Over the next month, Seventh Miss enjoyed a comfortable period.
Setting aside Xu Fengjia’s mysterious absence, though the household seethed with undercurrents, all the turbulence—because she seemed to have forgotten the words “consolidating power”—remained merely undercurrents, without stirring up too many storms.
The Fifth Young Madam’s attitude toward Seventh Miss grew more amiable day by day. Even the Grand Madam seemed to view Seventh Miss somewhat more favorably. Though her words still contained no shortage of barbs, both sides maintained relative peace.
Seventh Miss devoted herself wholeheartedly to first thoroughly cleaning Mingde Hall inside and out. In the eastern wing against the outer wall, in the small room where Fifth Miss had often stayed, she established a small Buddhist shrine and enshrined a portrait of Fifth Miss—one that Seventh Miss had drawn herself from memory. Though the brushwork couldn’t compare to professional painters’ refinement, it had the advantage of her familiarity with Fifth Miss.
In the painting, Fifth Miss stood beneath flowers, the corners of her lips slightly upturned, her expression naive yet tinged with a trace of pride—altogether a vivid small portrait.
She then cleaned several rooms on the courtyard side of the eastern wing, preparing accommodations for Silang and Wulang. From among her dowry maids, she selected Xiayuan, the most honest and steady-minded, to lead them. The old matron went to Qingping Courtyard to select four sensible second-rank maids. Grand Madam had specially included in the dowry a former wet nurse skilled in caring for infants to serve as stewardess matron. She also selected seven or eight small maids with clean hands and elegant manners, thus generally filling the staff positions around Silang and Wulang.
What Matron Liang could do was merely discipline and educate the several newly arrived stewardess matrons, teaching them proper conduct in public. But these matrons who could rise to minor stewardess positions through their own abilities were naturally no easy marks. With just a little guidance, they all learned quite well. Beyond accompanying Seventh Miss daily in preparations for Silang and Wulang’s return to the estate, she had nothing else to do.
Yet Seventh Miss delayed in sending her back to the Yang household. Naturally Matron Liang didn’t dare presume, but as she stayed at Mingde Hall with no assigned tasks, she gradually began to feel somewhat uneasy.
By now it was already October. A letter from Xu Fengjia in Guangzhou had arrived, one specifically addressed to Seventh Miss. When she opened it, it merely reported his safety, saying that though the assignment now had some leads, it was quite thorny. At the latest, he should be able to depart and return by next spring. He told Seventh Miss to preserve herself wisely and act prudently—do what she could, but if something felt forced, absolutely don’t interfere.
After much thought, Seventh Miss could only reply with eight characters: “Take good care of yourself, return soon.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say. But learning that Xu Fengjia had arrived safely in Guangzhou at least gave her some peace of mind.
Soon it was late October. First the Sun family emerged from mourning and held a grand banquet, followed closely by Ninth Brother’s wedding. The Fifth Young Madam specially sent the gift lists from both families to Mingde Hall for Seventh Miss to review. Seventh Miss merely smiled and let it pass—this Fifth Young Madam’s conduct was truly interesting.
If even she could wait patiently and slow her pace, how could Madam Xu not wait? Originally, a new bride’s first year was also a year for establishing rules. In the first few months, with Xu Fengjia away on assignment, if Seventh Miss could remain patient, naturally Madam Xu wouldn’t be more anxious than her.
Her days passed very peacefully. Neither the Grand Madam nor her several sisters-in-law confronted her directly. Each day Seventh Miss paid morning and evening respects to both generations of elders, and then had nothing to do. She spent her time either reading or writing. In a place like the Xu household, she had actually stolen a period of tranquility.
On October 23rd, Mingde Hall became busy inside and out. In three days would be Madam Xu’s birthday, and the old woman had declared: This year she wanted nothing for her birthday, only to have her two precious grandsons bow to her.
Though everyone knew this was merely a pretext, at least it was a reasonably natural one.
Returning from paying respects, Seventh Miss personally entered the eastern wing to inspect the children’s bedrooms. Seeing everything arranged properly and warmly, she nodded with satisfaction.
If this team of caretakers she’d prepared still had incidents, there would be nothing to be done—a mixed team of Madam Xu’s confidants, Grand Madam’s confidants, and Seventh Miss’s own confidants, mutually supervising each other. Even if some martial arts master came to assassinate, this level of security could hold them off for quite a while.
However…
She pondered briefly.
“The two senior maids Chunfen and Guyu—are they still confined in Mother’s dowry manor?” When the old matron came to talk with Matron Liang, Seventh Miss called her into the western third room to inquire.
The old matron startled slightly, her expression immediately showing something amiss.
“Not exactly—they are… after all, your Fifth Sister’s dowry senior maids.”
Just from the words “dowry senior maids,” one could see Chunfen and Guyu’s significance.
