Hongchou's eyes went wide the moment he heard it.
"I'll keep watch again tomorrow," he said. "The moment that person steps out, I'll fetch you at once." He paused, recalling the detail carefully. "That clairvoyant the uncle carries -- it's gilded, thicker than yours, and folds away. He told me it was made for seafaring, so it probably sees farther too. What if you sent word to the big manager in Beijing, asked him to write to the uncle, and had him bring you one just like it?"
Wang Xi felt the pull of the idea before she could stop herself.
The uncle Hongchou meant was Wang Chen -- her half-brother on her father's side.
He was seventeen years her senior. Before Wang Xi drew her first breath, Wang Chen had already been traveling the trade routes with their father, sharp-eyed and dependable, the family's acknowledged heir. