Spring of the Blade - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Over at Danyue Pavilion, Baoxian was filled with joy; the fact that her young mistress had been punished with copying texts hardly mattered anymore. She had spread out the xuan paper for her mistress, smoothing it down repeatedly with a paperweight, and said with a smile, "I was just wondering why you walked over wearing wet clothes. You are usually the most meticulous person, yet today, while meeting an outsider, you were unexpectedly careless."

Qingyuan tucked up her sleeves, picked up the brush, and dipped it into the inkstone. She wrote a steady line of elegant, slender regular-script calligraphy, merely smiling in response without answering.

Chuntai sighed, "I know what the Mistress is thinking; we aren't looking to curry favor for a marriage match anyway. Since things weren't done perfectly in front of the Prefect's wife, others will only say the young lady is young and has only just returned, so she doesn't understand the rules. At worst, if the marriage talks bypass the Mistress, it doesn't matter, as the Mistress doesn't care for them anyway. In the end, the Old Madam gave the order to add more matrons and maids, so we still came out ahead."

Indeed, she did not care for the marriage prospects, nor did she intend to tangle with Qingru. She was merely working toward her own goal. To speak from the heart, even the honor or humiliation of the Xie family did not matter to her. When she first returned, Madam Hu certainly hadn't treated her as she did the other sisters; in this courtyard, apart from Baoxian and Chuntai, there were only two matrons managing the grounds. In truth, even with just these few, life wasn't unbearable. Now, the reason she wanted to add more people was entirely to recall the old servant who had once served her mother.

Her hand never paused as she kept her eyes lowered, saying, "Baoxian, you are well-acquainted with Yuejian. Find a private moment to sound her out and have the matron from the servants' quarters transferred back here."

Baoxian agreed, poking her head out to look outside. It was approaching dusk. Through the latticed windows on the courtyard wall, she could see lanterns being lit in the small cross-courtyard to the west, a little brightness rising in the hazy, blurred world. She turned back and said, "We might as well wait a little longer. When it gets dark, Yuejian has to inspect the door locks throughout the estate; it will be more convenient to talk then."

Qingyuan nodded. As she wrote, she discovered a "thief hair"—a stray, stiff bristle—on her brush, so she leaned over the desk and focused intently on plucking the stray hair from the tip of the brush.

As twilight gathered and the sky hovered between light and dark, Baoxian took up a lantern and left Danyue Pavilion. The rain had stopped, and the air was filled with the scent of rising earth. The small, yellow lantern she carried had a hollowed-out base, casting a bowl-sized patch of light onto the ground. The Xie family was a wealthy household in Shengzhou; since the Master served as the Military Governor (Jiedushi) of the Jiannan Circuit, he could not conveniently bring his family along, so they were left in Hengtang. This residence had been managed for over twenty years, with courtyard after courtyard added in expansion, until it now occupied several dozen acres. The estate was vast, and the population was large; walking along, whether near or far, one would always run into a matron or a maid.

Further ahead lay the Huifang Garden, the Old Madam’s garden, which was under the total jurisdiction of Yuejian. Every day at this hour, she would patrol this area. Baoxian stood on tiptoe to look, and sure enough, she saw her instructing a little maid at the gate. She then followed the veranda over, smiling, "Sister Yuejian, what a busy person you are."

When Yuejian saw her, she understood without needing to be told. She instructed the little maid beside her, "Go find Mother Li and ask if the accounts for the carriage and sedan chair trimmings have been settled. It’s the end of the month, and the Old Madam wants to see the accounts; if they are still vague and unclear, I will have to report it."

The little maid chirped an acknowledgment and hurried off into the side alley to the west.

Baoxian teased her, "Sister, you are becoming more and more authoritative these days; you’re worth half a steward." They had entered the manor in the same batch, eating together and suffering the scoldings and beatings of the training nannies together; the two of them saw eye-to-eye on things, so their friendship was quite extraordinary.

Yuejian said, "Stop making fun of me. I would rather be like you, serving a young lady; it’s better than rushing around all day. You know as well as I do, with the Old Madam’s temper, even if you serve her well, you don't get a kind word, and if you don't serve her well..." The second half of her sentence trailed off, and she shook her head.

