Minglan felt a wave of compassion and held one of Hualan’s hands, stroking it gently. Though she knew in her heart that the Marquis’s wife was unlikely to truly harm her own grandchild, if the worst were somehow to happen — could a grandmother be held responsible for something happening to her grandson? It would be dismissed as an unfortunate oversight, and Hualan would have to swallow the injustice without a word.

“About ten days ago, there was suddenly a commotion in the front courtyard. When I asked what had happened, I nearly died on the spot.” Hualan’s face was pale and haunted. “Those black-hearted servants — they left Shi Ge’er to nap alone in the afternoon with not a single person watching over him. They had all gone outside to drink tea and gossip. Shi Ge’er can crawl quite well now. When he woke up, he crawled all over the bed. There was a bronze censer placed near the edge of the bed, and the child, not knowing better, knocked it over and then tumbled off the bed himself. The burning ash from the censer landed on him!”

“Oh!” Minglan gasped. “Was he badly hurt?!”

“My poor Shi Ge’er cried and cried for a long while and no one came.” Hualan’s voice trembled with fear. “But then, by good fortune, Zhuang Jie’er was there…”

“What did Zhuang Jie’er have to do with it?”

Hualan’s face filled with shame. “…It was my own fault. I was so consumed with worry over Shi Ge’er that I had paid little attention to her. This child, knowing how anxious I was, kept slipping away from her wet nurse and sneaking off every day to the front courtyard to check on her little brother. She was small, and no one was on guard against her, so no one noticed. Her wet nurse came to report her to me, and I was so frazzled that I scolded her harshly. That day, Zhuang Jie’er had slipped away again. She heard her brother crying inside the room and rushed in to find him — only to see her little brother rolled up on the floor, his whole face and head covered in burn blisters. She could not lift her brother, so she brushed off all the burning ash from his body as best she could. But the poor child — her own hands were burned in several places too… Ah! Come in, come in, Zhuang Jie’er! Come greet your Sixth Auntie!”

A small girl came running in quickly. Minglan caught her up in both arms and pressed a firm kiss to her forehead. “Good child — let Auntie see your hands.”

The little girl’s childish face carried a shadow of adult fright. Timidly, she extended both small hands. Along the soft, short, pale fingers were several spots of deep rose-colored marks. She bashfully drew her fingers back in, and said in her small, tender voice: “Auntie, it does not hurt anymore. It is my little brother who was burned worse than me.”

Minglan immediately went to look at the boy asleep in Cuichan’s arms. He was fast asleep. On his delicate, fair little face, a red swelling was visible at the corner of his forehead — from the fall — and running down from his right eyebrow along his cheek was a row of small, deep red burn scars. The most alarming of them fell directly on his right eyelid. Had things been even slightly worse, he might well have lost the sight in that eye.

The boy seemed to stir slightly and let out a soft whimper. Zhuang Jie’er immediately stepped forward and gave him two gentle pats, cooing softly in her baby voice: “There now, there… be good now…” And the little boy, seemingly recognizing his sister’s voice, settled back into deep sleep.

Minglan felt her heart wrench. She could hold herself no longer. She pulled Zhuang Jie’er into a tight embrace, and the tears she had been holding back fell freely. Hualan, watching these two children, was overcome with sorrow herself and pressed her face into the bedding, weeping quietly. Cuichan hurried to pass the little boy to the wet nurse standing by, then rushed to help Hualan sit up and wipe her tears, saying over and over: “Second Madam, please, please do not cry — these tears now will trouble you the rest of your life!”

Minglan quickly wiped her own eyes. She held Zhuang Jie’er in her arms, her expression full of pride as she said: “Good child — you helped ease your mother’s burden and protected your little brother. You are the best daughter in the world, the best big sister in the world. Your Sixth Auntie is so very proud of you. Do not be afraid of hardship or unkindness. You are the eldest legitimate daughter of the Yuan household, the eldest maternal granddaughter of the Sheng Family. Let anyone try to bully you!”

Zhuang Jie’er broke into a small, childish smile and nodded firmly.

Cuichan led the two children out. Minglan watched them go to the door, then turned back to Hualan with tear-still-damp eyes and said with a smile: “Sister has raised them well — and sister will have great fortune in her later years because of it. …But — then what happened?”

