A middle-aged man dressed in a sapphire blue diagonal-patterned embroidered thin silk strode swiftly toward the inner room. The maids and matrons in the courtyard could not conceal their expressions of astonishment: over the years, unless summoned, the Master would never set foot inside the main chamber.

Aunt Kang sat upright in the hall speaking with her son Kang Jin. Her expression was amiable: “Do your duties well. I have already spoken to your uncle — once your current term is complete, I will arrange an external posting for you.” Kang Jin was approaching thirty, his features fair and honest. Upon hearing this, he lowered his voice and advised, “Mother, please stop petitioning Uncle on my behalf. Not long ago, Yuan also wrote to complain about Aunt’s behavior. If you continue like this, Uncle will be put in a difficult position again.”

“Leave that to me. As long as your maternal grandmother is alive, the Wang Family is not yet your aunt’s domain to command.”

Aunt Kang was about to say more when she suddenly caught sight of her husband standing in the doorway. She froze for a moment. Kang Jin promptly cupped his hands in greeting and said respectfully, “Father is here.” Master Kang cast a sidelong glance at his eldest son and said coldly, “Go outside. I have words for your mother.”

Kang Jin had always held his father in respectful awe. Without daring to say more, he turned and left.

“What a rare guest. What wind has blown the Master our way?”

Aunt Kang regarded her husband with cold indifference — he was practically a stranger to her. Though he was nearly fifty, he carried himself with the refined elegance of a man in his thirties. Thinking of how she had spent her days and nights worrying over the household, while her own hair had turned prematurely white and her looks had faded, she felt a surge of stifled resentment.

Master Kang stepped inside, waved away the maids on either side, and his expression immediately darkened: “Had I not come now, I feared you would sell off my children before even realizing it!”

Aunt Kang’s heart lurched, yet she forced herself to hold steady: “In households struggling with finances, selling children is hardly unheard of.”

The moment money was mentioned, Master Kang felt a flash of embarrassment cross his face, then he barked, “Where have you taken Zhao’er?”

“Her health has not been good — she has been ill for several days. With the heat as it is, I feared she had contracted a seasonal pestilence and might endanger the family, so I sent her to the estate to recuperate.” Aunt Kang had prepared her story long in advance; she spoke without so much as a blush or a quickened breath.

“Rubbish!” Master Kang could not help but curse outright. “Even now, you still speak nothing but lies. A proper daughter of the Kang Family — you treat her no better than a maidservant or slave. You sell her off, give her away as a concubine, just as you please! Have you any regard for me whatsoever?!”

Knowing the matter had been exposed, Aunt Kang steeled herself and shot back with a sneer, “The Master now plays the part of a father, does he? You know enough to feel concern for your daughter. Only — how many times have you laid eyes on Zhao’er in all these years? If the two of you walked past each other in the street, I wonder whether the Master would even recognize her!”

“Stop deflecting!” Master Kang’s eyes turned fierce. “Just tell me — where has Zhao’er gone?”

“It seems the Master already knows. Why bother asking? I found a good future for Zhao’er.”

“You — you—” Master Kang pointed at his wife, the long beard beneath his chin trembling violently, clearly beside himself with fury. “You actually sent Zhao’er to be a concubine! You have utterly disgraced the Kang Family name!”

“Disgrace?” Aunt Kang let out a cold snort, raising her voice. “I wonder who it is that truly brings disgrace upon the Kang Family! Your worthy second brother — the year before last, when he gave one of his illegitimate daughters to someone as a concubine, why did you not go and put on airs as the eldest brother and rebuke them for disgracing the family?”

Thinking of his several younger brothers who showed little respect for him as the eldest, Master Kang felt another surge of fury.

“Moreover—” Aunt Kang shifted her tone, softening her voice. “I did this for the Kang Family’s sake. Was the Master not recently seeking reinstatement? If Marquis Gu could lend a hand, would it not yield twice the results with half the effort?”

