Cheng Danruo’s life became more routine.
She got up early every day and went to the main courtyard to pay her respects to Lady Hong. This was like clocking in for work – as long as First Madam went, she could not be lazy.
After paying her respects, she went straight to the front courtyard to practice calligraphy and review her books, seeing when Yan Hongzhi was free and listening to him lecture for a while. After class, she did her daily homework, including but not limited to reciting texts, dictation, and copying books.
It was like being back in high school.
Cheng Danruo could not help but feel relieved that, fortunately, she had chosen medicine in university. Studying was even more grueling than in high school. After all, if you did not study well in high school, you only ruined your own future; if you did not study well in university, what you cost was other people’s lives.
She was naturally diligent, and she also knew well that in ancient times, it was not a matter of course for women to be able to study, so she cherished it all the more. She had no complaints about the tasks assigned to her and was conscientious in everything.
At noon, she returned to the courtyard for lunch, reviewed the online courses she had cheated in, and used pig skin obtained from the kitchen to do some simple surgical practice to maintain her feel.
She actually really wanted to get some little rabbits and mice for experiments, but they would be bloody and she was afraid of frightening people, so for the time being she did not dare mention it to anyone.
Judging that Lady Hong had already woken up from her afternoon nap, she brought the acupuncture kit and began her proper work as the family doctor.
After finishing, she returned to the courtyard and continued memorizing texts.
By then it was already late autumn, and it got dark early. By four or five o’clock, the light was already very poor.
For the sake of her eyesight, Cheng Danruo usually stopped reading and writing then, and instead leaned by the brazier, holding a jade stone in her hand, warming herself while familiarizing herself with the medical books on the tablet.
These did not have to be memorized by force, but at the very least she had to read them thoroughly and understand them. Otherwise, if people heard she was a doctor and casually tested her, and she could not answer, she would be finished.
Xi Que noticed all this and silently kept it in mind. When she found an opportunity, she went to the main courtyard to talk to her mother.
Xi Que’s mother asked, “How are things with Third Young Miss?”
“All day long it’s either reading or practicing calligraphy. She doesn’t joke with us much, nor does she inquire about matters in the household.” Since Xi Que had been sent by Lady Hong, she naturally bore the task of observing and assessing, and she explained in detail, “Her temper is actually quite good. She is not picky about food or clothing. Yesterday the kitchen delivered the meal late, and by the time it was opened, it had long lost its warmth. She told us to heat it on a small stove and did not complain at all.”
Xi Que’s mother nodded. She was Lady Hong’s dowry maid and undoubtedly one of her trusted confidantes. “From the sound of it, she is someone who keeps to her place and is honest. What about her maid? Have you found out anything from her?”
Xi Que said, “She is a maid from the Chen family, sent over by the mistress. It is said that next year the Chen family will go to the capital, and by then they may even take the third young lady back.”
“Take her back?” Xi Que’s mother pondered for a while, then had a good idea of the situation and instructed her daughter, “You just serve her well. If there is anything you are unsure about, come and tell me immediately.”
Xi Que agreed, and her mother hurried back to report.
Lady Hong was arranging flowers in a vase. The fragrance of osmanthus in late autumn was rich, and a faint sweetness lingered inside and outside the room. The golden color set off the plain elegance of the white porcelain vase, with spacing both sparse and dense, just like a painting.
Xi Que’s mother stepped forward and, while handing over the scissors, reported what Xi Que had said.
“Still going to take her back?” Lady Hong also noticed the key point and could not help laughing. “Since they cannot bear to part with her, why send her over?”
Xi Que’s mother said, “Perhaps they only said it casually, and the maid took it seriously.”
Lady Hong asked, “How is Dan-niang?”
“She only shuts herself in to study and has not even been to First Madam’s courtyard,” Xi Que’s mother said. “She seems more like a young master.”
Lady Hong was thoughtful.
At night, when Yan Hongzhi returned from visiting friends, she brought up the matter and said with some puzzlement, “I thought she was staying in our household for good. What is this – she is still going to be taken back later?”
Yan Hongzhi said, “At the time, it was said to be for diagnosis and treatment. If they did not come to take her back, would they not be laughed at? Now that I have acknowledged her as my daughter, that is a different matter.”
Having been husband and wife for many years, Lady Hong understood her husband quite well. Interested, she asked, “First acknowledging her as your daughter, then teaching her to read and write – you are so invested in this. If you tell me it was a sudden impulse, I will not believe it.”
“Only you understand me, Ah-Jing.” Yan Hongzhi put his arm around his wife’s shoulder. “Dan-niang’s life has been full of hardship, drifting from place to place, and yet it is rare that her spirit remains. I truly cannot bear to let a bright pearl be covered in dust.”
