The side room, already lively before, was now filled with even more laughter and chatter.
“…I heard you were not feeling well. The Grand Madam has been thinking of you, and specifically told me, when I came, to check on Eleventh Miss.” From a distance, Eleventh Miss already heard Third Madam’s bright, clear voice.
“It is nothing serious,” Senior Madam said with a smile. “She only tired herself out helping Fifth Miss rush through the needlework these past few days. I have had the maids watching over her these past days and not allowing her to do any more embroidery.”
Then someone laughed and said, “I have long heard that Eleventh Miss’s embroidery is quite exceptional — that she has received genuine instruction from the Xianling Pavilion. Is that true?”
Senior Madam laughed: “We invited an embroidery mistress from the Xianling Pavilion to come to the house and teach needlework. We didn’t expect her to take a liking to Eleventh Miss — though it is really only the making of decorative knots and double-sided embroidery that are worthy of showing.” The words were modest, but there was an unmistakable note of quiet pride in them.
The other person then said, “In that case, some day have Eleventh Miss make a few decorative knots for me.”
Senior Madam was just about to agree when a small maidservant announced: “Eleventh Miss has arrived!”
“Please ask her to come in!” Senior Madam smiled and answered, and Eleventh Miss walked inside.
Third Madam was adorned with jewels from head to toe, wearing a deep red jacket embroidered with ruyi cloud patterns, her hair pinned into a tumbling chignon, with azure lapis earrings — dressed in great splendor.
Seeing Eleventh Miss, she immediately came forward to meet her: “I said I would come and see you myself, but Senior Madam insisted on calling you here instead. Are you feeling better?”
Eleventh Miss curtsied to her with a smile: “Many thanks for Third Madam’s kind concern. I was merely feeling a little tired these past few days. After a few days of rest, I am quite well now.”
“That’s good, that’s good.” Third Madam took her by the hand and sat down beside her on a nearby rose chair. “The Grand Madam specifically had me come and check on you. She also asked me to ask — were the cherries sent over last time good? If they were, she will have more sent over when the palace bestows the next gift!”
The female guests in the room all looked over at her with a smile.
Eleventh Miss felt decidedly uncomfortable.
She and the Xu Family had nothing more between them than a verbal agreement — nothing was official, nothing was settled. What sort of thing was this to say?
Eleventh Miss glanced over at Senior Madam while smiling and saying: “These few days are my Fifth Sister’s happy occasion, and there has been a great deal of bustle. I had planned to go and thank the Grand Madam in person in a few days’ time. Since Third Madam has come today, it is just as well for me to send something along with you.” She then called to Hupo, who had followed her in: “Bring the fan I embroidered a few days ago to give to Third Madam.” She then turned to Third Madam: “I trouble you to pass it along to the Grand Madam.”
Third Madam laughed: “Our Grand Madam has come out ahead here — a plate of cherries exchanged for a fan.”
Everyone laughed along with her.
Senior Madam laughed too, though a flicker of satisfaction passed through her eyes.
Third Madam’s mention of cherries in front of everyone was nothing more than a way of saying the Grand Madam regarded Eleventh Miss with special favor. But Eleventh Miss and the Marquis had not formally entered an engagement — if the matter were not to go through in the end, the harm would fall most heavily on the Luo Family. Others who didn’t know might think so, but she knew the truth of it: Yuan Niang, in her final days, had submitted a memorial to the Empress to ensure this matter would go forward. And the Empress, just as Yuan Niang had been, was most concerned above all else with the safety and security of the children.
With this thought, Senior Madam’s satisfaction shifted to sorrow.
If only Yuan Niang were still alive. How much better that would have been…
Third Madam’s smile, however, was a little strained.
She found the agreement between the Xu and Luo families genuinely tiresome. Setting everything else aside, she would one day have to call a girl barely two years older than her own son “Second Sister-in-Law” — and when something important arose, she would have to go to that young girl’s hands to obtain the household keys… If she could not get a jab in first, she really could not swallow this resentment.
Eleventh Miss’s smile remained mild.
The sort of people who could put their thoughts on display like this were not truly dangerous — it was those who kept everything hidden and concealed that one had to fear.
Everyone harbored their own thoughts; after the laughter subsided, conversation drifted along idly, and Hupo’s item had also arrived.
