Three days later, Luoyang, Pei Manor.
This residence had originally been the old manor of Pei Xia’s father, Pei Mao, from when he served as Governor of Luoyang. After Pei Mao passed away, Madam Wang took her five-year-old son back to their old home in Wenxi. Since then, the manor had been looked after by a few old retainers. Each autumn, Madam Wang would return to stay a month or two, reminiscing about her late husband and the days gone by.
But in previous years she had always come in fine carriages, at ease. This year she came hurried and plain, fleeing calamity.
As soon as the convoy carrying the concubines and daughters of the second and third branches arrived, Liu Yiniang of the second branch immediately rushed, with Guards Sun and Li in tow, to see Madam Cui.
When she heard Shen Yujiao was missing, Madam Cui nearly toppled from her chair, her face gone pale.
“Attacked by bandits, the horse bolted? You useless fools! You couldn’t even escort one person, what use is the manor keeping you for!”
Liu Yiniang shrank her shoulders, standing aside, whispering timidly: “Madam, I only followed your orders and stayed obediently in the manor.”
The meaning clear: this wasn’t her fault.
The two guards knelt, knocking their heads to the ground: “Second Madam, please judge fairly. In the woods, we were ambushed by bandits, seven or eight of them. We fought with all our might, but two fists cannot match many hands. The Lady’s horse was spooked and ran off. We searched until dark, but could not find her trace. We do not know whether she escaped alive, or whether she is…”
Guard Sun’s voice carried grief: “She has fallen into the hands of bandits, her life or death unknown.”
Hearing this, and seeing the bloodied garment Guard Sun had brought, Madam Cui felt most of the warmth in her heart drain away.
If Shen Yujiao were dead, that would be better.
But if she wasn’t… a delicate, beautiful woman falling into the hands of bandits, that would be worse than death!
Seeing Madam Cui remain silent for so long, Liu Yiniang grew uneasy and called softly: “Madam, should we… report this matter to the First Madam?”
Report it, they would have to.
But how to report it…
After all, before leaving the manor, Madam Wang had entrusted her with arranging the escort.
Just as Madam Cui’s mind was in turmoil, a maid outside announced: “Third Niangzi has arrived.”
Already vexed, Madam Cui saw Pei Tong sweep in wearing a bright pomegranate-red skirt, and her tone turned impatient: “Why aren’t you staying in your own quarters? What are you doing here? Qiu Man, take your lady back, don’t come here making trouble.”
“Mother, what has happened?” Pei Tong softened her voice as she approached. “Who has angered you?”
Madam Cui’s face remained dark, and she said nothing.
Pei Tong’s gaze drifted downward, and when she saw the bloodied garment at Guard Sun’s side, and Liu Yiniang’s aggrieved expression of grievance held in silence, a knowing look flashed in her eyes.
It seemed the matter had been settled.
She forced down the curve tugging at her lips and exclaimed in feigned surprise: “Ah! What has happened? Liu Yiniang, you tell me.”
Liu Yiniang glanced at Madam Cui, and seeing she did not forbid it, recounted the events again.
Pei Tong’s face showed astonishment, and after a moment, she sighed and shook her head: “Who would have thought Sister-in-law would meet with such a disaster… Truly, such ill fate.”
As she finished speaking, she felt Madam Cui’s scrutinizing gaze on her. Pei Tong quickly slipped her arm around her mother’s hand: “Mother, such a serious matter must be reported to Aunt at once.”
Madam Cui frowned. “Your aunt entrusted this to me. Now that I failed to bring her back, how can I show my face to her?”
Toward Madam Wang, the Eldest Madam of the household, Madam Cui felt a deep-rooted fear. Having failed at the task she had been given, she felt nearly ready to die of shame.
But Pei Tong was unconcerned: “How can this be your fault? You arranged for the two branches’ carriages to wait for Sister-in-law, didn’t you? Didn’t Liu Yiniang wait? Didn’t the manor send guards to fetch her early? Who could have predicted the cart would break, or that bandits would appear on the road? If you ask me, this is fate, Heaven destined Sister-in-law to meet with calamity. How could blame fall on others?”
Liu Yiniang immediately seized on this, hurriedly nodding: “Yes, yes, Third Niangzi speaks true. If blame lies anywhere, it is with those cursed bandits, it cannot fall upon us of the second branch.”
Madam Cui’s long, narrow face was drawn taut, her grip tight on the huanghuali armrest of the chair, making her seem even sterner.
After a long silence, she sighed: “Such a grave matter cannot be concealed. It’s better to inform the Madam quickly and see what plan she will make.”
