Dan Gui was the maid recently assigned by Concubine Yao to serve the Sixth Miss, Xu Lanshu.
The Fourth Miss, Xu Yuyan, could find no words to say to Xu Zhihe… She knew in her heart that her father had originally intended for her, and it was only because her mother wanted to protect her that Xu Zhihe was pushed forward instead.
Although she didn’t feel she had done anything wrong, facing Xu Zhihe, she ultimately couldn’t help but feel a faint, lingering trace of guilt. This guilt made her feel very uncomfortable sitting in the west wing.
Hearing Xu Lanshu’s words, the Fourth Miss retorted sarcastically, “Third Sister is naturally not as capable as your little mother, who can manage to get her hands on all sorts of good things.”
As soon as her words fell, even Xu Zhihe, who was usually languid and uninterested in everything, couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
She had never thought that in her lifetime, she would actually hear the Fourth Miss snipe at someone else on her behalf.
Normally, the Fourth Miss was pampered and spoiled. She was only ever the one looking down on others from on high; when did she ever stand up for anyone?
Xu Lanshu’s face instantly darkened. It was only because Dan Gui was pulling her back that she didn’t rush forward and scratch the Fourth Miss’s face.
The Fifth Brother, Xu Yingzhang, and the Seventh Brother, Xu Yingsong, were still present, and it wouldn’t be good for them to witness these matters. As the “Third Sister” here, Xu Zhihe naturally couldn’t sit idly by. She said to Xu Yingzhang, “Yingzhang, take Yingsong and go back. Remember to pass on my regards to Concubine Du.”
Xu Yingzhang bowed slightly, greeted the Fourth Miss once more, and led away Xu Yingsong, who was still completely clueless about what was going on.
Once they left, Dan Gui looked at her own young miss and said, “Since the Third Miss is fine, our Niangzi’s heart can finally be put back in her stomach. Our Miss will not disturb the Third Miss’s rest any longer.”
After speaking, she bowed slightly and pulled the puffed-up, angry Xu Lanshu away.
Even as she was being pulled, Xu Lanshu kept turning her head back, complaining in a low voice, “Why are you stopping me? I haven’t even brought up how she framed me last time, and today she’s speaking nonsense again!”
Dan Gui knew Concubine Yao’s methods, and she also knew the fate of Ginkgo, the previous personal maid. A string was pulled taut in her heart. Hearing Xu Lanshu’s words, she comforted her softly, “Miss, endure it for a moment. Niangzi will naturally vent this anger on the Miss’s behalf.”
Xu Lanshu’s face relaxed once more, and she smiled, “Mother will help me? I knew Mother was the best to me. Good Dan Gui, let’s go back quickly.”
Looking at Xu Lanshu’s suddenly carefree, smiling face, a trace of sorrow surfaced in Dan Gui’s heart.
With the people mostly gone, it wouldn’t be proper for the Fourth Miss to stay behind alone. Moreover, being in the same room as Xu Zhihe was truly awkward.
She had words she wanted to say, but upon truly meeting Xu Zhihe’s eyes—as crystal clear as a small, rocky pool—she couldn’t utter a single sentence. She merely said, “…Third Sister, rest well. I will take my leave.”
After she left, Tang Zhaoyun, who had been sitting behind the curtain doing embroidery, finally emerged. As if making a joke, she said softly, “The Magistrate’s official rank isn’t high, yet his offspring are quite numerous.”
Xu Zhihe also felt that Magistrate Xu was entirely too capable of taking wives and fathering children. However, Magistrate Xu was ultimately her biological father, and Emperor Renzong governed the world with benevolence and filial piety. Lady Tang could say these words, but she could not.
Therefore, she only smiled at Tang Zhaoyun, letting everything remain understood without being spoken.
Tang Zhaoyun casually placed the embroidery hoop beside the bed and carefully observed Xu Zhihe’s features. At the same time, she secretly calculated in her heart whether there were any suitable and proper candidates from her own maiden family’s side.
Today, when Xu Zhihe’s younger brothers and sisters came to pay their respects, it was the Fifth Brother, Xu Yingzhang, who arrived first.
Although they were blood siblings, Xu Zhihe still had Fang Li stand outside the corridor to hold him back, only allowing everyone to enter together once the Fourth Miss and Sixth Miss had arrived.
Xu Yingzhang had already turned fourteen, so Xu Zhihe was naturally not wrong to do this.
At the same time, it inevitably brought to mind—no wonder Magistrate Xu had gotten ideas… Zhihe had indeed reached the age to leave the pavilion and marry…
Tang Zhaoyun felt half-pity for Xu Zhihe, while the other half was inevitably filled with worry. Right now, with her and Zhang Fuyong watching over her, Magistrate Xu naturally wouldn’t say anything. But they couldn’t stay forever. Last night, Zhang Fuyong had already started packing his bags, preparing to leave tomorrow.
Once she and Zhang Fuyong left, wouldn’t Xu Zhihe’s marriage fall right back into the hands of Magistrate Xu and Madame Lü?
Tang Zhaoyun was anxious in her heart, hoping that Zhang Fuyong would be the one to bring it up first. After all, she was only her aunt by marriage; there was a layer of separation between them. But Zhang Fuyong was different. He was Zhihe’s biological younger uncle. To ask about her marriage was perfectly reasonable.
But Zhang Fuyong was simple and honest. He knew his niece couldn’t be sent off to be someone’s concubine or suffer grievances, but he didn’t understand the winding twists and turns of the inner courtyard, nor did he foresee the predicament Xu Zhihe would face in the future.
The Zhang family was simple. The eldest and second brothers worked with their faces to the yellow earth and backs to the sky, each taking only one wife. Their days were harmonious and beautiful. Naturally, he couldn’t fathom the affairs of the inner courtyards in official families.
She had kept her distance and avoided asking about it directly, but looking at it now, that had been a mistake.
Zhang Fuyong treated her as his own family and hid nothing from her. As Zhihe’s younger aunt, what her younger uncle didn’t understand, she understood, so she naturally had to offer a word of reminder.
Tang Zhaoyun made up her mind—tonight, when Zhang Fuyong returned, she would be the one to initiate the conversation.
Thinking this way, her heart felt much lighter. She reached out and stroked Xu Zhihe’s soft, long hair, smiling softly as she said, “Good child!”
Sensing Tang Zhaoyun’s joy, Xu Zhihe secretly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart as well.
Her hints couldn’t be made too obvious, but they couldn’t be too obscure either. She had to patiently bide her time before today’s opportunity finally presented itself.
Fortunately, the message had been conveyed. Dealing with the four of them today hadn’t been in vain.
…It was just that she would have to trouble her younger aunt to step forward on her behalf.
Xu Zhihe hugged Tang Zhaoyun’s arm in return, gently rubbing her head against her wrist, and called out softly, “Younger Aunt…”
She consciously felt she had wronged Tang Zhaoyun a bit, but she did not regret it. Right now, in the Xu residence, her status was low and her words carried no weight; whatever she said counted for nothing. Naturally, there was no way to speak of repaying her kindness. It was only when she became independent and established her own household that they could speak of the future.
In ancient times, the rule was “in childhood, obey the father; in marriage, obey the husband; when the husband dies, obey the son.” She couldn’t choose her birth, and she consciously knew she couldn’t rely on her own thoughts to fight against an ideology that had existed for over a thousand years. Therefore, she viewed getting married as a means of establishing her independence.
In her mind, she couldn’t help but recall the young man who had slightly spaced out under the sunlight that day, and she let out a faint sigh in her heart.
She only hoped that Chen Yundu would not disappoint her.
In Concubine Du’s courtyard.
When Xu Yingzhang and Xu Yingsong returned, Concubine Du quickly reached out and had someone bring hot ginger soup and ginseng tea, handing it to the two who were covered in the chill of the frost.
“The west wing is as cold as an ice cellar. If it weren’t for Da-niangzi sending someone to pass on the message, it would have been better to go less! If the west wing truly were a good place, why didn’t she let the Eldest Brother go along and see his sister too?” Concubine Du looked at Xu Yingsong with a face full of heartache, reaching out to pull him into her arms. “Look at this, his little mouth has turned entirely pale.”
