The morning had passed in a blaze of smoke and sparks. Minglan picked up her chopsticks, looked over the table full of fine dishes, and for the first time knew what it meant to taste nothing but wax. She reflected that rather than eating and suffering from indigestion, it would be better to eat less. Setting down her chopsticks, Minglan paced back and forth inside the room — clutching her enormous belly, slow and clumsy, restless and irritable, like a fat little kitten with an iron nail stuck in the pad of its paw.

Nanny Cui found it painful to watch, and at last could bear it no longer. She pressed Minglan down onto the couch and said sternly: “Nothing in heaven or earth surpasses the importance of having a child. The Madam must rest and recover. If truly there is no other way, we will go into hiding at the estate — let anyone try to find us there.”

Minglan blinked, and after a moment’s thought felt this was a splendid idea. She could bring the midwives and all necessary attendants with her and disappear quietly to the hot-springs mountain estate. By the time that scheming old woman and the Yu Family people tracked them down, she would likely have already given birth. At the thought of these particular merits of the plan, Minglan felt a sudden lightness in her heart, and obediently went to lie down as Nanny Cui had bid. Sleep missed overnight makes afternoon rest all the sweeter — and even better, when she opened her eyes, she could see through the glass-bead curtain that Nanny Chang was sitting at the table in the outer room, speaking softly with Nanny Cui.

“Nanny Chang — why have you come yourself? And how is young Chang Nian?” Thinking of little Chang Nian, still nursing his arm back to health, Minglan felt a pang of guilt. She raised a hand to signal Nanny Cui to help her into her outer robe. Nanny Chang’s expression was grave, though her words carried a dark humor: “What is the Madam saying? It is not as if the old woman is a healing panacea — Nian’er can look at me but cannot take me as medicine. He cannot do without me for even a moment.” Nanny Cui could not suppress a smile.

A fresh set of dry summer clothes was put on. Minglan dismissed the others, then asked Xiaotao and Danju to stand watch at the doorway. With Nanny Cui seated in the middle of the room, and Nanny Chang and Minglan the only ones remaining inside, Minglan finally spoke in a low voice: “The Madam’s meaning — Danju has already told the old woman all of it.”

Minglan suppressed her impatience, and still had to make her position clear first: “It is not that I am being foolish or prying into things — but now people have already come right to our door. There is some old feeling between myself and the Yu Family, and I am wary of striking the rat and breaking the vase, so I had no choice but to speak up…”

Nanny Chang’s hands — wrinkled and aged — pressed down over Minglan’s small hands, solid and steady. “What kind of person is the Madam? After all these days together, does the old woman not know? All this while, the Madam has never once asked about the Marquis’s past.”

In truth, she had found herself in a difficult position before. If Minglan were to ask about Man Niang, should she tell her or not? Gu Tingye had given her no signal, and to speak on her own initiative felt presumptuous. Yet not speaking felt as though she were doing Minglan a disservice. Fortunately, Minglan had never once pressed for an extra word — which put her both at ease and filled her with a deep respect.

“About that previous Madam Yu…” Nanny Chang pondered carefully. Minglan’s hand tightened. She felt that even her heart and liver were trembling. “The old woman truly does not know. How Madam Yu passed — the Marquis never mentioned a single word of it.”

Minglan’s heart sank like a stone. She could not hide her disappointment in her wide eyes: “The Marquis never even told Nanny?”

Nanny Chang slowly lifted her head, her expression grave: “…At that time, young Ye had a terrible falling-out with the old Marquis, and in a fit of unbearable temper he left — I could not persuade him to stay no matter how I tried. But barely over a month later, he came rushing back from the south in a great panic. I asked him what was wrong, and he would not say. Not long after, the Gu household began sounding the cloud board, announcing that Madam Yu had died of illness.”

So soon? A flicker of confusion passed through Minglan, and she asked softly: “What was the Marquis’s manner and state of mind at that time?” Nanny Chang slowly shook her head: “Hard to say. Something was not quite right.” Minglan did her best to encourage her: “Whatever Nanny is thinking, please speak freely.”

Nanny Chang gave a nod and tried to recall carefully: “Originally I thought young Ye had returned in such haste because he had received word from the Gu household that Madam Yu was gravely ill. But looking back afterward, that did not seem to be it either. Because I was worried about young Ye being treated badly inside the Gu household, I had been spending money to have people keep an ear out for news near the Gu Family’s outer gates. Madam Yu was supposedly so gravely ill — and yet the Gu household had not sent for a single physician. The old woman grew suspicious at the time.”

Minglan greatly admired Nanny Chang, and took hold of her hand, encouraging her with her eyes to continue.

“There was something else.” Nanny Chang’s pace of speech grew even slower. “I remember that the day after young Ye returned, he drank until he was profoundly drunk, and then would not go home — he came to the old woman’s place instead. I looked after him and helped him sleep it off. He held his jaw clenched tight and would not say a single word. The old woman thought it strange at the time — what kind of man has his wife at death’s door and still drinks himself into this state? My young master — although he has some temper — is not the sort of heartless scoundrel who lacks all conscience. Even if that Madam Yu had treated him poorly, they were still husband and wife. My young master would not behave this way…”

“Perhaps the Marquis was drinking out of guilt and remorse.” Minglan ventured with a touch of sour humor.

