Seven or eight days after Madam Fengxian embarked on her new life, the Shi brothers were finally about to return. Che San Niang was as restless as an ant on a hot pan, unable to sit or lie still. Catching Minglan’s curious gaze, she gave an awkward smile and said, “Since we married, my man and I have rarely been apart. We made a vow back then: if he’s in the water, I’ll be in the water; if he’s in the fire, I’ll be in the fire. If one of us goes first, the other must wait on the path to the underworld.”
She spoke with such conviction that Minglan felt a little embarrassed. Unable to resist, she asked, “Sister, with such devotion… what if Brother Shi lets you down?”
Che San Niang laughed heartily. “I was just a street-performing girl—marrying a small leader in the Water Transport Gang was already climbing high. I wanted to care for my aging mother; he had to raise his younger brother. We were both from the lower classes, both burdened with dependents, so we joined forces to get by. Who knows what the future holds? If he dares to stray, then I was blind—we’ll settle it with blades, red or white! For now, I’ll take joy where I can, one day at a time.”
Minglan smiled sheepishly, reflecting on how her own worries seemed trivial in comparison.
On the day the Shi brothers returned, Che San Niang greeted her husband at the gate, draped in a brand-new, vividly red embroidered jacket. The glow of the setting sun fell on Shi Keng’s dark, weathered face, and his gaze toward his wife shone as brilliantly as the evening clouds.
They brought over a dozen large chests, ten of which were sent by Gu Tingye, filled with northwestern specialties: precious furs, woolen fabrics, dried mushrooms and vegetables, Codonopsis root, Astragalus, Angelica, and several thick, exotic rugs in rich, vibrant colors.
Shi Keng explained, “These were all gifts offered to the Marquis along the way.” Pointing to the remaining chests, he added with a smile, “These are our brothers’ belated New Year’s gifts—just simple goods. We hope you’ll accept them, Madam.”
The contents mattered less to Minglan than news of the people. Ruomei, her body heavy with pregnancy, also came over and timidly asked a few questions.
Shi Keng continued, “The Marquis is in good health, and the campaign is proceeding smoothly. He said you should focus on resting well during your pregnancy and not worry about anything else.” Turning to Ruomei, he added, “Gongsun Xiansheng is also doing well. He’s recently taken a liking to Western Region wine but refrains from drinking much due to the war. He asked me to bring back two cartloads for you, Concubine, saying you should save it to share with your son someday.”
That sounded just like Gongsun Laotou. Ruomei brightened at this, lowering her head to cover a sweet, delighted smile.
After sitting by the door and talking for a long while, Shi Keng finally drew a thick, heavy letter from his robe and handed it to Minglan, explaining it was a personal letter from Gu Tingye.
Gu Tingye had always been concise with his writing, usually unwilling to pen even an extra character. Minglan whimsically wondered if it might be tribute silver notes collected on the road. But when she returned to her room and opened it, she found it was indeed a heartfelt letter from home!
The letter didn’t contain anything particularly urgent—just daily trivialities and repeated exhortations.
Page after page, line after line, the writing was intermittent, as if he wrote whenever he had a spare moment. He wrote about the weather, morale, the local customs and practices of the Northwest, and even idle chats and jokes among the soldiers. At the end of many passages, he would add a few teasing, playful remarks."Things like 'the sandstorm blots out the sky, we had to stop and set up camp after traveling only a short while—it's even more temperamental than you,' or 'the weather is as changeable as your temper, never letting anyone know what went wrong,' or else 'the women here are bold and robust, skilled in riding and archery. When I return from this trip, I’ll teach you to ride a horse'...
Sometimes, when he ran out of ideas, he’d toss in a couple of clumsy poems.
Like 'Such stars as these are not of yesternight; for whom do I stand in wind and dew till midnight?'—this one was passable; 'How much love can one night hold? Even the ends of the earth cannot measure its length'—a bit too sentimental; 'May I be the star and you the moon, shining brightly together night after night'...
Minglan clutched the letter, laughing so hard she collapsed onto the bed. Hmm, very good, very good. You be the star, I’ll be the moon, and someday I’ll have a galaxy of stars surrounding me.
Her chubby son had just finished half a bowl of egg custard and was nodding off, his plump head drooping. Minglan planted a firm kiss on his cheek and said cheerfully, 'Study hard when you grow up, don’t end up like your father—who knows which book he copied those lines from!'
That night, Minglan read the letter over and over, pressing the dozen or so pages to her chest before finally drifting off to sleep.
...
The next day, Che San Niang arrived at Jiaxi Residence glowing with vitality, her eyes tender and skin radiant—clearly, last night’s 'battle' had been exhilarating. Minglan teased her a little, and Che San Niang quickly got to the point.
