Selecting consorts for the Inner Palace of the Great Jin had always been subject to a great many conventions. From the moment the Empress Dowager's edict was released, the great families and noble households had sprung into motion, promptly beginning to instruct their children in bearing, deportment, and court etiquette — all to avoid giving offence to any honored persons through ignorance of propriety.
From inside the palace, the Honored Consort had dispatched two experienced instructress nursemaids to the Changping Marquis estate several days prior, the implication unmistakable.
Lady He had already settled both instructress nursemaids in the main courtyard; today, calling for Bai Guo had given her the perfect use for them.
"The First Young Master was born of the late First Madam. I came to this household later, and though he addresses me as his mother, I could hardly presume to impose too many rules upon him." Lady He invited the two nursemaids to sit, then assumed the dignified manner of a great family's mistress — composed, neither cold nor overly warm. "You two nursemaids have come at the Honored Consort's command to instruct in deportment, and you've solved a difficulty for me in the bargain."
Just then, Bai Guo followed Yuzhi into the room. Before he could even offer a greeting, Lady He finished speaking and skillfully beckoned him to her side: "These are Nursemaid Ping and Nursemaid Gui, come from the palace."
Bai Guo had not yet understood the situation, nor did he know what Lady He was up to; he simply bowed a greeting to the two nursemaids.
Nursemaid Gui and Nursemaid Ping were both seasoned palace women — what great storm had they not weathered? A single sweeping glance over Bai Guo told them a great deal.
This one was likely an unfavoured ger, yet happened to hold the title of the household's legitimate eldest son.
But the two of them were here on the Honored Consort's orders, and naturally understood that Lady He was the Honored Consort's own younger sister. So they kept their eyes politely cast down, seeing without appearing to see.
Lady He wanted precisely this kind of tactful discretion. She turned to Bai Guo: "First Young Master, starting today, you will study conduct and propriety with these two nursemaids."
Bai Guo was taken aback. He felt that Lady He was unlikely to have had a sudden change of heart toward him, but he also understood that now that Lady He had issued this directive — whatever it might mean for his future — he had absolutely no chance of refusing or resisting.
In the inner chambers of the Marquis estate, Lady He's word was law.
The palace instructresses were sharp-eyed people through and through; their methods were formidable, and in conduct they left no openings.
Lady He, as the replacement Marchioness, prized her face and reputation above all. Though everyone in the household knew perfectly well that she had mistreated the original Madam's legitimate son, not a word of this had ever leaked outside the estate walls across all these years. Among the great family mistresses outside, there was nothing but praise for the Changping Marchioness's generosity and virtue. Now that Lady He had resolved to send Bai Guo into the palace for selection, she absolutely could not allow him to ruin the good reputation she had painstakingly built over more than ten years.
The instructress nursemaids, having seen through this, applied themselves all the more thoroughly to Bai Guo's lessons.
Not half a mistake was permitted in bearing and ceremony; not the slightest lapse allowed in appearance and presentation.
As for the fact that he knew nothing of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting? The instructress nursemaids naturally had their ways — they would have him make a crash course of all of it in the shortest possible time.
Nursemaid Gui and Nursemaid Ping deployed every last art they possessed on Bai Guo, and in just seven days, the once-unremarkable legitimate eldest son had been moulded into the bearing a great family's young master ought to have.
System: Though, admittedly, it was all an empty shell.
"This outfit may not conform to palace regulations — we'll need the seamstresses to produce something more refined." In a tidy little room in the main courtyard, Nursemaid Ping was turning a pale, straight-collared long robe over and over, finding fault with its style and fabric. "This material is too coarse."
"Nursemaid may not know," the maidservant said, curling her lip, "but all the fine fabric that came in this year has already been distributed among the Young Masters, Young Misses, and the various concubines. Even Madam's own storeroom has only last year's silks left. Moreover, the eighth day of next month is the Second Young Master's wedding to the Gu family's son — and the seamstresses are working through the night to rush-finish the phoenix crown and bridal regalia. They simply cannot spare the hands."