Hualan’s face was filled with pride and quiet relief. After composing herself, she said slowly: “I thought that wicked old woman would at least feel some shame after this. But instead she had the audacity to turn the blame on Zhuang Jie’er — claiming that Zhuang Jie’er had knocked over the censer and hurt Shi Ge’er! She even wanted Zhuang Jie’er punished!”

“What utter nonsense!” Minglan was outraged. “When all is said and done, the entire fault lay in there being no one there to watch over him — if there had been a single servant present, even if Zhuang Jie’er had knocked over the censer, Shi Ge’er would never have been hurt!”

“You are absolutely right!” Hualan laughed bitterly. “The household was in an uproar. When your brother-in-law came home, he was so enraged he wanted to flog those servants half to death on the spot — but his mother stopped him. She screamed that he was being an unfilial son, and threatened to go kneel before the ancestral shrine. When your father-in-law heard what had happened, he immediately punished those servants and proposed sending his wife to the family estate to ‘recuperate in quiet.’ But your mother-in-law — from heaven knows where she found the will to try something — got hold of a rope and threatened to hang herself, crying out that there was no principle under heaven by which a son should mistreat his birth mother on behalf of his wife. This very nearly sent your father-in-law into a fit as well. The matter came to nothing in the end — though at least the children were eventually brought back…”

Minglan was rendered utterly speechless. A faint, strange smile crossed Hualan’s lips: “Your brother-in-law looked at Shi Ge’er’s burns and broke out into a cold sweat from fright. His rage had nowhere to go — and so…” She let out a soft, odd laugh. “That wicked old woman had sent seven or eight serving women and concubines into my rooms over the course of time. That very night, your brother-in-law took the two most prominent ones and had each of them flogged fifty strokes apiece — beaten half to death and then thrown out through the front gate of the Loyal and Diligent Earl’s mansion. Another two were stripped of their outer clothes and made to kneel naked in the courtyard for an entire night. By the next morning they had both fallen ill, and were removed from the household. The remaining few have been as meek as mice ever since, not daring to so much as show their faces, for fear of having his wrath turned on them.”

Minglan could not help a startled laugh. “So that actually happened.”

“When that wicked old woman found out, she caused another tremendous scene. At that point, I picked up a hairpin and held it to my own throat and told her: ‘If you dare say one more word about taking my children away, I will die right here in front of you.’ She had no choice but to go and rage at her son instead — she scratched his face so badly that he could not go out and see anyone for several days.”

After this story of everything they had endured was told, the two sisters sat together in silence for a long while, shoulder to shoulder, both lost in sorrow. After a long time, Hualan finally said: “When will all this ever end? I live in dread every single day that she will come up with some new torment.”

“There is… actually a way to put a stop to it for good.” Minglan said in a quiet, languid tone.

Hualan immediately straightened, her eyes bright, and grabbed Minglan’s arm, hissing: “What way? Tell me! Tell me!”

Minglan sat in contemplative silence. Hualan grew frantic with impatience and kept pressing her, shaking Minglan until she was nearly dizzy. Minglan said with some reluctance: “It is not exactly a good thing — just a rather underhanded idea.”

“Underhanded is perfect! Exactly what that old woman deserves!” Hualan’s eyes burned with intensity.

Minglan steeled herself and thought: very well. Here began her first foray into a scheme of any real scale. “Not long ago,” she said, “I heard about something that happened in our household. She tried to arrange a concubine for our eldest brother, and our eldest sister-in-law fell ill immediately in response.”

A faint, sardonic smile crossed Hualan’s lips. “My little sister-in-law is fortunate — much more so than I am. Taking a concubine is hardly a thing to die over.”

Minglan sighed inwardly, understanding Hualan’s state of mind perfectly, and continued: “It is not that my brother was willing, and Father found it all pointless chaos — so… ahem, he went and personally took several serving women into his bed in one go.”

Hualan seemed to follow the thread now and asked softly: “And so…?”

Minglan spread her hands with a helpless expression and delivered her final conclusion: “Now there is no time left over to bother with our sister-in-law.”

