The rosy complexion was achieved through cosmetics, but the serene expression was something no amount of cosmetics could produce.

Though a chill had crept into Shiyiniang’s heart, she could not help but open her eyes wider to look more carefully.

In life, Shiniang had often worn a furrowed brow, and two deep creases had formed between her brows. Now, those creases were smoothed away, and her expression was one of complete ease. Yet the corners of her mouth seemed to carry just the faintest trace of a smile — giving her, from any angle, a somewhat uncanny appearance.

Shiyiniang felt goosebumps rise all over her skin.

Someone beckoned her to take a seat on the large kang beside the window: “…The Madam passed in the middle of the night. Yinping and Jinlian helped bathe her.” The voice was low and grave.

Shiyiniang looked up.

It was a woman she did not recognize — a woman of about thirty, wearing a bright blue jacket with a scattered flower pattern, fair-skinned and with proper, tidy features, with a pair of lotus-blossom headed hairpins in her hair. She had an air of neat, capable efficiency.

The woman noticed Shiyiniang’s scrutiny and said softly: “This servant’s husband is the chief steward of the household. With Madam gone, Yinping feared the younger maids might be too clumsy-handed, so she had this servant come here to pour tea for the ladies and run errands.”

It seemed that the chief steward Shiniang had employed was also a person of sharp competence.

The people who had been standing beside the large kang by the window stepped aside, and some even picked up the cushions there and gave them a dutiful pat.

Shiyiniang acted as though she had not noticed, and sat down. She asked the steward’s wife: “Why is there no sign of Yinping or Jinlian?”

The woman’s eyes reddened slightly, and she said in a lowered voice: “Yinping and our steward have gone to liquidate the ‘longevity property.’ Jinlian is at the accounts office, overseeing the various expenditure payments for the funeral arrangements.”

Shiyiniang was genuinely startled. “Longevity property?”

Some wealthy households had a practice among their elders — not wishing their children to bear the cost of their funeral — of acquiring in their later years certain fields or properties called “longevity property.” The income from these holdings while they were alive could serve as personal spending money, and upon death, the properties would be sold to cover funeral expenses. But Shiniang was still young, and had not brought much of a dowry when she married — how could she possibly have longevity property?

The steward’s wife cast a glance at the ladies present in the room, whose expressions varied, then in a respectful tone but with a rather carrying voice she said: “This property was arranged for the Madam by the late Dowager Duchess while she was still living. The year of the Duke’s birthday, she had announced it before the entire clan, and subsequently registered it officially. Now that Madam is gone, these properties are naturally to be sold to provide for her funeral.”

So it had been the Wang Family’s Dowager Duchess who had arranged it for Shiniang!

Shiyiniang was astonished.

Most of the Wang Family women present dropped their eyes. A few showed expressions of disdain and seemed on the verge of speaking up, but were pulled back firmly by Wang Chengzu’s birth mother.

“Yinping was rather hasty,” Wang Chengzu’s birth mother said with a somewhat awkward glance at Shiyiniang. “Madam raised the Duke all those years — would the Duke truly begrudge spending money to give her a proper funeral? The Duke’s intention was that rather than sell the longevity property, he himself would provide the funds for Madam’s burial. As for Madam’s longevity properties, those should be kept as memorial fields in her honor — so that offerings of incense could be made on her behalf in all four seasons, tended by someone dedicated to the purpose…”

“Since these were instructions left by the late Dowager Duchess,” the steward’s wife said, fixing Wang Chengzu’s birth mother with a cold gaze, “and also the Madam’s own wishes — we servants do not dare go against them.” She pushed back without the slightest trace of apprehension.

“You—” Wang Chengzu’s birth mother’s temples visibly pulsed with fury. She shot a glance at Shiyiniang, then forced herself to swallow the words that had risen to her lips.

But Shiyiniang was quietly taken aback.