“You are muddled in your old age.” Lady Hong gave him a glare and reprimanded him without the slightest courtesy. “If she is seven or eight years old, and you slowly teach her poetry and books, she may have prospects in the future. But at the age of marriage, doing so is putting the cart before the horse.”
These words came from the heart. Cheng Danruo’s life had been adrift, with no one to rely on. That actually did not matter much. As a woman, she had one chance to be reborn – to marry into a good family, strive together with her husband, bear and raise children. Even if she was poor today, it was still unknown whether in some future year she might have an official title conferred upon her.
Yan Hongzhi said, “Fine. Tell me, what kind of family should she marry into?”
Lady Hong’s own marriage was happy, and she was also willing to do a good deed. She immediately said, “Ideally, it should be a provincial examination candidate from a family of unsullied reputation, one who knows how to strive for advancement himself. It would be enough if the family circumstances were passable. I am not stingy either. When the time comes, I will prepare a dowry for her, and the two of them can live their days properly. That way, our fate with her will not have been in vain.”
Yan Hongzhi asked again, “For a provincial examination candidate from a family of unsullied reputation, there are plenty of people willing to marry their daughters to him, and the dowries would surely be richer than hers. Most such daughters would also be well educated and reasonable. If he is willing to marry Dan-niang, what is he seeking?”
Lady Hong reproached him. “Of course it is because of you. What is this? You have already acknowledged her as your daughter, yet you refuse to help her?”
“Ah-Jing, I am already over fifty.” Yan Hongzhi asked in return, “Even if I am willing to support her, for how many years can I support her? A daughter acknowledged midway – can I still expect the children to continue helping her?”
Lady Hong was immediately speechless.
Yan Hongzhi was right. With one’s own daughter, there was no fear. If the father was alive, the father supported her. After the father passed away, there were still brothers. When brothers had sons, there were still nephews and maternal cousins. Even if the bone was broken, the sinews remained connected.
But what Cheng Danruo had was merely the prestige and face Yan Hongzhi gave her.
Once he passed away, all that empty reputation would vanish like smoke. At that time, how a woman with no support from her maiden family and no help from brothers would be treated by her husband would be hard to say.
“You are right.” She smiled bitterly. “I fear this child’s road will be difficult.”
A faint smile appeared at the corners of Yan Hongzhi’s lips. “Of course it is difficult, but roads are made by people. Ah-Jing, I will give her a hand and see what method she has to break out of this predicament.”
Dan-niang played chess step by step, building one move upon another. If she lost one move, she thought of the next. She was never the kind, upon seeing a losing position, to throw down the pieces and give up.
Life is like chess. Who can be certain she cannot fight her way out with a bloody path?
The first day of October was the beginning of winter.
Following custom, the Yan family repaired the graves, bought paper clothes and shoes, and burned them for the dead. This was called “sending winter clothes.”
Although Cheng Danruo did not believe in such things, since this custom existed in ancient times and she did not want her persona as a filial daughter to collapse, she had to do as the locals did. So she gave Xi Que two taels of silver and told her to buy some paper clothes and paper shoes, write down her parents’ names, and burn them in the empty space in the back courtyard.
Zi Su even suggested, “Why don’t you copy two Buddhist scriptures as well?”
Cheng Danruo was not a true ancient person and often feared she might overlook something, so she was very happy to hear their ideas. “You are right. We will burn two scriptures as well.”
In the past, to curry favor with Old Madam Chen, she had often copied scriptures, so she was well practiced and familiar with it. It was merely a matter of practicing calligraphy anyway, so she wrote out two copies of the Heart Sutra from memory and burned them together with the winter clothes.
On the same day, the emperor issued the new calendar to the assembled officials.
That is, the calendars were distributed. Every year, the calendars in officials’ homes were given out on this day. And after the first day of October, the streets and alleys also began selling the calendar books for the new year.
Also, the arrival of winter meant that every household needed to store up firewood and repair stoves to prepare for the coming winter.
Of course, matters like buying charcoal and firewood did not need to be worried about by anyone other than the matriarch in charge of the household.
What affected Cheng Danruo was that on the day of the beginning of winter, Yan Hongzhi called her over and said, “No class today. We are competing with incense.”
Cheng Danruo repeated. “…Incense?”
“Trying incense under the pines at the beginning of winter is a convention.” Yan Hongzhi said with a smile, “Ladies in the capital especially love this pursuit. Every year on this day, people are sure to send invitations. Your sister-in-law went out early in the morning to attend the Xu family’s incense competition.”
Cheng Danruo said, “That is quite nice.”
Commoners saved money to buy charcoal, fearing they might freeze to death in winter, while nobles competed with incense in elegant refinement and vied with one another. What a world it was, truly leaving one speechless.
