A long silence fell beyond the inner gate.

Luo Zhenyu said smugly: “Well? Can’t guess it? As long as you admit defeat and send in three big red envelopes, and then answer my Fourth Brother-in-law’s questions from the Analects, we’ll let you in.”

“You’re making things impossible for us,” someone outside protested. “There’s simply no such character.”

“I never said it had to be a character riddle.” With all eyes on him, Luo Zhenyu could hardly contain his pride. “You’re all too dim. Let me tell you — when our Fifth Brother-in-law came to fetch the bride, he answered every single riddle correctly. Not only that, he composed an entire essay on policy right then and there. Never mind opening the gate — the red envelopes to open the gate were waived entirely.”

That was because the mood that day had been too festive and it had not felt right to demand red envelopes. Still, on the third-day return visit, Qian Ming had quietly made up those red envelopes for Luo Zhenkai and Luo Zhenyu of his own accord. Small wonder they liked him best of anyone right now.

Those outside fell into whispered murmuring.

A flicker of gratified pleasure crossed Qian Ming’s brow.

All the more reason, at a moment like this, to be generous and magnanimous.

He stepped quickly to Luo Zhensheng’s side, and overheard Yu Yiqing murmuring close beside him: “What on earth is this riddle? It’s certainly not a character riddle. So it must be a thing being described. The range of possibilities is so wide…”

Luo Zhensheng laughed: “These two little rascals must have dug it up especially somewhere to torment Tenth Sister’s groom — it’s not likely to be easy to guess.”

Seeing Qian Ming approach, the two men stopped talking and greeted him with a smile: “Zichun.”

Qian Ming smiled and said: “The hour is getting late — we can’t miss the auspicious time. I think it’s best to give them a way to back down gracefully.”

Yu Yiqing nodded and said: “But I can’t solve the riddle either. Otherwise I’d have given the answer long ago to break the deadlock.”

Qian Ming laughed and called out toward the gate: “Since you can’t answer, leave behind your toll. Five red envelopes and we’ll let you through…”

Before his words had fully landed, someone outside suddenly erupted: “What the hell is the meaning of this? If you don’t want to marry her off, then we don’t want to take her! Brothers, let’s go. If the Luo Family wants this match, they can carry their daughter over to us themselves. Let’s go — let’s go home and drink!” The tone was thoroughly crude and insolent.

Every face in the Luo Family party changed color.

As the old saying goes, a family holds its head high when giving a daughter in marriage, and bows its head when receiving a daughter-in-law. Every family taking a bride expects to be teased and bantered with by the bride’s family. No one had ever imagined that the Wang Family would…

But the one who felt it most keenly was Qian Ming.

He had been the one to step forward just moments ago.

All his life, he had always been praised for his quick wit in a crisis… and yet here, at his Tenth Sister-in-law’s wedding, in front of so many of his wife’s family, he had stumbled into such a mortifying fall. He had no idea how his father-in-law and mother-in-law would look at him after this…

Luo Zhensheng and Yu Yiqing were both stunned into stillness.

It had never occurred to them that anyone would do such a thing… At their own weddings, the teasing had been even more raucous, and yet no one had dared to simply turn and leave.

For a moment, the inner courtyard fell utterly silent.

And from outside came the voices of those stirring things up: “They’re leaving, they’re leaving…”

“Heir, heir…” Someone on the Wang Family’s side was pleading desperately. “You cannot leave… How am I to answer to the Duke when he asks…” But that voice was weak, and was quickly swallowed up by the clamor.

“What do we do?” Yu Yiqing was at a complete loss.

Luo Zhensheng could not make up his mind either: “Perhaps… just open the gate?”

“Open the gate?” Yu Yiqing hesitated. “Then won’t people say we were so afraid of the new groom that we rushed to send our girl to him on a platter? We’d lose all face. How would Tenth Miss hold her head up in the Wang household after this?”

The two of them spoke, and almost at the same moment, both wondered why Qian Ming had not said a word — they looked over to find him standing there drenched in sweat.

