(1) Old Embarrassing Stories

Hu Yiwan's words won Han Qian's wholehearted agreement. Just imagining what it would mean to owe Uncle Heng, as his daughter-in-law, the morning and evening rituals of filial respect was enough to make her feel thoroughly unwell all over. What was more, she thought of Tian Xu only as a younger brother, and Tian Xu thought of her only as an elder sister—between the two of them there existed nothing but a simple, straightforward bond of siblings. In her heart, if a woman couldn't marry someone she genuinely loved and who loved her in return, she ought to at least marry a man she herself was drawn to—or else find someone like Yue Heng was to Aunt Xi, someone who would be endlessly good to her, who could support her unconditionally in pursuing whatever she wanted to do in life. Only a man who treated you with such genuine sincerity was truly worth entrusting yourself to. Otherwise, one could simply live like Auntie Wan instead, with no need to depend on any man at all, carving out her own sense of purpose and self-worth. Auntie Wan had devoted her whole life to saving the sick and dying—if she ever married, she would inevitably have to pour much of her energy into a small household of her own, and how, then, could she continue living as she did now, carrying the suffering of ordinary people everywhere in her heart, fulfilling her true calling?

Over these years, going about her rounds through the shops of Daming Prefecture, distributing porridge and medicine, she had heard no shortage of stories about faithless men or husbands and wives grown distant from one another—perhaps it was precisely because of this that her resolve had only deepened, not to let her marriage be decided carelessly by her parents' arrangement. Her own father and mother, too, had worked together for years at the Splendid Silk Shop, growing close over time, until Aunt Xi had finally taken it upon herself to see the two of them married—so why was it that when it came to her own daughter, her mother would disregard her wishes entirely and try to force the match through, leaning on parental authority to push her into it? She had no intention of yielding easily on this. Though she could no longer even recall what Uncle Yuan, who had once held her as a baby, had looked like, she had heard that he and Aunt Xi truly had been a match made by heaven—from first meeting to mutual understanding, and from mutual understanding to a willingness to entrust their whole lives to one another, hand in hand. Though she knew all this only secondhand, it still stirred a quiet envy in her; and had she not seen with her own eyes how Uncle Heng treated Aunt Xi, how could she possibly have understood what true devotion even meant?

Though she was thoroughly intimidated by Uncle Heng, she found herself moved all the same by that resolute love of his, never once spoken aloud yet proven again and again through action. He asked for nothing in return, wanting only to stand as Aunt Xi's most solid support from behind the scenes—domineering toward the rest of the world, and yet reserving the softest heart imaginable for her alone. The two of them had never even held any formal status as husband and wife, and yet their hearts had never once drifted apart, their bond running deeper than that of countless married couples who shared a bed yet dreamed entirely separate dreams. Having witnessed such deep, genuine devotion firsthand, Han Qian could no longer accept the idea of parents simply pairing off their children as they pleased. Even someone as outstanding as Tian Xu—if the two of them lacked that particular spark of love between them, forcing them together would surely only bring them both a great deal of misery, wouldn't it?

Wang Qiugui found Hu Yiwan's reasoning fairly sound as she listened, and yet, with her daughter's age creeping up year after year, she genuinely couldn't help but worry. Precisely because Yueyue Manor was no ordinary household, the odds of marrying into a family from outside were slim indeed, and right now Tian Xu stood out as the most outstanding candidate imaginable, excellent in every respect—young as he was, he was already composed and seasoned beyond his years, with real vision and depth of his own. Setting Tian Xu aside, where else could she possibly find such a fine young man?

"Just look at your own old Han—back at the Splendid Silk Shop, how did he support you, look after you, back in the day? The two of you really were a match made for each other. You two got to become a couple in love, and yet you'd deny your own daughter the very same chance to pick a husband of her own choosing? Does that seem fair to you?"

Hu Yiwan's words struck right at the heart of the matter for Wang Qiugui, and rightly so—why should she herself have gotten to marry the man she loved, while her own daughter couldn't? If they wanted to make a match between Han Qian and Tian Xu, at the very least, shouldn't there be some mutual affection between them first? And besides, Yueyue Manor already had a shining example set before them—Yue Heng, silently devoted to protecting Chu Mingxi all these years—had likely become, without anyone quite meaning it to, the very standard by which young women like Han Qian and her peers now measured what they wanted in a husband. Even if they couldn't hope to match Yue Heng exactly, their standards for a future husband surely couldn't fall too far short of that either—at the very least, something like her own Old Han and herself, treating each other with mutual respect as honored guests. But as things stood right now, it seemed Tian Xu had no such feelings either—and whether or not someone had feelings for another was rarely something that could be hidden from view. Just like Yue Heng: he had never said anything outright either, yet anyone with eyes could see plainly that his feelings for Chu Mingxi were nothing ordinary.

