Chapter 3

Grandmother also knew about this matter and advised Eldest Aunt, "Do not look down on a young man! That Zuo Junjie is handsome and studies diligently. Perhaps he really will pass the imperial examinations and have his name on the gold list in the future. Besides, there are many who add flowers to brocade, but few who send charcoal in the snow. The Fu family still has seven or eight daughters whose marriages have not yet been discussed!"

In the end, what she feared was that this engagement would affect the Fu family's reputation and ruin Eldest Uncle's career prospects.

Being cautious was never wrong.

Eldest Aunt felt that her mother-in-law's words made sense, so she declined the Hao family.

When Eldest Cousin-in-law received the news, she was naturally overjoyed.

But Zuo Junjie was unwilling: "I am alone in this world, having sold off all the family property to pay for my parents' medical treatment. She is not only a concubine's daughter, but aside from the hundred taels of dowry from the family coffers, she has no other marriage gifts... Since Grand Madame has shown such grace, why not seek the hand of the Third Miss of the Second Branch instead!"

Second Aunt's natal family were great landowners in Sichuan, with salt wells to their name. When she married into the family, her dowry vessels alone filled an entire three-masted ship. Third Cousin was a legitimate daughter, and the only daughter of the Second Branch. Second Aunt had long since declared that all her dowry would go to Third Cousin as her marriage gifts.

"That will not work!" Eldest Cousin-in-law's face darkened at these words, and she refused Zuo Junjie without a moment's thought. "In the Fu family, only Father-in-law and Fifth Uncle are currently serving as officials. The two cousins of the Second Branch show no talent in their studies. The reason Second Aunt declared she would leave all her dowry to Third Miss is precisely to find a jinshi for a son-in-law—at the very least, a juren—so that there would be someone to look after them in the future. You are merely a xiucai; Second Aunt will never agree."

"You all are certain I will never pass the jinshi examination?" Zuo Junjie retorted defiantly. "If you don't even try, how do you know Second Madame will not agree?"

Eldest Cousin-in-law felt that Zuo Junjie was being far too unreasonable: "Even if Second Aunt agreed, my mother-in-law has already declined the Hao family's proposal. There is no room for turning back on this matter. Say no more—just wait for me to invite a matchmaker and have the horoscopes matched with Second Miss, and then you can marry." With that, she turned and left.

Zuo Junjie felt that Eldest Cousin-in-law was merely afraid of offending her mother-in-law, and was not truly acting in his best interests. Without saying a word to her, he invited a matchmaker the very next day to propose to Second Aunt.

How could Second Aunt possibly agree?

The matchmaker had barely left when she went straight to report the matter to Grandmother.

Grandmother trembled with rage and did not speak properly to Eldest Cousin-in-law for a long time afterward.

Eldest Cousin-in-law was overcome with shame, wishing she could crawl into a hole in the ground. She rushed to Zuo Junjie's room and gave him a thorough scolding, but Zuo Junjie remained utterly unrepentant: "Alright, alright, since you find it so difficult, I will listen to you and marry Second Miss after all!" His tone was one of condescending graciousness.

Eldest Cousin-in-law could not say a single word. She went and wept by First Madame's bedside.

First Madame was both anxious and furious, and had not gotten out of bed for two days because of this matter. But one was a daughter-in-law who had kept her chastity for her own biological son, and the other was her own concubine-born daughter. No matter how great her anger, she could only hide it like a broken arm tucked into a sleeve. A few months later, Second Cousin was betrothed to a certain Mr. Huang, a tongsheng from the neighboring Pucheng County. Within two years, Brother-in-law Huang died of illness, leaving behind a newborn daughter and a home with bare walls. The family survived only on the Fu family's charity to have food for the next day.

Hao Jianfeng, meanwhile, enjoyed a life of uninterrupted prosperity, rising within a few years to the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

Later, the Yellow River breached its banks at Xiangfu in Kaifeng, Henan. The Henan governor impeached the river works for substituting inferior materials for good stone, and both Qu Yang and Eldest Uncle were implicated. Eldest Uncle was stripped of his post as a result. After the storm had passed, Eldest Uncle sought out Hao Jianfeng to help with his reinstatement, but Hao Jianfeng—whether out of fear of being entangled in such affairs or still nursing a grudge over the Fu family's earlier rejection—would not even grant Eldest Uncle an audience, let alone offer assistance.

Whenever First Madame thought of this, she could not let go of her resentment, and Eldest Cousin-in-law suffered no small amount of grievance because of it.

Of course, all of that came later.

At the time, the situation was that Eldest Cousin-in-law had someone rent a small courtyard for Zuo Junjie on the back street overnight and had him move out.

