Chapter 222

Because of this episode, when Fu Tingjun replied to Madam Wu, she only said that Zhao Ling was about to set off back to Songjiang to pay respects to his ancestors.

Madam Wu could not discern Fu Tingjun's tone and could not help feeling uneasy. She relayed Fu Tingjun's words verbatim to Lord Wu and sought her husband's advice: "...What do you think she means by this? Has she forgiven us, or does she still harbor some resentment?"

Lord Wu was also uncertain. After thinking it over, he said helplessly, "For now, all we can do is see how Lord Zhao conducts himself after returning to Songjiang." He added, "In any case, it cannot be wrong for you to grow closer to Mrs. Zhao. A close neighbor is better than a distant relative!"

Madam Wu thought this made sense.

After Zhao Ling left for Songjiang, she began visiting the Zhao residence every few days.

Fu Tingjun found this increasingly bothersome and could only hint tactfully, "His Majesty has only granted my husband two months of leave. I will be returning to Chang'an in a few days and will come back before the new year. I wonder if Madam Wu has any favorite local specialties—I could bring some back for you then."

"No need, no need." Madam Wu waved her hand with a smile. "Whatever Shaanxi has, we in Jiangnan have as well. But what we have in Jiangnan, Shaanxi may not necessarily have." After saying this, she felt the words had come out wrong and quickly added, "When do you set off? I'll come see you off then."

"The autumn heat is still fierce these days," Fu Tingjun said, smiling as she told her the date, knowing that Madam Wu had taken the hint and would stop coming. "We'll set off after the Mid-Autumn Festival on the fifteenth of the eighth month."

Madam Wu noted this in her heart and sent a farewell gift of three hundred taels of silver on the tenth of the eighth month.

Since the engagement with the Wang family had been settled, the two families were now related. Although Zhao Ling was not at home, Madam Wang still invited Fu Tingjun and A Sen to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival at their residence. As the new son-in-law, A Sen was making his first formal visit to the Wang family, and Fu Tingjun was busy dressing him up when she saw a large red lacquered gold-patterned box lined with crimson velvet, in which six large ingots of silver gleamed brightly, making her squint. She paused for a moment before smiling, "Take the silver back. Tell your mistress that if she truly means well, she might instead send me some of Jiangnan's specialty dried fish to bring back to Chang'an as local gifts." With that, she picked up her teacup and began discussing the Mid-Autumn visit to the Wang residence with Zheng San: "I'll only take Yuwei and Zhenzhu with me. You and Zheng San will handle matters at home..."

Madam Wu's personal attendant stood there, utterly embarrassed, not knowing whether to advance or retreat.

Yuwei watched and smiled as she took the box and pressed it back into the attendant's arms, saying, "A goose feather sent from a thousand li away—the gift is light, but the sentiment is heavy. Madam Wu acting this way only makes things feel distant. If you go back and tell her this, I'm sure she won't blame you."

The attendant also felt that Madam Wu's gift had been too heavy—if the Wu family ever needed something, the Zhao family would have to reciprocate accordingly, and since the two families were neither related nor close, it was no wonder Mrs. Zhao was unwilling to accept it.

She pondered briefly, then held the box and smiled softly to Yuwei in thanks: "Thank you, miss, for teaching me what to say." Then she bowed respectfully to Fu Tingjun and withdrew.

Fu Tingjun paused her topic, furrowing her brows slightly. "This Madam Wu—I had thought her quite tactful before, but now her actions grow increasingly without rhyme or reason."

Yuwei, who had just returned after seeing Madam Wu's attendant out of the hall and handing her off to a young maid to escort to the door, overheard Fu Tingjun's words and smiled, "Concern breeds confusion! Madam Wu must be full of regret right now!"

Fu Tingjun thought this made sense too and stopped dwelling on it, asking Yuwei, "When will the headdresses from Baoqing Tower be delivered?"

Zhao Ling was now a third-rank official, and since she was representing A Sen's family in visiting the Wang residence, she had ordered some gold-inlaid jeweled headdresses from Baoqing Tower. The timeline was a bit tight, so she had asked Shopkeeper Ye San to put in a word.

