Dressed and composed, Minglan walked out over the threshold — leaning on Caihuan’s arm, under Xiaotao’s quietly sorrowful gaze. As Caihuan lowered her head and eyes, she caught a glimpse of the pearl bracelet on Minglan’s wrist: every pearl the size of a thumb, perfectly round and brilliant with a lustrous glow.

A little jolt went through her. The Gu household was truly wealthy, she thought. Pearls of that size and quality — even Wang Shi had only a few of them set into hairpins and bangles. And yet here was Minglan wearing a full strand, just casually clasped around her wrist.

Caihuan had not yet finished her thoughts when mistress and maid had already arrived at the side chamber of Jiaxi Residence. Red lacquered pillars were flanked by two sea crab-apple trees in deep, thriving green; though it was already the fourth month, the air still carried a refreshing coolness. Here in this household, glass — a rare luxury in ordinary homes — was fitted in entire panes as window panels, transparent as crystal, making the entire chamber brilliantly light and clear.

Stepping into the chamber, Minglan saw that the Fifth Master’s wife and her two daughters-in-law were already seated inside; a maid was just serving them tea. Minglan entered with a smile and made a graceful bow: “Fifth Aunt has come. I am late to welcome you — please forgive me.”

The Fifth Master’s wife was seated upright in the place of honor. She wore a richly brocaded front-tie robe of purple-red, embroidered with ocean waves and auspicious cloud-and-treasure motifs. Today she looked even more prosperous and auspicious than the last time they had met. She replied without much warmth: “You’ve had a busy day — think nothing of an old woman calling on you and causing trouble.”

Minglan smiled mildly and said simply: “How could I.” She then turned to the other two women and curtsied, greeting them pleasantly. Gu Tingyang’s wife and Gu Tingdi’s wife both rose to return the courtesy.

After the greetings, all four sat down. Gu Tingdi’s wife was quite young — about twenty-six or twenty-seven — fair-complexioned and fine-featured, with a dignified and prosperous air. She wore a warm smile. Seeing that the atmosphere in the chamber was a little cool, she spoke up: “You know, this is my very first time coming here? What a magnificent residence! I had originally thought that with the place standing empty for so long, there must be quite a lot of work needed to put it in order. It seems I hadn’t seen enough of the world — it’s in far better shape than I expected!”

Minglan smiled with gracious modesty: “Not just Second Sister-in-law — I thought the same. Only later did I learn that the Office of Imperial Manufactures had maintained it all along. Even though no one has lived here for years, the repairs and upkeep have been quite thorough, which has saved us considerable trouble.”

The Fifth Master’s wife’s gaze flickered. The ghost of a contemptuous smile crossed her lips. She said in a measured tone: “If the Emperor has been so gracious, then why is the furnishing inside so sparse? It looks quite bare, which really isn’t fitting.”

Minglan met this without missing a step, bowing her head with a slight air of embarrassment: “That is your nephew’s idea. He said to wait until the household staff is fully settled before opening the storerooms — no need to rush and risk making a mess of things. I… I didn’t feel I could argue with him…”

Gu Tingdi’s wife laughed behind her hand: “That’s Tingye — exactly the same as always! He hasn’t changed a bit. You really can’t be blamed for that.”

Minglan joined in with a few laughing sounds. The atmosphere in the chamber warmed a little; Minglan glanced sidelong at Gu Tingyang’s wife, and saw that she was still the picture of quiet restraint, sitting off to the side drinking her tea and hardly venturing a word.

Minglan found this rather puzzling. Gu Tingyang was the eldest son of the fifth branch — so why…

After a few more exchanges of pleasantries, the Fifth Master’s wife maintained a cool expression throughout. When she heard Minglan speak of the arrangements in the residence, she set down her teacup, pressed the corner of her mouth with her handkerchief, and said: “Since there is still so much to be arranged in this household, why haven’t you sent people to attend to it earlier? All this time spent on useless things.”

