Chapter 9 Back Pain: The news of Niohuru's outburst against the servants in the east courtyard won't spread for a while, but the old man in the main courtyard…

The news of how Lady Niohuru dealt with the servants in the East Courtyard wouldn't get out for a while, while in the Main Courtyard, the old lady, Lady Tongjia, was preoccupied with her youngest daughter, Fuxuan.

“Last night I sent someone to your room, and Granny Zhao said you were asleep. What happened? What troublesome things did you do yesterday that made our Miss Fu go to bed so early?”

“Mother, just say what you want to say. What’s the point of mocking me?”

Fu Xuan may not have a good temper or a good mouth, but ever since Shuai Yanbao passed away, Fu Xuan has insisted on getting up half an hour earlier every morning to come from the back room to her mother, Tong Jia Shi, and help the old lady get dressed and wash up with the two personal maids beside Tong Jia Shi.

Tongjia once told her daughter not to get up so early, but Fuxuan said it was boring to be alone in the back room, so she might as well come to her mother's place early. If she came early, she could take a nap with her mother and then get up for breakfast.

Of course, Madam Tongjia knew her daughter wasn't telling the truth. What grown-up girl wouldn't want to stay in her own courtyard? Her daughter simply wanted to keep her company, an old woman who had lost her husband and son. With such a young daughter by her side, it was no wonder Madam Tongjia favored her the most.

"Why would I provoke you? You need to explain why you were so upset with your nephew's wife yesterday. The Shen family is a Han Banner family, and we knew that when the two families got married. We didn't say anything then, but now that the new bride has entered the family, you, as her aunt, are picking on her again. Tell me, what are you trying to do?"

“Mother, I wasn’t targeting Shen Shi. I was just putting on an act for my second brother.”

"Back then, he set his sights on the Shen family. We couldn't understand why, but it was because Shen's father was now a senior official in the Ministry of Revenue and in charge of the Grand Canal transport."

Her father had the final say in such a large Fujian province, and her second brother had always wanted to leave Beijing for a few years. Having such a marriage alliance was better than finding a Manchu family within the banner system.

He was a scholar. If my eldest brother hadn't passed away so suddenly, he would definitely have taken the imperial examinations for Manchus. If he had passed and entered officialdom, becoming someone like our father and grandfather—that's what my second brother truly longed for.

Before entering the pass, Hesheli Xifu was already proficient in both Manchu and Chinese. From then on, the Hesheli clan, like the Han Chinese aristocratic families, began to teach their children to read and write at the age of three. Every generation of children in the family grew up in this way, and Fuxuan and Heyi were no exception.

His second brother wanted to pursue a literary career, but after his eldest brother suddenly passed away, he had no choice but to take his brother's place and stay in the capital as a guard, unable to go anywhere else.

To outsiders, He Yi, as the second son of a branch of the family who had already separated from the main house, being able to move back into the mansion and now even serving in the Yangxin Hall and Qianqing Palace was the best arrangement imaginable. But Fu Xuan knew that her second brother's ambitions lay elsewhere, and that he would leave sooner or later.

“It’s normal for my second brother to have his ambitions. I told him long ago that it’s our family’s daughters’ duty to marry into other families, but he can’t use me as a stepping stone, and it’s even more impossible for me to marry someone from the south. I must stay in the capital.”

With the successive deaths of Shuai Yanbao and Erhe, Fuxuan's marriage was delayed. However, they had tried to find a suitable match for her in the past two years, but both families contacted by Shumulu were not in the capital.

One family was stationed in Foshan; the second son of the deputy commander, a member of the Plain Blue Banner. The other family was in Jiangning Prefecture; the father was a garrison commander. He Yi had his eye on the eldest son of this family, whose family background was indeed quite good. However, neither family, including Fu Xuan's, agreed to the arrangement.

In other families, marriages for daughters are arranged by parents and matchmakers. However, the Hesheli family has lost two heads of the family in a row. He Yi is supposed to be the head of the family, but Fu Xuan has never been afraid of her brother. She said she was unwilling and immediately gave He Yi a cold shoulder.

