When Fifth Miss was alive, two bedwarmers had entered Mingde Hall—one surnamed Wang, one surnamed Mao. Because they’d been openly bestowed as bedwarmers, they had the title of concubine upon entry. Though outwardly prestigious, Fifth Miss had kept them confined to the side courtyard, never allowing them out without cause. They’d served tea to Seventh Miss the day after her arrival, but had made little noise since.
Living in the main courtyard of Mingde Hall were only Yufen, Yufang, and Qiqiao—the ones First Madam had her bring along.
What Yufen and Yufang did in private, Seventh Miss didn’t know well, but before Seventh Miss and her trusted confidants, they were always as docile as cats, never daring to casually enter the main hall and obstruct Seventh Miss’s view. Before Xu Fengjia, though they inevitably cast flirtatious glances, their actions showed no impropriety. These bedwarmer maids brought from her natal family—their life, death, glory, and disgrace hung on Seventh Miss’s single thought. Anyone with any sense naturally knew how to conduct themselves.
Seventh Miss hummed thoughtfully. “Qiqiao is indeed quite difficult to handle.”
Yufen and Yufang at least had no titles—they were insignificant minor figures. But Qiqiao was different. After all, she’d served at Seventh Miss’s side for several years. She had a shadowy understanding of many matters. Such a trusted confidant couldn’t be poorly settled without disheartening those around her.
Yet she had clearly attracted suspicion. If she herself didn’t make an example to warn others, future newly arrived maids might harbor hopes in their hearts. Even if Xu Fengjia had no such thoughts, it would inevitably become unseemly, giving Leshan Residence leverage against Mingde Hall.
Lixia kept her eyes lowered, not daring to look at Seventh Miss, slowly fastening her buttons while softly pleading for Qiqiao.
“Truth be told, it was really just a misunderstanding. Qiqiao absolutely doesn’t have the audacity to be so venomous as to cause the miss trouble…”
Here it came. Lixia was kindhearted. After two or three years together with Qiqiao, with her temperament, she would certainly plead for Qiqiao.
“She’s quite fortunate,” Seventh Miss muttered to herself, then flicked Lixia’s temple. “Even you plead for her. Originally, it’s hard to say whether…”
Thinking of Qiqiao’s several performances before Xu Fengjia, she couldn’t help but smile mockingly. That Qiqiao could escape through such a coincidence was something even she hadn’t anticipated.
Forget it. After several years together, there was some affection after all.
“Fine, since you’ve said so, have her come see me.” She emerged from the washing room, indulgently stretching. “I’m truly starving. Last night I didn’t eat properly…”
In the western side room, a sumptuous breakfast had naturally been prepared. After Seventh Miss ate breakfast and rinsed her mouth, Guyu and Chunfen brought Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother to pay their respects.
“Hearing the young madam rose late today, we didn’t bring them over,” Guyu said with a smile. “But the two young masters missed the young madam—they asked several times this morning when they could go west.”
Seventh Miss cheerfully tapped Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother’s little noses. “Is that true? Hmm? Do you really miss Seventh Aunt that much?”
Fifth Brother’s attention had already been drawn to the dishes not yet cleared from the table. He struggled to get down and grab them while absentmindedly humming and grunting. But Fourth Brother looked at Seventh Miss and nodded, softly humming agreement before hiding his cheek against Guyu’s shoulder, not meeting Seventh Miss’s eyes.
This child was truly endearingly shy.
Seventh Miss held him in her arms and bounced him, saying with satisfaction, “He seems heavier again.”
She picked up a rattle drum to amuse Fourth Brother. When Fifth Brother also looked over wanting to play with the rattle drum, she generously took out another identical toy for Fifth Brother to hold and play with. After both children were absorbed in their play, she had Chunfen carry Fourth Brother away and asked Guyu, “Has the heir been coming regularly to visit these days?”
Guyu glanced at the two children before saying softly, “He does come look in daily, but the children don’t really recognize their father.”
In wealthy families, young children only learned to be affectionate with parents after becoming sensible—this was nothing unusual. After all, from birth they were cared for by wet nurses and maids, often having no particular attachment to their parents. Seventh Miss didn’t mind and asked again, “Did you bring the daily record booklet?”
