“Your parents are truly too calculating—demanding fifty strings of cash from each of our three households? Why don’t they just ascend to heaven instead? I’ve just been dismissed from my teaching position and have nowhere to go. I truly don’t have a single coin to spare.” Huang Shi never expected that her well-intentioned matchmaking would end up like tofu dropped in ashes—impossible to clean off.
Xu Dalang offered an apologetic smile: “I wasn’t present when this matter was decided. I’ll explain the circumstances to Father and Mother in a few days.”
Huang Shi sneered: “What circumstances? I can’t rely on you for anything. When your mother and third sister-in-law came over, they said the second brother’s household had agreed. Are we the only ones refusing to pay? But why should we be the ones to pay?”
Hearing that the second brother had agreed, Xu Dalang wondered: “Second brother wouldn’t, would he?”
“Those second and third brothers are all merchants—experts at deception. Perhaps they haven’t paid either, just scheming to make us foot the bill.” Huang Shi grew increasingly anxious and angry.
Xu Dalang had long been unwilling to stay in Suzhou Prefecture. He suggested: “Since that’s the case, why don’t we go to Jinling together?”
Huang Shi finally agreed. Staying in Suzhou would only lead to being gradually swallowed up by others. However, since Xu Dalang wasn’t a Xiucai, he couldn’t obtain a travel permit. Not wanting others to know his identity, he resorted to underhanded methods and deceived Huang Shi: “If I go to the magistrate office for a travel permit, Second Brother would inevitably find out—he’s a student at the prefectural school. Instead, why don’t we get some cloth from your uncle’s shop, claiming we’re delivering goods for him? That way we can make our escape.”
This method of acting first and reporting later seemed a good plan. Unwilling to pay fifty strings of cash, Huang Shi agreed. Disguising themselves as merchants, they brought Miaoyun along and paid three mace of silver to board a ship bound for Jinling.
When they departed, Xu Erpeng remained unaware. Meanwhile, Xu Laotai and Bao Shi had also arrived. At that time, Mei Shi remained uninformed of the situation, having gone with Miaozhen to the neighboring Ma residence.
Miaozhen personally prepared a set of skincare products for Chou Niangzi. She first purchased jasmine flowers from a flower vendor, sun-dried them, collected only the petals, then sealed them in a jar with camellia oil for six months. During this period, she filtered the oil through gauze, added fresh jasmine flowers, and repeated this process three times. After extracting the oil, she added beeswax and double-boiled it with jasmine oil before storing the mixture in small porcelain containers.
Having made plenty, she also gifted some to her mother and relatives.
Besides the jasmine soap, she also made moisturizing cream and Jade Hairpin Powder. The moisturizing cream was prepared following recipes from “Formulas of the Bureau for Benefiting the People,” while the Jade Hairpin Powder was made from mirabilis jalapa seeds. She cracked open the seeds, extracted their contents, added Bing Pian for fragrance, and blended in safflower rouge for color. Knowing Chou Niangzi preferred light makeup, she carefully measured just enough pigment to avoid excessive brightness. She then filled jasmine buds with the mixture, sun-dried them briefly, and arranged them in a cosmetics case.
In addition to skincare products, she crafted two forehead ornaments: one made of lotus-patterned lilac silk, and another called “resting rabbit” fashioned from rabbit fur.
All the skincare products were neatly arranged in a small cosmetics case with labeled tags, presented together to Chou Niangzi.
“Teacher, I truly can’t bear to see you go,” Miaozhen said, her heart aching with sorrow.
Chou Niangzi’s luggage had all been packed. Outside stood several efficient maids and guards sent by her younger brother, Imperial Censor Chou. She was departing quietly without revealing her exact departure date to anyone. Had Miaozhen not been living next to the Ma residence, she wouldn’t have known about the departure either.
“Miaozhen, you are a diligent and studious child. Your essays are well-written, and your poetry is quite commendable. Last time I put you in charge of the academy’s accounts, you were the only one who managed them meticulously. My ancestral home is in Yangzhou. If you have any matters in the future, you can write to me.” With that, he gave her an address.
