Paying Respects
When Second Madam Yu heard that Lady Dong had quarreled fiercely with Lady Zhongyonghou on Bai Jinxiu's behalf, she was deeply grateful. Back when Lady Dong had first urged her to think carefully about that marriage, Madam Yu had failed to grasp her sincerity and had privately suspected that Lady Dong was simply displeased and stirring up trouble on purpose. Only now, looking back, did she realize that even then, Lady Dong had been genuinely worried about Jinxiu.
That evening, after seeing to Bai Jinxiu, Second Madam Yu prepared a trove of gifts and went to call on Lady Dong. The two of them talked on until deep into the night, and when Yu emerged from Lady Dong's chamber at last, the rims of her eyes were red. Perhaps it was Lady Dong's words that did it — instead of flying into an emotional rage as she might once have done, Madam Yu found herself calmly turning over how best to prepare the new house Jin Lang would be moving into.
Letting out a long breath, she spoke to Nanny Na, the steward-nanny attending at her side.
"Nanny Na, tomorrow go see Nanny Fang and have her pick out the most honest, hardworking maids and servant women among our household-born slaves, and send them to the new residence His Majesty granted Jin Lang to put things in order ahead of time. And tell Nanny Wan to seek out the broker surnamed Wang, the one who trades in servants, and have her select capable people and send them to the new house as well."
"Do not worry, Madam. This old servant will see it all handled!"
Nanny Na supported Second Madam Yu by the arm as they returned to the courtyard.
"Nanny Na, there is a matter I wish to discuss. You have attended me for many years, and I know your husband and children are all here at the Zhenguo Duke Estate. But I cannot put my mind at ease where Jinxiu is concerned. As her mother-in-law, I cannot very well move into my daughter and son-in-law's household myself. So here is what I'm thinking — I would have you serve at Jinxiu's side for a time, to help her. There is no one I trust but you. And there is no one but you who is fit to govern the servants and stewardships I am sending Jinxiu as her dowry."
Second Madam Yu stopped walking and patted Nanny Na's hand gently as she spoke.
Tears welled up in Nanny Na's eyes at her mistress's words, and she nodded again and again.
"Do not worry, Madam. I was there when the Second Young Lady was born, and I watched her grow. In your stead, I will protect her with my life. And the Grand Princess, the Crown Prince's Consort, the Eldest Young Lady, and the Third Young Lady — they too will shield our Second Young Lady with their very lives!"
Second Madam Yu clasped Nanny Na's hand tightly. The two of them walked back together over the snow.
The snow that had fallen all night lay in soft drifts upon the estate's ancient walls and tiled roofs.
Before dawn had even broken, smoke was curling up from the kitchen chimney, and the servant women were already bustling about.
The farming folk who had come to deliver vegetables and meat to the estate passed in and out through its brightly lit back gate, chatting and laughing as they went. All the while, they probed with roundabout words for news of the estate and the Zhongyonghou residence.
At the hour of the rabbit, the lamps were lit in the servants' quarters of each courtyard.
One rough-handed servant woman stepped out of her room with a yawn and shivered violently in the bitter midwinter wind. Chun Tao, as always, was in attendance beside the Eldest Young Lady, who was walking her rounds through the courtyard. Warmth seemed to radiate from Bai Jingyan's body as though someone had doused her in boiling water. The servant woman, long since accustomed to the sight, offered her greetings and quietly took up her broom to sweep the yard.
After breakfast, Bai Jingyan was leaning against a pillow embroidered with auspicious clouds in gold thread, reading, when Eunju, a maid in Lady Dong's service, came to Qinghui Courtyard.
When Chun Tao heard the servant working outside exchanging cheerful greetings with Eunju, she hurried out to meet her and asked with a smile, the girl still standing under the eaves.
"Sister Eunju, that smile of yours — something good must have happened?"
Eunju was in high spirits. Rubbing her arms, stiff with cold, she said to Chun Tao with a beaming face.
