Shen Jianglin did not want to return to the main courtyard to live, entirely out of a consideration to avoid trouble.
Whether it was to avoid being suspected by others due to his drastic change in temperament, or simply to have his own courtyard with more living space, in any case, Shen Jianglin would not go back to his original residence.
Nanny Wang felt somewhat pained over the ten taels of silver she had just given away.
Ever since her young master began his studies at the age of seven, he had a monthly allowance of three taels of silver. Although he lived in the main courtyard and all his daily needs were arranged by Madam Wei, beyond these necessities, if he wanted anything else? There was simply nothing.
Fortunately, Nanny Wang kept the monthly allowance. Occasionally, when Lin-ge'er craved something tasty or wanted to buy some fashionable trinket, she would ask the servant boy at the side gate to go out and buy it, and that would tide things over.
Now, having spent ten taels of silver in one go, the money saved over the past two years had been completely used up.
Moreover, this silver had not even been spent wisely!
Originally, Nanny Wang had been wholeheartedly set on returning to the main courtyard. With the mistress overseeing his upbringing, which maidservant or old maid would dare overstep? Besides, although Madam Wei could not treat the second young master as her own son, on the surface there was nothing amiss, and she had not mistreated the second young master. Just that alone was quite good.
Now the second young master had suddenly changed his mind and wanted to live independently in his own courtyard. Although he had given Chuntao silver to put in a few good words, whether the madam would ultimately agree, whether saying such things would make her dislike the second young master even more, and even if she agreed, which courtyard she would assign to the second young master to live in—
None of this could be certain, and it only made one anxious.
"This child, he's actually sulking with me!" When Madam Wei heard this, she felt rather displeased, and it showed on her face.
Chuntao was not annoyed. With practiced hands, she undid the bun on Madam Wei's head and combed through her hair one stroke at a time with a wooden comb, giving Madam Wei's scalp a bit of relief. The flash of anger just now quickly dissipated. Madam Wei thought to herself that moving out was, in fact, only a matter of time. Yun-ge'er had moved out at twelve, and Lin-ge'er would at most stay only two more years.
Moving out two years earlier was not necessarily unacceptable, but at this critical juncture, it inevitably invited suspicion.
"Madam, if you ask me, this is actually a good thing." Chuntao gently massaged Madam Wei's temples as she spoke softly.
Madam Wei gave a faint "mm," closing her eyes to signal Chuntao to continue.
"People say a child's character is set by the age of three. The second young master has lived in our courtyard for seven years and has been studying for three. If I may be so bold, do you think he is cut out for scholarship?"
In the room, only another trusted maidservant, Chunyu, was making the bed. The other maidservants and old maids had all withdrawn to the outer room, leaving only the three of them—mistress and servants—in the bedchamber. So Chuntao did not hold back.
Madam Wei's brow twitched at this. Lin-ge'er had entered the Clan School at seven and studied for three years, yet only now had he barely memorized the Three Hundred Thousand. How unlike Yun-ge'er, who had long since begun studying the Four Books.
Fortunately, Lin-ge'er was not one to cause trouble, and she had never heard the tutor say he misbehaved outside. When Madam Wei instructed him on ordinary days, he listened. It was just that he was ultimately not cut out for it.
"If the second young master cannot make progress, won't he have to rely on the eldest young master in the future when he grows up? Even if he harbors some resentment now, so what? This child has been gloomy since childhood; presumably he won't go complain before the madam. It would be better to assign him a decent courtyard, arrange everything inside and out, equip him with four senior maids, four junior maids, and four rough-work old women, and outside, two page boys. With such a generous bestowal, who won't say the madam is benevolent!"
Chuntao, comparing him to the people by Shen Jiangyun's side, halved the number for Shen Jianglin. Even halved, it was still a fortune many people could not enjoy in a lifetime.
The servants also received monthly allowances: each senior maid got one string of cash per month, junior maids five hundred wen, rough-work old women six hundred wen, and the outside page boys one string of cash. Nanny Wang still received one tael of silver as before. Calculating it all, just the monthly allowances for Shen Jianglin's attendants would cost nearly ten taels of silver.
But wouldn't this mean spending two more years' worth of money?
Currently, Shen Jianglin was living in Madam Wei's main courtyard—or so it was called. In reality, Shen Jianglin had been placed in the rear annex some distance from the main house, where four rooms had been partitioned off and enclosed in a cramped little courtyard for Shen Jianglin and his two attendants.
Seeing Madam Wei with her eyes closed and not responding, Chuntao naturally knew what her mistress was thinking: "Madam, this way, the marquis will have no grounds to criticize you. Besides, the eldest young master stayed until he was twelve before moving out because you couldn't bear to part with him. Outside, there are families who move their sons out to separate courtyards at eight. The second young master has such a temperament—if there's another incident, it would be frightening. Better to indulge him this time. After some time, when he comes to his senses, things will turn around."
Hearing this, Madam Wei began to ponder as well.
Why had she insisted on adopting Shen Jianglin back then? It was because she had only one son, Yun-ge'er. No matter how much she disliked Shen Jianglin, she had to take him in and raise him well.
If she could raise a promising son born of a concubine to help Yun-ge'er, that would naturally be best. If he turned out useless, she still had to keep him.
Even though she did not want to think in that direction, Madam Wei knew that if one day Marquis Shen passed away and her Yun-ge'er was also gone, then only Shen Jianglin would be left to support the household.
Without a son, leaving a household of women in the marquis's estate? The other branches would likely devour them in an instant, not even leaving bone fragments behind!
