Xu Lingyi quickly coughed once, and Shi’yiniang too came to her senses.

The two of them composed themselves and sat up unhurriedly.

Xu Lingyi asked his son, “Who is fighting?”

Jin Ge’er tilted his little head, looked at his father — perfectly calm and composed — then at his mother — equally serene and collected — and said, “Father and Mother…” His eyes were full of bewilderment.

Xu Lingyi beckoned his son with a wave.

Jin Ge’er ran over.

Xu Lingyi scooped him up. He smiled and asked, “When did Father and Mother fight? Hmm?”

“Just now!” Jin Ge’er’s eyes went wide.

“Do you know what fighting is?” Xu Lingyi asked his son.

Jin Ge’er nodded. “Suifeng fighting — him fighting with Chang’an!”

When had Suifeng fought with Chang’an? And how could he possibly have fought with Chang’an?

Shi’yiniang listened, completely confused.

But Xu Lingyi was already asking his son, “How did they fight?”

Jin Ge’er made a pressing-down gesture with his hands. “Like this — that’s how they fought!”

“And did Father and Mother do that just now?”

Jin Ge’er thought for a long moment, then shook his head.

“Then why did you say Father and Mother were fighting?”

Jin Ge’er looked thoroughly baffled, and turned his eyes toward his mother in appeal.

The nerve of this man — trying to muddle even his own son!

Shi’yiniang grumbled inwardly, and quickly drew Jin Ge’er into her arms. “Is Jin Ge’er here to ask Mother to tell him a story?” she asked her son in a gentle voice.

Jin Ge’er nodded vigorously at that. “Mother, tell me a story!”

“All right!” Shi’yiniang got off the bed with her son in her arms. “Let’s go hear our story!”

Jin Ge’er laughed with delight.

The maidservants and nannies who had been pressed against the partition screen listening for sounds scattered in an instant. By the time Shi’yiniang emerged, they were all standing to one side with their hands properly lowered, their manner respectful.

Shi’yiniang did not return to the inner chamber until the hour of Hai.

“Why so late?” Xu Lingyi was alone on the bed, leaning back and reading. “Was Jin Ge’er being difficult?”

“No!” Shi’yiniang shot Xu Lingyi a glare. “He kept asking me what fighting was.”

Xu Lingyi calmly let out an “oh,” and said with an air of casual indifference, “Was I not sparing your dignity?” Then he lowered his gaze back to the book in his hands, the very picture of serious reading.

Shi’yiniang was so exasperated she felt fit to burst.

Well, it was a good thing it had only been a bit of mutual teasing — if they had actually “fought”… the embarrassment would have been enormous!

At this thought, she could not help muttering under her breath — things like “really now” and “I don’t even know who it was who wouldn’t let go” — in a very small voice.

The other person pretended not to hear a word, and told Shi’yiniang about the marriage prospect Madam Liang had mentioned: “If a family feels their daughter is too beautiful to be casually betrothed, and yet makes a special trip to Yanjing using Liang’s grandchild’s birth as the occasion, it suggests they have something in mind — either the father’s ambitions are too high, or the girl’s own ambitions are too high. My thinking is, it is better not to see her at all.”

Shi’yiniang had thought the same. Had she not, she would not have teased Xu Lingyi in the first place — only to end up being teased herself instead!

“I understand, my lord,” she said, and drew down the bed curtain.

Xu Lingyi gave a nod, then composed his expression and asked her, “By the way — what exactly did you tell Jin Ge’er ‘fighting’ was?”

Shi’yiniang had not expected him to ask this. She was caught off guard.

The corners of Xu Lingyi’s mouth slowly curved into a smile. “How about we try and find out?”

—

Events unfolded exactly as Xu Lingyi had anticipated.

After the banquet celebrating Xu Siyu’s passing of the prefectural examination, quite a few families had expressed, in roundabout ways, a wish to form a marriage alliance with the Xu household. In the past, there had still been the excuse that Xu Siyu had no scholarly title; now that shield was gone, and Shi’yiniang found herself in a rather difficult position.