Nursemaid Ping's brow creased deeply at that. "Entering the palace for selection means appearing before the Emperor — the Young Master's appearance is of paramount importance. Should he arrive at court in inadequate dress, it would be the crime of presenting a disreputable appearance before the Emperor, implicating the entire Marquis estate!"
The maidservant blanched and went off sheepishly to inform Lady He.
"First Young Master, do not let the others' conversation distract you. This old servant now asks you — what flavour does this cup of tea carry?"
Meanwhile, Bai Guo sat at a low table with Nursemaid Gui, quietly tasting tea, dressed in a new bamboo-green long robe.
Several pots of tea had been drunk already. Bai Guo pressed his lips together — his palate was rather bitter, and his lower abdomen uncomfortably full — but Nursemaid Gui showed no signs of letting him stop.
It was not to torment him; Nursemaid Gui was simply accustomed to strictness.
Over these seven days, Bai Guo had learned from the two nursemaids that Lady He intended to arrange for him to enter the palace for selection. Unlike Bai Yuwei's crying and carrying on, Bai Guo accepted this news with something close to equanimity.
For a young man who had been confined to the estate's side annex for over ten years, the imperial palace — which most people saw as an ornate cage — was really not much of a cage at all.
In any case, it can hardly be worse than the Marquis estate, Bai Guo thought simply.
After the tea-tasting came the daily meal hour. Thanks to the two nursemaids, for the full seven days of his etiquette training, Bai Guo had not seen a single repeated dish on the table — and accordingly, each dish came with its own rules for how to take food and how to pour soup.
Exhausting as it was to study, the visible result was plain: Bai Guo had been fed a full size rounder by the two nursemaids.
After the midday rest, Bai Guo slowly opened his eyes in the practice room, and noticed Nursemaid Gui dozing lightly against the headboard — she had clearly been keeping watch at his bedside the whole time.
A faint warmth stirred in his heart. Bai Guo said quietly, in his own mind: "Immortal, Immortal — I feel that even though the nursemaids are always strict with their words, they are different from the Marchioness." Unlike his stumbling speech in the real world, after growing used to conversations in his mind, Bai Guo found talking with the system almost completely effortless.
Having spent several days together, the system had long since figured out Bai Guo's personality. It was a little resigned to the "immortal" form of address — but having put on such airs at the start, it had no choice but to keep the act going. It said with portentous gravity: "Those two are also considered to be among the good-natured."
"If the Immortal says they are good-natured, then the nursemaids must certainly be good people." Bai Guo curved his eyes in a small, guileless smile. "Good people are rewarded for their goodness, aren't they?"
The system could not bring itself to say something like "no one is kind to another without reason" — it simply coddled him: "…Of course."
That afternoon, Nursemaid Ping arranged for Bai Guo to practise brushwork — writing small seal script, copying the Classic of Filial Piety.
"In the palace, the Empress Dowager is most fond of juniors who put filial piety first," Nursemaid Gui said, grinding the ink, as though making an offhand remark. "In her time, the late Consort Shu used to copy the Hundred Filial Piety Classic in multiple volumes for the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager, moved by her devotion, always showed Consort Shu the most regard and favour among all the palace concubines."
"Consort… Consort Shu?" Bai Guo put down his brush, lifting his gaze with curiosity.
The great imperial palace was a place entirely unknown to Bai Guo.
This was the first time either of the two nursemaids had mentioned a honored person of the inner palace in his presence — even if it was one who had already passed away.
"Nursemaid Gui speaks of old palace history," Nursemaid Ping said, picking up the Classic of Filial Piety Bai Guo had copied halfway through, nodding with satisfaction before continuing: "Before she left her family home, Consort Shu had been the eldest legitimate daughter of the current Grand Preceptor, celebrated as the foremost woman of talent in the capital. After she married the current Emperor, the Consort bore a son in her second year and was elevated to Noble Consort, basking in unrivalled favour. Speaking of it — First Young Master, have you heard of Prince Jing?"
