Chapter 32 — An Oddness

Rose-red Hunan silk quilts, cloisonné flower vases, lilac Zhangzhou velvet cushions, official-green pongee hangings, and the famille-rose teacup of official kiln ware in her hand—without ten thousand taels of silver, one could never have furnished such a room.

No wonder she did not want to leave.

Pang Yulou smiled with pursed lips as she heard her sister-in-law choke out, "If I took Ming with me when I go back, would Father agree?"

"If it suits you, I'll speak for Father and agree to it." Years of hardship had turned Mistress Gao from a woman who knew only obedience into one decisive in all she did. She said gravely, "If anyone asks, say the child is a relative's, orphaned and with no one to care for her, and that I have taken her as my adopted daughter. Your elder brother will see to all the official papers; you needn't worry."

The urgent thing now was to bring Wang Shuying home.

Wang Shuying had not expected matters to take this turn.

She bit her lip before she could stop herself. "But if it's done that way, she'd only be an adopted daughter after all..."

At these words Mistress Gao felt her heart twist with pain.

Where had that pure, kind, orchid-pure Wang Shuying gone?

Could poverty truly be so terrifying?

She herself had been a young lady of a fine house too; after marrying into the Wang family she had managed the household, served her mother-in-law, looked after her sister-in-law, and raised the children. When she thought of her father's teaching before her marriage—"A gentleman should be content in poverty and delight in the Way, at peace with modest advancement"—she could quiet her heart and do her own duty well.

But Wang Shuying?

When had she begun to change?

When the Lei family broke off the engagement? When she first took up a trade to support the family? Or when I, out of pity for her single misstep, went against my own conscience and spoke up for her?

Mistress Gao did not know what to say.

But Mistress Pang, born of a merchant family, rolled her eyes and thought it over.

She had grown up to the sound of abacus beads clicking; how could she fail to catch Wang Shuying's drift? All the more since she had always most disliked this sister-in-law who scorned her birth and forever measured her against the elder sister-in-law, Mistress Gao. So, like one who enjoys the play and cares not if the stage collapses, she laughed and said, "What our sister-in-law says makes sense too. But our family is not what it was, and to give a girl as a concubine is out of the question. Why not have Father speak to the Dou family? Break off the match with the Zhu family and raise you to wife instead..."

"Don't talk nonsense—mind that the Dou family doesn't hear and laugh at us." Mistress Gao could not help snapping, secretly regretting that she had not withstood her mother-in-law's urging and had brought Pang to the Dou house.

"Elder Sister-in-law, that's not a thing I care to hear." Pang Yulou spoke lazily. "So you're a daughter-in-law of the Wang family, and I'm not? You come from a great house, I can't compare. But I married into the Wang family when it was already down on its luck—poor and lowly, yet unchanging, and perhaps not so unfit for polite company as all that."

Mistress Gao, of good family, found herself against Pang Yulou, of the back streets, rather like a scholar meeting a soldier—there was no reasoning with her. So unless it was a matter of principle, Mistress Gao generally yielded to Pang a little.

That Wang Shuying showed no wish to leave the Dou family—that was a matter of principle.

Mistress Gao reined in her temper. "You're not a woman who has never seen the world. What family raises a concubine to wife at the drop of a hat?"

Pang Yulou knew that perfectly well; she simply did not want Mistress Gao to get the better of her. She mumbled, "Didn't Scholar Tao in our town raise his concubine to wife?"

"That was because Scholar Tao's lawful wife died of illness, and the concubine had borne him his only son; Scholar Tao's brothers wrote a letter of consent and acknowledged the concubine as their sister," Mistress Gao said, a flicker of displeasure passing through her eyes. "Is that the same thing?"

"It's just a son, isn't it?" Pang Yulou said, winking at Wang Shuying.

Wang Shuying's face went red, then pale by turns.

Pang Yulou sensed something was off and lowered her voice. "What is it? Ming is already over a year old, and the wet nurse is the one raising her. Has there still been no sign of anything with you?"

"What nonsense are you talking, Second Sister-in-law?" Wang Shuying's face tightened. "The Seventh Master said he means to keep three years of mourning for Zhao Guqiu."

"Ah!" Pang Yulou's mouth fell open. She stared at Wang Shuying, her lips working soundlessly, and in the end said nothing at all.

Gao Shi, for her part, sighed inwardly.

A man this good, and she had met him at the wrong time.

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Today I went out to get a mobile internet card and set up scheduled posting, but then a friend messaged me asking why I hadn't posted yet, so I rushed back in a panic...

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