“Come and look.” Yan Hongzhi pointed to the incense utensils on the table and slowly named them one by one. “Incense burner, incense container, incense tray, incense chopsticks, incense pot, incense grains, incense tongs, incense holder, incense tube…”
Cheng Danruo had originally been rather uninterested, but when she saw how exquisitely made those implements were, she became interested.
What excellent experimental equipment.
“The incense burner may be made of silver, iron, copper, or tin; the material is not restricted, nor is the shape fixed. But the top should preferably be in the form of the vault of heaven, and there must not be too many holes, otherwise the smoke will not be complete.” Yan Hongzhi said, “But you must remember that incense burners produced by the official kilns, Ding kiln, Ge kiln, and Longquan Xuan kiln are best used for appreciation, not for daily use.”
Cheng Danruo immediately memorized the knowledge point.
Yan Hongzhi explained the many utensils one by one, and then had her identify incense materials.
After she had memorized several different kinds of incense, he began to have her try her hand at burning incense and ordered her to evaluate their relative merits.
This was not difficult. In her childhood, Cheng Danruo had often been around Chinese medicinal herbs, and incense materials could also be considered a kind of medicinal material. Only this time, she not only had to look at appearance and smell, but also judge superiority and inferiority from the smoke.
“If the fragrance is too thick, it is pungent; if too light, it becomes smoke. Only when there is neither too much nor too little is it moist and subtly sweet.” Yan Hongzhi said, “Therefore, the most important thing in burning incense is still the control of heat.”
Since Cheng Danruo had already conceived the idea of using the incense utensils for experiments, she became even more patient and serious, carefully making attempts.
She was just carefully watching the sparks when suddenly hurried footsteps came from outside.
Yan Hongzhi turned his head, and his heart suddenly stirred. He rose and turned around, shaking out his robe. “Where have you come from? Why are you so angry?”
“The Xu family.” Xie Xuanying saluted his teacher and did not notice the person beneath the pine tree. “I went to take Second Sister to the incense competition and ran into the Xu family’s second young master up front. He pulled me aside to talk for a while.”
He sneered. “Minister Xu really is smooth and accommodating in every direction.”
Yan Hongzhi stroked his beard. “Oh, yes. Earlier it was said to be the eldest daughter of the Xu family’s main branch. What is it now? They want to change people?”
“That is the meaning I got.” Xie Xuanying was extremely annoyed. “Something about how Second Miss is chaste and quiet, and how a master at Huiyuan Temple once cast her fortune and said she should not marry early, so the family wants to keep her for a few more years. If Second Miss will not do, then are there still Third Miss and Fourth Miss? Am I to have no one but their Xu family?”
Minister Xu was too slick. If he did not withdraw from the engagement, he feared the emperor would harbor resentment. If he did withdraw, he feared offending the Xie family. Since the eldest daughter could not be agreed upon, the second daughter happened to be young. If both sides had a tacit understanding, they could settle the engagement after Princess Rong’an married, just two years later.
An old servant brought tea and snacks. Xie Xuanying had complained until he was thirsty. He picked up the teacup and was just about to moisten his throat when he suddenly noticed there were two teacups on the table.
He froze, then looked up.
Cheng Danruo lowered her head and tried hard to hide her smile.
What did I just say? Instinctively, he wanted to take a sip of tea to cover it up. But who would have thought that since the weather was cold today, the servants had prepared hot tea. As soon as he drank it, the tip of his tongue stung. “Cough.”
Yan Hongzhi slowly raised his eyebrows.
“Oh my, what kind of tea was served today? It is unexpectedly so fragrant?” he asked the old servant slowly. “Or has your tea-brewing skill improved again?”
The old servant bowed slightly and said, “It must be that this year’s rainwater was good, so the fragrance is subtle and distant.”
Yan Hongzhi nodded, then glanced at Xie Xuanying. He actually accepted this explanation and asked with meaningful concern, “Then did you scald yourself?”
Xie Xuanying naturally did not want to admit it, but when the words reached his lips, he paused and then said, “A little.”
Since he said that, Cheng Danruo had to speak up. “Just hold two mouthfuls of cold water in your mouth and it will be fine.”
The old servant hurried off to fetch cold water. Xie Xuanying simply withdrew into the room and only came out after simply rinsing his mouth and washing his face.
Cheng Danruo was putting away the utensils. Seeing that he was better, she quickened her movements to tidy up.
Yan Hongzhi glanced over, his gaze flickering, and smiled slightly, motioning for his student to sit down.
The wind blew through the pine trees, and the lingering fragrance curled faintly.
He took a sip of hot tea, half serious and half intentional. “Your marriage – what exactly are you thinking?”
Without any hesitation, Xie Xuanying replied, “Now is not the time.” He paused, then also became serious. “Commandery Prince Feng and Commandery Princess Jianing have entered the capital.”