"They said they'd be delivered by the afternoon of the day after tomorrow at the latest," Yuwei replied with a smile. "Shall I make a trip to Baoqing Tower?"

"No need." Fu Tingjun smiled. "Help me look over the clothing instead."

Anything of this sort was bound to interest any woman.

Yuwei smiled and answered "Yes," then went with Fu Tingjun to rummage through the trunks.

Over at the Wu residence, however, Madam Wu received a scolding from Lord Wu: "Why send silver? Couldn't you have bought a scroll of calligraphy or painting to send over? Now look what's happened—she's asked you to send dried fish. What season is this? Where do you expect to find dried fish now?"

Calligraphy and paintings were hardly as direct and appealing as silver.

But such words she dared not utter at the moment. She mumbled her assent on the side, and after turning away, could not help but grumble about Fu Tingjun: "...Of all things to ask for, she asks for dried fish. What are we to do?"

Dried fish was traditionally only made after the Laba Festival, and would not be ready until early spring. Those with longer preservation could still be found in early summer, but those with shorter preservation would be gone by late spring.

Her personal maid had no choice but to suggest, "Why not see if Madam Ji still has some? I heard that when the second young master of the Ji family had a boil as a child, he took medicine for over half a month without improvement. Later, following the advice of his wet nurse, they applied cured meat to the boil, and it healed within a few days. Since then, their family has made an effort to keep some cured meat and dried fish through the summer."

Cured meat and dried fish had the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying.

Madam Wu had no choice but to send her personal maid to the Ji household to ask for some.

The Ji family replied, "A few days ago, Madam Yu had a flare-up of internal heat, and her mouth was covered in sores—she couldn't even open it. Everything was sent to Madam Yu and the Tu family's residence."

Madam Wu was disheartened. She contacted several families of Jiangnan natives serving as officials in the capital, but all said they had none. Seeing that the fourteenth of the eighth month was approaching and she still hadn't gathered the dried fish, she grew anxious and her throat went hoarse from the heat.

Her personal maid asked urgently, "What should we do?"

Madam Wu gritted her teeth. "Go to the storeroom and find a few bolts of Jiangnan-woven fabric, and take a few packages of the pre-rain Longjing tea that the Zhejiang Commissioner sent the master. I'll go present them to Mrs. Zhao."

Her personal maid acknowledged and went off.

Fu Tingjun, meanwhile, was whispering to Yuwei, "...It's a good thing I gave Madam Wu a difficult task. Otherwise, with her dropping by every few days, I'd be spending all my time entertaining her with idle chatter and getting nothing done." She added, "By the time we return from Chang'an, news of what happened in Songjiang will likely have reached the capital. She shouldn't keep pestering me then, right?"

Yuwei laughed softly.

Xige'er toddled in. "Weiwei, eat fruit!"

He was the complete opposite of Youyou. Youyou spoke late, but once she started, she spoke in full sentences. Xige'er spoke early, but even past the age of one, his speech was still unclear. Youyou had never been fussy about food since she was little, but Xige'er thought about eating from the moment he opened his eyes. Perhaps because of this, Xige'er was very healthy—he hadn't even sneezed once since birth, let alone fallen ill.

Because the weather was cold, Fu Tingjun didn't dare let Xige'er eat fruit to his heart's content. Xige'er would then act spoiled in front of Yuwei, who doted on him endlessly.

Yuwei didn't dare give Xige'er anything cold either, but seeing the greedy look on his face, her heart ached. After thinking it over, she said, "Madam, a few days ago Madam Mo sent over some sugarcane. How about I squeeze out the juice, heat it in a pot, and give it to the young master to drink?"

"He only comes to you and no one else," Fu Tingjun said with a laugh. "You spoil him too much." But she didn't object.

Yuwei smiled and said, "Madam has to manage household affairs and worry about outside matters, setting down one thing only to pick up another. I just follow Madam around—I don't have to worry about anything, so I have plenty of free time. It's only right that I look after the young master a bit more..."