She had prepared her reasoning from the moment she resolved to wade into these murky waters. “Before, we were only distantly connected to the Gu Family through my younger sister’s husband, and we still had to look to her husband’s good graces. You always thought little of him, didn’t you — said he was slippery and calculating, always scheming, that he had lost the integrity of a man of letters. Now, as long as the Gu Family has accepted Zhao’er — the name may be unsavory, but the advantage is real. My niece will surely not mistreat Zhao’er out of consideration for family ties. As long as Zhao’er can bear a son or daughter, we can deal directly with the Gu Family. Would that not serve both ends?”

In truth, this was only half the reason. The other half was that she genuinely wished to make Minglan look bad — that little daughter of a concubine strutting about with her nose in the air infuriated her, and this would serve nicely to vent some of that spite.

Master Kang listened from beginning to end, his complexion cycling from ashen to flushed to a deep, livid purple — he seemed partly tempted, partly in a towering rage, his beard quivering without pause. “You — you have done a fine thing!” After suppressing his feelings for a long time, he finally managed only that one sentence, then flung a sheet of paper in front of Aunt Kang, “Read this for yourself!” Aunt Kang regarded it with deep suspicion and slowly picked it up. She had barely read a few lines before her face changed dramatically.

“A bungling fool who spoils everything!” Master Kang paced back and forth across the room without stopping, cursing as he went. “I had originally asked my brother-in-law to smooth things over at the Censorate — so that it would not go like last time, when an impeachment memorial ruined everything. Things were proceeding smoothly enough, yet just a few days ago someone impeached me for improper conduct, and yesterday the Ministry of Personnel rejected my petition.”

Aunt Kang was thrown into a state of utter confusion and said in a panic, “Did they not say that my brother-in-law has been transferred to the Ministry of War to oversee grain routes? Perhaps he truly cannot restrain matters at the Censorate.” This was the first time in her life she had ever said a word in defense of anyone from the Sheng Family.

“Transfer? That was a promotion!” Master Kang, consumed by both envy and fury, felt rage rise within him like fire. “By normal convention, the Left and Right Vice Ministers must have the ability to serve — yet Sheng Hong has only just been promoted to the fourth rank this very year! And he is placed in charge of military affairs and grain routes — a lucrative posting and a critical one. Do you understand what this means?”

He let out a long breath, his chest burning with envy. “It means those above intend to make full use of him! The Emperor regards him as one of his own — that is why he has placed him in a position of importance!” As for why the Emperor regarded Sheng Hong as one of his own, Aunt Kang did not even think to ask.

“Every man in officialdom has sharp eyes. Right now Sheng Hong’s star is rising, and he has just stepped down from the Censorate — who would not give him some measure of face? If he had genuinely wished to apply pressure, how could any of this have gone wrong?!”

Master Kang grew more furious as he spoke. He walked up to his wife and denounced her in a voice thick with resentment: “By forming this noble alliance, the Sheng Family is now riding high — why would they share even a drop of benefit with anyone else! And you go rushing to send a favored concubine in to compete for his attentions? Are you not digging under their very walls? You tried to steal the chicken but lost the bait, never got the mutton but came away reeking of the smell!”

Aunt Kang was both alarmed and frightened. The paper in her hand trembled without ceasing. Unable to think of anything to say, she could only retort: “You — why did you not say so sooner? You only told me you had asked a family associate, not that you had also turned to my brother-in-law!” Had she known earlier, she would not have gone charging into the crossfire at such a moment.

Master Kang fell momentarily silent. Out of habit, he found it distasteful that Sheng Hong — a man whose birth and examination career were inferior to his own — had achieved a more successful official career. Added to that, Aunt Kang Wang was prone to putting on airs and making things difficult, so he had been unwilling to tell his wife he had asked Sheng Hong for a favor.

Aunt Kang breathed heavily several times. The malice in her eyes grew even more pronounced, and she said through clenched teeth: “Things being as they are, since we have already offended my brother-in-law, I may as well go all the way — I am determined to see this matter through!” She suddenly recalled the Lady’s promise — that once Zhao’er entered the household, she would certainly help her gain favor and conceive a child. Recalling this, like a drowning person clutching a lifeline, Aunt Kang began murmuring to herself, over and over in self-persuasion: “Do not fear, do not fear. Even if it is difficult for now, a few years will see it through.”

