From that point on, Minglan seemed to gather herself as if drawing a long breath — and without caring what the outside world was saying about Zhang Gu’s army being routed and its men perishing, she simply ate well and slept soundly every day and kept up her walking exercises. About four days passed, and then the Tujia brothers returned from outside with a carriage, off which they brought down a travel-worn mother and son.
Tujia Long stood in the covered corridor and bowed with cupped hands: “Reporting to the Madam — we’ve come back from Lord Liu’s place. As Madam instructed, each of the brothers who helped bring the people in was given twenty taels. The people have been brought here and were just handed over to Nanny Cui.”
Minglan stood upright in the inner hall of the doorway, one hand supporting her lower back. “Thank you for your trouble, Master Tujia.”
The Tujia brothers kept their gazes straight ahead, clasped their hands, gave a bow, and excused themselves in unison.
Xiaotao helped Minglan along slowly out the door. Luzhi and the others followed behind as the group walked along the long covered walkway, then passed through the side Chuihua Gate. All around them the world became silent at once — not a whisper of laughter or talk, only the soft, rustling sounds of insects chirping and birds calling.
They arrived at a remote side room. Minglan stepped inside to find it completely bare — only a formal armchair at the upper end with a small side table, and nothing else in the room whatsoever. Nanny Cui stood with several sturdy female attendants posted around the room, all of them glowering at the mother and son standing in the center.
Minglan settled herself into the chair, rested her arms lightly on the armrests, and smiled: “I was going to say ‘I trust you’ve been well’ — but looking at you today, you’ve aged ten years or more from when I last saw you. People say the waters of Mianzhou nourish the complexion — how is it that you’ve become more ragged than ever?”
Man Niang slowly raised her head. Her hair was dishevelled, her face haggard; the deliberately rough and plain clothing she wore only made the signs of aging on her body more obvious. She said in a low voice: “We are people of low station — we cannot compare with Madam, who only grows more youthful and beautiful.”
Minglan raised an eyebrow and turned her head to address the boy beside her: “This is Chang Ge’er, isn’t it? Do you recognise me?”
The boy looked to be about eight or nine years old — pale-complexioned enough, but with a slight and frail frame. He gripped his mother’s sleeve tightly with both hands, head hanging low. Hearing his name, he lifted his head quickly — his face full of wariness and hostility — then, the moment his eyes met Minglan’s downward gaze, he dropped his head again.
Minglan had not missed the expression in his eyes. She only gave a quiet sigh and said: “Nanny Cui — have someone take Chang Ge’er to the western side room for some refreshments. And ask Rong Jie’er to go over as well — the siblings haven’t seen each other in many years.”
Before the boy could struggle or resist, four sturdy female attendants were already moving — two seizing Man Niang to keep her from moving, and two others grabbing Chang Ge’er by the arms and quickly carrying him out the door.
Minglan smiled at Man Niang: “Rest assured — for my own sake, I would not let anything happen to the boy in this household. The reason for sending the child away is simply to have a proper conversation with you.”
Man Niang was resentful at heart, but she knew what Minglan said was the truth, and stopped struggling. At that moment two female disciplinary attendants came in — one carrying a tall-legged chair, the other holding a bundle of cloth strips.
Minglan gave a light clap of her hands. Two of the attendants moved swiftly, with several more helping — some pinning her legs, twisting her arms, others pressing her head and holding down her midsection — and in a brief moment Man Niang was bound firmly to the chair. The attendants then filed out in succession, leaving only Nanny Cui, Xiaotao, and Luzhi in the room.
Man Niang’s arms, back, and even her legs were fixed to the chair as though welded in iron, her toes an inch from the floor, unable to move a muscle. She cried out: “When we were brought in just now, I and my son had already been searched. There is nothing on either of us — what more does Madam intend to do?!”
Minglan said calmly: “Nothing much. I simply worry that you may have cultivated the skill of an iron-headed warrior, and might knock your head against the floor tiles and damage them.”
Man Niang understood that Minglan was alluding to what had happened before, and was briefly choked to silence. Then she began weeping piteously: “…Madam — last time I was wrong. It was all my foolishness — I believed Madam’s honeyed words and dared to offend Madam. When I think back on it now, Madam was with child at the time — if anything had gone wrong, my guilt would have been beyond measure…”
She spoke through streaming tears and sobs, and at the most emotional passages she seemed to wish she could drop to her knees and press her forehead to the floor hard enough to draw blood.
Minglan’s expression remained blank. She cut her off: “I suggest you save your energy. No matter how pitifully you weep, do you think I will fall for your act? What happened in the past — you and I both know perfectly well. The attendants standing guard outside are all at least ten steps from this room, and within this room there are only the few of us.”
