When the golden list was published, Xu Siyu placed tenth in the second tier.
The entire Xu household celebrated, and even in-laws such as the Yongchang Marquis, the Weibei Marquis, and the Zhongqin Earl joined in the jubilation, sending their stewards with small carts loaded with firecrackers to set off at the Xu family gate. The father of Third Madam even came in person to pay his respects to Xu Siyu.
Xu Lingyi showed Shiyiniang his look of triumphant satisfaction.
Shiyiniang laughed behind her sleeve: “If someone didn’t know better, they’d think it was you who had passed the examination!”
Xu Lingyi pulled her into his arms and kissed her roundly.
Shiyiniang laughed and pushed him away, the two of them tangled together…
Xu Siyu was beset by banquets large and small without end — either visiting fellow examination graduates, or calling on his teachers, or being invited to feasts — and it was impossible to catch so much as a glimpse of him. Second Madam, seizing a rare opportunity, drew Xu Siyu aside. “Let the celebrating be what it is — the important thing is the upcoming examination for the academician candidates.”
Xu Siyu said nothing and came to see Shiyiniang the next day.
“Mother!” He bowed respectfully. “I wish to take an exterior posting.”
That is, he was not intending to sit for the academician candidate examination.
Shiyiniang was very surprised.
“Does your father know?” she asked after a moment’s thought.
“I haven’t yet spoken to Father.” Xu Siyu said with measured indirectness. “Where parents are, one should not journey far. If I could remain in Yanjing, that would be fine — but I would rather go and see Jiangnan.” He offered a gentle smile. “Fortunately there is still Fourth Brother at home to serve at our parents’ side. And I can take Xiang Shi and the children out to roam and see the world outside.” He stepped forward and slowly knelt before Shiyiniang, gazing up at her. His eyes held a trace of sadness, a trace of reluctance, and a trace of relief. “Mother,” — he gazed steadily at her — “please grant me your forgiveness for my filial failing.” As he spoke, his eyes reddened, and moisture welled in their corners.
Having passed the examination and outshone Xu Sizhun, he was now choosing to let Xu Sizhun be the one to remain and serve their parents. He was taking Xiang Shi and the children to Jiangnan, even preparing to be gone for many years, and asking her to forgive his lack of filial piety… Was he trying, in this way, to show Xu Sizhun that he had chosen a path that would not obstruct him? Or — perhaps he was trying to show Xu Lingyi.
Shiyiniang suddenly felt a quiet ache in her heart. “Your father — he has always thought highly of you. Otherwise, he would not have arranged the alliance with the Xiang family…”
“I know!” Xu Siyu nodded, and a measure of release came into his smile. “That is precisely why I wish to go to Jiangnan.” He rose to his feet. “Mother, where do you think would be good? Once I’ve settled in, come and stay with me for a few days. I’ll accompany you wherever you wish to go, to see whatever you wish to see — we’ll take a boat out on the lake, go to a teahouse to enjoy an opera…” He stood there with graceful bearing, his eyes and brow full of smiles, clear and bright as moonlight and a fresh breeze, like a young tree that had just put out its first shoots in spring — not the faintest trace of his former shadows remained.
Shiyiniang’s expression couldn’t help but soften along with his, and a warm smile spread across her face.
To leave is not necessarily an ending — sometimes it is the very point from which wings take flight.
Xu Lingyi returned home as the lamps were being lit.
The great red lanterns swayed in the breeze, and in his eyes they suddenly seemed to carry several more shades of festivity.
He entered the room with a light wine glow. Maidservants Han Xiao and Leng Xiang stepped forward with beaming smiles to help him change his clothes.
He went to the adjoining washroom to splash water on his face, then chewed on some tea leaves to rid his mouth of the wine smell.
“Where is Madam?”
“In the inner room, reading.” Leng Xiang was from Jiangnan, and though she had been with the Xu household for over a year and spoke the capital tongue, it carried the distinctive soft sweetness of the Jiangnan water country.
Shiyiniang was also from Jiangnan, yet she spoke with precise, clear enunciation, carrying a certain bright resonance — her capital dialect was more beautiful than his, a man born and raised here.
