Chapter 016
Chapter 16: Xiao Man Is Reassigned
Old Madam rolled the golden nanmu prayer beads quickly between her fingers, while her lips stayed tight. The best aloeswood incense burned in Pine Crane Hall, yet it could not cover the churn of her schemes.
Seven months. Two hundred and ten days.
She narrowed her clouded eyes and cut a sharp glance toward Auspicious Cloud Residence: [Qing Xuan, Grandmother has done all she can. I’ve put the girl right under your nose. If you still can’t win over a little maid in two hundred and ten days, you might as well shave your head and be a real Monk. When the time comes, don’t blame Grandmother for being ruthless. I’ll send ten or eight pretty girls to your courtyard one after another until you’re annoyed to death.]
That thought rose, and the soft ripple in Old Madam’s heart over using a girl as a pawn went flat. She even felt a sly thrill, as if waiting to watch a show.
First Madam, Madam Wang, pinched the half-embroidered “Pines and Cranes for Long Life” handkerchief until her fingertips turned white. Go along with her own mother-in-law’s wish? It felt like swallowing a fly. Her son was as pure and noble as the cold moon and stars. Would he really be tainted by that coarse little maid?
But then she remembered her mother-in-law’s cutting words in Pine Crane Hall about “not being able to bear a child,” and what the Heir Apparent had said last night. Heat climbed up Madam Wang’s cheeks, and her unwillingness was forced down. [Fine, fine. The main thing is that my son finally opened his heart.] Yet her chest tightened: [What if that girl doesn’t know what’s good for her, holds out till the deadline, and runs? With Qing Xuan’s temper, no woman will ever catch his eye again.] She stiffened: [No. I must watch closely.]
Madam Wang’s eyes sharpened. She called over a trusted nanny, whispered a few orders, and the nanny left in a hurry.
The Heir Apparent, Lin De Fang, paced his study with his hands behind his back, still excited. [He opened up. Truly opened up.] But the person and the method that sparked it made his brows knot. [Will simply putting a maid next to him every day work? The boy is wooden. He knows nothing about romance.] He scratched his chin: [What if I take him to see the real thing?] As soon as the thought of flower houses and pleasure quarters came, he shivered. [No, no. If my Madam finds out, it won’t end with just a scolding.] He looked around: [Who can handle this for me? I can’t go myself.] His eyes lit up. He strode out: [Second Brother! Leaving descendants for the Lin clan is a matter above all others. As his second uncle, he’s duty-bound.]
Passing through the moon gate that joined the two estates, Lin De Fang headed straight for his second brother Lin De Shang’s Martial Hall. As expected, Lin De Shang was bare-chested, sweat running down his back as he wiped a gleaming Nine Ring Broadsword. His bronze muscles swelled in the sun.
“Second!”
“Big Brother?” Lin De Shang turned, showing a grin of white teeth. But when Lin De Fang explained in a few words that “Buddha’s Chosen has opened up and seems to fancy a maid” and “I’m thinking of taking him to a flower house to broaden his horizons,” Lin De Shang’s hand trembled. The heavy broadsword crashed to the bluestone floor with sparks.
“What? Say that again?” His eyes popped round, like he had seen a ghost: “You want me to take our eldest nephew to that kind of place? You’re scared of your wife, so you’re pushing me into the fire? If those chatterboxes in the Censorate hear of this and accuse us of ‘tempting Buddha’s Chosen and profaning the sacred,’ do you still want that head of yours that eats your meals? Do I still want my General’s Seal?”
Spattered with his brother’s spit, Lin De Fang wiped his face, embarrassed: “I’m just in a rush, all right? If Qing Xuan has opened his heart but it’s set on a maid, I worry he’ll go crooked. He hasn’t seen enough. He’ll suffer later.”
“In a rush?” Lin De Shang’s eyes turned, and he chuckled twice. He bent to pick up the blade and slowly polished the edge with a cloth: “Rushing won’t help. But there is a way.”
“Say it,” Lin De Fang urged, eyes bright.
Lin De Shang spread his big fan-like hand and rubbed thumb and forefinger, smiling like a thief: “I’ve had my eye on a Hu-merchant knife in West Market. Wootz steel, sharp enough to cut a hair in midair. The scabbard’s set with red agate and cat’s-eye stones. Handsome beyond words. Pity…” He dragged out his voice and sighed, “Your sister-in-law keeps the purse tight. My pockets are empty.”
