Qian Jiaoniang, still preoccupied with her elder sister’s storming departure, asked, “She… was she angry?”
Xing Muzheng changed into casual clothes, washed his hands with the warm water Suier had brought, and said, “Angry? Did you quarrel with her?”
“No. It’s just…” Qian Jiaoniang trailed off. “No.”
Xing Muzheng didn’t press. He dried his hands, came over, and tilted her chin up to carefully examine her wound.
Qian Jiaoniang raised her head and said, “I’m fine now.” Xing Muzheng checked every day, as though her wound were terribly grave.
His gaze lingered on the thin scar. His arm slid around her waist, holding her. In a low voice he murmured, “Mm. It has healed.” Only waiting for the scab to fall.
He straightened, but his hand at her waist did not release. Instead, he gave her a little squeeze.
Qian Jiaoniang squirmed, ticklish, wanting to push him away. Xing Muzheng wouldn’t let her, lowering his head to say, “Your Second Sister is plumper than you. See how good she looks? You’re so thin, like a little sprite.” Too thin—better if she gained some weight.
Who’s a sprite! Qian Jiaoniang clenched her teeth, pushing harder at his hand. Xing Muzheng pressed down firmly on her narrow waist, his voice dropping, “Don’t move. See? There’s no flesh here either.”
Hearing his tone, Qian Jiaoniang felt danger. She shoved at him, “I’ll go see if the meal’s ready.”
Xing Muzheng ignored her, pulling her tight against him, his lips brushing her ear. “If you put on a little more, you’d be softer to hold.” With that, he bent to seize her lips in a kiss.
Xing Muzheng was endlessly fond of kissing her. Especially these days, when her injury forbade other intimacies, he kissed her even more—never stopping until her lips were swollen and tender. Qian Jiaoniang, unable to resist, had resigned herself, closing her eyes and letting him. But this time, his kisses pressed her back to the wall, tugging at her clothes.
Panting, she pushed him, “In broad daylight—what are you doing!”
Xing Muzheng pressed her against the wall, kissing her fiercely from below, “Just let me once—I’ve missed you too much.” Because of her injury, he had held back for days. Now that she was better, how could he restrain himself? He wanted nothing more than to have her “on the spot.” Qian Jiaoniang naturally refused, but how could she match the strength of a man deprived for so many days? So she was taken right there, standing.
And that wasn’t all—after dinner, before long, Xing Muzheng shamelessly dragged her onto the bed, as though to make up for the days lost, tormenting her the entire night before finally stopping. Qian Jiaoniang could only hate that she had trimmed her nails—otherwise she should have clawed his back bloody!
A few days later, Qian Jiaoniang sent an invitation to Qian Liniang, asking her to go play polo together. When Qian Liniang arrived, Qian Jiaoniang had just finished a match with several ladies. Now that the polo field was built, Xing Muzheng and Qian Jiaoniang had agreed: odd-numbered days were for their own use, even-numbered days were open to the common people of Yuzhou. Horses were provided, along with instructors to teach riding and polo.
This news had already been announced on the day of the grand ceremony, and in the days since, many young men had come whenever they had free time to learn polo. On even-numbered days the polo grounds were lively. Li Shugen had become the steward of the grounds, keeping watch there all day with his wife. Li Taoer had originally not known how to play polo, but under her husband’s careful teaching she was now able to play together with Qian Jiaoniang.
Seeing her elder sister arrive, Qian Jiaoniang, dripping with sweat, leapt down from her horse and went forward with a smile to welcome her.
But Qian Liniang found that smiling face very jarring. These past days she had been frowning in worry over her sister’s words, while the younger one seemed fine, carefree every day, thinking only of herself.
“Second Sister, polo is great fun. Do you want to learn? I can be your teacher,” Qian Jiaoniang said with a smile, coming up to her.
Qian Liniang waved her hands quickly. “I could never learn. Just seeing a horse makes me shudder, besides—I am already a mother. How could I be so wild? If people laughed at me when I went back, what then?”
“Now in Yongan it’s very fashionable—even the ladies in the palace play. How would anyone laugh at you?” Qian Jiaoniang said. “I think that riding and playing polo makes one’s mood brighter, one’s heart broader, and one won’t be so stubborn about things.”
Qian Liniang felt there was an insinuation in her words, and pursed her lips. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean nothing else, only that I hope Second Sister can find more amusements for herself.” Qian Jiaoniang smilingly took her hand. “There are some gentle mares here, prepared specially for beginners. I’ve already had them feed the gentlest one and keep it ready for you.”
Sure enough, she had someone lead over a mare of moderate height, and she taught Qian Liniang to ride it hand in hand. Though Qian Liniang said with her mouth that she would not learn, in her heart she knew polo was a pastime only the wives and daughters of the powerful could play—even Madam Xiong had never been able to learn. If she could learn, then she would be more exalted than Madam Xiong.
Qian Jiaoniang coaxed her onto the horse, and had Chunwu carefully instruct her. Qian Liniang was at first a bit afraid, but after practicing a while she began to find enjoyment in it. Before long she was happily riding around the polo grounds, while Qian Jiaoniang rode alongside with a smile.
But heaven was unkind, and before long a fine drizzle began to fall, growing heavier and heavier. The rain came suddenly, and so Qian Jiaoniang and the others had no choice but to take shelter in a pavilion. Yanluo brought out the tea leaves Qian Jiaoniang liked, set a small table, lit a little stove with incense to brew the tea, while Hongjuan arranged refreshments and laid soft cushions. With gauzy curtains drifting and the sound of rain outside, there was indeed a refined charm.