In addition, Tongjia felt sorry for her daughter. Every time she promised to persuade Fuxuan in front of her son, she would be persuaded by Fuxuan to turn around and persuade Heyi in less than half a day. She would say, "If your sister doesn't like someone, don't force her. There are so many good families. She can always find someone suitable."

After this happened once or twice, Shumulushi stopped getting involved in this thankless and exhausting affair, and the news spread that the Hesheli family had an aunt who couldn't get married.

Originally, finding a family outside the capital might have been acceptable, but this time, Fu Xuan used the Shen family's background to pick and choose in front of He Yi, which clearly showed that she was not satisfied with her second brother's plans. It's even more uncertain where her marriage will end up in the future.

“I know my son is all bark and no bite. You don’t want to marry out of the capital because you can’t bear to leave this old woman. But you have to understand that once a woman gets married, her mind has to be on herself and her husband’s family. My good daughter, you have a long life ahead of you, you have to think more about yourself.”

Tongjia held her youngest daughter's face in her hands. Although she had already seen her husband and eldest son off, her expression was not very emotional. However, Fuxuan could still see the reluctance and heartache in her mother's eyes.

The heartache stemmed from the realization that her daughter had carelessly wasted the best years of her life, the years most conducive to marriage. Yet, she also felt a pang of reluctance. Fu Xuan turned her head and rubbed her face against Tong Jia's palm, knowing she truly wouldn't be able to keep her any longer, whether she wanted to or not.

“Mother, don’t worry about me. I talked to Yulang yesterday and asked him to look for someone for me. He knows a lot of people in the military camp these past two years, so maybe he can find someone good.”

“Alang?” Madam Tongjia frowned. “You really don’t trust your second brother that much, and would rather entrust this matter to your nephew?”

“Mother, we separated our family a long time ago. Second brother moved out, while you and I stayed with eldest brother. After eldest brother left, it should have been Alang who was in charge of the household. We had no choice but to let second brother’s family move back. But now Alang is married and has his own family. Mother, have you thought about what to do in the future?”

"Don't worry about this. People say that the eldest and youngest sisters-in-law are the most difficult to please. You can't afford to be disliked. It's getting late, your two sisters-in-law should be here soon. Let's not talk about this anymore."

Having said their piece, the mother and daughter understood each other's meaning. Fu Xuan had her own judgment, so whether she said it or not wasn't so important.

The commotion in the East Courtyard last night didn't keep it a secret from anyone. This morning, Shen Wanqing and Yu Lang were the last to arrive as usual, and no one in the room gossiped. Even Fu Xuan, after carefully observing Yu Lang, whose lips hadn't left their mouths since he entered, couldn't help but raise her eyebrows as well.

Because Fu Xuan was smiling at the two of them, Shen Wanqing thought she was smiling at her. Although she didn't know why Fu Xuan, who had been picking on her yesterday, had changed her attitude today, Fu Xuan was undeniably beautiful.

If she doesn't have a stern face or deliberately put on a mean and difficult demeanor, she's a classic, strikingly beautiful woman. Perhaps because they're aunt and niece, Yu Lang does indeed resemble her in some ways.

The beauty smiled at her, and Shen Wanqing couldn't help but smile back. Fu Xuan was so amused by the smile that she reached out and touched her hair at her temples, afraid that her hair was messed up, otherwise why would A Lang's wife be smiling at her?

They had a quarrel yesterday when they came to pay their respects at the main courtyard, but today everyone seemed unusually amiable and obedient. Only after last night could Shen Wanqing truly become a daughter-in-law of the Hesheli family. As long as they didn't have a deep-seated hatred for her, they wouldn't bother her at this time.

"Tomorrow is my return visit to my parents' home. These things are what this old woman wanted to bring back for you, Mother."

Tongjia was speaking so smoothly that she only remembered that her granddaughter-in-law was from the Han Banner Army when she got halfway through her sentence, so she changed her words.

The return gifts had already been prepared; anything more from Tongjia Shi was extra. This had become a customary practice in recent years: when a new bride returned home, in addition to the items on the prepared gift list, her husband's family would usually give her something extra. The amount of "something extra" reflected how satisfied the husband's family was with the new bride.

