"Madam, the silks at the Yongji Cloth Shop on East Street were all sold out yesterday!"
"The fine fabric at the Xiangyu Silk Shop on West Street has also sold out. When this servant arrived, the shopkeeper was telling his staff that this month's fabrics sold far too quickly — he needs to send someone south to restock, and the round trip will reportedly take at least seven days!"
"Madam, this servant's team has scoured every cloth shop in the imperial capital. Fabric meeting palace regulations is simply nowhere to be found!"
"How can this be!" Lady He shot upright from the divan, her face flooded with undisguisable astonishment. "There are over ten cloth shops in the imperial capital — how can not a single one have any?"
The several errand attendants ahead of her all wore long faces. The lead one stiffened under Lady He's glare and offered a halting explanation: "This servant faintly overheard the shopkeepers saying that shortly after the palace issued the selection edict, the great families and clans all went out at once and bought up every bolt of quality fabric from every cloth shop and silk house."
Lady He felt a dull ache begin to throb at her temples. Vexed though she was, she had no choice but to keep searching for a solution: "If the imperial capital is sold out, then go to the nearby counties outside the capital — ride hard and look."
The attendants exchanged a look of suffering and said yes.
A short while later, Lady Li arrived with the other concubines to pay their respects. The group spoke obliquely about the fabric situation. Lady He finally could bear it no longer; she dismissed the servants and personally tore a handkerchief to shreds.
"Yuzhi."
Yuzhi stepped forward carefully and massaged Lady He's shoulders, speaking quietly into her ear: "Madam, what are we to do now?"
Lady He had always played extreme favourites with her children in the estate. Setting aside the two Young Masters being educated alongside the Marquis, of the remaining children, only the Second Young Master had been given his share of fine fabric. Neither the First Young Miss nor the First Young Master had received any.
And the date of the palace selection was now fewer than five days away. The selection roster had already been submitted to the palace yesterday — everything was set in stone. So if they could not find suitable fabric within three days, the Marquis household would truly be in serious trouble.
"Go to the He family estate — find my mother." Lady He, as the Marchioness, however unsettled she felt, quickly steadied herself. "Mother has always been frugal; I expect this year's new bolts have not yet been used. Go borrow one first."
Yuzhi said yes and scurried off with several maidservants.
In less than half an hour, Yuzhi returned drenched in a fine sweat, kneeling before Lady He: "Madam, the Right Correspondence Official's wife says all the estate's new fabric was already made into garments last month and only a few coarse bolts remain. She also told this servant quietly that the estate did still have fine fabric — but the Honored Consort has great personal expenses, and all the choice items were sent to the palace…"
Lady He nearly collapsed backward at that.
All sent to the palace!
At this juncture, even if Lady He wanted to request entry to the palace, it would have to be arranged days from now. How could that possibly be in time?!
Lady He felt as though her head would split open with the pain of it.
"Madam, four days from now the First Young Master is to enter the palace for selection. May we inquire whether the new garment's fabric has been prepared?"
After the midday meal, Nursemaid Gui came to pay her respects to Lady He, and offered another round of urging.
Lady He could only say with strained politeness: "The people below have been slow about it — the fabric is still on its way."
"We ask Madam to keep it in mind."
Nursemaid Gui exchanged a few more words with Lady He, then stopped by the kitchen to pick up a basket of freshly made warm pastries and brought them back to the small courtyard.
"Nurse… Nursemaid is back."
In the courtyard, Bai Guo was holding an arrow and practising pitch-pot throwing with Nursemaid Ping.
He had poor aim; of ten arrows thrown, barely one found its mark.
"The First Young Master has lost again." Nursemaid Ping pitched her own arrow squarely into the pot, then poured a small cup of clear wine from the table and offered it to him. It was the penalty.
Bai Guo drank down the pale, clear wine. His cheeks turned soft and rosy — the sort that made you want to reach out and pinch them, they looked so tender and plump.
The wine warmed his body and a haze drifted into his eyes, as though he were drunk.
Nursemaid Ping called out softly to him.
Bai Guo looked up in a daze. His pair of clear, dark eyes held what looked like a warm, gently pooling spring — soft and yielding.
"The First Young Master may go rest if he is tired."