She spoke clearly and concisely, and after just a few sentences, Minglan was stunned: 'Shi Qiang wants to marry Xiaotao?!'
Che San Niang twisted her handkerchief anxiously, looking troubled. 'We’ve been away from home for months now, and my husband plans to leave in the next couple of days. That silly boy has been acting strange since last night—moping and refusing to eat. When I asked what was wrong, he clammed up like a mussel. It wasn’t until his elder brother threatened to beat him that he finally spoke up. He said he met Xiaotao years ago and has been thinking about her ever since. Now that they’ve met again and both grown up—taller and all—he’s developed feelings for her.'
Minglan was speechless for a long moment before stammering, 'What... what does Brother Shi see in Xiaotao?'
She remembered the river ambush years ago. After being rescued, she had changed clothes and rested indoors to calm her nerves, while her maids bustled about tidying up. Shi Qiang, who had been helping at the time, must have seen her maids then.
Xiaotao was a good girl, no doubt about it, but her appearance... Minglan pictured Xiaotao in her mind: round-faced, simple, sturdy, and a bit clumsy, with a distinctly rustic charm. Love at first sight?
Che San Niang was equally puzzled. 'I don’t know either. Perhaps, Madam, you could ask the boy yourself?'
Minglan nodded. Since outside men were not permitted in the inner residence, she and Che San Niang took a sedan chair to the outer hall and sent for Shi Qiang.
When they arrived, the young man stood by the corridor, so tall he nearly brushed the beams, his face as red as a boiled egg. He seemed to have something stuck in his throat, unable to utter a word.
Che San Niang, who treated Shi Qiang like a son, grew exasperated. She strode over and thumped him hard. 'Speak up! The Madam says she’s currently looking for husbands for her maids. If you don’t say something now, the cooked...' No, that wasn’t right—there wasn’t even a hint of a match yet. The girl wasn’t 'cooked' at all.
'If you don’t speak now, the feathered duck will fly away!' Che San Niang waved her fist and shouted.
Minglan burst out laughing, lightening the atmosphere in the hall.
'Tell us properly—what is it you like about Xiaotao? If you can’t give me a good reason, how can I feel assured about marrying her off to some faraway place?' Minglan asked gently.Shi Qiang wiped the sweat from his forehead, his hands and feet fidgeting restlessly. He glanced at his sister-in-law, then at the silhouette behind the screen, and finally mustered his courage to say, "Young Lady Xiaotao..." After struggling for a long time, he blurted out, "She's a wonderful girl!"
Che San Niang felt a wave of despair, wondering if she had been too strict with him since childhood.
Minglan sighed and adopted the tone of a high school dean coaxing a student to confess a puppy love: "Then tell me, what was it like when you first saw Xiaotao a few years ago...?"
Originally, she had planned to find the silly girl a reliable husband, preferably someone nearby, so she could keep an eye on her.
Shi Qiang began to recall, rambling incoherently for a while, but only one key point emerged: "...All the girls on the ship were terrified—some crying, some cursing, others trembling so badly they couldn't even speak... Only Young Lady Xiaotao wasn't."
"What was she doing then?" Minglan grew curious.
Maids from wealthy households were pampered and had never encountered bandits before. Though the ship had already docked, a few corpses still floated on the water. Nearby vessels had just extinguished fires, and the air carried the stench of charred flesh mixed with the smell of death. Bloodstains remained fresh on the deck, and the rescued girls, still shaken, had to force themselves to tidy up, leaving them in no pleasant mood.
A dreamy expression spread across Shi Qiang's face: "...She borrowed a fishing spear and waded into the shallow water, spearing over a dozen fat fish in one go. Then she picked up a dagger that had washed ashore, chopped off the fish heads right there, scaled and gutted them, all while humming a tune as she headed back."
Not only was Minglan stunned, but even Che San Niang was left speechless. She wanted to feel her younger brother's forehead—was the sight of that girl beheading and gutting fish somehow radiantly charming?
"That's the kind of wife I want!" Young Shi Qiang clenched his fist, declaring firmly.
Minglan was at a loss for words for a long moment before finally saying, "Well... I'll have to ask Xiaotao..." Remembering the girl's simple nature, she added, "It might take some time to get an answer."
Che San Niang smiled. "There's no hurry. She's been by your side for so many years—naturally, you’d want to carefully plan her future. My brother is still young, and our uncle from the same clan passed away less than a year ago. Let’s take it slow, take it slow. We can wait until you’ve made up your mind."
