In early November, the Emperor ordered the Imperial Astronomical Bureau to select an auspicious date. He then rode in imperial procession to the Yanyun Terrace in the western outskirts, where he assembled his generals, made blood oaths, and offered sacrifices to Heaven. With the rites complete, the armies marched forth toward Longxi.

Among the appointments, the Emperor had deliberately separated the Duke of Ying and the Marquis of Weiyuan. Whether this was to prevent the father-in-law and son-in-law, being so close, from going soft on their troops, or to prevent the two from falling out and ruining the campaign, no one could say. In any case, the final arrangement had Gu Tingye accompanying the Duke of Ying northward, Shen Congxing leading the Duan brothers westward, while Marshal Bo and General Gan held the central command as the main force.

According to a report from the Tu brothers, who had accompanied the old Master Gongsun to the front, the western outskirts encampment had gathered well over a hundred thousand troops. Banners blotted out the sky, swords and armor stood in dense rows, and a murderous aura surged straight up to the clouds.

Minglan could only regret having no chance to witness this ancient spectacle in person. With him no longer at her side, her heart felt hollow and aching. She sat on the heated kang with a grim expression, so severe that the maids and servants standing below did not dare make a sound.

“Now then, Miss Fengxian, do speak up,” Luzhi said loudly, pointing at the mistress and maid standing before her. “A perfectly decent person and you had to go sneaking around like a thief!”

Fengxian stood there with her head bowed, saying nothing. Her delicate, gentle face still bore traces of tears. It was her maid who grew indignant first, muttering, “Our young lady only went to see some family from home. What’s so terrible about that? All this talk of punishment…”

Minglan shot the maid a cool glance, and the girl immediately fell silent.

“I laid down the rules long ago — if you wish to meet with people from outside, you must inform me.” Minglan slowly turned her finger rings. “Yet here you are, going about it without a word, bribing the gatekeeping matron with silver to open the inner gate, and then slipping away to the side corner gate to meet with someone. What exactly do you think you’re doing?”

Fengxian still did not speak. Her maid, however, put on a clever expression and broke into a smile. “Madam is known for her kindness — we all know that. Our young lady worried about bothering you with all that you have to manage in this household, so she…”

“Then why not simply say a word to Matron Liao Yong? Did you?” Minglan asked mildly.

The maid was stumped. She then added lamely, “Matron Liao… isn’t she busy too…”

Minglan was too tired to argue further and said to Matron Liao Yong at her side, “Deal with that gatekeeping matron — don’t keep her in the household anymore. Ten taels of silver and the gate was opened just like that. Useless.”

Matron Liao Yong bowed and replied, “She is a longtime attendant from the old residence and was originally a gate-keeper there. I never expected her to be so easily bought.”

Minglan nodded. “Now that the Marquis has gone out, the household gates must be kept even more strictly. Later, recommend a few people to me. Not only must someone guard at night, they must not slacken during the day either.”

She spoke one sentence, and Matron Liao Yong acknowledged each one.

Minglan glanced at Fengxian’s maid. “Having broken the household rules, you deserve punishment — there is no arguing otherwise, no one should say I am young and that this household has no discipline. But I have no wish to punish Miss Fengxian too severely, either. Since you and your mistress are so devoted to one another, you shall take the punishment in her place.”

The maid immediately panicked, crying out for mercy with a terrified expression. Matron Liao Yong called two matrons forward to seize her, and said coldly, “Don’t think a little cleverness lets you play tricks before Madam. The rules of this household are not yours to change at will!”

The maid was still wailing, “…We… we were sent here by General Gan!”

Matron Liao Yong laughed coldly. “That other maid who came along to serve Miss Fengxian — that Pianxian — where is she now? I already warned you: don’t think yourself so important. She died without even knowing how!”

As she said this, she cast a glance at Fengxian, her eyes making no secret of their contempt and warning.

After the maid was dragged out, Fengxian could hold herself together no longer. She raised her eyes to look at Minglan and forced herself to remain composed. “What does Madam intend to do with me?”