Her eyes swept over Liu Yiniang and the two guards still kneeling on the ground: “You will come with me to the Madam’s quarters. Everything you told me just now, you will repeat to her word for word, leave nothing out.”
“Yes…” Liu Yiniang and the two guards answered, trembling.
Madam Cui stepped outside, and when she saw Pei Tong following, she frowned: “This has nothing to do with you. Go back to your room.”
But Pei Tong rolled her eyes and clung to her coquettishly: “Mother, let me come too. If Aunt should blame you, I can speak a few good words for you.”
Madam Cui hesitated, but in the end could not resist Pei Tong’s wheedling and allowed her along.
When the entire party of the second branch crowded toward the main courtyard, Madam Wang was still napping.
Awakened by her old maid, she pressed her aching forehead, still somewhat displeased at being disturbed.
After she was dressed and seated in the hall, hearing Madam Cui and the others report Shen Yujiao’s misfortune, all trace of drowsiness vanished, replaced only by stunned shock.
The dignified wife of the Pei clan, waylaid by bandits, now missing?
“Useless! A bunch of worthless, good-for-nothing trash!”
A fine Ru-ware cup crashed against the patterned carpet, shattering into shards, making the maids and Liu Yiniang drop to their knees in fright, crying out together: “Madam, forgive us!”
After all, as the household’s matriarch for many years, when Madam Wang grew angry, her authority was overwhelming and not to be underestimated.
Even Madam Cui’s knees went weak; if not for Pei Tong holding her up, she might have knelt as well. Forcing down her fear, Madam Cui asked in a low voice: “Sister-in-law, what… what should be done now?”
Madam Wang shot her a cold glance, said nothing, and instead turned to the two guards kneeling on the ground, her eyes fixing on Guard Sun in particular: “You. Raise your head.”
Guard Sun’s back stiffened as he lifted his head. “M-Madam…”
Madam Wang narrowed her phoenix eyes, scrutinizing him for a long moment, then suddenly turned to her maidservant: “The other day, of the two who returned to report from Nanyue Mountain, was he one of them?”
At these words, Guard Sun’s face turned green, and he instinctively cast a glance toward Pei Tong.
Pei Tong held her breath, struggling to keep her expression calm.
The old maid of the main branch examined Guard Sun several times, then shook her head: “No, he was not among those who reported last time.”
“Replying to Madam,” Guard Sun stammered, “the one originally ordered to fetch Lady, Chen Xiong, suddenly fell ill with stomach pains, so I was sent in his place.”
“Suddenly fell ill?” Madam Wang’s phoenix eyes narrowed further. “Why not sooner, why not later, why precisely at that moment?”
At once, the atmosphere in the room turned heavy and tense.
Madam Wang fixed her gaze upon Guard Sun. Seeing him evasive, his eyes flicking again and again toward Madam Cui and her daughter, she, raised in a great family and long mistress of the household, saw at once there must be more hidden beneath the surface,
“You all withdraw.”
Madam Wang gave a glance to the matron at her side, then turned to look at Madam Cui and her daughter, her expression cold: “You two stay.”
The Cui mother and daughter halted in their steps, especially Pei Tong. Under Madam Wang’s gaze, icy and penetrating as snow, like a demon-revealing mirror in which nothing could be hidden, she felt as though she were laid completely bare, inside and out.
Could it be… Aunt knows something?
Pei Tong’s heart thudded violently. Her hand, which was hooked through Madam Cui’s arm, tightened so much that Madam Cui frowned and lowered her head to call softly, “Tong’er?”
Pei Tong started, forcing out a smile: “N-no… it’s nothing.”
The senior Momo of the main branch quickly led the others away. The hall, so crowded just moments ago, instantly became cold and silent.
That silence, stretched out unbearably long, made Pei Tong feel as though she were sitting on needles. At last she could not restrain herself, and feigned confusion as she asked, “Aunt, should someone be sent back to Wenxi to search again? In case she can be found…”
“Found? Weren’t you the one hoping she would die out there?”
At the sudden change in Pei Tong’s face, Madam Wang gave a cold laugh, her phoenix eyes slanting toward her like blades: “Tong’er, I truly did not know you were so vicious, so brazen!”
“Sister-in-law, what do you mean by this?” Madam Cui’s face went ashen. “What does this have to do with my Tong’er?”
“Aunt.” Pei Tong also called out plaintively, “Have you perhaps misunderstood me…”
The scorn between Madam Wang’s brows and eyes only deepened. She then raised her hand and slapped the table heavily: “At this point, you still refuse to tell the truth? Must I summon that guard Sun in here, and question him before you two, mother and daughter?”
