Chapter 86: Playing the Part in Public, Concealing the Blade’s Edge, Part Two

When the mistress asked for her to be sent in as a personal attendant, was that meant as a warning, a means of keeping watch, or the prelude to some hidden scheme?

Zhuoyan instinctively shielded her lower abdomen and pressed her lips together, looking toward Chuxiu.

Chuxiu pretended not to notice her open resistance. Still smiling with gentle elegance, she said, “Qianyun is the finest prospect in the Knowledge Pavilion. At the very least, she once served the marquess, so she does have skill. She has been reduced to a fire-tending maid for nearly two months now, which should have taught her a lesson. I have brought her back for your sake, and she will surely be grateful to you and devote herself to your service.”

Lowering her eyes, Chuxiu removed the jade bracelet from her wrist and, with a graceful motion, placed it into Zhuoyan’s hand. She smiled and asked, “Well? Do you not want her?”

What did that mean? Did she not want Qianyun to serve her? Or did she not want the bracelet? If Qianyun truly grew close to her, how could the person who had appeared behind the rockery that day have been Chuxiu? It was clearly a scheme within a scheme. Yet now, whether she wished it or not, she could not refuse.

With a thud in her heart, as though a drumskin had been struck through, Zhuoyan’s momentary ease vanished at once. Chuxiu’s move had been at once real and unreal, seeming favorable and unfavorable by turns. Only now did Zhuoyan finally understand that the widow of the Marquis of Lixin had long since mastered the art of smiling while hiding a blade, and perhaps her skill exceeded even that of Xia Yanyan.

Grinding her teeth in secret, Zhuoyan forced a smile onto her face and said gratefully, “Madam has thought of everything, and even bestowed such a precious gift. This servant... hardly deserves it.”

“You are about to become a mistress yourself. Why still call yourself a servant?” Chuxiu chided her in a soft, delicate voice, then waved a hand and said, “For now, living in the side quarters is indeed a little unfair to you. Once this child is born and you have a standing, you will have a garden of your own as well. Go back and rest.”

She then instructed Nanny Chi to escort Zhuoyan to the south wing.

“Madam, with that blend of kindness and authority, now sweet and now harsh, I think Zhuoyan has been frightened senseless,” Danci said, laughing behind her hand once the other woman had gone far enough away.

Chuxiu still had traces of that false smile on her face. Only after hearing Danci’s words did she slowly let it fade, her expression turning blank. Unconsciously, she glanced at her slightly rounded belly. She knew full well that a pillow had been bound around her waist, yet still she felt a little sad.

But for Yun Ci... she had no choice but to steel herself.

“Go personally and find the Young Marquis. Tell him he must, within ten days, obtain the stillborn body of a miscarried fetus,” Chuxiu instructed Danci in a low voice. After a moment, she added, “Preferably a male fetus.”

*****

Half a month later, on the twentieth day of the fifth month, in the dining hall of Prosperous Brocade Hall.

The Dowager Madam sat in the seat of honor at the table, with Chuxiu and Zhuoyan to her left in order, and on her right the second branch’s Huawuying, the third branch’s Wen Xian, and the fourth branch’s Luan Qing.

The Dowager Madam wore a kindly expression as she looked over the assembled company and nodded with a smile. “This is the most complete gathering we have had. It has been a long time since this old woman enjoyed breakfast with such liveliness.”

The various concubines said nothing, but Chuxiu smiled and spoke first. “That is because you have been considerate of my pregnancy and excused me from the morning and evening formalities. In truth, I would be delighted to accompany you for breakfast every day.”

At her words, everyone at the table was taken aback. Since when had the widow of the Marquis of Lixin, so taciturn and so immersed each day in sorrow, become so eloquent? And more than that, smiling so sweetly? In an instant, the concubines of the several branches all felt as though they were seeing Xia Yanyan.

Indeed, the Dowager Madam narrowed her eyes at Chuxiu and returned with a smile that seemed to carry hidden meaning. “Truly, one who is about to become a mother changes not only in temperament, but in the sweetness of her tongue as well.”

“This is merely a daughter-in-law’s duty, and besides, it is because you have taught me well,” Chuxiu replied with a graceful smile.

“Praise you a little and you begin to preen,” the Dowager Madam laughed aloud, clearly amused. Nodding repeatedly, she said approvingly, “Very good. As the Marquess’s wife, you ought to be this open and dignified. You have not disappointed me.” Then she looked toward Zhuoyan and added, “The matter of Zhuoyan has also been handled properly. Very much the right bearing.”

