In a small, elegant courtyard, several plantain trees transplanted from the south swayed in the breeze, their broad leaves drooping and waving amid a riot of red flowers and green willows, through which half a gauze window stood slightly ajar. A young married woman of about twenty, dressed prettily, sat beside the window with her head bowed, absorbed in threading a needle.

A little maidservant wearing two round buns in her hair came over carrying a tea tray and said softly: “Fourth Young Mistress, please rest awhile — you’ve been at this all morning. Let me knead your neck a little.”

The young woman lifted her head and smiled. “All right.” She set down her embroidery hoop and gently blew on her tea before sipping.

The little maidservant kneaded and pressed at the young woman’s shoulders and neck, muttering: “…The hollow of your shoulder is all stiff as wood — you don’t take care of yourself, and when the Fourth Master feels sorry for you, he’ll give us all an earful.”

The young woman gave a shy smile and did not reply.

Since childhood, she had loved needlework and embroidery, and her handiwork was exquisite. Since entering this household, she had frequently made garments and ornaments for her sisters-in-law, nephews, and nieces, as well as for her mother-in-law and mother-in-law’s sister living far away — and had earned quite a bit of praise for it.

Her husband had several times asked her to do less. She would only smile bashfully, until one time she finally turned the question back on him: “Do you know what my given name is?” Her husband was fair-featured and pure-hearted, yet at that moment he took to teasing her: “I know — it’s Little Mouse.” She pretended to be displeased and wouldn’t let it go, and her husband laughed under her gentle thumping until at last he relented: “All right, all right, I wouldn’t dare… Hmm, I’ve heard your mother call you Er Ya.” She replied shyly: “That is only a milk-name — a casual thing. I do have a proper given name: it is Xiu Qiao.” She traced the two characters slowly in the air with one fingertip, with a faint trace of pride.

“Big Sister-in-Law and Second Sister-in-Law are both so capable — accomplished, knowledgeable, and I could never catch up with them on horseback. At least I have this one skill that can be shown to the world; let me display a little ability… ” She lowered her voice: “The weather has turned cold, and Xiang Yiniang’s legs trouble her — I’m making her a pair of knee warmers.”

Her husband’s eyes brimmed with tender affection, and he leaned close to her ear and murmured: “When it comes to scholarship or conduct, I cannot catch up with my two elder brothers on horseback either. We are a perfect match — a lifetime, never to be parted.”

Xiu Qiao’s heart was sweet, and she felt such happiness she might have floated away. Her husband was considerate, gentle, and pure of heart, with not a single unnecessary person in his household. From the day they wed, the young couple had always been tender and loving, consulting each other on all things, without a single cross word between them.

Everyone said she was blessed. Over the years, among those families who had risen to prominence together with the Shen family, there were no shortage of sisters who had married into prestigious households — yet few among them had such a good life as hers.

The Sheng family was a household steeped in scholarly tradition and full of official honors throughout its many generations. Every male in the entire household held some degree of academic distinction, the several young ladies had made fine marriages, and among their in-laws were no shortage of eminent and powerful officials — truly a family of both wealth and rank.

Her father-in-law was a pleasant man of upright character (so it seemed to Xiu Qiao), and while he did not often see his daughters-in-law, he had on more than one occasion lectured his sons: one must first set one’s household in proper order, and then all other matters will run smoothly; one must never under any circumstances engage in the ruinous conduct of favoring concubines above a principal wife, for that brings disaster upon the family.

For this one offense alone, the well-known young gallant of the family had received the father’s caning and furious scolding more than once, and each time had to be rescued by his wife.

Xiu Qiao herself had witnessed two such incidents. The first was when the young man had carelessly fallen in with bad company and been coaxed into visiting a pleasure house, where he also became acquainted with a certain “remarkable woman” who performed but did not sell herself. This had so shaken her father-in-law that his face had gone ashen, and he confined the young man at home for a full two months, forbade him from going out, administered twenty heavy strokes with the rod, and ordered him to copy out the Sheng family’s household rules five times over — one of which stipulated that Sheng family sons must never have any dealings with women of pleasure houses.