Minglan played at confusion and continued smiling pleasantly: “Your nephew’s wife is a little slow, and afraid of making mistakes. There’s no great rush, and a steady pace suits me better — get the people sorted out first, and then everything else will follow.” She was quite curious about how this elder lady of advancing years would open an argument.

The Fifth Master’s wife’s expression darkened. One hand closed into a fist on the low table beside her: “Do you know why I have come today?”

“Why, only to visit your nephew’s wife, naturally. What else could it be?” Minglan smiled with great charm.

The Fifth Master’s wife caught herself for a moment, then resumed with a sour air: “I wouldn’t presume! Now that Tingye has risen so high, would he still think of this old woman? I’d call it a blessing not to be trampled underfoot!”

Minglan smiled and delicately skimmed the floating tea leaves from her cup with the lid: “Aunt speaks in jest again. What trampled underfoot? Your nephew’s wife doesn’t understand.”

She glanced sideways at the other two women — and saw that both of those sisters-in-law, in a perfectly synchronized motion, lowered their heads and applied themselves to their tea.

The Fifth Master’s wife was choked of one breath. Her expression cycled through several colors. Then, with a firm slap of her palm against the table: “Very well! I’ll ask you plainly. If Tingye insists on establishing his own household apart from ours, that is his affair, and we wouldn’t dare stop him. We thought the young couple might not have staff they felt comfortable with, and that managing such a large estate might be difficult — so we sent several households of servants out of genuine goodwill! And how did you repay it? You left them sitting idle for months. Then the moment you arrived, within just a few days, you began interrogating those old family servants as though they were criminals under examination!” She punctuated her words with several cold, repeated snorts.

Minglan watched the Fifth Master’s wife’s performance with cold detachment and without any irritation. To tell the truth, since their earlier disagreement over the matter of the maids’ departure, she had found the personalities of these two elder aunts-by-marriage rather fascinating.

The Fourth Master’s wife appeared cheerful and light-hearted, always ready with a joke — but was in fact extraordinarily cautious. When it was not her place to speak, she would not say one word more than necessary. The Fifth Master’s wife, on the other hand, appeared composed and gracious, but was in fact impulsive in nature: at the slightest provocation, or when stirred up by a few words, she would act and speak immediately.

Indeed — one should never judge by appearances.

“So that’s what this is about.” Minglan set aside her teacup entirely and simply regarded the Fifth Master’s wife in silence. Then suddenly she called out in a clear voice: “Are they all here?”

“They are all here, Madam.” A respectful woman’s voice came from outside.

“Please bring them in.”

The thin amber-patterned silk curtain threaded with carved bamboo slats was lightly lifted. Xia He entered, bowing her head, and held the curtain aside with her outstretched arm. From outside, a line of middle-aged women filed in one by one — they were Nanny Lai, Nanny Hua, Nanny Tian, and Nanny Diao of the four households. When they spotted the Fifth Master’s wife already present inside, the shift in their expressions was immediate. The four of them exchanged glances; Xia He let the curtain fall behind them and drew a stack of papers from her sleeve, offering them respectfully to Minglan.

Minglan accepted the papers, glanced over them briefly, started slightly, and then smiled inwardly. She put the papers away, then looked up at the four women with an expression half-smile, half-composed. “What a swift intelligence network the Fifth Aunt has. You were questioned only this morning, and already the Aunt has come calling.”

The four servant women’s expressions shifted markedly. The other three turned their eyes directly to Nanny Diao, their look full of reproach. Under the weight of so many eyes, Nanny Diao’s face went a deep purple-red; she dropped her head until it nearly touched her chest. Seeing this, the Fifth Master’s wife grew very displeased. She had not anticipated that Minglan would respond so quickly — that within a matter of sentences, she would have these women summoned in person to face a direct confrontation.

“What of it — am I not permitted to ask?” The Fifth Master’s wife said loudly.

Minglan seemed rather amused by it all. Her voice remained sweet: “I did nothing more than ask a few questions. Why does Aunt take such offense? Aunt said just a moment ago that these several households of servants were given to me — so now I cannot even ask them two questions?”