Thinking of this, he rubbed his head.
From the moment Shiyiniang had married in, she had spoken the capital tongue, drunk the spicy sour soup, and fit in without the slightest friction — as though she had grown up in his household from birth. Was this not what people called: those who belong together are drawn together?
Xu Lingyi went smiling into the inner room, and was met at once by a wave of warmth.
Shiyiniang was slight in constitution, and over all these years, while other households only began heating the floor from the Beginning of Winter, their room already had the underground flues lit from the beginning of the tenth month.
She had a large coverlet of crimson brocade embroidered with antique vases draped over her, and was reclining lazily against the great mustard-yellow brocade carp bolster pillow on the wide kang by the window, turning the pages of a book with unhurried ease — she brought to his mind a cat basking by a fire. His heart warmed, and in two or three strides he was at the kang, sitting down, his hand reaching beneath the coverlet to close around the fine, smooth delicacy of her foot…
Shiyiniang, thoroughly engrossed in her book, gave a start. Her legs naturally drew back, then were pulled firmly forward again.
She laughed and gave him a sidelong look. “The Marquis is back!”
Xu Lingyi gave a sound of acknowledgment, his thumb slowly stroking the smooth back of her foot, sending a shiver through her heart. She couldn’t help sitting up straight, and quickly held out the book in her hands: “Marquis, what do you think of Yangzhou?”
It was that copy of Great Zhou’s Nine Regions.
Shiyiniang hadn’t turned its pages in quite some time.
His eyes narrowed involuntarily. “Yangzhou is quite fine. Very prosperous. Good food.” Then: “Why the sudden question about Yangzhou?”
“Yu Ge’er said he wished to take Xiang Shi and the children to Jiangnan for his posting!” Shiyiniang looked at Xu Lingyi.
Xu Lingyi said nothing. Beneath the coverlet, his hand stilled.
Leng Xiang came in to serve tea.
Madam and the Marquis sat there in a posture of easy intimacy, yet the air in the room had gone cold.
She hunched her shoulders, and with the lightest of steps made her swift, quiet exit.
Xu Lingyi raised his teacup and took a sip. “What else did he say?”
“Said to come and visit him at his posting.” Shiyiniang looked at him with sympathetic eyes. “He’d take me on the lake, take me to hear opera…”
Xu Lingyi was silent for a long while. He let out a long breath, set down his teacup, and leaned back beside Shiyiniang against the great bolster pillow. In a voice no louder than the hum of a mosquito, he said: “Then let him go.” And then: “This is also well… You give me an inch, I’ll give you a foot… Zhun Ge’er is not the kind of person who doesn’t know what’s good for him…”
Shiyiniang wrapped her arms around his and rested her head against his shoulder. “Then find him a good posting. When the time comes, let’s bring the children along to see Xu Siyu off at the boat!”
Xu Lingyi gave a deep sound of assent and sent an urgent letter to the Huguang Provincial Administration.
Lord Xiang had neither regret nor sentiment at Xu Siyu’s decision. Calmly and rationally he outlined the paths of his son-in-law’s career, narrowing in on Taicang, Gaochun, or Jiaqing — major counties key to tax revenues — or important communication hubs such as Fenzhou, Dezhou, and Changzhou: “…A principal post is not possible just yet. First let him train in such large counties, and then go on to be a local official in a prosperous small county such as Tongxiang, Xiushui, or Pinghu — once he raises the tax revenue, opportunities for advancement will be far more plentiful than for others. Or, conversely, he could go to a poor county like Shenqiu, Baofeng, or Nánzhào as local official — it is easier there to accomplish something notable!”
Xu Lingyi weighed the options in his study for two or three days and ultimately decided to secure a post in Taicang, Gaochun, or Jiaqing.
Over the New Year, he made a special visit to Elder Dou’s household. After the New Year, Xu Siyu was assigned as Sub-Prefectural Judge of Jiaqing Prefecture, rank seven-B.