Bai Guo shook his head, feeling a flicker of private shame.
He had never once left the Marquis estate from childhood, and there had never been anyone in the household who befriended him. Of the world outside — he naturally knew nothing.
Was it any wonder people called him a simpleton? It was precisely because he knew nothing of anything.
"Prince Jing is the current Emperor's third son, and Consort Shu is his birth mother. Though Prince Jing is not the Crown Prince, he is a man of splendid bearing — refined, elegant, and exalted beyond ordinary men, outstanding among all the imperial princes." Nursemaid Ping's tone carried an almost imperceptible note of admiration, before she smiled lightly and added: "Once the First Young Master enters the palace, he will be able to see Prince Jing's bearing with his own eyes."
Bai Guo blinked. He had no idea what Prince Jing looked like, nor how outstanding his presence was — but Nursemaid Ping's unstinting praise was quite enough to leave a faint impression of Prince Jing in his heart.
"Very good." Nursemaid Ping, having said her piece, resumed her usual prim manner. "The First Young Master's penmanship grows more practised by the day. Starting tomorrow, you may set aside brushwork and practise the zither with Nursemaid Gui instead." Bai Guo settled his mind and continued his studies.
Two more days passed. The apparent calm of the Changping Marquis estate was suddenly shattered by the Second Young Master, who returned from an excursion to the outskirts.
"Wretches! Who gave you the audacity to touch things in my rooms?" Bai Yi's face contorted with fury as he kicked the small attendant beside him off his feet. "I'm gone a few days and this dog-slave is the one you leave to watch my courtyard?!"
The small attendant prostrated himself on the ground, knocking his head repeatedly. "Second Young Master! Please spare us! It was — it was the Madam who told us to do it! Otherwise, even if you gave us ten times the guts, we would never have dared touch your things!"
Bai Yi naturally could not bring himself to believe the attendant's words. Lady He had always doted on him — and the bolt of brocade taken was the one agreed to be kept for his dowry next month. How could his mother go back on her word?
Yet when he pressed the matter all the way to Lady He herself and saw her nod in person, Bai Yi could scarcely believe his eyes.
"Mother! You actually had my dowry brocade made into new clothes for that bastard?" Bai Yi couldn't help shouting, but Lady He clapped a hand over his mouth.
"It's only a bolt of silk. Yi, bear with it this once — once Mother has sent that person off into the palace, she'll find you an even finer bolt for your dowry." Lady He soothed him, then shifted the subject: "The other day when you went to the outskirts with the Gu family's son — did you enjoy yourselves?"
Bai Yi swallowed back his anger. His eyes darted around, his expression desultory. "It was all right, I suppose."
"My son, don't underestimate Gu Zixiu. He may only be a lowly Hanlin Academy editor, but he has Prince Yu standing behind him. And his temperament is gentle and steady; as long as he does not stray from the right path, there is a good life ahead of him," Lady He said, pulling him close.
Bai Yi pouted: "And yet the way I see it, he's nothing but a blockhead — 'thus sayeth the ancients' at every turn, it grates on my every nerve."
Lady He sighed. Seeing Bai Yi still reeking of all his petted willfulness, she kept him there to talk a while longer.
In another room on the far side of the main courtyard, Bai Guo had just changed into the newly made garment the seamstresses had rushed to finish.
Nursemaid Ping straightened his collar and hung the jade pendant in place, her expression approving: "The First Young Master, dressed like this, is clean and refined — a model of how a great family's son ought to appear."
It was the first time anyone had ever praised him. Bai Guo's face turned red as an apple; his hands, naturally hanging at his sides, suddenly had no idea where to put themselves.
Nursemaid Gui laughed at him. "First Young Master need not be so tense — do ease up a little."
"Hmph!"