If we follow Shen Wanqing's advice, it's only been two days, so how can we tell if we're satisfied or not? As long as it's passable, that's fine.

However, perhaps because Tongjia wanted to show her closeness to the eldest branch of the family, she prepared so many things that even her second aunt, Shumulu, who had been praising and joking with Tongjia, froze for a moment when she saw them.

"Oh my, Mother, why did you bring out all these good things? It seems our eldest madam is really a lovely person. As soon as she came in, the old lady brought out all her most treasured possessions."

Shumulu was referring to a pair of doucai (enamel overglaze) stem cups with lotus scroll design, imitating the doucai official kiln pieces from the Chenghua period. These were gifts given to the Crown Prince a few years ago for his birthday. Although they were not from the same branch of the family, they were from the same clan, so the Hesheli family also received the gift.

I only saw this pair of stem cups once, on the day Shumulu bestowed them upon me. Today is the second time I've seen them. My mother-in-law took them out to send to the Shen family. It would be a lie to say that I didn't feel a little jealous.

"Well, Lang's daughter-in-law is the eldest grandson's wife in our family. She's not exactly lovable, but do you think you, this little monkey, are lovable?"

Sometimes, teasing someone can be a form of intimacy, at least Niohuru-shi didn't get to do that. Shumulu-shi wasn't angry at being rebuked by her mother-in-law; instead, she leaned over and asked Tongjia-shi if the new bride would receive good things when she returned home after Tu Nan's marriage.

Shen Wanqing couldn't pull off the elaborate scheme of entertaining her parents, but she certainly enjoyed watching it. These days, the mother-in-law is everything, and one's own mother-in-law is taciturn and unpredictable. Just looking at Tongjia and Shumulu, one can tell that this family has a lot of trouble ahead.

Paying respects to one's parents morning and evening is a rule, but no family lives by the rules.

Lady Tongjia was afraid that the two heads of the household would quarrel at her residence, and Lady Niohuru was a quiet person. The only time she had to go to Lady Tongjia's main courtyard to pay her respects was in the morning; if there was something to say, she would say it, and if not, she would return home. As for the afternoons, Lady Tongjia always wanted to worship Buddha and never allowed anyone to disturb her, so she was even more reluctant to let anyone go to pay her respects.

Even though the whole family was there, Lady Tongjia didn't keep them any longer. After having breakfast in the main courtyard and sitting for a while, she returned.

"It will be fine in a few days. The old lady doesn't usually invite people to stay for meals. It's just that you've only just married into the family, and it wouldn't be right to let you go to the main courtyard to pay your respects and then come back, so she invited you to stay. I noticed you didn't eat much just now, so I'll have the kitchen prepare some pastries later."

"There were always lots of people at home before, so I wasn't uncomfortable with it."

Shen Wanqing had worked as a supervisor on construction sites and had eaten all sorts of communal meals before, so she wasn't uncomfortable eating with a few more people at one table. She ate little this morning purely because her back was uncomfortable; she felt a tightness in her waist and couldn't find a comfortable position.

"It's all your fault, old man. Last night I yelled at you to stop, but you didn't listen. There was no noise at all. If Qiuwen hadn't caught me this morning, I would have fallen flat on my face."

"Why don't we rest a little longer? We can see the people in this courtyard later."

“What are you waiting for? We have to go back to my parents’ home tomorrow. The dowry I brought hasn’t been put away yet. Look at all the stuff piled up in the yard. We need to clean it up this afternoon.”

Shen Wanqing stood up, supporting her back, and walked around the room twice. Ignoring Yu Lang, who was staring at her like a dog, she said, "Alright, I'm not made of paper. Uncle, stop making that face. It's like I'm going to die. My back hurts, but I'm not going to die."

"Nonsense! How can you just spout nonsense about death and life?" Yu Lang, who had been lazily leaning against the couch, immediately sat up straight upon hearing this, grabbing Shen Wanqing's wrist. "Quickly spit three times! You should avoid saying things that are prophetic. Don't you know that?"