"Old Taijun Dong and Second Master of the Dong family of Dengzhou have come to Dadu to spend the festival. They arrived late yesterday evening, just as the frost was settling in. Our Madam grew so impatient to send someone ahead that Old Taijun, this very morning, dispatched Second Master Dong and his wife to the estate to pay their respects to the Grand Princess. They've come bearing rare gifts, and they're talking with her now in Changshou Courtyard. I was sent to fetch the Eldest Young Lady over."
"What wonderful news! Our Madam hasn't laid eyes on Old Taijun Dong in years either. She'll be overjoyed!"
Chun Tao lifted the thick door-curtain for Eunju.
"Isn't that just so."
Eunju entered the room with a smile.
Hearing Eunju's words from beyond the partition, Bai Jingyan closed her book and bade Chunyan attend her while she dressed.
In her past life, her second uncle, Dong Qing'e, had escorted her grandmother to Dadu on the nineteenth day of the twelfth month. But Bai Jingyan had taken to her bed soon after Bai Jinxiu's funeral, her mind clouded and dim, and had never managed to see him.
Later, when the Bai family fell into ruin, the natal families of her aunts had scrambled only to save themselves — but Dong Qing'e, Inspector of Dengzhou, had staked his life on a memorial to the throne, declaring that he would seek justice for the Bai family's loyal service. And her eldest uncle, Dong Qingping, Minister of the Court of Honglu, had gathered his entire household and, in hemp mourning clothes and white caps of grief, come to claim and bury the Bai family's dead.
As the memories of that past life came flooding over her like a rising tide, tears surged to Bai Jingyan's eyes. She was seized by a grief so raw that she longed, more than anything, to see her uncle — the only one who had stood for the Bai family — as soon as possible.
Across a silk folding screen inlaid with mutton-fat and kingfisher jade, Eunju caught sight of Bai Jingyan, now dressed in her outer robe with Chunyan's help, and bowed with a smile.
"Eldest Young Lady, the Second Master and Second Madam of the Dong family of Dengzhou have come to pay their respects to the Grand Princess. The Madam has asked that you be brought to her."
Bai Jingyan accepted the hand-warper freshly filled with charcoal by a maid, nodded, and smiled.
"I heard. Let's go."
The moment Bai Jingyan arrived at Changshou Courtyard, she headed straight for the inner chamber, forgetting even to change her shoes on the raised veranda. A servant woman in a clear blue padded gown hurriedly lifted the door-curtain for her and called inward to announce the Eldest Young Lady's arrival.
Bai Jingyan stood at the threshold, handing her hand-warmer to Chunyan with one hand while loosening her outer robe with the other. The moment Chun Tao had relieved her of it, Bai Jingyan darted swiftly into the inner chamber.
Chun Tao had never seen her mistress in such a frantic hurry. Handing the robe off to Chunyan, she hurried in after her.
In the inner chamber, the Grand Princess sat propped against a pillow embroidered with golden clouds and spoke with a smile.
"Aiyan, is it that you missed your uncle and aunt so much you could not get here fast enough?"
Bai Jingyan wore a pale yellow skirt embroidered with scattered-blossom motifs, which set off her raven hair beautifully. She looked richly vivid yet gracefully refined — demure and composed, with all the bearing of a well-bred maiden.
Her second uncle, Dong Qing'e, was thirty-eight this year. Unlike her eldest uncle Dong Qingping — dignified and elegant, with a gentle, easygoing temperament — Dong Qing'e was dark-skinned and brimming with commanding presence. Though he was the youngest of the Dong family, he carried more authority than his elder brother, and seemed the sturdier of the two.
At the sight of Dong Qing'e, the rims of Bai Jingyan's eyes went red. Her second uncle had memorialized the throne for the Bai family's sake — and for it, branded as a confederate of the Zhenguo Duke Estate, he had been stripped of office and banished to the frontier.
Before departing with the wooden cangue locked upon his wrists, her second uncle had raised his voice in a roar.
"A great Jin where loyal souls are humiliated and heroic honor counts for nothing! I will watch with my own eyes to see how this realm meets its end!"
"Grandmother! Mother."
After paying her respects to the Grand Princess and Lady Dong, Bai Jingyan performed a full, formal bow to Dong Qing'e and his wife.
