After leaving Luomei Hall, not only Yan Zigui followed Mrs. Song, but also two young girls. One was about the same age as Yan Zigui. The other was only eight or nine years old and kept turning back to secretly look at Yan Zigui.
Yan Zigui made a funny face to scare her.
The little girl quickly turned her head away.
After a short while, she secretly looked back again.
When they arrived at the main courtyard where Mrs. Song lived, they sat down and tea was served. Only then did Mrs. Song seem to remember to introduce them.
“This is the Second Young Lady, your second uncle’s daughter. She is one year younger than you. Her name is Zhenying. This is your younger sister, Zijin. The other little girl you saw earlier, about her age, is your third uncle’s fourth daughter, Zipei.”
Yan Zhenying bowed politely. “Elder Sister.”
Yan Zijin followed her example and bowed as well.
Yan Zigui turned her head, wanting someone to bring the greeting gifts she had prepared. Then she realized her maids and the gifts had been separated from her earlier. She could only smile and say, “Come to my room later. I brought gifts for you.”
“Your father is still on duty and has not returned. Your eldest brother is at the Imperial Academy. Your sister-in-law has severe morning sickness and is resting in bed. The other younger brothers are all at school. You must be tired from the long journey. Go back and rest first. You can meet them when they return.”
Yan Zigui agreed.
“I will take Elder Sister to her courtyard,” Yan Zhenying offered eagerly. “Aunt must be tired too. Please rest.”
Mrs. Song nodded.
Yan Zijin also wanted to go, but the maid behind her pulled her back. She pouted and stayed where she was.
On the way, Yan Zhenying kept talking about how much preparation Aunt had made for Yan Zigui’s return. The courtyard had been newly repaired. The furniture and flower pots had all been chosen carefully by Aunt herself.
“Aunt has always thought about you and hoped you would come back,” she said.
Yan Zigui nodded, but she did not fully believe it. If her mother truly missed her so much, she would not have acted as she did earlier.
Still, although they were mother and daughter, they had not seen each other for fourteen years. They were almost like strangers. If her mother had cried and hugged her tightly, she would have felt uncomfortable.
The courtyard given to her was large, though far from the main courtyard. Yan Zigui pretended not to notice. At the right time, she showed happiness about the courtyard and thanked her mother for her care.
After saying what needed to be said, Yan Zhenying did not leave right away. She seemed hesitant.
Yan Zigui looked at her. “Do you have something else to say?”
“I do not know what Grandmother at Jialan Pass told you,” Yan Zhenying said after thinking carefully. “In our family, we always call Grandmother ‘Old Madam.’ What you said in front of the guests today was really inappropriate.”
“What was inappropriate?” Yan Zigui asked calmly. “My grandmother is still alive. I truly do not know why I should call a concubine ‘Old Madam.’ Is it that the customs in the capital are different from those at the border?”
“For twenty years, while Grandfather was at the border, she managed the household with great hardship. Can she not even receive a respectful title?”
Yan Zigui looked at her. “So this is how you all think? I understand.”
Understand what? Yan Zhenying’s many prepared words were blocked by that simple reply. She wanted to ask more, but Yan Zigui already looked unwilling to continue. Since it was their first meeting, Yan Zhenying did not dare to push further. She quickly said goodbye and left.
Gancao and Dansha came in and passed her at the door. Dansha looked back a few times.
“That was the Second Young Lady?”
“Yes,” Gancao said quietly. “I asked around. After Madam sent you away, she always wanted another daughter. But she gave birth to two sons in a row and could not have a daughter. The second branch of the family had a daughter whose birth mother died. So Madam brought her here to raise. She is not her real daughter, but she is treated like one.”
Dansha looked serious. “In storybooks, someone like that—who takes the young lady’s place and favours—will surely become jealous and secretly cause trouble. You must be careful.”
Yan Zigui only sighed softly. “Find the gifts we prepared for the family. There are several places to visit. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can rest.”
“Miss, you should change your clothes,” Gancao said. They still did not know that Yan Zigui had already met the guests dressed like this.
The main courtyard was very quiet. The eldest daughter of the main wife had returned. It should have been a great happy event. But the main wife did not seem happy. Some people said the eldest young lady came back without washing or changing clothes and met the guests, which embarrassed the main wife. Others said that as soon as she returned, she made the “Old Madam” lose face.
They whispered, “They are real mother and daughter. Separated at two years old, now sixteen. Yet when they met, not even one tear. What kind of mother and daughter is that?”
“If you have nothing to do, take a cloth and clean all the pillars in the yard. How dare you gossip here?” Biyun scolded them when she heard the whispers.