Nanny Chang’s old eyes narrowed even more, and she continued to shake her head: “That did not look like his manner. I know the young master’s nature — he is not one to say pretty things with only his mouth. If he truly felt he had wronged someone, he would set about making proper amends. His manner at that time was more as though he was full of wronged anger and resentment that had no outlet — enraged, and so he drowned it in wine.”

This assessment struck Minglan right at the heart of what she knew. Gu Tingye was a man of direct action, who expressed his views on matters of gratitude and grievance through what he actually did. Because Duan Cheng had shown him kindness in the past, he had left his heavily pregnant wife and gone to rescue Duan Cheng’s younger brother (this great scoundrel — Minglan could not help quietly cursing him two or three more times). And because he felt he had wronged Yu Yan Ran, causing her to be married off to faraway Yunnan Province, he had quietly and without a word arranged a generous annual allotment of tea trade licenses for the Duan Family’s benefit. When Minglan found out, she had been strictly ordered not to tell anyone. Only when Minglan had shown him Yan Ran’s letters several times over, affirming that Yan Ran was genuinely, truly, truly living very happily, did he begin to consider reducing his involvement in the southwestern tea market.

And so — if he had truly felt deep guilt for Yu Yan Hong, according to his behavioral patterns, he should have spent his days and nights at her bedside to comfort and care for her, or armed himself and gone to abduct two of the finest physicians in the land, or even raided the imperial palace for thousand-year ginseng and ten-thousand-year tortoise shell — all of which would have been more in keeping with his character.

“Afterward, Madam Yu passed away, and young Ye did not even wait for the burial rites to conclude before leaving again. That departure stretched into many years.” Recalling the past, Nanny Chang could not help but sigh. “In the space of ten or so days, only in the few days after Madam Yu’s passing did young Ye say a few words — that he had been blind and witless to have grown close to Man Niang. After that, not another word.”

By rights, the death of a wife was a fairly serious matter — particularly a new bride, and one who died so swiftly and without warning. Even a man who had just lost his wife and become a widower would surely want to speak a few words to someone. Even Changbai would probably compose a five-character verse or two lamenting that though bound by fate in this life as husband and wife, fortune had not allowed them to remain together.

“So then — what is it that Nanny means to say…” Minglan’s eyes brightened as she listened.

Nanny Chang bowed her head and turned things over in her mind again and again.

At the time, she had not been without her suspicions. She had also tried to sound things out on two occasions, saying things like “so young, how could she suddenly be ill, and suddenly be gone?” — but Gu Tingye had always changed the subject and refused to engage. All the same, she could still detect something unusual in him. Though Gu Tingye did not let it show on his face, she could sense from his conduct and manner a quality of evasion that seemed tinged with something like distaste — as though he could not bear to bring up the subject, as though it were best if the whole affair had simply never happened. And yet Gu Tingye was not a man who ran from things.

“That Madam Yu’s death — young Ye had no hand in it.” Nanny Chang enunciated each word carefully, her expression solemn. “Not only had he no hand in it — that Madam Yu must have committed a grave transgression.” As for whether the Gu Family had a hand in it, she did not dare to draw a definitive conclusion.

Minglan let out a long, slow breath and felt some relief. Speaking with the wisdom of hindsight, she had in fact harbored this same feeling.

If that were so, then the Yu Family’s reactions all made sense. They believed themselves to be in the wrong, so they had swallowed the bitter water in silence and never pressed the matter of Yu Yan Hong’s death, never dared to insist that Gu Tingye take another daughter of the Yu Family as his wife, and never dared to play the in-laws’ role and come visiting as though nothing had happened. Up until this very morning, everything about how both the Gu and Yu Families had behaved was consistent with this conclusion. But then — what had given Eldest Young Mistress Yu the sheer audacity to march here and make trouble?!

Minglan puzzled over it in genuine bewilderment, turning it over and over in her mind. Then, all at once, a flash of light crossed her thoughts. During the commotion of the morning, when Eldest Young Mistress Yu had referred to Gu Tingye, there had been a moment of unnatural, evasive flickering in her gaze — and for some reason this had lodged itself in Minglan’s memory.

“…In the time before and after Madam Yu’s passing — did the Marquis have any dealings with the Yu Family?” Minglan suddenly asked.

Nanny Chang was startled for a moment, then hastily said: “I should think not. Young master was in a terrible state of mind. He did not even stay for the burial — he rushed off again as fast as he could.”

Like a crack splitting open what had long been murky darkness, a most rational explanation at last emerged from all those accumulated suspicions. Minglan forcefully exhaled a long breath of relief, then slowly rose, supporting the small of her back as she walked a few steps, and turned back with a smile.