The Dowager Madam rarely praised anyone, and especially not Chuxiu. The concubines of the several branches could not help speculating in private whether the change was due to the child in Chuxiu’s womb, or whether the old woman had truly come to see her differently.

The Dowager Madam, meanwhile, had already passed Chuxiu’s face to look at Zhuoyan, and the warmth in her expression receded. “If Chuxiu had not taken the initiative today, you would not be sitting at this table! In the future, once you have given birth, whether it is a son or a daughter, you must not become arrogant on account of the child and defy her. Do you understand?”

Zhuoyan nodded in panic again and again, hastily saying, “The madam treats this servant very well. This servant will surely repay her kindness.”

The Dowager Madam found those words pleasing indeed, and sighed with even greater feeling. “I had thought that with the marquess dying so young, this household would grow cold and desolate. Who would have thought that Chuxiu and Zhuoyan would both be found pregnant one after another, and so leave him an heir after all... Heaven has not been blind after all.”

As she spoke, the corner of her eye grew moist, and she nearly shed tears.

Hearing this, both Chuxiu and Zhuoyan could not easily respond, especially Chuxiu, whose face once again filled with despondency. Instead, Wen Xian of the third branch hurried to comfort the Dowager Madam. “What a thing to say. This should be a double blessing. If the marquess knew of it below, he would be overjoyed. Please do not be upset.”

At this, the Dowager Madam let out a long sigh and only then forced a smile. “When one grows old, one cannot help thinking too much. If I recall what sort of person I was in my youth, now in my old age having lost my son, I have become fragile as well.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Nanny Chi was quick to step forward and ease the atmosphere, changing the subject. “Dowager Madam, this morning Madam specially instructed the new cook from the Knowledge Pavilion to prepare several kinds of soup for the breakfast table. Would the masters and mistresses care to taste them?”

“Is that so?” The Dowager Madam looked again at Chuxiu. “You have put yourself to the trouble. Bring them out.”

Chuxiu immediately concealed her sorrow and replaced it with a light smile. “It was simply that I was greedy during my pregnancy. I heard the cook’s soup was neither greasy nor heavy, and also nourishing, so I took the liberty of bringing him into the Knowledge Pavilion. Who could have known his skill would be truly excellent, and that he knows so many kinds of soup? What has been brought today has all been simmered for two full days and nights over a very low fire, until the flavor is complete.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Danci and Qianyun entered together, each carrying a tray, the soup bowls on top still steaming faintly, their fragrance filling the room.

“Just the smell of it makes one’s mouth water,” Wen Xian of the third branch said with a smile in agreement.

Danci had always had a sweet tongue. Carrying her tray, she went first to the Dowager Madam and said, “Madam, this bowl is for strengthening the body, nourishing the blood, and prolonging life.” As she spoke, she set before the Dowager Madam a white-glazed glass bowl painted with a sumptuous peony.

The Dowager Madam nodded slightly, examined the soup bowl closely, and smiled. “I do not know how the soup tastes yet, but the bowl is rather fine.”

Danci gave a fitting smile, then went to stand between Huawuying and Wen Xian. “The soups for the concubines are all bases meant to beautify and nourish the complexion. Very moisturizing indeed.” As she spoke, she set down the two bowls in turn, each of the same material as the Dowager Madam’s, though with different patterns.

The bowl for Huawuying bore pomegranate blossoms; the one for Wen Xian bore osmanthus. Both suited their characters well, one vivid and flamboyant, the other lightly fragrant and refreshing. At last, Danci placed the only remaining bowl from the tray before Luan Qing of the fourth branch. Its design was forsythia.

Luan Qing looked at it and let out a soft laugh. “Forsythia can be used as medicine, to clear heat and dispel toxins. It is bitter and cooling in nature; I rather like it.” Looking across the table at Chuxiu, she inclined her head in thanks. “Madam is both gifted and thoughtful.”

Chuxiu smiled faintly. “Forsythia is bitter and cooling, but it chiefly treats wind-heat ailments. It is a good remedy. Take the fourth aunt, for example: cold on the outside, warm at heart, and pure of nature.”

At this, however, Luan Qing slowly let the smile fade from her face, managing only a strained curve of the lips. For some reason, Chuxiu felt that she seemed somewhat resistant to her praise.

Meanwhile, after Danci had finished arranging the soup bowls, Qianyun stepped forward as well. “The two bowls in this servant’s hands are both meant for nourishment and to stabilize the pregnancy.” As she spoke, she set the two bowls before Chuxiu and Zhuoyan one by one.

Chuxiu’s bowl bore a white peony; Zhuoyan’s was painted with a three-faced beauty butterfly.

