Due to the continuous rain, business at Dingxiang Tower was slow. There were only a few patrons sitting downstairs, and not many people upstairs. Only the compartment by the window was bustling with men toasting each other and making noise, with musicians playing the pipa and singing in between.
Sun Bai and Qian Baogui clinked cups in brotherly cheer, and Sun Bai called over two young companions at the banquet table, who clapped their hands and praised. The courtesans, soft and boneless at their sides, busied themselves with pouring wine and laying dishes. Qian Baogui hugged the charming Qin Xianer, and, emboldened by drink, stole a kiss on her cheek. Qin Xianer feigned disapproval with a hum, but leaned even closer against him.
Qian Baogui was twenty and still unmarried. Mother Qian thought no village girl could be worthy of him. Those she fancied in town she dismissed as too poor, unwilling to marry into their families. Thus, matters had dragged on until now. Only recently had Qian Baogui lost his virginity to a concubine Sun Bai had given him, and having at last tasted the pleasure of women, he now wished nothing more than to linger with them every day.
Qian Baogui was tipsy and lust-drunk, thinking of slipping away with Qin Xianer, when suddenly he heard the urgent drumming of many horse hooves outside. Startled, he craned his neck to look out, and everyone else leaned forward too. They saw a troop of men, clad in raincapes and conical hats, gallop past the market street, quickly vanishing into the rain and mist.
Qian Baogui muttered casually, “Where did these rough wanderers come from—can’t even be quiet in the pouring rain!”
At once, he was met with several odd looks. He grew uneasy. “W-what is it?”
“Master Qian, surely you didn’t look carefully—wasn’t the man at the head your very own brother-in-law, the lord of our Yuzhou City, the Dingxi Marquis himself?” drawled one of the foppish companions, half-smiling. Then he turned to Sun Bai and asked, “That was his lordship, wasn’t it?”
Though Marquis Xing Muzheng wore a conical hat, Sun Bai had seen clearly enough—that towering figure could only be his lofty brother-in-law, the marquis himself. He too looked strangely at Qian Baogui. “Brother-in-law, don’t tell me you’ve never actually met Lord Xing yet?” That couldn’t be, could it? If this lad truly was so useless, then all his currying favor would have been for nothing.
Seeing their odd expressions, Qian Baogui’s face flushed bright red. He slapped the table loudly: “How could I not recognize my third brother-in-law? I was just a bit dazzled from the drink and didn’t see clearly, that’s all!” Of course he knew why they were treating him so deferentially—it was only because he was currently living in the Dingxi Marquis’s household.
Sun Bai and his friends exchanged a glance. On second thought, it didn’t seem possible otherwise. The whole Qian family had been living in the marquis’s manor for some time. Liniang had managed to enter once and said that rare medicines had been given freely for the old matron’s illness—someone thought near death had been saved alive. Evidently, the marchioness did care for the Qian family after all. And if the Qians were to be supported, there was only this one male heir left. To befriend him was certainly no loss.
With that in mind, Sun Bai burst into laughter and said: “Brother-in-law, we were just teasing you. How could it be possible you hadn’t met Lord Xing, when your parents are living in his household?”
Qian Baogui saw that he was believed and breathed a long sigh of relief. Sitting straighter, he spoke his lie more smoothly: “Third brother-in-law often comes to see Father and Mother, and we share cups of wine together!”
Qin Xianer gasped, eyes full of admiration. “Master Qian, so you’re Lord Marquis’s brother-in-law! How incredible—you’re Yuzhou’s own imperial uncle!”
Qian Baogui felt all the more elated, though he remembered to put on modesty. “Not at all, not at all—you flatter me too much.”
But the foppish companion said, “Not too much at all! Yuzhou is the marquis’s domain; he’s like a king here. And you, as his brother-in-law—what else could you be but imperial uncle?”
“R-really…?”
“Of course!” another chimed in. “I’ve never met such an easygoing imperial uncle as you. Why, you could run rampant in Yuzhou, even kill a man, and nothing would happen to you!”
Qian Baogui’s eyes went wide. “K-kill a man and nothing would happen?” Was his status truly so exalted? He had thought having a capable elder sister would only get him a good post and a carefree life. He had never imagined that being “imperial uncle” could be such a lofty station! Had he been mistaking a dragon’s offspring for a common chick?
“Of course! Think of it—our Prefect is but your brother-in-law’s subordinate. The whole yamen obeys him. Reports aren’t even sent to court. If he wants someone dead, they die; if he wants someone spared, the case is sealed and it’s over.”
Qian Baogui mulled it over for a long while, then stroked his chin and burst into wild laughter. Sun Bai and the others, though puzzled, followed along in laughter.
“Brother-in-law, from now on we’re relying on you!”
“Say no more, say no more!”
That night, after leaving Qin Xianer’s bed, Qian Baogui staggered back drunkenly to the marquis’s manor. Just as he was about to summon a maid to draw his bath, he saw someone emerge from Mother Qian’s quarters and call to him. Looking closely, wasn’t it his most fortunate third sister? At once, Qian Baogui plastered on a broad grin, trotting over eagerly like a lapdog, and cried out loudly: “Third Sister, you’re still awake?”
Qian Jiaoniang had stayed behind in this courtyard expressly to wait for Qian Baogui. But she’d waited half the night without seeing him return, and when he did come back, it was reeking of wine again. Qian Dafu had told her he’d been coming home drunk nearly every day lately.
“Who were you out drinking with?” she asked.
“Ah, second brother-in-law introduced me to some like-minded friends. I got a bit carried away, so I drank a little more!”
Qian Jiaoniang smelled the heavy perfume on him—the scent women used—and her brows furrowed. “You went to a pleasure house?”
