“If they can’t even manage the people in their own charge, what use are they?” Eleventh’s expression was cool and firm. “Just do as I say.”
Steward Bai dared not hesitate. He immediately withdrew and went directly to consult Xu Lingyi.
Xu Lingyi was in the middle of a conversation with Zhu Anping and Shao Zhongran. When Steward Bai drew him aside, he was somewhat surprised. But as he heard the account of what had happened, his expression gradually took on a composed gravity.
“Since Madam has given the order, and this does not involve outer courtyard affairs per se, hand the people over to Madam to deal with.”
Steward Bai felt a jolt in his chest. He lowered his head and answered, “Yes.” In no more than a quarter of an hour he had determined which stewards those servants answered to, and had the lot of them bound and brought before the inner gate. The stewards were set on benches for flogging; the servants were pressed to the ground in a line. Following Madam’s orders, the beating began.
At the inner gate, the crack and clatter of boards rang out in quick succession.
Among the stewards, some bowed their heads in shame and said nothing; others fumed and demanded to see the Marquis; and still others simply shouted outright, “You might as well beat us to death and be done with it.” The servants at first trembled and bore it without a sound, but seeing the stewards shouting, several of them began to wail loudly — and some cried, “I’m innocent!”
At the inner gate there was shouting and weeping and clamoring, and it drew the whole of Xu Mansion to attention: some sent small maids to find out what was happening, others hung back at a distance to peek and watch.
Eleventh then called Nanny Song in, pointed at the two matrons who had been on duty that day, and said: “People like this are no use to me. Send them out of the household right now.” She let out a cold laugh. “Since you had so little regard for my word, there is no need for me to take care of your dignity.”
These women had served their whole lives in Marquis Yongping’s household, and were just approaching the age when they might be given an easy retirement. To be driven out of the household now — where would they put their faces? How would they get on in the days ahead?
The two matrons had not anticipated that Eleventh would leave them no room at all. They crawled to the floor before her and knocked their heads against the tiles repeatedly. “Madam, it was as if our hearts were clouded with grease — we didn’t know what we were doing or how serious it was. We beg you, for the sake of our years of service to the Grand Madam, to forgive us just this once. From now on we will serve you and Sixth Young Master as faithfully as cattle and horses…”
Before they had finished, Eleventh had already gestured to Nanny Song to remove them at once.
“You served the Grand Madam, which means you ought to know even better what is and is not to be done. So it was not that your hearts were clouded — it was that, relying on your service to the Grand Madam, you grew complacent and presumptuous, and put no weight on my instructions whatsoever, nor did you spare a thought for the two young masters. Which is precisely why I must give you a thorough lesson on behalf of the Grand Madam.”
As the last words left her lips, Nanny Song had already brought in several rough-work matrons. The moment Eleventh finished speaking, they swarmed forward and dragged the two women out.
The household erupted.
“What does she think she is doing?” Second Madam frowned slightly. “Overstepping the Marquis to discipline the outer courtyard stewards — with this precedent, who will the stewards obey in the future? Where does that leave the inner and outer courtyard boundaries? And what becomes of the Marquis’s authority?”
Fifth Madam burst out laughing.
“Well done — give those wicked servants a good beating. All they know is how to fawn and flatter — they can’t even be trusted to keep their masters safe.” Then she gave a small exclamation and said, “Though I have to say, after this, she and the outer courtyard stewards are going to have some friction. I hadn’t expected Eleventh to handle things so rashly this time.” She paused and her gaze shifted. “But then, every action has its advantages and disadvantages. Choosing the occasion of her son’s and daughter-in-law’s outing to make an example of the outer courtyard stewards, and doing it so publicly that the whole household knows — once the daughter-in-law returns, there will be no way she could not have heard. From now on, when the daughter-in-law conducts herself around her mother-in-law, she’ll naturally have to think twice before every step.”
Seventh Miss directed the small maids to wipe the crumbs off the face of Jie Ge’er, who had somehow gotten himself entirely covered in cake, and said with a smile: “You’re giving Eleventh too much credit — she doesn’t have all that calculated. This was a chance event. Any mother would be hard-pressed to keep her temper under control in a situation like this.”
“Fair enough.” Fifth Madam smiled, then asked Nanny Shi, “Where is Shen Ge’er? Where has he run off to again?”
Nanny Shi smiled: “He said he was going to find Sixth Young Master to play.”
Fifth Madam said, “Go and bring him back. Can’t you see Jie Ge’er is here?”
Nanny Shi answered and was about to go, but Seventh Miss stopped her: “Jie Ge’er is timid — even when he’s let loose he doesn’t dare run around. Let him sit here and listen to us talk.”
Fifth Madam sighed with a touch of feeling: “Your Jie Ge’er really is obedient. Not like my two little ones — one running wild and impossible to find all day, the other who cries the moment I’m out of sight.”
“What else could it be but that parents always dote most on the youngest?”
Fifth Madam gave a merry laugh, personally wiped Cheng Ge’er’s hands as he sat quietly eating cakes, and settled in with Seventh Miss for some domestic conversation while they waited for the small maid they’d sent to watch the goings-on at the main hall to report back.
The Grand Madam was a little troubled.
She sat by the large platform bed at the window, gazing out at the camphor tree whose leaves were still a lush, deep green, and said nothing for a long while, her expression carrying a shade of unreadable opacity.
Nanny Du quietly set down a teacup of old kiln Magu-Presents-Longevity pattern before the Grand Madam, and said softly with a smile: “Didn’t you yourself say that Fourth Madam has a measured way of handling things? She is not someone who acts without weighing the consequences. You can set your mind at rest.”