With Shiniang gone, these servants would henceforth have to live and work under Wang Chengzu. Though Wang Chengzu’s birth mother occupied no legitimate position in the household, she was bound to him by blood, and conducted herself in his name — these stewards and maids could not possibly afford to disregard her entirely. Yet judging by the steward’s wife’s manner, she appeared to have completely burned her bridges with Wang Chengzu’s birth mother for the sake of Shiniang’s interests. Could it be that the relationship between Wang Chengzu and Shiniang had been deeply strained? So the steward who had once deferred to Shiniang in all things knew he had no future in this household regardless, and had decided to throw caution to the wind?

While she was turning this over in her mind, Fourth Aunt arrived.

“Sister, you were so young — who could have imagined it would end like this!” She walked in and immediately pressed a handkerchief to her face, weeping. “When you came to bring New Year’s gifts, you seemed perfectly well — and now our sisterhood has come to such a parting as divides heaven and earth… It is all my fault, I did not ask after your illness properly at the time…”

Shiniang had not seen any of them for eight or nine years. Anyone who did not know better, hearing Fourth Aunt speak in that tone, would have thought the two sisters had been the closest of companions.

Shiyiniang felt a flush of embarrassment.

But the Wang Family women all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Fourth Aunt had spoken only these pleasantries, and as long as outward appearances were maintained, this matter could be considered concluded.

They crowded around Fourth Aunt from every side, urging her to compose herself.

A commotion arose outside, and Yinping appeared before them, clad in mourning hemp.

“Yinping!” The steward’s wife’s face lit up with relief, and she hurried forward. “Both aunts have come…” she said, with meaningful implication.

Yinping quickly crossed the room and greeted both Fourth Aunt and Shiyiniang with a bow. Rising to her full height, she said: “Madam’s longevity property sold for three thousand taels. One thousand two hundred taels were used for a fine purple sandalwood coffin. Eight hundred taels for the ‘scripture recitation,’ three hundred taels for the ‘paper offerings,’ one hundred taels for the ‘pallbearers,’ and one hundred taels for those who scatter paper spirit money…”

Both Fourth Aunt and Shiyiniang were astonished.

They were both women who ran households. The scripture recitation referred to engaging Buddhist monks and Daoist priests to chant sutras. Eight hundred taels for scripture recitation was enough, at a minimum, to engage nine-times-nine eighty-one monks and Daoists to chant for seven-times-seven forty-nine days. The paper offerings referred to ordering paper-crafted spirit goods from funeral shops. Three hundred taels’ worth… could fill dozens of cartloads at least…

The two women exchanged glances.

Wang Chengzu’s birth mother nearly fainted on the spot.

With Fourth Aunt present, she did not dare say a word, and could only grind her teeth with a grinding sound, before asking Yinping: “Has this girl arranged all this without consulting the Duke?”

“The steward reported it to the Duke while the two maternal uncles and Marquis Yongping were present,” Yinping replied, her eyes fixed steadily on Wang Chengzu’s birth mother. “The Duke also said it was well done.”

At this point, if Shiyiniang and Fourth Aunt still could not see what Wang Chengzu and Yinping were contending over, they might as well have been dunces.

At midday, when they sat down to eat, Fourth Aunt quietly said to Shiyiniang: “Since everything on Tenth Sister’s side has been arranged in such good order, I think I will not come tomorrow. Your brother-in-law is about to take up a position as Vice Minister of Works, and there is still a great deal to manage at home. When Tenth Sister is laid to rest, I will come to burn a stick of incense.”

This matter, Xu Lingyi had once mentioned to Shiyiniang. He had said that the previous summer, there had been severe flooding in the Zhejiang region, washing out many river embankments and submerging good farmland. The Emperor intended to put Yu Yiqing in charge of river management affairs. It was a plum assignment, a lucrative one, but also one prone to going wrong. Yu Yiqing had been quite hesitant.

“So Fourth Brother-in-law has already decided to take the Works Ministry position?”

Fourth Aunt nodded and sighed. “Your brother-in-law says one cannot refuse imperial grace. I only hope he can get through these three years safely and in good health.”