Hualan’s eyes went wide. She understood.

“Would that… actually work?” Hualan asked, hesitating.

Minglan said evenly: “Is it possible that the Yuan household would divorce your mother-in-law?”

Hualan slumped back, shaking her head. “Impossible. She has borne children for the family — the Loyal and Diligent Earl’s mansion cannot afford the disgrace. That talk of a letter of divorce was nothing but a threat.”

“Then is it possible that your father-in-law would confine her to the family estate for the rest of her life?”

A look of despair passed over Hualan’s face. “That would not work either. Never mind everyone else — even your brother-in-law himself could not bear the thought of his mother spending her years in hardship at the estate.”

“Then what other options do you have?” — And of course, it went without saying that the Yuan household could not very well divorce Hualan either.

“You are right! You are absolutely right!” Hualan struck the bed repeatedly with both palms and said in a low, fierce voice: “Why should she get to go on living so comfortably! It is past time someone arranged a few young, lovely concubines for my father-in-law! …But every concubine in my father-in-law’s rooms has always been watched over like a hawk by that woman!”

Minglan raised her left hand and pressed it downward, pitching her voice very low as she leaned in close: “First of all — what daughter-in-law arranges concubines for her father-in-law? That would be a laughingstock. And second — it is not just any concubine we need. The one to be brought in must be someone your mother-in-law cannot simply dispose of.”

Hualan was quick-minded. After a brief pause, she understood: “You want me to approach my husband’s eldest sister?”

“Correct.” Minglan said. “Go find the Shoushi Earl’s wife.”

“Would she be willing to help me?” Hualan was doubtful — even though she was genuinely fond of her sister-in-law…

Minglan said plainly: “It is not about helping you — it is about her helping herself, and her own family’s interests. When she returns from her hometown, she will certainly come to see you. At that time, dismiss everyone else and lay everything out plainly before her. First speak of your suffering and your grievances — show her the children’s injuries and do not spare any detail of how serious it truly was. Then tell her the story of Duke Zhuang of Zheng and his brother Gong Shu Duan…”

“I know that one!” Light began to kindle in Hualan’s eyes at last. “Duke Zhuang of Zheng and Gong Shu Duan in the Spring and Autumn period were full brothers, born of the same mother! Yet because their mother, Lady Wu Jiang, favored Gong Shu Duan and indulged his increasingly defiant behavior, she sowed the seeds of terrible strife between them — until at last…”

“At last, Duke Zhuang killed his own brother Gong Shu Duan with his own hands! And when all is weighed rightly, the greater part of the blame falls upon Lady Wu Jiang!” Minglan finished. “This is no longer merely a quarrel between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. If your mother-in-law is allowed to go on unchecked in this manner, the two Yuan brothers will eventually be driven apart whether they wish it or not — and when that day comes, the Yuan household will fall apart entirely.”

As those words landed, the entire situation was elevated at once to a higher plane — it became a matter of preserving family unity.

Hualan turned the plan over and weighed it from every angle, and found it very workable. Have the Shoushi Earl’s wife find a woman from an honest but modest family — one who was beautiful, gentle, and sensible enough to know that the second branch of the household was where her support lay. It was entirely appropriate for a married elder sister to send a concubine to look after an ailing younger brother — as long as the Old Earl himself consented, no one had any grounds to object. If the mother-in-law kicked up a fuss, she would be in violation of the ‘seven grounds for repudiation’ — the very clause she had always liked to wave at Hualan whenever she introduced serving women into the household herself.

The Yuan Old Earl, who had lived plainly for most of his life, would very likely take a liking to such a woman. And even if children were born, it would not matter — legitimate or not, a concubine’s child would not inherit anything from the second branch. When all was said and done, a mother-in-law could make her daughter-in-law’s life difficult every day she pleased — but a daughter-in-law was in no position to go running to her father-in-law with complaints every day. Better to install a capable source of influence close at hand. Once that was in place, she would like to see how much energy the mother-in-law had left to come and pick quarrels.

Hualan thought through the plan and felt more and more satisfied with it. Her spirits lifted so considerably she nearly wanted to climb out of bed.

Minglan watched Hualan with a quiet smile.

