Miaoan Hall was situated at the northern foot of Nanyue Mountain, thirty li from Wenxi County. Because of the muddy roads from the rain, Shen Yujiao’s party did not arrive until noon.
The abbess of the nunnery, Master Jingci, had long since come with a group of nuns to await them outside. After exchanging greetings, she ordered a young novice named Sixian to lead Shen Yujiao and her party to settle in the rear courtyard.
It was a courtyard with one main gate, black tiles and yellow walls, with the character 卍 and “Namo Amitabha” written in red ink upon them.
The main hall would serve as Shen Yujiao’s quarters, with the side rooms to left and right set aside for the maids.
“Benefactor Shen, if during your stay in the nunnery you should need anything, simply instruct this humble nun.” The little novice Sixian was still young, clad in a light gray haiqing robe, with a round and kindly face. Though her head was shaven, her features were still delicate and pretty.
After a few words of casual talk, Shen Yujiao learned that she was one of the girl infants taken in by Master Jingci.
“For generations, the abbesses of this nunnery have upheld the founder’s will, practicing charity and taking in abandoned baby girls. Eight or nine out of ten of the sisters here were cast off by parents, unwilling to raise them, or unable to keep them alive, left at the mountain gate under cover of night. The unlucky ones were carried off by beasts; the fortunate ones were picked up by Master. When we reach marriageable age, Master lets us choose for ourselves, either remain here to serve the Buddha, or descend the mountain to return to the secular world and marry…”
Lively by nature, the little novice rubbed her bald head and said: “I, for one, don’t want to go down the mountain. What’s good about serving a man? Serving the Buddha earns merit, perhaps I can even, like our founder, ascend to immortality one day.”
These words made Shen Yujiao and her maids laugh out loud.
After inquiring about the nunnery’s daily schedule and meals, Shen Yujiao instructed Bai Ping to give the novice a box of fine incense pellets as a first-meeting gift.
The little novice received the gift with both hands, thanked Shen Yujiao, and said: “Benefactor Shen, you must be weary from the journey. Please rest first; I will go to the refectory and hasten your meal.”
“You trouble yourself, little Master.”
After Sixian left, Bai Ping and Lu Tan began tidying the courtyard. Shen Yujiao stood beneath the eaves, gazing at the verdant mountains in the distance, where fine rain fell in threads, like smoke, like mist.
Perhaps because she had left behind that suffocating, oppressive great household, she suddenly felt that rainy days were not so irksome after all.
But this thought was quickly dispelled by the continuing downpour that followed.
—
On the seventh day of living in the mountains, the rain was still pouring without end.
“Who knows what temper the Dragon King is throwing, to keep pouring down rain like this.”
Maid Lu Tan came back from the refectory with lunch, shaking the water from her umbrella and clothes as she complained: “At this rate, the laundry inside won’t dry even in half a month.”
Bai Ping took the lacquered redwood food box from her hands. “Enough, go change your shoes and socks quickly. I’ll attend to Madam here.”
Lu Tan, unbothered, wiped the wet hair from her forehead and turned back into her room.
Carrying the food box inside, Bai Ping saw her mistress seated quietly by the window, brush in hand, now frowning out at the rain, now lowering her head to write and sketch. She called softly: “Madam, you’ve been sitting since morning, it’s been two hours now. Please eat first, draw later.”
“Set it down. I’ll eat in a while.”
Shen Yujiao watched the flashes of lightning amid the heavy clouds on the horizon, then looked at the rough figures she had calculated on the draft paper. Her right eyelid would not stop twitching.
This uneasy feeling, she had felt it too, last year, when Shenghua Tower collapsed.
Her pale fingers picked up the pages, reading them over again from start to finish. Her brows knit tighter: “At this rate of rainfall, I fear the Yellow River embankments are in danger.”
“Madam is still worrying about the rain?”
Bai Ping came forward slowly. “Strange though the rain has been, Wenxi is far from the river mouth. And above us there are the counties of Taiyuan, Sangu, and Liang, as well as twelve townships, Wanhua, Xiaoliang, Jia Village, and so on. With so many embankments blocking the flow, even if floods come, they won’t reach us here. Please set your heart at ease.”
