After drinking the wine at Fifth Miss’s return-visit banquet, Seventh Miss left with Second Madam for Shandong. Within a few days, Second Madam sent word by messenger that Seventh Miss’s betrothal had been arranged — the young man was named Zhu Anping, from Gaoqing County in Shandong, twenty-two years of age, who had inherited his ancestors’ post of Assistant Regional Military Commander.

Upon hearing this, First Master couldn’t help but frown. “Why would they find her a family like that? Does this mean they plan to leave Seventh Miss alone in Shandong for the rest of her life?”

The Luo family’s ancestral roots were in Jiangnan, and they would all return there eventually. Second Master couldn’t remain a Shandong official forever. First Master’s words were not without reason.

First Madam had Nanny Xu put away the letter and smiled: “After all, this is Second Uncle’s family matter — it isn’t really our place to interfere. Besides, didn’t our own Fifth Miss marry all the way to Sichuan? Who’s to say others aren’t looking at us the same way we’re looking at Second Uncle?”

“That’s different,” First Master immediately said. “Qian Ming has talent.”

“And you’re so certain this young Master Zhu has no talent?”

First Master fell silent.

First Madam then broached the subject with First Master: “Speaking of which, Seventh Miss is only two months younger than Zhenhxing. What do you think — shouldn’t we be looking for a suitable match for Zhenhxing? For one thing, he’s not getting any younger; for another, having a wife to keep him in line might help him make more progress.”

“Yes,” First Master nodded. “You’ve thought this through very carefully. I’ll leave this matter in your hands.”

“What a thing to say, my lord,” First Madam smiled. “It’s my responsibility to begin with.”

First Master then let out a sigh. “All these years, this family has depended so much on you… as for Zhenhxing, and Tenth Miss…” He shook his head.

First Madam’s lips curved up slightly. “My lord, it’s all my fault. I haven’t raised them well enough. But please don’t worry — from now on I’ll put more effort into both of them.”

Just then a junior maid came to report: “First Master, First Madam — Commander Wang of the Tiger Might Battalion of the Imperial Guards has come to call!”

First Master and First Madam exchanged a glance.

“Please go and receive the guest,” First Madam smiled. “The Wang family is a very fine match. You’ve already met their young master. And Tenth Miss is getting older — if this opportunity passes, there may not be another.”

First Master nodded, and then settled with Commander Wang on the twentieth day of the fifth month as the date to send betrothal gifts.

First Madam and First Young Mistress then began making preparations for Tenth Miss’s dowry.

Tenth Miss went straight to First Madam and announced that she wanted to go out and enjoy herself at the White Cloud Temple.

First Madam looked at her with a gentle smile. “You’re a bride-to-be now — what business do you have running about everywhere?”

Tenth Miss said nothing, found a ladder, and climbed over the wall. The serving women rushed to report to First Madam. Before First Madam could even open her mouth, First Master was already so furious his face had turned purple-red. “Let her climb — nobody is to stop her! I want to see just how bold she really is!”

First Madam quickly intervened. “No, no — we still have the marriage agreement with the Wang family to think of.” She shot a look at Nanny Xu and Nanny Jiang, who together with some of the sturdier serving women pulled Tenth Miss back down.

First Master couldn’t very well beat her the way he could Luo Zhensheng, so after considerable deliberation, he ordered her confined to her room and forbade her from going anywhere.

Tenth Miss looked at First Master, her eyes like a thousand-year frozen glacier. “What are you so afraid of? You won’t even let me go out for some air! What are you really afraid of? It’s just a ducal estate. Since when does our Luo family need to survive by relying on ties of marriage?”

This cut right to First Master’s most painful spot.

Ever since learning of First Young Mistress’s dying testament — that once the mourning period for her was over, Eleventh Miss would marry into the Xu family — First Master had tossed and turned for days unable to sleep. He told himself that Eleventh Miss was marrying into the Xu family to a life of comfort. But he also dreaded people saying he was currying favor with the powerful. The Luo family was no longer what it once was. If he were still in office, would he need to fear any of this?

First Master stepped forward and struck Tenth Miss across the face.