At these words, Pei Tong knew that if she continued to feign ignorance, it would only be like pouring oil on fire, provoking Madam Wang further.
That Madam Wang had dismissed the others before questioning her showed that she still cared for kinship and was willing to leave her some shred of face.
Her mind turned quickly. Pei Tong immediately knelt before Madam Wang, tears brimming as she lifted her face: “Aunt, please calm your anger. It was Tong’er’s fault, I ordered Sun Ming to harm that Shen Yujiao… but what I did was all for Aunt, for Sixth Brother, for our Pei clan!”
Beside her, Madam Cui was stunned into speechlessness by her daughter’s words: “Tong’er, what nonsense are you saying…”
Seated above, Madam Wang wore an expression of “so it is as I thought.” Looking down from on high at the tear-streaked Pei Tong, she gave a cold snort: “You schemed cruelly against Madam Shen, and now you claim it was for me and your Sixth Brother, for the Pei clan? Utterly absurd!”
Pei Tong, however, looked both indignant and sorrowful. Clutching at Madam Wang’s skirts, she choked out through tears: “Does Aunt truly wish for such a criminal’s daughter to be your daughter-in-law, to become the matriarch of our Hedong Pei clan?”
Seeing Madam Wang’s expression waver slightly, Pei Tong felt encouraged and went on: “Sixth Brother is such a man of talent, what family in Chang’an would not welcome him as a son-in-law? Not only the great clans, even county princesses and imperial princesses would not be beyond reach! At the beginning of the year, when Scholar Wang visited this house to pay respects, you heard with your own ears, he said Sixth Brother’s ‘Miscellaneous Notes from the Mountains’ had become all the rage in Chang’an. It was not only the gentlemen who admired it; even the noble ladies vied to read it. He also said that Princess Shouan had long admired Sixth Brother’s talent. She treasured the poetry collection he compiled, could not put it down, and even declared in public, ‘If the world must speak of unrivaled talent, none but Pei Lang of Hedong can claim the name’… Such praise!”
“Princess Shouan is but sixteen, still unmarried, and she is His Highness the Second Prince’s full sister. Now Sixth Brother has gone on campaign with the Second Prince to quell rebellion. Should he return in triumph, His Majesty will surely reward him… If the Emperor were to learn that Sixth Brother, at so young an age, is already a widower, might he not grant him an excellent marriage?”
At this point, Pei Tong’s eyes shone, gazing fervently at Madam Wang: “Even if not a princess, any new wife bestowed would come from a family far superior to that Shen Yujiao, by a hundred, a thousand times! Aunt, Sixth Brother is destined for great achievements in court. If he could have a virtuous wife and a powerful family as support, would that not be like wings on a tiger, flowers added to brocade?”
Every word struck precisely at the core of Madam Wang’s heart.
Naturally she wished for her most prized son to lead the Pei clan to greater glory. That Shen girl, in Wang’s eyes, was nothing but a stain on Pei Xia,
If Pei Xia entered officialdom, once his colleagues saw that he had married a criminal’s daughter, even if they said nothing openly, behind his back they would surely sneer.
And that Shenghua Tower, built by Shen Hui, was meant to celebrate the late Empress Dowager’s birthday. The Emperor’s filial piety had collapsed into ruins, how could he not harbor resentment? If, upon seeing Pei Xia, he remembered that his wife was Shen Hui’s daughter, might he not come to dislike Pei Xia as well…
The more Madam Wang thought, the more it seemed true: that Shen girl’s fortune was too thin. Even if she had married into the Pei family, what of it? Unable to secure the matriarch’s seat, unable to win the clan’s respect, who else was there to blame?
She fell silent, lost in thought. Pei Tong knew then that her gamble had paid off. Wiping her tears, she said pitifully: “As a daughter of the Pei family, Tong’er naturally places the clan’s interests above all else. Aunt has always treated me kindly, and so I thought, since your benevolence and compassion make it hard for you to act ruthlessly, then let me take on the role of the villain, to rid you of that trouble… If Aunt must blame me, I will accept it. I bow my head and beg your pardon…”
As she spoke, she truly did kowtow heavily to the ground, “thud, thud, thud.”