The Grand Madam let out a long breath, picked up the teacup and took a sip of the hot tea, her expression softening slightly. “The way she has handled this, the outer courtyard stewards will never dare get close to Jin Ge’er again…” Her voice trailed off, then resumed, “Though perhaps this is for the best — better than letting a good child be led astray by those with ulterior motives.” Even as she said it, thinking of lively, lovable Jin Ge’er, a trace of wistfulness still crept into the old woman’s eyes.
The matter was too sensitive.
Nanny Du said nothing.
A small maid announced from behind the curtain: “Grand Madam, Ge Jin requests an audience!”
The Grand Madam and Nanny Du were both startled.
The sounds of wailing and crying had carried all the way from the inner gate to the main courtyard. Every maid and matron was holding their breath, not daring to make a sound.
Zhuxiang walked through the courtyard’s blue stone pathway with a composed expression and stood steadily beneath the dripping eaves at the inner gate.
She gazed coldly at the stewards and servants who had been beaten until they were raw and bleeding, then raised her voice: “Madam asks me to inquire: the outer courtyard servants forcing their way into the inner chambers, showing disrespect to Fifth Young Master, and inciting Sixth Young Master to play with firecrackers — has Madam been unjust to any of you?”
Whether it was those being beaten or those administering the beating, all of them were taken aback by her sudden appearance. They stared blankly at Zhuxiang, dressed in a splendid rose-red all-over-gold-brocade vest, and the crying and shouting stopped as abruptly as if cut by a knife. The world fell so still that it seemed one might hear the sound of the wind passing through.
One of the stewards quickly came to his senses and protested: “That day, everything was in chaos. Each of us had our own duties…”
Zhuxiang immediately cut him off. “In chaos? When our household attends to business, the division of responsibilities has always been clear. What is there to be chaotic about? Unless there is something here that our Madam does not know of?”
The rest of what that steward had to say froze in his mouth.
If he admitted that things had been disorganized that day, the blame would fall squarely on Steward Bai. Given Steward Bai’s position, the Marquis would not do anything severe to him — but they would not fare as well. The very reason they had been shouting and making a scene was the hope that Steward Bai, out of appreciation for their usual deference and respect toward him, would put in a good word for them before the Marquis and Madam.
Another steward immediately shot the first a sharp look and tried to salvage the situation: “Miss, that’s not what we meant. Things were truly very busy that day…”
Zhuxiang waved a hand to silence him, her expression serene. “Second Young Master’s wedding — who in the household was not running about in circles? And yet no one else’s servants forced their way into the inner courtyard. Only yours did. Madam only wished me to come and ask the stewards: with all this crying and lamenting, is it that you feel you have been wronged?”
The stewards had nothing to say.
Zhuxiang’s gaze fell on those who were administering the beating. “Madam says: anyone who continues to weep and make a scene has clearly not understood what they did wrong, even after receiving their boards. Add another twenty strokes.”
At these words, everyone’s faces changed.
One steward could not help himself: “Miss, we are stewards with some standing and face to our name…”
“Standing and face?” Zhuxiang said quietly, a flicker of disdain crossing her eyes. “Standing and face are given to you by your masters. Without your masters lifting you up, I do not know where your standing and face would be.” Then she pointed to that steward. “Add another twenty strokes.” Her tone carried a lofty, detached indifference that made everyone’s skin prickle.
Those doing the beating quickly lowered their heads and answered “Yes.”
The broad wooden boards descended with a rushing sound cutting through the air, landing in dull, flat thuds. There was no other sound.
Zhuxiang turned and walked back inside with a straight, upright bearing — and only then felt the thin film of sweat on her back.
Eleventh was sitting on the large platform bed in the warm alcove of the inner chamber by the window, watching Jin Ge’er beside her as he painted little chicks on a sheet of paper. At the sound of movement she glanced over, but her gaze remained on the snow-white Chengxin paper without looking up.
“Have they stopped clamoring?” Her tone was not only flat, but carried a hint of casual indifference.
Zhuxiang bowed and answered.
Jin Ge’er heard this and looked up at his mother with curiosity bright in his large phoenix-shaped eyes: “Mama, if they had kept on shouting, would you have added even more strokes?”
“Yes.” Eleventh smiled and smoothed her son’s hair. “Don’t rush to a decision, but once a decision is made, no matter what obstacles arise, see it through to the end.” She pointed to his painting. “Just like you just now — you didn’t know what to paint. But once you decided to paint a chick, you had to finish it. You can’t draw the body and the head and then, because something else comes up, leave off the feet.”
Jin Ge’er thought this over, nodded with an uncertain but accepting air, and said: “Then I’ll finish the chick.” He bent his head and carefully dotted four strokes, completing the little chick.
A small maid entered with a look of anxious trepidation: “Madam, Xi’er requests to see you!”
Because of Xu Siyu’s wedding, Teacher Zhao had given Xu Sizhun and Xu Sijie three days’ holiday. When Xu Sijie had come to pay his morning respects to Eleventh that day, she had asked after him, and he had said he planned to go to Xu Sizhun’s room in the afternoon to practice calligraphy.
At this hour, Xi’er should be attending on Xu Sijie — what was he coming to see her for?
Eleventh considered this, then unhurriedly said, “Let him in.”
“Madam!” Xi’er’s face was a little pale, and his words came out in a halting stammer. “Fifth Young Master — Fifth Young Master seems to have gotten into trouble!”
Eleventh was taken aback.
Of all the children, Xu Sijie’s nature was the most simple and unguarded — as long as he had something to eat and drink, he was content. If someone was cold or distant toward him, he rarely took it to heart. He was nothing like Xu Siyu, who would turn a thing over a thousand times inside himself, nor like the sensitive and perceptive Xu Sizhun, and he would never be as obstinate and domineering as Jin Ge’er. Which was why he so rarely came into conflict with anyone.
He had gotten into trouble?
What kind of trouble could he possibly get into?