The very next morning, Wang Shi came to Shou’an Hall to see Grandmother. Her heart was a mixture of wariness and excitement. But the moment she started with an opening line, Grandmother said coldly: “So you came back empty-handed?”

Wang Shi’s face went awkward, and she put considerable effort into performing her rage: “I said everything I could — my sister’s mind had just gone cloudy, and nothing would reach her…”

“Enough.” Grandmother cut her off mildly, seeming impatient to listen to excuses. “I didn’t expect you to actually take this to heart. Very well — you needn’t involve yourself in this anymore.”

“Oh…” Wang Shi was startled beyond belief — she could hardly believe she was getting off this easily. She still had plenty of the speech Kang Yima had coached her on left to deliver. Her heart quietly rejoiced, privately thinking that her sister truly was as prophetic as a sage — Grandmother truly could not do anything to her after all.

“However…” Grandmother said suddenly again. Wang Shi’s heart was pulled back up.

“There are some things you must understand. Minglan is not your own daughter — I can’t force you to care about her. But you are a Sheng Family member — and you cannot have your elbow bending outward, taking the side of outsiders against your own family!”

Wang Shi heard Grandmother’s tone growing increasingly severe, and couldn’t help forcing a laugh: “How could that be possible…”

“Kneel down!” With one sharp command from Grandmother, Wang Shi’s knees reflexively buckled, and she went down with a thud, kneeling on the hall floor of Shou’an Hall. Fortunately it was the height of summer, and a thin felt rug had been laid out — so her knees were at least not against cold stone.

“I won’t bother explaining the broader reasoning to you.” Since it would be useless explaining to this muddlehead anyway, Grandmother was inwardly contemptuous and furious, and too tired to waste the breath. “I said long ago that Kang Yima was not to come through the door — but you kept inviting her behind my back. Disobeying an elder and not listening to what I say is unfilial. I intend to punish you — do you have anything to say?”

Wang Shi was stunned, not knowing where to begin.

“Now — kneel for a full hour. The next time Kang Yima comes, you’ll kneel out in the outer courtyard.” Grandmother slowly stood up and walked with Nanny Fang’s support toward the inner room, and her voice drifted back: “If you’re not satisfied — go to your husband. If you’re still not satisfied — go back to your maiden family. I’d like to have a good, long talk with your mother…”

Wang Shi trembled with shame and fury, but dared not get up. The hall’s doors and windows were wide open, and maids and matrons going back and forth could all see her. Though they dared not comment openly, those probing eyes were enough to make Wang Shi burn with mortification. She could only silently curse in her heart, wishing that old crone would hurry up and breathe her last.

Seeing the situation, Liu Kun’s wife quickly sent someone to fetch Hualan — but the Yuan household was far, and it was nearly the first quarter of sishi before she arrived.

“First Young Lady, please hurry and intercede — this time has been especially harsh!” Liu Kun’s wife said in a low voice. Hualan frowned, and hurried into the main room — before she’d even stepped through the door, she heard a burst of furious shouting from inside.

“—Get out! You’re all just waiting for me to die — get out of my sight!”

Five maids filed out holding shards of broken porcelain cups and bowls, followed by a matron who glanced at Liu Kun’s wife and lowered her voice: “Having a fit — didn’t even eat breakfast.”

“Mother!” Hualan lifted a string of sandalwood beaded curtains and turned to enter. Wang Shi was reclined on the rattan couch, pressing a handkerchief repeatedly to her eyes. As soon as she saw her eldest daughter, the tears poured in torrents, and she sobbed and cursed: “You heartless, ungrateful girl! Where have you been all this time — your mother’s been driven half to death, and if you hadn’t come I’d have been collecting my own bones! You’re here to watch me die!”

Hualan quickly sat beside her mother, dabbing at the tears with a handkerchief, and said: “Mother, I’ve come now — please stop crying quickly, or outside people will see and laugh — losing all your dignity.”

“Dignity?!” At the mention of those two words, Wang Shi grew even more infuriated, weeping and wailing: “What dignity do I have left? I’ve been in the Sheng household for decades — squeezed out every drop of energy to get to today — with all you siblings — today, for the very first time in my life, I’ve been forced to kneel for punishment. Your father not only didn’t step in, he came early this morning to blame me for being unfilial! I, I, I — I don’t want to live…”

She only feared pain and feared death, so there was no throat-cutting, no rope, no swallowing gold — she couldn’t bring herself to try any of it, not even just to put a scare into someone.