She casually flipped through the daily notes Xiayuan had written, carefully reading about the children’s various activities over the past few days. After slowly drinking a cup of tea, she had Guyu and Chunfen take Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother down to eat—these two children ate several meals a day, their schedule quite different from the adults’.
Only after Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother’s footsteps could no longer be heard did Lixia bring Qiqiao into the room.
After just a few days not serving at Seventh Miss’s side, this maid had become quite haggard. Her cheeks even showed slight hollowing. The naturally graceful, pure elegance she usually possessed had long since vanished. Meeting Seventh Miss’s eyes, she choked up and knelt down, kowtowing while murmuring, “Miss’s mercy, miss’s mercy.”
Seventh Miss’s brow furrowed. The little bit of anger she’d had dissolved like water before Qiqiao’s performance.
This maid’s life and death hung on her single thought… such a master-servant relationship was extremely deformed to begin with. Even if Qiqiao had improper thoughts, she hadn’t yet realized them before encountering this awkward coincidence.
“You’re literate,” she said, taking the roster of names from beside her and handing it to Qiqiao. “You’re probably somewhat familiar with the Yang family’s servants too. These are all unmarried men… choose one yourself.”
Qiqiao’s trembling stopped immediately. She raised her head almost in shock, meeting Seventh Miss’s eyes directly.
Seventh Miss gazed back calmly, her expression still as water.
Lixia nudged Qiqiao’s back with her toe. Qiqiao jolted as if electrified, then kowtowed to Seventh Miss again. “Miss’s mercy!”
Even without this awkwardness, this would have been Qiqiao’s fate anyway—matched to a capable steward, becoming a steward’s wife… A capable senior maid from the master’s side either got promoted to bedwarmer or followed Bailu’s path. After such an awkward incident, Seventh Miss’s handling of Qiqiao was already very generous.
A small smile appeared at her lips. She immediately felt an indescribable relief—Qiqiao had followed at her side for some time. The two of them had feelings after all.
After the midday meal, Seventh Miss summoned Yufen and Yufang to speak.
First Madam had put real thought into selecting these two bedwarmers. Both young ladies were only fifteen or sixteen this year. Though not stunningly beautiful, they were both very alluring, possessing a special air of innocent purity that even women seeing them would feel tender affection.
Their temperaments were also good. Though Yufen sometimes liked to tease, before the masters she was very docile. Yufang spoke even fewer unnecessary words, like clay to be kneaded at will. Seeing Seventh Miss, before she even spoke, they’d already gone soft as mud, trembling and shaking, barely able to speak coherently.
Seventh Miss wasn’t in a hurry. She left the two maids standing there while she drank a few sips of tea, then carefully examined this pair of sister flowers.
A proper wife was married to manage the household; bedwarmers were to please the men. Training bedwarmers was a skilled craft. Great Qin’s wealthy households couldn’t do without bedwarmers, so naturally peripheral industries arose to meet the need. Especially where Jiangnan salt merchants gathered—the Yangzhou lean horses were famous far and wide. Even though First Master repeatedly refused sternly, various officials seeking to curry favor still sent deliberately cultivated, habitually skilled in all manner of seductive arts, beautiful young women to the Yang family. Fortunately, though the old gentleman was fond of women, he maintained self-control. Most of these women were casually passed on or sent away to marry as they wished. Because their origins weren’t respectable enough, unless formally accepted into service, the young ladies of the household rarely saw them.
Yufen and Yufang were probably carefully selected by First Madam from among the received bedwarmers. These people had rootless backgrounds, no reliable relatives or family to depend on. If the mistress was displeased, they’d either be resold or given excuses to be poisoned to death. Even their deaths left no trace. Naturally they had to serve the mistress carefully. Even if fortunate enough to bear children, they absolutely dared not compete with the mistress.
First Madam sending this pair of bedwarmers to her wasn’t intended to harm her—she probably wanted to help her with personnel matters.
Seventh Miss only examined Yufen and Yufang for a few glances before sighing inwardly.
