Chapter 236
Chapter 236
No matter how much authority Matron Zhang possessed, she was still a servant, and her words were disrespectful. Yet Concubine Liu always treated her courteously. Madam Bai managed the entire Shen Residence, and Matron Zhang was one of her favored servants. A concubine without any backing dared not put on airs before her.
Seeing that she had been misunderstood, Concubine Liu waved her hands in panic. “Matron misunderstands. I just returned from outside and was taking this path home.”
Convinced she was hiding something, Matron Zhang pressed harder. “Concubine knows First Madam’s temper. If she discovers you’ve done something, the matter will not pass easily.”
Concubine Liu went pale. Madam Bai ruled the inner household completely, while Master never interfered. If Madam Bai chose to deal with her, she could be beaten to death without a sound.
She was not like Concubine Luo, the illegitimate daughter of the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, who had shared more than twenty years with Master and borne him a successful son. Frightened by Matron Zhang, Concubine Liu quickly confessed what she had seen.
After listening, Matron Zhang studied her face. “So that was it. You must be cautious about the Marquis of the Second Branch. Don’t speak carelessly.”
Concubine Liu nodded hurriedly. “Exactly. It frightened me too.”
After a few more words, Matron Zhang said she must report back and left. Concubine Liu also hurried away with her maid.
Matron Zhang returned to Madam Bai’s Huifeng Courtyard. After reporting her errand to the kitchens, she leaned close and whispered into Madam Bai’s ear.
Madam Bai had been resting on a chaise, head propped on one hand while a young maid massaged her feet. Her eyelids lifted. She dismissed all the maids, then slowly sat up.
Matron Zhang eagerly prepared tea and presented it with both hands while explaining how she had encountered Concubine Liu.
Madam Bai listened languidly until Matron Zhang said, “Concubine Liu has always been timid. She would never dare deceive me.”
“Wasn’t Second Madam supposed to be staying in the palace? She should have returned yesterday afternoon, but then we heard she had suddenly gone to offer incense. The Marquis was absent all night. Today he returned carrying a woman wrapped in a cloak as though concealing her. That woman was probably Second Madam.”
“I checked the side gate. The guards had been sent away, and there wasn’t a maid along the entire route. Something seems wrong. Could some accident have befallen Second Madam?”
Madam Bai paused. She remembered a shop manager reporting accounts the previous day and mentioning runaway horses on South Avenue, the route from the palace to the Shen Residence. A carriage had overturned there.
She glanced at Matron Zhang and smiled. “You always handle matters to my satisfaction.”
Matron Zhang answered eagerly, “I only wish to ease Madam’s burdens.”
Madam Bai said nothing. She sipped her tea and considered carefully.
After so many years in the Shen Residence, she understood something of Shen Si’s nature. He kept his distance from women. She had once sent two beautiful maids to his quarters to build closer ties, only for him to return them the next day. He would never carry another woman into his own courtyard.
The woman must be Ji Hanyi.
Remembering the incident in the street, Madam Bai’s thoughts began to move.
She set down her cup. “Go invite Concubine Luo. Quickly.”
After Matron Zhang left, Madam Bai dismissed everyone else and summoned her senior maid Yinxiang.
She lay upon the bed, had Yinxiang place a forehead band around her head, dampen a cloth, and wipe away her cosmetics. Then she sent for a Yongzhen Pill from her cabinet.
It was an excellent tonic made entirely of costly ingredients, and even Madam Bai used it sparingly.
The pills contained deer-antler gelatin, prepared rehmannia, seahorse, coptis, and other medicines. Because of the coptis, they were intensely bitter and strongly scented. Madam Bai usually took them only at night when Master was not visiting.
She broke one open, swallowed a piece, then crumbled the rest and ordered her maid to scatter it in the incense burner. The room immediately filled with medicinal odor.
Leaning weakly against a silver pillow, she arranged her face into a pallid, exhausted expression.
Yinxiang understood that Madam Bai intended to feign illness. She went out and announced that Madam had fallen sick and was resting, warning everyone to keep quiet.
Before long, Concubine Luo arrived with graceful steps.