Unlike her naive younger brother, she tended to overthink things. While it would be wonderful for him to marry the girl he loved, it would be even better if he could wed the personal maid who had grown up with the Marquis of Gu’s wife. It wasn’t about seeking benefits, but having a connection with the Marquis’s household would ensure that, even if she and her husband were no longer around and the Shi family’s influence in the Water Transport Gang faded, her daughter and younger brother would still have noble patrons to protect them from being bullied.
...
Back in her room, Minglan still felt a mix of amusement and disbelief. She immediately summoned Xiaotao to question her.
Xiaotao’s reaction was better than Danju’s had been—she didn’t blush at all. After staring blankly for a while, she only asked, "If I marry him, can I still live with you, Madame?"
Minglan replied, "That won’t be possible. The Shi family lives quite far away—it takes nearly half a month to travel here."
Xiaotao shook her head immediately. "Then I won’t marry him."
"Silly girl, why not?"
Xiaotao muttered gloomily, "I promised Danju sister that if I were to marry outside, she wouldn’t leave. I told her she had someone waiting for her out there, but I didn’t. I said I’d stay with you, Madame, so she should go ahead and marry. How can I go back on my word?"
Minglan’s heart ached. "You two..."She drew Xiaotao's head into her embrace, holding her as she would Tuan Ge'er, as if she too were just a small child.
"Silly girl, I've said this to Danju before, and now I'm saying it to you." Minglan's nose began to sting. "I have never, ever, for a single moment, thought of asking you to sacrifice your lifelong happiness just to stay by my side."
Even though she was deeply reluctant to part with her.
Suppressing the moisture in her eyes, Minglan lifted Xiaotao's face and said earnestly, "From childhood till now, you've never hidden a single word, sentence, or matter from me. Now, tell me honestly—you know Young Master Shi, don't you? Do you... like him...?"
Xiaotao thought blankly for a long while, then shook her head. "I don't know."
Minglan sighed helplessly. "Then what do you think of him as a person?"
Xiaotao replied with a sob in her voice, "Before he went to the northwest, he sent me things several times through others—crispy sweets from Anya Zhai, braised pork knuckles from Defu Ju, lotus leaf and lotus root zongzi from West Street... This time, he brought me so many more delicious treats. I secretly asked him how he knew I liked these things, and he said he just picked what he himself loved to eat and gave them to me."
As she spoke, she truly began to cry, flustered and at a loss, as if she had done something wrong.
Minglan sighed. "Why are you crying, silly girl? Sharing similar tastes, both being food lovers—isn't that quite nice?" She wiped away Xiaotao's tears and asked again, "Then, are you willing to spend your life with him? Forever and ever."
Xiaotao still looked utterly bewildered.
Minglan felt both amused and helpless. Waving her hand, she said, "Never mind, you may go now. Don't speak of this to anyone. Let me think it over carefully."
Should she play it safe and keep this silly girl by her side, or let her go to lead an independent life? Minglan held her head, lost in troubled thought.
Che San Niang was sharp-witted and within a few days noticed Minglan's hesitation. She suggested that she and her husband return first to handle affairs in the Water Transport Gang, and begged Minglan's favor to let Young Shi Qiang stay a while longer to learn some skills from the Tu family brothers.
Minglan, already grappling with the matter, agreed at once. Che San Niang was adept at handling situations, never idle in word or deed. The two Tu wives had long been charmed by her and, hearing of this, were happy to do her a favor.
Thus, Young Shi Qiang stayed, lodging in the outer courtyard next to Gongsun Meng. By day, he learned martial arts from the fierce Tu family's Lao Er, and after his training—and beatings—he would go out to gather more delicious treats.
Once Shi Qiang's living arrangements were settled, Liao Yong's wife came to report to Minglan. Finding Minglan taking her afternoon nap, she entrusted the message to Xiahe, who readily agreed. After seeing Liao Yong's wife off, Xiahe returned to her room and saw Bisi lounging lazily by the kang. She scolded with a laugh, "You frivolous little wench, you've been spoiled rotten! How dare you pretend to sleep when Sister Liao asks for you?!"
Bisi listlessly flipped through a book of poetry in her hands and replied in a delicate, coquettish tone, "Let me rest a while. With you around, I'll take advantage of it for as long as I can."
Xiahe gazed at the charcoal brazier on the floor for a moment, lost in thought. "It seems Sister Xiaotao's future is secured."
Hearing this, Bisi abruptly sat up from the kang and asked urgently, "So that matter is true?" Then she muttered to herself, "No wonder he's been sending things in every now and then."