In truth, Xiu Qiao privately felt her father-in-law was being somewhat excessive. Scholars often liked to cultivate the airs of refined pleasure, and even her bookish Second Elder Brother had visited a pleasure house — it was all just going through the motions of the times, and any sensible respectable gentleman would not take it seriously. Did Father-in-law really need to be so agitated? The young man was, after all, a father now, and this gave him no face at all.

But then her husband sighed and said: “You don’t know — we once had a great-grandfather on the patriarch’s side. The fortune left by his grandfather, the estate, his own natural-born daughters — a household whole and good — all of it destroyed by a woman from a pleasure house. We younger generations did not live to see it, but Father witnessed it with his own eyes.”

The second incident occurred two months before the examinations. A maidservant who attended the young man’s study suddenly appeared to be with child. At that time her father-in-law had been concentrating all his energy on urging his sons to prepare for the examinations, and upon hearing the news, he immediately flew into a rage. He had every servant, inside and out, who attended the young man’s study punished, drove the pregnant maidservant away to a farmstead, and said in fury: “If this one fails again, the child goes and the mother goes too.”

Later, the young man did pass — and in the second tier, ranking among the top few.

In truth the young man was exceptionally clever, talented and remarkable, with a warm and enthusiastic character. From the moment the Sheng and Shen families had become connected by marriage, he had most earnestly taken Xiu Qiao’s bookish Second Elder Brother everywhere to broaden his horizons — attending gatherings for classical study, introducing him to several great scholars and men of learning. Shen Second Brother was overjoyed and kept telling Father and Mother that this match had been excellently made.

What the young man lacked was a certain tenacity at the bone — he would occasionally slip off track, and required a person of firm and decisive character to haul him back onto the right path — such as Father-in-law, and such as… Second Sister-in-Law.

In truth, while the young man loved his diversions among flowers and willows, toward his wife he was deeply respectful… indeed, one might say reverential; but since Second Sister-in-Law conducted affairs with fairness and integrity, and wielded considerable skill in managing things, she more than merited this respect.

At first, Xiu Qiao found Second Sister-in-Law solemn and severe, rarely smiling, not as warm and approachable as First Sister-in-Law. She had been rather apprehensive for some time; but as the days passed, she discovered that Second Sister-in-Law was actually very good-natured and quite willing to patiently instruct her in the principles of managing household affairs and receiving guests.

She cheerfully shared this discovery with her husband, who could not help laughing and said: “With a man like my second brother, if his wife didn’t keep a stern face and hold strictly to the rules, the household would fall into complete disarray. As for First Sister-in-Law — you’ve met First Elder Brother; with a man like him, if his wife didn’t keep encouraging him and smiling along, how could their days go on?”

At the mention of her eldest brother-in-law, Xiu Qiao could not help sticking out her tongue, conveying that this was beyond her capacity to endure.

The Sheng family’s eldest daughter-in-law was away serving at a posting, and to this point Xiu Qiao had met this eldest brother-in-law only once face-to-face — and found it even more nerve-wracking than meeting her father-in-law. She was not the only one with this reaction. The second young man in front of his father could occasionally still manage a few laughing words and discuss poetry together; but before his eldest brother, he could only stand respectfully with his hands at his sides, not daring to move so much as an eyebrow.

That year, when the second young man’s legitimate eldest son could speak enough to address people, babbling in the most adorable way, and the young man saw that Father-in-law was pleased by it, he pressed and pleaded to bring back the child’s birth mother from the farmstead: “…If that really won’t do, could she at least be allowed to see the child? After all, after all — it is her very own grandchild…”

It was said that as the young man pleaded, he began to weep.

Father-in-law seemed also to have somewhat softened — but unfortunately the young man’s luck was poor, for his eldest brother happened to have urgent business in the capital and had returned from his posting. Upon learning of this, he cast a single glance across the room, and the young man fell immediately silent.

“Bring her back for what? To cause further harm.”

The eldest brother did not say much to the young man’s face, but he turned and called his youngest brother in, and the two closed the door to speak: “Look at the sisters in this family — all except the Fourth Sister have harmonious marriages and children around their knees. If not for Lin Yiniang, would the Fourth Sister’s marriage prospects have come to such a state! A concubine who not only showed not the slightest respect or deference toward the late grandmother and the principal wife — she even disregarded the master’s authority and did as she pleased, acting outrageously. What did she rely on, if not the fact that she had you, her son!”

