That night, First Master drank with great abandon alongside his son and son-in-law.

He had entirely forgotten the unpleasantness Tenth Miss had caused him.

As the maids helped him into his room, he was still murmuring: “…Mount the horse and strike the raging enemy; dismount and draft the field dispatches. Now that is what a true man does! Not like me — can’t lift with these hands, can’t carry with these shoulders…” He fixed First Madam with a bleary gaze. “If I were twenty years younger, I’d have gone off to serve in the northwestern army…”

This sent First Madam into fits of laughter behind her sleeve, and she personally attended to settling her husband to rest.

But that happiness lasted only one night.

The next morning, First Master woke a little late from the night’s excess, and was still drinking his sobering broth when Qian Ming arrived.

Since First Master had praised Qian Ming’s talent, First Madam’s attitude toward Qian Ming had also begun to shift.

She heard of his arrival and quickly went out to the main hall: “Has Fifth Son-in-law eaten yet?”

But Qian Ming was greatly agitated. He hurriedly paid his respects to First Madam and said: “Mother-in-law, something is wrong. I’ve heard that Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has summoned the Marquis of Jianning into the palace to discuss the matter of Brother-in-law taking a new wife!”

How could this be?

First Madam felt as though her mind had been struck by a sudden blow, leaving her dazed and disoriented.

What she had always depended upon was the fact that the Empress had accepted First Young Mistress’s dying petition. But if the Empress Dowager were to issue a formal decree, would the Empress truly risk bearing the label of “unfilial” by defying the Empress Dowager? Would the Xu family dare defy imperial authority and refuse?

By that point, the matter would no longer be as simple as merely declining the Empress Dowager’s good intentions!

Fearing that First Madam might not understand the gravity of the situation, Qian Ming quickly continued: “The Empress Dowager has long had intentions of marrying the daughter of the Marquis of Jianning to Brother-in-law. It’s only that the Marquis of Jianning was reluctant to do so and wanted instead to send his daughter into the palace. That is why the matter has been dragging on. Now that Brother-in-law has achieved this unparalleled military feat, I’m afraid the Marquis of Jianning will find it impossible to refuse…”

After a brief moment of shock, First Madam quickly steadied herself.

“Come with me!” She led Qian Ming hurriedly into the inner room.

First Master was still being attended to by the maids, rinsing his mouth, when he saw First Madam leading Qian Ming in. He was startled and quickly asked: “What has happened?”

Qian Ming then repeated to First Master everything he had just told First Madam.

First Master was also left dazed.

First Madam grew anxious. “What are we to do about this? We can hardly go to the Xu family and demand an explanation.” As she spoke, her eyes grew red. “I’ve only seen Zhun Ge three times this whole year — once at the New Year, once at Qingming, once at the anniversary of First Young Mistress’s passing… And that Marquis of Jianning, a man of humble origins — what kind of daughter could he possibly have raised? If she were worthy, the Emperor would have taken her into the palace long ago, not waited until now…”

First Master, hearing her words grow increasingly unreasonable, frowned. “Go outside. I’ll discuss this with Son-in-law.”

First Madam had no choice but to withdraw. She had barely taken her position in the main hall when she saw Luo Zhenhxing striding in with great purpose.

“What brings you back?”

Luo Zhenhxing’s face was ashen. He managed a strained smile toward First Madam: “There’s something I need to discuss with Father. Has he woken?”

First Madam immediately grasped why Luo Zhenhxing had come. She reached out and caught her son by his sleeve. “Is this about the Marquis?”

Luo Zhenhxing had been intending to shield his mother from the news, but First Madam had already said: “Your Fifth Sister’s husband told me everything. He’s discussing it with your Father right now.”

“Mother, try not to worry,” Luo Zhenhxing could only comfort her. “Three cobblers together can outsmart even a master strategist. Are the three of us really unable to think of something?”

First Madam was flustered and at a loss, with no plan of her own, and could only nod vaguely, trusting her son for the moment.

From the inner room, First Master had already heard the commotion. He called out loudly: “Is that Zhenhxing?”

“Father, it’s me,” Luo Zhenhxing answered at full voice, then lowered his voice to say a few more words of comfort to his mother before going into the inner room.

—

“Young Miss, Young Miss…” Qiuju came rushing in, her face drained of color. “Something is wrong, something is very wrong!”