“The Marquis told me that when old General Gan sent you here, he said, ‘This is the daughter of a condemned official. She has some looks and a reasonably gentle disposition — she may serve the Commander for sweeping and amusement.'” Minglan turned away indifferently, letting Xiaotao switch sides to knead her aching calf. “You are a woman who has read books, Miss. So tell me — what do you think ‘sweeping and amusement’ means?”

A quiet ripple of mockery moved through the room. Matron Liao Yong spoke first. “We servants never had much schooling, but even we know what that means. Sweeping — that sounds like proper work. Amusement, on the other hand…heh heh… that’s just a thing to be played with! And yet, Madam never once made you pick up a broom, never used you for ‘amusement,’ and has kept you fed and well-clothed, with new silk garments every season.”

The surrounding eyes were like needles against bare skin. Fengxian’s face flushed red, then drained suddenly to a sickly white.

Minglan watched her for a moment, then waved for the servants and matrons to withdraw, keeping only Xiaotao and Luzhi in the room. Then she said, “You asked what I intend to do with you. I would first like to ask — what do you yourself intend?”

Fengxian raised her head sharply. With tear-filled eyes, she said piteously, “…Though the Gan family bought me out of the Office of Education, I still carry the household register of a criminal’s slave. How could I live a normal life out in the world? I can only beg Madam’s mercy and give me something to eat. I will serve Madam and the Marquis loyally…”

Before she could finish, Minglan had already waved a hand. “Save that kind of empty talk for later.”

Seeing Fengxian’s expression fill with despair, tears falling freely, Minglan spoke frankly, “You have been in this household four or five years already — I was not even here as early as you. If the Marquis had any intention of taking you in, why would he have waited until now? You are the descendant of a condemned official, and you were sent here by the Gan family. The Marquis will not have you. If he wanted to take a good Yiniang, where couldn’t he find one? Why would he specifically want you?”

Fengxian knelt down on the floor. She knew all too well that the daughters of condemned officials were mostly sent to the Office of Education to suffer. The lucky ones were redeemed by merchant families to serve as concubines; the unlucky ones were sold into brothels. Families of standing rarely took women from the Office of Education as Yiniang. The Gan family had only sent her here as a plaything, and besides, the Gu and Gan families were wary of one another. Yet at first, she had thought that if she could win Gu Tingye’s favor and affection — first as a personal attendant, and after bearing him a child or two — with Marquis Gu’s accomplishments and prestige, she might slowly be elevated in status. But who would have thought…

She could not hold back her tears. She was already past twenty. Since her father’s conviction, the whole family had been stripped of everything, and she had drifted like floating duckweed with no place to put down roots. “…Madam… is my whole life, just like this, over?”

Minglan sighed. “Nanny Chang said you are someone who still knows shame. These years I have watched you from the side — you have been reasonably well-behaved. Before you now, there is one path.”

Fengxian hurriedly raised her head, her eyes full of hope.

Minglan said, “First — if you have any reliable relatives, I will release you to go to them. Go somewhere far away, marry a farming family, and I will treat it as sending off a maid with a dowry. Second — Che Niang is here in our household right now. I can ask her to help. Either we find you a decent marriage into a modest small household, or we find a wealthy family for you to enter as a concubine — the further south, the better. Out there, far from the Emperor’s eyes, no one will ask about your origins.”

Fengxian listened with a restless, shifting expression.

Minglan continued, “Furthermore, if you have no wish to leave, I can look around on the estate and find you a reliable, steady manservant to marry — that is the third path. Make your decision quickly. As the years pass, none of these options will be easy.”

After saying so much in one breath, Minglan felt tired. She sent Luzhi to escort Fengxian out, then leaned back softly against the bolster pillow, fingers resting lightly on her belly, staring up at the ceiling beam painted with bright red pomegranate vines, lost in thought.

Before Gu Tingye left, he had told her she could begin making arrangements to settle Fengxian. Did that mean that old General Gan would soon…?

The Emperor’s arrangements for the campaign were quite intriguing. By seniority, even the Duke of Ying would have to call General Gan “old brother” — let alone Shen, Gu, and the Duan brothers. Only Marshal Bo outranked him, leaving Gan no choice but to serve under him. To borrow a phrase from a story she had once read: “Back when I was a squad leader, you were still hauling your iron pot as the camp cook!”