In any case, her husband and she were not of one mind. If her husband were to rise in rank and grow wealthy, it would only embolden those little seductresses. Better to look to the future instead — once Zhao’er had established herself securely, she could still benefit her own children.

Smack! A sharp slap landed heavily. A red mark swiftly bloomed across the pale cheek.

Aunt Kang covered her face with her hand, looking at Master Kang in utter disbelief, her voice hoarse: “You — you dare strike me?!”

“Utterly irredeemable fool!”

Master Kang’s face was dark and terrible. He lowered his hand. “How do you think I came to know of this matter?! That proud son-in-law of yours came here just now and said he could not bear to see his wife’s younger sister become a concubine — if he and his wife had our permission, they would take charge of Zhao’er’s marriage themselves. I was so thoroughly shamed I had nowhere to put my old face.” And at last he understood why Sheng Hong had suddenly refused to offer assistance. Thinking of how his carefully laid plans for his career had come to nothing once again, he was consumed with rage.

“Were it not for the years you spent in mourning service to my parents, I would issue you a letter of divorce this very day!” Master Kang ground his teeth.

“You would make me the laughingstock of the world!” Aunt Kang scrambled to her feet and shrieked, “If you have the backbone, divorce me right now! Or is it that you cannot bear to lose the support of our Wang Family? Do you think I want to live like this?! Taking one concubine after another without end — this vast house can barely contain them all! Go ahead and drive me and my children out and live your good life with your little seductresses!”

Master Kang flew into a rage: “A man having one wife and four concubines is perfectly normal conduct. You are the one who is jealous and vicious — do not speak of such things! A virtuous wife means fewer calamities for a husband. It is precisely because I took you — this calamity — that I have spent half my life thwarted and without ambition! Had I not been bound by my parents’ arrangement, how could I ever have married you!”

“Kang Haifeng! You have only one wife and four concubines?!” Aunt Kang was by now like a woman gone mad. She lunged forward and seized Master Kang’s sleeve. “You licentious scoundrel — do you think others cannot see your black heart?! If you were a capable man, a proper head of household, one who could let me live my days in peace, who did not make me worry constantly over the children’s futures and over money — even if you took a concubine, I would not breathe one word! But you play the upright gentleman while possessing not a shred of real ability — today begging my elder brother, tomorrow imposing upon my brother-in-law, and using my dowry money to fill your holes!”

She beat at her husband with both fists, crying and cursing at the same time: “Utterly useless! Could you not at least have treated me and my children decently?! You would have at least had something to show for yourself on one of two fronts! All you know how to do is put on airs and scheme day and night against my dowry — my whole life has been ruined!”

“Completely unreasonable!”

Master Kang, worn out and repulsed by her weeping and clinging, shook her off sharply and strode out of the room without looking back.

Aunt Kang crumpled to the ground and began to wail, covering her face. She did not know whom she ought to blame.

Her father had been kind and affectionate, and had not in fact been set on the match with the Kang Family. Her mother had always looked down on this pompous and arrogant Kang clan. It was she herself who had caught a glimpse of him from behind a screen and set her heart on him. Meanwhile, Sheng Hong — whom she had once sneered at — had risen steadily in distinction, while her foolish and incompetent younger sister had grown more and more radiant by the day. Her elder brother, who had doted on her, had since taken a wife and had children of his own, and no longer answered her every whim without question.

She felt heaven and earth had both gone blind. She was beautiful, and she had capabilities — yet fate had dealt her such bitter hardship. She wept alone for a long while, then suddenly remembered something urgent, and quickly composed herself — fighting back the heartache to straighten her appearance, she called for the carriage to be prepared and set out.

The carriage headed northward. After approximately half an hour, it arrived before the gates of a quiet and secluded residence. A small, neat compound of linked courtyards, decorated with simple elegance — willows green and flowers bright in the full warmth of midsummer.

