Chapter 047
Chapter 47: If a Best Friend Becomes a Cousin-in-law?
In the General’s Manor, at Second Miss Lin Yu Jiao’s Phoenix Tree Court, the autumn wind lifted a few yellow leaves, then set them down again, bored.
Lin Yu Jiao picked up an Osmanthus Cake and took a tiny bite. The sweet smell spread, but she found the taste not exciting enough. Her eyes rolled, and like a cat that had stolen a fish, she leaned close to her friend Qiu Ru Ying and lowered her voice: “Yingying, I have a shocking scoop. It is about my Buddha’s Chosen Elder Cousin. You will never guess.”
Qiu Ru Ying held a tea cup and sipped the new autumn tea with graceful calm. At the words, she only curved her lips a little; her steady eyes held a quiet charm: “What could make you this pleased?”
“Pleased? I call it eye-opening. Astonishing. Like being splashed awake,” Lin Yu Jiao said as she tossed the cake back on the plate, rubbed her hands, and spoke in a hush. “You do not know. My Buddha’s Chosen Elder Cousin always acts pure and distant, above the dust, all cold and restrained.”
Halfway through, she snapped her mouth shut and peeked around like a sneaky thief. When she felt safe, she dropped her voice even lower than a mosquito’s hum: “But in secret, he is entangled with a junior maid.”
The words cracked like thunder. Qiu Ru Ying’s fingers paused a hair’s breadth. The heat of the tea seeped through the thin porcelain and stung her fingertips. She lowered her eyes, and her long lashes cast a small shadow that hid everything in her gaze: “A maid?”
“Oh no, I let it slip,” Lin Yu Jiao groaned, slapping her own mouth. But her excitement could not be hidden. She leaned closer, almost touching Qiu Ru Ying’s ear, her warm breath brushing the skin: “Do not tell anyone. If my Aunt hears, she will skin me. It is that girl Xiao Man from the Auspicious Cloud Residence. Bold as the sky. She keeps sneaking into my Elder Cousin’s room at night. The wildest part? The Old Madam allows it. A few days ago she even rewarded her with a pair of Mandarin Duck Pillows.”
Clink. The cup knocked hard against the stand. Tea splashed, staining Qiu Ru Ying’s simple skirt with small wet spots. She lifted her gaze at once. Those eyes that were always gentle now heaved with waves, as if a stone had dropped into a calm lake.
Buddha’s Chosen… and a maid? Impossible. How could that man, cold as the moon and empty of all things, fall into such worldly dust?
Her voice came out softer yet more urgent than she knew: “Why not take me to see that maid?”
Half a quarter-hour later, in a side yard of the Auspicious Cloud Residence, two slim figures crouched behind a half-man-tall bush, peeking like sneaks in a place too clean and quiet for such tricks.
Qiu Ru Ying clenched her handkerchief until her knuckles turned white. The tips of her pale ears glowed red: “Are we really going to spy? This is not proper. If someone sees us…”
“What are you afraid of,” Lin Yu Jiao whispered as she crouched, twitchy as a monkey, pushing aside the leaves. “We are already here. Might as well look. There, that is Xiao Man.”
Qiu Ru Ying’s heart jumped. She followed the pointing finger and held her breath. The autumn sun was warm but not harsh. Light slipped through the pear tree’s dense branches and scattered across the clothesline. A girl in an apricot dress stood on tiptoe, carefully hanging a pair of brocade pillows. The covers were wedding red, stitched in gold with a pair of mandarin ducks resting neck to neck, the fine needlework lifelike. In the sun, the gold thread shone so bright it pricked the eyes. That was a bridal item.
“My goodness… it is really the Mandarin Duck Pillows the Old Madam rewarded,” Lin Yu Jiao gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth to stop a squeal. It was like hanging a sign that said there was definitely something going on.
Qiu Ru Ying stared at the maid’s back. She was not a great beauty, and her figure was the slim kind any maid might have. Plain. But the sun traced a soft edge along her hair, and somehow Qiu Ru Ying could not look away.
Just then, Xiao Man turned sharply, as if she had eyes in her back. Her gaze was keen as lightning, with no maid’s timidness at all, and it shot straight into the bushes: “Who is there?”
“Not good,” Lin Yu Jiao hissed, yanking Qiu Ru Ying back. In her panic she stepped on something.
Crack. A dry twig broke with a crisp sound that pierced the quiet yard. Xiao Man frowned and walked toward the bushes without hesitation. The footsteps came closer and closer. They were about to be caught.
At the critical moment, a steady woman’s voice with a touch of authority rose not far away: “Why is Miss Qiu here?”
The two girls froze like statues. They turned and saw the First Madam, Madam Wang, standing under the moon gate. Dressed in a dark autumn gown, tall and straight, she watched them with sharp eyes that felt like they could see through people.
Qiu Ru Ying’s heart lurched and her mind went blank, but she kept her poise. She led the panicked Lin Yu Jiao out from behind the bushes and made a proper bow: “Greetings, First Madam.”
Even in such an awkward, guilty moment, her manners were calm and proper, not small at all. The First Madam’s gaze rested on her clear, pretty face for a long time, openly assessing like one would appraise a rare treasure. Then a meaningful smile touched her stern features: “Since you have come, Miss Qiu, would you care to join me in the garden to admire the new golden chrysanthemums?”
Admiring flowers was the pretext. Questioning was the point.
In the warm sun, the chrysanthemum beds were in full bloom, a thousand shapes and colors. Madam Wang plucked a golden variety called “Golden Hook Rings,” slowly pinched off petals, and asked as if casually: “Miss Qiu, how old are you this year? What do you like to read at home? Are you any good at needlework?”
The questions came one after another, from family and learning to hobbies and skills, clear and thorough. This was not flower-viewing. This was a future mother-in-law interviewing a daughter-in-law.
Qiu Ru Ying lowered her eyes and answered gently, smooth and steady: “Seventeen, Madam. I like poetry and miscellanies, and I also read some medical books. My needlework is decent, though I am clumsy at embroidery.” Not flattering, not timid, a proper young lady’s calm.
The First Madam’s approving look grew deeper, and her smile more real.
Lin Yu Jiao watched, stunned. A thought sprang up so fast she almost jumped in place. Oh no. This posture, this look, these questions… Aunt clearly liked Yingying. She was sizing her up as a future daughter-in-law.
Then Lin Yu Jiao’s mind spun the other way. Wait. If that block of wood Elder Cousin of hers married Qiu Ru Ying, that might be great. Yingying was well read, gentle, and sensible. She matched that fake-ascetic Buddha’s Chosen just fine. And if her best friend became her cousin-in-law, would that not make their bond even closer?
Thinking that, she started to hope for it. Yes. Do it. Better to keep the good fortune in the family.