If Xu Fengjia himself wasn’t willing, in this environment full of temptation, binding a man’s loyalty was truly easier said than done. Of this pair of sisters, one was playful, one gentle—both with skin like congealed fat and eyes like autumn waters, their demeanor enticing. Though still inferior to Sixth Miss, Sixth Miss’s beauty ultimately carried pride—like a peony blooming on its own, beautiful for herself, unrelated to observers. But this pair of sisters’ beauty had extremely strong purposefulness. Every frown and smile carried indescribable charm… Even Qiqiao compared to them lost a measure of allure.
“How old are you this year?” she asked leisurely.
Yufen spoke up. “Just fifteen…”
Clearly she was already trying hard to restrain her seductive manner, but her words still carried a faint tremor, subtly plucking at the listener’s heartstrings.
Seventh Miss frowned thoughtfully. “You’ve both had your hairpin ceremony—you’re grown young ladies.”
She set down her teacup decisively. “You’re quite different from Lixia and Shangyuan—you don’t have many duties. Recently arranging for you to rest in the south-facing rooms was somewhat wronging you. Starting today, go serve Concubine Wang and Concubine Mao in the side courtyard. With more people it’ll be livelier, and you can keep each other company.”
Yufen immediately bit her lower lip. Displeasure flashed by before she docilely agreed.
But Yufang lowered her eyes deeply and kowtowed ahead of Yufen, thus thanking Seventh Miss for her grace.
Seventh Miss observed this and couldn’t help sighing inwardly.
Forget it—they were all pitiable people. Aside from captivating men, they couldn’t do anything else. Making an example of them without rhyme or reason would make her too harsh.
She waved her hand without saying anything more.
After the midday meal, she napped briefly. Upon rising, she had Bailu come in to talk for a long while, then turned to Lixia and sighed. “Don’t look at how small Mingde Hall is—everyone coming and going is shrewd. To catch anyone’s little tail, you still need to put in some effort.”
Lixia just smiled. “That may be so, but I see the miss has everything well in hand—not the slightest difficulty.”
Seventh Miss stretched contentedly. “Ridiculous! If I can’t handle such small matters, how could I have the face to be Mingde Hall’s mistress?”
She closed the roster, pondered for a long while, then consulted with Lixia. “There are several matters now that need urgent attention.”
“First is the naming matter. The two children’s birthdays are approaching. If names aren’t chosen soon, those with ulterior motives will inevitably speculate, stirring up instability—that wouldn’t be good. This matter needs discussing with the heir.”
“Second, Qiqiao is a maid I’ve used after all. Suddenly sending her out to be matched off, outsiders will inevitably speculate. Discuss with Qiqiao to find a pretext so she won’t suffer gossip. After all, we’ve been master and servant—just for this one misunderstanding to turn into this, I don’t feel right about it either.”
Seventh Miss paused, then counted on her fingers. “The children should start their education next year—we need to be mindful of finding a teacher. These are the matters in Mingde Hall… Is there anything I haven’t thought of?”
“The young madam mentioned that this year we can’t keep relying on Nanny Dong to collect the farm rents—we need to send someone back to manage Jiangnan,” Lixia reminded Seventh Miss.
Seventh Miss immediately remembered. She nodded. “Perfect! Then after Qiqiao marries, let her return to Jiangnan!”
She felt slightly sentimental. “After all, she’s been at my side for several years and hasn’t made any major mistakes. This way you all won’t complain privately that I’m too harsh.”
Lixia frowned.
“Meeting a master like you is already Qiqiao’s good fortune,” she said quietly. “Just now when I went back for the midday meal, Qiqiao was crying and asking me to thank you on her behalf… Please rest assured, miss. Shangyuan, Zhongyuan, Duanwu, and I all understand your painstaking care and will never make things difficult for you.”
Seventh Miss let out a relieved breath.
Today’s efforts hadn’t been wasted. The close attendants around her all understood her meaning.
“That’s good then,” she murmured. “As long as we can preserve our master-servant bond, nothing could be better.”
#
Xu Fengjia didn’t return to Mingde Hall for dinner until evening.
“Why such a commotion that you didn’t even come in for the midday meal?” As soon as he entered the Western Three Rooms, Seventh Miss set down her brush and asked with a tilted head and smile. “I thought you’d come for the midday meal. When I sent someone to the front courtyard to ask, they said you’d entered the palace, then said you were at Menghua Pavilion—I didn’t know who to believe.”