Xiu Qiao had also heard something of the matter concerning the Sheng family’s Fourth Miss — back then, young Master Liang had embraced her in plain view of the public, creating a marriage out of that circumstance, which could not be said to be uncontroversial. Although the Liang and Sheng families publicly maintained it was an accident, many households had privately gossiped, saying the Sheng family had run a lax household and indulged a concubine’s daughter to the point of brazenly scheming after a son of a marquis or duke household in broad public view.

Fortunately, the two families had subsequently formed a proper alliance, and one embroidered bridal veil had covered everything over — and the gossip had gradually died away.

“You are also a father now. Suppose in future you had a concubine, and she — relying on your favor, as the mother of a concubine-born son — acted just as outrageously as before; and after only a few years, she was in a position to come charging back again. Do you think the reputation of the Sheng family could withstand being dragged through the mud a few times over?”

The eldest brother did not raise his voice at all, speaking with a calm tone, but his words were like needles, drawing blood at every point. The young man had broken into a cold sweat and was on the verge of tears.

At that moment, the eldest brother suddenly softened his voice, personally helped the young man to sit beside him, and in a gentle tone urged him: “We men, before we come of age, rely on our birth; after we come of age, we rely on our own efforts. You are no longer a child at your parents’ knee — you have a wife, children, and daughters, and in future you must stand alone to support a household. If you have no settled principles and simply let your feelings and emotions dictate your actions, how are you different from a woman?”

“If you harbor resentment toward your eldest brother, when Father passes in future, we brothers need simply have nothing more to do with one another. Though we were not born of the same mother, we are after all flesh-and-blood kin — can you think I do not wish you two well? Even if I do not expect you to bring glory to the family name, at the very least you must be able to stand upright in this world. A true man — in all matters, principle comes first and personal sentiment after. I do not ask you to be without feeling or loyalty; rather, one must keep sentiment within the bounds of proper order!”

According to her husband, by the end, the young man had clutched his eldest brother’s legs and wept bitterly, crying out repeatedly that he had been wrong, swearing to heaven that he would never be foolish again, that he would hold the honor of the family above all; the innocent youngest brother had been included in the lecture as well, and both of them pledged and vowed together.

Her husband, so thoroughly lectured he had been left dazed, returned to their room and only gradually came to his senses, before burying himself in the arms of his beloved little wife and sniffling — this was the last attempt by the second young man to bring Lin Yiniang back that Xiu Qiao ever knew of.

Apparently afterward, the grandmother also sent a letter to Father-in-law, saying bluntly: “As long as she lives, there is no bringing Lin Yiniang back” — and from that point even Father-in-law never raised the matter again.

“Why should Grandmother go to such lengths? Elder Brother has already persuaded my second brother.” Wouldn’t this only invite resentment from the children and grandchildren?

Her husband sighed and said: “Grandmother is just that kind of person — though she says little, her heart is more compassionate than anyone’s. She feared Father and the brothers would fall out over it, so she was willing to draw all the unpleasantness onto herself.”

Xiu Qiao had not met this grandmother very many times. By nature shy, and never knowing what to say, she found herself at a loss in the old woman’s presence, and felt only that the old woman was somewhat distant and difficult to approach. Yet in casual everyday conversation, her husband always said that Grandmother was the most genuinely sincere person in the entire family.

After thinking it all the way around, Xiu Qiao realized she had actually left out Wang Shi — as a daughter-in-law, attending to one’s mother-in-law was sometimes even more important than attending to one’s husband. Yet for her, this problem simply did not exist, because her proper mother-in-law had for many years been residing in the family temple in her hometown.

Doing what? Praying for the health of an ailing elder.

A rather peculiar explanation. Even Xiu Qiao, innocent as she was, knew there was something more complex behind it — but she was by nature obedient and timid, and whatever was not her business to ask, she never asked.

With her proper mother-in-law absent, there was in the household a deputy mother-in-law to attend to: Xiang Yiniang.