First, since Hualan had no objection to Changbai taking a concubine, the Shoushi Earl’s wife — who had a strained relationship with her mother-in-law — would likely have no objection to her brother, the Loyal and Diligent Earl, taking one either. Second, the Yuan eldest son was not gifted in scholarship, nor in anything practical, and preferred to stay out of things and live quietly. It was Yuan Shao who was sharp and capable, and whose prospects looked increasingly promising. The Shoushi Earl’s wife surely understood which branch of the family she and her children could rely on when the time came.

That was the ultimate key.

“Only one other person may know of this from beginning to end,” Minglan could not help adding. “Just you and the Shoushi Earl’s wife. Once everything is settled, you can tell your husband — the two of you have a good marriage, and you should not let this create a rift between you.”

“I understand what you mean. Once she has entered the household, I will explain everything to your brother-in-law honestly.” Hualan smiled, and it was the sly, bright smile of the girl she had once been — in those carefree girlhood days when her only preoccupation had been figuring out new ways to trip up Lin Yiniang. “Don’t worry — from beginning to end, none of this has anything to do with you.”

Minglan breathed easily. It was always a pleasure to work with someone clever.

In truth, as long as it did not threaten their own interests and standing, most women of this era had little objection to their fathers taking concubines. And when the time came, Hualan would be holding her two battered, scarred children and kneeling before her husband, weeping and making her request — if she chose her words with enough care and subtlety, things would most likely go smoothly.

A short while later, the two men returned. When Yuan Shao came to invite Minglan out with a smile, he would never know that in those short moments, the arc of his own life had bent ever so slightly in a new direction. Many years later, he would have a younger half-brother who was devoted and obedient, and a peaceful and contented second half to his life.

And the Marquis’s wife, who at that very moment sat on her heated bed cursing her own bitter fate, would not know that her truly bitter days had only just begun.

At the outer gate, Gu Tingye helped Minglan into the carriage. He noticed her expression was low and distant, and found it somewhat strange. He glanced back and saw Yuan Shao had not yet emerged, so he slipped into the carriage as well and asked what had happened. Minglan gave him a brief account.

Gu Tingye frowned lightly. “Brother Shao is far too indecisive. This kind of excessive filial submission only leaves his own wife and children suffering, and allows the household to remain in constant disorder.”

“I would not call it indecisiveness — it simply comes down to what he believes is worth the effort.” Minglan leaned against the carriage wall, her manner calm and composed. “Your brother-in-law knows perfectly well how hard Eldest Sister’s days are. But he judges his mother — who defers to him in everything — to be more important. A man who takes multiple wives and concubines yet puts on the face of domestic harmony does not lack awareness that his wife is hurting. It is simply that his own comfort matters more to him than her pain. …That is not exactly wrong, either. In this life, naturally one’s own ease must come first.”

Gu Tingye looked at Minglan with a slight, startled expression, a vague, uncomfortable feeling rising in his chest. He pressed that feeling down and asked quietly: “And what about you? When you are hurting, what do you do?”

Minglan did not hesitate for even a moment. She said with a smile: “You just hurt through it… and eventually it passes. You can always get through it somehow.”

Coming to this ancient era, she had come to understand that the ancient woman’s way of life was the wisest of all. Manage the household finances well, secure a material foundation, then love yourself, love your children, love the family members who mean you well, and love your husband a little — not too much. No more than enough that when he turns to other women you do not break. No less than enough to show him, at the right moments, a thread of warm feeling without finding it repellent.

Best not to let yourself feel deep hatred too easily. To spend a lifetime in forced intimacy with a man you have come to deeply despise is a very unhealthy way to live.

— Minglan was still very much in practice. In a few more days, once the Gu household was in order, she would need to host a banquet for friends and family to mark the establishment of the new residence. After that, she would begin making regular visits to pay her respects to the elders at Ningyuan Marquis’s mansion. The holiday was coming to an end. She could only hope everything would continue to go smoothly.

“You are remarkably bold in what you say.” Gu Tingye narrowed his eyes, a sharpness flickering within them.

Minglan tilted her head and sat quietly: “You told me you liked to hear the truth. And besides… I cannot hide things from you anyway. Better to say them myself than to be pressed until I give them up.”