Hualan thought her mother was behaving like a child who knew nothing of the world, and let out a quiet inward sigh. She half-wrapped her arms around Wang Shi, patting and coaxing her, and patiently listened to Wang Shi go through the whole affair’s origins and outcomes two times over.

“…Tell me, can any of this be blamed on me? That aunt of mine — do you think I can control her?!” Wang Shi wailed, wiping her nose and her tears simultaneously. “Grandmother doesn’t distinguish right from wrong — just gave me a harsh punishment. How am I supposed to hold my head up in front of people from now on?!”

Having been briefed by Liu Kun’s wife, Hualan also blamed her mother for being foolish and despised Kang Yima for being sly. She sighed and said gently: “Mother — Grandmother wasn’t blaming you for being unable to control Yima. She was angry that you don’t know the difference between your own people and outsiders.”

Wang Shi blinked her old tear-smudged eyes, still not understanding. Hualan said softly: “Mother — think carefully. How many years has Yima’s husband been a commoner with no rank? The cousin only holds a petty clerk’s post. How many families left in the capital would give the Kang household the time of day? Sixth Sister’s husband is currently in the Emperor’s favor — powerful and distinguished — and Minglan is an imperially ennobled First-Rank Lady of the household. What exactly is Kang Yima’s standing, when it comes to that? She used to scold Minglan at every turn. What reason does Minglan have to respect or honor her? Even you yourself don’t often go to the Gu household — and yet Yima waltzes in with great swagger to throw her weight around. To put it plainly — Yima is a fox borrowing the tiger’s power. She’s been using the Sheng Family’s face to fill her own pockets!”

Minglan shared no blood with Wang Shi — but she did share blood with her own siblings. Could some Kang Zhao’er possibly be closer than Minglan? Hualan thought with a sigh — she’d need to go explain things properly to Minglan afterward, in hopes that Minglan wouldn’t harbor a grudge. She was speaking herself dry — if it were anyone other than her own mother, she would not bother explaining such an obvious point.

“You and Yima also have your griefs.” Wang Shi seemed to be moved, and gradually stopped crying. “You don’t know — I’ve been cut off from your father and Grandmother; and now there’s that formidable Madam Liu in the picture. I… I truly have no one to confide in!”

Hualan understood that of late Wang Shi’s temper had been inexplicably volatile — she wouldn’t listen even to her daughter’s counsel, and would lash out, cursing and hitting, at the smallest provocation. Only Kang Yima, sharing her own bitterness, was willing to sit and complain alongside her — the two of them grumbling together had its particular cathartic pleasure. Hualan had no choice but to say: “Mother, if you’re bored and lonely, send for me — just stop seeing Yima.”

At this, Wang Shi leapt up immediately, eyes wide and glaring: “You heartless thing — where have you been these past few days?! I sent people to find you, and the Yuan household people all said you weren’t in — and couldn’t say clearly where you’d gone!”

Hualan was startled, and smiled with some strain: “That… didn’t we purchase a farmstead? Your son-in-law and I went to have a look…”

“Didn’t you just stay there for days last time? What was still left to sort out?” Wang Shi was dissatisfied.

“…The capital’s summer heat is heavy… Shige’er wasn’t feeling well… so I took the children to the farmstead to get out of the heat.” Hualan explained, her face thoroughly red.

Wang Shi was instantly suspicious, her voice going shrill: “It’s fine to get out of the heat — why is your face red?!”

Hualan stumbled and couldn’t explain herself, and Wang Shi felt more and more that her daughter was growing distant and keeping things from her. She burst out in a petulant scold. Hualan could only say quietly: “Your son-in-law… recently got a little filly… said regular movement is good for the body, he’s been teaching the daughter to ride…” In these few short words, she somehow managed to make it sound endlessly warm and tender — ah, but here her mother was in deep waters. She couldn’t very well say that after all the bitterness, sweet times had come at last, and that this middle-aged husband and wife found each other more and more pleasing with every passing day, dissolving into each other like milk and honey, the days sweeter than their honeymoon.

Wang Shi wasn’t blind. Though she had never seen it herself, just watching Hualan — her eyes luminous and warm, her skin lustrous, glowing as if she had shed years — she could well imagine what these past days of whispered intimacy and tender warmth between husband and wife must have looked like.

First she was glad for her daughter, and then immediately felt a surge of smoldering resentment — everyone else was sailing smoothly and happily along, leaving her alone feeling bleaker and more suffocated than ever, and finding no one in the family who understood her. She burst out cursing: “They all say daughters are a waste of money to raise — now I understand! You’re living well for yourself, and don’t care in the least whether your mother lives or dies!”