Tenth Miss pressed her hand to her cheek and laughed. “Go ahead, if you dare — cancel this betrothal!”

“Cancel it then!” First Master raged.

First Madam stepped squarely in front of him. “What are you saying? Is marriage something to play with? You can simply cancel it just like that?” She turned. “Nanny Xu, help Tenth Miss back to her room to rest. Starting tomorrow, she is to work on her needlework. All this idleness is what makes people lose their sense of what matters.”

Nanny Xu was no ordinary woman — the moment First Madam began to speak, she and Nanny Jiang positioned themselves on either side of Tenth Miss. Before First Madam had even finished her sentence, the two of them were already steering Tenth Miss toward the door.

Tenth Miss laughed as she was dragged out. “Selling off your daughter for glory.”

First Master couldn’t catch his breath and collapsed to the floor, frightening First Madam until her face drained white. She immediately cried out for the physician.

Eleventh Miss was then summoned to wait at the bedside to tend to the patient.

Just then, Fifth Miss happened to have sent Ziwei over with some bean cakes. Hearing the news, Fifth Miss immediately wanted to come see First Master. Qian Ming was in the full bliss of newlywed life with Fifth Miss, but when she said she wanted to return to her family home, he quickly asked what had happened. Fifth Miss told him the whole truth.

When Qian Ming heard that it was this matter that had caused all the trouble, he was genuinely surprised. “Marrying into the estate of Duke Maoguo?”

Fifth Miss gave a nod. “Tenth Sister has always been like this. Tell her to go east, she’ll go west; tell her to go west, she’ll go east. Look at my wedding — she didn’t even see me off. Seventh Sister traveled all the way from Shandong to be there!”

“Then let’s go together,” Qian Ming said at once, and told the young manservant to go hire a carriage. “Perhaps there’ll be something I can help with.”

So Fifth Miss and Qian Ming came hurrying over.

Fifth Miss, now married, wore her hair in a round-coiled matron’s bun. Her face, already striking in its beauty, had grown even more vivid and luminous — the joy in it shone from the very corners of her eyes and brows. One could tell at a glance that her days were very happy.

The sisters exchanged greetings, and before a single word of real conversation could be had, First Madam had already taken Fifth Miss by the arm and poured out her grievances: “…Tell me, what more am I supposed to do for her? Short of cutting flesh from my own body to make her a broth, I’ve done everything I can!”

From the bed, First Master coughed once and said: “Have someone brew a pot of Wuyi oolong tea for Fifth Son-in-law.”

“You are too kind,” Qian Ming replied hastily.

He glanced up — and was met with a face of delicate, fine-boned beauty.

He felt his heart give a small, involuntary jolt.

He looked again, unable to stop himself.

Jet-black eyes, utterly still and composed.

Fifth Miss had already noticed her husband’s reaction, and immediately smiled: “That is my Eleventh Sister.”

Qian Ming lowered his eyelids slightly and smiled: “Please forgive my rudeness — I had not expected to meet Eleventh Sister here.”

Eleventh Miss did not care for the way Qian Ming had looked at her.

It was the look one gives an antique vase — though admiring, the greater part of it is calculating: what craftsmanship is this, from what period, and what might it be worth?

But she still dipped in a small curtsy to greet him.

“Please, please, think nothing of it,” Qian Ming said, with a touch of flustered haste.

“We’re all family — no need to stand on such ceremony.” First Madam kept both of them for dinner. “…Your eldest brother will be back shortly as well.”

Qian Ming was gracious about it. “Perfect,” he smiled, “I have some questions on matters of scholarship I was hoping to ask Father for guidance on.”

First Master rather fancied himself as a man of some learning. Hearing this from Qian Ming, he was naturally very pleased and kept Qian Ming at his bedside to talk. First Madam, First Young Mistress, Fifth Miss, and Eleventh Miss went to the outer hall.

First Young Mistress went off to the kitchen to arrange the evening meal. First Madam turned to Eleventh Miss: “Go and see how Tenth Miss is getting on.”

Eleventh Miss acknowledged and went.

First Madam then spoke quietly to Fifth Miss: “If I recall correctly, your days should be around now — have they come?”

Fifth Miss nodded with a shy blush.