And besides, what the army was pursuing this time was a guerrilla force. The central command, flying its conspicuous main-force banner, was plainly being used as a decoy — marching back and forth while accomplishing nothing, and unable to escape the charge of “returning empty-handed, wasting the treasury.”

If the Emperor was pleased, he would smile graciously: “My dear generals, you bear no fault — you made an enormous contribution to the other two armies. You shall all be rewarded together.” If the Emperor was displeased, he would turn cold without warning: “You are both seasoned commanders. I never expected this disappointment.”

Minglan estimated that the Emperor would most likely appear very displeased in public, and be very pleased in private.

It seemed Marshal Bo had staked his entire reputation on this — willing to spend half a lifetime’s glory to win the Emperor’s favor for his grandson. Formidable, truly formidable… Yet if even she could see through a scheme of this level, how could the Gan family possibly have missed it?

Minglan shook her head and put it out of her mind. As for Gu Tingye, this arrangement was actually not bad. The Duke of Ying was always reliable — the sort who was steady and would not restrict his subordinates too tightly. The advantage was avoiding a major disaster; the disadvantage was that no spectacular achievement could be won. But no matter — as long as he came back safely. Let the glory go to the Imperial Uncle’s household to show off.

The more she thought, the better she felt. She curled up on the kang with her belly in her arms, rolling happily back and forth, smiling to herself like a little mouse who had successfully stolen oil, as though her husband would be home safe and sound by tomorrow.

After that day, Minglan had assumed that a frail beauty like Fengxian — the kind who seemed likely to be swayed by the wind — would spend months agonizing over such a difficult choice. Yet it turned out that when it came to her own life’s marriage, the woman was not indecisive at all.

In just two days, she had Cuiwei discreetly convey her answer to Minglan: she was willing to become a concubine in a wealthy household. However, she asked that no matter what, a good family be found — prosperous enough, a mistress of kind character, and a husband not too old, as otherwise she could not bear children.

…Such specific demands.

Minglan was speechless for a moment, then smiled wryly and went to find Che Niang.

Che Niang had known the whole story from beginning to end. She slapped her knee and laughed. “What is difficult about this?”

She was well accustomed to handling affairs outside, capable and straightforward. After a moment’s thought she said, “Normally I’d look among the salt merchants my husband knows — they are the easiest to deal with — but that sort of trader tends to have dealings with officials. To keep the Marquis’s household from getting tangled up in things later, it would be safer to find a settled landed gentleman instead. Head inward along the inland waterway toward the interior, deep in the hills — out of ear’s reach of things.”

Minglan laughed. “Then I must thank you, Elder Sister. If not for you, I truly would not have known what to do.”

Che Niang clicked her tongue in amusement. “Your heart is really too soft. You actually take pains to plan out a future for a woman like this.”

“As Elder Sister can see, she is not content to live poorly, and she carries some background. If I keep her here I am never easy.” Minglan sighed. “But if I just sold her off anywhere carelessly, I couldn’t bear it either. Ah — it is merely a convenient thing to do. It is only a bother to Elder Sister to go around inquiring.”

Che Niang laughed. “What bother! She is presentable, respectable, and still untouched. Finding someone willing to take her as a Yiniang will be no trouble at all. Besides, if you’re in this line of work and you don’t know people, don’t have connections — how could you manage?”

Minglan was genuinely moved and said with sincerity, “Elder Brother Shi has gone with the army to transport grain, and here you are staying in the household — if there is anything that falls short, Elder Sister must not stand on ceremony with me.”

Che Niang threw her head back and laughed, revealing her back molars. “What joke is Madam making? I grew up in a fishing village — we slept on straw mats back then. Even now that I’ve enjoyed a few years of comfort, have I ever lived in rooms as fine as these?”

Minglan smiled, at ease. She had worried at first that Che Niang might not be accustomed to the tedious rules of a Marquis’s household and feel stifled. But as it turned out, the woman was talkative and full of amusing stories, with a talent for making friends. Within just a few days, Shi had grown as close to her as could be, and even Ruomei — who prided herself on her refinement — was happy to chat with her. It had somewhat eased the gloom left behind by old Master Gongsun’s departure.