Before the wedding, Xiu Qiao’s mother had worried about how her daughter would get on with this concubine-mother-in-law — one could neither treat her too lightly nor too heavily. But this concern turned out to be entirely unnecessary.

Xiang Yiniang was, to everyone’s surprise, a reasonable and clear-headed woman. From beginning to end she only addressed Xiu Qiao as “Fourth Young Mistress,” treated her with deference and courtesy not markedly different from how she treated the principal wife Lady Liu, and never inserted so much as an extra word about affairs in her natural-born son’s household. Later, Xiu Qiao learned that not long before their wedding, it had been Xiang Yiniang herself who had spoken to Father-in-law about properly settling and sending away the two maidservants who had been on intimate terms with her husband in his rooms.

Xiang Yiniang was not particularly beautiful or striking — far less so than the one called Ju Fang Yiniang who waited on Father-in-law. But she had her own quiet, refined elegance, and when she smiled, she was especially reminiscent of her husband — except that her eyes held much more weariness and care. Watching her at such an age still standing before Father-in-law’s rooms to lift the curtain, to bring water and pour tea, Xiu Qiao felt a spontaneous ache of sadness.

Those who are skilled at needlework tend, by and large, to have a sharp eye. Xiu Qiao observed Xiang Yiniang’s figure carefully and at length, and then quietly made her a set of inner garments — soft cotton fabric, tight and fine stitching — made just as she made them for her own mother at home, with every stitch filled with gratitude. She sent it over by asking a young maidservant to deliver it discreetly.

Xiang Yiniang received the garments and said nothing; only the gaze she turned toward Xiu Qiao grew warmer, with a trace of heartfelt gratitude that was poignant to see. Xiu Qiao was pleased, and thereafter continued to make small intimate articles — winter caps, sleeveless summer vests, soft slippers, elegant hand warmers… Xiang Yiniang quietly had someone relay a message asking Xiu Qiao to please stop making these things.

Xiu Qiao nodded very obediently, and after a little while, continued making them. Before long, her husband found out. That evening, he held her and sat quietly with her for a long while, his head resting heavily against the side of her neck; she could feel a spreading warmth of dampness on her shoulder.

About half a year after she entered the household, Xiang Yiniang suddenly fell ill.

It had only been an ordinary cold, yet it would not heal for a long time. A well-known elderly physician in the capital sighed and said, “She has been overworked and full of worry for too long; the body, over time, has simply worn itself down.” When at last she recovered from the illness, she had wasted away noticeably — her garments hung loose and empty on her.

Xiu Qiao suddenly remembered that many years ago, the principal wife of Shen Guoqiu had been the same way — the physician had said she had toiled and worried through half her lifetime, her mind and spirit depleted to the point that even ordinary ailments could not be withstood.

Thinking of Xiang Yiniang, who had suffered hardship from childhood, with no father or mother, sold into service, with no one to depend on in the household — the principal wife had a difficult temper, so she had to tread carefully and cater to her; then there was the favored Lin Yiniang, against whom she had to be guarded at every moment, not daring to show herself in the least, tiptoeing through over a decade of years. Only when she had finally seen her son safely married and established, with his career secured, did she have to go on enduring.

Xiu Qiao felt a great sadness. Once when she went to visit the sickroom, finding no one else in the room, she quietly slipped close and leaned in to Xiang Yiniang’s ear: “Yiniang must take good care of herself, and live long. Once we separate into our own household, I will still be counting on you to teach me how to run a home and raise children.”

Xiang Yiniang’s eyes suddenly filled with tears; she patted her hand gently, too weak for more, and said in a low voice: “You are a good child. For Fourth Young Master to have found you for a wife — that is his good fortune.”

Had it been someone like her eldest sister-in-law, a noble young woman from a great and storied family, she might not have been able to unbend enough or lower herself. But Xiu Qiao had no such burden at all. She was her mother’s most cherished little daughter, who had grown up accustomed to acting spoiled and willful with her parents, and now that she had shifted that affection to another, she did it just as naturally and easily.

She often waited until no one was around, then snuggled up beside Xiang Yiniang to whisper in her ear.

