The new year had barely passed when a message was sent from the manor to Shou’an Hall, saying that Cuiwei’s aging eyes had grown worse, and that she was hoping her daughter could marry soon to bring good fortune — a request for the Old Madam’s generous blessing. Cuiwei was the youngest daughter of her family, her elder brothers and sisters all long since married. Her parents simply worried for her sake. The Old Madam agreed and instructed Nanny Fang to set aside ten taels of silver for the family to prepare a dowry.
Upon hearing the news, Minglan immediately went to her own room and found twenty taels of silver to add to Cuiwei’s trousseau. Cuiwei pushed the money away, refusing: “Dear young miss, this really won’t do. Just the other day you already gave two sets of gold and silver ornaments and five bolts of satin — that was already more than generous. When Caichai from the room married off, she received only twenty taels, and that was already considered quite substantial because she was part of the Old Madam’s household. If you give more, not only will it look bad to the others, but what will you do when the other girls in the courtyard eventually marry?”
Minglan was deeply moved, knowing Cuiwei was thinking of her. She felt a little sheepish: “I understand your kindness, sister, but… if it weren’t for your reluctance to leave me, you would have married last year.”
Cuiwei glanced around to make sure no one was near, then quietly latched the door and windows and let down the doorway curtain before speaking: “There’s something I’ve long wanted to ask you, miss. Once I’ve gone, you’ll need to promote someone to my position, and the younger girls have been watching eagerly. Do you have any thoughts?”
Minglan had already considered the matter. She asked first: “What do you think?”
Cuiwei replied without hesitation: “By seniority, it should be Yancao. By sharpness and capability, it should be Jiu’er. By looks and temperament…” she hesitated, thinking of Ruomei, “it would be Ruomei.” Since a maid who accompanied her young mistress after marriage was often expected to become a concubine for the master, Cuiwei paused at Ruomei’s name.
Minglan reflected for a moment, then said quietly: “I was thinking of promoting Luzhi.”
Cuiwei was startled: “Luzhi has a sharp tongue — why would you choose her?”
Minglan smiled without answering, then turned the question around: “If one is promoted, a new junior maid will need to be brought in. Nanny You has been recommending her own daughter to me lately — what do you think of that?”
Cuiwei thought it over and shook her head: “Nanny You is a troublesome sort, and it’s only because you keep her in check that things run smoothly. Bringing one of her kin in would only create more trouble. It would be better to request someone directly from the Old Madam or the First Young Mistress. On one hand, it shows respect toward your elders; on the other hand, after what happened that year, they wouldn’t dare send someone unsuitable.”
Minglan nodded and said earnestly: “Good sister, every word you’ve said makes sense.” She pushed the box with the twenty taels back toward Cuiwei and said quietly: “These past few years, sister, you’ve toiled on my behalf and made not a few enemies. You must take this silver. If you’re worried about drawing attention, say nothing of it — just tuck it away at the bottom of your trunk and take it with you.”
Cuiwei felt her throat tighten. Usually when a mistress rewarded a servant, they’d want it known far and wide for the sake of their reputation, but this sixth young miss had a generous and sincere heart. It had not been wasted effort, Cuiwei thought. Then she remembered a hint Nanny Fang had dropped not long ago — that when the time came for the Sixth Young Miss to marry, Cuiwei’s family might accompany her as a bridal household retainer. Her heart stirred at the thought.
Cuiwei, having been raised under Nanny Fang’s direct guidance, always received news quickly. The very next day, the Old Madam called Minglan to her, and with an expression somewhere between a smile and something more pointed, asked: “You want to promote that girl Luzhi? What’s your thinking?”
Minglan answered honestly: “Jiu’er won’t stay with me for long — Nanny Liu will certainly keep her daughter here, so promoting her would be pointless. Yancao and Danju are both of the same nature — not imposing enough. Ruomei is somewhat arrogant; she already looks down on this one and dislikes that one. If I promote her to head maid, I fear she’ll cause trouble. That left me thinking Luzhi was the best choice. Even if her tongue is a bit sharp, she lacks arrogance, and she has a fierce sense of right and wrong. With proper guidance, she could be useful. That was my original thinking.”
The Old Madam raised an eyebrow with interest: “Original thinking? And now?”
Minglan swayed her head back and forth in a very grown-up manner: “Afterward, I thought about it again. Why create resentment among the sisters for nothing? It’s better to follow seniority and promote Yancao. She is steady and considerate — having her beside me will be more stable.” — The outcome doesn’t matter as much as keeping things peaceful. Stability above all else.