Eleventh Miss was sitting on the kang with Dongqing, working on their needlework. Seeing her wild-eyed expression, Dongqing couldn’t help frowning. “What is the matter? All this shrieking and shouting — have you no propriety!”

“Something is wrong! Something is very wrong!” Qiuju, unlike her usual habit of smiling and standing to attention whenever Dongqing scolded her, was gasping for breath as she ran to stand before Eleventh Miss. “The Marquis is going to marry some other marquis’s daughter!”

At that, every face in the room changed color.

“Tell me clearly,” Eleventh Miss said, her expression grave. “What exactly has happened?”

Qiuju held her breath, and after a moment said: “Fifth Brother-in-law arrived just now. He said the Empress Dowager has summoned the Marquis of Jianning and wants him to give his daughter in marriage to the Marquis.”

Eleventh Miss listened, and gradually grew calm.

In other words, she was now facing the danger of having her betrothal broken off? No — strictly speaking, there had never been a formal betrothal to begin with. So what was there to break off?

“What has the Xu family said?” Dongqing pressed, so anxious that tears were threatening to fall.

Qiuju glanced at Eleventh Miss, whose expression had gone rather unusual.

“Goodness, what time do you think it is, and you’re still dawdling!” Dongqing was growing impatient. “Speak up!”

“Fifth Brother-in-law says the word outside is — that the Xu family has always looked down on our Young Miss for being a concubine-born daughter, and that is why they have been slow to come and propose.” By the end, her expression had grown rather timid.

For a moment, everyone was stunned.

“And is that our Young Miss’s fault?” Dongqing said. “Who wouldn’t want to be born of the First Madam…”  She was deeply aggrieved.

“Exactly!” Qiuju’s eyes had also gone red. “And First Madam is regretting it too! She said, had she only known it would come to this, she should have registered Young Miss under her own name.”

“What?” Eleventh Miss stared at Qiuju in astonishment. “What did you just say?”

Qiuju, seeing her look so stirred up, was frightened, and stammered: “First — First Madam — is regretting it, and saying — saying that had she known it would come to this, she should have registered — registered you under her own name.”

Which meant she was already registered on the family record.

In a flash of insight, Eleventh Miss suddenly understood.

First Yiniang and Second Yiniang had deceived her entirely!

The thought led her at once to Tenth Miss.

Could it be that Tenth Miss, just like her, had also been deceived by the two Yiniangsto?

Eleventh Miss couldn’t help a bitter smile.

Who would have thought — those two Yiniangtos, always burning incense and reciting sutras — could have done something like this!

Then, all at once, a thought struck her.

The Emperor was not the Empress Dowager’s own son by birth. The Empress Dowager had long tried to send her niece into the palace as a consort, but had never succeeded. Now she was seeking to fall back on the next best thing — a marriage alliance with the Xu family. Whether the Emperor or the Empress, neither could easily refuse this. And if that were the case, how would the Xu family dare defy the decree issued by the imperial family? So this marriage was, in all likelihood, nine chances in ten, not going to happen.

And if the betrothal between the Xu and Luo families fell apart — she would be the wronged party. And when someone is wronged, people generally take their side. Could she not seize this as an opportunity to change her circumstances?

Eleventh Miss turned it over carefully in her mind for a long while, then stood up and asked Qiuju: “Where is Mother right now?”

Qiuju looked at Eleventh Miss — somehow she seemed almost pleased.

But at a moment like this, how could she dare to ask further questions? She quickly answered: “In the main hall!” Then, thinking that wasn’t quite right, she added: “First Young Mistress is there keeping First Madam company.”

“Who else besides us knows about the Marquis being asked to take the Jianning daughter as his wife?”

“Just now First Madam made quite a scene — it’s already spread all through the household.”

Should she take the initiative, or feign ignorance and adapt to circumstances as they unfolded?

Eleventh Miss deliberated for a moment, and decided on taking the initiative.

Because this marriage mattered far too much to the Luo family — there was no knowing what First Madam might do in a moment of desperate gratitude.

She instructed Hupo: “Bring me some chili water.”

—

The main courtyard held an atmosphere of solemn tension. Maids and serving women all stood in their proper places, hands at their sides, still and proper.