The Fifth Master’s wife grew still more furious. She stood up: “If you’d only asked two questions, I would have had nothing to say! You were digging down to the roots, trying to excavate their ancestors eight generations back — are you saying you don’t trust us?! If so — just say it plainly, and I’ll take the lot of them home with me right now, rather than leave them here to offend your eye!”

Minglan continued to play innocent. “What does asking a few questions have to do with trust or distrust?”

“What right do you have to question people that your elders have given you?!” The Fifth Master’s wife began to be quite unreasonable.

Minglan slowly set her teacup down, straightened her posture, and addressed the Fifth Master’s wife with formal courtesy: “Aunt — do you know, or do you not, what the very first thing our current Emperor did upon ascending the throne?”

The Fifth Master’s wife blinked, and looked at Minglan, not understanding where this was going. Minglan continued: “He ordered the Ministry of Personnel to submit a comprehensive record of official performance assessments for the past ten years. By Aunt’s reasoning — does that not imply the Emperor distrusts the late Emperor?”

“Nonsense! When did I ever say anything of the sort?!” The Fifth Master’s wife was badly startled. How had the conversation leapt to those grounds? She panicked, and called out: “Don’t go putting those kinds of words in my mouth!”

Minglan smiled with great brightness: “But the officials were appointed by the late Emperor — and the current Emperor still called for an inquiry. Is that not precisely what Aunt was suggesting?” Her smile widened even further: “Oh, and by the way — I was told by Steward Zhuang that when the late Emperor ascended the throne, he, too, called for a performance record from the Ministry of Personnel without exception? Oh my — could it be that… Aunt feels the late Emperor distrusted Emperor Wu? Oh, or perhaps it wasn’t Aunt’s own feeling — perhaps it was the Fifth Master who holds that view?”

The Fifth Master’s wife felt her scalp go numb. Her heart was struck with equal fear and shock, and she no longer dared to hold her ground. She frantically waved her hand. “You mustn’t say such things! I absolutely never meant that! …All right, ask, ask, just ask — there’s nothing so remarkable about it. I… I never said anything at all either!”

Minglan knew when to press and when to step back. Seeing that she had pressed far enough, she folded her advantage away. She sat up properly, straightened her expression, and said with solemnity: “Insignificant as I am — a woman of no great standing — I, too, feel deeply that both the late Emperor and our current Emperor showed great wisdom. The purpose of oversight is to preserve the clarity of governance and protect the welfare of the people. It is precisely why the Ministry of Personnel holds annual assessments and five-year evaluations of merit — for the sake of righteous governance throughout the realm! Aunt — would you not agree?”

— Having gone so far as to invoke the question of whether the Emperor was wise or not, there was nothing left for the Fifth Master’s wife to say. She could only agree vigorously, repeatedly, until she was sweating.

Beside her, Gu Tingdi’s wife also chimed in to smooth things over for her mother-in-law. Minglan, of course, smiled pleasantly and brought the matter to a close.

The four servant women standing to the side exchanged glances, guarded looks crossing their faces, before they lowered their heads again.

Laughing aside, Minglan thought that if she didn’t deliver one more sting to this elder lady’s pride, she might well come again next time and disrupt another afternoon nap. So she took up the sheaf of papers with a smile and said: “Since Aunt has come today, I happen to have a point of confusion I was hoping Aunt might help clarify.”

The Fifth Master’s wife, relieved that the previous topic had been dropped, relaxed slightly: “Go ahead, nephew’s wife.”

Minglan kept her tone mild, but pointed to the papers beside her and turned to look at the group of women with a small smile: “This Nanny Diao, from the time she entered the Ningyuan Marquis’s household under Aunt’s service, has held five different duties altogether: one month in the kitchen purchasing, two months in cosmetics and hair-oil purchasing, half a year managing the rear garden, four months as an evening-duty steward for the inner courtyard, and finally five months as a supervising nanny for newly arrived young maids. What I find rather puzzling, Aunt, is this — why has Nanny Diao not held a single duty for a full year?”

To rank these postings in order of financial benefit, Nanny Diao’s career had been a steady slide from the most lucrative positions all the way down to a clean, waterless office.