None of the truly highborn daughters of eminent families had come forward. She did not know a single one of them, while others apparently knew the Xu family through and through. Because these young ladies were kept carefully sheltered in their inner quarters, inquiring about them was exceedingly difficult, and this left her feeling uncertain and unsettled.

Bearing in mind that Xu Siyu would one day establish his own household, she wanted to find him a wife capable of holding her own and managing a family independently.

It was at this point that Madam Fang arrived in Yanjing with her son.

Following proper protocol, she first paid a visit to Third Madam.

When the Grand Madam learned of this, she gave a slight nod, and said privately to Nanny Du: “It looks as though a certain person in our household is about to be held in the palm of someone’s hand.”

Nanny Du was seated on a small stool trimming the Grand Madam’s toenails, and laughed. “As long as the days are good, it doesn’t matter who holds whom in the palm of whose hand.”

The Grand Madam gave an amused smile. “True enough. They have moved to Sanjing Lane now — out of sight, out of mind. As long as there is someone sensible at the helm of this household in the end, that is all that matters!”

Nanny Du smiled and said nothing, and set about helping the Grand Madam to rest.

Early the next morning, Third Madam accompanied Madam Fang to pay their respects to the Grand Madam.

Madam Fang was not tall, with regular features and gentle eyes — she looked, at first glance, like a perfectly ordinary woman. This prompted Shi’yiniang to whisper silently to herself: had she encountered this woman in any other setting, she would never in a hundred years have imagined this was what Madam Fang looked like. It appeared Fang Shi either resembled her father or her grandmother. As for Madam Fang’s younger brother — only ten years old — although his manners and bearing were faultless and courteous, the curiosity that occasionally flickered in his eyes added a touch of childish guilelessness to him, making him quite endearing.

The Grand Madam was clearly fond of him. She took him by the hand and asked how old he was, whether he had begun his studies, what he liked to do with his time… and had someone bring Xu Siyu and the others to come and greet the guests.

Madam Fang was greatly impressed by Xu Siyu and praised him several times. By her tone, it was clear that Fang Ji had spoken of Xu Siyu in very favorable terms in front of the family. The one-year-older-than-Young-Master-Fang Xu Sizhun and the two-years-older-than-Young-Master-Fang Xu Sijie immediately hit it off with Young Master Fang, and the three were soon playing together. As for the younger Jin Ge’er and Shen Ge’er, they were brought out to bow to Madam Fang and then carried back to their own rooms.

The Grand Madam graciously invited Madam Fang to stay for the midday meal, and Madam Fang did not decline. However, after the meal, she made her excuses — not wishing to disturb the Grand Madam’s afternoon rest — and took her leave.

Shi’yiniang escorted Madam Fang, her son, and Third Madam to the second gate.

She had just turned back to go inside when a young manservant came running in, breathless.

Catching sight of Shi’yiniang, he bowed. “Fourth Madam, I was sent to deliver an invitation card to Second Madam at the Shaohua Courtyard.”

Shi’yiniang was momentarily taken aback.

Second Madam rarely went out and had few visitors — she could not imagine who would be sending Second Madam an invitation.

She made a quiet note of it, and in the course of her observations, she discovered, to her surprise, that the one calling on Second Madam was none other than Madam Gao.

—

“What has happened between you two again?” Madam Gao said upon seeing Second Madam, with a smile. “Just a little while ago, at the wedding of Rouji, everything seemed perfectly fine. But then after one visit to this household, your sister-in-law is at home shedding tears in private again. What am I supposed to say about the two of you?”

Second Madam’s brow furrowed slightly.

Nothing irritated her more than Madam Xiang airing the Xiang family’s grievances in front of her own relatives.

But before she could say a word in refusal, Madam Gao let out a long sigh. “The two of you — what can I even say? One of you has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. What ought to be handled, she never shirks; even what doesn’t concern her, she takes firmly in hand and settles properly, yet refuses to admit it openly. The other was spoiled from childhood, speaks without thinking, and doesn’t even know how to soften her words. By rights, I am an outsider and ought not to meddle in your affairs. In the past, I always just watched from the sidelines and said things behind your sister-in-law’s back. But this time — I truly could not stand by any longer!”

Striking first to seize the advantage.