The Old Madam listened and nodded slightly: “I also felt something was off about your first plan. Your current thinking is much better. Ah… sometimes it really is best to let things be and not force change… You’ve truly grown up.” Her voice carried a note of wistfulness as she looked at Minglan’s fair, delicate face. She thought of the chubby little child of years past, who could now make her own considered decisions about managing her household. The warm feelings of a mother hen arose within her unbidden.
Just as the first month came to a close, Lady Hai’s father, Official Hai, prepared to leave the capital. Before his departure, Lady Hai made a special trip to the Sheng Mansion, pulling her daughter aside for a lengthy exchange of advice and spending a good while in conversation with Wang Shi. Her manner throughout was gentle and gracious. After the younger girls had paid their respects, they retreated to their rooms, and the various Lan sisters, as usual, gathered in Minglan’s room for tea.
“Lady Hai is truly amiable — so polite and proper in her speech,” Molan said with considerable envy, admiring the refined and distinguished air the woman carried. “I hear Official Hai has been appointed as Deputy Commissioner of the Regional Administration Bureau this time.”
Rulan laughed: “Well, of course — they’re family now.”
Molan glanced sidelong at Rulan and blew at her tea bowl: “That’s not necessarily so. Last time we visited the Marquis Zhongqin residence, our eldest sister’s mother-in-law was not nearly so pleasant to talk to. We sat for ages before they finally brought out so much as tea and refreshments.”
Rulan’s eyes immediately began to widen in irritation.
Good grief, will you two die if you go a single day without bickering?! Minglan sighed and changed the subject, feigning curiosity: “Oh, is it true that sister-in-law’s family doesn’t allow concubines? Then her sisters-in-law must be quite content indeed.”
Rulan’s attention was redirected, and she answered with great satisfaction: “They’ve been a scholarly family for generations — who knows how many scholars and officials they’ve produced. Their rules are strict, to be sure. But precisely because of that, there are plenty of powerful and influential families who’ve wanted to marry into the Hai family, and they’re far more meticulous about choosing a daughter-in-law than the Son of Heaven is about selecting a top scholar in the imperial exams. Family, talent, beauty, background — everything must be in order, and they will only consider daughters born of the principal wife!”
She drew out that last sentence deliberately for the benefit of the other two sisters. Minglan’s skin was thick enough that it didn’t bother her much — she knew full well she was only a half-counterfeit daughter of the legitimate line — and she simply murmured a neutral sound. But Molan felt a surge of indignation rise within her and said with a cold laugh: “What’s so impressive about that family rule? Yes, they don’t take concubines — but no shortage of live-in maids, either. And there are those who keep a separate residence outside the home. Hmph. It’s nothing but maintaining a false reputation while doing as they please behind closed doors.”
“Really?!” Minglan was caught off guard, feeling her own intelligence network had fallen woefully behind.
Rulan argued defensively: “There are all sorts in any great forest. The Hai family has many branches and countless members — how can they control every one of them?”
Minglan watched with tense fascination as Molan set her beloved teacup down on the table with a heavy clunk. A near miss — it didn’t shatter.
She heard Molan say with a sneer: “I haven’t said anything remarkable. I simply feel that a grand reputation rarely holds up to scrutiny. If you can’t uphold it, why maintain such a lofty name at all?”
Rulan was furious. But Minglan found she didn’t particularly mind. In this ancient era of official households, searching for genuine monogamy was as difficult as searching for a man of pure devotion among those bred as studs. Since she had been born into this ancient world as a woman, she had best make peace with it and not make life harder for herself.
A few days later, Cuiwei took her leave of the Old Madam and Minglan and was taken home by her family. Yancao was officially promoted, and the sisters offered their congratulations all around. A young girl named Cuixiu, around eleven or twelve years old, was sent from Shou’an Hall to fill the vacancy — clever and quick, she soon fitted in among the girls of Mu Cang Studio. Seeing everyone in good spirits, Minglan took it upon herself to have Danju take a small silver scissors and cut off two taels of silver to send to the kitchen aunties, asking them to set up a simple spread of two tables. Then she had the courtyard gate latched early that evening and let the girls have a few cups of wine and a bit of merrymaking.
“You’re far too kind, miss — you’ve spoiled this lot rotten. Every one of them was stumbling about drunk, and lucky for us Nanny You wasn’t around, or there’s no telling what she’d have said. I’ve only just got them all settled on the kang before I could rest easy.” Danju had limited herself to a single cup and came out to keep watch over the rooms. “Yancao was all right, but what annoyed me was that scatterbrained Xiaotao, who didn’t come to tend the brazier either. At least Ruomei had the sense not to drink much — she’s already doing rounds of the rooms with a lantern.”