The words were reasonable, yet Shen Yujiao still could not shake her unease.
“When the rain eases, send word again to the manor, just to remind them. Better some preparation than none.”
She put down the draft papers, rose, and went to the table where the plain vegetarian meal was set. Taking up the porcelain bowl, she looked at the glossy, tender grains of millet inside and suddenly thought of another matter: “These rains will ruin the crops. The price of rice in town is bound to soar. Later I must see Abbess Jingci and urge her to stockpile more grain.”
“I will go with you, Madam.” Bai Ping answered as she went to tidy the papers at the window. Though she was not literate, seeing the embankment diagrams and the figures written at the side, she could not help but be surprised: “Madam can draw engineering plans too?”
“Just sketches,” Shen Yujiao replied absently. “My father and brothers all served in the Ministry of Works. Following them about, I picked up a little.”
“Even so, that is impressive.”
After lunch, the rain still showed no sign of lessening. Shen Yujiao, still uneasy, sent two guards stationed at the nunnery down the mountain with a letter to the Pei household.
Just as she was about to put on a rain cloak and go find Abbess Jingci to speak of stockpiling grain, the novice Sixian came rushing in ahead of her, drenched from the rain.
“Benefactor Shen, disaster! Word just came from the foot of the mountain: the Yellow River embankment has burst. The dike at Liumenpo has been destroyed, the floodwaters have already drowned the two counties of Taiyuan and Sangu, and are surging toward Wanrong. It is unknown whether Wanrong can hold. If their embankment fails as well…”
The rain on Sixian’s face had not even been wiped away, her expression urgent as she looked at Shen Yujiao: “Abbess is in front organizing flood defenses. She bade me inform you, while the road down the mountain is still passable, you must return to the manor at once. If you wait a day or two longer, when the refugees fleeing the flood rush up the mountain, the crowds will be mixed and chaotic. Who knows what trouble might arise!”
Never had Shen Yujiao expected, just before lunch she was still worrying about the Yellow River bursting its banks, and in the space of half an hour her words had turned into truth.
At her side, Bai Ping’s face went gray. Stamping her foot in frustration, she cried: “But Guards Li and Chen just went down the mountain! Without their escort, how can we return to the manor?”
Lu Tan also said anxiously, “And now it’s already getting late, if we rush to the county, it’ll probably be dark by then!”
As her words fell, both maids and little master Sixian turned their eyes toward Shen Yujiao.
Shen Yujiao pressed her lips lightly together, glanced at the gloomy weather outside the door, and her delicate voice carried a solemn weight: “We can only wait until tomorrow, when the two guards return to the mountain to meet us.”
Little Master Sixian nodded at this: “Then Benefactor Shen, please make sure to pack your trunks quickly. As soon as the two guards return tomorrow, you must go down the mountain at once.”
Shen Yujiao inclined her head, and again entrusted the matter of storing grain to the young master. With palms pressed together, Sixian said, “Rest assured, there is grain in the storehouse donated by patrons, enough to last two months without problem.”
Hearing this, Shen Yujiao felt a little more at ease. Once the young master left, she wasted no time, instructing her maids to keep things simple and pack quickly.
—
In Wenxi County, dark clouds pressed low; the wind shrieked and the rain blurred everything.
When the guards Chen and Li rushed into the city, the floodwater was already up past their knees. Galloping to the Pei residence gates, they saw dozens of carriages already lined up. The household servants, wearing bamboo hats and straw raincoats, carried things in and out nonstop.
The two guards dismounted, seized a young servant to ask, and learned that the Yellow River had already burst its banks, and Madam Wang had ordered the women, children, and elders of the Pei family to depart for Luoyang immediately.
“Hasn’t Wenxi itself not yet flooded? Why flee so soon?” the guards asked, puzzled.
The servant could not explain clearly, only said: “Madam ordered it. We servants just follow orders, how could we care about all that?”
Hearing this, the two guards did not delay, hurrying straight into the courtyard,
The Young Madam’s instructions no longer mattered, but since the masters of the house were fleeing to Luoyang, they had to ask what arrangements would be made for the Young Madam.
When they reached the forbidden court, Madam Wang had already changed into light traveling clothes, fully prepared.