Nursemaid Ping took the young man's hand, and an almost imperceptible tenderness crept into her otherwise placid eyes.
"How did he go down with just one cup?" Nursemaid Gui set the food basket down. Seeing Nursemaid Ping emerging from the room, she gave a reproving look. "You're being unkind to the First Young Master again."
"The First Young Master has worked hard at his practice these past several days — he deserves a rest." Nursemaid Ping's expression was composed. She picked up the arrows from the ground, tidied them away, then turned to Nursemaid Gui: "Has the Marchioness of Changping managed to acquire fabric meeting palace regulations?"
Nursemaid Gui smiled, dropping her voice: "Don't give her the satisfaction just yet — just watch; there's still plenty more grinding ahead for her."
The next day, the attendants who had gone to the neighbouring counties returned to the Marquis estate — a whole crowd of them, hollow-eyed and empty-handed. Lady He's fury burst loose. She hurled a tea cup hard at the head of one attendant: "What use are you useless wasters! You can't even procure a bolt of fabric!"
"Madam, spare us!" The attendants felt deeply wronged — all the fine fabric outside had long since been snatched up by others. What could they possibly do?
But Lady He was beside herself with rage and very nearly sold all of them off.
The attendants wept and begged their way through it, and the entire rear of the Marquis estate was covered in prostrated servants.
The Marquis walked in on this scene, his brow severely furrowed. "What in the world is this? Weeping and wailing — what sort of conduct is this!"
"My Lord!" Lady He was startled, then rose to meet him. "My Lord, why have you returned so early today?"
The Marquis was already developing a headache from the servants' crying. He pushed Lady He aside irritably, dropped into the seat of honour, and glared at her: "Is it not because of your doing? You've made me the laughingstock of the entire imperial capital today!"
Lady He's colour drained. As the Changping Marquis's legitimate wife, it was the first time her own husband had ever spoken to her this way.
"Everyone, get out." The Marquis dismissed the whole courtyard of servants, keeping only Lady He. "In what way have I caused the Marquis dishonour?" Lady He's eyes reddened.
"In what way? You ask me in what way?" The Marquis lifted cold eyes to her. "Who was it that sent servants to make a great spectacle of buying selection-grade fabric all over the imperial capital? Although you've been rather cold toward the elder one over the years — and this Marquis had little to say against that — look at what you've done now! The whole city knows the Marchioness of Changping treats the original wife's legitimate son poorly, and now even I am talked and laughed about by everyone outside!"
Lady He's legs nearly gave out. She shook her head: "How has it come to this?"
It was no more than sending servants to buy fabric. Other families had recently done the same. Why was it that when it was her turn, everyone decided she was mistreating her eldest son?
What Lady He did not know was that those other families who had procured fabric were mostly minor branch families of lesser clans — their doing so attracted no commentary. But the Changping Marquis estate was a great noble household of an entirely different sort. For a family of their standing to need to emergency-buy the simplest presentable outfit was an open invitation for ridicule.
The painstakingly maintained facade of virtue and propriety, built over more than ten years, was now stripped away in a single stroke. Lady He was completely undone.
And the Marquis, having been made a public fool, was in no mood to look at Lady He's face. He squinted at her for a moment, then flicked his sleeve: "Once the elder one has gone into the palace, you are to kneel in the ancestral hall. You have not burned a single stick of incense for Madam Wei all these years — this time, pray properly for her there." With that, the Marquis rose and left.
Lady He's voice broke: "My Lord!"
The Marquis did not slow his steps. He turned only to say, face cold: "For the next few days this Marquis will sleep in the Chrysanthemum Courtyard. Unless something of great importance arises, do not come looking for me. Furthermore, suspend the heir's daily morning visits — this Marquis has engaged several tutors to begin his instruction. Don't disturb his lessons."
This was… the Marquis separating the heir from her?
Lady He went pale as a sheet. She opened her mouth to say something more — but under the Marquis's glacial, bone-chilling gaze, desolation swept through her and she felt as though she'd plunged into an abyss.
"Madam! Are you all right, Madam?"
Before the Marquis had even cleared the rear courtyard, Yuzhi and the other personal maidservants came running in, their faces panicked.
Lady He stared dully in the direction the Marquis had left — then her vision went black, and she fainted.