“Yiniang, Husband is still just like a child — last night he read until midnight and climbed into bed without soaking his feet first…”

“Yiniang, I told Husband he must have a late-night snack, but when he gets absorbed in his reading he forgets. He doesn’t listen to me — next time, please go and scold him…”

“…Yiniang, Husband’s birthday is coming soon. What does he love to eat? Let’s make it for him together, shall we?”

Perhaps having something to look forward to gave her purpose — Xiang Yiniang’s spirits slowly began to improve. In private she grew ever warmer and closer to Xiu Qiao, while in public she still dared not let it show too plainly. The two of them, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, were like children playing hide and seek, sharing a small, warm secret between them.

Others may not have known, but Xiu Qiao always felt that her clever and perceptive second sister-in-law had long since detected it, only never once bringing it into the open. Later, once the two sisters-in-law had grown familiar with each other, Second Sister-in-Law had sighed and said: “In truth, Xiang Yiniang… with you and Fourth Brother as you are, it is already very good.”

Xiu Qiao understood what she meant.

Though the second young man surpassed her husband in many respects, in one thing he fell well short — and when the day came that they divided into separate households, if he really brought that unruly Lin Yiniang home to live with them, life would become difficult for Second Sister-in-Law. The two households were the precise opposite in this regard: Xiu Qiao hoped they would divide households sooner, so she could bring Xiang Yiniang out to enjoy some ease and comfort in her later years; while Second Sister-in-Law hoped to hold off the division as long as possible — better to outlast Lin Yiniang’s death first.

But what sort of person was that Lin Yiniang, really, to so vex and unsettle someone with a heart as clear as crystal like Second Sister-in-Law?

It was over a year later that Xiu Qiao finally had the opportunity to meet the legendary Lin Yiniang — this formidable woman who had once been the most favored person in the household, before whom even the principal wife had to yield ground.

It was a summer morning. Second Sister-in-Law was making her usual visit to the farmstead to see Lin Yiniang, and Xiu Qiao also needed to go to the countryside to visit her ailing wet nurse. Their routes conveniently overlapped, so the two sisters-in-law set out together.

Xiu Qiao knew that since both the grandmother and the mother-in-law had left the household, Lin Yiniang had been making frequent trouble for Second Sister-in-Law — from time to time sending word through intermediaries, now claiming she was ill, now claiming she was about to die. Since Second Sister-in-Law did not want her husband to go see Lin Yiniang, she had to go herself.

This was the sort of matter Second Sister-in-Law would certainly not want others to witness; Xiu Qiao was perceptive enough for that, and had firmly made up her mind to part ways early on to avoid causing Second Sister-in-Law embarrassment. Who could have known that the heat that day was especially oppressive, and Xiu Qiao had never been accustomed to the stifling, breathless heat of the capital; the sedan chair jolted badly as well, and before they had even covered half the distance, she fainted from heatstroke and lost consciousness entirely.

When she gradually came to her senses, she found herself lying in a side room, on a plain grass mat beneath her, voices drifting in low and muffled from behind a green bamboo curtain. Xiu Qiao’s whole body was without strength, and she could not manage to call out for a moment. She only heard what sounded like two voices beyond the curtain engaged in an argument —

“…I counsel Yiniang to settle down. Young Master is not going to come. The Old Master issued his instructions long ago: if Young Master dares come to see you, he is to receive twenty strokes of the rod — and if he dares come again, thirty strokes, accumulating from there. Yiniang and Young Master are, after all, mother and child bound by feeling — please spare Young Master the suffering of the rod.” The voice was clear and unhurried — it was Second Sister-in-Law’s voice.

“Nonsense! I carried him, I raised him — never mind twenty strokes of the rod, even dying in place of his mother would be counted as filial piety!” A coarse, darkened, insolent voice spoke without restraint.

Could this possibly be Lin Yiniang? How could it be so. Xiu Qiao thought in a hazy, half-confused state.

“Yiniang still does not understand. If you were a mother in name rightfully and by law, then of course filial piety comes first. But you, this ‘mother’ of yours still has the word ‘concubine’ in front of it. To speak plainly: even if Young Master were someday in a position to petition for honors to be conferred upon his elderly mother, the honor would first go to the proper, legitimate primary mother. Only whatever grace remained afterward would fall to you. If you cannot accept this, then in your next life you must be sure not to be born as someone’s secondary — even if it is more bitter and difficult, so long as you are married through proper ceremony, at least then whatever capable son you bear, you can beat as you please and see as you please. And it would spare you from sitting here fretting over nothing, would it not?”