Remembering Shi Qiang's tall, straight figure and the wealth of the Water Transport Gang, she pouted and said, "Secretly exchanging gifts—aren't they afraid of bringing shame upon themselves?"Xiahe shook her head with a smile, "You, you're just jealous, aren't you? What they sent were snacks, and we sisters shared them bite by bite until they were all gone. Don't tell me you didn't have any? Besides..." She pursed her lips, "Even Sister He Youchang's wife didn't say anything, which clearly shows it was Madam's intention."
Bisi grumbled unhappily, "Who's jealous? Who's jealous! Sister Cuiwei has always doted on Xiaotao and Danju since childhood, and Madam also shows consideration for them everywhere. I really don't know what the Shi family sees in that clumsy girl?"
Xiahe looked at her with amusement, "I came later than you, so I can't compare. But honestly, you deserve this!"
"What do you mean?" Bisi asked quietly.
Xiahe said, "Although I haven't served Madam for long, I can see she's gentle and kind. For those of you who've served her since childhood, as long as you're decent, how could Madam not care about you? Look at Qinsang and Danju—they've already married out, yet Madam still sends them things from time to time. Such a mistress... tsk tsk, we must have cultivated good karma in our past lives."
She walked to the warmer, poured a cup of hot tea and gently blew on it, "I've never met Yancao, and Ruomei brought trouble upon herself. As for you..." She sat beside Bisi and playfully poked her forehead, "You're truly someone beyond help."
Bisi squirmed unhappily.
Xiahe continued with a smile, "I've never seen anyone as lazy and gluttonous as you. When it's time to distribute clothes and cosmetics, you're the first in line. When there's work to be done, you disappear without a trace. With all the fine food and silk fabrics, all you do, Miss Bisi, is sketch half a floral pattern and do a few stitches of embroidery each day. In your free time, you either read or eat and drink. Good heavens, are you here to be a maid or a young lady? It's only because Madam and the other sisters are kind-hearted that they never scold you. In any other household, would they let you live in such comfort?!"
Bisi was naturally gentle and fond of ease, wishing to continue living this way forever—with good food, fine clothes, no work, and even having younger maids serve her. But seeing her sisters one by one settling down, she couldn't help feeling secretly anxious.
"He's just a lowly wanderer from the jianghu, nothing special!" she muttered under her breath.
Xiahe laughed, "What nonsense are you talking? If he weren't from a good family, would Madam be so hesitant? Look at Madam Che's clothes and jewelry—she spends money without batting an eye." Then she sighed, "If you marry out, you'll be a mistress managing your own household."
"If they're such a respectable family, why..." Bisi blushed and lowered her voice, "why don't they choose a better girl as a sister-in-law? I don't think Mrs. Shi is all that discerning either?"
Xiahe chuckled, "My dear sister, are you really that foolish?" Seeing it was pointless to explain to someone so muddled, she decided to be blunt, "The Shi family wants to expand their lineage. Mrs. Shi has already assessed her and finds Sister Xiaotao to have an Auspicious for bearing sons appearance, and she's absolutely delighted."
She took a sip of tea and continued, "Mrs. Shi not discerning? Heh, she noticed Madam's interest, but Sister Xiaotao hasn't caught on. What Madam is worried about is the character of the Shi family's young master. So they simply left the brother here for Madam to observe thoroughly. If he turns out to be a good man, Madam will make the decision for Sister Xiaotao."
Bisi grew anxious upon hearing this and tugged at Xiahe's sleeve, "Then, what about me? Even Lüzhi has prospects—Madam has taken a liking to young Steward Chen from the outer courtyard and has already asked Sister Liao to speak with Old Mr. and Mrs. Chen. Only I..."Xiahe patted her hand and comforted her with a smile, "Given the mistress's temperament, she certainly won't treat you unfairly."
However, she wouldn't go out of her way to carefully select a husband for such a lazy girl like you either; I suppose your future life... hehe, will be rather simple and frugal.
Bisi had always been easy to placate. She lacked the courage to climb into the marquis's bed and the perseverance to work diligently and wholeheartedly. Hearing Xiahe's words, she relaxed again, lazily lying down to flip through a poetry collection, acting just like a young lady.
Xiahe rested her chin in her hand and watched her for a while, then smiled faintly.
Truth be told, she actually hoped Xiaotao would marry out, so she could have more opportunities to shine. Speaking of which, being a maid in such a reasonable and respectable household was truly a blessing.
The atmosphere in the courtyard was harmonious, and there was no need for the maids to compete like fighting cocks. As long as one worked hard, even if they couldn't surpass Lüzhi in the future, they could still live comfortably with ample food and clothing. With good luck, they might even be released to start a family and establish themselves.
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