The ghost of a smile drifted to the corner of Madam Senior Mistress’s lips. “That child — she manages well enough. Ask her what looks good, and she will look this way and that, finding merit in everything. Even when something is not to her taste, she can still find something good to say about it.” Her expression shifted, and she called out sharply for Luo Qiao to come in. She asked her, “Has Lian Qiao returned yet?”

Luo Qiao smiled. “She has just come back. She says Di Jin from Fourth Young Master’s quarters was roasting potatoes with a few young maids and invited her to stay, which was why she was a little late.” She paused, then added, “Lian Qiao also brought some back for us to try. Shall I bring some for you as well?”

“What is so special about that!” Before Madam Senior Mistress could speak, Wu Xiaoquan’s wife had already said with a smile, “Mind you do not upset your digestion.”

Madam Senior Mistress nodded as well. “You all have your share. That sort of thing sits heavily on the stomach.” Then she instructed Luo Qiao, “Which young maid went along with Lian Qiao to deliver things to Fourth Young Master’s quarters?”

“It was Du Juan.”

“Go and ask her — once Lian Qiao left Fourth Young Master’s quarters, where did she go?”

Luo Qiao was briefly taken aback.

Madam Senior Mistress had already said, in a tone of unruffled calm, “If you cannot ask it well, come and tell me straightaway, and I will send someone else.”

Luo Qiao composed herself and smiled. “Madam Senior Mistress, rest assured — I know what to do.”

She had only gone a few steps when Madam Senior Mistress called out, “Come back.”

Luo Qiao stood respectfully with her hands at her sides.

Madam Senior Mistress brought the teacup to her lips and drank in unhurried silence for a long moment.

Wu Xiaoquan’s wife then rose to her feet and smiled. “The weather has turned quite cold. I shall go and fetch a pot of hot tea.” With that, she stepped briskly out of the inner chamber, and seeing that there was no one outside, she pressed her ear against the door curtain.

“…you…Lvyun Tower…take a look at Eleventh Miss…what she has been up to lately…whom she has received…which households she has visited…”

At first, disjointed fragments of words drifted through, and then nothing more could be heard.

Wu Xiaoquan’s wife stepped away and, gesturing casually at a young maid standing beneath the eaves, said, “You — quickly go and fetch a pot of hot water for Madam Senior Mistress’s tea.”

The young maid sprinted off to the nearby tea room, returned with a pot of hot water, and handed it over.

Wu Xiaoquan’s wife took it and walked back inside.

She came face to face with Luo Qiao heading out.

“Madam Senior Mistress says she is feeling a little tired. Do take a rest, Nanny.”

Wu Xiaoquan’s wife nodded with a smile. “I will just sit out here for a while. With Nanny Xu away today, someone needs to be on hand should Madam Senior Mistress wake and need attending to. No need to trouble yourself over me.”

Luo Qiao smiled and nodded as she departed.

Wu Xiaoquan’s wife then crept silently to the door curtain and gently pried open a narrow gap to peer inside.

She saw Madam Senior Mistress, a letter clutched tightly in her hand, the corners of her eyes glistening with crystalline light.

—

Eleventh Miss’s hands clenched tightly into fists. She tried to walk with the same unhurried steadiness as always, yet her feet refused to obey and grew anxious despite herself.

*”First Master and First Young Master sent letters back one after the other…”*

*”After receiving the letter, she had you summoned to make the screen…”*

*”She dispatched Nanny Xu to Ci’an Temple…”*

*”And asked how we should go about printing the Lotus Sutra…”*

*”Zhun Ge is a legitimate son, yet he is not the heir apparent…”*

*”Can it be that he wishes to set aside seniority in favor of worthiness, and set aside legitimacy in favor of talent…”*

Her footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

Events were shifting swiftly and without warning, and Binju, who had been walking behind her, nearly collided with Eleventh Miss.

“Eleventh Miss, are you all right?”

Binju noticed fine beads of perspiration on Eleventh Miss’s brow.