"…It seems she has fallen quite ill — came on suddenly and she hasn't been able to leave her bed." Nursemaid Ping attended Bai Guo not far away, watching him clumsily apply ink to paper while speaking quietly to Nursemaid Gui. "But that business with the fabric isn't resolved yet — we still need to keep pressing."
"Pressing won't help." Nursemaid Gui shook her head. "Just because she's collapsed doesn't mean anyone else will go easy on her."
Nursemaid Ping frowned mildly: "But with so few days left, even the Marquis estate's seamstresses won't be able to finish in time."
Nursemaid Gui said thoughtfully: "Perhaps she still has another plan in mind."
With two days remaining before Bai Guo's palace selection, Lady He, though bedridden, found that the fabric problem would not solve itself simply because she'd taken ill. The two instructress nursemaids seemed not to notice her sickly state, coming to urge her three times a day. Later still, the Marquis sent word through a messenger: if the First Young Master failed to appear in suitable attire and was penalised for disrespecting the Emperor — disgracing the Marquis household — then she, as the Marchioness, would have no need to continue in that role.
Lady He, shocked and enraged again by the message, nearly fainted for the second time. Yet when she came to, she had no choice but to send servants scrambling in all directions for suitable fabric.
And then, just one day before Bai Guo was to enter the palace, just as Lady He was about to abandon the whole endeavour in despair — the Yongji Cloth Shop on East Street received a fresh shipment of exquisite silk.
"The fabric definitely meets palace regulations, and the patterns are new styles from the south," the attendant who'd obtained the news said, rushing breathlessly into the rear courtyard to report to Lady He. "The shopkeeper also said he has engaged southern seamstresses for this very occasion — reportedly supremely skilled — four of them together can have the garment finished overnight!"
Lady He lay on the divan, the bitter taste of medicine she'd just taken still thick in her mouth. Yuzhi offered her a preserved plum candy. Lady He ate it, and — ignoring the dull ache at her temples — spoke urgently: "Then go buy the silk without delay, and bring the seamstresses here to work!"
The attendant wore a faint expression of hesitation beneath his excitement.
"What are you standing there for!" Lady He pressed him.
The attendant knelt: "Madam, the shopkeeper also said… to have a garment of this kind made in a single night… the cost, I'm afraid, will not be small."
How much could one suitable new garment possibly cost at the most? Without a moment's thought, Lady He said: "No matter the cost, have them make it immediately. If the household's funds are insufficient, take it from this Madam's private store!"
The attendant, given leave, withdrew in haste.
Yuzhi waited on Lady He with a pleased smile, trying to cheer her: "Surely it is Heaven's blessing — Madam may rest easy now."
And Lady He indeed allowed herself the first smile she had managed in days.
At least, her position as Marchioness was still secure.
The next morning, the Yongji Cloth Shop delivered the new garment to the Marquis estate on time. Simultaneously, a palace eunuch arrived at the estate gate with a sedan chair.
Bai Guo was dressed and ready when Nursemaid Gui carefully tucked a small pouch of pastries into his hand.
"If the First Young Master grows hungry, eat a few from inside." Nursemaid Gui urged him. "The palace is not like the outside — every word and deed is watched by all. The First Young Master must be careful in speech and action, and must not easily trust others."
Bai Guo nodded anxiously. "Nursemaid, rest assured — I'll… I'll be careful."
Nursemaid Ping only helped him tidy his hair bun carefully, and said nothing.
He made a hasty farewell to Lady He, then bowed from a distance in the direction of the Marquis's quarters. In a state of restless, curious anticipation, Bai Guo stepped into the small green sedan chair and left the Marquis estate with the morning dew.
At that very moment, back in the estate —
The accounts clerk was kneeling on the ground, stumbling over his words.
"Tell me again — how many silver taels did the First Young Master's garment cost the estate?" Lady He asked, nearly breathless.
The accounts clerk, face wretched, stammered: "The total is… t-two hundred thousand taels."
"Two hundred thousand taels…"
Lady He repeated the number in a low murmur. Then she thought of how a full year's worth of expenses for the Marquis estate did not even add up to that figure — and her pupils contracted in an instant. She spat a mouthful of blood straight at the floor, her vision went black, and once again she fainted before the stunned eyes of those around her.