What formidable sharpness of tongue Second Sister-in-Law had — ordinarily so composed and dignified, yet when she could be cutting, she was cutting indeed.

Xiu Qiao struggled to shake herself out of her daze — but the next several exchanges she did not catch clearly. She only knew that the grating voice continued to curse and threaten without ceasing, while Second Sister-in-Law responded with perfect composure, parrying and mocking to great advantage.

“…Fine, fine — now you have someone backing you up and dare to be so discourteous to me. You just wait! When my son divides his household and brings me home to receive his filial care, I’ll see about settling accounts with you then!”

Second Sister-in-Law suddenly let out a high, sharp laugh, carrying a note of self-mockery; then spoke in a mild, level tone: “Even if that day comes, I fear you will find things not to your liking.”

“Born without a mother to raise you — you wretched creature, what are you saying?!”

Second Sister-in-Law lowered her voice and spoke slowly: “Lin Yiniang, at this late hour, do you still not understand why you were driven from the household all those years ago? Young Master — at the core, he and Father-in-law are very much alike. What they prize most is neither a virtuous wife nor a favored concubine, but themselves. Father-in-law’s heart was set on bringing glory to the family name; you stood in the way of that, so naturally you had to step aside. And Young Master — he loves to spend his days composing verses in the wind and moonlight, free of worries and burdens.”

Reaching this point, Second Sister-in-Law spoke with open mockery.

“It will be ten or more years before the household divides, by which time Young Master will have long established his reputation and standing. Would he, for the sake of a concubine-mother without legitimate standing, come to make things difficult for me, his properly wedded wife? Would he offend my entire Liu clan? My brothers and uncles are not dead, are they! And my children too — by then all grown, the scholars with their degrees, the daughters well married — I am their legitimate mother. What are you? Tell me — would Young Master, for your sake, offend all of this, and before those refined, talented, and entirely unvulgar poet friends, classmates, and examination colleagues of his, lose such enormous face?!…”

Whatever the two of them quarreled about after that, Xiu Qiao no longer remembered clearly — she had only a dim sense that the unpleasant voice fell back step by step, retreating further and further, and then a wave of dizziness came over her and she sank back into unconsciousness.

When she awoke again, she saw that Second Sister-in-Law had resumed her composed and dignified bearing, sitting at her bedside with a smile: “Look at you, good for nothing — you’d better not go running about again today; let’s head back to the household.”

Xiu Qiao naturally nodded again and again, and breathed not a word of what she had just heard.

As she was helped out of the room, she saw a coarse-featured middle-aged woman standing at the door — stout and heavyset, her face layered with flesh, yet amid all that one could still faintly trace the remnants of delicate and beautiful features, bearing a certain resemblance to the second young man and the fourth young aunt-by-marriage. Two matrons were trying forcefully to pull her back inside the room, calling out “Lin Yiniang” this and that.

So this was Lin Yiniang. Xiu Qiao felt a faint disappointment within.

She had once heard that in the early days after Lin Yiniang had been banished to the farmstead, she had not been content to settle quietly and had continually made attempts to take her own life and find chances to escape. At that time, Wang Shi held the reins of power, and it would have been easy enough for her to deal with this old enemy; so under the pretext of preventing Lin Yiniang from harming herself, she had her confined in a small earthen room with only one tiny high window, given each day nothing but a bowl of lard mixed with coarse board meal.

Lin Yiniang of course had no real intention of dying, so she ate it. With no outlet for exercise, and more eating to fill the time, she grew more and more with each passing meal, and within half a year had become a bloated sow.

Xiu Qiao shuddered inwardly.

How wickedly cruel — what a vicious method of deliberately destroying the thing a woman prized most: her beauty and her figure.

She had heard that this idea had come from the aunt who was Wang Shi’s mother’s sister. Afterward this aunt had gone who knew where, and dealings with the Kang family had grown sparse as well. Xiu Qiao let out a quiet breath of relief — someone capable of devising such a scheme was someone she very much feared meeting.