“Ma’am, had you not come yourself, I was about to go and find you.” A matron led Aunt Kang inside. “Something dreadful has happened. Our young mistress has been crying since early this morning until now and has not eaten a single meal.”

Aunt Kang was burning with anxiety and unwilling to waste another word, walking quickly inside. As she entered the inner room, she found Kang Yun’er looking utterly listless, her eyes swollen red as two large peaches. She immediately felt her heart ache, and pulled her daughter into her arms, soothing and comforting her.

“Since receiving the letter from Yuyang last night, he has refused to speak a word to me. He went out early this morning. I read the letter and only then understood what had happened.” Kang Yun’er’s tears poured down like a spring, and she wept until she was gasping for breath. “Mother, why did you do this?!”

Aunt Kang said angrily, “Does this confused child not know who is close and who is distant?! You are the one who shares his bed, who has borne him children — and he has the nerve to be angry with you for the sake of a distant cousin?! Just wait until I go and knock some sense into him!”

Yun’er was by nature gentle and kind-hearted. She knew full well that her mother was in the wrong, yet she could not bring herself to reproach her too harshly, and only wept: “I told you long ago — the two branches of the Sheng Family are closer than most blood brothers, to say nothing of the fact that the old grandmother has shown great kindness to the main branch. I asked the servant who came with the message this morning, and he said that as soon as Father-in-law received the old grandmother’s letter, he flew into a thunderous rage, and even Aunt Yun has scolded me! You know how filial my husband is — how could he go against the wishes of his elders?!”

Aunt Kang knew every word of this was true, yet she could not stop herself from lashing out: “They are nothing but a merchant family! Had it not been for the fact that your age could not afford further delay at the time, how could they have ever been a match worthy of you?! Do not be afraid — I would like to see which member of the Sheng Family dares to take it out on you!”

“Mother—!” Yun’er called out in a forlorn voice, choked with grief for a moment before she finally managed to say, “The letter says that Mother-in-law is asking me to return to Yuyang!”

Aunt Kang did not grasp this at first, and asked blankly, “Return there for what? Who would see to Changwu’s daily needs? Who would manage the social obligations of an official’s household here in the capital?”

Yun’er wept: “The letter says that capable maidservants from the old family home will be sent to attend to those matters. It asks me to bring the children back — firstly, to fulfill the duties of filial piety, and secondly, to let the in-laws see the grandchildren. Then, if Father agrees, they intend to arrange a proper marriage for younger sister Zhao’er. Father and Mother-in-law say that since they are one step removed, it would be better for me to go in person — as her actual elder sister — to help find a suitable match for her.”

“You are not even the eldest daughter-in-law — what sort of in-laws do you have to attend upon?!” Even Aunt Kang herself felt this argument was without foundation.

Yun’er’s tears fell like a string of pearls, one after another, until her eyes were blurred with weeping: “Mother, since I married into this family, I have managed the household on my own. From the very beginning, Mother-in-law had wished to have me follow proper etiquette in the old family home for a few years. Moreover, many officials posted away from the capital send their wives ahead to attend to the parents-in-law, while they themselves take concubines on assignment. It was only because the old grandmother interceded on my behalf that I have lived so comfortably and freely, and have been blessed with both a son and a daughter. Now that Mother-in-law has personally made this request, how could I dare not comply? I have truly spent very few days in the service of my husband’s elders.”

Aunt Kang felt the world spin around her. After a long dizzy spell, she gradually steadied herself: “And your husband — he said nothing at all?”

“He said only one thing.” Yun’er kept dabbing the tears away, heartbroken. “Before Grandmother passed away, while she was still lucid, she grasped the hands of Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, and Aunt Yun and kept repeating that they must show filial reverence to the old grandmother of the other branch — otherwise, her spirit would not rest in peace after death.”

