Chapter 12
Chapter 12
When Ji Hanyi left her maternal grandmother’s rooms, she pressed a handkerchief to her eyes for a moment, then had Rongchun inspect her face carefully. Only after Rongchun assured her that no one could tell she had been crying did she relax.
As she turned toward her mother’s residence, a light snow began to fall again. The sparse flakes were tiny, and she barely felt their chill when they landed on her cheeks.
The maid stationed at the entrance to Huilan Courtyard spotted Ji Hanyi from afar. Delighted, she hurried inside to announce her arrival, then ran back out to welcome her.
“The front gate sent word that you’d arrived, Miss. Madam was overjoyed.”
“We’ve brewed your favorite Shanjun tea and made ginger and jujube soup to warm you up. Madam has been waiting for you.”
Ji Hanyi smiled. Her eyes shimmered beneath her slender brows as she continued forward and asked gently, “Has Mother been feeling better lately?”
Chunju quickly replied, “Don’t worry, Miss. Madam has been in much better spirits these days.”
Ji Hanyi nodded. Once they were inside, Chunju hurried to remove her cloak and said with a quiet laugh, “Madam was talking about you just a few days ago. It’s not easy for you to visit, but now that she’s seen you, I’m sure even her illness will improve.”
Ji Hanyi looked around at the furnishings. Nothing had changed in all these years.
This had been her mother’s maiden chamber before her marriage, but after so much time, everything had grown a little worn.
The courtyard was steeped in the bitter scent of medicine from her mother’s chronic illness. Beneath the eaves, the wind chime still rang with a soft, crystalline sound.
She gazed at it for a long time before turning to Chunju. “Has Mother read all the letters I sent home?”
Chunju looked up. “You always write about the good and never the bad. Madam reads every letter several times.”
“Whenever she receives one, it cheers her enough to get out of bed and walk around.”
“Madam always says she’s happy because you married the husband of your dreams.”
Ji Hanyi slowly lowered her gaze. A silent smile crossed her lips, concealing everything she felt.
She then walked to the side room.
When she opened the cabinet, she found that few restorative medicines remained. The prepared fleeceflower root and sea cucumber her mother regularly took had long since run out.
There was only some longan and Solomon’s seal — ordinary ingredients used in common tonics.
She opened one of the medicine packets beside them and examined its contents. These were no longer the same medicines as before either.
Chunju explained in a low voice, “First Madam said the household has too many expenses now and can no longer afford the old prescription. She had another physician prescribe something different and said it would work just as well.”
“She said the household is short on funds. Second Master has only just received an official appointment, so money is needed to smooth the way for him. Then something happened to Third Master, and that also requires money to resolve. Old Madam hasn’t been in good health lately either, so she must come first…”
“The eaves will need repairs once spring comes, and the harvest from the estates was poor this year. The servants weren’t even given new clothes for the winter.”
Ji Hanyi listened in silence. She carefully wrapped the medicine packet again and gently returned it to its place.
Once a decision had been made, every step that followed was bound to be difficult.
Dust motes drifted through a shaft of light. Ji Hanyi took out the purse she had brought and placed it in Chunju’s hand. “The household’s finances are indeed strained. Use this silver to buy Mother’s old medicine for now. If it isn’t enough, write to me.”
“Don’t keep troubling my aunt, and don’t tell Mother about this.”
Chunju silently stared at the heavy purse in her hand. She knew that if Ji Hanyi had not secretly sent money from time to time over the years, Madam’s medicine would likely have run out long ago.
This might be Madam’s natal home, but Old Madam no longer managed the household. First Madam controlled the expenses, and anyone forced to hold out a hand for money was inevitably at the mercy of others.
Ji Hanyi left the side room and warmed her fingertips over the brazier. Only after the chill had left her body did she lift the thick curtain and enter the heated inner room.
She passed two folding screens before she saw her mother lying on the bed.
Madam Gu wore a thin robe with a cashmere blanket draped over her shoulders. Although illness had left her face pale and haggard, she was still beautiful. Even after spending so many years confined to bed, there remained an innate elegance in her every movement.
Ji Hanyi walked to the bedside.
When Madam Gu saw her approach, a smile spread across her wan face. She sat up slightly and studied Ji Hanyi with tender eyes, looking carefully from the ornaments in her hair down to the hem of her skirt.
Her hairpin was made of fine jade, her dress of costly Suzhou brocade, and the pearls around her neck were of excellent quality.
Only then did Madam Gu set her mind at ease. She did not care what people outside said, nor did she believe the barbed insinuations from her two sisters-in-law that her daughter might not be living well in the Xie Family.
She believed only her daughter’s words.
Madam Gu clasped Ji Hanyi’s hand. After coughing twice, she asked, “Did you pay your respects to your maternal grandmother and your two aunts first?”
Ji Hanyi nodded gently. “I already have.”
A trace of melancholy entered Madam Gu’s expression. She said softly, “Your two aunts have doted on you since you were little. They’re only still dwelling on what happened in the past.”
“Don’t take any of it to heart. We’re all family. Why wouldn’t they want what’s best for you? Don’t be upset.”
Ji Hanyi looked at her mother with a smile. “I know. I’ve never been upset.”
Seeing her smile, Madam Gu felt reassured. She patted Ji Hanyi’s hand, then said, “You should visit me less often from now on. I’m perfectly fine here.”
As she spoke, Madam Gu gently smoothed back a strand of Ji Hanyi’s hair that the snow outside had blown loose. “The matter involving your third cousin still hasn’t blown over. I know this puts you in a difficult position, but we’re family. If you can help your third cousin, then please do.”