What had occurred that day she told no one — only when visiting her mother’s household did she relate it to her mother, Shen’s.

Shen’s mother sighed: “Your second sister-in-law has had her difficulties too. As for that woman Lin — you need not pity her overly much. People like that receive what they deserve.” Then she added: “And you, never mind all these things that are none of your business. Right now what matters most is that you quickly get with child!”

Xiu Qiao’s eyes swiftly dimmed.

A comfortable home, a dignified family standing, face on all sides when going in and out. No mother-in-law present, no grandmother-in-law present, no eldest brother-in-law or eldest sister-in-law present. Father-in-law was amiable, Second Elder Brother was amiable, Second Sister-in-Law was even more amiable. She was not required to stand on ceremony, had no mother-in-law who needed attending to, no sisters-in-law to trouble about, and no husband who liked to dally with flowers and willows to break her heart.

Life was so comfortable and unhurried, and its only flaw — its single imperfection — was that nearly two years into the marriage, she had still not conceived.

Husband and Xiang Yiniang had treated her so well; merely thinking of it made her feel she had failed them, and with tears in her eyes, she raised the subject of finding a well-bred young maidservant to open and formally take into the household. Before she had finished speaking, Xiang Yiniang had rebuked her and sent her off.

“Foolish child — there are plenty of women who only conceive in their fourth year of marriage, and more. You are both so young. Besides, between the two households there are already so many children and grandchildren — they don’t need you two to carry on the line. What are you rushing for!”

Xiu Qiao was moved at heart, yet felt all the more guilty, and day by day she grew thinner. Her husband could not bear to watch it, and resolved to go write to the grandmother to ask for help — to seek out Old Madam He of Baishi Pond to take a look at her. Letters flew back and forth, and Grandmother wrote back agreeing, saying furthermore that Old Madam He would be coming to the capital in half a year, and that when the time came she would throw aside her dignity as an old woman and invite the good madam to the trouble of one more visit.

“Really — really, this will work?!” Xiu Qiao held her tears back, her heart full of hope.

In order to set her mind at ease, her husband beat his chest and proceeded to praise Old Madam He’s medical arts lavishly.

“You don’t know — in those days, Elder Sister also went five or six years without conceiving. After Old Madam He examined her, she bore a son on the first try, and was having two in a single year. Even now she is nearly forty and still cannot stop — in fact she is with child again now! All these years, just in New Year’s gift money for Elder Sister’s nephews and nieces from our family, we’ve spent a substantial fortune! So after Old Madam He has examined you this time, we’ll get down to business and produce as many as we can — otherwise we’ll have paid out without getting our investment back, and wouldn’t that be a loss!”

Xiu Qiao was by nature honest and straightforward, and at these words she broke into laughter through her tears, not doubting him at all.

When Shen’s mother learned of this, she was also moved to reddened eyes, saying to Shen’s father again and again: “Old man, what did I say back then? This is what a true family of scholarly tradition looks like — proper standards, proper principles, proper feeling, proper loyalty. Those who keep three wives and four concubines at the drop of a hat are nothing but false gentlemen and pretenders to virtue!”

After laughing for a while, she could not resist bringing up the Zhong family’s daughter.

Shen’s mother had originally hoped to secure the Zhong family’s daughter as First Elder Brother’s wife, but Madam Zhong had set her eyes on a son of a high provincial official who was currently in the capital for his studies. The family standing was fine enough, but the Zhou family was four generations under one roof, with many branches sharing a household — great-uncles, lesser uncles, brothers, sisters-in-law, younger sisters-in-law, unmarried sisters, and various cousins all in a pile; Xiu Qiao had heard it described several times and still could not keep track of who was who.

The Zhong family’s elder sister had always gotten on well with her. After marrying, she had cried more than once on visits back to her parents’ home about how difficult life in her husband’s household was: from morning to night she was exhausted, not a moment’s rest, no proper food to eat, no proper sleep to be had — she was barely managing to hold on.