In truth, this was not a difficult choice for Changwu at all. On one side stood a rather unreliable wife’s family. On the other stood the grandmother of the other branch, toward whom he felt deep kinship and gratitude; the two branches of the family were profoundly close and affectionate, visiting one another frequently, supporting each other as officials and merchants. Beyond that, there was also a cousin-in-law currently in power. For the sake of a concubine-born wife’s younger sister — someone he had never even met, and who might not even succeed in gaining favor — to offend a cousin-in-law who had been close friends since childhood and who was now the legitimate wife of the Marquis — it was tantamount to throwing away a watermelon to chase a sesame seed, and one that might not even be caught.

Whether from sentiment or practical reasoning, he made his decision without the slightest hesitation, acting exactly as his parents had instructed in their letter. Of course, he was still fond of his wife — but the Sheng Family’s sense of reason reminded him that in the world of officialdom, the charge of being unfilial was not something to be taken lightly.

Only at this moment did Aunt Kang feel a deep remorse for her daughter. She murmured for a long while, unable to find words. Yun’er could not bear to watch her mother suffer like this, and instead offered several words of comfort. Aunt Kang then fell as though seized by a kind of madness, her eyes reddened, her voice gone hoarse: “I will never let them go! Just you wait, just you wait—” She cursed repeatedly, and the targets of her words were clearly the old grandmother and Minglan.

Yun’er heard this and immediately cried out in alarm: “Mother! Please do not do anything foolish again! Even now, though Father-in-law and Mother-in-law are furious, as long as I serve them well and conduct myself with diligence and propriety, and my husband pleads on my behalf, I believe that in time it will all pass. But if Mother were to do something… further… I fear I would never be able to live with my husband again for the rest of my life!”

In truth, Sheng Wei’s household was one of upright principles. Even though the eldest daughter-in-law Che Shi had borne no child for years, the in-laws had never once pressed for a concubine to be taken. A short period apart was manageable — but if it stretched to ten or twenty years, or even until the in-laws had both passed before the couple could be reunited, that was a different matter entirely.

Upon hearing these words, Aunt Kang tilted her head back and collapsed, fainting clean away. Everyone in the room was thrown into a panic. Yun’er pinched the philtrum point, poured tea down her throat, and after some time Aunt Kang slowly revived. She squeezed out a sound from between her teeth: “They… they actually dare… use you to threaten me!”

……

Upon receiving the news that Yun’er was to return to the old family home, Minglan felt an inexplicable pang of guilt, and said softly, “Grandmother has always been fond of our Second Sister-in-law. To think that for my sake, she would disregard even her—”

Nanny Cui felt greatly relieved in her heart and comforted her: “No one is beating her or scolding her — she is merely being asked to return and attend upon her in-laws. What wife does not do the same? Besides, a mother’s debt paid by her daughter is the way of heaven and earth. If she wishes to blame anyone, she should blame that mother of hers, who stores up no virtue for her children!”

This was rare eloquence from Nanny Cui, and even Minglan was silenced by it.

After instructing Danju to prepare some gifts to send to Yun’er, Minglan still could not lift her spirits. A shadow lingered over her heart that she could not drive away.

What in the end did the Lady intend to do?

This woman was deep and calculating — utterly unlike the flashy and shallow Aunt Kang. Even if Kang Zhao’er entered the household, was her gaining favor and bearing children a certainty? What is more, this affair had been riddled with flaws from beginning to end. Had she pressed hard, she could have broken the scheme with nine chances out of ten. Yet that old woman, with her false benevolence and practiced air of virtue, had thrown away all pretense of decorum — and all for nothing more than this feeble little jab, just enough to irritate her? It made no sense at all.

Minglan found herself more baffled than ever.

At that very moment, the person who baffled her was sitting composedly and listening to a report.

“So you are saying — the Kang Family matter has fallen through?”

In a room shrouded in dim quiet, the Lady lit a slender stick of incense with unhurried movements and inserted it slowly into the incense burner. On the altar ahead stood a sandalwood Maitreya Buddha, its surface darkened and lustrous with the patina of age.