She gestured at Nanny Cui and the others, speaking with wry amusement: “Even if I told them to say you came in here and danced unclothed, they would say it. So…” she smiled, “let us lay our cards on the table and speak plainly. When you leave this room, you may deny everything to your heart’s content.”
Man Niang wiped away her tears, slowly composed the moisture from her eyes, and said with cold hardness: “Very well — frank words between frank people. Our mother and son had barely entered the capital through Qilin Gate when we were seized. Madam truly has impressive methods — even bailiff officers can be directed at will.”
Minglan smiled slightly: “You have two things wrong. First — those were not ordinary bailiffs, but the city garrison troops. Second — how could I possibly direct them? That was the Marquis, who gave special instructions to Lord Liu Zhengjie before he departed.”
Man Niang’s expression changed violently. She shook with trembling: “…You are saying that Second Elder Brother — he — he ordered people to capture us…?”
“The Marquis once said that if you dared to cause any more trouble, he would not be lenient. You simply chose not to believe him.” Minglan watched her display that look of infatuated disbelief with considerable distaste.
“Though you are capable enough. Word of the situation at the front reached the capital just a few days ago, and you heard about it, then rushed to the capital day and night… When the Marquis sent you back to Mianzhou back then, you must have left behind informants in the capital to keep you notified.” Being bundled out of the capital weeping and wailing, yet managing to plant informants in advance — Minglan genuinely felt a measure of grudging admiration for that level of ability and nerve.
Man Niang said coldly: “Madam need not be so quick to praise me — there are surely no shortage of Madam’s own eyes and ears in the countryside either.”
Minglan smiled: “You are wrong again. It is true that there has been someone regularly reporting on you and your son’s circumstances — but it was not on my orders. It was on the Marquis’s instructions. The informant arrived several days ahead of you, and then I followed the Marquis’s instructions and informed Lord Liu, and after that…”
“And after that, there were soldiers waiting at the city gate for our mother and son.” Man Niang laughed coldly, and then in the next instant said: “Now — how does Madam intend to deal with us?”
Minglan raised an eyebrow: “You have it wrong again — it should be me asking what brought you to the capital.”
Man Niang threw back her head and laughed — a harsh, prolonged laugh that raised the tendons of her neck. When it subsided, she said with icy voice: “They are still husband and wife, are they! Second Elder Brother’s life and death hangs in the balance at the front — and you sit here, perfectly composed! How well Second Elder Brother has treated you — and do you truly have a heart?!”
Minglan thought carefully for a moment and said: “Then what should I be doing?”
Man Niang cried out: “Does that even need to be said? Quickly seek out powerful connections at court, see if Second Elder Brother’s life can be saved; and look into whether there is anyone you know in the northwest; and then — enter the palace to seek an audience with the Emperor, dishevelled and barefoot, and beg His Majesty to show mercy given Second Elder Brother’s past merits and spare him from punishment for this defeat!”
Minglan could no longer contain herself. She covered her mouth and burst out laughing — laughing until she could not hold herself upright — “Do you actually take the things they do in operas as truth?! Dishevelled and barefoot, to save one’s husband like in the plays?!”
It took a good while before she recovered. She laughed and caught her breath: “First — all the armies have gone to the front; what forces remain? Are we to ask Lord Liu to take the capital garrison troops to the northwest? Second — in the major northwest garrisons, affairs of national importance are such that even officials find it difficult to obtain information. What can I, a mere woman of the household, do? Rather than easing trouble, I’d be inviting it! Third — to date, His Majesty has not issued any edict whatsoever, and not even a censor has spoken up. What pardon am I asking for?!”
Man Niang had her face turn iron-grey from all that laughter directed at her, her jaw clenched with pain. She said in a shrill voice: “Madam has a crystal-clear heart and a brilliant mind — but you cannot compare to my single-minded devotion to Second Elder Brother, which has driven me beyond all reason!”
“Devotion? Don’t make me laugh — do you know what the Marquis was planning to do with you?”
Man Niang’s face changed abruptly: “He — he…”
Minglan said quietly: “The Marquis once said that if you dared to come and cause more trouble, he would see to it that you never again set eyes on Chang Ge’er for the rest of your life.”
Man Niang let out a scream: “You will not separate us as mother and son!”
“Not me — the Marquis never intended to let me dirty my hands with this.” Minglan slowly shook her head. “According to the Marquis’s instructions, the moment Lord Liu had you in hand, Chang Ge’er was to be sent away immediately and placed with a reliable and decent family to be raised. It was I who told Lord Liu to bring you both here, so that Rong Jie’er could see her younger brother once more.”
“…Then what about me?” Man Niang said blankly.