“Let us not concern ourselves with how Sister Yu of the earlier time met her end — in any case, it was her own doing, and the Yu Family is in the wrong. This is a matter that absolutely cannot be spoken of openly, which is why so few people know of it. Within the Gu household, it was probably only the old Marquis, the Lady, and the Marquis himself who knew. Within the Yu Family, only the elder Master Yu and Eldest Young Mistress Yu know — the rest of the Yu Family was in Dengzhou at the time and should have no knowledge of it.”

“Then why would Eldest Young Mistress Yu still dare to—” Nanny Chang was thoroughly confused. What backbone did someone with a guilty conscience have to come picking a quarrel?

“Because someone interfered and stirred things up.”

Minglan stood in the middle of the room, with the faintest of smiles. “All these years, the Yu Family’s eldest branch believed themselves to be in the wrong. They swallowed the bitterness and kept quiet, never daring to make a fuss. But someone, very recently, went to seek out Eldest Young Mistress Yu and told her — at the time, the Marquis was not aware of what had happened.”

Nanny Chang’s narrowed eyes flew open, her expression greatly shaken.

“The Marquis knows that he knows. We also know that he knows. The Lady knows all the more that he knows. But the Yu Family does not know. When the incident first occurred, both families were caught completely off guard. Whatever came after — the funeral arrangements, and all that followed — must have been handled by the Lady.” Minglan carefully pieced together what must have happened at that time, and the more she thought, the more it made sense. “When the matter broke, the Yu Family was consumed with shame and guilt. They would not have dared to ask too many questions.”

Nanny Chang was gradually beginning to grasp the essential point, and followed along with Minglan’s reasoning, continuing the thought in a low voice: “And yet, very recently, someone told the Yu Family that young master Ye was actually not informed of what happened. If the matter were carefully concealed, it might be possible to muddy the waters and gloss things over.”

As for who that person was, both of them knew full well without it being said.

Minglan slowly sat back down across from Nanny Chang, smiling: “And not only that — this person also promised all manner of benefits. The elder Master Yu’s official career has not flourished, and Elder Master Yu himself does not have many days left. If a child could be adopted into Madam Yu’s name, that child would necessarily take the Yu Family as his maternal relatives. In the future, there might even be opportunities to bask in reflected glory and receive assistance.” And all these considerations were unknown to the rest of the Yu Family.

“…But is this not a deception?!” It was only after a good while that Nanny Chang came back to herself. “One can be fooled for a time, but not forever. Once young master comes home, would it not all be exposed?”

“The Yu Family is nothing but a pawn.” The smile on Minglan’s face had gone somewhat cold. “Once I gave my consent and let them go off and make a public commotion about it — saying they had already obtained the Gu Family’s agreement, that the ceremony would be held later, but for now it had to be done quickly to boost Elder Master Yu’s spirits, and the Yu Family set out a few tables of wine and had Chang Ge’er go around making formal greetings as an established fact — the ones who would suffer the consequences would be only the Yu Family and the Marquis.”

At that point, the humiliation Gu Tingye would face was easy to imagine — not only would his youthful recklessness be dragged out and paraded before the world all over again, possibly with censorate officials joining in to pile on, but there would also be the question of succession. Unless he had the heart to rid himself of that child, the trouble would truly be without end.

As for Eldest Young Mistress Yu and her husband — just like Aunt Kang — once they had served their purpose as pawns, what would that person care whether they lived or died?

Nanny Chang drew in a sharp breath and exclaimed: “What a vicious scheme!”

She stood in shock for a good while, and was just about to ask Minglan what they should do in response, when she saw her staring blankly upward, lost in thought. Nanny Chang spoke up to inquire.

“Concubine Gong is very probably aware of this matter as well.” Minglan raised her head, deep in contemplation.

At the time, the servants and attendants who had come as part of Madam Yu’s dowry had long since been dismissed, sold, or returned to the Yu Family — all except Hong Xiao, who had remained behind. She had been at Madam Yu’s side since childhood, and should know everything with perfect clarity. Only now did Minglan finally understand why Gu Tingye always wore an expression of undisguised revulsion whenever he was around this woman who, to any outside eye, had every quality to inspire sympathy and affection. Having someone close at hand who was fully aware of a secret that one wished kept from the world was always a source of discomfort.

“This scheme must have been in the making for a long time. Empty words alone would probably not have been enough to convince even Yan Ran’s father — there must also have been a living witness.” Minglan’s thoughts ran further ahead, and she murmured to herself: “Around the time of the split between the fourth and fifth branches of the household — Concubine Gong was always finding reasons to go over to that side. I was so occupied at the time that I thought little of it and let it pass. Thinking back on it now — that person must have arranged to bring Concubine Gong away somewhere during that period, to use her as testimony that the Marquis truly had no knowledge of events at the time. Only then would the elder Master Yu have had the courage to allow this — and this is what gave Eldest Young Mistress Yu the nerve to show up here and behave so outrageously!”

No wonder that scheming old woman had chosen precisely this moment to strike. No wonder Concubine Gong Hong Xiao had been so unusually, impossibly well-behaved and quiet in the days since — and Minglan had actually thought her own commanding presence had intimidated the woman into submission.

Nanny Chang ground her teeth with fury: “This vile creature! This vile creature!” She was cursing two different people in turn. “Madam — the others we cannot manage, but first let us tie up this creature surnamed Gong!”