Madam Cui had now come back to her senses. Though she thought her daughter had gone too far, she still felt her heart ache for her, and hurried to kneel before Madam Wang as well, weeping as she pleaded: “Sister-in-law, Tong’er is a child you yourself watched grow up. Though she acted rashly, her heart was for you, for the Pei clan. After all, Sixth Brother is away and knows nothing of these matters. Just treat it as though Madam Shen died at the hands of bandits, and turn a blind eye, let the matter pass…”
Seeing that Madam Wang remained silent, Madam Cui, tearful, pressed on: “Tong’er is after all a daughter of our Pei family, and is soon to be wed to your nephew. In the end, we are one family, why create discord among ourselves over a mere Shen girl? Besides, if in the future Sixth Brother can truly marry a princess, you would become the princess’s mother-in-law, kin to the imperial house, would that not bring the utmost honor to our clan? Compared to that, what is this little Shen girl worth?”
The second branch’s mother and daughter wept and pleaded one after another on the ground, until their clamor made Madam Wang’s forehead throb with pain.
At length, she frowned and scolded: “Enough, both of you shut your mouths!”
The Cui mother and daughter immediately fell silent.
Madam Wang tapped her long fingers against the table, again and again, before finally stopping.
“Things have come to this…” she said with a dark face. “Whether she lives or dies now, she can only be regarded as dead.”
Madam Cui and Pei Tong instantly understood what Madam Wang meant.
A woman wandering alone in the wild, even if she were found, her reputation would no longer be clean. She could never again serve as clan matriarch. Otherwise, the reputation of all Pei women would be dragged down by her, bringing shame to the entire Hedong Pei clan.
After another moment of heavy silence, Madam Wang cast a severe look at the kneeling pair: “This matter stays buried in your stomachs. From now on, no matter who asks, that Shen woman was pursued by bandits and fell into the river to her death. Have you remembered this clearly?”
Madam Cui and Pei Tong exchanged a glance, nodding rapidly: “Yes, yes, we’ve remembered clearly!”
Though Madam Wang was willing to let the matter pass, she was deeply displeased with Pei Tong’s reckless audacity. She strictly ordered Madam Cui to take Pei Tong home and confine her, and to copy out one hundred passages of the Pei Clan Rules as punishment and warning.
Once the Cui mother and daughter withdrew, the senior Momo of the main branch entered with her head lowered.
She had served Madam Wang for decades, and Madam Wang did not hide things from her. With a cold face, she recounted what Pei Tong had done.
The Momo had already suspected somewhat, yet hearing it confirmed still horrified her. “Who would have thought that Third Niangzi, at such a young age, could be so ruthless. Still, her move this time has rid you of a thorn in your heart.”
“I had underestimated her before,” Madam Wang snorted. “I thought she was merely spoiled and willful. Never did I imagine she could be so calculating.”
The Momo moved behind her to pound her back: “She did it for you, for the Pei clan…”
“You believe those lies too?”
Madam Wang gave a cold laugh. “She did it for her future husband. Hah, she hasn’t even married in yet, and already she’s scheming for days to come.”
The Momo was puzzled, so Madam Wang said faintly: “My nephew is the Second Prince’s study companion, and now also holds a post in the Ministry of Personnel.”
At present in Chang’an, the Second and Third Princes stood in opposition. If the Second Prince could gain Pei Xia’s assistance, it would be like wings on a tiger.
When, one day, the Second Prince ascended the throne, Pei Tong’s betrothed, Wang Huanwen, as a close minister of the legitimate heir, would hardly lack for a brilliant future.
The Momo lowered her head, mulling over it for some time before she fully grasped Pei Tong’s winding intentions. With growing amazement, she sighed: “Who would have thought that Second Master and Second Madam, those two brainless fools, would give birth to a daughter with so many schemes in her heart.”
Madam Wang curled her lips: “So long as her heart leans toward the Pei and Wang clans, I do not fear her cleverness. But her movements in the future must be watched closely, lest she commit some brazen outrage again.”
The Momo acknowledged this, then paused and asked: “And that Madam Shen…”
At the thought of Madam Shen, Madam Wang’s heart grew complicated.
By reason, with this thorn in her side removed, she ought to be pleased. But recalling Madam Shen’s usual humility, obedience, and quiet diligence, she felt some regret that one so young should perish so obscurely.
“It seems, as Madam Cui said, she was fated to hardship, too ill-starred to enjoy blessings.” Madam Wang waved her hand with a sigh. “When Shouzhen rises high one day and holds power, I will not prevent him from overturning Shen’s case, or from transferring her father and brothers out of Lingnan… It would not be unworthy of the bond they once shared as husband and wife.”
—
Outside Luoyang city, sorrowful clouds hung low. A great number of ragged refugees, families in tow, trudged slowly toward the city gates.