Minglan had had a few cups herself and was feeling pleasantly dizzy. She watched Danju busily spreading the bedding, and said languidly: “They’ve all been so busy over the New Year, none of them had a proper chance to enjoy themselves. They’re all at the age where they love to play — quite pitiable, really. Consider it drinking to Cuiwei’s wedding happiness. Ah… I wonder how Cuiwei is getting on? Is her new husband treating her well? Is he being kind to her?”
Danju turned and smiled: “The match was vetted by Nanny Fang — it can’t be bad.” Then a hint of sadness crossed her face. “For a maid to have the kind of dignity and comfort that Cuiwei had, that’s already a rare blessing. Just being placed with a mistress like you is good fortune in itself. If one were placed with someone who didn’t care at all — who knows how badly a person could be mistreated.”
“…How is Ke’er?” Minglan asked suddenly.
Danju had finished smoothing out the bedding and was now spreading a blanket across the warming rack to heat. She let out a low sigh: “Lin Yiniang is truly heartless. She took advantage of the Old Madam being away in Yuyang and the family being busy with the move to the capital, and married off that sweet, tender girl to the foul son of the woman who sells fermented grains at the front gate. That man drinks and gambles — not a decent thing about him. Ke’er was bound hand and foot, her mouth gagged, and dragged there. Within two months, she was gone.”
“Did Elder Brother say nothing?”
Danju, whose expression was usually so gentle and kind, showed a flash of contempt: “The young master did cry bitterly — but five days later, he let it go completely. His current favorite is a girl called Rou’er.”
Minglan felt a heaviness in her heart. She said quietly: “The Old Madam was right about this. A woman’s greatest fear is her own desire for more than what is hers.”
After a moment’s low spirits, she brought herself back and said earnestly: “Starting tomorrow, you, Yancao, and Xiaotao must properly supervise everyone’s conduct. Do not let them casually laugh and joke with the male servants outside. The courtyard gates must be kept strictly managed.”
Danju looked at Minglan’s solemn expression and answered with full sincerity.
……
Minglan was lying on the kang in the inner room, copying out a scripture in larger characters for the Old Madam. The Old Madam was seated on the arhat bed in the main hall outside. Wang Shi and Hualan, mother and daughter, were craning their necks toward the entrance with such distraction that their conversation had become nonsensical. The Old Madam, normally so composed, could no longer stand it and said: “Will you settle down? The He family lives on Huichun Lane — even leaving before dawn they couldn’t arrive this quickly. You know how to feel anxious now, but how is it you managed to keep all of this from me without a word?”
Hualan laughed sheepishly: “Grandmother, your granddaughter just… didn’t want to trouble you.”
The Old Madam gave her a flat look and scolded: “If you had understood the gravity of things sooner, we wouldn’t have dragged it on for so many years!”
The two of them spoke in vague terms, but Minglan, listening from inside, could already guess what this was all about.
While they were still speaking, a maid announced from outside: “Guests have arrived.”
The Old Madam immediately called out: “Quick, bring our Minglan girl out here.” She hurried to welcome the guests inside.
There was a bustle of voices and footsteps. Minglan lifted the curtain and stepped out, and there she saw the He Old Madam, whom she had not seen in quite some time. Beside her stood a tall, slender young man. The Old Madam greeted her with rare warmth: “I’ve been looking forward to your visit — please, come sit.”
The He Old Madam looked just the same as ever — a rosy, plump face, her salt-and-pepper hair neatly pinned up with a white jade flat hairpin carved with auspicious motifs. After a round of warm pleasantries, the younger generation was called forward to pay respects. Hualan and Minglan bowed first to the He Old Madam, then He Hong performed his salutations to the Old Madam and Wang Shi.
Wang Shi pulled He Hong this way and that, exclaiming admiringly: “He truly is a fine-looking young man — no wonder the Old Madam has been singing his praises ever since she returned to the capital.” She then asked He Hong warmly about his age, what books he’d been reading, and what foods he liked. The Old Madam couldn’t help but interject with a laugh: “All right, all right! Let the child sit down. Are you questioning him or collecting debts?”
Everyone in the room burst into laughter. Hualan stepped forward and took Wang Shi’s arm, turning to smile: “Old Madam He, please don’t mind my mother — she just takes a liking to him.” The He Old Madam shook her head with amusement, then caught sight of Minglan and smiled: “After the New Year, our Minglan girl has grown taller, hasn’t she?” The Old Madam chuckled: “This child grows in height but not in sense — she only knows how to cause mischief.”
Hualan’s face brightened, and she said with mock reproof: “Grandmother, really — even if you want to be modest, there’s no need to speak so poorly of Sixth Sister. She is the most filial and sensible one of us all.”