Lin De Fang understood at once and cursed his crafty little brother in his heart, but he still put on a smile and slapped down a few banknotes: “Five hundred taels. Enough?”
Lin De Shang held the notes up to the light, checked the red seals, and beamed: “Plenty. Big Brother, you’re generous.” He tucked the notes away like a treasure, glanced around to make sure no one was near, then pulled Lin De Fang into his study.
He slid a heavy flowerpot aside, opened a floor compartment, and dragged out a plain little wooden box. He popped the brass lock, revealing a few beautifully bound silk albums with a very… realistic style.
“Here.” He patted the top volume with pride: “Spring Night Secret Illustrations. The work of a court painter from the previous dynasty, the only surviving copy. And these, Precious Mirror of Romance, Jade Chamber Essentials. All excellent. Better than going to a filthy place. Let our eldest nephew study hard. Theory guides practice.”
Lin De Fang glanced at the fire-dispelling illustrations. Even his old face grew hot, but he had to admit Second Brother made sense. He opened a book at random, and his eyes were instantly glued to the page. Lin De Shang leaned in too, and the two heads bumped together as they pointed and marveled over the lifelike diagrams. They forgot the original purpose and turned into two overgrown boys lost in “academic research.”
Meanwhile, at the center of the coming storm, Xiao Man hugged her thin bedding roll and walked toward the shut red-lacquer gate of Auspicious Cloud Residence like a brave soul heading to the scaffold. In her chest, a tiny abacus clicked madly: [Two hundred and ten days. Once I survive them, the sea is wide and the sky is high.] The wild dream scenes in her sleep could be treated like a top-shelf spring dream that cost her nothing. [We took advantage of each other in dreams, so no one owes anything. But in reality, my body stays locked down like a fortress. Not even a fingertip extra can touch me. From now on, this is a two-hundred-and-ten-day Chastity Defense Campaign.]
She took a deep breath, set her face into the blank, obedient look of a well-trained maid, and knocked on the gate.
Outside Auspicious Cloud Residence, the undercurrents had already surged. The quick-eared maids in the manor had heard that the second-class maid called Xiao Man from Old Madam’s courtyard had leapt up overnight and been sent to serve the Eldest Grandson Young Master. That was a patch of sacred ground never tilled. Whoever won first place and broke the Golden Body of Buddha’s Chosen could, at the very least, become a chamber maid and jump the dragon gate to roost on a high branch.
That night, many servant rooms burned lamps till dawn. Copper mirrors were polished again and again. Hidden rouge and powder came out. Silk flowers saved for rare days were carefully pinned in hair.
At first light, the path outside Auspicious Cloud Residence filled “by chance” with graceful figures. Some carried empty basins to the well. Some brought embroidery hoops to the garden. All of them found a reason to pass the gate and throw floaty glances through the crack, swaying their waists a little more than usual. The air was full of strong, cheap perfume.
Page boy Shi Tou stood at the gate with a broom. Watching yet another maid with bright red lips and a brand-new pinkish vest sway past for the third time, he nudged Old Chen, who was watering a pot of ink chrysanthemums: “Dad, what’s with these sisters? Are they possessed? Why are they all circling our gate?”
Old Chen didn’t even lift his eyelids. He watered at his slow pace. Shi Tou’s mother, Granny Chen, scrubbed the pillars with a wet cloth. She snorted and spat her words with force: “Possessed? They’re possessed by spring. Every eyeball is stuck to the door crack. I can smell that foxy scent from ten miles away. They should look in a puddle and see what they are before they dream of our Buddha’s Chosen master.” Her cloth snapped against the wood again and again, as if whipping those restless thoughts.
At the core of all these open and hidden waves, Buddha’s Chosen Lin Qing Xuan sat cross-legged on a cold mat in his quiet room. Morning light flowed through the high window and laid a pale gold ring on his plain monk’s robe. Eyes closed, long lashes low, his face was calm like a deep, still well. He rolled a string of warm zitan prayer beads. The outside noise, schemes, and spring heat seemed sealed off behind an invisible wall and could not touch his meditative trance.
The perfume of the maids at the gate, his parents’ “textbooks,” Grandmother’s plans, Mother’s worries, and that little maid hugging a bedding roll and planning a Chastity Defense Campaign… he knew nothing of it yet.