Chapter 010
Chapter 10: One in the sky, the other on the ground, can it work?
That creepy rustling finally stopped. Old Madam drew back her hand and slowly set the carved hand warmer on the side table. The room was so quiet Xiao Man could hear her own wild heartbeat: Thump, thump, thump. Each beat felt like a drum calling for her life. She did not dare look up; she pressed her forehead to the cold floor tiles and waited for the final judgment.
After a long time, an old, calm voice drifted down from above: “You may leave.” Then, as if in afterthought, it added: “You do not need to attend me today.”
Xiao Man’s body went stiff. [So it’s over? Not serving today? Will they lock me up, sell me, or do something even worse?] Terror squeezed her throat so tight she could not make a sound. Acting on instinct, she used all her strength and knocked her head to the floor again, saying: “Thank you, Old Madam.” Her voice was dry and harsh, like sandpaper.
Using hands and knees, she pushed herself up. Her legs were numb from kneeling so long; she staggered and almost fell. She did not dare look at Old Madam’s face. With her head down, she stepped out of the suffocating room one slow step at a time, like a walking corpse. As the doors closed behind her, she slumped against the cold wood. [Did I survive? No, this is only for now. The calm before the storm is always the worst.]
Inside the room, the moment Xiao Man’s figure vanished, Old Madam’s smooth, unreadable face blossomed into a grin like a chrysanthemum—no, brighter than a chrysanthemum. Her clouded old eyes flashed with keen and eager light, with none of the cold dignity from a moment before. Rubbing her hands in excitement, she beckoned to Xiu He, the maid serving in the inner room, and said in a quick whisper: “Xiu He, hurry! Go and quietly invite First Madam to come.”
Xiu He froze for a beat, confused. Old Madam stressed each word, her tone firm: “Remember, quietly. Say I asked for her. Tell her to come alone. No attendants.”
“Yes.” Xiu He did not dare ask more and hurried off.
Left alone, Old Madam grew happier the more she thought. She even picked up the hand warmer, bounced it in her palm, and hummed a crooked little tune. [A great-grandson! My big, healthy great-grandson! He’s almost here!] Her precious eldest grandson, who acted like he wasn’t part of this world, who chanted scriptures all day and looked at people as if they were wood, had finally—finally—opened his heart. [Who cares if it’s a maid or a Miss who opened it? As long as she’s a woman who can bear children, that’s enough!] Great Master Shi Neng said he had a Dao Love Trial in his fate. [I worried about where that hurdle would appear, and now it has walked right in the door. Heaven is helping me!]
First Madam, Madam Wang, arrived quickly. She came with doubts crowding her chest, wondering why Granny was being so secretive and why she had asked her to come alone. Had something shameful happened in the manor? Or was Granny going to give her another warning?
Gathering her skirts, Madam Wang stepped into Green Briar Court and greeted with perfect manners, asking: “Mother, why have you called your daughter-in-law here?”
Old Madam, beaming from ear to ear, grabbed her hand and sat her down close by, exclaiming: “Good news! Great, great news!”
Madam Wang forced a smile, her nerves prickling at the old lady’s unusual warmth, and said: “What good news could make you this happy, Mother?”
Leaning close to her ear, Old Madam lowered her voice, unable to hide the pride and showiness in it, and said: “Our household’s living Buddha has opened his heart.”
“What?” Madam Wang stared, thinking she had misheard, then asked: “Mother, you mean… Qing Xuan?”
“Who else?” Old Madam slapped her thigh and said: “Not only has he opened up, he even likes someone!”
Madam Wang’s heart flew to her throat, then sprang into wild joy. Her son had finally changed? Which noble family’s young lady had caught his eye? Was it the Zhang Minister’s young lady, or the Li Grand Secretary’s legitimate granddaughter? She leaned forward and asked: “Which family’s Miss is so blessed?”
Old Madam’s smile froze for a moment; then she waved it off like it was nothing and said: “What Miss? She’s a little maid right under your nose.”