Madam Bai studied her peach-gold cloud brocade and excellent jewels. Though her manner was sufficiently respectful, her well-kept, rosy face and every detail of her dress proclaimed how comfortably she lived and how much Master favored her.
Concubine Luo had entered the household in the third year after Madam Bai’s marriage. Her father had given her to Master as a concubine. With her beauty, peach-blossom eyes, pale skin, and alluring figure, Master had frequented her rooms from her first day.
Later she bore Eldest Young Lady and Second Master. Her son was especially promising-far more so than Madam Bai’s youngest. He had become a Palace Graduate and now served in the Hanlin Academy. Master valued him greatly, and Concubine Luo had also gained favor with Old Madam. She had become somewhat complacent over the years.
As Concubine Luo approached with lowered eyes, Madam Bai concealed the coldness in her own gaze and coughed twice behind a handkerchief.
Hearing it, Concubine Luo hurried forward to ask after her health.
Madam Bai waved weakly. “Don’t worry about me. I caught a chill. It came suddenly, and now my head aches.”
Concubine Luo smelled the medicine and saw Madam Bai’s pallor. Her complexion had been fine at the morning greeting; the illness did seem severe. “Madam exhausts herself over every household matter. Let me remain and keep you company.”
Madam Bai was always shrewd and capable. Concubine Luo had never seen her this way and could not determine why she had been summoned, so she responded cautiously.
Madam Bai looked at her coolly. Concubine Luo excelled at flattery. She kept Master radiant with pleasure and exhausted every compliment before Madam Bai, yet secretly let her son overshadow Changling at every turn. Beneath her obedient surface lay concealed arrogance.
Hiding her feelings, Madam Bai sighed. “There is no need. Why should I pass the illness to you?”
“I called you because you are dependable and I have a task for you.”
Concubine Luo quickly asked, “What does Madam require?”
Lying on her side, Madam Bai pressed the handkerchief to her lips with ruby-ringed fingers. “The steward of our Changshu estate came the morning before last with this year’s new tea. Old Madam loves fresh tea. You are capable and have helped me manage affairs before. Go oversee its distribution among the courtyards.”
“Help manage household matters these next two days as well.”
Concubine Luo had indeed helped before. When Madam Bai hemorrhaged while giving birth to Shen Changling and nearly ruined her health, Master asked Old Madam to place the household in Concubine Luo’s hands.
Madam Bai still hated that memory. She had nearly died bearing a descendant for the Shen Family, while Master hurried to give the authority she had painstakingly built to his favorite concubine.
Since then, whenever Madam Bai was overwhelmed, household matters were assumed to fall to Concubine Luo.
Proud and strong-willed, Madam Bai had spent recent years enduring illness and exhaustion rather than let Concubine Luo interfere.
Concubine Luo was surprised. She had not helped for three or four years and knew Madam Bai disliked her involvement. Though once ambitious, she was only a concubine, while Madam Bai was formidable and capable, so she had gradually abandoned the thought.
She had wanted household authority so the servants would recognize her position and her children would not be slighted as concubine-born. Now her daughter was married and her son had become a Palace Graduate. She no longer cared to manage such matters.
But Madam Bai appeared genuinely ill, and distributing Old Madam’s favorite tea offered an opportunity to please her. Concubine Luo agreed immediately.
Madam Bai concealed the coldness in her eyes. Breathing weakly, she said, “Go now. New tea is valued precisely because it is new.”
Concubine Luo assented and withdrew.
Madam Bai watched her leave, then closed her eyes.
Another senior maid, Yinchun, entered only after Concubine Luo had gone. Bending to Madam Bai’s ear, she whispered, “A doctor has entered the residence and gone to Songhe Courtyard.”
Madam Bai went still, then laughed coldly. She remembered the pleased expression Concubine Luo had worn moments earlier.
Concubine Luo never missed a chance to flatter anyone. She would surely visit Songhe Courtyard in person. Madam Bai had a generous gift waiting for her there.
Now that Shen Si had married, Concubine Luo feared losing any chance at household authority and joyfully sought favor with the Second Branch. Then she could flatter them to her heart’s content.
The only question was whether she would succeed this time.