Minglan gave a rueful smile: “What she had to do has already been done. What use would tying her up be now? Ah, well — better late than never, I suppose.” She then called out loudly for Nanny Cui to enter, and in a low voice gave instructions to have Hong Xiao placed under close watch. Nanny Cui acknowledged the order and went.

“Madam — what do we do now?” This time Nanny Chang was genuinely at something of a loss.

Minglan, on the contrary, was calm. The worst fear in the world is not knowing — now that she had at least some footing and understanding, she was no longer afraid. She smiled: “What else can we do? Counter deception with deception. We will play a little stratagem of our own.”

Nanny Chang grasped her meaning and said with uncertainty: “But what if the Yu Family refuses to take the bait? And what if we have guessed wrong about everything?”

Minglan tilted her head and considered, then spread her hands: “I have already mustered the escort. If truly there is no other way, I will take my valuables, Nanny will take young Chang Nian, and we will go to the hot-springs mountain estate to take shelter. It is easily defended and hard to attack — let anyone try to get in there!”

Nanny Chang was rendered speechless, and could only stare in exasperation.

Minglan sighed. Unless she truly had no other option, it was safer and more sensible to give birth here in the household — after all, several months of preparations had been made, and everything needed was fully in readiness. If she truly ended up at the mountain estate, lacking this and missing that, it would be difficult even to summon a physician in an emergency, let alone have things arrive in time.

……

After an exquisitely satisfying sleep, she stretched herself awake, got out of bed, and had two bowls of rice, wiping her mouth with contentment afterward. Minglan waited with fighting spirit all through the morning — full of eager readiness for battle — until it was time for the midday meal and still no one had come to challenge her. She had no choice but to go and take her afternoon nap. When she opened her eyes once more, it was to the entirely unsurprising report — accompanied by Luzhi’s teeth-grinding — “The Yu Family has come again, and is in the small garden pavilion!”

Minglan felt a surge of elation that was very nearly the feeling of a soldier who had been longing for a fight. She waved her hand with great authority: “Change my clothes. I will receive them.” What she actually wanted to shout was “Close the gates, release the dogs.”

Seeing Eldest Young Mistress Yu again, Minglan now had ample time to study her from head to toe. What kind of nerve and thick skin did it take to come making trouble at someone’s door like this? (Assuming her own guesses were correct.) Eldest Young Mistress Yu seemed to feel Minglan’s eyes on her all over and visibly squirmed, yet still managed to roll her upturned eyes across toward her in an imposing fashion, then said with authority: “Well then? Will you agree or will you not?”

Quite the air of a gang negotiation. Minglan glanced left and right, and smiled: “I rather expected to receive a visit from the old matriarch Yu today.”

Fourth Aunt Yu’s face bore considerable traces of exhaustion: “Mother had intended to come, but her health is not good. We managed with great effort to persuade her to stay.”

“Fourth Aunt is such a filial daughter-in-law — it must be quite a burden on you.” Minglan smiled with great warmth and gentleness, then turned her head toward the Lady, who sat watching the proceedings as though at a good opera, and toward the combative Eldest Young Mistress Yu. “Were the old matriarch to hear what we have to say today, she might well end up collapsed in bed.”

Eldest Young Mistress Yu’s expression sharpened: “What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing at all — only to say, if I am simply not willing, what would you intend to do about it, honored kinswoman?” Minglan said unhurriedly.

Eldest Young Mistress Yu was full to the brim with barely contained fury. She gave a cold laugh and raised her voice: “My poor wretched child married into your Gu Family and was dead in less than a year — you at least owe us an explanation! If you think I am not enough for you to deal with, I will go this very moment and bring my mother-in-law and the respected elders!”

Fourth Aunt Yu, seeing the atmosphere grow dangerously tense, hastily said: “Minglan, do not be alarmed. This is all for the sake of our father-in-law. It is simply a formality, a symbolic act to bring good fortune and lift his spirits.”

“Ai-yo, my poor ill-fated daughter — how pitiable that you died in the Gu household without even a mourner to carry the earthen jar for you…” The mood seemed to have seized her, and Eldest Young Mistress Yu actually began to wail and cry aloud — though without a single tear to be seen.

“Honored kinswoman, please hold off your weeping for a moment and hear me out.” Minglan quickly raised her hand to interject. “Yesterday after you left, someone happened to come to me — a nanny whom the Marquis has trusted since he was young, someone who looked after him all those years he was wandering away from home.”

Minglan smiled pleasantly as she spoke, watching with satisfaction as Eldest Young Mistress Yu stopped her false crying and listened with a puzzled frown. She continued: “The nanny saw the worry all over my face and asked me what was wrong. I told her about the adoption matter. The nanny was completely taken aback and immediately slapped the table in outrage, saying: ‘What outrageous impudence! What unbelievable nerve!’ — honored kinswoman, can you imagine why she said this?”

