Yet today, watching Zhou Sui’an’s footsteps move with slightly more haste than usual, a thought welled up inexplicably in Chu Linlang’s mind — a mind that had never composed poetry or verse — carrying the bittersweet flavor of: “One only sees the new bride’s laughter; who hears the old one’s tears?”

She recalled an anecdote shared at a previous tea gathering for officials’ wives, where a scribe’s wife had mentioned that she fed her husband lard mixed with rice every single day. That scribe, who had once cut a refined and scholarly figure, had grown two sizes rounder in just half a year, his face breaking out in greasy bumps.

Yet the scribe’s wife had spoken with considerable pride, saying it was entirely deliberate — done to cut off the amorous entanglements that came throwing themselves his way.

At the time, Chu Linlang had found the woman’s method of ruining her own husband deeply distasteful.

But now, watching the refined and carefully cultivated Zhou family gentleman she had tended so diligently rush off in a hurry to meet his childhood sweetheart, one couldn’t help but regret that there had never been enough lard rendered at home before…

It was obviously too late to render lard now. Still, Chu Linlang remained rather curious as to when exactly Zhou Sui’an had learned of Miss Yin’s visit.

At dinner, Chu Linlang accompanied her mother-in-law, her husband, her sister-in-law, and the Yin family guest at the table. As for her daughter Yuan’er, because there were guests present, Zhao Shi worried that a small child’s noise would be improper, and so instructed a servant woman to have her eat in her own room.

The Zhou family’s usually quiet and austere dining hall was, for once, pleasantly lively.

Miss Yin Xuefang, at the insistence of Zhao Shi, did not avoid impropriety and sat at the same table as Zhou Sui’an — an unrelated male — sharing the meal together. Yet Miss Yin was rather shy, and could hardly open her mouth to eat, managing only a few small bites before declaring herself full.

Madam Zhao looked on approvingly at Yin Xuefang’s refined and ladylike manner, then turned her gaze and found Chu Linlang sucking on a large prawn with evident relish.

Eating prawns required peeling the shells — doing it oneself was not particularly elegant.

The Zhou household had few servants, most of whom were occupied helping in the kitchen, and even the one maid the Yin family had brought along had gone to carry dishes. With guests present and no one to attend at the table, none of the others had reached for the prawns.

Only Chu Linlang, who loved fish and prawns, reached out without ceremony, peeled one herself, and ate it with perfectly unaffected ease — even without a maid to serve her.

Zhou Sui’an saw nothing amiss. He knew his wife approached meals with the solemnity of an oracle consulting tortoise shells.

Chu Linlang had grown up on salt-transport boats, snatching food from the same pot alongside a rough crowd of men, so naturally she ate with a certain urgency to get enough. It was a habit formed since childhood, one she could not easily change.

After marrying into the Zhou family, her mother-in-law Zhao Shi had found it intolerable and scolded her sharply several times at the dinner table. Only then did Chu Linlang realize how many faults her manners contained, and she had at last made a point of constant vigilance and improvement.

But today, having been out for so long, she was hungry, and old habits reasserted themselves once she began eating — she paid little attention even with guests present.

Zhou Sui’an noticed his mother’s disapproving look directed his way and couldn’t help nudging Chu Linlang’s leg under the table, signaling her to be more mindful.

Yet Chu Linlang didn’t even glance at him. Only after eating three prawns in a row did she unhurriedly wipe her hands with her handkerchief, then turn and smile at Yin Xuefang: “I heard that Miss Yin previously settled with your father in Cangzhou. I wonder what prompted you to visit Lianzhou so suddenly?”

Yin Xuefang glanced toward her mother, who was chatting warmly with Madam Zhao, thought for a moment, then said: “Mother wanted to take me traveling to clear our heads. We happened to pass through Cangzhou and remembered that Father had old friends here, so we came to impose on your hospitality.”

Chu Linlang gave a light laugh. “Oh? It is the depth of winter now — cold roads and icy paths hardly make it an ideal time for travel, do they?”

Yin Xuefang quickly darted a glance at Zhou Sui’an sitting across from her, then lowered her head and said: “Mother was feeling restless, so she just wanted to take a walk somewhere…”

At that moment, Zhou Sui’an’s younger sister Zhou Lingxiu remarked casually: “That’s not right — I heard Mother and Brother talking about it. Brother went to Cangzhou last month on official business, and the two of you went to admire the snow together and composed poetry. And it was Brother who specifically invited Madam Yin and you to come visit Lianzhou!”