Minglan said with cool detachment: “Can you still not see? If the Marquis had truly wanted to keep you confined, how could you and your son have left Mianzhou? Yet the Marquis only had someone see to Chang Ge’er’s safety and wellbeing — he has never once placed the slightest obstacle in your path. Why do you suppose that is? The Marquis does not care in the least what you do! Once Chang Ge’er is sent away — you may go wherever you wish to die.” — Hmm. Was this what they called entrapment?
Man Niang shook her head furiously and wept with loud, heaving sobs, crying over and over that “Second Elder Brother would never treat us this way — he wouldn’t — he wouldn’t…” Only now did fear truly begin to come over her. After crying for a while, she suddenly raised her head and stared at Minglan, pleading with desperate sincerity: “Madam — it was all my foolish ignorance, my inability to tell good from bad. I beg Madam to bring Chang Ge’er into the household! Madam has been so good to Rong Jie’er — you can raise him well too!”
“There is no need for me to raise him. Didn’t you once say that if your son were taken from you, you would die? And yet now you are willing to let him go.” Minglan looked at her steadily, and the corners of her mouth lifted in a faint, cool mockery. “It seems these past years you have taught Chang Ge’er well.”
Taught him to hate. Taught him to seek revenge. Taught him to keep speaking of his birth mother whenever he was near Gu Tingye. Taught him how to “get along” with his legitimate younger brothers.
Man Niang’s eyes flickered, and quickly a face of deep grief returned: “Without his birth mother beside him, he should at least be near his father! He is a good and honest child — when he grows up, he will show Madam filial respect…”
“Chang Ge’er absolutely cannot enter the household and be formally recognised.” Minglan said. “These are the Marquis’s own words.”
Man Niang’s eyes filled with venomous hatred, and she hissed through her teeth: “You vicious, poisonous woman — it is all lies! It must be you who twisted and poisoned Second Elder Brother against us! How could Second Elder Brother be so heartless to us?!”
Minglan looked at her for a while, then said slowly: “Do you know why the Marquis once wanted to bring Chang Ge’er into the household? Because at that time no one yet knew who the Marquis would marry, and Chang Ge’er was still very young — presumably you had not yet had time to instil much in the boy. If the child entered the household and was gradually guided in the right direction, perhaps there was still hope for him — but you refused outright, did you not? Later the Marquis told me: given the kind of mother you are to teach him by example, there was no reason to worry the boy himself would harm his own flesh and blood — but one could never feel easy about Chang Ge’er living alongside the children I bore him. There is a saying: you can never be too vigilant against a thousand-year-old thief. The only protection is to keep them apart.”
Man Niang looked as if she had been stabbed deep in the heart with a sharp blade. Her face turned ashen as white paper, and her lips moved silently: “I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it — you are only saying this to provoke me — Second Elder Brother still cares about us mother and son, he must…”
Minglan did not mock her. She watched Man Niang deceive herself for a while, then said in a low, measured voice: “Today, I will trouble myself one extra step and let you make a choice for Chang Ge’er.” She sighed. “So long as you promise that for the rest of your life you will not leave Mianzhou, and will stop causing trouble and entanglement, I will go and ask the Marquis to have Chang Ge’er sent to Nanny Chang’s household to be raised.”
Man Niang stared blankly upward: “…Nanny Chang?”
Minglan nodded: “A few days ago I spoke with Nanny Chang — she said that rather than having a stranger raise Chang Ge’er, she might as well do it herself. After all, Yan Jie’er has already married off, and Nian Ge’er is busy studying day and night — she has plenty of leisure in her old age, and what better use for it?”
What a kindhearted old woman — unable to bear seeing a child suffer. Minglan gave a quiet inward sigh, then continued: “You know what Nanny Chang is like — there is no one more righteous or upright. And look at the grandson she has raised — what fine progress he is making. Chang Ge’er will surely have good prospects in her care.”
Man Niang was quiet for a long moment before saying: “And if I break my promise?”
Minglan blinked, and smiled: “Heaven is my witness — so long as you give your word, I will ensure you do not break it.”
Man Niang’s heart clenched. Looking at Minglan’s gentle smile, she felt an inexplicable chill rise within her — she understood the meaning of those words perfectly. Once she agreed, she would be pressed back to Mianzhou immediately. With the power of the Ningyuan Marquis household, only a quiet word to the local officials would be enough — she would be as good as imprisoned there, unable to leave that mountain valley for the rest of her days.
Minglan watched the shadows of conflict play out across Man Niang’s face, and smiled: “Well? Have you made up your mind?”
Man Niang spat with contempt and snorted coldly: “You speak with a silver tongue — but I do not trust you! I want to see Second Elder Brother! He would never abandon us!”
Minglan let out a slight sigh of disappointment: “Chang Ge’er… well, never mind. He is your child. We will follow the Marquis’s original intentions.”
She slowly rose, supported by Xiaotao, and left. She had no desire to look another moment at this selfish and cold-hearted woman.
