Xiang Shi’s heart was still somewhat uneasy.
Others might not know, but she knew — her own mother had, without knowing how many times, muttered behind closed doors about this matter for years on end.
She consulted Xu Siyu.
Xu Siyu also found the matter rather thorny. After thinking it over, he said: “Since Mother says to accept it, let us simply hold it for now.” He added: “We’re setting off in a few days — we should also inform Elder Aunt before we go. You can mention it to her at that time, hear what she says, and we’ll decide then — it’s not too late to plan.”
Xiang Rouqin had helped her mother manage the household affairs since she was a girl in the Xiang family home, and among all the brothers and sisters was the most clear on the family’s internal affairs. She later married the eldest son of the Zhou household — Lord Xiang’s same-year examination cohort and a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works — making it a very satisfying match. Lord Zhou now held a concurrent appointment as a Censorate Censor and was making an inspection tour of the Huai River works. Young Master Zhou was also capable — he had passed the metropolitan examination in the sixteenth year of the Yonghe reign, and in a mere five years had risen to be Director of the Shandong Bureau under the Ministry of Revenue, with a bright future ahead. Xiang Rouqin, a woman of both virtue and talent, was held in great respect by both the Zhou household and Young Master Zhou himself. Lady Xiang came to rely more and more heavily on this eldest daughter, and whenever the family had anything to discuss, she liked to hear Xiang Rouqin’s views.
Xiang Shi smiled and nodded. “I understand. First thing tomorrow morning I’ll go to see Elder Sister.”
When Xiang Rouqin learned of her younger sister’s errand, she smiled with something of a helpless resignation. “As for this matter — I only heard it once when I was little, from Elder Aunt’s wife. It seems that when Aunt was leaving to be married, she wished to take the books from her own study along with her, and your grandmother agreed at once. Mother felt that books were not like gold and silver — they were a family heirloom — and quietly murmured behind Grandmother’s back that ‘although they are given as dowry, they still go away to someone else’s house and become someone else’s things.’ Somehow this reached Grandmother’s ears. Grandmother was furious, seized on those words and would not let them go, and laid out Mother’s faults before Grandfather — and in the end also gave Aunt the Xiang family’s entire library as dowry.
“I think, nine times out of ten, Aunt still remembers Mother’s words.”
You resented my mother for that, did you? Very well — I will give what you once cared about most to your daughter, and we’ll see what you have to say now…
So many years later, it was still a clear, sharp slap to Lady Xiang’s face.
“Oh, what is to be done, what is to be done?” Xiang Shi was frantic, pacing in circles. “My mother-in-law has already said for me to accept them — the things cannot possibly not be accepted. But if Mother finds out…” She said this, then quickly grabbed her elder sister’s hand. “Elder Sister, you must think of something for me!”
Seeing her younger sister caught in the middle between her own mother and her aunt-in-law, Xiang Rouqin felt pained as well. She thought for a long while and said: “The library, you guard carefully. As for Mother — I’ll go and speak to her.”
“What will you say?” Xiang Shi asked worriedly.
She was afraid her mother would end up blaming her elder sister as well.
“The plain truth,” said Xiang Rouqin. “The frost between Mother and Aunt has been building for three feet and more — it was not the chill of a single day. Even if we had every intention of helping Aunt cover it up, Mother would still likely lay the blame on Aunt’s door, and with one misstep she might even direct her anger at your mother-in-law…”
Before her elder sister could finish, Xiang Shi had already broken in urgently: “On no account can my mother-in-law be drawn into this!” She made a pained face. “I’m already at my wits’ end… I cannot afford any more trouble!”