Miaozhen carefully tucked it away, then knelt and kowtowed. “Your guidance has been profound, Master. I have no way to repay you except to hope our paths cross again someday, so I may serve you once more.”
When mother and daughter returned home, they found Xu Laotai and Bao Shi had come together.
Bao Shi smiled obsequiously and asked, “Sister-in-law, where have you and your daughter been?”
“We went to the Ma family next door. Miaozhen’s teacher is leaving, so we brought some gifts. After all his instruction, we couldn’t go empty-handed.” Mei Shi knew they wouldn’t visit without a reason but didn’t press, instead having the maids serve tea.
Xu Laotai, seeing her second son had become successful but now it was Mei Shi receiving favors, felt resentful. “Your household is certainly better off than your third brother’s. Even I don’t get such treatment—servants attending to you, living in such a large residence. We don’t have such good fortune.”
Mei Shi remained silent, thinking how shameless Xu Laotai was—always helping the third son’s family but remembering them only when it came to support.
Miaozhen, standing nearby, smiled and said, “Grandmother, Third Uncle’s business is doing so well. They’ll surely buy a house eventually. Why say such things in front of Third Aunt?”
Seizing the opportunity, Third Aunt remarked sarcastically, “How could we compare to your household? Our family is larger, and expenses are higher.”
“True, but when it comes to fewer people, Da Fang has the smallest family.” Miaozhen knew her third aunt relied on their grandparents for free labor in the shop yet complained about every extra mouth to feed.
So she brought up Da Fang—her father wasn’t the eldest son and didn’t need their grandparents’ help anyway, so why criticize them?
Bao Shi, feeling verbally cornered by her niece, couldn’t retort. She turned directly to Mei Shi and repeated her usual tactic: “Second Sister-in-law, here’s the situation. Father agreed to the Gong family’s marriage proposal, but they demand a dowry of 150 strings of cash. Given Father and Mother’s age, they want the three families to split it—50 strings each.”
Of course, Bao Shi hoped Da Fang and Second Fang would cover their shares, leaving the remaining 50 for the elderly couple to pay themselves. After all, the old folks lived with the third son’s family and wouldn’t dare complain publicly.
Mei Shi was stunned.
…
When Xu Erpeng heard, he was furious. “Father’s actions are utterly unreasonable. A weaver’s family isn’t some grand household. Whoever agreed should pay for it themselves! I originally planned to contribute more, but since he’s acting this way, I’ll only give ten strings—not a single coin more.”
“Your third sister-in-law also claimed they’ve already given their money to your parents,” Mei Shi added.
Xu Erpeng sneered coldly. “Unless I see Third Brother hand over the money myself, I won’t contribute either. Besides, I already bought Fourth Daughter’s loom—that’s a substantial dowry in itself.”
Xu Erpeng was adamant about not providing such a large dowry, feeling his family was leeching off him like bloodsuckers.
After bidding farewell to Chou Niangzi, it was nearly the end of the year.
The Xu Family bought three bundles of firewood. Each bundle cost six or seven cents of silver, so three bundles totaled less than two qian. For the New Year, they decided not to eat old rice. Xu Erpeng had someone deliver fifty jin of late-harvest rice. The late-harvest rice was fragrant and more expensive than other varieties.
Next door, the Ma family was already enjoying wolfberry paste and rose jam, while the Xu family still ate bean paste. It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford better, but Xu Erpeng didn’t want to become extravagant after just a few days of comfortable living.
Miaozhen, no longer attending school, now helped her mother manage household affairs while visiting Ru Shi every few days.
Ru Shi was delighted with the patchwork robe Miaozhen gifted her. Since then, she only brought Miaozhen along to free clinics, even allowing her to practice moxibustion and acupuncture. She even let Miaozhen try diagnosis and prescription writing, personally correcting any mistakes.