But the moment Eleventh Miss walked in with reddened eyes, every gaze — whether pitying or curious — fell on her without exception. The maid holding the curtain even announced in a slightly anxious voice: “Eleventh Miss is here.”

“Let her in,” First Madam’s voice replied, still carrying the unmistakable remnants of anger she could not fully conceal.

Entering the main hall, Eleventh Miss saw First Madam seated on the arhat couch, her expression coldly set. First Young Mistress stood to one side, her face etched with helplessness.

“Mother!” She had barely addressed First Madam when tears began to well and circle in her eyes.

First Madam looked at Eleventh Miss’s eyes, swollen and red as peaches. In her heart she already had some sense of what this was about.

Though she had never spoken of this matter directly to Eleventh Miss, she had never made any effort to conceal it either. Eleventh Miss must have heard at least some whisper of it.

Eleventh Miss knelt at First Madam’s feet. “Your daughter wishes to enter the religious life and become a nun!”

“Nonsense!” First Madam’s gaze fixed on Eleventh Miss like a hawk’s, sharp and searching. “What are you trying to do?”

“Mother.” Eleventh Miss’s voice was calm. “One cannot overpower what is stronger. If I take the veil, the world will naturally sympathize with my hardship. If I do not take the veil, I will only give people cause to laugh at me. Mother, please allow me to take the veil.”

What she meant was: if she entered a religious life, public sympathy would swing toward the Luo family. Perhaps the imperial household, for the sake of appearances, would accord the Luo family some degree of consideration.

But Eleventh Miss was not First Madam’s own daughter after all, and in First Madam’s ears these words took on a different cast altogether — her gaze on Eleventh Miss sharpened by several more degrees. “You are saying that our Luo family cannot keep you safe…”

Hearing that tone, Eleventh Miss felt a cold settling in her heart.

Three years had passed, and yet First Madam had not a single shred of trust in her. When something happened, the first instinct was to assume the worst.

Whatever small flicker of guilt she had felt while applying the chili water just now vanished entirely.

“Mother,” she said, her voice measured and clear, “the Luo family does not belong only to Father, nor only to Mother, nor only to Elder Brother, nor only to me. It belongs to all of us together.”

First Madam was taken aback.

Eleventh Miss had never spoken to her in quite this way before…

“It is because I am sheltered under the Luo family’s roof that I can be clothed and fed, that I could study needlework with Master Jian. Now that our family faces such a difficult moment, how can I sit by and do nothing? Integrity and incorruptibility, openness and honor — this is the foundation upon which a great family stands. We have no need to beg anything of anyone. I will take the veil. Let the world see that even our family in Yuhang knows that wealth and rank cannot corrupt us, and power and force cannot bend us…”

First Young Mistress looked at Eleventh Miss’s delicately featured face and thought: she won’t even be fourteen until the fifth month… Her heart wrenched, and tears fell unbidden.

“You… you…” First Madam’s lips trembled, but no words came.

Someone walked out from the inner room, bowing deeply and at length before Eleventh Miss: “Eleventh Sister, do not worry. As long as Luo Zhenhxing lives, I will honor and support my sister. No — even if I am gone, there will still be庥 Ge. When 庥 Ge is gone, his sons will carry on. As long as our Luo family of Yuhang endures for even one more day, we will never forget our sister’s great righteousness.”

Eleventh Miss let out a breath of relief.

She had heard that those who enter religious orders are considered to stand outside the secular world, with no distinction between man and woman. If the divide between the sexes were blurred, would this society not perhaps be a little more forgiving toward women?

She had heard that a monastery was like a small society unto itself — that beyond the chanting of sutras, those nuns who could speak and reason well, or who were learned and skilled, were especially valued. With two lives’ worth of experience behind her, surely she could carve out a place that suited her?

She had heard that accomplished monastics were sometimes invited to other temples to give lectures and discourses. In that case, the *Records of the Nine Regions of the Great Zhou* would come in very handy indeed…

As she made her way back, Eleventh Miss walked with a lightness that was quite unlike her usual self.

Now, as long as she made proper arrangements for Dongqing and the others, she could be free to take in the splendor of mountains and rivers, to breathe in the fragrance of pine boughs and gentle winds!

Eleventh Miss couldn’t quite stop the corners of her mouth from turning up.

She really must thank Xu Lingyi for having captured that Jiarong.

—