Baoxian naturally knew that being in service was not easy; there were few people in the entire manor who had it easy. However, she set these words aside for now; she had a more urgent matter to discuss with Yuejian. She pulled her to the side and whispered, "Today the Old Madam gave the order to assign matrons to the Fourth Miss's courtyard. Have you decided on the candidates yet?"

Yuejian said she hadn't yet, "After the Prefect’s wife left, I’ve been busy until now and haven't had a moment of leisure, so I haven't gotten around to it. I was thinking of doing it tomorrow... Why, do you have someone in mind?"

Baoxian smiled, "Since it hasn't been decided, let’s assign Mother Tao from the servants' quarters to the Fourth Miss."

Yuejian hesitated for a moment, knowing that since she had come specifically to ask for someone, there must be a reason. Mother Tao was usually a very unremarkable person who did odd jobs in the servants' quarters; Yuejian had never paid her any attention. Now that the Fourth Miss was specifically requesting her, it was clear that this person had some history.

She thought for a moment and asked, "Does Mother Tao have a connection with the Fourth Miss?" As soon as she finished speaking, it dawned on her, "I suppose she must have served Concubine Jin in the past, right?"

They were not hereditary servants and hadn't been in the manor over a dozen years ago, so they didn't know the backstory. Baoxian looked left and right, and seeing no one, she nodded, "The Fourth Miss has no support in this manor. An old servant she knows will be a comfort to her, which is why she asked me to come and entrust this to you."

Yuejian heaved a long sigh and said, "The Fourth Miss must be missing her mother. I heard that Concubine Jin died not long after giving birth to her, so the Fourth Miss has been without a mother since she was small. Now that she has returned to the Xie family and is living in the courtyard her own mother once occupied, it’s only natural that she wants someone from the old days to serve her."

Baoxian said, "Indeed. No matter what mistakes Concubine Jin made, the Fourth Miss is innocent. If we can transfer her into the garden, that would be for the best. If not, we won't force it; the Fourth Miss is not a stubborn person, and once this passes, she will forget about it."

Yuejian nodded slowly, paused slightly, and then said, "It is not impossible to get her into Danyue Pavilion, but there are many people with many tongues in this manor, and I fear there will be gossip behind her back."

Baoxian smiled, "That is exactly why I came to find you—just don't mention it to outsiders; we'll treat it as a coincidence. As for the gossip, not even the gods can stop idle tongues. How many people in this manor don't gossip about the Fourth Miss behind her back? After a while, they will get used to it."

Since she put it that way, there was nothing to worry about. For Yuejian, this was merely a matter of raising a hand; it would be foolish not to do a favor when it was so easy.

The next morning, she led two matrons and two menial little maids to Danyue Pavilion.

The sun had just crested the courtyard wall, and a thin mist had risen during the night. The morning light struck the steps of the main room, and the whole world was gathered into a mass of soft light. Bamboo blinds were hung under the eaves—gold-threaded rattan with red lacquer, the strips of bamboo woven with gold and silver thread, contrasting with the crisp, tender wild peaches in the courtyard, possessing a unique and intense, mysterious charm. Indeed, a house requires someone to manage it; this small courtyard had been empty for over a decade, and early on, rumors of hauntings had spread. Now that the Fourth Miss had moved in and tidied it up so properly, who could even remember what it looked like when it was overgrown with weeds!

The Fourth Miss stood under the eaves, facing the sun, her eyes squinted in a smile that still held a trace of childlike innocence. The Old Madam rose early, sitting in the main hall at the hour of Mao (5:00–7:00 AM) every day, much like an emperor attending court, to receive the greetings of the younger generations. From the Madam's generation, to the old concubines and concubines, and then to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren, they would enter in order to kowtow. By the time that was all done, it had just passed the hour of Chen (7:00–9:00 AM). The Fourth Miss didn't have the habit of taking a morning nap, so when Yuejian brought people in, she was already neatly dressed, wearing an outer garment of blue satin with floral embroidery and a small hairpin with begonia flowers and kingfisher feathers. Standing in the spring light of March, she was delicate and soft, like a flower.

