The moment Shen Qingqing finished speaking, she rushed through the gates of the study courtyard, paying no heed whatsoever to what her elder sister might think.
Shen Qingyin, choked speechless by her words, had no idea how to react. Watching the girl storm off in a huff, she felt as though the blood in her whole body had nearly frozen solid.
She couldn't understand it. How had that sweet younger sister who used to chase after her calling "Jiejie" turned into this?
It had only been two months since they'd last seen each other!
The red string in her hand bit painfully into Shen Qingyin's palm. Only after a long while did she come back to herself, turning to Luo Yu at her side with a bitter smile.
"Yu-niang, I've made a spectacle of myself for you."
Luo Yu gave a slight shake of her head, stepping forward to gently take hold of Shen Qingyin's cool arm.
"Yin-niang, you know I've never had any intention of laughing at you."
If she truly wanted to laugh at Shen Qingyin—
She should have started three years ago, at the Qionglin Banquet, when all the noble families of the capital witnessed Shen Qingyin and Pei Yu emerging from the side hall in disheveled clothing.
She should have started two years ago, when Shen Qingyin was pregnant with Tang-jie'er, and the servants of the Pei household exposed what had happened, nearly costing her two lives at once.
But Luo Yu…
Luo Yu's heart held nothing but an aching tenderness for her that was nearly overflowing.
Still, this was someone else's family matter, not something she should speak too freely on. After much thought, Luo Yu could only offer her dear friend words of comfort:
"Don't grieve. Qingniang is at that rebellious age, but she's not one who can't tell right from wrong. Talk to her properly another day, and I'm sure she'll listen."
Shen Qingyin's tears nearly spilled over. She dared only answer with an "mm," afraid that saying anything more would let Luo Yu hear that something was wrong. Forcing back her tears, she swayed unsteadily toward the carriage.
Luo Yu walked with her, and it wasn't until Shen Qingyin was nearly at the carriage that, after glancing around and seeing no one nearby, she lowered her voice:
"But I must still warn you, Yin-niang—if Assistant Minister Pei truly frequents houses of pleasure as Qingniang says, then from now on you should share his bed as little as possible."
Shen Qingyin looked up blankly, only to hear Luo Yu say earnestly: "You've lived so long within these inner walls that you naturally wouldn't know—the women of those pleasure quarters mostly carry hidden ailments. On a man, the infection shows no symptoms at all, but once passed to the women of his household, it not only harms the body but brings endless trouble afterward."
Luo Yu had seen such things many times.
Men sought their pleasures, enjoying themselves to the fullest, while in the end it was the lawful wife at home who suffered the consequences.
…
The Shen family apothecary was located in the south of the capital, its stream of patients never ceasing. Its storefront was extremely spacious—property bestowed upon Old General Shen by the late Emperor.
After the midday meal, drowsiness overcame one of the shop's clerks. But just as he finished a yawn and blinked open his bleary eyes, he suddenly saw the Pei household carriage pulling leisurely to a stop at the entrance.
The moment he saw Zhuling and Nanny Qing step down, he knew it was his family's eldest miss, Shen Qingyin, arriving in person, and he hurried forward to show the way.
The four of them skirted the customers coming and going in the front hall and went straight into the hidden chamber in the rear courtyard.
Outside the bronze door of that hidden chamber, Mrs. Chen had already been waiting a long while. Seeing her daughter approach, she hurried forward at once and grasped for Shen Qingyin's wrist, saying with relief:
"Yin-niang, you've finally come around!"
What Mrs. Chen referred to, naturally, was the letter her daughter had sent her the day before, asking her to help find a reliable broker to purchase two registered households for her son-in-law's future concubines.
She laughed even more heartily. "…If you ask me, you should have taken a concubine for Lord Pei long ago. For a great family like the Pei clan, continuing the bloodline is a matter of utmost importance. You must know that all men under heaven wish for a virtuous and magnanimous wife—"
At the mention of magnanimity, Mrs. Chen hurriedly asked her daughter, "Speaking of which, that cousin of Lord Pei's at the Jingyuan Marquis's residence—her husband died a while back in Youzhou, and now she's a new widow. I hear she's already returned to the capital. Do you know about this?"
Shen Qingyin was slightly startled to hear this, but not overly surprised.