Hualan got a face full of spittle. Helpless, as this was her own mother, she just kept pressing down her temper and coaxing endlessly.

“Tell me! Which matters more to you — your husband or your mother?”

“Of course it’s Mother — the grace of giving birth to me is higher than heaven and deeper than the earth.”

“Good! Then stay here with me today — keep your mother company for a few days. Are you willing or not?”

“…”

“I knew all children are heartless!” Wang Shi wept loudly. “I’m a pitiable, helpless wretch, without anyone to depend on…”

“All right, all right — let me go and ask… come, let me look at your legs — oh, they’re red — does it hurt? Goodness, let me get the salve and rub it for you — we can’t have you falling ill…”

— How to naturally and smoothly topple this entire tower — Hualan was badly in need of remedial study.

Both sisters were enduring their own sufferings simultaneously, and equally in need of remedial study was Minglan — her subject being “Pretense.” Since Nanny Fang had come with the message, she knew that the fact of Kang Zhao’er’s absence from the Gu household needed to be concealed for as long as possible. Jiahi Residence’s inner and outer courtyards were strictly managed, and those who knew the truth numbered no more than five or six. Xiaotao volunteered to attend to the “Kang cousin” locked in the back room — occasionally going to the door to ask after her with warm concern, and even carrying a food box in to deliver meals, then eating a hearty meal inside herself and smashing a couple of dishes for effect. At such sounds, Luzhi, who would be listening nearby, would dart out and deliver a few cold, biting remarks. Working together, the performance was actually quite convincing.

For the sake of resting well and revealing as little as possible — since the pretense was now torn anyway — when the Madam came hypocritically to visit and counsel her, Minglan categorically claimed to be feeling unwell and refused to receive her. She showed up without expression only before Zhu Shi and Shao Shi, in silence, playing the role of someone quietly brooding. The whole household was all the more convinced that the Madam had truly infuriated her.

Kang Yima counted the days — two days later she came to make a scene, demanding to see Zhao’er. Minglan was too lazy to deal with this rabid mother-figure, and flatly refused to receive her. The Madam then led the party over, and Minglan directly blocked them at the inner ceremonial gate between Chengyuan and the former Marquis’s residence. Kang Yima made vicious threats, saying she would blow the whole matter wide open. Manager Liao Yong’s wife replied: “Please go ahead.” Minglan laughed coldly — she rather wanted to see how the matriarch of the illustrious Kang household would go about making a scene at the Gu household’s gate for all of the capital to witness.

When that failed, Kang Yima resorted to veiled threats — saying that by blocking them from seeing the girl, who could say whether something bad had happened to her? Manager Liao Yong’s wife’s expression was lofty and contemptuous, and she said coldly: “Precisely so — our Madam has already disposed of Miss Kang without a trace. You’re welcome to go to the Shuntian Prefect to file a complaint. If that doesn’t feel like enough, there’s also the sky-drum for royal petitions. If you don’t know the way, I’ll have the door-keeper arrange a carriage for you right now.”

Having delivered that line, Manager Liao Yong’s wife turned and walked away, leaving a group of stout matrons to block the entrance.

Kang Yima staggered with rage, but the Madam persuaded her to calm herself: “Think about it — if she weren’t truly furious, she wouldn’t be acting like this. This is the energy of someone who’s been pushed into a corner.” Kang Yima thought it over and went home.

Two more days passed, and Jiahi Residence remained utterly silent. Even the Madam herself began to sense something was off. Truth be told, forcing a concubine on someone was not a particularly sophisticated move — knowing Minglan’s nature as well as she did, how could someone so clever and clear-headed be angry for this long about a matter like this, without producing a single countermeasure?

A dread seized her heart. She hurried to send word to the Kang Mansion. Kang Yima also felt something was deeply wrong, and came once more.

“It’s been so many days — I don’t even know if she’s all right. At least let me see her once!” Kang Yima forced herself to suppress her anger and spoke in a reasonably pleasant tone — and yet she was met with a chorus of jeering laughter from the group of stout matrons in front of her.

One particularly sharp-tongued woman in an iron-grey thin silk waistcoat let out a particularly pointed comment, rolling her eyes: “Playing the doting mother now — where was all that concern before? She wasn’t her own flesh and blood — heartless as ever!” The woman beside her said: “Isn’t that the truth — throwing a perfectly good unmarried girl away without a care. Where was the concern for her life then?” And from somewhere in the back came low muttering: “Calling herself a mistress? Using your own daughter to climb a high branch — even the lowliest village women have more dignity than this!”

