest bit better.

Gao Shi hurried to the second gate just in time to see her sister-in-law, Madam Xiang, stepping down from the carriage.

“What brings you here at this hour?” She quickly went forward and took Madam Xiang’s hand. “Has something happened at home?” Then a thought struck her, and she asked, “Could it be that someone has come to propose a match for Rouner?”

Her mind had gone to the same place as Madam Xiang’s — that getting Xiang Rouner’s marriage settled was the most pressing matter, and that dealing with Xiang Yijia could wait.

Madam Xiang shook her head, her face ashen.

Gao Shi looked up past Madam Xiang’s shoulder at Xiang Yijia standing behind her.

Xiang Yijia gave his aunt a gesture that said clearly: I don’t know either.

This was not the place for conversation.

Gao Shi suppressed the bewilderment welling up inside her. Seeing that the hour was late and worried that Madam Xiang had brought bad news — which might alarm her father-in-law — she quietly instructed the nanny beside her to accompany Xiang Yijia to see her husband, while she herself led Madam Xiang to her own inner chamber.

“Tell me,” said Gao Shi, personally pouring a cup of tea for Madam Xiang. She swept a glance around the empty room. “What on earth has happened?”

Madam Xiang bowed her head and toyed with the pink famille-rose porcelain cup painted with peonies and butterflies. Her lips moved, and after a long pause she finally said: “Nothing much, really — I just felt out of sorts, so I came to sit with you for a while.” She set the cup down on the kang table and sank back against the large bolster pillow, the corners of her eyes glimmering with moisture.

Gao Shi stared at her for a moment, momentarily speechless, then immediately called in Madam Xiang’s personal nanny.

“What happened?”

The personal nanny was thoroughly at a loss. She murmured haltingly, “She was up early this morning… took the young master to Marquis Yongping’s residence… the second young master of Marquis Yongping’s household passed the prefectural examination, so the family was hosting a banquet…”

Gao Shi thought it over. Something became partially clear to her. She dismissed the personal nanny and sat down beside Madam Xiang, lowering her voice. “Is it about Rouner’s marriage?”

Madam Xiang bit her lip and said nothing.

Gao Shi laughed. “Look at you — what a lack of resolve. Now is not the time to be sulking. If you can’t bring yourself to lower your pride, then I’ll go and serve as Rouner’s matchmaker myself!”

“Absolutely not!” Madam Xiang sat bolt upright at once. “That would only give my sister-in-law something to laugh about for years — especially since it was I who refused in the first place…” Her expression darkened somewhat. “You haven’t seen it yourself. Today, at the second young master of the Xu family’s banquet, everyone was congratulating the Fourth Madam of the Xu family, while my own sister-in-law sat to one side watching the second young master of the Xu family and smiling — as though the Xu family’s second young master were her own son…” Her tone toward the end carried a definite edge of resentment.

Gao Shi could not help but laugh.

She reached out and tapped Madam Xiang lightly on the forehead. “You — since you feel that way, why come running to me to weep? What is there to cry about?”

Madam Xiang turned her head away and quickly said, “When did I ever come to cry at your door? I was simply out of sorts, so I came to chat with you. If you find me a bother, I’ll leave.” With that, she made as if to get down from the kang and put on her shoes.

“Throwing a tantrum in front of me, of all people!” Gao Shi pretended to be annoyed. “Keep it up, and I really will wash my hands of this entire business!”

Madam Xiang’s body stiffened, and she remained seated on the edge of the kang.

—

“Madam Liang mentioned she has a distant grand-niece who is said to be exceptionally good-looking. Her family has been unwilling to marry her off to just anyone — they’ve been so particular that the girl is already fifteen and still hasn’t been betrothed. She accompanied her mother to attend the one-month celebration banquet for Lantin’s second son a few days ago, and hasn’t left yet.” Shi’yiniang sat before the dressing table, removing her pearl hairpins. “By the sound of it, Madam Liang seems to want me to meet her.” She turned to look at Xu Lingyi, who was leaning against the headboard watching her. “What do you think — should I meet her or not?”

Xu Lingyi, thinking of how she had removed Jiang Yunfei’s name from the guest list for Xu Siyu’s banquet, smiled. “You make the call!”

“You really will let me decide, my lord?” Shi’yiniang cast him a sidelong glance, then affected a pensive air. “Our Siyu is handsome and accomplished — we ought to find someone who is a true match for him. Since Madam Liang says her distant grand-niece is exceptionally good-looking, I suppose there is no harm in going to have a look…”

Xu Lingyi crooked a finger at her.

Shi’yiniang let down her hair and moved toward him.

In one swift motion, Xu Lingyi seized both her arms and half-lifted her onto the bed.

“My lord!” Shi’yiniang cried out in surprise.

Xu Lingyi had already flipped over and pinned her beneath him.

A brief, startled flurry of sounds came from outside the room, then everything quickly settled back into a silence so complete one could have heard a pin drop.

Shi’yiniang felt her face burning hot. She glared at Xu Lingyi, her eyes a mixture of embarrassment and indignation. “What are you doing? Jin Ge’er hasn’t gone to sleep yet!”

Xu Lingyi heard this and calmly righted himself. “Weren’t you the one trying to play tricks on me just now? And now you blame me for having no sense of occasion?”

Shi’yiniang was frozen for a long moment before the meaning caught up with her.

She was equal parts amused and exasperated, not quite knowing what to do with herself. She looked this way and that, grabbed a pillow, and flung it at him. “You scoundrel!”

Xu Lingyi watched Shi’yiniang’s face flush as red as a blooming lotus, her eyes dark and luminous, as beautiful as black obsidian submerged in water — once you looked at them, you didn’t want to look away.

His heart stirred deeply. He pulled her into his arms. “Truly — ‘three days without a scolding and you’re climbing up to pull the roof tiles.’ Let’s see how I deal with you!”

His voice carried a laugh, thick with teasing — clearly just playful banter with her.

Shi’yiniang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Sometimes Xu Lingyi was just like a big boy.

She was not about to let him have his way.

She let out a deliberate cry of alarm and struggled to pull herself free from his embrace.

Xu Lingyi held her and refused to let go.

The two of them tussled and laughed together, rolling into a heap.

Then, all of a sudden, a small voice cried out with great excitement: “Fighting! They’re fighting!”

The two on the bed went completely still.

—