For the seasonal gifts, the Xu family prepared lavish presents for the Tao family: Jiading chicken, Jintan wine, lotus seed pastries, shredded pork rolls, and fruit-filled pepper-salt golden cakes. Besides food, there were also two boxes of artificial flowers and three feet of freshly woven silver-red satin.
When Feng Niang returned from delivering the gifts, she came to tell Miaozhen: “Madam Tao asked me to inform you that they’ve bought a dairy cow specifically for milk production. She invites you to visit before New Year’s Eve to make some Braised Abalone with Bone.”
“The milk needs fermenting first. Xiao Xi, go to my teacher’s place and fetch some milk in a small jar,” Miaozhen instructed.
Feng Niang, noticing her young mistress—usually quite proud—showed no annoyance at being treated like a maid but instead focused on helping, couldn’t help commenting: “The Tao family treats you like a servant girl.”
Speaking out of concern as an old family servant, Miaozhen laughed: “Don’t exaggerate. Since I became her student, she’s taught me everything without reservation. This is nothing.”
After someone fetched the milk from the Tao family, they waited for fermentation before boiling it into curds in a pot. After vigorous stirring produced cream, they added honey and cane sugar. Once properly mixed, Miaozhen delivered it personally.
Seeing her arrive, Ru Shi exclaimed: “Why come yourself? It’s freezing outside!”
“I meant to come when delivering seasonal gifts, but household matters delayed me. I specially made this today—what do you think? If it’s unsatisfactory, I’ll try again,” Miaozhen said, demonstrating her sincerity.
She opened the food container she brought. Ru Shi smiled at the spiral, milky-white Braised Abalone with Bone: “This is perfect, dear child. To be honest, I asked because your elder brother’s father-in-law is visiting.”
Having learned various pastry techniques from Chou Niangzi, Miaozhen knew Braised Abalone with Bone was the most precious. She had spent all her pocket money on milk to perfect this dish, never expecting it would become her social asset.
“I’m glad to be of help,” Miaozhen replied.
Ru Shi then invited her inside to consult about her outfit for the occasion: a plain silk upper garment paired with a multicolored brocade skirt, complete with hair accessories featuring small bowl-shaped gold pins adorned with amber and pearls. Miaozhen praised the ensemble enthusiastically.
Perhaps Ru Shi no longer saw her as a child, considering her mature and steady, as she quietly complained: “That family’s daughter only knows a few basic characters and is quite vain. I don’t know what spell she cast on your elder brother.”
Miaozhen merely listened to such grievances, advising: “She won’t be living with you anyway.”
Naturally, Ru Shi wouldn’t let Miaozhen leave empty-handed after her gift. When she offered a beaded hairpin, Miaozhen declined—she wanted them indebted to her so they’d teach her more later. Slipping away quickly, she left Ru Shi telling her husband: “The Xu girl works harder than Xi Niang and has better talent. In another year, I’ll probably have taught her all I can.”
After Miaozhen returned home, she saw her father coming back from the bookstore in front, saying he had received a letter from his eldest brother. It only mentioned that he had gone to Jinling to seek refuge with a friend and told the family not to worry.
“Everything was fine, and it’s almost New Year—why did Eldest Brother leave at this time?” Xu Erpeng was puzzled.
Mei Shi, however, pursed her lips and smiled. “Most likely, he was scared off by Fourth Sister’s betrothal gifts.”
Xu Erpeng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “If that’s the case, he could have just refused. Leaving like this—who knows what he was thinking?”
When Xu Laoguan and Xu Laotai heard about it, they were utterly disappointed. Xu Laoguan threw up his hands. “The eldest is gone, the second is only willing to give ten strings of cash, and the third only says he’ll lend twenty strings. What are we supposed to do now?”
“It’s all your fault—you used up half of those betrothal gifts,” Xu Laotai complained.
Xu Laoguan curled his lip. “You said you needed money for medical treatment and took so much. Fourth Sister bought clothes, and I only used twenty strings, yet you’re still complaining.”
The couple had no solution. Sitting on the floor, on the verge of tears but unable to cry, neither was willing to cover for him. What was he to do now?