Those four words flashed through Second Madam’s mind. Yet she made no outward sign — she simply lifted her teacup and took a calm sip.

Madam Gao sensed that this young lady of the Xiang family was not someone easily reasoned with. She did not let it trouble her. Her expression sobered, and she continued: “I won’t bring up anything else — let us speak only of the proposed match between the second young master of the Xu family and our Rouner. If it were not for all the trouble you stirred up, how would things have come to this pass? The second young master of the Xu family is a man — he can afford to take his time finding a wife. But our Rouner has been made to wait, and her prospects are being wasted!”

Second Madam’s brow arched faintly.

It was her sister-in-law who had felt slighted back then, and who — without a moment’s consideration — had flatly refused, regardless of anything else. Now that Rouner’s marriage was not going smoothly, the blame was somehow being laid at her own door!

And as she thought about it, her mind turned swiftly.

She had no particular dealings with Madam Gao ordinarily. With a relationship like theirs, it was almost always a case of “one does not visit a temple without a purpose.” The fact that she had opened the conversation directly with the matter of Xu Siyu and Rouner — could it mean…

At this realization, her expression shifted subtly.

The Xu household was not a vegetable garden that one could come and go from as one pleased — proposing a match when one felt like it, and making a scene when one did not. Never mind that Xu Siyu had now passed the prefectural examination, and that Qin Shi was gone — his path would only grow wider with time. Even if Xu Siyu were still untitled today, and Qin Shi were still alive, she could not possibly bring herself to do anything so humiliating to the Xu family again!

“Madam Gao, in the past, you were not closely involved in my sister-in-law’s affairs — understandably, you weren’t fully aware of the situation,” Second Madam said, her words precise and incisive. “At the time, it was my sister-in-law who felt that my having proposed this match was an insult to her — and who refused to hear of it under any circumstances. The Grand Madam of our household was deeply distressed over the matter, as was Fourth Sister-in-law — who, even now, likely still holds me at fault for having handled things improperly. And yet the more I listen to you, Madam Gao, the more it sounds as though you are reproaching me. If my sister-in-law were to hear that, she would surely take offense as well — feeling that even Madam Gao has no regard for her, since Madam Gao apparently expects her own daughter to be married into such a household…”

As Madam Gao heard the words growing sharper and deeper, she remembered she had come to mediate, not to quarrel, and immediately laughed. “The young lady speaks with good reason. Still, perhaps the young lady, having lived alone for so long, has grown accustomed to doing everything independently, and may have forgotten to consult her sister-in-law…” She then said something about why Madam Xiang had refused at the time. “Otherwise, given the friendship between the two families, the marriage would have been settled long ago — why would we still be waiting today?” She also said with a smile, “Now that I think about it, there is a certain fate between these two young people — how else to explain that the moment one was urgently seeking a match, the other passed the prefectural examination?”

Her suspicions confirmed, Second Madam gave a cold smile, and in her reluctance to engage further with Madam Gao, she sat there listening with only half her attention.

Madam Gao did not give up, and continued with her sighing and lamenting: “You know your sister-in-law’s temperament better than anyone. These years, while Master Xiang was posted away, she followed him everywhere — enduring a great deal of hardship — so that the children could grow up properly. First there was the matter of Yijia, then Rouner’s situation, and it has worn her down so completely that she can barely hold her head up in company. You don’t know this, but not long ago at a family gathering, she was mocked and belittled by my cousin’s wife. Under ordinary circumstances, your sister-in-law would never have stood for such treatment. Yet this time, she said not a single word, took Rouner and Yijia, and went straight home — and wept the whole way back.

“Rouner was there when it happened. Yet afterward, she kept comforting your sister-in-law.

“People say Rouner is composed and steady in temperament. But composed as she may be, she is only a girl of seventeen or eighteen. I simply refuse to believe there is not even a small corner of her heart that aches. If there were not — then why, the day of the second young master’s banquet, did she refuse no matter what to go out? She was afraid people would laugh at her!”

Although Second Madam was at odds with her own sister-in-law, she held a genuine and tender affection for her nieces and nephews.

Hearing this, she could not help but fall into silence.

—