From the moment Xu Siyu declined to sit for the academician candidate examination, all manner of gossip and rumor spread through the Xu household like spring grass run wild. When the news came through, the Grand Madam was silent for a long while, then instructed Luzhu, who held the keys to the trunks and storage: “Find my jewelry — I wish to give some away.”
Ying Niang was deeply envious, and said to Xu Sijie, who was amusing the child: “If Mother goes to see Second Brother, let’s make a fuss and go along too!”
Xu Sijie laughed heartily. “I wouldn’t dare. If you want to say it, you say it!”
“I’ll say it then, I will,” Ying Niang said, shooting him a glare. “Just don’t you drag my feet when the time comes.”
A little maidservant came running in: “Fourth Young Master is here!”
Xu Sijie handed Zhuang Ge’er to Ying Niang and explained: “Fourth Brother said he’s invited me to go together to see Second Brother off. We’re planning to go to Chunxi House for wine.”
“Come back early then!” Ying Niang walked him to the courtyard gate, then carried the child to Jiang Shi’s place.
Jiang Shi was in the storeroom.
Hearing that Ying Niang had come, she pulled down her rolled-up sleeves and came out.
Ying Niang had the wet nurse take the child to play with Ting Ge’er, then sat with Jiang Shi to discuss: “Second Sister-in-Law and her family are going to Jiaxing — what should we give them?”
“I was just in the storeroom looking things over!” Ying Niang had an open and cheerful disposition and got on well with her sisters-in-law. Jiang Shi smiled and said, “They’ll certainly have plenty of fabric and cloth over there. Grandmother and Mother will probably send jewelry and the like. I was thinking of sending them some official kiln porcelain — they probably don’t have much of that in Jiangnan, do they?”
“Very little!” said Ying Niang with a laugh. “Then I’ll follow Second Sister-in-Law’s lead and also give porcelain!”
Having decided, the two of them went to Xiang Shi’s rooms.
The room was a scene of clamor. Xiang Shi’s several personal attendant Nannies were calling out the names of items from lists while several senior maids led junior ones through the inventory, half-sorted things everywhere. Qing Ge’er, seeing the excitement over here, was clamoring to play in the main room — reaching out to touch this vase, picking up that teacup to have a look, the wet nurse’s eyes not daring to stray for a moment, exhausting the maids and women servants, who kept crying out “our little ancestor!” — and yet Xiang Shi herself was nowhere to be seen.
Jiang Shi and Ying Niang looked at each other, baffled.
Xiang Shi’s personal Nanny quickly invited the two of them to sit in the side reception hall. “The Second Young Mistress was summoned to Shaohuan Courtyard by the Second Madam first thing this morning!”
Unlike the bustle of Xiang Shi’s rooms, Shaohuan Courtyard was utterly still. Since Second Madam had moved to the Grand Madam’s place, two rough-work Nannies left to watch the courtyard and two maids responsible for keeping the study tidy were all in the back quarters. Only Jiexiang was inside serving tea.
“When you were a child, your mother must have told you that your grandmother had secretly given the Xiang family’s book collection to me as part of my dowry?” Second Madam sat upright on the carved daybed in the study, her expression cool, giving Xiang Shi no clear reading of her intentions.
“I heard Mother mention it.” She answered straightforwardly. “Since it was a matter between elders, we younger ones didn’t listen with very great attention…” Before she could finish, Second Madam suddenly rose to her feet and, heading toward the study, said: “Come with me!” cutting off her words.
Xiang Shi did not dare hesitate and followed at once.
The bookshelves in the east study were entirely empty. In their place stood several camphor wood chests carved with the “all as you wish” persimmon design.
“These are the books I brought from the Xiang family.” Second Madam slowed her steps, her hand slowly tracing the carved persimmons on the lid of a camphor wood chest, lingering with a reluctance to part. “They’re all here. I am giving them to you. Send someone to come and fetch them.”
Xiang Shi was astonished.
Second Madam had already walked out of the study without a backward glance.
Xiang Shi hurried to Shiyiniang’s rooms. “Mother, I — what should I do?”
“Since Second Madam is giving them to you, you should accept them.”
These were Second Madam’s possessions — it was her right to decide whom to give them to.
—