A cold snort broke in from the doorway. Bai Yi had already been nursing a grievance, and seeing this scene now stoked it further. He had just endured Lady He's lecturing and stepped out of the rear courtyard — only to find this waiting for him.
He glared at Bai Guo's clothing — the fabric that by right ought to have been his dowry — and his humiliation curdled into something hotter.
He snatched up a pair of scissors from the nearby sewing basket and, without warning, drove them at the hem of Bai Guo's robe.
System: "Watch out!"
"First Young Master, take care!" Nursemaids Ping and Gui both cried out in alarm simultaneously, but were too late to stop it — the new garment on Bai Guo's body was slashed open in a wide, ugly gash.
"First Young Master, are you hurt anywhere?" Nursemaid Gui shoved Bai Yi aside and anxiously lifted Bai Guo's robe to check. Seeing no blood, she exhaled deeply, then turned to face Bai Yi — whose eyes were bright with satisfaction — and said in a low, severe voice: "Does the Second Young Master know what a grave mistake he has made?!"
A palace-trained nursemaid had a presence unlike ordinary people. Nursemaid Gui's single sentence made Bai Yi's knees go weak with guilt now that the impulse had passed.
"It's just a piece of clothing! There's so much fabric in the estate — what does it matter if I ruin one piece?" Bai Yi put up a bold front. "And you're a mere servant — how dare you shout at me!"
Nursemaid Ping narrowed her eyes, restraining the slightly overeager Nursemaid Gui, and said calmly: "We two servants have come by Her Highness the Honored Consort's order specifically to instruct the noble sons and daughters in palace etiquette. Among these lessons, presentation and appearance are of the utmost importance. Now that the First Young Master's garment is destroyed, it will be very difficult to find a suitable replacement in time."
Bai Yi lifted his chin. "And so what?"
"The Second Young Master may not be aware: it has always been tradition that those entering the palace for selection represent their household's standing. Should the First Young Master lack suitable clothing and be judged for improper appearance before the Emperor, the crime would implicate the entire Marquis estate. Does the Second Young Master dare to bear that responsibility?" Nursemaid Gui was so provoked she nearly laughed. "Or perhaps — the Second Young Master cut the First Young Master's clothing because he actually wishes to take his place in the selection? The Second Young Master has several outfits in his possession that both conform to regulations and are already made up. How convenient."
"No! I absolutely will not go into the palace!"
Bai Yi's face went white. Seeing that Nursemaid Gui spoke in earnest, and the look in her eye as she assessed him was that of someone evaluating merchandise, he was truly frightened! He had a betrothal — he would not be a concubine to some old Emperor!
Bai Yi spun around and fled the room in a panic, his retreat as undignified as a stray dog's.
"Nursemaids — what… what do we do?"
When Bai Yi had first slashed his hem, Bai Guo had certainly been afraid — but with the two nursemaids standing guard, and the system in his mind ceaselessly reassuring him, he quickly pressed down the panic. Then, with heartache, he stroked the scraps of fabric gathered in his palm and said, haltingly: "Will this… delay… the selection?"
Nursemaids Gui and Ping exchanged a glance and coaxed him: "First Young Master need not worry. This is entirely the Second Young Master's fault. We two will speak to Madam about it this evening and have it addressed."
Bai Guo wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but when the two nursemaids mentioned "having it addressed," their voices seemed to carry just a hint of ground-down teeth.
And indeed it was not his imagination. That very night, Nursemaids Ping and Gui went to Lady He and extracted a precise accounting from her.
Bai Yi had done wrong, but he was, after all, Lady He's spoiled son.
Faced with the two palace instructress nursemaids, Lady He had no choice but to promise in the most gracious terms that the Marquis estate would procure fabric of suitable quality in the shortest time possible and have a garment made to measure for Bai Guo.
Only after receiving this assurance did the two nursemaids take their leave.
But Lady He did not know that this single promise would nearly drive her mad in the days that followed.