But what about Tian Xu, then?

Turning this over in her mind, Wang Qiugui grew rather dejected. Of course she could see that Tian Xu had no romantic feelings for Han Qian—being addressed respectfully as "Sister" by him was already exceptional treatment on his part, considering that her own Old Han still had to address him deferentially as "Manor Lord"! And here she'd been so eager to push the two of them together anyway? Perhaps it was simply that Madam had always treated her so well, and that she and Han Qian shared a bond as close as sisters, that had led her to naturally assume such a thing might work. Now, hearing it laid out by Han Qian and Hu Yiwan together, she had to admit it really wasn't quite appropriate after all.

Just as the group was chatting away, they heard Yueying's voice calling out from outside, from some distance off: "The Manor Lord is here." A moment later, Tian Xu and Yueying stepped over the threshold, one after the other. Everyone greeted Tian Xu properly, and only once he had taken his seat did Wang Qiugui, Hu Yiwan, Han Qian, Han Jin, and Guo Huilian each find their own places to sit.

"I came to check on Sister, Brother, and Yueming, and to see how Fourth Sister is doing too." Tian Xu wasn't especially worried about Han Jin and Yueming—after all, they practiced martial arts and were strong and hardy, so being punished was practically routine for them. His sister had never trained in martial arts, and though their adoptive father had shown her some leniency by only sentencing her to stand, standing properly at attention for a full hour in the cold wind was hardly an easy thing either. As for Guo Huilian, whether the day had brought her good fortune or bad was honestly hard to say—the fortunate part was that his adoptive father had, unexpectedly, shown her particular favor, even going so far as to serve her food himself; the unfortunate part was that, being unaccustomed to doing such a thing, he'd badly misjudged the proper amount, and so his good intentions had backfired, leaving the poor girl stuffed nearly to bursting.

Just then, Yue Heng was busy drinking wine, apparently not yet fully aware that he'd all but buried the poor girl in food at a single meal. He himself had a large appetite and had never given a moment's thought to how much anyone else might eat—he'd likely still had in the back of his mind something one of the five Yue-disciples had said, back around the time they were leaving Chang'an, about how many bowls of rice someone could eat, and so he'd roughly assumed that one large bowl couldn't possibly count as too much. How would he ever have the delicate sensitivity to understand that men and women differed, or that those trained in martial arts had different needs than those who weren't? He had simply taken a liking to Guo Huilian's nerve in daring to sit right beside him, and meant it as a reward—except the reward had turned into a punishment instead, and he himself remained entirely oblivious to the fact. In short, Yue Heng was simply a rough, blunt man at heart, bad-tempered, straightforward, and none too subtle. Yuefeng, Yuehua, Yuehao, and Yuesheng were really cut from the very same cloth as him—Yuefeng especially, with his habit of blurting things out without thinking, was practically his spitting image. Truly, like master, like disciple—it was only that, having lived for years under Yue Heng's overbearing discipline, none of them dared let their own tempers run quite as freely as his.

Stepping into the room and finding Hu Yiwan there as well put Tian Xu considerably more at ease, and Hu Yiwan attentively urged both him and Yueying to drink a few mouthfuls of ginger tea to chase off the cold.

"How is Fourth Sister doing?" Tian Xu asked, sipping his ginger tea, with real concern in his voice as he questioned Guo Huilian. To go through something like this on her very first day at Yueyue Manor—Tian Xu worried it might leave some lasting shadow on her heart.

"Sister Yuelan just took me for a walk to help settle my stomach, and Auntie Wan gave me some medicine—I'm feeling much better now." Guo Huilian was honest by nature, and made no attempt to hide the fact that her stomach genuinely still felt uncomfortably full.

"That's just how my adoptive father is—he's really not very good at expressing himself, and his good intentions often end up going wrong somehow. I'll have a word with him, so that in the future he won't pile so much food onto Fourth Sister's plate, or better yet, just let Fourth Sister serve herself."

"It's best coming from the Manor Lord himself. Given Young Master Yue's temperament, I daresay no one in all of Yueyue Manor besides the Manor Lord would dare to say a word to him about it," Hu Yiwan said with a smile.

"Isn't that the truth?" Wang Qiugui seemed to recall something and spoke up again. "It's not just his bad temper, either—your adoptive father is forever misjudging how his affection comes across. I remember one winter when the plum blossoms were in especially fine bloom—your mother and I were out in the courtyard at Chunxi Court trimming plum branches, planning to arrange them in vases for everyone's rooms. We couldn't quite reach one of the higher branches, so your mother asked me to hold the stool steady while she climbed up on it to cut it herself. Your adoptive father appeared without a sound, as silent as a ghost, and suddenly he was just standing there beside the stool, reaching out to snap off the branch for your mother himself—it startled your mother so badly she nearly fell right off the stool. Thank goodness Young Master Yue's reflexes were quick enough to catch her with one hand, and your mother happened to topple toward me, so I hurried to steady her, and she came away without so much as a scratch."