Xu Fengjia’s expression wasn’t very pleased. While undressing, he answered Seventh Miss roughly, “I went to Menghua Pavilion first, then straight to the palace from there—the Emperor finally relented today, saying the Southern Ocean matter can be reconsidered.”
“Isn’t that good news?” Seventh Miss got down from the kang and helped him remove his outer robe. Shangyuan, who’d followed in, quickly knelt to change Xu Fengjia into casual home shoes, then silently withdrew. “How come you still have a head full of troubles… People who don’t know would think you’d suffered some grievance.”
Xu Fengjia paused, looking directly at Seventh Miss. After pondering a moment, he turned his head with a smile. “What, already started missing me so soon? Hmm?”
Seventh Miss gave him a reproachful look. Only then did he laugh and wave his hand, straightening his expression.
“Outside matters—even if I told you, you’d find it hard to understand. It’s nothing major. Don’t worry about it.”
While speaking, Xu Fengjia entered the washing room. Seventh Miss couldn’t follow in, so she could only wait outside in frustration. With difficulty she waited for Xu Fengjia to emerge before continuing their earlier topic.
“Other matters, if you don’t want to discuss them, naturally I won’t interfere,” she said, following Xu Fengjia to sit on the kang. “But the Southern Ocean matter—you’ve already mentioned it, so you should explain, otherwise how can I be at ease?”
Xu Fengjia looked at Seventh Miss with a half-smile. “This time, you truly don’t want me to leave, do you?”
He’d paid such a great price—wanting to hear a few sweet words was only proper. Seventh Miss complied readily. “Shengluan, I truly don’t want you going to the Southern Ocean… Please? What happened? Tell me?”
“Nothing particular,” Xu Fengjia showed rare hesitation. After pondering a moment, he said, “It’s just that given the Emperor’s temperament, without good reason, he probably wouldn’t suddenly give up. I’m afraid he might be…”
Worry appeared on his face.
Seventh Miss immediately understood: concealing news about the First Prince carried risks. Though Xu Fengjia had the courage for it, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be anxious. If the Emperor privately received information and discovered the Xu family had deceived him in this matter, rifts between ruler and subject would be inevitable.
“Should I ask my cousin?” She moved closer to Xu Fengjia, concernedly grasping his hand. “And Uncle Lian… The Emperor might hide it from you, but not necessarily from those two.”
After pondering, Xu Fengjia said in a low voice, “Alright. I have a feeling the Emperor’s sudden change of mind has complications behind it that aren’t simple.”
He examined Seventh Miss, then smiled wryly. “The Ni family has been entangled in lawsuits these years and isn’t favored by the Emperor due to an old matter. Grandmother fortunately doesn’t know about your connection with the Feng family, otherwise her attitude toward you would certainly change drastically. Whether to reveal this relationship, you decide yourself.”
With Seventh Miss’s intelligence, she naturally understood Xu Fengjia’s hint. She shook her head without consideration. “I’d rather Grandmother not know.”
She gave Xu Fengjia no room to comment before opening another topic. “Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother’s birthdays are approaching. Have you decided on naming?”
But Xu Fengjia first set aside this topic, looking intently at Seventh Miss as if waiting for her explanation.
Seventh Miss could only sigh. “I knew about the Ni family matter before I married in. But I’m used to fighting my own battles.”
She’d prepared to argue with Xu Fengjia over this, but unexpectedly Xu Fengjia showed great appreciation instead, lightly clapping. “Worthy of being my young madam.”
He ended this topic but fell silent again, lowering his head to play with the small paperweight on the table. After another moment, he raised his head and said softly, “I think Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother should still take names with the ‘He’ generation character like their older brothers and sisters—to avoid marking them as different from childhood, which wouldn’t benefit sibling relations.”
Seventh Miss’s brow furrowed tightly. She wanted to say something, but Xu Fengjia raised a finger and pressed it to her lips.
“I’ll personally explain this matter to Fourth Aunt. You needn’t worry.”
His expression was inscrutable, as if some incomprehensible thoughts were running through his mind. Even this reassurance carried some absentmindedness.