“Don’t worry!” Xiang Rouqin couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of her. “I know what to do.” She then braced herself and smilingly asked about Xiang Shi’s journey to Jiaqing Prefecture. “You’ll be living in the yamen, I imagine. With Xu Siyu’s modest rank, the yamen courtyard is bound to be small. All those daily furnishings and maids and women servants — if you bring too many, there probably won’t be room to put them…”
This had struck directly at Xiang Shi’s own anxiety, and she instantly followed the change of subject: “Isn’t that so — I worry about this very thing. Just the everyday essentials alone come to over twenty trunks and cases. If everything is brought along, counting the maids and women servants, we’d need at least two official boats. Xu Siyu is only a rank seven-B sub-prefectural judge — going out of the capital in such an imposing procession, who knows what people would say. We might even draw the attention of a censor. When we arrive at Jiaqing, and his superiors and colleagues see us arriving with such fanfare, and Xu Siyu is already from the Yongping Marquis household to begin with — they would probably think Xu Siyu a man of wildly conceited character, and it could only harm and not help his dealings with his superiors and colleagues in the future. But Xu Siyu insists on taking everything — I couldn’t say otherwise, so for now I’ve had the things packed and ready, and will wait until the day we depart to raise it again!”
Xiang Rouqin, listening, felt a thought stir in her mind. “Xu Siyu had you pack everything? Then won’t the courtyard be empty?”
“Yes!” said Xiang Shi. “I suggested leaving two maids to watch the courtyard and Xu Siyu wouldn’t even agree to that…” She hesitated here. “Elder Sister, do you think Xu Siyu is taking advantage of this opportunity to…?” She picked up an orange from the kang table and split it in two.
Xiang Rouqin gave a slight nod. “Listening to it, I do get that sense.”
Xiang Shi reflected: “Only Xu Siyu won’t say it plainly before me, and I can hardly ask directly either!”
Although they were the eldest son by a concubine, their obligation for the sake of the eldest legitimate son was to move out early — but as long as the parents said nothing, they could not be the ones to raise it themselves.
Xiang Rouqin gave her a suggestion: “Then have some of the things you don’t often use sent to the farm estate that the family gave Xu Siyu at his wedding, with trusted stewards and Nannies standing watch, and see what Xu Siyu says.”
Xiang Shi understood at once. She cast a grateful glance at her elder sister, and upon returning home immediately instructed the maids to sort the luggage afresh — things used daily in one group, things used rarely in another, things for storing back to storage in a third — and had the maids and women servants catalog them accordingly. She then went to discuss it with Xu Siyu: “There are too many things — we’re thinking of sending some to the farm estate.”
Xu Siyu quietly exhaled in relief, and with an expression of perfect calm before Xiang Shi gave a nod.
Xiang Shi also quietly exhaled in relief.
So they had finally understood what Xu Siyu intended.
It seemed that this departure would be a departure without return.
She couldn’t help looking around at the courtyard she had lived in for seven or eight years.
The plantain trees that had once been shoulder-height had grown taller than a person. The swing frame that Fifth Uncle had helped to build for Yingying’s one-year celebration stood empty and still. A faint sadness welled in her heart.
In the first years of marriage, she had herself longed for them to establish their own household. But these years of living here — Grandmother was open-hearted and kind, Father-in-Law and Mother-in-Law were both cultivated and principled, and among the sisters-in-law there was always a yielding to one another, always a warmth when they met, always children who could play together… Thinking of all that liveliness and warmth growing ever more distant, and thinking too of how these years in the household she had not needed to manage a single thing herself — even through pregnancies and childbirth she had had Nannies sent by her mother-in-law to attend to her every need without fail — she suddenly felt a flicker of fear.
From now on, everything would depend on herself alone. In the Jiaqing Prefecture, where she knew neither the land nor the people, would she be able to bear this responsibility?
As she was lost in thought, someone came running and wrapped arms around her legs. “Mother, Mother!”
She looked down and saw her daughter’s face, beaming like the sun.
“Yingying!” Xiang Shi picked up her daughter, and the girl immediately threw her arms around her neck. “Mother, what are you doing in the courtyard?”
Her daughter’s eyes were as clear and transparent as a spring — and looking into them, her heart grew still.
For her daughter’s sake, she must summon her courage and not shrink back.