Eldest Young Mistress Yu’s color began to change. Her first instinctive reaction was to look at the Lady. The Lady smiled back at her and gave her a reassuring signal with her eyes. Eldest Young Mistress Yu turned her head back around and forced herself to glare hard at Minglan: “I truly do not know!”

Such stubbornness — refusing to yield until she saw the Yellow River! Minglan smiled inwardly with contempt, and began to place her wager. On her face, however, she continued to smile with increasing warmth: “After hearing the nanny’s words, I still could not believe it. Sister Yan Ran is such a gentle and virtuous person — how could Sister Yan Hong have behaved so? I told myself I must ask for myself!”

Eldest Young Mistress Yu’s complexion was beginning to go pale. She was still biting her lip and holding her ground.

“So I had Concubine Gong brought in to speak with me. After all, she too is a person of the Yu Family. Honored kinswoman — have you seen her recently?” Minglan casually tossed out this remark and studied Eldest Young Mistress Yu’s expression closely. She saw her visibly pause for a full breath. Minglan smiled and went on: “She told me quite a few things. Only after hearing them did I understand why the Marquis has never been willing to mention Sister Yan Hong.”

Eldest Young Mistress Yu could hold out no longer. She began to sway in her seat. Fourth Aunt Yu, listening in complete bewilderment, simply stared at her sister-in-law in a daze. At this moment, the Lady on the far side of the room gave a light laugh and said with unhurried ease: “Hong Xiao is not one who talks much, you know — I wonder whether someone frightened her, or perhaps even beat her?”

Without so much as turning her head, Minglan kept her smiling gaze fixed on Eldest Young Mistress Yu: “I am told that Concubine Gong was raised in your presence, honored kinswoman — you know her nature better than anyone. She is a clever person, who knows how to weigh what she stands to gain or lose in her current situation at the household. Whatever someone else can promise her, I will add double on top. What do you think she would choose to do?”

Eldest Young Mistress Yu’s breathing grew ragged. She turned in helpless confusion to look at the Lady once more. This time even the Lady’s expression had shifted. She only knew that Concubine Hong Xiao had been placed under watch since the previous night and could no longer pass word to the outside — she did not know what had been said or what had passed inside.

“Concubine Gong’s old mother is still alive, is she not? I have promised her that mother and daughter will be reunited, given enough silver for a lifetime, restored to common citizen status, granted a plot of land and a house. After that, she could take in a son-in-law to live with them and have children — what is there in the world that is better than that? What do you say, honored kinswoman?”

Minglan deliberately lowered her voice, her expression gentle and unhurried, leaning close to Eldest Young Mistress Yu as she spoke each word softly and deliberately. Eldest Young Mistress Yu swallowed painfully, looking at Minglan with an expression of turbulent disbelief, not even realizing her own voice was trembling: “…You — you are saying — the Marquis — he already knew…”

“Honored kinswoman!” The Lady called out sharply, and rose to her feet.

Eldest Young Mistress Yu fell silent.

An audible sound of contempt came from Minglan’s nose: “All these days, I had originally felt that the Marquis’s complete silence toward the Yu Family and lack of any communication was somewhat inappropriate on his part. But after learning the truth of the matter, I will say one thing—” She suddenly let the warmth drop from her face, and what replaced it was pure undisguised mockery. “Hmph! That Sister Yan Hong may still lie in the Gu Family’s ancestral plot and receive the incense offerings of Gu Family descendants — that alone is a benevolence carried to its utmost, a full measure of dignity preserved for both families! And yet some hearts are still not satisfied, and dare to come here and cause such a scene — do you take the Gu Family for easy prey?!”

Eldest Young Mistress Yu seemed to have gone white to the very tips of her fingers. She sat there swaying and barely upright. Fourth Aunt Yu, having picked out enough threads of meaning from what she had heard, began to understand that some grave wrong had been committed by the niece herself while living in the Gu household — something that might well be a genuine scandal. At the thought that her own family had still dared to march here and make trouble over it — was that not outraging the Marquis as thoroughly as possible? She broke out in a cold sweat on the spot, and looked at Minglan in helpless, terrified uncertainty.

Minglan turned toward her and said softly: “I expect you were also unaware of this, Fourth Aunt.”

Fourth Aunt Yu nodded repeatedly, her voice pained: “It was only because Father-in-law’s illness has been growing more severe month by month that your fourth uncle and I rushed up from Dengzhou within the past two months. How could we possibly know?”

Minglan shifted her gaze slightly to one side, making her meaning plain: “Fourth Aunt, you are a sensible person. Please take care not to follow Kinswoman’s example in doing a muddle-headed thing — letting yourself be used as someone else’s weapon and bringing great trouble down upon the Yu Family.”

Fourth Aunt Yu followed the direction of Minglan’s eyes and looked at the Lady, then looked at her own sister-in-law in her dejected and defeated state, and after a moment’s reflection her mind gradually cleared. She could now make out five or six parts of the full picture.

Minglan looked coolly at Eldest Young Mistress Yu and enunciated each word clearly: “The matter of adoption — it is utterly impossible. Should honored kinswoman remain unwilling to let this rest and insists on pressing the matter, then please, do make your move. Given my current condition I am unable to act, but once the Marquis returns, he will personally make the journey to the Yu household, and will explain to Elder Master Yu and all members of the Yu clan in full what transpired with Sister Yan Hong — and let everything be settled transparently before everyone.”