When these words were spoken, Nanny Diao at Minglan’s side nearly fell to her knees! The Fifth Master’s wife’s face had gone an ugly shade of purplish-dark; she looked deeply uncomfortable, coughed quietly a few times, and then turned to look at her two daughters-in-law without being able to find a word to say.

Gu Tingdi’s wife saw the situation was bad and quickly supplied: “Sister-in-law may not be aware — Nanny Diao suffered certain hardships in her earlier years of service and has had some… difficulty with her health since then, which is why Mother-in-law, out of consideration for her…” But she could not go on with that line of reasoning either. The point of sending a sickly person to assist Gu Tingye and his wife — was that to help, or to dump a problem on them?

As it happened, Minglan nodded, seemingly completely persuaded: “I see — so that explains it! Thank goodness I thought to ask. Had I not, I might have assigned Nanny Diao to something strenuous, and she’d have fallen even more ill.”

Nanny Diao grew alarmed immediately, and quickly interjected: “Second Madam, if this old servant may be permitted a word! It is true that in earlier years my health was poor — but these past several years I’ve recovered quite well!”

Minglan waved a magnanimous hand at her, then pointed to specific entries on the papers with a smile: “There is no need to rush, Nanny. I understand your loyal devotion. But looking at the record of these duties year by year, it appears you were ‘unwell’ for over ten years, with only some improvement within the last two. It’s better to rest a while longer — lest outsiders say that the Gu household has no consideration for its servants!”

Nanny Diao’s mouth was as bitter as if she’d chewed a piece of coptis root; sweat beaded at her forehead. The other servant women stole glances at Minglan — finding her young, yes, but possessed of a formidable skill in maneuvering people. They felt an unease rise within them unbidden. None of them had expected this new mistress to be so hard to handle.

Minglan maintained her composed and gracious expression throughout, her tone warm and thoughtful: “You see, Aunt — there really are reasons to ask more questions, aren’t there?”

The Fifth Master’s wife had swallowed a full belly of helpless anger and could not push out a single word. She squeezed out a stiff nod.

Minglan’s expression was cheerful and pleasant as she turned her gaze to land steadily on Nanny Lai. Nanny Lai felt that gaze on her like a jab, and trembled: “Second Madam, do you have instructions for me?”

Minglan lifted her teacup and skimmed the surface with the lid, slowly and without haste: “For no reason at all on a good day, Aunt has been made to lose her temper — that is hardly fair. You four, I say: I neither struck you nor scolded you — I did no more than ask a few questions. And now Aunt has come to my door over it, suggesting I don’t trust the Marquis’s household. Dear me… every one of you is a person of dignity and standing. I find it difficult to keep people of such consequence in service. If every little breeze sends someone here to speak up for you, I might as well stop managing the household altogether.”

Her gaze remained fixed throughout on Nanny Lai, sharp as a needle.

Nanny Lai felt her heart hammering — and then Minglan continued: “But then again, these are people who have served for many years; there is natural affection in that. Nanny Lai…” Nanny Lai startled upright immediately, standing in respectful attention. “Today I have corrected you two times in all. Do you have any resentment?”

Nanny Lai said at once: “The Second Madam’s corrections were proper. How would this servant dare resent?”

“You have served for many years and would not ordinarily make such errors. Why should you?” Minglan’s gaze was clear and direct. The meaning beneath was unmistakable.

Nanny Lai steeled herself: “This servant was foolish. She presumed upon her own seniority and dared to contradict Madam — it was truly a breach of the hierarchy, servant against master!”

Minglan gave a satisfied nod: “Then tell me — have I been in the wrong in any of this?”

Nanny Lai immediately declared: “Madam has been entirely without fault. It was this servant who erred!”

“Not quite right.” Minglan shook her head. “Even if the mistress had been in the wrong, you should not have contradicted her in front of everyone.”

Everyone present was taken aback.

