Jinchao was in Yizhu Pavilion speaking with Gu Yi.
The courtyard was surrounded by slender green bamboo, peaceful and serene. When the wind blew, hundreds of bamboo stalks rustled softly. A stream flowed through the grove and into the lakeside pavilion. Alongside the stream stood a small bamboo hut—originally built by Father as a study, though he never used it after its completion.
Jinchao seldom came to Yizhu Pavilion. Today, she had been dragged along by Gu Xi to visit Gu Yi’s room. Gu Xi was no longer afraid of her—in fact, she had grown quite fond of her. After pulling her in, Gu Xi set out a small embroidered stool for her and flopped onto Gu Yi’s kang bed. The nanny who usually accompanied Gu Yi wouldn’t have said anything, but seeing the eldest miss there today made her nervous. She hurried forward,
“Fourth Miss, you mustn’t behave like this.”
Gu Xi grinned.
“Nanny, go out. We’re going to talk in private!”
Gu Yi, a little embarrassed, stood and bowed politely to Jinchao.
“Elder Sister, please don’t laugh. My room is quite plain—if it’s not comfortable, we could take a walk in the bamboo grove…”
Jinchao had already looked around upon entering. Compared to her own quarters, Gu Yi’s furnishings were simple, but still tasteful. The furniture was made of pearwood, giving off a subtle fragrance. Two small blue-and-white lotus-pattern vases flanked a pot of jasmine on a tall stand. A sky-blue canopy embroidered with scrolling vines framed a red sandalwood desk and a pair of red-lacquered armchairs. However, a cloth tiger doll hanging from the canopy looked slightly out of place.
Seeing her gaze pause there, Gu Xi said,
“I made that cloth tiger myself. Elder Sister, do you think it’s ugly? I insisted on hanging it in Third Sister’s room. She really didn’t like it and scolded me for it… But she couldn’t sleep well for a while, so I put it up to scare away the ghosts. After that, she slept soundly.”
Though Gu Yi had complained, she had never taken it down. Jinchao smiled and shook her head.
“It’s very pretty.”
When she was little, she’d never had a younger sister to make a cloth tiger to ward off spirits for her. Her three older male cousins were kept at a distance due to propriety; her illegitimate female cousins didn’t dare play with her. Aside from her grandmother, she had only maids and old servants for company.
Gu Xi tugged at her hand and whispered,
“Elder Sister, do you know anything about the Du family? Tell Third Sister—she keeps thinking about…”
Gu Yi immediately shot her a look.
“Don’t listen to her, Elder Sister—I wasn’t… thinking about anything.”
But such thoughts couldn’t be hidden from Jinchao. She smiled inwardly and began sharing details about the Du family of Wuqing:
“…The Du family is known locally for their charitable acts. They distribute porridge to the poor during the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn. Though they haven’t produced a jinshi in two generations, it remains a scholarly household. The fourth master owns a grain shop in Baodi selling ‘Six-Blend Grains’; their top seller is Guizhou fragrant rice, which brings in about thirty taels of silver per month. The Du family also owns several such shops in Wuqing—his is the most successful. In addition, they hold several tracts of farmland…”
She wanted Gu Yi to be familiar with her future husband’s background—and to start learning how these things worked. It would be a pity to marry into that family and suffer for lack of preparation.
After sharing all this, Jinchao brought up their father’s upcoming birthday.
“Have you two prepared gifts?”
Gu Xi answered first,
“I made a paper cutting of Five Bats Bringing Longevity. Third Sister already saw it!”
Gu Yi smiled.
“She’s gotten much better at it—it’s quite nice. I’ve been practicing small seal script for over a year now, and I copied the Dao De Jing as my gift.”
She sent a maid to fetch it. The small seal calligraphy was elegant and orderly.
Jinchao praised her handwriting.
“If you’d come to me earlier, I would have suggested you copy the Ode to the Great Peng Bird. That’s one of Father’s favorite prose pieces.”
Gu Yi smiled.
“That’s no trouble. It’s short—I can recopy it. His birthday’s four days away. There’s still time.”
She had chosen the Dao De Jing only because she knew he liked Daoist philosophy, but hadn’t been certain of his preferences.
They chatted until the sun dipped low. Only then did Jinchao and Gu Xi take their leave.
Gu Yi went to her study, found the Ode to the Great Peng Bird, and had her maid spread paper on the desk so she could begin copying it.
She had just begun when a maid lit a lamp by the writing table. The bean-sized flame flickered weakly in the night.
“What are you doing up so late?” came a voice from the doorway.
Gu Yi set down her brush and looked up with a slight frown.
“Concubine Du, why are you here?”
Du Jingqiu stood quietly in the doorway, wrapped in a yellow-brown cloak embroidered with floral medallions. It was late, and the girl was still copying by lamplight—didn’t she care about her eyes?
She stepped inside and met Gu Yi’s gaze. Her daughter’s expression wasn’t warm—more reserved, almost wary.
“I… I just came to see you. I made some rock sugar pear water. I heard you’d had a bit of a cough.”
“Thank you for your concern, Yiniang,” Gu Yi replied politely. “It was just a chill. I’ve mostly recovered.”
The child had never liked her, but Du Jingqiu had never felt the distance quite so keenly until now. Gu Yi disliked her superficial charm and her attempts to please others. She preferred women like Madam Ji—well-read and gentle by nature. Du Jingqiu knew all this. She held no resentment.