Over all these years, the Rong'an Marquis Estate had only these two boys who had survived to stand. Since Shen Jianglin was useless, then let him live well.
Now, although there was some estrangement between her and Shen Jianglin, Madam Wei was still quite confident. After raising him for so many years, Shen Jianglin still recognized only her. Moreover, distance makes the heart grow fonder. Better, as Chuntao said, to indulge him this time, assign him a decent courtyard, and equip him fully with servants. Once he understood the benefits of having the legitimate mother's favor, he would come around in a few days.
Besides, Yun-ge'er is already fifteen now, and before long he will be a grown man. Once Yun-ge'er establishes his own branch and spreads the family line, there will be even less to worry about. She still needed to focus her mind properly on Yun-ge'er. Especially since choosing Biyue back then had been most improper. This time she must keep her eyes wide open and carefully select a good bedchamber attendant for Yun-ge'er. Of course, Yun-ge'er's marriage was also a top priority for the next couple of years—purchasing betrothal gifts, repairing rooms—which of these matters did not require careful thought?
With so many important matters awaiting her, there was truly no need to keep Lin-ge'er under her watchful eye to raise. It would only cost a bit of silver, and save others from thinking that she, as the principal wife, was unkind!
……..
Madam Wei selected the courtyard on the tenth. The courtyard was in the northeast corner, relatively close to Concubine Xu's small courtyard, which delighted Concubine Xu immensely.
That small courtyard was called "Qingfeng Yuan." It had originally been a small courtyard where the old master would receive guests and rest when the estate was first built, so it had its own side gate opening onto the street for convenient coming and going. Later, that area fell into disuse, the side gate was sealed up, and no one was assigned to keep watch at night.
Because "Qingfeng Yuan" was somewhat out of the way and had been abandoned for many years, even though its original furnishings were not bad, it was ultimately not considered good either. Its only advantages were its quietness and large size. Inside there was a grove of bamboo, and in the central courtyard's open space there was a pond. When the time came, releasing a few brocade carp and growing a few bowl lotuses would give it quite a charming appeal.
Shen Jianglin was very satisfied after seeing the place, and even made a special trip to the main courtyard to respectfully thank Madam Wei. It happened that Marquis Shen was also present at the time, which gave Madam Wei face. She thought to herself that Lin-ge'er was not disliked in every way after all.
Most of the servants allocated were hereditary servants of the marquis estate. Altogether about a dozen people worked together to tidy up, and it still took a full ten days to get the rooms in order. This time Madam Wei was generous, telling Nanny Wang to simply ask Chuntao for whatever was lacking. Chuntao opened the estate's storerooms and accompanied Nanny Wang to select things together. On the day they moved in, both Madam Wei and Marquis Shen also bestowed some everyday useful items, which made Nanny Wang truly feel that living as their own courtyard, with the gates closed, was a bit more relaxed than scraping by under Madam Wei's watchful eye.
By the time Shen Jianglin moved into "Qingfeng Yuan," his health had completely recovered, and the Clan School had also started its term.
Nanny Wang packed Shen Jianglin's book bag. Just as he had put it on his back and was about to leave, he saw Shen Chuxia hurrying over with a little maidservant, both short of breath. She handed the cloth bag in her hands to Shen Jianglin and said irritably, "Here, Concubine and Second Sister made this for you early this morning. Take it to the school and eat it if you get hungry."
Shen Jianglin's sharp eyes caught that Shen Chuxia's sleeve also had a bit of white powder on it. Presumably this food was not made by just Concubine Xu and First Sister alone.
Shen Jianglin smiled and accepted it: "Thank you, Third Sister."
Shen Chuxia felt a little uncomfortable. Ordinarily, Shen Chuxia thought this younger brother Shen Jianglin was somewhat arrogant, looking down on her and First Sister, and he had never been close to them. Shen Chuxia was not as good-natured as her First Sister, and often mocked Shen Jianglin a few times. When the two met, they usually parted on bad terms.
This was the first time Shen Jianglin had ever spoken to her so amiably, saying "thank you."
Shen Chuxia glanced at Shen Jianglin with some suspicion, feeling that ever since he fell into the water, her younger brother had changed a great deal. Could it be that he had finally come to his senses?
But seeing that time was running short, Shen Chuxia did not want to probe further. She merely gave a rather fierce warning: "Go to the school and study hard. Don't be naughty."
Shen Jianglin had the bearing of an adult and would not take a little girl's deliberately fierce, claw-baring act to heart. He smiled gently, nodded, and left.
The Shen Clan School was not far from the Rong'an Marquis Manor—just a two-courtyard residence set up one street away from the Shen residence. In his original body's memories, the one in charge of teaching was a Xiucai (Licentiate) who, because he was old and had repeatedly failed the examinations, had simply been kept in the Shen family's employ to teach the Shen children.
Since the generation in which the Shen family first rose to prominence, Shen Jianglin's great-grandfather had six brothers. After the brothers split off, they branched out further. By Shen Jianglin's generation, the Shen family, including all relatives and connections, numbered several hundred people. Some of them were scattered in the Shen family's ancestral home in Luzhou Prefecture, while others lived together as a clan, relying on the Rong'an Marquis Manor as their great tree, and had settled down in the capital.
In order to look after the Shen clan members and select outstanding descendants from among them, this clan school had been established not long after the Shen family entered the capital. To date, there were fifty-eight school-age children studying there, and those with talent would receive focused training after passing the Xiucai examination.
The idea of selecting the worthy and promoting the capable was good, but the moment Shen Jianglin lifted the felt curtain and entered the room, two books came flying at his head, nearly hitting him square in the face.