Minglan continued: “Especially the second time — you knew perfectly well that I had just arrived, and that my standing in the household was not yet established; that this was precisely the time when dignity needed to be built. Never mind that what I said was a harmless, inconsequential matter — even if I had truly made an error, you should not have contradicted me before so many people. You ought to have advised me in private, quietly, afterward. Sister-in-law — would you agree?”

Gu Tingdi’s wife read something in Minglan’s gaze and smiled: “Sister-in-law is absolutely right.”

Minglan clapped her hands together and said pleasantly: “With Sister-in-law’s word on it, I am at ease. It seems the Madam will not come to lecture me, then.”

The Fifth Master’s wife’s expression darkened. She understood that the last words had in fact been addressed to her: first, that she should not have come to undermine Minglan’s authority on the very first day she was managing household affairs; and second, that she was not Minglan’s mother-in-law, and had no business presiding over her at all!

At that moment, the sound of women’s voices broke out in some commotion outside. Minglan frowned slightly. Caihuan, with a quick-witted read of the atmosphere from what she had witnessed, and understanding by now that Minglan was not someone to be trifled with, immediately took it upon herself to step outside and see. She turned back a moment later and reported: “Madam — it is a maid from the young lady Fengxian’s side. She wishes to see you.”

Expressions in the room varied. Gu Tingyang’s wife looked at Minglan with visible anxiety. Gu Tingdi’s wife wore an unbothered expression. The Fifth Master’s wife showed unmistakable anticipation — as if she hoped to recover some ground she had lost — her face a transparent map of expectation.

Minglan looked at her with some amusement, and thought that if she refused to let the maid in, this elder lady would surely launch into another speech. So she simply said: “Show her in.”

A maid of seventeen or eighteen entered — pretty-faced and fresh-looking, wearing a water-red sleeveless vest over a slender, supple figure. The moment she looked up, she dropped to her knees before Minglan: “Greetings to Madam.”

“Rise. What is your business — speak quickly. I have guests.”

The maid seemed about to hold back, but seeing no sign of yielding from Minglan, she finally said: “Our young lady knows Madam is busy and would not wish to disturb you. But as Madam has already received everyone in the household, our young lady thought it might be her turn — so she bade me come and request an audience, so that she might at least offer Madam a cup of tea.”

Minglan smiled and said nothing to the maid at all. Instead she turned to face the four servant women: “Several of you — what would you say should be done in this case?”

Nanny Lai’s brow twitched. She was not entirely sure what Minglan meant, and before she had time to think it through, Nanny Hua beside her had already stepped forward and called out in a sharp voice: “What kind of insolence is this — a maid with no understanding of propriety! Does Madam accept just anyone’s tea? First one must have the approval of the elders, then the consent of the master, and then the satisfaction of Madam herself — did you think it was done with just a flap of your lips?”

Minglan was visibly pleased. She smiled at Nanny Hua, who, catching that look, straightened up with not a little pride.

The maid still appeared about to say something further, when Nanny Tian beside her had also worked it out. She stepped over at once, seized the girl by the arm, and called out loudly: “What standing does your young lady hold right now? She’s not a concubine, and she’s not a serving-woman. How is Madam supposed to receive her, and on what grounds? Stop wasting breath! Get yourself gone and wait until the master has given his word!”

And with that, she pushed and steered the maid out, calling to Xia He to drag her away.

Minglan watched this scene play out with great satisfaction, a smile spreading across her face: “This young lady Fengxian was sent in from outside — there is nothing I can say in that matter. Fortunately you were here: with so many years of experience, you truly understand both proper conduct and the implications of each situation!”

Though she pointed at no one specifically, her gaze rested only on Nanny Hua and Nanny Tian. Both women immediately looked up at Minglan with expressions of gratitude, and then repeated themselves in modest deflection.

In the old days, when joining a sworn brotherhood, one had to first make an offering to prove one’s sincerity. These four households were in the position of changing employers; before winning the trust of a new employer, one needed to demonstrate something — ability, resolve, loyalty — and not expect to be valued by a new mistress for no reason at all. Someone like Nanny Diao, who remained loyal in her heart to the old household while stationed in the new, was the most useless of all.