Pei Yu had been acting strangely of late, and the wife of the Jingyuan Marquis had suddenly come to visit Madam Wei at the Pei residence, so she had already harbored a few vague suspicions in her heart.
Hearing this now, she felt that everything fit together.
So it was that his beloved was returning, and that was why Pei Yu found fault with her at every turn.
Shen Qingyin pulled her hand free from Mrs. Chen's grasp and said to her, "Whether I know of this or not has nothing to do with either of us, Mother. Don't bring it up again."
"All right, all right. Isn't your mother just looking out for you, reminding you on purpose?" Mrs. Chen said with a teasing smile.
No matter what Liang Luoying was like, her own daughter was now stepping aside of her own accord—taking a concubine for her husband on one hand while rushing to bear children herself on the other—and she would even earn a fine reputation for being free of jealousy…
Mrs. Chen thought to herself with delight that her in-laws were sure to praise her for raising her daughter so well.
Catching a glimpse of her mother's expression, Shen Qingyin instantly guessed what Mrs. Chen was thinking and couldn't help feeling a surge of anger.
She considered herself extremely filial, yet at some point she had begun to find it harder and harder to listen to Mrs. Chen speak.
But Mrs. Chen refused to let the matter rest. She leaned in close again and chattered on, "Well, all that was just for show. You can't simply be magnanimous all the time—you must occasionally keep a measure of control. Act a little jealous in front of Lord Pei now and then, so he doesn't think you're completely indifferent to him."
At these words, Shen Qingyin was so angry she laughed. Finally unable to hold back, she said mockingly to Mrs. Chen, "Mother, by your reasoning, I'm supposed to take two concubines for him of my own accord so he can seek his pleasures and spread his seed, while at the same time deliberately acting jealous to please him and make him think I care about him—"
"Don't you find that truly laughable?"
With that, Shen Qingyin's tone shifted abruptly, and a trace of cold ferocity suddenly appeared in her eyes.
"Also, I know all about Qingniang's affair. You needn't keep playing the go-between and trying to please both sides. Once I'm done with these busy few days, we'll settle accounts."
This mother and daughter pair had schemed behind her back more than once or twice before. Shen Qingyin had no wish to waste any more energy listening to Mrs. Chen lecture her, and before the woman could open her mouth to argue, she twisted open the mechanism.
As the bronze door slowly opened, Shen Qingyin straightened her back and stepped into the hidden chamber.
The chamber was dimly lit, with only the faint flicker of candlelight on the walls. In the very center of the room stood a plump, cheerful-looking woman dressed in a gaudy ruqun, looking no different from an ordinary matchmaker.
Behind the woman, a dozen or so young girls knelt in neat rows. They were all small and thin, with disheveled hair, wearing clothes patched all over, timidly hanging their heads as they waited to be chosen.
The moment the woman saw Shen Qingyin, her face immediately broke into a smile, and she said obsequiously, "Madam, you've finally come."
Shen Qingyin was in a foul mood and raised a hand to silence her, and the woman promptly had the sense to shut up.
But as she watched Shen Qingyin look the girls she had brought over again and again, with a full incense stick's worth of time passing and not a single one chosen, the woman steeled herself and stepped up beside Shen Qingyin:
"Is there something troubling you, Madam? Rest assured! These girls were all carefully selected from good families—obedient, well-behaved, and diligent. They're perfect for purchase as servants."
Shen Qingyin's gaze slowly swept over the crowd of kneeling young girls, and she said calmly, "No good. They're all too thin—not to my liking. I want ones with fuller figures."
Even if Pei Yu refused to say it, she could guess his preferred type.
After all, on the bed, he focused on only those two places, practically unable to get enough of them…
Shen Qingyin shook her head, flinging away those inappropriate, amorous images that had surfaced in her mind, before saying to the slave trader, "We'll pass for today. Select another batch and bring them tomorrow."
The slave trader froze at this, puzzled. "Madam, for servant girls, one should choose the thin and small ones—they're nimble. The plump ones are mostly clumsy, eat a lot, are hard to manage, and always love climbing into their masters' beds."
Shen Qingyin looked at her silently.