Eleventh Miss handed the red-lacquered, gold-decorated box to Third Madam: “I trouble you with this!”
Third Madam’s eyes shifted with interest. “I must be the first to see it.” With that, she opened the box.
A round fan — translucent silk gauze, bamboo handle from Xiang, embroidered with a luxuriously blooming peony, vivid and lifelike.
What fine needlework indeed!
She praised it inwardly, and smiled aloud: “Truly beautiful!”
Turning it over absently, she found on the reverse side one or two branches of conjoined peony blooms — one just about to open, the other only beginning to unfurl its petals.
Third Madam froze.
Third Aunt saw it all clearly and quickly said with a smile: “This is our Eleventh Miss’s double-sided embroidery. Elder Sister-in-Law invited the head embroidery mistress from the Xianling Pavilion — a Madam Jian — to come to the house and teach needlework. Our Fifth Miss and Tenth Miss also learned a little from her as well.”
Everyone crowded around in turn — this one taking a look, that one having a peek — and there was not a single voice that did not burst into praise.
When one should contend, contend; when one should fight, fight — but when one should close ranks, one must close ranks. Otherwise, if one’s own family starts quarreling first, others will think even less of you.
Third Aunt glanced over at Senior Madam with a touch of satisfaction, and Senior Madam smiled and gave Third Aunt a small nod. Third Aunt felt a flicker of regret — if only this fan had been sent the day they went to pay their respects to the Grand Madam for her birthday! Then she thought again: gifts brought on such occasions all go to the person managing the household, and there would have been no way to show it off in front of everyone — this occasion was really far better!
Just as she was thinking this, a small maidservant came running in: “Second Madam has rushed back!” Before the words were finished, Second Madam came bustling in, road-wearied and dusty, with Seventh Miss behind her, looking exhausted.
“Elder Sister-in-Law, please forgive me,” she said quickly. “The Northwest was drawing grain shipments from Shandong, and the post roads were closed for three days — otherwise I would have arrived sooner.”
“You have worked so hard, you have worked so hard!” Senior Madam said, taking Seventh Miss by the hand. “You must be tired? Go with Eleventh Miss and rest.”
Everyone gathered around to exchange greetings, and Eleventh Miss, after saying a few words to the others, led Seventh Miss off to her own quarters.
Third Aunt seized the opportunity to say quietly to Senior Madam: “Their family is wealthy, and ours is not far behind. Some matters are better left to take their time.”
Senior Madam understood her meaning, and could not help but sigh. “I hear Grand Secretary Chen’s new policies have been showing significant results, and military expenses in the Northwest have been considerable — funded largely by the tea tax revenues from last year… Senior Master’s prospects are not good. If we do not cultivate connections, I fear some families will start looking down on us.”
“But still — in case something should go wrong…” Third Aunt still showed some hesitation.
There were things Senior Madam could not say to Third Aunt, so she replied vaguely: “Put your mind at ease. I know what I am doing in this matter.”
Third Aunt could say no more.
The two of them were still speaking when Second Madam drifted over and handed Senior Madam a sheaf of silver notes: “This is a small token of goodwill from my husband and me.”
Senior Madam glanced quickly at them — all one hundred taels apiece, amounting to perhaps two thousand taels in total.
“This is far too much…” Second Madam quickly waved it away. “When Father was alive, my husband and I never had to worry about household affairs — every day we did nothing but take money from the public accounts to supplement our own expenses. Now that the family is in difficulty, it is our turn to do our part. Elder Sister-in-Law, please accept it — otherwise I won’t know how to explain it to my husband when I return.”
Third Aunt could not help but feel a little ill at ease.
Second Branch had been too generous.
Yet at a moment like this, she could not afford the face to make a stand about it, and smiled somewhat sheepishly: “That’s right, Elder Sister-in-Law, you should accept it. They say Wang Family is coming to formalize the betrothal soon. There will be many customs and protocols to observe, and many places where money will need to be spent. We may have little to offer from our branch — my husband’s is a clean and modest post — but running errands and lending a hand is something we can still manage.”
Senior Madam took one of Second Madam’s arms and one of Third Aunt’s: “We are all one family. Fourth Son-in-Law’s fortunes are rising at the moment, and in a couple of years Xing Ge will be out as well — life at home will be better again.”