Second Aunt Cui hurriedly helped her up.
"Jingyan, what are you doing?"
Bai Jingyan took Madam Cui's hands and guided her back to her seat.
"It has been so long. Is Grandmother well? And Uncle, Aunt — have you both been keeping well?"
Dong Qing'e set down his teacup and laughed heartily. The gap between his teeth, visible at the corner of his smile, took a little of the edge off his authority, but made him seem all the brighter for it.
"Everyone is well. Your grandmother misses you terribly, you know! Three years since we last saw you — Aiyan, how you've grown."
Old Taijun Dong had sent Dong Qing'e and Madam Cui together to the Bai estate with a single errand: to raise the matter of a marriage for the couple's second son, Dong Zhangyuan.
At first, Madam Cui had balked. However dear she might hold Bai Jingyan, taking her as a daughter-in-law was another matter entirely. Never mind that the bride would be three years older than her son — Bai Jingyan was said to be unable to bear children at all, and bringing her home could only end in calamity.
Back in Dengzhou, she had wept and wailed and made every protest she knew. But Old Taijun and Madam Cui's husband had argued with her without cease.
Bai Jingyan, unlikely to conceive, would find it difficult even to become a second wife in another household. Only by marrying within the family — and being kept at their side — could she escape the torments of her in-laws. Later, Zhangyuan could take a concubine, and any child born of her could simply be entered into Bai Jingyan's registry. She would be spared her in-laws' cruelty, and there would be children to attend her in old age besides. And there would be no need to fret that Dong Zhangyuan might lack an heir.
But even so, such a child would ultimately be born of a concubine, and in a house of power, the more legitimate sons the better. Still, however Madam Cui objected, Old Taijun and her husband had already decided the matter, and there was nothing to be done. And so it was that she had reluctantly accompanied them today.
Madam Cui patted Bai Jingyan's hand with a smile. Her face smiled, but sorrow pooled in her eyes — plainly, there were grievances she could not speak.
Lady Dong, however, could hardly contain her delight. True, marrying Bai Jingyan into her own natal family meant sending her out beneath her original station — but at least there would be no fear of her being mistreated by her husband's family. Her grandmother would shield her, her uncles would dote on her, and the only trouble, at worst, would be that Dong Zhangyuan would need to take a concubine to continue the line. Leaving aside the question of Bai Jingyan's childbearing altogether, this was unmistakably a precious match.
"Your grandmother sent your aunt and me ahead today, partly to pay respects to the Grand Princess, and partly to bring you specially to your eldest uncle's house. She misses you dearly. But the journey has wearied her body, it seems — she says she cannot come until tomorrow."
Dong Qing'e said with a smile.
Before Bai Jingyan had arrived, her uncle and aunt had already broached the marriage to the Grand Princess: they meant to take Bai Jingyan home to meet Dong Zhangyuan and see whether the match pleased her.
If only Bai Jingyan consented, Old Taijun of the Dong family intended to entrust the matchmaking to Lady Shoushan, mother-in-law of Dong Qingping, the legitimate eldest son of the house.
Everyone but Bai Jingyan already knew of it. Seeing how thoroughly pleased Lady Dong was, the Grand Princess had nodded and let Bai Jingyan go. She told her to go and return quickly, and instructed Nanny Zhang to fetch a box of tonic medicines from the storeroom, so that Bai Jingyan might carry them to Old Taijun Dong when she went.
"It has been a long while since my eldest daughter-in-law has seen Old Taijun Dong as well. Go and see her, together with Aiyan."
The Grand Princess turned her head and looked at Lady Dong with a smile.
Lady Dong was in wonderful spirits, though she made an effort not to show it, and after a moment's thought she replied.
"But today we are meant to select the servant women who will be sent to Jin Lang's new house. I've already given word to the broker, and she will be bringing people at the hour of the snake."
"Leave that to my second daughter-in-law. If you truly worry over it, simply have Nanny Jin stay behind and help."
the Grand Princess replied.
Lady Dong rose at once and offered her thanks. Her heart was light.
— To be continued in Volume 2 of The Di Legitimate Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Valiant —