Zuo Junjie's face turned ashen. He let out a few cold laughs, took nothing with him, and strode away.

Within days, he became a private tutor in the household of a Mr. Liu in Xi'an Prefecture.

The following year, he failed the provincial examination.

At the end of that year, Zuo Junjie returned to Huayin. Despite the heavy snowfall, he knelt before Eldest Cousin-in-law's gate for an entire day, and no one could pull him up.

Out of consideration for appearances, Second Aunt, Third Aunt, Fourth Aunt, Mother, and Sixth Aunt all went before Eldest Aunt one after another to speak well of Zuo Junjie.

Eldest Cousin-in-law looked at her younger brother—defeated in spirit, sallow and gaunt—and thought of how he was the sole remaining heir of her natal family. She wept like a tearful mess.

First Madame sighed deeply and personally went to beg Grandmother to allow him to return to the Fu family's clan school to study.

From that day on, Zuo Junjie seemed like a changed man—neither hearing nor seeing anything beyond his books, devoting himself entirely to the study of the sages' teachings. After he passed the provincial examination and became a juren, he purchased land and servants, settled a household on Guangtao Lane, and became the golden son-in-law that everyone in Huayin admired.

Fourth Aunt then set her sights on him.

“The marriage didn't work out back then because Second Miss was both a concubine's daughter and lacked a dowry. A man of his pride and ability naturally wouldn't agree to that,” she said to Fourth Master. “Our Fifth Miss is different. Not only is she a legitimate daughter and quite beautiful, but besides the dowry from the family estate, I have three hundred mu of fertile farmland and two thousand taels of silver from my private savings to give her.”

“That won't do!” Fourth Master shook his head like a rattle-drum. “If others find out, they'll think the Fu family's daughters are throwing themselves at him!”

“Oh, why are you so stubborn!” Fourth Madam chided playfully. “Think about it—although Eldest Uncle was dismissed from his post, he still holds a scholarly title and gets a seat even before the county magistrate. Fifth Uncle goes without saying—he's now a Lecturer in the Hanlin Academy, expounding the classics to the princes. Who knows, he might become the Imperial Tutor one day, with boundless prospects. Third Miss from the Second Branch married a provincial graduate, Seventh Young Master from the Third Branch passed the county examination this year, and the eldest maternal uncle of the Sixth Branch is a metropolitan graduate... Only our branch has no one with any scholarly honor. Do you want to spend your whole life unable to hold your head up before your brothers? Even if you don't care about that, what kind of life will our sons and daughters have?”

Fourth Master pondered for a long while, then finally nodded in agreement.

Fourth Madam then begged Mother to act as matchmaker.

Mother felt it wasn't a good match and tactfully declined. Privately, she had said to her: “Zuo Junjie has only passed the provincial examination, yet he dared to accept the usurer Wang Xiaoxia's farmland registered under his name. He acts without weighing consequences—I fear he'll stir up trouble yet.”

So Fourth Madam went to ask Sixth Aunt to act as matchmaker instead.

Sixth Aunt warned her: “I hear the Han family north of the city wants to marry their daughter to Zuo Junjie...”

The Han family north of the city was in the bamboo ware business.

Fourth Madam curled her lips upon hearing this: “Well, matchmaking is matchmaking—you have to measure it up to see if it fits!”

Sixth Aunt had no choice but to go speak with Eldest Sister-in-law.

This time, Eldest Sister-in-law dared not make the decision on her own. She sent her trusted old nurse to Guangtao Lane, just to give Fourth Madam some acknowledgment.

The nurse returned and said: “The young master from the Biao family said the Han family north of the city is offering five thousand taels of dowry silver.”

Eldest Sister-in-law was so furious she nearly fell over backward, and replied to Fourth Madam: “They've already begun discussing the marriage with the Han family north of the city!”

Who would rather marry a merchant's daughter than form an alliance with the Fu family?

Fourth Madam felt Eldest Sister-in-law hadn't tried hard enough, so she secretly sent people to investigate. Upon learning it was because of the dowry silver, she directly sent word to Zuo Junjie: “Our Fifth Miss comes with not only five thousand taels of dowry silver, but also three hundred mu of fertile farmland.”

The Han family was counting on having a provincial graduate as a son-in-law to back them up—to gain advantages in business and even in corvée labor and taxes. After carefully calculating the accounts, they had the matchmaker tell Zuo Junjie: “Besides the five thousand taels of dowry silver from home, there's also a shop that brings in five hundred taels a year.”

Fourth Madam said: “Which matters more—a shop earning five hundred taels a year, or being the son-in-law of the Fu family?”

