Chapter 10
I didn’t argue, merely said gently,
“Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow. It’s so late. Why disturb Mother’s rest, husband?”
I knew Xie Zeyuan wouldn’t let it go. Sure enough, after calming himself a little,
He found another way to question me.
“This Pei Xiao you hired. What exactly does he do?”
I feigned bewilderment.
“He’s a physician, of course. He’s here to improve Mother’s health. What else would he do?”
“A physician?” Xie Zeyuan gave a cold laugh.
“A physician consulting in Mother’s room in the middle of the night?”
“Husband!” I stopped him sharply. “What nonsense are you saying?”
I bristled with righteous indignation.
“You mustn’t make accusations like that!”
“Mother remained a widow for seventeen years for your sake. Now that she’s growing old, you begin to question her chastity?”
Mother stared, apparently not expecting me to defend her.
Xie Zeyuan stopped moving as well, though he continued to protest.
“That may be so, but when I came home, people told me things. I didn’t believe them at first, but when I saw it with my own eyes…”
Mother sighed.
“I’ve told you, you were mistaken. Physician Pei merely remembered that I’d had chest pains during the day. Since he’s staying here, he passed my window on his evening walk after supper and asked after me.”
“You’re no physician. Naturally you don’t understand a healer’s compassion.”
“Husband.” My voice was calm and unhurried.
“Mother has lived half her life without a stain on her name. And you listen to outsiders’ gossip and come questioning your own mother?”
“Widowed so young, raising you alone—you know better than I how much she suffered, how hard she worked.”
“If she’d wanted to remarry, why wait until now?”
“Now that you’re married, all that’s happened is that Mother has grown older. I hired a physician to teach her exercises, to give her something to occupy her time and make her days more pleasant.”
“What is there to be ashamed of?”
Under this barrage of questions, Xie Zeyuan, who hadn’t seen clearly in the first place, lost his fire.
Seeing this, Mother dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief, the very picture of injured innocence.
“Why not tie your mother up and drag her to the magistrate? Let His Honor interrogate me!”
The storm ended with Xie Zeyuan persuaded and the battle abandoned.
From then on, Mother treated me better still.
Whenever Xie Zeyuan gave her jewelry, dress fabrics, or delicacies, she always remembered to send a share to me.
He spent half of every year away. Mother and I shut our doors and lived our lives at home.
What freedom we enjoyed.
She no longer concerned herself with the servants. They all followed my lead.
Today the kitchen sent braised Dongpo pork hock; tomorrow the estate offered fresh melons and fruit.
Everything came to my courtyard first.
Xiaocui and I ate well and slept soundly every day. Over a few years, she grew a good two sizes bigger.
I tapped her nose and scolded her.
“Keep eating like this, and I’ll never find you a good husband.”
She pursed her lips.
“I’m living like an immortal with you, Miss. Why would I marry? I’ll stay with you for the rest of my life.”
We collapsed into laughter.
But our good days hadn’t lasted two years before Xie Zeyuan came home from a business trip with a woman.
She’d been born to a great family, he said, but misfortune had brought them low.
He wanted to take her as a concubine.
She was all swaying grace. One glance told me she wouldn’t be content to stay in her place.
I sighed inwardly. We’d only just had a few peaceful days, and already I had to start fighting household battles again.
But before I could speak, Mother threw down her chopsticks.
“A concubine?” She slapped the table.
“How long has your wife been here? You’re finally home, and instead of making it up to her, you’re in a hurry to take a concubine?”
“How has she wronged you? Has she failed to serve you, or failed to serve me?”
Xie Zeyuan stared, bewildered by her scolding.
“Mother, weren’t you the one who said I should marry a wife and take plenty of concubines, to give the family more descendants?”
“I never said any such thing.” She glared.
“Is having children your wife’s responsibility alone?”
“You don’t make an effort yourself. You’re away all year. What good is it to think of nothing but concubines?”
I stood to one side with my head bowed, suppressing a smile.
She wasn’t speaking up for me. She was afraid another person in the house would mean another pair of eyes.
That would make her affairs less convenient.
To thank Mother, once Xie Zeyuan was away again,
I found her another candidate.
He played the xiao flute and was as gentle and handsome as polished jade. The sound of his purple-bamboo instrument could turn a person’s bones to jelly.
Mother practiced exercises with Pei Xiao today, admired paintings with Master Han tomorrow, and played the flute with Master Qin the day after.
Sometimes she fitted all three into one day. Busier than I was.
Xiaocui looked a little worried.
“Miss, can the old madam’s constitution really stand up to all this?”