Startled by that gaze, the woman instantly caught on. Her shrewd eyes casually swept over Shen Qingyin's understated yet unmistakably luxurious attire, and enlightenment dawned. She hurriedly lowered her voice to ask, "Could it be…"
"Could it be that Madam isn't selecting servant girls, but rather choosing concubines for your husband?"
Seeing that Shen Qingyin did not refute her, the woman clapped her hands and loudly praised her, "Oh my! It's rare to see a mistress like you who takes the initiative to take concubines for her husband! Truly virtuous!"
Shen Qingyin ignored her and turned to walk out. It was Zhuling at her side who could no longer bear it and coldly cut the woman off:
"What a nosy slave trader you are! My mistress is the principal wife of the eldest branch of the Pei household! The Pei family is of noble standing, and their standards for the appearance and figures of household servants are naturally very high. Whatever sort she wishes to choose, my mistress will decide herself. You need only follow instructions and bring the people as told. Why all the questions?"
"Yes, yes, yes! It was I who spoke too much!"
The woman made as if to slap her own mouth, but suddenly caught the words "Pei household" in Zhuling's statement. The smile on her face instantly froze, and suspicion surged in her eyes. She hurriedly stepped forward to scrutinize Shen Qingyin's face carefully.
Shen Qingyin felt uncomfortable all over under her stare and was about to question her when she heard the slave trader mutter:
"Wait—a wife of the Pei household? Hss… something's not right?"
Two years ago, another wife of the Pei household had also come specially to her to buy servants.
But that woman's face and figure back then were nothing like the person before her!
…
By the time Shen Qingyin returned to Yuebai Courtyard, it was already time for the evening meal.
Pei Yu had not returned for the midday meal today, and by all logic, he would not come back for dinner either.
As Shen Qingyin stepped through the courtyard gate, she indeed saw no sign of Pei Yu's servants, and she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed the heavens were blessing her—today would be a rare day without a scolding.
But before she could finish that breath, she heard the heart-wrenching wails of a child.
Shen Qingyin hurried along, following the sound of crying back to the inner chamber. Upon entering, she saw her daughter curled up on the soft couch, bawling loudly. Her little face was flushed bright red from fever, yet she still desperately waved her little hands, trying to push away the medicinal decoction before her.
"Bitter… the medicine is so bitter! Tang-jie'er doesn't want to drink medicine!"
The wet nurse attending her had coaxed her with great patience for a long while, and impatience could no longer be hidden on her face.
But when she caught sight of Shen Qingyin entering from the corner of her eye, she quickly softened her expression and gently coaxed Tang-jie'er:
"There, there, my little lady. Be good and drink your medicine. Once you finish it, your cold will heal and you won't feel awful anymore."
But little Tang-jie'er, small as she was, had quite a temper. With a forceful push of her tiny hands, she knocked the medicine bowl from the wet nurse's hands yet again, wailing without cease.
Shen Qingyin sighed, stepped forward, and took the bowl. "Let me."
A mother knows her child best. One look at Tang-jie'er's state, and without even touching her forehead, she knew her daughter had a fever again.
Enduring the ache in her waist, Shen Qingyin crouched down beside Tang-jie'er's bed. Holding the bowl in one hand, she drew from her sleeve the little wooden waterwheel she had brought back from Yongxu Academy and held it before her daughter's eyes.
"Tang-Tang, do you want it?"
The small, exquisite wooden waterwheel indeed made Tang-jie'er's crying stop. Her tearful eyes sparkled as she stared at it, both hands reaching out eagerly to grab it.
"Want… want it!"
Shen Qingyin, however, pulled the waterwheel back slightly. "If you drink your medicine like a good girl, this waterwheel is yours."
"Mm-hmm!"
The little girl nodded vigorously, and suddenly the medicine didn't taste bitter anymore. In no time at all, she obediently drank the entire bowl of medicine down to the last drop.
Only then did Shen Qingyin place the wooden waterwheel in her hands.
Pei Xutang, having gotten her wish, sniffled, hugged her beloved waterwheel, climbed off the bed, and toddled off on her little short legs toward her favorite corner.
Nanny Qing came forward with a kindly smile and was about to fold up the bedding Tang-jie'er had lain on when she suddenly caught a sour, sweat-soaked smell.
She said in puzzlement, "Strange… the little lady's cold had mostly gotten better the day before yesterday, and her spirits had improved so much. How did she come down with a fever again today?"