Chuxiu lifted her bowl first and smiled. “Dowager Madam, aunts, please taste the soup and see how it is. If it passes muster, then the cook may remain here for good.”

This time even Huawuying of the second branch was very accommodating. “Very well. Leave this cook in the Knowledge Pavilion. Whenever my craving acts up, I can borrow him for a few days in my Falling Blossom Hall and change the style a little to satisfy it.”

A ripple of light laughter rose appropriately around the table. The Dowager Madam, Chuxiu, Wen Xian, and even several of the maids all laughed.

Chuxiu lowered her eyes and took up her spoon, then turned her head to glance at Zhuoyan, asking with concern, “What is it? Does it not suit your appetite? The other day I thought you rather liked drinking this soup.”

Zhuoyan’s face tightened. Staring at the tonic soup in front of her, personally delivered by Qianyun, a trace of fear suddenly rose in her heart, and she said nothing, pressing her lips together. This soup... could it be that Chuxiu had been waiting for today?

Seeing this, the Dowager Madam’s expression changed at once. “Which one of you at this table is not a mistress? If no one else minds, why are you unwilling to drink?”

“Perhaps her appetite has changed during pregnancy. I will have something lighter brought instead,” Chuxiu quickly said in Zhuoyan’s defense.

Afraid of angering the Dowager Madam, Zhuoyan no longer dared to insist. She hastily picked up the bowl in her hands and tried to spoon some of it toward her mouth, but no matter what she did, her trembling hand could not bring it close.

In a flash of inspiration, Zhuoyan looked at the soup bowl in her hand, painted with the three-faced beauty butterfly, and asked Chuxiu, “Madam, what is painted on your bowl?”

“It is a peony, a white peony,” Chuxiu replied with a smile.

With a sharp clack, Zhuoyan set her bowl back on the table. “You are the noble wife of the Marquis of Lixin. Is peony not a little too plain? Clearly, this bowl is the one that should be yours. The three-faced beauty butterfly—well, your peerless beauty never grows old to the eye, and you are surely of overwhelming charm. Should that not be paired with a beauty butterfly?”

Then Zhuoyan turned to look at Qianyun behind her and rebuked her coquettishly, “You have served me for half a month now, and still you make such an error? Giving the peony to the madam and the beauty butterfly to me? Are you trying to make me uneasy?”

Qianyun, suddenly and inexplicably scolded, widened her eyes as though about to argue, but in the end lowered her head and swallowed the words. “This servant knows her mistake.”

Zhuoyan gave a reluctant hum and then looked back at Chuxiu with a smile. “It should be I who trades with my sister. Qianyun made a mistake and brought the wrong bowl. Please do not blame her.”

Chuxiu did not take offense. Looking at the white-peony bowl in her hand, she pushed it toward Zhuoyan. “It is nothing. Do not upset the pregnancy over such a small matter. The soup is the same either way. They are both prescriptions for stabilizing the fetus.”

Zhuoyan immediately picked up the bowl before her and, with all due respect, offered it over. “Madam is magnanimous and does not hold it against me. That is truly the blessing of the entire Knowledge Pavilion.”

Chuxiu said no more. She accepted the soup and was just about to drink it when the Dowager Madam spoke again. “You have been bickering over this for so long that the soup has gone cold. Have the kitchen bring another bowl.”

“No need. It is just right, neither cold nor hot.” Chuxiu tested the temperature of the bowl and lifted her spoon to her lips.

Thus the little episode passed. The others at the table also began to drink their soup, praising the cook’s fine skill without pause, along with the originality of the set of white-glazed bowls.

When breakfast ended, the atmosphere was, by and large, harmonious. The Dowager Madam, after as usual wiping her mouth with a cloth and rinsing her hands with water, said slowly, “Today Master Qu, the divine physician, is coming to Prosperous Brocade Hall to take our pulses and see that all is well. Since you are all here, do not rush off. It is not easy for him to make the journey here, so let him examine everyone in one go and save you from having to run to each of the gardens.”

Everyone knew that the divine physician Qu Fang was a distinguished guest, and the Dowager Madam’s thoughtfulness toward him was entirely proper, so they complied and stayed.

The Dowager Madam rose first and headed toward the dining hall’s exit, but after taking only two steps she heard an urgent cry behind her. “Madam!”

She turned at once and looked back. There was Chuxiu, leaning in Danci’s arms, one hand protecting her abdomen as her steps faltered. Her body tilted and seemed ready to collapse to the floor. Her face was twisted with unmistakable pain, and the white skirt at her lower body had already begun to show a faint smear of blood...