As the two women spoke, Hupo entered: “Marchioness, the maternal uncle is asking for you.”

Shiyiniang found this a little odd, gave Fourth Aunt a nod, and followed Hupo out of the flower hall.

He stood in the center of the courtyard with his hands clasped behind his back, wearing a pale blue Hangzhou silk straight-cut robe.

The midday sun of spring filtered through tender green leaves and fell upon him, leaving his expression somewhat shadowed and indistinct.

“I will not stay for the evening meal.” His gaze drifted with a note of sorrow in the direction of Shiniang’s inner chamber. “Second Uncle and Third Uncle are soon to return to Yanjing to report on their terms of service. As you know, both uncles have been in their current postings for eight or nine years now and are eager for a change — Third Uncle especially. Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother have been studying under Elder Statesman Liu all this while, and now that Elder Statesman Liu is getting on in years, Third Uncle wishes to gather both brothers together and make a proper family reunion. I intend to spend the next few days helping the two uncles make the necessary connections. If anything comes up on this side, just send word to me.”

Shiyiniang thought of the death of the late First Madam.

To ask Luo Zhensheng to run back and forth on Shiniang’s behalf as he once had — that truly was asking too much of him.

“I understand,” she said softly. “Elder Brother, please go and attend to your business without worry.”

Luo Zhensheng was silent for a long moment, then turned and walked away.

By afternoon, Wang Chengzu and the Wang Family members had gathered to discuss the erection of the mourning canopy, the formal sending of funeral notices, and the arrangements for the burial procession. Wang Chengzu’s birth mother and the steward’s wife both went to attend. The Wang Family women followed along to watch. Shiniang’s room grew quiet.

Yinping sat in the room keeping Shiyiniang company.

As she tended the long-burning soul lamp, she spoke of Fourth Aunt, who had left early: “…Madam was only cold in her manner — her treatment of others was always kind. All these years, without Madam’s protection, Jinlian and I would long since have ended up who knows where… And the steward as well…” She paused here. “Madam handed everything in the household over to him entirely, with all matters large and small decided by him. No matter what the Wang Family said, Madam never once questioned the steward… Even in death, she made provision for all of us and for the steward…”

Shiyiniang was somewhat surprised.

A shadow fell over Yinping’s face. “Madam was ill all along. If not for the promise she had made to the Dowager Duchess — that she would not allow the young master’s line to die out, that she would raise the Duke to adulthood, see him wed and give him children — Madam would have lost the will to carry on long ago…” Her eyes reddened. “Later, after the Duke had taken a wife, Madam felt she could finally face the Dowager Duchess without shame, and the last of her breath simply… scattered. It became so taxing for her to say even a few words that she began to arrange her own affairs for after her death… First she sold her own dowry possessions, used the proceeds to buy a small farm for us, and went to the authorities to draw up the deeds, so that the steward and the rest of us would go to the farm together, and Jinlian and I would have security for the rest of our lives.” Her tone became more agitated. “All these years, although Madam ran the household and managed the Wang Family’s domestic affairs, she never took so much as a single coin from the Wang Family. Even the longevity property the Dowager Duchess bestowed — that was from the Dowager Duchess’s own personal dowry, and from what the eldest daughter-in-law had originally given her in tribute… The Duke had known this perfectly well — he had promised as much before the Dowager Duchess in person. And now, with just a word from his birth mother, he wants to retain those properties… The Wang Family has an empty treasury, and what does that have to do with our Madam? Our Madam never touched a single coin of it… We refused to accept this, and that is why we rushed to sell the longevity fields…” She covered her mouth and wept without a sound.

All Shiniang had sought to fulfill was a single promise.

And so it had not mattered to her who Wang Chengzu took as a wife. It had not mattered that Wang Chengzu was scheming and maneuvering all around her — she had simply looked on, unseeing.

Thinking on this, Shiyiniang could not help but look again at Shiniang.

That faint trace of a smile at the corner of her mouth — was it meant for Wang Chengzu? Or was she smiling at herself?

—