The two women talked and laughed for a while, and then Che Niang hesitated before saying at last, “Madam, there is something I have seen and I am not sure I ought to speak of it. I cannot quite judge the matter myself…”

Minglan asked curiously, “Elder Sister, please just say it.”

Che Niang furrowed her brow. “I have noticed that Ruomei’s belly seems rather large for her months — there might be two inside.” Then she smiled bitterly. “Years ago when I was carrying, it was indeed twins. A pity I could only keep one.”

Minglan was greatly alarmed, and immediately sent for the physician that Physician Lin had recommended — a Dr. Cheng — to examine Ruomei. Standing behind the screen herself to observe, she watched with growing anxiety as Ruomei, at five months along, had a belly that looked more like six or seven months.

Dr. Cheng took her pulse for a long while, then came out shaking his head. “There is truly only one.” He wiped away a bead of sweat — he came regularly to the Marquis of Ningyuan’s household to take well-being pulses, and if he had missed a twin pregnancy, it would have been quite an embarrassing failure indeed.

After questioning Ruomei carefully, he finally concluded, “In this old physician’s judgment, it is definitely not twins.” To guard against any unforeseen mishap, he added, “It would not hurt to invite other physicians to examine her as well, to be thorough.”

Minglan was indeed not entirely reassured, so she invited several other physicians known for their expertise in obstetrics one after another. All of them, without exception, said Ruomei was not carrying twins — the fetus had grown unusually large simply because Ruomei had been over-supplemented.

After several days of commotion, they arrived at this conclusion, and Minglan was genuinely infuriated. She pulled out the accounting ledgers and inventory records for Gongsun’s small courtyard and discovered to her shock that the precious tonics and nourishing foods Ruomei had consumed in recent months were enough to sustain two pregnancies!

She immediately had Matron Cui go to Ruomei and explain how many pregnant women had died in difficult labor precisely because the child had grown too large.

Ruomei trusted that Matron Cui would never speak falsely, and was immediately frightened to the point that her face turned white. Cuiwei, seeing that the fright had gone too far, quickly offered soothing words and coaxed her for a long time before calming her down.

Minglan’s anger had not yet subsided. She summoned the matrons in charge of attending to Ruomei and scolded them harshly. “The young maids may not know better, but have you not served through enough years to understand this much?! Don’t play dumb with me. You encouraged your mistress to take more tonics and skimmed something off the top for yourselves in the middle. Now listen carefully — if anything happens to Yiniang Ruomei or the child, none of you will be spared. I will sell every last one of you!”

The matrons below kowtowed in fright and begged for mercy. Minglan was vexed — that this had happened right under her nose. If not for fear of alarming Ruomei, she would have dealt with these scoundrels on the spot! And yet Ruomei herself had been careless as well.

Minglan wished for old Madam Gongsun to arrive in the capital soon, so she could hand off this troublesome burden as fast as possible. At that point, she would also pass along the contracts of those wretched matrons and let old Madam Gongsun deal with them however she saw fit!

Che Niang consoled her, saying, “It was all my baseless speculation — I made a fool of myself.”

Minglan quickly said, “Elder Sister, please do not say that.” Then, still fuming, she added, “If not for Elder Sister’s timely reminder, who knows how long that foolish girl Ruomei would have kept supplementing herself!”

In the days that followed, Minglan strictly ordered Ruomei to follow the physician’s instructions precisely — to adjust her diet, walk more, and do her best to keep her spirits open. Matron Cui, for her part, worried only about Minglan’s own health; but fortunately the physician assured her again and again that the Marquis’s wife was truly in excellent health. And moreover, venting one’s frustration with a good scolding every now and then, releasing pent-up emotions, was not bad for a pregnant woman — far better than suppressing heartache and longing.

Matron Cui stayed silent and did not pass along this second part to Minglan.

Between one incident and another — surprises and alarms — some of the melancholy left behind by Gu Tingye’s departure was dispersed, if only a little.

By late November, Zhang Shi sent word that the Shen family’s old aunt had fully recovered from her cold — as well as could be, not the slightest danger remaining — and asked Minglan to arrange the matchmaking tea gathering.