“Don’t worry too much about me. I stopped caring what happened to this body of mine long ago. You’re the only one I can’t let go of. Otherwise, I would have followed your father in death back then.”
“What matters most now is that you hurry and conceive Yuheng’s child. He’s young and promising, but you still haven’t become pregnant. Even if he doesn’t take a concubine now, who can say what will happen in the future? Your mother-in-law isn’t happy about it either.”
Madam Gu looked at Ji Hanyi, her face filled with concern. “It’s been almost three years. Why haven’t you been able to conceive?”
Ji Hanyi paused. Words rose to her lips, but in the end, she merely said, “I’ll leave it to fate.”
Madam Gu sighed. She also understood that this was not something that could be rushed.
Ji Hanyi stayed and had lunch with her mother. Before leaving, she told her not to secretly pour out her medicine again, then carefully instructed Chunju to watch over her. After all, it had happened before.
The year her father died suddenly in prison, her mother had been so devastated that she swallowed arsenic and nearly followed him in death. Although she was saved, her health had been ruined.
For the following year, her mother kept secretly pouring out her medicine. She improved somewhat after Ji Hanyi married, but the servants still wrote to say that she would sometimes suddenly burst into tears in the middle of the night.
Ji Hanyi understood her mother’s grief. All his life, her father had sheltered the two of them from every hardship. He had been utterly devoted, gentle, and kind.
Standing beneath the covered walkway, Ji Hanyi slowly breathed out a puff of white mist. She watched it drift upward and listened to the wind chimes beneath the eaves. Without warning, her eyes reddened.
That afternoon, Ji Hanyi’s carriage stopped outside Baoshan Tower.
Baoshan Tower was a favorite haunt of scholars and refined patrons. Antiques, calligraphy, paintings, rare treasures, and elegant curios could all be brought there to be admired and auctioned. Many talented but impoverished scholars had first made their names there after their work won praise and acclaim.
Ji Hanyi visited once every few months. When the young attendant at the front entrance saw the token she handed him, he hurried over and, clearly familiar with the routine, led her up a separate staircase.
Wearing a veiled hat and carrying a painting scroll, Ji Hanyi followed him all the way to the third floor.
A handsome young man in a blue silk robe stood at the entrance. Upon seeing her, he hurried forward to guide her. He led her past two standing screens to a study, then silently withdrew.
The first thing she saw was a large desk made of huanghuali wood. A man of about forty stood behind it, carefully sorting through the painting scrolls spread across its surface.
The scrolls he selected would be auctioned that afternoon.
When the man saw Ji Hanyi, he quickly came out from behind the broad desk and invited her to take a seat nearby.
A tea set rested on the small table between the chairs. A moth orchid stood on a flower stand to one side, its subtle fragrance mingling with the aroma of freshly brewed tea.
Ji Hanyi handed him the painting scroll and said politely, “Please take a look, Mr. Zhang.”
Zhang Hai hastened to accept the scroll with both hands and remarked with a sigh, “Your painting will naturally be the grand finale, Madam. The name Master Shilan alone is enough to have countless people clamoring for it.”
In truth, Master Shilan was not Ji Hanyi’s artistic name. It had belonged to her father.
Mr. Zhang had once been a close friend of her father’s, and her father had personally taught her everything she knew about painting. Although a different person now painted under the name, no one could tell.
At first, she had been unwilling to use her father’s former artistic name. Later, however, Mr. Zhang wrote to her, explaining that many patrons had stopped coming after Baoshan Tower ceased offering paintings by Master Shilan. He asked her to take up the brush, promising that the auction proceeds would still be divided according to the same forty-sixty split.
After marrying into the Xie Family, Ji Hanyi found her mother-in-law constantly on guard against her. Although she was never denied any of the provisions due to her each month, she had no ready silver of her own.
Whether she wanted to tip the servants or purchase something extra, she had no means to do so.
Moreover, her mother could not go without medicine. Although her maternal grandmother told her not to worry, one of her aunts managed the shared household expenses. Over time, some resentment was inevitable. If Ji Hanyi contributed more herself, her mother’s life in her maternal grandmother’s household would be easier as well.
That was when Ji Hanyi first tried painting a piece under the old name. Presented as Master Shilan’s first work after a three-year absence, it unexpectedly fetched two thousand taels of silver at auction.
However, Ji Hanyi did not paint quickly. Each painting took her at least a month to complete. She also knew that producing too many would diminish their value, so she generally delivered only one every two or three months.
Whenever she received the proceeds, she sent some to her mother and bought gifts for her two aunts and her maternal grandmother. She saved the rest and later used it to acquire another shop.
When Ji Hanyi married, her maternal grandmother had purchased a shop in her name. By managing both shops over the past two years, she had managed to save a modest sum of silver.
It was not much, but it gave her at least a little confidence that she could seek an amicable divorce.
Ji Hanyi smiled. She still had to visit the shop later, so after exchanging a few pleasantries with Mr. Zhang, she took her leave.
As she headed downstairs and reached a corner, an ingratiating voice drifted closer from below.
“It is rare for the Marquis to find the leisure to visit in person. We will naturally reserve the very best seat for the Marquis.”
“If the Marquis is pressed for time, all the paintings are on the third floor. Whichever painting the Marquis takes a liking to, we can have it delivered to the Marquis’s residence.”
Ji Hanyi recognized the voice as that of Baoshan Tower’s manager.
Curious to see who could make the manager of Baoshan Tower fawn so obsequiously, Ji Hanyi could not help looking down.
The hem of a dark green robe slowly entered her view, followed by a tall, slender figure as graceful and upright as a crane. Through the thin white veil, Ji Hanyi raised her eyes and found herself looking into a pair of cool, aloof eyes.