“Aunt Kang has fallen ill. It was the Wang Matron beside her who came out to tell me.” Nanny Xiang said, bowing her head.

“She is a capable one — we have met our match.” The Lady spoke softly, without the least sign of anger. “A fine stratagem — removing the firewood from beneath the cauldron. Even had I exposed it, the girl had already been sent away. At a moment’s notice, I cannot produce a second eligible niece to create another disturbance. Hmph — that useless creature, all my effort spent on her, all that noise she made — and in the end, just a good-for-nothing!”

“One truly could not tell — the Second Mistress is so young, yet her hand struck with such precision. Not the slightest crack was left exposed, every trace sealed shut.” Nanny Xiang sighed, and casually glanced at her mistress with some hesitation: “Perhaps it would be best to let the matter rest here.”

The Lady shook her head: “It is too late for that. The play has already begun — it must go on.”

“My Lady—”

The Lady raised one hand, silencing Nanny Xiang, then turned to face the Maitreya Buddha. Her gaze became strangely distant: “This Buddha — it was that year when the old Marquis had it brought here from a great monk of the Southern Seas. It is said that with its ever-smiling face, it can cause all things to leave no trace of dust. Tell me — the Marquis spent his days in reverence before it. What do you suppose he was praying for?”

Nanny Xiang was taken aback, and gave a rueful smile: “That… how could an outsider know.”

“I will tell you.” The Lady’s voice was cold as ice and jade. “Maitreya is the Buddha of the Future. He was praying to be reunited with Elder Sister in the next life.”

A breathless silence fell over the room. Nanny Xiang raised her head and looked at the girl she had raised with her own hands. Even her aged eyes reddened. The Lady gazed steadily at the Maitreya Buddha — no taller than half a chi — and said with quiet indifference, “In truth, the Marquis understood it perfectly well. Elder Sister was not a suitable match — poor at bearing children, incapable of managing a household, and not long-lived. Yet he simply loved her. No one else, no matter how good, no matter how virtuous, was of any use.”

At this she suddenly smiled, and a strange light flashed in her eyes: “This past year, watching the warmth over on that side — I finally came to understand. Just like his father, the same stubborn streak runs through the second son. Neither can be moved by anyone.”

Nanny Xiang ached inside, and smiled: “Do not torment yourself like this. Was the old Marquis not wonderfully good to you? He was truly fond of you.”

The Lady let out a self-mocking sound: “Fond of me? You do not know — in truth, he was also fond of that spirited woman from the Bai Family, and fond of Tingyan’s birth mother as well. But that is different — none of those were the same—” None of them were love.

“His feelings for Elder Sister were a consuming, heart-lost obsession — a debt from a previous life. There will never be anything like it again.” The Lady stared into the distance, her tone strangely bitter.

Then, all at once, a terrifying light flared in her eyes. “Do you know why, all these days, we have been thwarted at every turn and met with one setback after another? Hmph — it is not because those two are both brilliantly clever. It is because they are husband and wife of one heart, trusting each other completely. No matter what the outside world may attempt against them, it cannot corrode that foundation. That is the crux of it!”

“And so, this time — I want only Sheng Minglan’s life.” The Lady gazed up at the Buddha, her voice suddenly charged with something fierce. “Is it not true that the second son has also been drawn to that entertainment out there, that he has been drawn to Qiu Niang too? Hmph — men, once their hearts are given entirely to one person, throw all else to the wind! Even if the second son were to remarry in the future, he would never share this depth of feeling again. Hmph — as long as husband and wife are no longer a seamless whole, it becomes manageable!” Estrangement, sowing of discord — even if Minglan’s child survived, there would be a long drama to be played out between a child and a stepmother in years to come.

Nanny Xiang was grieved in her heart, and said choked with tears: “But if it comes to that, you yourself cannot walk away unscathed. Would it not be better to wait a while — perhaps that side will find themselves in trouble on their own?”