Xu Yingzhang looked at Concubine Du and said in a mild voice, “Mother.”
Seeing her eldest son standing at the door, Concubine Du felt a bit strange. “Have you finished your coursework for today? After wasting half the day, aren’t you going to make up for it as early as possible?”
Normally, Xu Yingzhang was diligent and eager to learn. He didn’t need Concubine Du to urge him; he would return to his room to study on his own accord.
Xu Yingzhang’s gaze was candid, meeting Concubine Du’s eyes directly. He said lightly, “Mother, in the future, regarding the allotted supplies for Third Sister’s room… please do not obstruct them anymore.”
A flash of embarrassment passed over Concubine Du’s face, and she immediately denied it, “When have I ever touched the Third Girl’s allotted supplies? You child, you always love to joke!”
Xu Yingzhang didn’t take her bait. He only looked at her silently without speaking.
The smile on Concubine Du’s face, which she had intended to ease the tension, faded. She rocked Xu Yingsong in her arms, lowered her head, and said, “Mother comes from a poor farming background. I have no father or brothers at home to support me, and there is a distant grand-uncle who seized our family’s property and fields. Mother has no maiden family to back her up… Da-niangzi, Da-niangzi and Concubine Yao, you know how they are. Later, when I had you and Ah-Song, but had nothing to provide for you, Mother’s heart ached too…”
Reaching the sad part, Concubine Du couldn’t help but speak with a choked sob.
She wasn’t a shrew, and in her heart, she didn’t want to scrape away the Third Miss’s monthly allowance either. But half-grown boys eat their parents out of house and home, and the Magistrate paid her no mind. She couldn’t just not take good care of her two sons.
Da-niangzi was the principal wife; she couldn’t touch her. Concubine Yao was a favored concubine with the Master’s backing; she couldn’t touch her either.
Choosing Xu Zhihe was truly because there was no one else left to exploit.
A tear shed by Concubine Du fell onto the fair, tender face of Xu Yingsong in her arms. He reached out his hand, seeming to want to touch Concubine Du’s face, his voice childish, “Mother, don’t cry.”
Concubine Du hugged him tighter. “Good child, Mother won’t cry.”
Xu Yingzhang knew exactly how much Concubine Du had sacrificed over the years for him and for this small courtyard. During the coldest days of winter, the room was as warm as spring; as for meals and drinks, she never neglected them in the slightest. Even when presenting gifts to his teacher at the county school, his tuition gifts were never less than others, saving him from losing face.
Looking at his mother and younger brother, he slowly exhaled a breath of stale air from his throat. “Mother, Third Sister has already reached the age to leave the pavilion. If a marriage is settled, by next autumn… at most the spring of the year after, she will marry. Even if Mother wants to stretch out her hand, she won’t be able to reach out for much longer.”
Concubine Du’s heart grew even more sorrowful.
Xu Yingzhang stepped forward, wrapping his arms around his mother and younger brother, and said with a firm tone, “If Mother believes in me, wait until my name is on the golden scroll. I will be the one to take care of you, and I will never let you suffer the slightest grievance again.”
Looking at her eldest son, who had grown tall without her realizing, Concubine Du felt a sour pang in her heart. She reached out and traced his features. “Good child, of course Mother believes in you. Since you have spoken up, Mother will naturally listen to you in all things.”
Her heart was full of sorrow. Magistrate Xu hadn’t been intimate with her in two or three years. Without the Master’s subsidy, and with no shops or fields under her name, she could only live off her monthly allowance. Fortunately, she was still relatively young, her eyes could still clearly see embroidery patterns, and she could do some needlework in her spare time to sell for money… No matter what, as long as she was there, her two children would not be treated poorly.
As she spoke, she smiled in relief. Her eldest son had begun learning at five and had studied for nearly ten years. His knowledge and understanding of reasoning were much greater than hers, a woman of the inner chambers. Since her eldest son had made a decision, she only needed to follow it.
“It is only a bit of silver and copper. My son has a bright and boundless future ahead; it is Mother who has been stubbornly clinging to the trivialities before us.” She affectionately touched Xu Yingzhang and Xu Yingsong’s faces. “As long as you both are well, I ask for nothing else.”
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