Zhou Lingxiu was thirteen years old and had always been rather blunt. After she finished speaking, she suddenly noticed that the whole table had gone silent — her elder brother was busily placing prawns in his sister-in-law’s bowl with exaggerated enthusiasm, urging her loudly to eat more. Miss Yin’s face flushed with embarrassment, her cheeks burning as if scorched by fire. And her mother was shooting her a fierce glare.

She looked around in some bewilderment. “What? Did I say something wrong?”

Before anyone else could smooth things over, Chu Linlang brushed aside her husband’s chopsticks and said with a smile: “Little sister, what are you saying? You must know that Miss Yin was recently widowed. If, just half a month ago — while her late husband had not yet been dead a hundred days — she were secretly meeting and making arrangements with an unrelated man, that would hardly sound well. Don’t speak carelessly and damage Miss Yin’s reputation.”

After all, while this dynasty did not restrict widows from remarrying, it required that a hundred days pass first following the deceased’s death.

Even if the two families had long had intentions, the white mourning flowers had not yet been removed from her hair, the tearstains not yet dried — and yet Yin Xuefang had been so eager to secretly meet her next prospect. That was truly something good only in private, impossible to say aloud.

Chu Linlang recalled that half a month earlier, Zhou Sui’an had indeed gone to Cangzhou on official business. Upon returning, he had seemed absent-minded and distracted, often writing feverishly in his study, and his personal attendant had on several occasions ridden out of town to deliver letters.

In the past, Chu Linlang had paid it no mind, assuming her husband was writing urgently about official matters. But now, she suddenly wondered — could it be that those letters sent to Cangzhou had carried the intertwined sentiments of a man and woman?

Madam Zhao had not expected that her daughter, napping in her room that day, had actually overheard her and her son’s quiet whispered conversation, and had now let it all spill out in front of everyone.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere in the room, Zhao Shi hastily stepped in to rescue the situation: “What meeting and not meeting? I heard that your brother happened to be there on official business, so I asked him to deliver a letter to Madam Liu on my behalf. What’s so unusual about him running into your Miss Yin from the Yin family?”

After drinking, she set her wine cup down on the table and rose to bow respectfully to her mother-in-law and Liu Shi: “The wine is a bit strong — it has gone to my head. Please allow this junior to excuse herself. Please, do continue to enjoy your meal.”

Yin Xuefang’s mother Liu Shi also added: “To say it properly, it was I who first wrote a letter to you, Elder Sister. I simply never thought it would put Young Nephew Sui’an to the trouble of personally delivering it. My leg ailment had flared up at the time, and the roads were slippery after the snow, so it was inconvenient to go out. So I had Fang’er accompany her Zhou Family Brother to take a walk and help choose some local specialties — so as not to have made the trip to Cangzhou for nothing.”

Zhou Sui’an was inwardly irritated by Chu Linlang’s pointed look, though what he was actually annoyed about was his loud-mouthed sister and his trouble-making mother.

He dealt with enough vexing business outside — why did he have to come home to be interrogated by his own wife? In broad daylight, what kind of scene was this becoming?

Zhou Sui’an no longer showed any of the forceful energy with which he had kicked open the door that afternoon. He simply helped Chu Linlang remove her cape with solicitous care, then asked in a low voice: “It has been cold all the way here. Would you like some hot tea, Niangzi?”

This kind of elegant snow-gazing pleasure was entirely unlike the experience of keeping Chu Linlang company while she clicked an abacus and lectured him on business affairs.

In the swirling, drifting snow, Zhou Sui’an was taking a red oil-paper umbrella from his attendant’s hands, opening it and hurrying forward to catch up with Chu Linlang, who was walking ahead of him, to shelter her from the snow. Seen from a distance, a couple walking beneath a red umbrella — how warm and tender a picture it seemed…

Zhou Sui’an cast a somewhat uneasy glance at Chu Linlang.

Yet the beautiful woman beneath the umbrella had no intention of receiving this gesture of sending an umbrella through the snow. Without even acknowledging the husband following close behind her, she walked all the way back to the rooms with heat visibly steaming from her head in fury.

Moreover, when his mother had muttered to him about taking a concubine, he hadn’t taken it to heart at the time.

With the combined efforts of the two women to smooth things over, much of the cold awkwardness at the dinner table dissipated. The two ladies changed the subject and chatted warmly about the scenic spots and local delicacies in their respective places, even making plans to go together to the temple the next day to burn incense and pray.

She had always been inclined to take her sister-in-law’s side, and was just anxiously about to interject — but Zhao Shi turned and shot her a glare: “A girl your age, chattering nonsense in front of others — do you think I won’t deal with you? Get back to your room at once!”

But then, he was now twenty-six, and next year he would be nearly twenty-seven. His colleagues all had children gathered around their knees, yet here he was, unable to carry on the family line. To say he wasn’t anxious would be a lie.