Seeing the two guards come report, she suddenly remembered the nearly invisible daughter-in-law up on Nanyue Mountain. Pinching her brows in annoyance, she said impatiently: “What is there to ask? Hurry back and fetch her.”
The two guards exchanged a look, glancing at the darkening sky outside: “Madam, return now?”
Madam Wang was choked for a moment, then muttered lowly that it was troublesome, before saying: “She won’t make it today. Tomorrow at first light, take fast horses and bring her back. Have her join the carriages of the second and third branches, the concubines and illegitimate daughters, on the way to Luoyang.”
At that, Madam Wang instructed the Momo beside her: “Go tell Second Branch and Madam Cui to delay their carriages tomorrow evening, to wait for Madam Shen.”
The matron agreed and withdrew with the two guards.
Now in the second branch courtyard, after hearing the message, Madam Cui obediently replied: “Tell sister-in-law to rest assured, I will make proper arrangements.”
Once the Momo left, Third Niangzi Pei Tong came out from behind a screen, her face full of displeasure: “She truly thinks herself precious, making two branches wait on her alone.”
Madam Cui glanced at her sideways: “I know you dislike her, but she’ll be leaving tomorrow with the concubines and illegitimate daughters of the second and third branches, it won’t affect us. What are you angry about?”
Pei Tong curled her lips with a snort: “Who told her to have such a crow’s mouth! Wenxi has been peaceful, not a flood in ten years, yet the moment she spoke of it, the river burst. She’s clearly a jinx, bringing misfortune to others!”
Originally, she was supposed to marry to Chang’an at the end of June. Now with the flood, the whole family fleeing to Luoyang, the silks and brocades of Jinxiu Workshop had grown damp and moldy, who knew if the wedding could still be held on time?
The next auspicious date wouldn’t be until October!
Madam Cui was busy arranging the second branch’s household affairs and had no time for her younger daughter’s complaints, waving her hand to urge: “Go sit in the carriage first. I’ll speak a few words with Liu Yiniang, then join you.”
Pei Tong answered reluctantly and went with her maid toward the front gate.
At the second gate, she happened to see a servant trip, falling “plop” into half a foot of floodwater, splashing himself from head to face, then scrambling up in embarrassment.
Pei Tong’s eyes flashed suddenly. She halted, turned to her close maid Qiu Man, and arched a brow: “If I recall correctly, you have a fairly close relationship with a guard surnamed Sun?”
Qiu Man did not understand why her mistress suddenly asked this, and blushed: “If Madam asks, this slave and Second Brother Sun… are already betrothed.”
“Betrothed?” Pei Tong narrowed her eyes, then said with hidden meaning: “Qiu Man, you’ve served me since childhood. By rights, you ought to go with me to Chang’an as part of my dowry maids…”
Qiu Man started, uncertain of her meaning, and said cautiously: “Third Niangzi, my mother already reported the matter to Second Madam, and Second Madam removed me from the dowry list.”
“Tell me, am I your mistress, or is my mother your mistress?”
Pei Tong slowly turned the jade bracelet on her wrist, half-smiling: “If I insist you come with me as dowry, could you refuse?”
At these words, Qiu Man’s face instantly turned pale. Trembling, she was about to kneel: “Third Miss, have I served you poorly in some way…”
Pei Tong pulled her up at once: “Look how frightened you are, I was only joking with you.”
But Qiu Man could not smile at all, tears welling in her eyes as she looked at Pei Tong nervously.
“Am I the type to break apart lovers?”
Pei Tong picked up a handkerchief, seemingly gentle and concerned, wiping Qiu Man’s tears from the corners of her eyes: “But I’m used to your service. If you marry, I’ll truly be reluctant… How about this, you help me with a small favor. If it succeeds, I’ll personally prepare you a generous dowry, let you marry your Second Brother Sun with full glory. If it fails…”
Qiu Man was terrified: “Miss… what would you have me do?”
Pei Tong smiled faintly, leaned down, and whispered in her ear.
Qiu Man’s face suddenly changed: “Third Miss, you mean…”
“A mere trifle.”
Pei Tong patted her shoulder, smiled faintly, and turned away: “I’ll be waiting in Luoyang for your good news.”