Qian Baogui hastily protested: “No, no, of course not! Just a few singers, that’s all.”
She scrutinized him a moment, while he gave a fawning grin. In the past, he’d never taken his sisters seriously at all—just a few complaints to their parents, and it was always the sisters who got scolded. But now he dared not offend Third Sister. After all, it was through her that he could enjoy wealth and honor. That much he could see clearly.
Qian Jiaoniang had him sit on the stone bench in the courtyard. Qian Baogui sat up prim and proper. She bore little love or hate toward this younger brother—when she’d been sold into the Xing family, he was still under ten, tattling constantly and monopolizing their mother’s care. But since they had reunited, he was her brother nonetheless. And since Mother Qian cared so much for his future, she would first ask what he wanted himself; if she could help, she would.
“Baogui, Father and Mother say they wish to stay in Yuzhou. What do you think?”
Qian Baogui instantly said: “I’ll do whatever Father and Mother say.”
“And what do you plan to do for a livelihood, to support them?”
Qian Baogui looked up at her in bewilderment. He was to support Father and Mother? Wasn’t she the “Niang Niang of Yuzhou City”? Did she not even have the silver to maintain their parents? Just selling one set of her hair ornaments could feed them for decades!
Qian Jiaoniang frowned at his bewildered look. “What sort of expression is that? You don’t want to support Father and Mother?”
Qian Baogui came back to his senses. He felt resentment in his heart, but he wasn’t foolish enough to say it aloud. “Of course not. I’m their son—naturally I should support them! It’s just that in Yuzhou I don’t know a soul, nor do I know what I should do. Third Sister, you just have Brother-in-law casually arrange some position for me.” He paused, then added, “Anyway, since I’m to provide for our parents, better let Brother-in-law arrange me a fat post. Only if I have plenty of silver can I truly honor them. Oh, and it would be best if the work is easy. I’ve studied since I was young—I’m a man of letters, I can’t do physical labor. Also, nothing dangerous—I am the only son of the family, after all. Isn’t it my duty to carry on the incense of the Qian line?”
Hearing his string of demands, Qian Jiaoniang was so angry she laughed. A fat post, easy, and not dangerous—where under heaven is there such a thing? “You’ve misunderstood me. I meant for you to find work yourself. I can’t help you, and the Marquis doesn’t have time to help you either. If you want to become an official and enter the yamen, then go sit the examinations—I’ve heard at the very least you must be a licentiate or scholar before you can enter. If you want to be a constable, then go practice martial arts. If you want to ply a craft, then go apprentice yourself. If you want to farm, then rent land.”
Qian Baogui nearly jumped up at that. If he had that kind of ability, could he have stayed in the village all this time? He’d already have become a great official! And besides, he was a man of letters—how could he stoop to learning a craft or farming? That would disgrace the name of learning!
His eyes rolled, and, using the same wheedling tone he used with their parents, he said to Qian Jiaoniang, “Sister, I was wrong. Sister, just arrange me something, anything at all—so long as it pays well and isn’t dangerous. A little hardship or toil, I could put up with that… no, no, actually, it’d be better if it paid less but was easier!”
Qian Jiaoniang shook her head in disappointment. It seemed this younger brother had been raised into uselessness—no way to prop him up to a wall. She no longer bothered saying more to him, rose, and left.
Qian Baogui couldn’t stop her. He turned instead to his mother’s room and, like a child of seven or eight, threw a tantrum, demanding she put in a good word for him with Qian Jiaoniang.
How could Mother Qian refuse? The very next day she began nagging at Qian Jiaoniang, insisting she find Baogui a fine post, and also see to his lifelong affairs. Not only must the position be good, but the wife as well. First, she said, check whether the prefect had a daughter whose eight characters matched Baogui’s—if so, then have the prefect’s daughter marry him.
Qian Jiaoniang listened until her head pounded. Truly, after so many years apart, she had forgotten that when it came to Qian Baogui, their mother was always unreasonable. As though her son were the son of a dragon, destined to be the most promising and precious of all. “The prefect’s daughter is learned, courteous, and comes from a family of scholars. Countless young men would line up to marry her. Baogui has nothing—what could he possibly use to match her?”
Mother Qian shot back with full confidence, “By virtue of being the Marquis’s brother-in-law!”
Qian Meinang was helpless too. “Mother, please don’t joke. The Marquis’s household belongs to the Xing family, not the Qian family. With the Qians’ circumstances, how could we possibly reach for a prefect’s daughter? If he can marry a good-looking, sensible farm girl, that would already be very good.”
Instead, Mother Qian grew angry. “You sisters—what’s in your hearts? Can’t stand to see your only brother do well? He’s the very lifeblood of our Qian family!”
But Qian Jiaoniang was no longer that little girl who, when scolded by her mother, shouldered all the blame herself. She decided simply not to look. Gathering up her embroidery basket, she left, and signaled with her eyes for Qian Meinang to follow.
Qian Meinang hesitated a moment, but in the end, weary from her mother’s endless scolding, she followed Qian Jiaoniang out of the courtyard.
At last, there was peace.
The two shared an oil-paper umbrella as they walked along the covered walkway. Qian Meinang let out a sigh. “Mother seems almost recovered. Tomorrow let’s send them back to the village.” They truly couldn’t stay in the Marquis’s household any longer. If they did, she had no idea how puffed up their mother would become—she already wanted the prefect’s daughter as a daughter-in-law! What Qian Meinang feared most was that if their mother kept making trouble, she would ruin the good life Jiaoniang had fought so hard to gain. Since Jiaoniang had already fulfilled her filial duty by curing their mother’s illness, she absolutely must not let her natal family cause the Marquis to take offense.