Recalling this particular incident, Tian Xu found he still remembered it vaguely himself. Everyone else's faces were written over with curiosity, and Hu Yiwan, unable to wait, urged Wang Qiugui to hurry up and continue.

"It was rare indeed to see Madam lose her temper—she glared furiously at Young Master Yue right then and there, and laid into him without holding back: 'Do you have any idea that scaring someone half to death can actually kill them? Walking without a sound, not saying a single word—do you find it fun, sneaking up on people like some sort of ghost?' Young Master Yue got quite flustered at that, and did his best to explain that he'd only stepped in to help because he'd seen how much effort Xi'er was putting into reaching that branch, struggling with it. But instead of calming her down, that only made Madam angrier still, and she laid into Young Master Yue all over again: 'And what, exactly? Just because you're tall and broad, you think that gives you the right to look down on everyone else? I was doing just fine cutting it myself—what business did you have meddling in the first place?'"

By this point in the story, Han Qian and Yueming were already doubled over with laughter, pounding on the table—Yue Heng's charmingly contradictory side, it seemed, only ever fully revealed itself in front of Chu Mingxi. To everyone else he was like the face of the King of Hell himself; but toward Chu Mingxi, he handled her with the utmost care, terrified she might trip, hurt herself, fall ill, or simply end up displeased with him in any way. It was only unfortunate that Yue Heng, being so lacking in subtlety and altogether too rough and blunt by nature, so often achieved exactly the opposite of what he intended. His kindness toward Guo Huilian today, in fact, bore the very same ironic hallmark. Wang Qiugui's bringing up this old story was, in large part, meant to comfort Guo Huilian too, and to keep her from growing afraid of Yue Heng because of it.

"After that, Madam got so worked up she gave up on the plum branches entirely, tossed the shears straight at me, and stormed off back to her room in a huff. Young Master Yue just stood there completely stunned, at a total loss for what to do. I motioned for him to pick up the stool and the branches already cut and lying on the ground and follow us inside, and he did—looking exactly like a child who knew he'd done something wrong, one hand carrying the stool, the other cradling the plum branches, head hung low, following silently behind the two of us, not daring to breathe too loudly."As Wang Qiugui got further into the story, her hands couldn't help but start acting it out.

"And then what happened?" Han Qian, thoroughly delighted, urged Wang Qiugui on.

"Once we got inside, Young Master Yue set the stool and the branches down on the floor, and just stood there frozen, not daring to move an inch. Xu'er happened to be inside studying at the time, and when he saw Young Master Yue come in, he set down his book at once and ran up to him, calling out, 'Father.' But your mother shot Xu'er a look and told him to go back and study properly. Xu'er must have been only seven or eight then, and yet he somehow sensed his mother wasn't happy, so he went right up and took Young Master Yue's hand, and whispered to him, 'Father, if you did something wrong, all you have to do is sincerely admit it to Mother, and she won't be angry anymore.' Then he trotted right back to his seat and sat down properly. Young Master Yue's face turned positively green at that—those were the very words he himself always used to teach Xu'er, and here was Xu'er turning them right back around on him! How was he supposed to take that? I daresay he must have felt like giving the boy a good smack right about then!" Seeing Tian Xu's bashful smile, Wang Qiugui found herself smiling too.

"After that, Young Master Yue mumbled awkwardly to Madam, 'It's my fault for scaring Xi'er—next time I'll be sure to make a sound first... and I wasn't looking down on anyone just because I'm tall... I'm slow, bad with words, and being tall isn't much use for anything...' and then he turned right around and walked straight out of Chunxi Court, and went and rounded up the Eight Guards for a good hour or more of sparring, taking absolutely no pleasure in it whatsoever! He didn't dare vent his frustration on the three of us, so he had to work it out on the Eight Guards instead. Madam ended up laughing about it too, saying that since the caravans didn't travel during the depths of winter (the Eight Guards accompanied the caravans whenever they traveled), the Eight Guards, stationed on guard duty at Yueyue Manor, had grown lazy from too much peace and quiet for too long, watching everyone else's business instead of training properly—so it wasn't such a bad thing for Ah Heng to lose his temper and knock some sense into them every once in a while."

And so, amid everyone's cheerful laughter, Guo Huilian's first day at Yueyue Manor came to a close. Listening to Wang Qiugui's story, Guo Huilian never would have guessed that the taciturn, tight-lipped Uncle Heng had this whole other side to him. She genuinely found herself thinking that Uncle Heng was actually rather funny, after all.