"Alright, alright," Fu Tingjun said, laughing. "You don't need to give me so many reasons. Just don't spoil him into a good-for-nothing." With that, she thought of the child in her belly. "I wonder if it's a girl or a boy. When we return from Chang'an, I'll not only need to find a wet nurse but also buy two maidservants."

"And we'll need to buy two young servants as well," Yuwei added with a smile. "Yanqing went with Second Master to the Wang family, so we're short a pair of hands on our side."

"I've already discussed this with Ninth Master," Fu Tingjun said. "Ninth Master said he took in two orphans at the frontier—brothers, only eight or nine years old. It's perfect to keep them at home for a while, and when they're older, he'll take them to the military camp. They can both make something of themselves and learn proper discipline."

There was one thing she didn't tell Yuwei.

If such children later went to the military camp and made something of themselves, they would become Zhao Ling's right-hand men. Even if they didn't amount to much, they would still be utterly loyal.

That was how military families gradually formed and grew.

A Sen was one such orphan Zhao Ling had taken in.

Yuwei didn't think much of it. She just smiled and asked when the boys would arrive, and whether they should partition the room where Jin Yuanbao used to rest into two side chambers—one for guests and one for the boys.

"Then let Zheng San know," Fu Tingjun said with a smile. "We can partition the side chambers while we're away in Chang'an—the boys should arrive before the beginning of winter."

Yuwei carried Xige'er off to simmer the sugarcane juice and discuss the matter with Zheng San. Fu Tingjun, meanwhile, went through the trunks and boxes once more with Zhenzhu, then took her two children to bed early. The next morning, she rose at dawn, washed and dressed, and, anticipating the long journey by carriage, kept her grooming simple before leading the children out the door.

For this trip, besides Zheng San driving one of the Zhao family's carriages carrying Fu Tingjun, Youyou, Xige'er, and Yuwei, they had also borrowed three carriages from the Datong Company through Shopkeeper Ye San. One carried A Sen and Yanqing, one carried Zhenzhu, Kou'er, Mrs. Tong, and the others, and one carried trunks and local gifts. In addition to hiring escorts from a security firm for protection, Zhao Ling had also borrowed ten Tengji Guard members from Qin Feiyu to accompany them.

Zheng San's carriage was easy enough—it had been prepared well in advance. Fu Tingjun boarded with the children at the hanging-flower gate. The Datong Company's carriage had been waiting at the door since before dawn. Shopkeeper Ye San, ever thoughtful, had also sent several nimble-handed apprentices, who only now began helping to move the trunks and cases. Though everything was orderly, the constant coming and going inevitably caused some noise. As for the Tengji Guard, they were led by a minor banner officer. Though normally they carried themselves with arrogance, this time they were on Qin Feiyu's assignment and escorting Zhao Ling's family, so they had no choice but to lower their heads and help the Zhao household move their belongings. For a time, Shi Family Lane was quite bustling.

Madam Wu watched the scene and was momentarily stunned before smiling and stepping forward to greet Fu Tingjun: "...The season isn't right yet—the dried fish hasn't been made. Once winter begins, I'll have word sent back to bring some to you." Then she turned and took the tea leaves held by her personal mama, offering them to Fu Tingjun. "These are a few catties of tea and several bolts of fabric—barely passable as Jiangnan local goods. Take them back for your relatives to enjoy something fresh."

Fu Tingjun saw it was no more than five or six bolts of fabric and two or three catties of tea, and that Madam Wu had brought them early in the morning. Smiling, she had Yuwei accept them, then exchanged pleasantries with Madam Wu while waiting for the Datong Company's carriage to finish loading.

From the mouth of the lane came the sound of "clippety-clop" horse hooves.

Everyone instinctively looked in that direction.

They saw a black-lacquered, flat-topped carriage with a straight front and official-green curtains driving into the lane.

Seeing the noisy scene of moving ahead, someone inside the carriage poked their head out: "What's going on here?"

Fu Tingjun looked closely—it was actually Mama Shu, who served by Madam Yu's side.