Third Aunt kept nodding along, but a shadow passed through Second Madam’s eyes — a son-in-law, however good, is not a son. And the Yu family had so many younger siblings to consider besides…
…
Over there, Seventh Miss had freshened up and changed into a new inner garment of Eleventh Miss’s. She was now reclining lazily on the large kang by the window: “…I can’t believe how much taller you’ve gotten in not even a year. You’re even slightly taller than me now. Eat less from now on — if you grow too tall, you’ll have trouble finding a husband.”
Eleventh Miss smiled and paid her no mind.
Hupo, however, said: “Our Young Miss is already so thin — any less to eat and she might be carried off by the wind.”
Seventh Miss turned her head to look at Eleventh Miss, who was seated on the edge of the kang sewing a trim for her. She said quietly: “Hey, have yours come yet?”
“What?” Eleventh Miss pretended not to understand. Her hand worked a loop, pulled a knot, and with a small pair of scissors snipped the thread. She passed the needle to Dongqing beside her, who took it and handed back another, already threaded and knotted.
Eleventh Miss took it and continued sewing, even glancing up at Seventh Miss twice, though her hands did not slow a fraction — her pace unchanged, her stitches perfectly even.
Seventh Miss clicked her tongue in admiration: “How much embroidery do you do every day? Even the workshop girls probably can’t match you.”
Without doing needlework, one spends the whole day dwelling on all manner of troublesome thoughts — and ends up either worried to death or vexed to death…
Eleventh Miss smiled and said nothing.
“Your needlework is so good — make me a sachet!” Seventh Miss said, her dark eyes shifting slightly, a flush of color like fresh snow rising across her cheeks.
Eleventh Miss found this suspicious and thought of the question Seventh Miss had just asked, but kept her expression entirely composed. She called to Dongqing: “Bring out the sachets I embroidered a few days ago — let Seventh Sister choose from them.”
Dongqing acknowledged and quickly returned with a small rattan basket of sachets — all different styles: some delicately charming, some classically understated, some richly ornate. Seventh Miss’s eyes dazzled at the sight, finding this one lovely and that one lovely too, wishing she could take the whole lot.
She was rummaging and picking through them when she suddenly cried out: “Oh! Eleventh Miss, you’ve actually embroidered conjoined lotus blooms on a sachet!”
Eleventh Miss looked straight at her: “What of it?” Her gaze entirely earnest.
Seventh Miss’s face instantly became a great swath of red.
Eleventh Miss could not contain her smile.
Seventh Miss was so embarrassed she leapt up and started shaking Eleventh Miss. “You! All prim and proper in ordinary times, and now look — sneaking around teasing your own sister!”
Eleventh Miss laughed helplessly and pleaded: “Dear Sister, tell me what you want embroidered and I’ll embroider it. I won’t say another word!”
The two of them dissolved into a laughing tangle. Then a small maidservant announced: “Eleventh Miss, Fifth Miss is here!”
Seventh Miss and Eleventh Miss had just pulled apart when Fifth Miss walked in.
“You, Seventh Miss! You come and don’t even come see me!”
Seventh Miss quickly displayed herself: “My hair isn’t even dry yet!”
Fifth Miss said with a laugh as she sat down at the edge of the kang: “I was joking with you!”
Seventh Miss’s dark eyes began to sparkle. “Fifth Sister, have you seen your future husband yet?”
Fifth Miss’s color rose. “What kind of thing is that to say!”
“So you have seen him!” Seventh Miss’s eyes lit up. “Come on, tell us — what is Fifth Sister’s husband like?” She was visibly full of curiosity.
When they had gone to the temple that other time, Fifth Miss had not paid much attention to Qian Ming, but later had found an opportunity to take a proper look — and after that, she never again said anything about what a bitter fate she had.
Eleventh Miss pressed her lips together and smiled quietly.
“You stop stirring up trouble.” Fifth Miss’s face grew redder still, and she ignored Seventh Miss’s question, asking instead: “Was Shandong fun?”
Seventh Miss nodded, her eyes bright. “Very fun. Mother and I even went to a temple fair — nothing like being in Yanjing, where you’re shut inside the house every day.” Then she said, “Being married is so much better. Once you’re married, you can go out in public with a proper reason.” She looked thoroughly longing.