“I was waiting for Yingying!” Xiang Shi drew a deep breath, and her voice carried more resolve than it usually did. “I was waiting for Yingying to come, so we could go together to pay our respects to Grandmother!”
Yingying laughed and wriggled out of her mother’s arms to stand on the ground, and took Xiang Shi by the hand: “Mother, let’s hurry — if we’re late, Elder Brother and Second Brother will eat all the red bean cakes in Grandmother’s room.”
Xiang Shi had the wet nurse carry Qing Ge’er and smiled as she let her daughter lead her to Shiyiniang’s rooms.
Watching the three-masted official boat grow gradually smaller and more distant, the faces of Xu Siyu, Xiang Shi, Yingying, and Qing Ge’er blurring at the rail, Shiyiniang finally lowered her waving arm.
“Let’s go back.” Xu Lingyi, standing with hands clasped behind his back, glanced at his wife who was rubbing her arm, and said without ceremony.
A faint, quiet smile flickered at the depth of his eyes.
Shiyiniang gave a sound of assent and let Jiang Shi support her gently by the arm toward the carriage waiting to one side.
Ying Niang saw Jiang Shi extend her hand, took a step back, and walked behind Shiyiniang.
Four or five figures in soldiers’ robes, shouting and forcing their way through the crowded press of the pier, came galloping at full speed toward the stone jetty where they stood.
Xu Lingyi couldn’t help stopping in his tracks, frowning to watch.
The horses came thundering onward.
The Xu household’s guards immediately pressed forward, forming a wall of men.
Shiyiniang, Jiang Shi, Ying Niang, Xu Sizhun, Xu Sijie, and the others, hearing the commotion, all turned instinctively — and saw several horses rear up in unison with a shrill whinny, halting five or six paces from the guards.
“My Lord!” The lead rider dismounted and knelt on the stone-strewn thoroughfare. “I serve as an Imperial Guard of the Qianqing Palace.” He produced his token and handed it to the Xu guard blocking his path. “By His Majesty’s verbal command, I am bid to request that the Marquis enter the palace at once.”
Xu Lingyi was somewhat startled.
The Xu household’s guard had already presented the soldier’s token to Xu Lingyi for examination.
Xu Lingyi glanced at it and instructed Xu Sizhun: “Escort your mother back to the estate with your Fifth Brother — I will return shortly.”
Xu Sizhun and Xu Sijie respectfully answered “Yes,” but their gazes could not help falling briefly on the soldiers.
Xu Lingyi took several of his guards and rode off at speed with the Imperial Guards.
Shiyiniang and the others settled into the carriage and made their unhurried way back into the city.
“Mother, will Father be all right?” Ying Niang asked with some concern.
Jiang Shi hesitated, then stopped herself from speaking.
Elder Dou had submitted a memorial a few days ago requesting that worthy candidates be selected to fill the vacancy left by the retired Elder Liang, and the Emperor, using the late Emperor’s failure to approve such a measure as an excuse, had continued to shelve the matter without discussion. The Emperor had been frequently summoning Father-in-Law to the palace these days to consult on affairs. According to her husband’s elder brother: Ouyang Ming was unequal to great responsibilities, and the Emperor had no choice but to use the Yongping Marquis to hold in check Empress’s father, Zhou Shizheng. Her husband’s elder aunt had come several times to see her, and everything she said, though indirectly, carried the suggestion that the Emperor was presently bestowing great favor upon Father-in-Law, and was hoping Father-in-Law would put in a word for him before the Emperor — and also saying that if Father-in-Law wished to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest, recommending Lord Du would be just the same. The Jiang family would be equally grateful.
But how could she possibly say such a thing to Father-in-Law?
The previous time, Mother-in-Law had already given her a stern warning. If she were to disregard her own wellbeing and involve herself in such affairs again, Mother-in-Law would certainly be angry!
Yet if she did not help put in a word, the Jiang family would lose this opportunity. Their position would only weaken further, and the prospect of entering the Grand Secretariat would likely become all but impossible.