Matron Wang and Matron Liang were Grand Madam’s dowry senior maids. The old matron was also Madam Xu’s dowry senior maid. The relationship between dowry senior maids and a new bride sometimes exceeded even that of sisters or parents. Many things parents might not do, dowry senior maids would complete for you without hesitation. Their honor, disgrace, life and death were long tied to the new bride alone. Unless there were extremely special reasons, dowry senior maids could be absolutely trusted.
Seventh Miss didn’t believe Chunfen and Guyu had any motive, means, or courage to harm Fifth Miss. These two had backgrounds as blank as white paper, their families entirely in the Yang household’s hands. With Fifth Miss’s death, their status immediately plummeted…
Madam Xu had probably also seen through this point, which was why she hadn’t sent Guyu and Chunfen to the manor for confinement.
“If they’re in the household now, please ask the old matron to pass word for them to come see me.” Seventh Miss instructed the old matron.
The old matron’s expression revealed unease, but threads of excitement were also visible. She nodded, took a deep breath, then left Mingde Hall to personally deliver the message.
Seventh Miss could well understand why the old matron showed such an expression.
Summoning Chunfen and Guyu for questioning was the first signal she’d released. Though minor, it genuinely touched upon the past that everyone in the household had chosen to forget: that brutal murder.
This matter was truly one where pulling one hair moved the entire body.
That she’d been able to enjoy this month-plus of peace probably owed credit to this murder case.
Seventh Miss’s performance in the murder case naturally couldn’t be hidden from people. Who had asked Quan Zhongbai to test the medicine, who had pressed the messenger step by step… such rumors couldn’t be concealed.
After entering the household, aside from giving the Grand Madam a few cold shoulders, she hadn’t offended anyone anywhere. If someone rashly excluded or attacked the new bride, wouldn’t that be equivalent to summoning the spotlight onto themselves, writing “guilty conscience” across their own face?
Whether the Eldest Young Madam had considered this matter, Seventh Miss wasn’t clear, but the Fourth Young Madam had absolutely thought of this point, which was why she basically didn’t provoke Mingde Hall. Otherwise, with her personality, how could she not come to Mingde Hall to probe?
Even whether the Fifth Young Madam’s abnormally courteous and accommodating attitude toward her was related to this, Seventh Miss somewhat suspected.
As she contemplated, she sighed.
From her understanding of human nature, this culprit probably had some degree of mental abnormality.
Not necessarily saying they were definitely a psychopath, but they probably held worldly moral rules in contempt.
Seventh Miss didn’t believe the Xu household’s women were all pure and flawless angels, but great families had their rules. If one simply poisoned whoever displeased them, how could life continue in the long run?
Insignificant bed warmers, concubines, even helpless concubine-born sons and daughters—poisoning them wouldn’t be unusual. No one would take such deaths seriously. Done discreetly with proper burial, even with suspicions, it could be glossed over.
For someone like Fifth Miss—the heir apparent’s legitimate wife with both parents alive and her natal family prominent—to be poisoned to death, this was something Seventh Miss had truly never heard of in all these years. Speaking of it, it was almost shocking to the world.
Yet this person had done it so secretly that even Madam Xu couldn’t uncover a single clue. This person had to be meticulous, bold, and mad, utterly disregarding unspoken social rules, to commit such a crime and leave no trace afterward.
In terms of motive, the three sisters-in-law plus the Grand Madam all had suspicion. But after a month of interaction, she didn’t feel anyone had such characteristics.
Grand Madam Ni had methods, but to say how brilliant they were would be overstating it, otherwise how could she have been so thoroughly suppressed by Madam Xu before? If such a person were bold and mad, the first to die would be Madam Xu, not allowing Madam Xu’s health to decline on its own.
Unless the Eldest Young Madam had a split personality, otherwise with her self-preserving, indifferent attitude, never mind actively poisoning someone—she’d probably wait until Fifth Miss had only one breath left before poking to test, then stepping down.
The Fourth Young Madam was certainly bold, but not meticulous at all… The Fifth Young Madam was meticulous enough, but not mad at all.
No wonder even with Madam Xu’s capabilities, she couldn’t investigate anything clearly. This kind of poisoning—carrying a small medicine packet, slipping it in when an opportunity arose during entry and exit—this era had no fingerprints, so physical evidence was definitely impossible. If any, it would be witness testimony.
But the matron who prepared the medicine, despite enduring much torture, only insisted that she’d indeed gone out twice to the eastern privy, but coming and going, she hadn’t seen anyone entering or leaving the small gatehouse. The gatehouse had no clock—she could only vaguely remember the hour on the water clock, which was completely useless. During these two privy trips, it happened to be when the household’s women were coming and going. Almost everyone had entered and exited during this time period. Madam Xu had already personally explained to Grand Madam—this lead was a dead end.
If it were so easy to investigate, it probably wouldn’t have fallen to her to enter the household. Madam Xu would likely have long ago extracted the suspect and explained to the Yang family.