The matter reached Grandmother's ears.

In front of all the serving maids in the room, Grandmother slapped Fourth Madam across the face and took it upon herself to betroth Fifth Cousin to the son of Provincial Graduate Yao of Tonglin County.

After that, Zuo Junjie never set foot in the Fu household again. Once, drunk, he said to someone: “That old crone has thwarted my plans time and again. One day, I'll make her regret it.”

Somehow these words reached the Fu family's ears, yet no one dared breathe a word of it before Grandmother. They merely took detours to avoid Guangtao Lane.

Eldest Sister-in-law kept her head low in the Fu household even more.

When Zuo Junjie learned of this, he declared: “...I will marry none but a daughter of an official family!” And the engagement with the Han family fell through as well.

But Huayin was, after all, only a county town—how many official families were there? Those who fancied him couldn't offer substantial dowries, which he felt beneath him; those he fancied, having heard of his entanglement with the Fu family, found him fickle and lacking in integrity. Huazhou and Xi'an Prefecture had more official families, but their sights were set higher. Round and round he went, and Zuo Junjie's marriage prospects never materialized.

Until two months ago, when he suddenly came to Mother, adopting a humble and courteous manner, saying he had important matters to discuss.

One doesn't strike a smiling face.

Mother dismissed the attendants at her side.

“Fifth Madam,” he said with exaggerated solemnity, bowing with clasped hands, “Ninth Miss and I are deeply devoted to each other and wish to be wed. I beg Fifth Madam to grant your blessing.”

Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, Mother stood frozen on the spot, unable to collect herself for a long while. When she finally did, she found it absurd: “Our Ninth Miss has been betrothed since childhood to the eldest young master of the Yu family of Fengle Ward in Nanjing. Could Young Master Zuo be under some misunderstanding?”

When she was ten years old, she had accompanied Grandmother to visit an aunt married far away in Nanjing. While burning incense at Gongde Temple, they had encountered Lady Shu, the second wife of the Yu family.

The Yu family's great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and great-great-uncle had all served as Chancellor of the Imperial Academy. When their grandfather held the post of Hanlin Academy Expositor, he had twice presided over the provincial examinations in Jiangxi. By the generation of Yu Guodong, Yu Guoliang, and Yu Guocai, all three brothers had successively passed the imperial examinations and been appointed as Hanlin bachelors. Later, the second master, Yu Guoliang, rose through the ranks to become the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, overseeing all officials and impeaching all government agencies. To avoid suspicion, the eldest master, Yu Guodong, was posted as prefect of Jingzhou in Huguang, while the third master, Yu Guocai, unwilling to leave Jiangnan, simply resigned from office and returned home to live as a recluse. They were one of the few distinguished and noble families in Jiangnan.

Perhaps there is no such thing as perfection in this world. In recent years, the Yu family had enjoyed smooth sailing in their official careers, but they faced increasing difficulty in producing heirs. Among the three brothers, only the second master, Yu Guoliang, had finally been blessed with a son at the age of thirty-two.

This Lady Shu was the birth mother of the Yu family's eldest young master.

Although she was not the matriarch of the Yu clan, she had rendered meritorious service by continuing the Yu bloodline, and her husband held the highest official position among the brothers. In the Yu household, she walked with an air of authority, and no one dared to cross her.

My aunt's husband's family had some connection with the Yu family, so since they had encountered each other, they shared a midday meal together.

For some reason, Lady Shu took a great liking to me and kept talking with me throughout the meal.

Seeing this, my grandmother began telling Lady Shu amusing stories from my childhood, which made her laugh heartily.

Within a few days, Lady Shu sent a matchmaker to propose marriage on behalf of her son, Yu Jingxiu.

My grandmother was overjoyed and agreed to the engagement without even consulting my mother.

The exchange of birth certificates and the formal betrothal were both completed in Nanjing.

My mother was deeply dissatisfied and wrote to my father, gently voicing her complaints: "...I have never even seen this Young Master Yu. Who knows what kind of person he is?"

The fifth master replied quickly. In his letter, he said that the eldest young master of the Yu family had been known for his intelligence since childhood—he began his studies at age five, could understand the Annotations on the Four Books by twelve, and had now become a disciple of the great Jiangnan scholar Fan Kun to study essay composition. His future prospects were bright, and this was a match of the highest caliber. He instructed my mother to discipline her daughter well, so that she wouldn't disgrace the Fu family's reputation when she married into the Yu household.

My mother set her mind at ease and kept me close by her side, guiding me at every turn, rarely letting me out of her sight. How, then, could her daughter suddenly have developed a secret relationship with Zuo Junjie?