“Zichun, you always have the most ideas — do say something.”

The moment Luo Zhensheng’s voice fell, the sound of things being smashed reached them from outside: “Leaving, leaving…”

Luo Zhenkai and Luo Zhenyu had been frightened stiff at first, and now the crashing from outside jolted them both out of it with a start. They exchanged a look, then bolted together toward the rear courtyard — they planned to find Eleventh Miss and beg her to hide them somewhere, since once the adults recovered their wits, the two of them would certainly be the ones to bear the brunt of the anger.

But the moment they entered the courtyard, they got a shock.

The doors to the west wing — where the bride was staying — stood wide open. Servant women moved in and out in grave silence, carrying copper basins back and forth without a sound.

“What… what is going on?” Luo Zhenyu was left staring with his mouth open.

“Come on, let’s go look.” Luo Zhenkai was just as curious, and immediately forgot what had brought him to the rear courtyard in the first place.

Luo Zhenyu, who always followed his brother’s lead, trailed after Luo Zhenkai toward the west wing.

A maid who caught sight of them went white with fright and shrieked: “Someone is coming!”

That wailing cry was so eerie it sent both brothers stumbling back two steps.

“What is going on here!” came a stern voice, and the two brothers found Hupo standing in the doorway.

“Why are you here?” all three said at once.

For a moment, the three of them stared at each other blankly.

“Hupo — who is outside?” came Eleventh Miss’s voice from within, rather grave.

Luo Zhenkai had never heard Eleventh Miss speak in that tone.

His instincts told him something was very wrong.

“Eleventh Sister,” Luo Zhenkai said, and immediately rushed in. “It’s me!”

Hupo could only smile ruefully, and followed Luo Zhenyu inside, one after the other.

…

Eleventh Miss sat on the wide kang by the window, her face a little pale. Resting across her knees was a young woman.

Inky black hair trailing loosely over the vivid red brocade robe — beautiful, and yet deeply unsettling.

“Oh — it’s you two.” Eleventh Miss greeted Luo Zhenkai and Luo Zhenyu calmly, then turned to give a steady order to those around her: “Pour again.”

Only then did Luo Zhenkai notice that the woman standing at the head of the kang in a lilac jacket was none other than Nanny Xu, who served beside First Madam.

At Eleventh Miss’s instruction, she immediately gripped the chin of the woman lying across Eleventh Miss’s knees and pried her mouth open. A maid brought a large bowl of water and poured it into the woman’s mouth. The woman gave a small cough, and the water spilled back out.

Luo Zhenyu let out an involuntary cry.

Though the woman had her eyes closed and her face had been somewhat distorted by what had been done to her, he recognized her at once — the woman resting on Eleventh Miss’s knees was Tenth Miss, today’s bride.

Hupo stepped over: “Fifth Young Master, Sixth Young Master — let me take you to the next room for some sweets.”

Neither of them had ever witnessed anything like this before. Both curious and somewhat frightened, they hesitated.

And though Hupo was anxious inside, she did not dare forcibly drag the two young masters away.

Just then, a serving woman came through the door carrying a great basin of something steaming hot: “The mung bean water is here, the mung bean water is here!” She looked quite excited about it.

Hupo grabbed one brother in each hand and pulled them back from the kang.

“Hurry and cool it down,” Eleventh Miss said, her voice a little low, but steady — a calm that somehow settled everyone else’s nerves.

The woman who had brought the mung bean water immediately ran into the washroom and fetched an empty copper basin, then began pouring the mung bean water back and forth between the two basins, trying to cool it quickly.

“Pour again,” Eleventh Miss instructed the maid.

Tears streamed down the maid’s face: “Eleventh Miss — I can’t, I can’t pour any more in!”

“What do we do?” Luo Zhenkai saw Nanny Xu staring at Eleventh Miss in a panic.

Eleventh Miss thought for a moment, then said: “Nanny, you should go and report this to Mother. This cannot be concealed. The longer we try to hide it, the more impossible the situation becomes.”