Eldest Young Mistress Yu let out a sound of distress and half-fainted — whether genuine or performed.

Fourth Aunt Yu drew a deep breath. She had come to see clearly that the whole affair was an enormous and thoroughly embarrassing farce, and the sooner it ended today, the better. She immediately supported her sister-in-law and said: “Minglan — we have been most impertinent and presumptuous these past two days. We will take our leave now. Should the Marquis have any anger over this…” She found even these words difficult to get out, and could only fix her eyes on Minglan with a long, meaningful look. “Please — given the old ties between us — bear with it and forgive us.”

Minglan let out a quiet sigh and said in a conciliatory tone: “Fourth Aunt, it need not be said. Setting aside the bond between myself and Sister Yan Ran — let alone the kindness you showed me, and the bond between the old matriarch and my grandmother — all of that still counts for something.”

Fourth Aunt Yu relaxed with relief, quickly called for the maidservants to come and help support Eldest Young Mistress Yu, said not another word to the Lady, and bowing her head, made a hurried departure.

“If the Lady has no further instruction for me, I shall go and rest.” Minglan watched them depart, and slowly began to rise.

“Wait.”

The Lady had watched every bit of what transpired and inwardly marveled — she had finally met her match. The scheme she had planned to drag out over many days had been entirely exposed ahead of time. But she had prepared for this.

Minglan slowly turned around, and said, arching one brow: “What further guidance does the Lady have for me?”

The Lady said nothing. She simply raised her hand and flicked a wave to the maidservant beside her.

The folded purple bamboo door-curtain was gently lifted aside, and a woman and a young child entered with bowed heads, taking their place in the middle of the room. They curtsied respectfully toward Minglan and the Lady. The young woman’s voice was crisp and melodious as a ringing bell striking the stage.

“Man Niang pays her respects to the Lady and to the Madam.”

Minglan slowly sat back down, entirely composed, to wait — though the Danju and Luzhi beside her were practically breathing fire from their eyes.

The Lady smiled with unhurried confidence, still speaking in that measured, deliberate cadence of hers: “The adoption matter, since even that Yu Family is no longer pressing for it, I will say no more. However—” she gestured toward Chang Ge’er, “this child is after all the Marquis’s own flesh and blood. It is not proper to let him remain outside the family indefinitely. And so—”

“And so, as his legal mother, I ought to be magnanimous and generous — and welcome this child into the household, so that he may be recognized as belonging to the family. Is that not right?” Minglan was losing patience. A dull aching pain had begun in her belly, and the sensation of downward pressure was becoming distinctly more pronounced. She cut off the scheming old woman’s speech and finished it for her. “But was it not the Marquis himself who said the child should not be brought into the household? Ah — of course — the Marquis was confused for a moment, and could not bring himself to broach the subject. It falls to me as mistress of the household to act with the virtue of a principal wife, to persuade the Marquis wisely, and accept this child with graciousness — is that not right?”

Listening to these words loaded with sarcasm and mockery, the Lady’s face seemed to twitch several times. Minglan found this amusing, and continued in a single breath: “And furthermore, if Chang Ge’er is to enter the household, naturally Man Niang cannot be left behind. To separate a child from its mother is against the order of heaven and contrary to human harmony — how could one possibly tear apart mother and child who depend on each other for their lives? So Man Niang should also enter the household — is that not right?”

Nanny Xiang saw that her mistress had been cut off one line after another, and said in a stern voice: “Please watch your words. Where are the Madam’s proper manners toward her elder?”

“It is precisely out of proper respect,” Minglan smiled without embarrassment, “that I feared tiring the elder and took the liberty of finishing her words for her.” Nanny Xiang was speechless with indignation. The Lady’s face went dark. At her age, she could hardly engage in a bickering match with a young daughter-in-law — it would be beneath her.

“There is one thing, however, that I genuinely cannot understand,” Minglan smiled cheerfully. “The old Marquis most emphatically refused to allow Man Niang into the household. We cannot simply disregard his wishes because he is no longer with us.”

The Lady’s face was expressionless, but she seemed to have been provoked. “The old Marquis’s meaning was that Man Niang should not enter through the front gate before a proper first wife had been taken — to avoid losing face before the in-laws. It was Yan Hong who was young and sharp-tempered and unwilling to accommodate anyone, or else she would have been brought in long ago.”

Minglan’s admiration was genuine — nor did she bother to leave any face intact: “Yesterday before the Yu Family, you praised Sister Yan Hong until she sounded like a blooming flower. Yet now she has become ‘unwilling to accommodate anyone’? You truly have said every kind of thing there is to say — I have truly gained a new understanding today.”

The Lady was furious and slapped the armrest of her chair, about to launch into a scolding. Minglan immediately raised her hand with a great show of haste to stop her: “It is my fault — I was in the wrong, I spoke without thinking. You are known throughout the world for your patience and gentle temper. Surely you would not stoop to quarrel with a young person over this!” The Lady’s breathing rose and fell for several exchanges before she forced herself to press it down again. She suddenly realized that all her scripted lines had been snatched away by Minglan and delivered before she could get them out — what was she to say next?