The joy on Madam Wang’s face turned to stone. A maid? Her mind raced. She knew all the maids in the manor. Which one could her son possibly like?
Seeing her confusion, Old Madam revealed the answer: “Who else could it be? Xiao Man from my courtyard.”
“What?” Madam Wang truly reeled. Xiao Man? The pretty one with quiet brows who always looked so closed up? [How could that be!]
Pleased by her daughter-in-law’s shocked expression, Old Madam kept going, smug as could be: “And the girl isn’t willing! She was just kneeling here, crying and saying she was weak and unworthy of your son, begging me to spare her.”
Madam Wang’s mind buzzed. Their Buddha’s Chosen, admired by all the noble ladies of the Capital City, not only liked a lowly junior maid, but had been refused? It was the most ridiculous thing in the world. Wait. Refused? Her gaze turned complicated as she murmured: [Could this be the Love Trial Great Master Shi Neng spoke of?] The Great Master had said the young master must pass a Love Tribulation to see through the mortal world, or else fall into it. [But this match is too outrageous.]
She came back to herself, looked at the excited Granny, and hesitated, saying: “Mother, isn’t the difference in status far too great?” Pointing up at the carved beams of the ceiling, she said: “Our family is up here.” Then she turned her hand and pointed with her little finger to the floor, saying: “That little maid is down here. Between us is a world of difference.”
If this spread outside, where would the Heir Apparent Manor’s face be? Where would her face, as household matriarch, be put?
Old Madam’s smile faded at once. She slanted a look at her daughter-in-law and asked coolly: “Haven’t you prepared plenty of clan daughters for our Buddha’s Chosen? The Zhangs, the Lis, the House of Wang—each one a proper match. But Qing Xuan didn’t want any of them. So what now? The boy finally wakes up, and you still turn up your nose?”
Her voice jumped, rough and headstrong: “If you don’t want this, fine. I’ll do it myself. Tonight I’ll have people drug that girl, strip her, and send her straight to your son’s bed. I want to see if, once the rice is cooked, he will recognize it or not.”
The words were so crude that Madam Wang’s face flushed hot with shame and anger. She protested, flustered: “Mother! Those words insult propriety.”
“To hell with propriety.” Old Madam snorted, eyes round and fierce, and said: “What is propriety compared to my great-grandson? I can already feel a great-grandson in my arms. Are you not happy? Do you not want our Heir Apparent Manor to blossom and thrive?” Staring her down, she pressed on: “I don’t care about that girl’s birth. If she can give me a great-grandson, even if she were a beggar, I would treat her like a Bodhisattva.”
Madam Wang was so choked by Granny’s barrage that her chest ached. The logic was clear, but the knot in her heart would not loosen. Let a maid become her son’s legal wife? Impossible. Make the girl a concubine? With Qing Xuan’s nature, that seemed even less likely.
Twisting the handkerchief in her fingers, she searched for a way to slow things down and finally said with a strained smile: “Mother, please don’t rush. How about I speak with the Heir Apparent when he returns tonight and sound him out? This should be planned carefully.” Rolling her eyes for a tactic, she added: “And since his heart has opened, it won’t close right away. The girl’s Indenture Deed is in our hands. She can’t run.”
Old Madam’s temper flared like a powder keg. She shot Madam Wang a cold, piercing look and snapped: “Can’t run? Madam Wang, you’re the strange one. Weren’t you the one pushing me every few days to send girls into Qing Xuan’s room, wishing he would give you a grandson right away? Now a real chance shows up, and you want to stall?” Her words turned sharp as knives as she added: “Back then you even pressed me to have my son take concubines, saying we could give Qing Xuan a few Little Brother or Little Sister. Well, I think the one who can’t bear children isn’t my son.” She nailed Madam Wang with her gaze and said, one icy word at a time: “It’s you, isn’t it? Since Qing Xuan’s birth, your belly has never stirred again.”
Madam Wang stood as if struck by lightning, frozen in place.