“There are but two roads,” said the Lady with an expression of utter unconcern. “Either let the second son cook me slowly over a low flame, or choose a swift end myself. As long as no evidence is seized, the most he can do is drive me out. Wait? Hmph — wait until the children on that side are many and grown? By that time, even if something were to happen to those two, it would no longer be Wei’er’s turn.”

“Moreover — will there ever be such a good opportunity again?” The Lady thought of her arrangements and could not suppress a sudden surge of excitement. “There are many in the south who seek the second son’s life. He thinks himself hidden and secret. As long as those close to him along the journey leave a few traces, let us see which party finishes him! And even if he does not die out there — when he returns, all he will find is Sheng Minglan’s corpse.”

Gu Tingye was a man who clearly distinguished gratitude from grievance. He knew full well that Gu Tingwei was truly entirely ignorant of the matter and would certainly not deal harshly with him. In these troubled times, blades and spears on the battlefield knew no mercy — who could say whether Gu Tingye would come back alive without an heir?

As long as Gu Tingwei was safe, that was all that mattered. If she did not act now, acting later would become far more difficult. Once Gu Tingye had finished his grieving, should he remarry, the new wife might not be as hard to deal with as Sheng Minglan — and it would take who knew how many years before another legitimate heir was born. A husband still mourning his first wife; a household not necessarily in harmony — at that point, maneuvering and instigating discord (at which she was quite experienced) would be far superior to having no foothold to exploit now. Besides, she herself was growing older by the day, while Tingye and his wife were still in their prime. To simply suffocate here like this — truly she would die without resignation.

The Lady composed herself slightly and sat down slowly: “These past few days — how has the second son’s wife been looking?”

Nanny Xiang steadied herself and said clearly: “Although the Kang affair has been resolved, she is still visibly preoccupied with worry. I watched carefully — it does not look like an act.”

“She is a clever one — she knows the matter is not so simple.” The Lady smiled. “Good that she is preoccupied — more reflection, more anxiety, truly good! What a pity there is no more time to wait, or else I would let her fret a while longer… Ah yes — how goes that matter?”

“You may set your mind at ease. Everything is in order. Like mother, like daughter — the same kind of fool. She will make a fine pawn!”

※※※

Author’s Note:

Wang Shi’s situation is actually easy to understand.

At first, Sheng Hong was an ambitious young man. His greatest need at that time was to rise in rank and grow wealthy. So faced with his wife’s many shortcomings — plain in appearance, stubborn and obtuse — he was largely able to endure. But as time went on, friction between husband and wife mounted. Once he had gradually established himself in officialdom, his emotional needs rose to the same level as his professional ambitions. And so Lin Yiniang — beautiful, skillful, and clever — came into being as a matter of course.

It all makes complete sense.

— It seems most men follow this very trajectory through life: during the struggle, they want a hard-working, self-sacrificing wife to battle alongside them; once success is achieved, the best-case scenario is to be rid of the “worn-out old woman” and exchange her for a new, delicate sweetheart.

I think those bitter young men who cannot find wives have no need to resent modern women for being materialistic. Just look at how few among our country’s wealthy men ever remain faithful to the wife they had before they were rich — that alone should be warning enough for young women. Before criticizing women again, first examine men’s own worst tendencies. (I am not advocating for concubinage — please take note!)

Aunt Kang’s situation is also easy to understand.

A normal heart does not become twisted like that in a single day — it is the accumulation of many years. Her misfortune began with her marriage. But the contrast for her is the old grandmother.

When a person encounters misfortune, what matters most is one’s attitude: whether one faces it bravely and fights with strength, continuing to treat others with a generous and kind heart — even those who have wronged you — or whether one turns malicious and harms the innocent, redirecting one’s bitterness and damaging others.

To speak frankly: Aunt Kang at least has children of her own flesh and blood, and those children are reasonably filial. But the old grandmother went from being a carefree daughter of a marquis’s household to becoming a widow in her youth — and what is more, she had no children of her own blood. In that patriarchal society, this was the true and deadly blow.

Her tragedy also originates in marriage. But look at how she is.

A truly noble and virtuous character is one that does not change because of fate’s injustice.