Minglan watched the shifting expressions on the Lady’s face with amusement, then smiled: “Since you intend to have them enter the household, allow me to ask two or three questions at least.”

The Lady suppressed her anger and gave a nod.

Minglan looked toward Man Niang below, and found Man Niang also looking back at her. A visible expression of surprise had settled on Man Niang’s face — she seemed to have been quite startled by Minglan’s performance just now. Reading the contempt in Man Niang’s manner, Minglan guessed she was probably thinking: how did such a rough and ill-bred girl ever manage to win over Gu Tingye? Minglan very much wanted to clear her own name and explain that in ordinary life she was absolutely a model of gentleness, propriety, and all five virtues.

“Madam,” Man Niang had already lowered her head again, her voice sorrowful as an orchid in a deserted valley, resonating throughout the room. “Man Niang is of lowly birth and would never dare to harbor any ambitions. Only — my child is pitiable, fatherless and helpless. I beg the Madam to show mercy — give our mother and child a way to live!” As she said this she knelt, kowtowing again and again, and pulled Chang Ge’er down to kneel with her. The boy seemed terrified, huddled in upon himself and trembling.

All those years of wandering from place to place had long since stripped away whatever freshness she had once had. But her voice was still as fine as ever.

Minglan glanced around at the audience in the room, feeling sincerely that there were far too few spectators — such a grand performer, and her best gestures were going to waste. Man Niang’s art was being lavished on the blind. Minglan herself felt not the slightest stirring of emotion — in fact her belly had begun to twinge with a dull, rhythmic pain.

“That year in Dengzhou, when I encountered the Madam — Man Niang had eyes but failed to recognize a person of great importance, and I gave offense. Please do not hold it against me, Madam!” She kowtowed with increasing fervor. “That day, hearing the Madam stand up for the eldest young mistress of the Yu Family — who would have thought that the Madam would one day come to the Gu household herself…” The implication was unmistakable — that Minglan had behaved without integrity and gone back on her word.

Minglan was not the least bit angry. She only said with a mild tone: “I am not as clever as you. For matters of marriage, I only know to listen to my elders. My elders told me to marry, so I married. I had no idea of all these various calculations. You think too highly of me.”

Man Niang was stymied. Her weeping and pleading stalled for a moment.

“What a fine voice you have.” Minglan suddenly remarked — a completely unconnected remark. Man Niang had not expected this either, and was startled for a moment before she quickly made herself choke up: “This lowly person has had a hard life, scraping by however she could from a young age.”

“Your performance and your bearing are truly first-rate — it is a pity that being born a woman, you cannot appear on stage for an audience.” Minglan was not interested in listening to her performance and simply smiled: “I hear that the piece you love best to sing is ‘The Story of Liuyun and Qiao’? Even after following the Marquis and having no worries about food and clothing, you still sang this tune often at home — breaking it apart and singing it section by section. Especially the passage ‘The Zhuangyuan pursues the beauty through a snowy night — Liuli weeps and with her heart’s blood pledges her devotion’ — when you were alone, you would go through it word by word, line by line, over and over.”

Man Niang went completely still. Her palms began to slowly grow cold. This was a secret lodged at the very bottom of her heart.

“We are both women. Let me ask you something honestly.” Minglan’s face was full of smiles, her tone easy and familiar. “Do you admire the Lady Liuli?” Man Niang opened her mouth, not knowing how to reply.

Minglan answered for her, turning toward the Lady with a smile: “I am asking for nothing, truly — of course she admires her. Why else would she have sung this piece day and night after leaving the entertainment trade, as though for fear people would not know what profession she came from?”

Man Niang went chalk white. She bit down hard on her lower lip.

Sun Tzu’s art of war teaches: fight your own battle — do not let the enemy lead you by the nose. If the enemy wishes to fight on the open plain, force it to fight in the mountains. If the enemy wishes for a direct confrontation, wage guerrilla warfare and wear it down. So — Man Niang wished to speak of her pitiable origins: Minglan spoke of artistic aspirations. Man Niang wished to use the child as a card to play: Minglan steered clear of that topic entirely.

“A man of high principle sets aside a lifetime of brocade and glory, abandons the hopes of his teacher and his parents, is forsaken by the whole world — and still takes the Lady Liuli as his wife. How those of us ordinary, unremarkable women envy this.” Minglan watched Man Niang with a savoring expression. “Looking at what you have done, you are not one who craves comfort and ease. You followed the Marquis for thousands of li — you are a woman of great ambition. Could it be…” she let a smile play at her lips, “…could it be that you wish to follow the Lady Liuli’s example, and have the Marquis disregard all the world’s judgments and take you as his wife through proper and honorable ceremony?”

“No!” Even if this was a thought she had cherished every waking and sleeping moment, Man Niang rejected it outright on instinct. She was just about to say “This lowly person of base birth — how could I dare harbor such an ambition” when she was again cut off by Minglan, who said with a teasing air: “You ought to be careful — say something often enough, and the Bodhisattvas will hear it and take it as true.”