Wang Shi chimed in: “That’s the honest truth. Of all my daughters, Sixth is the one who pleases me most.”
Such lavish praise left Minglan slightly dumbfounded and a strange feeling stirring within her. She glanced across at He Hong, who sat with a crimson face, his eyes darting evasively — whenever she looked at him, he flinched away like a startled rabbit.
Minglan’s inner alarm bells began ringing loudly. She looked around the five women of varying ages seated in the room and inwardly wondered: Is there something all of them know that I don’t?
After a little more conversation, the Old Madam pointed to Hualan with a smile: “My eldest granddaughter brought some bolts of fine, thick velvet cloth — I thought it looked lovely, and was meaning to send some to you. Why don’t you come inside and have a look at which ones you’d like?”
The He Old Madam’s wrinkled eyes crinkled into a smile, a glint of playfulness within them, as she made a show of deliberating: “Since it was your eldest granddaughter who brought them, perhaps she ought to accompany me to look.”
“Yes, let’s all go together,” said the Old Madam with a beaming smile. Hualan seemed to redden slightly, but she rose quickly to her feet and followed the two older women into the inner room. One of the He family’s maids followed close behind, carrying a plump little chest.
These few lines felt like a kind of code to Minglan, who thought to herself: Really, is all this fuss necessary? It’s just a visit to a specialist in matters of fertility!
This visit clearly had no quick end in sight. Wang Shi was left behind, making distracted conversation with He Hong. After a cup of tea had passed, she had already asked He Hong “How is your honored mother keeping?” for the third time, and at last could bear it no longer. With an unnatural smile, she said: “I think I’ll go in and take a look myself.” And with that, she left.
Left alone, Minglan and He Hong sat facing each other — one carefully inspecting the painted patterns on her teacup, the other staring fixedly at the floor as though a sea hibiscus flower had sprouted from the floorboards. They did know each other, and in previous meetings had spoken and laughed quite freely. Yet this time, Minglan clearly sensed that something in the atmosphere was different, so she firmly resolved not to speak first.
The room fell into complete silence, broken only by the crackling and popping of the charcoal fire in the seven-tiered lotus-shaped bronze brazier at the center of the room. It was He Hong who broke first. He cleared his throat softly and said: “Haven’t they finished looking at the fabric yet?”
Minglan replied in kind: “There must be a great deal of it.”
“Even a great deal should have been looked through by now,” he said, a little uneasy.
“Then it must be very fine fabric,” Minglan replied, perfectly composed.
A moment of silence. The two exchanged a glance, and then both burst out laughing at the same time. He Hong’s fine, bright eyes spread warmth like sunlight on a spring lake, and the radiance was enough to make one feel gently, pleasantly warm. He sighed deeply and said: “It is truly not easy being a physician.”
“Why all the pretense?” Minglan exhaled. “Couldn’t you simply have looked openly?”
He Hong smiled at the corner of his mouth: “There have always been those who hide their ailments from doctors — all the more so when it concerns women. The words ‘grave illness’ cut very deeply. Your eldest sister has no choice in the matter either.”
Minglan looked at him quietly and asked: “Do you also think that the path of women is difficult?”
He Hong’s expression was warm and sincere, his manner as clear and still as a natural hot spring: “If my grandmother had been born a man, her medical skill would surely have been known throughout the realm. What a pity that she could only manage the household from within, and in her later years, teach an unworthy grandson like me.”
Minglan smiled: “Not at all — how could you be unworthy? I’ve heard you’ve already opened your own clinic. Though since it is a medical hall and pharmacy, I won’t wish you booming business and prosperous fortune — that would be the wrong kind of prayer.”
He Hong inwardly found this amusing. He glanced at Minglan’s cheeks, which were unusually flushed, and an idea took shape in his mind. He composed his expression and spoke with deliberate gravity: “Since you honor me with the suggestion that I’m not unworthy, I feel I should say something.”
“Please do,” said Minglan, unconcerned.
“Do not drink cold wine. Especially not before sleeping.”
“Oh—” Minglan reflexively covered her mouth. There was an indignant embarrassment at being caught out so precisely. She started to protest, then saw He Hong watching her with an expression of calm certainty, and gave in. She said indignantly: “You can even tell that just by looking?!”
He Hong feigned a sigh: “What can I do? That’s how capable I am.”
Minglan buried her face in her sleeves and laughed until she nearly doubled over.
He Hong looked at the Minglan across from him — the slight curve of her lips, the glimpse of two small, neat white teeth, that expression somewhere between embarrassment and indignation. The delicate sweep of her dark brows against skin so fair it was nearly translucent made a color as rare as peacock blue.
Something stirred warmly within him. He looked away, not daring to look again.