The four servant women withdrew. Minglan continued with her warm and pleasant expression, calling for maids to refill the tea and bring refreshments. But the Fifth Master’s wife’s face was very dark; today had been a comprehensive defeat, with nothing gained and all manner of humiliation received — and yet she could not even be angry, because being angry meant she was implying the Emperor was unwise. The Emperor could not be unwise. So she was left with no choice but to sit with her mouth shut.

Minglan studied the elder woman’s shifting, clouding expression with considerable private sympathy. Among the three sisters-in-law by marriage, only the Fifth Master’s wife was an original primary wife — with sons and daughters, grandchildren all around, and a husband who had earned his own official titles. The Madam, by contrast, was a second-wife replacement; the Fourth Master’s wife was not only a replacement, but had produced only one daughter. If one were to rank them by standing, the Fifth Master’s wife had the strongest ground to stand on of all three.

And it was precisely because of that that she tended to act with somewhat less calculation.

Her purpose in coming today had been simple: she was dissatisfied with Gu Tingye’s rise in prominence and had come looking for a way to hold Minglan in check — to catch her in an error, secure the Ningyuan Marquis’s household’s dominant position over Gu Tingye, and establish the right to make demands of them.

On that point she had misjudged — but the two servant women Nanny Hua and Nanny Tian had just now read the situation clearly.

Minglan and Gu Tingdi’s wife exchanged a few cheerful words in between. After a little while, the Fifth Master’s wife and her party prepared to leave. Just before they did, Minglan lowered her voice and said only one thing: “Aunt — I have overstepped in many ways today. Please don’t take it to heart. I only ask that you consider this: of the entire Ningyuan Marquis’s household, why is it that you alone came?”

Whether the elder lady herself understood the words, Minglan could only hope that her two daughters-in-law did.

On the return journey, the Fifth Master’s wife rode, as was her custom, in the same carriage as her beloved second daughter-in-law. She said with heat: “Hmph! She’s trying to stir up discord. The Fourth Uncle’s wife is useless — no sons, so she has to watch other people’s expressions. The First Aunt’s wife is the easiest of the lot, but she’s plain to see that Tingye has no warmth for her, so how could she have the face to come find fault with his wife? Of course it had to be me who came!”

Gu Tingdi’s wife made no comment. Who was stirring up whom, the particulars didn’t matter. What mattered was that Gu Tingye now held greater power and influence, and was of more use to their own household’s children… it was best not to make an enemy of him.

Gu Tingyang’s wife rode alone in a smaller carriage at the back. Her personal maid said quietly: “The new Madam is really something — she walked that old one into corners with every line she spoke, and I never saw anything like it. That was… that was quite satisfying to see.”

“Mind your words!” Gu Tingyang’s wife dropped her earlier silence and said sharply. Then, lowering her voice, she continued: “You don’t understand how truly formidable today’s new Madam was!” Seeing her personal maid’s confused expression, she said in a low tone: “The truth of it is that Mother-in-law came looking for trouble without much justification to stand on. But that aside — there is an old saying that there is no such thing as parents who are wrong. Even when elders make mistakes, it is not the junior’s place to openly contradict them to their face. Here was a young woman, barely a few days into the household, jumping into a confrontation with her husband’s aunt — regardless of who was right or wrong, once word spread, the blame would all fall on her!”

The personal maid drew a sharp breath: “Oh — I understand now. So if Gu Tingye’s Second Madam had endured and swallowed it all, that elder would have taken that as proof of her error and used it as a handle to manage her; but if Gu Tingye’s Second Madam refused to swallow it and argued back — she would be branded as disrespectful and unfilial! And yet the new Madam was clever enough not to get caught — she was smiling throughout, and never showed the slightest anger.”

Gu Tingyang’s wife let out a long breath and tilted her head back to look at the roof of the carriage, murmuring half to herself: “That one is formidable — calculating at every turn…” Then she laughed softly two times. “Although… that other one is no easy mark either. When they first heard talk of taking in a daughter of a concubine, she was so pleased about it… ha…”

…