In Xiu Qiao’s view, one could not really fault the Zhou family for this. Their household was simply that kind of household — in truth, it called for a daughter-in-law like First Sister-in-Law or Second Sister-in-Law, trained from childhood, knowing how to navigate and manage everything, entertaining a whole crowd of relatives with complete ease and not the slightest betrayal of uncertainty. Families like hers and the Zhong family — half-arrived-at-prosperity — how could they compare?

She remembered that year when the whole family gathered for the new year, and it also happened to be the grandmother’s great birthday; the household laid out a full-day flowing banquet, with theatrical performances in the hall, acrobats and tumblers invited, and monks and nuns chanting sutras and offering prayers for good fortune. Some fifty or sixty households came to offer their birthday congratulations.

What backgrounds each family held, what seniority the female guests who arrived at the door represented, how they should be addressed, how the seating should be arranged in order of precedence — which several families were at odds with one another and must not be seated together, which several families were connected by marriage, by blood, by various convoluted kinship ties and should be seated together — which elderly ladies could not tolerate certain fragrances, which wives could not eat certain things — how the carriages and horses were to be stationed in front, with fodder and feed arranged, grooms and coachmen attended to — inside, how the matrons were to receive guests and settle the maidservants, personal belongings looked after…

Her remarkable eldest sister-in-law, without a single hair out of place at her temples, without a drop of perspiration, always smiling with such perfectly proper warmth, had arranged everything inside and out in seamless and complete order with effortless ease. She simultaneously issued her instructions to over ten matrons outside the door with flawless precision, while still being able to go in among the banquet tables to serve the elderly ladies their dishes, tell amusing stories to keep them merry — and was praised by no shortage of elderly noble ladies and titled matrons.

At the time, Xiu Qiao had simply been left speechless with admiration.

And Second Sister-in-Law too — that year when she was organizing the mid-autumn gathering, she was already heavily with child; and Xiu Qiao, having just entered the household, knew nothing at all. Second Sister-in-Law smiled and shook her head with a light sigh, and with her enormous belly simply handled everything with a few strokes and a light touch. Xiu Qiao had only needed to pick up her chopsticks and sit down at the table to eat.

Never mind the mistresses — even the servants below fell ten leagues short. The experienced senior matrons and married women in the service of First Sister-in-Law and Second Sister-in-Law were each worth ten ordinary servants — the accumulated training of how many generations of household retainers?

Her own family was not lacking in silver, but where could one produce that? Around her were only a few maidservants purchased in the last two years, chosen simply for their honesty and good nature; the only truly capable one, her wet nurse, had recently returned to her home to convalesce.

Never mind — no more comparisons. Comparing oneself to others only produces unhappiness.

Moreover, Xiu Qiao had never had any particular competitive streak in her, and on account of this, she got on with both sisters-in-law all the more smoothly.

In this frame of mind, Xiu Qiao continued living her simple and happy days — embroidering every day, making sachets, sewing garments, eating when she should eat, sleeping when she should sleep, nourishing her health carefully, counting off the days on her fingers as she waited for Old Madam He’s arrival in the capital.

Perhaps because her heart had relaxed, she had been putting on weight particularly easily of late. Her husband was only delighted to see her this way. Her figure was visibly growing fuller, her appetite strong, her sleep sound — and on this particular day she had actually eaten more than a dozen apricots in one sitting.

Just at that moment, Xiang Yiniang came by to deliver something. Xiu Qiao enthusiastically pushed half a basin of plump apricots into her arms: “Yiniang, please eat some — go ahead, eat — the apricots this time are especially delicious.”

Xiang Yiniang could not decline, and smilingly took one and bit in — whereupon her eyes immediately watered from the sourness, and she exclaimed: “How sour these are! How on earth could you eat them?!”

Xiu Qiao blinked: “Are they sour? I don’t find them so at all.” How delicious they were!

Xiang Yiniang’s eyes slowly filled with a delighted light. She stroked Xiu Qiao’s hair and laughed: “You silly child!” Then she turned her head to ask the little maidservant: “Silly girl — how long has it been since your mistress’s monthly washing?”

The little maidservant was blank: “Oh — that, Nurse taught me to keep track of that, and I did write it down. I think it’s been a good long while, Yiniang. Please wait a moment — let me go back to the room and look through my booklet.”