Nanny Xu hesitated for a moment, then bit her lip: “I shall trouble Eleventh Miss to stay here — I am going to inform First Madam at once.”

Eleventh Miss gave a nod, and Nanny Xu ran out.

Is Tenth Sister going to die?

Luo Zhenkai thought, and took a few steps forward to see more clearly.

And then he saw Eleventh Miss suddenly lean down and say quietly into Tenth Miss’s ear: “How obedient you are! She wanted you dead, and so you obediently went ahead and died.”

Luo Zhenkai then saw Tenth Miss’s lashes — which had been lying perfectly still over her closed eyes — give the faintest flutter.

Then he looked at Eleventh Miss, who had already raised her head, her back held perfectly straight, her voice quiet and composed as she said, “Pour again.”

Her voice was not loud, and her tone was not raised, and yet there was a certain gravitas to it that made everyone feel they had no choice but to listen.

The maid immediately began to pour more into Tenth Miss’s mouth.

“Eleventh Miss — the mung bean water, the mung bean water is ready!” said the serving woman who had been cooling it, looking at Eleventh Miss with a slightly timid expression.

“Switch to the mung bean water.” Eleventh Miss told the maid.

Neither the maid nor the serving woman dared to hesitate. One quickly brought the mung bean water forward, and the other lifted the large bowl and ladled it into Tenth Miss’s mouth.

Luo Zhenkai then heard Eleventh Miss lean close to Tenth Miss’s ear again: “I did not know — that you have always been such a dutiful daughter.”

As Eleventh Miss’s words fell, he saw Tenth Miss’s fingers, which had been rather stiff and still, move a little.

Luo Zhenkai looked up at Eleventh Miss involuntarily. He saw what looked like relief passing over her face, the tension in her brow easing a great deal.

He did not know how much time passed. It seemed only as long as a cup of tea, and yet it also felt as long as it takes an incense stick to burn. Then, all of a sudden, Tenth Miss gave a great heave and vomited.

Luo Zhenkai saw a flash of delighted relief in Eleventh Miss’s eyes, and her voice rose slightly higher than before: “Pour again!”

From outside the door came the sound of hurrying footsteps.

Luo Zhensheng looked toward the sound.

He saw Nanny Xu supporting First Madam — white as a sheet of paper — as she came through the door: “Will she live?”

Everyone in the room half-curtsied in greeting. First Madam did not look at any of them, and went straight toward the kang by the window.

Her gaze as she stared at Tenth Miss was full of fury and resentment — enough to give Luo Zhenkai a cold shudder.

“I don’t know,” Eleventh Miss said, her voice perfectly steady. “We are doing what we can.”

First Madam immediately instructed Nanny Xu: “Go and tell the eldest young master — if the Wang Family wants to take a bride, they will do so properly, and kneel three times with their foreheads to the floor in front of the matchmaker and both families’ witnesses. If they are unwilling, then tomorrow they will send the matchmaker here, and whatever is to be returned will be returned, and whatever is owed will be settled. We will not force anyone.”

Nanny Xu immediately answered “Yes,” and ran out.

Eleventh Miss’s face was filled with bewilderment.

First Madam gave a cold laugh: “Your eldest brother was blocking the gate, and the Wang boy threw a tantrum and threatened to break off the engagement.” She glanced at Tenth Miss. “Good — then we need not look for any excuse. If she survives, we will send her off as a bride. If she does not, we shall say she could not bear the humiliation and took her own life.”

“But — the Wang Family has threatened to break off the engagement, haven’t they?” Eleventh Miss’s voice held a note of compassion that Luo Zhenkai could not quite understand. “I see that young Master Wang’s self-possession is so poor — perhaps this is a chance to…”

“What do you know?” First Madam’s voice grew colder still. “This concerns the reputation of both our families. This is not something a foolish young boy can decide on his own.”

Luo Zhenkai then saw Tenth Miss’s fingers move again.

—