Chapter 5
“Throw her out. What rotten luck.” I told the maids to chase her away with brooms and hurled out the teacup she had used as well.
“You—you… Marriage is decided by parents and matchmakers. What right have you to interfere?” Lady Liang stood outside the front hall, cursing.
Mother, who had been discreetly watching for some time, affected a delicate voice. “I’m so sorry, my dear. My husband is busy with his shops and really has no time. I have only this one daughter. Naturally, I can’t bear to go against her wishes.”
“Oh my, what a lively scene! Sister, you’re here too?” A hearty voice broke in.
A kindly looking lady approached with a matchmaker, followed by a whole procession of servants.
“What are you doing here?” Lady Liang asked warily.
“Well, Zhi’er told me Lang’er has feelings for Miss Xu, so I’ve come to propose a match. You know he used to show no interest in girls at all, only shut himself away with his books. Now that he has a steady position, it’s time he started a family.”
From that, she must be Yuan Lang and Yuan Zhi’s mother.
But weren’t she and Lady Liang sisters? What was going on?
Lady Liang stared at Lady Yuan, her voice rising in disbelief. “You want to compete with me over this too?”
“Sister, how can you say that? Didn’t you say Yingying was rude and looked down on your marquis’s household? Your family may be aiming above itself, but ours would make a perfectly suitable match. Besides, Shen’er is already so grown up. Another year or two won’t hurt. Our Lang’er is just at the right age to marry.”
In the reception room, Lady Yuan looked me over quite openly, then suddenly reached out to touch my cheek.
“Oh my, like a freshly peeled egg. Such fair, soft, delicate skin. You won’t find a prettier girl than Yingying anywhere in the capital.”
“Just look at her hairline, her little face—even her little teeth are so lovely. How could anyone help adoring her?”
Little teeth? I was nineteen already.
The extravagant compliments had me squealing inwardly with delight. I even felt a little guilty.
Lady Yuan took Mother’s hand. “She plainly takes after her mother. Only a woman as lovely as a flower could have such a fresh, pretty daughter. My dear, how do you take care of yourself? You don’t know what my husband is like—always bristling and glaring. Look at the wrinkles he’s given me!”
A little sadness crept into her voice. “And both children take after their father. Stuffy beyond belief. My daughter won’t even dress up. I try my hardest to make her look pretty, and all I achieve is to make her furious. You, on the other hand, have such a good daughter in Yingying.”
“Oh, my dear, you don’t know the half of it. This daughter of mine was sent to torment me. So fussy! I’m her own mother, and I’ve often wanted to throw her out. Ever since she was little, she’d set out her writing things and promptly fall asleep. She’s barely read a proper book, yet every brush, inkstick, inkstone and sheet of paper must be the finest, the prettiest, the most exquisitely made. There are over twenty paperweights and inkstones in her study alone, and enough ink and xuan paper to fill a room. Anyone who didn’t know better would think we had a lady scholar in the family…”
The two of them talked back and forth, as though regretting they hadn’t become friends years ago.
In the end, Lady Yuan stayed for lunch. As she stood at our door to leave, she said, “Yingying, Auntie is going now. Never mind whether there’s a marriage. I simply like you for yourself. Another day, I’ll take you to our country estate.”
“Mother, was it rather unkind of me to turn Auntie Yuan down so directly? But her son and I truly aren’t involved like that.”
After seeing Lady Yuan off, I twisted my silk handkerchief and said glumly, “If only she weren’t Yuan Zhi and Yuan Lang’s mother.”
“Indeed. Honest people like her are rare these days.” Mother cupped her face and sighed. “If she were a man, a few decades younger, I’d feel quite easy about marrying you to her.”
Mother and I both cupped our faces and sighed again.