“And what about Ziwei and the others…”

Fifth Miss shook her head. “He said he treats them like younger sisters. When the time comes, he’ll find good matches for them.”

First Madam was momentarily taken aback, then smiled: “You are truly fortunate.” The smile, however, held a slight stiffness.

Fifth Miss replied with complete sincerity: “If you say I am fortunate, then that fortune was given to me by Mother.”

—

Eleventh Miss went as instructed to look in on Tenth Miss.

She was reclining against the large kang by the window, reading.

*Records of the Nine Regions of the Great Zhou.*

Eleventh Miss was startled.

That was her own most beloved book.

Nanny Jiang, who had been standing guard like a sentinel at the door, lowered her voice: “Since she came back, she hasn’t cried or caused a scene. She just picked up that book and started reading. I — I truly don’t know what she’s planning.”

Eleventh Miss didn’t know either. She stood there for a moment.

Tenth Miss kept her head bent over the book, her expression intent, as though wholly absorbed in the story’s content and oblivious to all else.

Eleventh Miss offered a few words of instruction along the lines of “make sure to take good care of her,” and then returned to First Madam.

Fifth Miss was holding a back-massage mallet, gently patting First Madam’s shoulders, while the two chatted away — both faces wreathed in warm, happy smiles.

Seeing Eleventh Miss, First Madam smiled: “Well? Has Tenth Miss calmed down a little?”

“A little better,” Eleventh Miss smiled back. “She’s lying on the kang reading.”

First Madam gave a nod. She said nothing more of Tenth Miss, and turned to ask Eleventh Miss: “Don’t you always read that *Records of the Nine Regions* of yours? Do you happen to know how many days the road to Jinan Prefecture takes?”

Eleventh Miss was struck by the question. After a moment she said: “The book says it is over nine hundred li. I would estimate about ten days.”

First Madam nodded and smiled: “In that case, you’ll all travel with me to Shandong to visit family.”

Fifth Miss explained: “Mother is saying that when Seventh Miss marries, we’ll all go to Shandong to drink the wedding wine.”

“Wonderful!” Eleventh Miss smiled, looking genuinely delighted.

Her expression pleased First Madam. “I was thinking — whether the wedding is this winter or next spring, when the time comes we’ll have Old Jixiang come to make the hair ornaments, and Xianlinge make the clothes. A fine reason to get out and about.”

Both Fifth Miss and Eleventh Miss said “wonderful,” and First Madam grew even more spirited, launching into tales of her own childhood following her father on his posting in Shaanxi.

The cheerful conversation was in full swing when a junior maid announced: “Eldest Young Master is back!”

Before the words were finished, Luo Zhenhxing had already lifted the curtain and walked in.

His face was bright with excitement. Seeing First Madam and the others, he immediately asked: “Where is Father?”

First Madam couldn’t help but ask: “Has something happened?”

“Good news, good news.” Luo Zhenhxing’s eyes were shining. “The Marquis has won a great victory — he’ll be returning to the capital by the end of the fifth month.”

First Madam went still.

Luo Zhenhxing continued with fervor: “The Marquis pushed all the way to Gesan, captured Khan Jiarong alive… the northwest will be at peace for at least ten years.”

“What? What did you say?” First Master suddenly stepped out from the inner room. “The Marquis captured Jiarong alive?”

Luo Zhenhxing nodded, but seeing that Qian Ming was supporting his father, he was astonished. “Father, what’s happened to you?”

“I’m fine,” First Master waved it off. “Tell me — what exactly happened?”

“The victory dispatch arrived last night, and the Emperor announced it in court this morning. The whole of Yanjing is talking about it.” Luo Zhenhxing stepped forward to help his father over to the grand armchair nearby. “They say the Marquis fought and retreated, retreated and fought, drawing Jiarong deeper and deeper until he lured him into the Qiong Gorge, then wrapped him up like a dumpling and captured him alive.”

The northwest had known no peace for nearly a hundred years. Now, with the threat quelled in a single stroke, any citizen of the Great Zhou would rejoice — let alone First Master.

He called out loudly for wine: “…Tonight we drink until we can drink no more!”

—