She smiled faintly.
“You’re already engaged. In two years, you’ll be married into the Du family. Time flies—I barely noticed you’d grown so much. Truly, Madam has raised you well.”
Then she added,
“You should start learning how to manage the household. Stay close to the eldest miss, and never contradict her. Be respectful to the second miss, too…”
She had said these things many times before.
Gu Yi knew all this. But hearing it again, she grew restless. Still, she said nothing. Concubine Du lived in Tongruo Pavilion, and her only neighbor, Concubine Guo, was not sociable. With little else to occupy her, it was no wonder she felt lonely.
After her long speech, Du Jingqiu finally placed the food container on a side table and said she would leave.
Gu Yi watched her walk slowly down to the covered corridor. Then, summoning her courage, she called out,
“Yiniang.”
Du Jingqiu turned back, waiting in silence.
Gu Yi said softly,
“You should get some rest.”
Upon hearing those words, Du Jingqiu finally seemed to relax completely. She nodded with a smile and turned to hurry into the darkness.
Meanwhile, in Cui Xuan Courtyard, Gu Lan received a letter from Gu Jinrong.
Jinrong didn’t remember much from his early childhood. When Gu Lan asked about the maid who had once served him, he had to think for a long while. Eventually, he wrote that he vaguely recalled Yuping being from Shuntian Prefecture. He remembered that when her mother died, she had returned home for the funeral, and when she came back, she brought him a pouch of Li Ji’s candied chestnuts. But the nanny had thrown them away, worried he might get sick from eating too many. He cried about it for a long time.
Reminiscing stirred his mood, and he ended up writing much more. His childhood, after all, had been spent alongside his mother and Lan. He also mentioned that due to an overwhelming study load, he wouldn’t be able to return for their father’s birthday. He had entrusted someone to deliver a gift and asked Gu Lan to accompany their father well in his stead.
Gu Lan felt somewhat disappointed—but of course, who would truly care about the hometown of a former maid?
She brought the letter to Song Miaohua.
After reading it, Song Miaohua called Qiaowei over.
“…Take Mama Chen with you and search for Li Ji’s candied chestnuts shop in Shuntian Prefecture. Ask around nearby and see if anyone knows of a woman named Yuping.”
Gu Lan grasped her mother’s hand.
“Mother, Shuntian is so vast—trying to find a single chestnut shop is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
But Song Miaohua merely smiled.
“If a maid brought those chestnuts back, the shop must be well known. A few inquiries will point the way.”
Gu Lan felt a surge of admiration. She still couldn’t think as thoroughly as her mother.
Song Miaohua then turned to her birthday gift plan.
“…You haven’t spoken to your father in over a month. Use this occasion to make a good impression. Is the embroidered Dao De Jing ready?”
Gu Lan smiled and nodded.
“Don’t worry, everything’s prepared.”
Before long, Gu Deshao’s birthday arrived.
A few tables were set up in the outer courtyard. Lavish celebrations were only held for those past sixty; this was just a simple gathering of his colleagues for wine.
Jinchao rose early that day. Qingpu helped her change into a gauze silk robe the color of Xiangfei bamboo, patterned with lozenge blossoms, and a pale embroidered skirt. A sachet in a deep bluish pattern of jeweled flowers hung from her waist, filled with fragrant orchid leaves. Qingpu whispered as she adjusted the folds:
“Nanny Tong mentioned this morning—young master wrote to Second Miss again.”
Jinchao gazed at her jade gourd earrings in the mirror, silent for a long time before sighing.
“He truly… Forget it. I suppose he won’t understand until Gu Lan actually becomes a threat to him. And what am I in all this?”
Just as she was finishing her hair, Gu Yi and Gu Xi arrived. They had planned to go together to present birthday greetings to their father.
Jinchao asked them to wait in the side room while she completed her preparations. Upon emerging, she noticed that Gu Yi’s maid was holding a framed calligraphy scroll—her newly copied Ode to the Great Peng Bird. The handwriting was graceful and neat, embodying a quiet elegance beneath its feminine curves.
Gu Xi’s paper cutting of Five Bats Offering Longevity had been folded and placed into a scented sachet, adorned with flowing tassels in blue and violet—delicate and lovely. Jinchao laughed,
“You made it so ornate—Father certainly won’t wear it.”
Gu Xi shrugged cheerfully,
“Well, it’s all I had time for. Too late to change it now!”
The three of them went to Juyliu Pavilion, where Song Yiniang was helping Gu Deshao get dressed. They waited in the eastern side room.
When Gu Deshao emerged, he was wearing a sapphire-blue Hangzhou silk robe and looked spirited and energetic. Song Yiniang glanced at Jinchao and smiled sweetly.
“How early the young miss has arrived!”
Jinchao felt a chill in her heart but kept her expression composed.
“Not nearly as early as Yiniang, I’m sure.”
She then turned her gaze to her father.
Gu Deshao raised a fist to his lips in a light cough—an attempt to mask his discomfort.
Because of the incident with Lan, his relationship with Jinchao had grown strained. The tutor he had invited, Cheng Wangxi, had been a poor match, only managing to offend her further. And now that he had reconciled with Song Yiniang, Jinchao surely had even more reason to resent him.
So he pulled his hand away from Song Yiniang’s and walked toward her with a smile.
“Chao’er, you came so early—surely you’ve prepared a special birthday gift for me?”