“You do not rely on me to get by?” Gu Tingye raised one eyebrow.

“I do.” Minglan counted off on her fingers, opening her palm flat. “I rely on you for much. But…” She looked at the man steadily, her gaze clear as water and somehow sad with that very clarity. “If you were to change — what could I do?”

The darkness in Gu Tingye’s eyes deepened. He asked again, after a pause: “And then what would you do?”

Minglan propped her chin on her hand and thought hard about it: “I do not know — I would figure it out at the time. I probably would not take my own life.”

What she had expected of her sisters, from the very start, was only this: that they not harm her. As long as that one thing held, Hualan and Rulan were both good sisters to her. What she had asked of Sheng Hong and Wang Shi was only this: that they not use her as a bargaining chip. As long as they gave even a little thought to her happiness in marriage, they were good parents.

Looking at her life now, it seemed to Minglan that on the whole, the life of one Sheng Minglan was still a pleasant one. She would always find a way of living that was most comfortable for herself — whether that meant staying or not.

Gu Tingye looked at Minglan without blinking. In the dim interior of the carriage, a thin line of light filtered through the curtain and fell across her face, white as fine jade. Her long lashes curved downward, veiling the dark, crystalline light of her eyes. Her neck curved, resting against the carriage wall without effort — fragile, dejected, lost, carrying within it a helpless resignation and disenchantment with the world.

Such a startlingly beautiful living creature, full of self-deprecating wryness and sorrow. She loved life. She despised life. She was warm and earnest. She was detached and cold. She seemed at every moment to be affirming something, and at every moment denying it, a contradiction so perfectly balanced it was somehow complete — from the moment he had pulled her dripping from the river, he had always been curious about her. He had never been so captivated by anyone.

“If something happened to you as it has to your sister — what would you do?”

She came alive suddenly, those still eyes brightening like ripples spreading across a quiet lake. She slapped the little table beside her and said in a sweetly delicate voice, completely theatrically: “If the government drives the people to rebellion, what recourse does anyone have? I would grab two cleavers on the spot — one pressed to my own throat, one pressed to theirs — and shout: if you will not let me live, I will make sure none of you have peace either!”

Then she dissolved into laughter and fell sideways against the crimson, gold-embroidered cushions of the seat, as gleefully mischievous as a child.

Gu Tingye looked at her in silence. He did not laugh. He knew she was not joking — her eyes were not laughing. She never did, at moments like this. If anything, her eyes held a peculiar and absolute resolve. Beautiful as a moth flying into fire.

He reached out and pulled her up forcefully, holding her against him with rough, possessive arms, pressing her there with all his strength, until she was nearly unable to breathe — only then did he slowly release her. Minglan looked up, gasping for air, her face flushed deep red from the pressure, nearly suffocated, staring at him in blank confusion.

Gu Tingye felt somehow incomprehensible even to himself. He seemed to be angry — angry that she did not trust him. And yet he could not deny that her reservations were entirely reasonable. In the end, all he could do was press his thumb gently against her beautiful eyelids, let out a quiet sigh, and say in a low, measured voice: “No need for cleavers. Whoever you want cut down — I will go cut them down for you.” After all, his own mother had long since left this world.

Minglan continued to stare at him, blank and utterly at a loss — what was he saying?

He paused, then added: “I am better at it anyway.”

Minglan laughed in a dull, dazed sort of way and nodded in agreement. Then, without warning, Gu Tingye was seized with a violent rage. He swept the small table in the carriage off its base with one hand, and drove his fist into the carriage wall with a crack. The entire carriage shook from the impact. Minglan shrunk into herself in fright.

Gu Tingye pressed his voice down to a furious murmur: “You heartless little creature. It has been less than a month since our wedding, and you are already sitting here thinking through what kind of exit you need to plan. You little wretch!”

With that, he grabbed Minglan’s arm, yanked up her sleeve with brisk efficiency, and — before she could react — sank his teeth into her fair, tender forearm right at the elbow. A neat set of bite marks appeared.

Minglan went pale with shock. She pressed her lips together, eyes glistening with tears, and watched Gu Tingye wrench himself away from her in furious indignation and climb out of the carriage.

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