Man Niang bit her lip, and found she truly could not say the words. The Lady sitting to one side had been listening with her eyes wide open, wanting to say something to help, but unable to find a place to step in.

“There is nothing wrong with any of this,” said Minglan, enduring the dull downward aching in her belly, half-joking: “A woman with ambition is a good thing. You do not wish to enter the Marquis’s household, you do not want a comfortable life — you want only this person, the Marquis himself. This proves you have real discernment, that you recognized early that the Marquis is an exceptional talent who will one day break free of all restraint and soar far above those who looked down upon him!”

Even as she spoke, she could not help letting her gaze drift toward the Lady for just a moment — enough to send the woman reeling in fury.

Man Niang said nothing more, abandoning her expression of pitiful supplication, her eyes gone cold and dark, fixing on Minglan in a hard, unwavering stare.

“But in the end — you still did not become a second Lady Liuli.” Minglan was not frightened by her gaze — the angrier, the better. She continued directly: “You plotted and contrived with everything you had, and still ended up without a name, without a status. Not only could you not enter the household — even your son could not be acknowledged by the family!”

“You—!” A cry burst from Man Niang’s throat, charged with rage and grievance.

“Do you know why?” Minglan pressed.

Man Niang’s furious eyes locked on Minglan — she was like a female beast crouching in wait, coiled to spring.

“I will tell you.” The smile faded from Minglan’s face, her expression becoming earnest and serious. “Your greatest mistake was not understanding this: if you truly love a person, you should think of what is best for him.”

“The Marquis in his heart had the deepest admiration for his father. No matter how fiercely they quarreled, he still wished for peace between father and son. If you were the Lady Liuli, she would have left the Marquis long ago — she would never have allowed their father-son relationship to be constantly torn apart and set against each other on her account. The Marquis wished to marry a virtuous daughter of a good family. If you were the Lady Liuli, she would have turned and walked away without a second glance — she would never have stood in the way of the Marquis’s future, as you did, going all the way to Dengzhou to ruin that engagement. The Marquis wished for both his children to be safe and healthy and to grow up well. If you were the Lady Liuli, she would have raised the children with the utmost care, allowing them to become self-reliant and strong-willed as they grew to adulthood — not abandoned an infant daughter, then dragged along a four-year-old son to wander ten thousand li. I ask you plainly: how many characters does Chang Ge’er know by now? How many books has he read?”

Minglan’s voice was level and measured, yet every word landed like a needle thrust.

Man Niang breathed in rough, ragged gasps. The calculations of half her life had all flowed away like water — how could she not be consumed with hatred? Yet not a single word would come from between her teeth. She could say that Minglan had been born into wealth and ease, that it was easy for her to say these things from where she stood. But the Lady Liuli’s circumstances when she faced her own trials had been incomparably more desperate than Man Niang’s own.

“From beginning to end, you thought only of yourself. Without regard for whether the Marquis was willing, without regard for how your children would fare, you acted only according to your own wishes and desires. And you have the nerve to compare yourself to the Lady Liuli?!” Minglan deliberately let an expression of contempt appear on her face. “With the effort you spent on all this stubborn, relentless scheming, a Lady Liuli would long since have devoted those years to helping countless destitute and suffering people — and built herself a life and a name of her own!”

She was truly a remarkable woman — so many remarkable qualities, it was almost beyond recounting. Every time Minglan read the records about the Lady Liuli, she felt as though she were reading the One Thousand and One Nights, and could not help deeply suspecting it had all been embellished and mythologized by later admirers. In truth, by the time anyone had achieved what the Lady Liuli had achieved, whether or not that magnificent gentleman had remained devoted to her unto death was already a secondary matter. To borrow a phrase from a civics lesson: she had found her own value in life, and lived it with great joy.

Man Niang’s eyes were bloodshot. Her fingers were almost digging through the carpet beneath her. Her gaze, full of venom and resentment, was fixed without wavering on Minglan.

“Naturally.” Minglan finally added this last word. Her tone became once again gentle, even carrying a thread of pity. “Most important of all — the Marquis has never cherished a feeling for you anything like what that great gentleman felt for Lady Liuli. And so — all is finished…”

This sentence became the last straw that broke Man Niang. In that one instant, Man Niang did not know what she was doing — only that she had gone half-mad and was lunging forward. She was pinned down hard by the maidservants Danju had brought. The small boy at her side was already frightened out of his wits, huddled and shaking. Man Niang continued to mutter in a low voice, half-cursing, half-sobbing: “You vile creature…”

Minglan turned her head toward the Lady, her voice cooled: “Do you still wish to have her brought into the household?” The Lady, who had watched every moment of this, was struck with profound astonishment. Her lips moved a few times and she said nothing. Minglan turned her head back again and saw that Man Niang had slowly breathed herself back into steadiness. Minglan said: “Release her.”

Man Niang raised her head with a blank and hollow gaze, her face covered in tear-tracks. This time Minglan believed she was not performing.