Finishing her words, she swept her skirts around and strode out of the dining hall with great purpose.

His mother had hidden things from him and deliberately arranged for him to carry a letter to an old friend in Cangzhou, and it was only when the recently widowed Miss Yin was made to accompany him to admire the snow that he finally understood his mother’s intention.

Such a state of affairs was, in truth, more heartbreaking than any face of great beauty.

This wife of his, though she fell short in the refinements of etiquette and learning, was full of clever schemes — and he had no way of knowing whether his sister’s outburst would cause Chu Linlang to make a scene and embarrass everyone then and there.

Chu Linlang’s large eyes were naturally warm with a hint of a smile; for her to have her small face drawn this tight was something he had seen only a handful of times in their seven years of marriage.

The exchange between the two of them left thirteen-year-old Zhou Lingxiu staring blankly, and only now did she realize why her sister-in-law had suddenly left the table.

If it were any other ordinary woman, he might well have already shaken his sleeve and stormed off. But this Miss Yin was someone he had watched grow up since childhood — there was always a certain brotherly affection there, and it was hard to openly fall out with her on the spot.

Liu Shi, seeing the scene, immediately soothed Zhao Shi, saying that their young miss was still small and needed to be taught gradually and gently.

Hearing these words, Liu Shi was still not entirely at ease, and sighed quietly: “Elder Sister, you know my daughter has had a hard life. I had originally hoped to find someone a little older, someone who knew how to cherish and care for a woman, for a second wife — as the proper wife, with full standing. But my daughter respects and admires you, and feels a particular affinity with your Zhou family. She doesn’t ask for the title of proper wife, and she would never fight or compete. I only hope she can find a true-hearted companion, have children to be close to her, and a kind mother-in-law to cherish her — then her father and I could close our eyes in peace.”

Zhou Lingxiu’s face crumpled with grievance, and she buried her face in her handkerchief and ran out crying.

Yin Xuefang, from the moment earlier, had pretended not to hear the conversation between their mothers, only stepping aside a little to avoid impropriety and drifting toward the window.

Madam Zhao, hearing the unspoken meaning in the words, sighed and said: “You and I are the closest of friends — I’m not afraid of you laughing at me. At that time, both Sui’an and I had grown somewhat discouraged. He was willing to marry below his station, and I couldn’t be bothered to be particular, so I agreed to let this salt merchant’s daughter by a concubine come through the door. You’ve seen her manner for yourself. She barely knows how to read, her mouth is full of talk about business, and she is always looking to ingratiate herself and climb upward — she and our Sui’an are not the same kind of people. Fortunately, she is at least dutiful in her way, and is observant of filial propriety toward me as her mother-in-law. Her own birth mother was of very low origin, and even her own father and brothers from the legitimate line never had much warmth for her — she is a pitiful creature without parents who dote on her. Ah, she has been married into our family for so many years now — what can one do? Even if she has not given birth to a son, and her own family is unreliable, I cannot well force her to leave and be put aside. As for whether she is easy to get along with — well, after all, I am still the one who holds authority in this household. Can I really let her turn everything upside down?”

Looking out through the window, one could see that the snow had started to fall again.

After learning how the two families had renewed their acquaintance, Chu Linlang seemed to have satisfied her curiosity and said no more. She poured herself a cup of rice wine, and right there in front of everyone at the table, suddenly tilted her head back and drained it in one gulp.

The physician had also said that Linlang showed no serious illness, and if she took proper care of herself, it was not impossible for her to conceive. The physician had previously treated a woman who had gone ten years without bearing a child, who one day became pregnant and gave birth to twins.

Miss Yin, though grown to womanhood, still carried an endearing childlike quality in her face — particularly in her eyes, which should have been clear and bright, yet were clouded with the ten thousand sorrows of worldly troubles brought by her recent widowhood, brimming with grief.

That day at the Mirrored Lake tea house high above, when Yin Xuefang had softly recited the melancholy verse she had newly composed, Zhou Sui’an’s long-dormant poetic inspiration surged forth, and he too composed a few lines of verse in response.

Chu Linlang made no move to take the tea cup Zhou Sui’an held out to her. Instead, she suddenly turned to face him directly, her tone cold and measured: “Tell me — what does Mother intend? And what are your own thoughts on the matter?”

Liu Shi, watching them head out the door, then carefully and tentatively said to Madam Zhao: “This daughter-in-law of yours… she seems sharp and capable, but as for her temperament… I wonder if she is easy to get along with?”

A trace of wistful longing flickered in Yin Xuefang’s eyes; she let out a long, slow sigh.

And Zhou Sui’an also rose and excused himself first from the two female guests, hurrying in quick pursuit of his own wife.

—