Back in her room, she found Tuan Ge’er sitting cross-legged with his chubby little legs, struggling mightily to work apart a shiny brass nine-ring puzzle. The moment he saw his mother come in, he dropped the puzzle and rocked upright on the kang, opening his arms in a soft baby voice — “…Mama…”
This time he got it right. Minglan’s heart softened with warmth, and she gathered him into her arms and held him close for a good while. When little Tuange began showing signs of trying to climb up his mother’s body, Nanny Cui quickly went over and gently lifted him away.
Minglan lay back on the kang, smiling as she watched little Tuange tumble and roll on the soft padding, playing himself into exhaustion, then spread out all four limbs and fell fast asleep with his little belly rising and falling.
Minglan gazed at her son’s sweetly sleeping face, and felt a melancholy she could not explain — in truth, sending Chang Ge’er to some unknown place to be raised by a reliable family would perhaps be the safer option. And moreover, raising a child took such enormous effort and care — to have Nanny Chang clean up this mess for the Gu family, she truly had not the heart to impose on her so. What need was there to create extra trouble for herself?
And yet… in this world, not every woman who bears a child deserves the name of mother.
After a brief rest, Luzhi came hurrying in and quietly reported: “Madam — Chang Ge’er, and his mother, have both been handed over to Lord Liu.” Nanny Cui, hearing this, sighed: “Lord Liu has truly been put to much trouble. It is only… this is family disgrace made known to outsiders.”
Minglan could not help but laugh inwardly — the things people in Liu Zhengjie’s line of work came to know about military households’ private affairs, what was there he did not already know?
“And Rong Jie’er?”
Luzhi, unable to fully conceal her eagerness, tried hard to assume a composed expression for fear of Minglan’s reproach: “Chang Ge’er had long since stopped recognising Rong Young Miss — she tried to coax him for a good while but could not get through to him. The two siblings sat there without a sound. Then later… that woman came in… mother and daughter closed the door and talked, but somehow it turned into an argument, and Rong Young Miss came running back to her room in tears — they say she’s still crying even now.”
Minglan was silent.
Luzhi had no choice but to go on speaking to herself: “Following the Marquis’s instructions — once Chang Ge’er was sent away, that woman was to be sent by a separate route out of the capital. When the soldiers Lord Liu sent were having drinks with Steward Hao, they let slip a few words — saying if that woman were seen again, she would immediately be sent to the frontier as a corvée labourer.”
Minglan continued her silence. Gu Tingye had once said that of the brothers who had known about his affairs back in those days, most were gone; only Liu Zhengjie had constantly mocked him for his weakness with women — for failing to act decisively when he should have, letting trouble accumulate without end. Others might still show Man Niang some mercy — but Liu Zhengjie, without question, would show none whatsoever. And yet it was precisely to him that he had entrusted this matter.
Just as she was sitting with that unsettled, faintly glum feeling, word suddenly came from outside that Tujia Long was requesting an audience. Minglan started slightly and quickly said: “Please have him speak in the outer room.” She heard a series of heavy, steady footsteps, and Tujia Long appeared in the outer room, saying in a low voice: “Pardon me for disturbing Madam’s rest — I have something to report.”
Minglan raised her hand slightly. Nanny Cui carefully lifted little Tuange and carried him into the inner room. Luzhi stood beside the doorway and called out in a clear voice through the curtain: “Master Tujia, please speak — Madam is listening.”
Tujia Long said: “This period I’ve been watching and listening around town, and I feel something is not quite right. Military affairs at the front are state secrets — there has been no official bulletin. How did it spread so widely? And that man who went to Mianzhou to send word — he’s not exactly a figure with remarkable access to intelligence. So how did this news travel so fast?”
He spoke with considerable circumspection, but Minglan understood at once, and with a single turn of thought her mind was shaken to the core. She exclaimed involuntarily: “Master Tujia has made an excellent point! I have been too close to see it — I never once thought of it from this angle!”
She had wondered before about the source of the news of the military defeat, but she had never thought to reason it through in reverse.
To understand — in ancient times, information moved slowly, and the fear of rumour and misinformation stirring public unrest was ever-present. Especially in military campaigns of this kind, even a true and serious defeat would still be softened and embellished. So this time — how had the barest hint of a rumour spread so wildly and extensively, all the way through the capital?
“Master Tujia’s meaning is…?” Minglan said, with hesitation.
Tujia Long said: “I cannot see clearly either. But the capital seems unsettled of late. This morning Lord Liu also mentioned that many refugees have been arriving — most of them of unknown origin. I thought that above all, Madam’s safety is what matters most — why not bring some capable and skilled men from the estates to reinforce the household guard…”
Minglan reflected for a moment and slowly nodded.