“It is nothing, nothing!” Eleventh Miss saw the deep concern spilling from Binju’s eyes and could not help but smile reassuringly. “I just cannot puzzle out something…”

“Shall we take a walk through the grove?” Binju said, picking up on her words.

Ordinarily, whenever Eleventh Miss had something troubling her, she would wander through the grove of boxwood trees in front of Lvyun Tower. A turn through the grove, and she always came out feeling considerably lighter. And thinking that today Madam Senior Mistress had installed someone new in their room — even she herself, never mind Eleventh Miss, felt the urge to go for a walk…

The two of them went to the boxwood grove.

White snow and vivid green leaves, crisp cold air… The scene was cool and austere, yet the resentment weighing on Eleventh Miss’s heart began gradually to dissolve.

Seeing that her color had improved, Binju smiled. “Eleventh Miss, Dongqing Jiejie asked me to tell you — we will all follow your instructions.” There was a careful, tentative quality to her tone.

Eleventh Miss paused.

Binju had already continued, “Does Eleventh Miss still remember when we first arrived at Lvyun Tower?”

How could she forget?

She had stood in the center of the room, supported by Dongqing, and had said to Binju, the young maid Qiu Ju, and Yue Xiang, “From now on, this is our home.” Later, discovering that Yue Xiang visited Madam Senior Mistress’s quarters with suspicious frequency, she had slipped Yue Xiang a laxative, and using the Luo household’s rule that the ill must be kept apart, had found a pretext to send Yue Xiang to the outer courtyard to recuperate, then arranged for Zhuxiang — recommended by Lv Yiniang — to take her place. The process had involved no small amount of maneuvering — how to make Yue Xiang fall ill, how to exploit the timing, the people, and the circumstances so that Nanny Xu had no choice but to send Yue Xiang away, and how to secure Zhuxiang through Nanny Xu’s own hands — all of it had taken considerable effort. But the effort had been well worth it. At the very least, it had made those around her sit up and take notice, convinced them of the lengths Eleventh Miss was capable of going to, and gave them no reason to doubt her ever since.

“Dongqing Jiejie says she has never forgotten what Young Miss said.” Binju smiled. “This is our room.”

Eleventh Miss reached out and held Binju’s hand tightly.

“I think so too.” Binju smiled. “With Young Miss here, and Dongqing Jiejie, and Qiu Ju, and Zhuxiang, and Nanny Xin and Nanny Tang — we will all be just fine.”

Eleventh Miss’s heart steadied all at once.

Yes — these past three years, all her careful plotting and scheming had been for the sake of having these people beside her when the moment of reckoning came.

She smiled and asked Binju, “Has there ever been a case where a family of officials sent their daughter to be a concubine — not a ruined household, mind you, but one that did it simply to curry favor with a superior, and sent their daughter to be a concubine?”

Binju thought about it. “I would not think so.” The words did not sound entirely certain.

Eleventh Miss could not help but sigh.

She had been clutching at straws herself.

Binju had entered the household at the age of five and had grown up entirely within these walls — how would she know whether any family of officials had ever sent a daughter off as a concubine?

She raised her head.

The sky was a deep, washed-out blue, and her gaze could only reach as far as that small patch of it that hung over the Luo household’s rear courtyard.

A long sigh.

Slowly, the clarity returned to her eyes.

—

Eleventh Miss and Binju returned to Lvyun Tower.

As usual, the front of Lvyun Tower was quiet and deserted. Everyone kept to their own area, taking care not to stumble inadvertently into anyone else’s affairs.

Lvyun Tower had five rooms across two floors. The central reception hall in the middle was shared, and behind it a staircase led to the upper floor. Eleventh Miss had been given the two rooms on the eastern side. The room adjoining hers was divided front and back by a partition: the front served as the quarters for Dongqing and Binju, the middle as a sitting room for daily use, and the back as the quarters for the young maids Dong Ju and Zhuxiang. The corner room was her own bedroom, also divided by a partition — the front served as a study and embroidery room, and the back was the bedroom proper. Nanny Xin and Nanny Wu and the other rough-work matrons all lived together in a three-room side wing behind Lvyun Tower.