The voices were not loud, but drifting over, they were utterly piercing. Kang Yima nearly turned and swept away again, and was held back by Xiang Mama.

The Madam came slowly from behind with a composed smile, her eyes carrying a quiet authority: “After all, she’s a Kang Family daughter. Even a girl sold into service — if her parents want to see her, surely that’s not something to refuse?”

Against the Madam, the servants didn’t dare be rude. Manager Liao Yong’s wife replied with respectful firmness: “The Madam has said — if Kang truly misses her daughter, she should bring Miss Kang here herself. But, to be clear from the outset, this is not a tea-house or wine-shop where one can come and go as one pleases. The Madam is also not any close or senior family member — there are no grounds for keeping a guest’s young lady here for a long stay. Once Miss Kang arrives, please take the young lady home. The Marquis has not yet returned home, and the only male adult master in the household is the old master. Surely he would not compromise Miss Kang’s virtue.”

Kang Yima hesitated, and turned to look at the Madam. The Madam herself could not make up her mind — she was nearly certain Kang Zhao’er was no longer in the Gu household, but what if it was a trap? What if Sheng Minglan had deliberately let this rumor slip?

If Zhao’er then walked out perfectly unharmed — should she let her be taken away or not? If not taken away, they’d be self-defeating. If taken away, the entire concubine scheme would dissolve into nothing, and she would become a laughingstock.

An empty city strategy lay before them, and like Sima Yi before Kong Ming’s gate — the Madam dared not move. Was there a trap inside or not?

“If it pleases the Kang, please step over to the gatehouse, and we’ll send Miss Kang over right now. When mother and daughter are reunited and she’s in good health, you may get in the carriage and return home.” Manager Liao Yong’s wife smiled politely.

The Madam gritted her teeth — no! Even if she could only leave Kang Zhao’er there to annoy Sheng Minglan, it would be worth it.

Kang Yima was once again defeated and forced to retreat.

Two more days passed. A brief note was delivered from the Sheng Mansion to Minglan’s hand.

Minglan read it and smiled. The pent-up gloom of the past several days cleared all at once. She said brightly: “Come — help me get ready. We’re going to Xuanzhi Garden.”

The Madam was in the inner room playing with little Xian Ge’er, her face full of an affection that was entirely genuine — no one could have detected from it what a treacherous heart lay beneath. Seeing Minglan come in with a smile, she blinked in surprise and said: “You’re feeling better? Come, come, sit down.”

Beside them, Zhu Shi looked somewhat uncomfortable, but still stepped forward quickly to support Minglan. Minglan steadied herself with her enormous belly and sat down properly, looked at the small boy on the rattan couch and praised him for a moment, then came straight to the point: “I’ve come to report some good news to you.”

“What… good news?” The Madam had an unpleasant premonition.

Minglan fixed her gaze carefully on the Madam’s expression and said slowly: “The Kang cousin has finally found a good home.”

“What are you saying?” The Madam’s expression immediately fell. “A young woman’s reputation is important — don’t talk nonsense.”

Minglan smiled coolly: “The Kang cousin has already been taken home by her family. From now on you needn’t worry about her. If you don’t believe me, you’re welcome to send someone to ask Kang Yima — though…” she added with a contemptuous smile, “…she’s probably quite busy just now, and has no time to see you.”

The Madam shot to her feet, her expression uncertain.

“One more thing.” Minglan rose slowly, steadying herself on Danju’s arm and walking toward the door. “Kang Yima will most likely never come calling here again. My body is also heavy with child — from now on, should any other aunts, uncles, or cousins wish to come, please don’t summon me.”

“You—” The Madam was fuming, pointing at the door in fury.

Minglan turned and gave her one cold, clear look. Since it had come to this, there was no point pretending any further. Let them tear everything open — fine, let them go to war. Who was afraid of whom?

She walked out without a trace of fear, taking a few steps outside, then turned back and looked up at the enormous plaque above the hall doorway. The polished, gleaming red wood bore a richly carved and intricate design of auspicious lingzhi-unicorns and the “all auspiciousness returns” motif, with two large characters in solemn, upright calligraphy at the center — Xuanzhi. Hmph — a woman of such a vicious, serpentine character had absolutely no right to these two beautiful words!

Minglan let out two short, cold laughs. The next time she comes here — it will be the day every last corner of this main house and courtyard is stripped bare and washed clean.