Yuejian led the people to pay respects to the Fourth Miss and asked her to inspect them, "I have selected these few; they are the most capable among the servants for the Mistress to command. The Old Madam has given the order: since the Mistress is young and tender-hearted, being too lenient with these servants is not the way. If anyone is disobedient, the Mistress only needs to send someone to notify me, and the Old Madam will naturally dispatch matrons to set them straight."

Qingyuan said, "Good, thank you, Sister."

Yuejian smiled, bowed slightly, and returned to Huifang Garden.

Qingyuan stood there, looking them over one by one, and asked, "Who is Mother Tao?"

One of the women, around fifty years of age, stepped forward. As soon as she lifted her eyes and looked at Qingyuan, she gasped in amazement, likely astonished by how much the girl resembled her mother!

The mistress naturally had many questions. Chuntai led the others out of the courtyard. Baoxian said, "Mistress, don't stand outside. The mist hasn't dispersed yet; be careful of the dampness entering your bones and giving you a headache. Hurry back into the room!" She then greeted Mother Tao, "Bring a basin of water to serve the Mistress in washing her hands."

Mother Tao acknowledged the order and went off, returning very quickly. Baoxian rolled up the sleeves for the Fourth Miss. Mother Tao watched without blinking as those warm, jade-like hands were immersed in the water. After watching for a long time, she felt a bit dazed, as if time had regressed and she had returned to fourteen years ago.

Qingyuan wiped her hands with a towel and said, "Mother Tao, you are an old servant who was by my mother’s side. It was not easy for me to find you, and now that I have transferred you back, I treat it as a reunion with an old friend."

Mother Tao’s legs went weak, and she knelt down, saying tearfully, "This servant really didn't expect that, after fourteen years, I would see the Mistress again. It is a pity that the Concubine is no longer with us. If not for that incident, the happiness of family reunion today would have been beyond measure."

But in this world, the thing one should never say is "if only," because saying "if only" only gives birth to even greater regret. Qingyuan had Baoxian help her up and said sorrowfully, "I was only born a short while before my mother died. I don't remember even a fraction of her character or appearance. I brought you here today because I want to ask you to tell me about my mother’s life. I have heard so many rumors—they cut into me like a knife, and I don't know what is true and what is false."

Mother Tao thought for a moment and said, "Mistress, you must not listen to the babble of those people. Although this servant wasn't serving inside the room back then, I saw the Concubine every day, and I was also responsible for the Concubine’s carriage trips. As for her temperament, she was the most gentle person to everyone. She was in the manor for three years and never once turned red-faced with anyone; she never put on the airs of a mistress before the servants. Later, when the news suddenly spread that the Concubine had poisoned Concubine Xia, how could anyone believe it was real? It is a pity that we are all servants, and no one dared to speak up. After the Concubine was driven out of the manor, the Danyue Pavilion fell apart. Over the years, the old servants were either sent to the farms or they died. I am the only one left in the manor, sent down to the servants' quarters to do odd jobs; I haven't seen a master in years."

Qingyuan nodded slowly. Before summoning Mother Tao back, she had investigated carefully. Mother Tao had been just a regular servant back then, neither highly regarded nor a trusted confidante. After Danyue Pavilion completely collapsed, she suffered some fallout but was still able to remain in the manor to make a living. Sometimes, the most inconspicuous people have the most unique perspectives on those shocking past events; they hear echoes from all directions and have their own standards of judgment.

She smoothed the hem of her skirt and said, "Since I have brought you back, I consider you one of my own. Staying by my side in the future will always be better than being a menial servant in the servants' quarters for the rest of your life."

That was only natural. The Fourth Miss was the Master’s own flesh and blood, regardless of anything else. It was impossible for the tragedy of Concubine Jin to repeat itself through her. In the future, when the Mistress got married, the old matron would be her dowry maid. If she married well and was honored as a mistress, the dowry matron would also bask in that glory.

With a glimmer of light suddenly appearing in her dark years, Mother Tao immediately perked up, "This servant served the Concubine; I have been a person of Danyue Pavilion my entire life. I will serve the Mistress with all my heart."

Qingyuan smiled and said, "Good. Then, Mother, you need not avoid the subject anymore. Tell me about the situation back then, in full detail.”