When they walked in, Nanny Xin and Nanny Tang were huddled around the fire basin, warming themselves and chatting idly.

At the sight of Eleventh Miss, both women rose to their feet with broad smiles.

Nanny Xin was already pressing a hand warmer into her grasp. “I have been keeping the charcoal stoked all along — it is nice and toasty.”

Eleventh Miss took it and smiled so warmly that her eyes curved, which in turn put Nanny Xin in good spirits.

Eleventh Miss gave a glance toward the eastern side room, then raised her voice in a cheerful call. “Qiu Ju, Young Miss is back.”

But it was Dongqing who came out. “Young Miss, you are back.” She turned and lifted the door curtain for Eleventh Miss.

Eleventh Miss and Binju filed in, and came face to face with Hupo.

She was tall and slender, with fair, fine skin and a bright and beautiful face. The plain blue-green sleeveless jacket she wore did nothing to conceal the luminous radiance beneath.

Hupo bent her knees in a steady curtsy. “Eleventh Miss, this servant is Hupo.”

They had met before, at Madam Senior Mistress’s quarters.

Eleventh Miss smiled warmly and asked her how old she was, what family she had, and whether she was settling in well. Then she added a few courteous remarks — “you have been put to some trouble,” “I will be counting on Elder Sister to help manage things here” — and the like.

Throughout the whole time Eleventh Miss spoke, Hupo stood respectfully attentive. When she had finished, Hupo answered each question in turn.

She said she was fifteen, the only child in her family, with a mother and father who worked on the estate’s farmland. Dongqing Jiejie was beautiful — like a person out of a painting — and had treated her with the warmth of a younger sister, which she found heartening at once. She also said a few things along the lines of “I grew up on the estate and know nothing of proper conduct — I humbly ask Dongqing Jiejie and Binju Jiejie to correct me where I fall short.”

Eleventh Miss appeared quite satisfied with her. She instructed Binju, “Take Hupo around and show her the place,” and told Dongqing, “Help me change my clothes.”

Hupo responded to Eleventh Miss’s instructions with perfect deference. Rather than rushing forward to compete with Dongqing in helping Eleventh Miss change, she curtseyed to Eleventh Miss alongside Binju, said “yes,” and watched as Eleventh Miss and Dongqing went to the corner bedroom.

Eleventh Miss was rather pleased by this as well.

At the very least, she was a perceptive person. Not so eager as to lose all sense of propriety and place.

Taking advantage of the moment while she changed, Eleventh Miss told Dongqing quietly about Madam Senior Mistress’s arrangement for Hupo to oversee the affairs of her room.

Dongqing had already prepared herself inwardly for such an outcome.

What concerned her was whether Madam Senior Mistress would pair her off with Nanny Yao’s nephew.

“Madam Senior Mistress said nothing of the sort.” Eleventh Miss shook her head. “I have the screen to embroider during this period — Madam Senior Mistress said to have you assist me. I expect the matter will not be raised before the third month of next year, at the earliest.”

Her composure had a steadying quality that settled the mind, and Dongqing felt the worry in her heart gradually ease. She looked at Eleventh Miss with a slight flicker in her gaze. “Then… how are we to hand things over?”

Eleventh Miss had long been embroidering sutras and having Dongqing sell them outside; between the two of them, they had saved two or three hundred taels of silver, along with some gold and silver jewelry that Lv Yiniang had quietly pressed into Eleventh Miss’s hands over the years.

“Keep a hundred taels of silver. Hand everything else over.”

Dongqing was startled. “Hand it all over…”

“Just do as I say.” Eleventh Miss gestured for Dongqing to fasten the jade pendant hung with a plum blossom cluster cord. “Once you are done, think of some pretext to call Hupo away — I have a few things to say to you and Binju.”

Dongqing nodded. “Young Miss, do not worry. I understand.”

—