When she turned around, she saw Yan Zigui standing at the gate of the courtyard and quickly stepped forward.
“Eldest Young Lady.”
“No need to inform Mother and disturb her rest,” Yan Zigui said. She took a gift box from Gancao. “This is a gift I prepared for Mother. I came back in a hurry earlier, and my luggage was not with me.”
“You could have sent someone to deliver it. There was no need for you to come in person,” Biyun said as she took the box. She also tried to speak kindly for Mrs. Song. “Since we heard you were coming back, Madam has not slept well. She often thought about what to do when you returned. The person she missed day and night suddenly appeared in front of her. She simply did not react in time.”
“I understand,” Yan Zigui nodded. She still had other places to deliver gifts, so she did not stay long.
Biyun quickly called a young maid to lead the way. “Eldest Young Lady may go wherever she wishes.”
Yan Zigui thanked her.
For some reason, Biyun suddenly felt her nose sting and her throat tighten. “Miss is the precious eldest daughter of this family. You are home. You do not need to be so polite.”
Before going to the second branch of the family, Yan Zigui first went to her sister-in-law’s courtyard. She sent someone to announce her arrival.
Ding Miaoshuang was holding a spittoon and vomiting until she felt dizzy. When she heard that the eldest young lady was waiting outside and wanted to see her—and that she had studied medicine with Grandmother and hoped to ease her suffering—she frowned.
“Even the imperial doctors cannot help me. What can she do?” Ding Miaoshuang said unhappily. She rinsed her mouth with water and forced herself to speak. “Go tell her I am not in a condition to see anyone. Please ask her not to mind. When I recover, I will invite her to visit.”
Yan Zigui was not angry at being refused. A sister-in-law who had never met her before would naturally not trust her to check her pulse and treat her. That was understandable.
She waved a maid forward and gently placed her fingers on the maid’s wrist, pointing to a spot three fingers below the wrist crease. “This is the Neiguan acupoint.”
Then she pressed a point on the maid’s lower back, two fingers to the side of the spine. “This is the Shenyu acupoint.”
“Massage these two points. It can help stop vomiting. You can try it. Even if it does not completely stop the vomiting, it will not cause harm.”
The maid nodded, half understanding.
Yan Zigui then went to the second branch of the family, but her second uncle’s wife had not yet returned from Luomei Hall. Of her grandfather’s three sons, the grandmother gave birth to the eldest and youngest. The second uncle was born to Concubine Mo. As mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, they were naturally closer than others.
Yan Zigui left the gifts and departed.
When she arrived at the third branch, Wang Lumei came out to greet her as soon as she heard the announcement.
“I was thinking of bringing your fourth sister to see you,” Wang Lumei said warmly. “But I worried that you were tired from travelling and did not want to disturb your rest. Who knew you would come yourself?”
“I prepared some small gifts for Uncle, Aunt, the two younger brothers, and Fourth Sister. They are simple things. Please do not dislike them.”
Wang Lumei pulled her inside and made her sit. “We knew you were coming back, but no one said it would be today. Otherwise, the whole family would have prepared gifts and waited for you. How could there be outsiders present so that family could not even greet each other properly?”
“The housekeeper arranged the travel. I do not know what he told the family,” Yan Zigui explained gently. “When the boat arrived, the old woman hurried me into the carriage. I thought Mother missed me very much.”
There was no need to say more. Everyone knew what happened after that—she met guests while still dusty from travel. In any case, it was not her fault.
“Some people like to play small and shameful tricks,” Wang Lumei sighed. “Everyone knows you grew up at Jialan Pass. No one knows what you look like or how you were raised. By letting you appear suddenly in front of relatives, they hoped you would embarrass yourself. Once rumors spread that you are narrow-minded and unrefined, it would be too late.”
“But fortunately, you spoke quickly and explained the reason for your appearance. No one can blame you,” Wang Lumei said, patting her hand. “You stayed at the border for fourteen years to show filial respect and accompany your grandparents. Such a good reputation is not easy to destroy.”
She then spoke of the so-called Old Madam with clear dislike. “When there is no tiger in the mountains, the monkey becomes king. A mere concubine acts important. But what can we do? Your father wants to give her a face. What can others say? We can only go along with it.”
Since it concerned her father, Yan Zigui said nothing and simply listened.
Wang Lumei talked on and on. “Mrs.Mo treats your father very well—perhaps even better than her own son. But she has her own son after all. What does she want? Surely she cannot expect him to ignore his real mother and treat her, a concubine, as his true mother.”