“Yanluo, if only you had brought your qin,” said Qian Jiaoniang, passing her sister a piece of green-plum cake in a lotus-patterned bowl.
Yanluo said, “This servant didn’t bring the qin, but I did bring a flute.”
“Where is it?”
“In the carriage,” Yanluo replied. “I will fetch it at once.”
Qian Jiaoniang said, “No need to hurry, wait until the rain lightens.”
Yanluo laughed, “There is an umbrella here—it doesn’t matter.”
“Then be careful, don’t let the rain wet you.”
Yanluo assented, called over Suier to tend the tea, then herself took an oil-paper umbrella and stepped into the rain. Misty rain drifting, her graceful figure was like a painting.
“Yanluo truly is a great beauty,” Qian Jiaoniang sighed. Even as a woman herself, she could not help but admire Yanluo’s looks.
Qian Liniang had been secretly watching Yanluo all along. Only when her sister spoke did she come back to herself, and with a strange glance asked, somewhat cautiously: “This Yanluo… is she the marquis’s courtesan, or his bed servant?”
Qian Jiaoniang’s eyes flickered. “Neither. She’s just an ordinary maid.”
“How could that be!” Qian Liniang stared. “With such beauty, the marquis hasn’t taken a liking to her?”
“The marquis’s taste is lofty…” Qian Jiaoniang said, but then remembered he had taken a fancy to Feng Yuyan, so perhaps not all that lofty.
“His taste is peculiar…” Peculiar enough to include herself, she thought. “He doesn’t love bedroom matters…” Yet just last night he had worn her like a beast—she could hardly say he wasn’t vigorous in that regard.
“Oh well, in any case she’s not.”
Qian Liniang nodded thoughtfully, ate a bite of green-plum cake, then cast a sidelong look at her sister, as if about to speak.
Qian Jiaoniang saw it and smiled. “If Second Sister has something to say, then say it.”
Qian Liniang put down the bowl, narrowed her eyes with a smile. “It’s no big matter. I just wanted to ask—since Miss Yanluo is not the marquis’s, could you give her to me?”
“What would sister want with Yanluo? Do you not already have maids?”
Qian Liniang was evasive. “Isn’t it so, there are too few.”
If it had been anyone else, Qian Jiaoniang would not have thought much of it. But Yanluo was too beautiful, and Qian Liniang’s eyes were shifty. Qian Jiaoniang said evenly, “Though Yanluo calls me mistress, I don’t have her do servant’s work. She teaches me calligraphy and qin—she’s half a teacher to me. Better I find you another, a good one, to serve you.”
“No one else. I just feel an affinity with Yanluo. Good sister, why don’t you give her to me?”
Suier poured tea into a plum-blossom stone cup for Qian Jiaoniang. She sipped lightly, then said, “Is it that Yanluo pleases your eye, or pleases Sun Bai’s?”
Qian Liniang disliked how her sister could be dense when she should be clever, yet sharp when she should not be. Meeting those perceptive eyes, she was startled, then clenched her teeth and said, “Jiaoniang, I’ll tell you the truth. Indeed, it is Sunlang who has taken a fancy to Yanluo, and he asked me to beg her from you!”
Qian Liniang knew her sister was unreliable, and so had to rely on herself to find a way to get rid of Madam Xiong. Just at that time, Sun Bai had been smitten by Yanluo, whom he had glimpsed at the polo grounds, so much that he could not eat or sleep, pestering her daily. Qian Liniang had thought Yanluo was XIng Muzheng’s concubine, and so could not be had, and thus never agreed. But Sun Bai had said to her, if she could obtain Yanluo, he would agree to anything.
So today she asked, and upon learning Yanluo was not the marquis’s woman, she rejoiced inwardly as if a pie had fallen from the sky. If she could bring Yanluo into her household, then Sun Bai would have to dismiss Madam Xiong before he could touch her. Once Madam Xiong was gone, she could slowly deal with Yanluo in her own time.
Qian Jiaoniang’s smile faded. She set down her cup. “Sister, how muddleheaded you are! Sun Bai has ruined so many young women, yet instead of speaking of escaping the fire pit, you would drag Yanluo down into it!”
Qian Liniang said: “How can it be a fire pit? Our Sun family is a household of standing in Yuzhou. I heard that Yanluo was originally a courtesan—wasn’t she born to serve men?”
“No girl is born to serve men! Second Sister, I don’t like hearing such words. From now on, don’t say them again. In any case, I will never give Yanluo to you.”
“You—ah!”
Suier quickly offered Qian Liniang a cup of tea. “Second Madam, please have some tea!”
The two sisters quarreled again, and for a time neither paid the other any heed. When Yanluo returned, she saw the strange atmosphere in the pavilion. Behind Qian Jiaoniang, Hongjuan gave her a slight wave of the hand.
Yanluo simply acted as though nothing had happened, sat down, lifted the flute to her lips, and breathed a fragrance of orchids. The melodious notes floated out. Qian Jiaoniang recognized it as the tune she had recently been learning from Yanluo. She looked over; Yanluo’s beautiful eyes were smiling as she nodded lightly to her. Qian Jiaoniang chuckled softly, cleared her throat, and began to sing gently.
Xing Muzheng entered just in time to hear the song drifting with the sound of the rain.
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