Among them was a man pulling a broken cart. Upon it lay a pile of patched bundles, an emaciated old woman, and a heavily pregnant woman. Behind the cart, a small, thin figure in coarse short clothing pushed with gritted teeth and panting breath.
The white-haired old woman on the cart turned back from time to time to look at the undersized youth: “Can you manage? If not, then stop pushing.”
“I can, I can!” The boy, his face smeared with coal dust, answered hastily, his clear eyes full of earnestness. “Grandmother, don’t worry. I only look small, I’ve plenty of strength.”
Old Madam Tao sighed at this. What strength could a delicate little girl possibly have? But clearly she was afraid of being abandoned, so she had gritted her teeth and pushed their cart all the way from Wenxi to Luoyang.
She recalled ten days earlier, when they had first encountered this little girl on the official road, like a lost fawn in mist and rain, standing dazed and forlorn.
The sky had been dim then, and her eldest son had thought he’d seen a ghost, nearly rushing at her with a stick.
Only when they drew near did they see it was a mud-smeared young girl.
She had clutched a dagger tightly, her face full of wariness. Later, perhaps seeing that the cart held only an old woman and a pregnant woman, she lowered her guard and said she had fled from Dongyang Village, separated from her family.
Pitying her, Old Madam Tao had given her a piece of flatbread.
Unexpectedly, after eating it, the girl had stuck to them, trailing behind like a little tail, impossible to shake off.
Later, whenever the cart stopped, the girl would step forward eagerly, massaging Old Madam Tao’s back and legs, helping the Tao daughter-in-law, pushing the cart, carrying bundles, quick with her hands and sweet with her words. Gradually, the Tao family had tacitly allowed her to remain and flee with them.
After all, she ate little, just two pieces of flatbread a day sufficed.
For convenience on the road, the girl changed into Eldest Son Tao’s old clothes, put on a hat, smeared her face with soot, and disguised herself as a boy.
If anyone asked along the way, they said she was Eldest Son Tao’s younger brother, Tao Yulang.
Now, after long hardship, this family neared Luoyang’s gates, only to see a grand funeral procession approaching head-on, with blaring horns and fluttering white banners under heavy clouds.
The endless line of mourners, with such pomp and ceremony, was clearly of wealth and nobility. The refugees at once shrank back to the roadside, instinctively giving way.
“Whose household in the city is holding a funeral? Such a grand procession?”
“I don’t know. Judging from that retinue, it’s either an official’s family or a wealthy household…”
“Ah, on that banner, isn’t that the character Pei?”
“Looks like it… not sure which branch of the Pei clan though.”
The common folk whispered among themselves. When the funeral procession drew closer, someone plucked up courage and asked one of the menial servants at the rear: “May I ask, who in your household has passed?”
The servant wore a white mourning sash at his waist, but his face bore no grief of bereavement: “It’s our young madam. Alas, unlucky fate, while fleeing the famine, she encountered bandits and accidentally fell into the river and perished.”
After a few more questions, they learned it was the young madam of the Hedong Pei clan, married only last year, dead by misfortune this year. The people lining the roadside all sighed.
“Truly beauty fated to short life, how could such calamity have befallen her?”
“I heard before that she was originally the daughter of an official’s household. Later her family suffered disaster, yet the Pei clan heir did not disdain her, and still took her into the door.”
“There’s even such a story? Tsk, indeed a woman unable to bear blessings.”
“But the Pei clan really shows righteousness. In times this chaotic, they still give her such a splendid burial.”
“Isn’t it so? Didn’t that young fellow just say, they are burying her in Mang Mountain? Mang Mountain is a place of geomantic treasure, those buried there are all emperors, ministers, and great clans!”
Standing nearby, Tao Dalang overheard and nodded: “Exactly. For us base folk, to have even a thin coffin after death is already fortune enough.”
His wife Cuilan, hearing this, glared at him: “Peh peh peh, why speak such unlucky words!”
Fearing his wife, Tao Dalang gave an awkward laugh, turned his head and spat three times as she wished.
Only then was Cuilan satisfied. Turning back, she saw Shen Yujiao staring blankly after the receding funeral procession, and frowned, calling softly: “Yulang, what’s there to see in such things? Stretching out your neck like that, eager to watch? Stop looking, don’t bring misfortune upon yourself!”
Misfortune…
Shen Yujiao’s eyes were vacant, as though a piece of her heart were missing, hollow, chilled.
In that ornate carved nanmu coffin lay the young madam of the Hedong Pei clan. Then who was she, standing here at the roadside?
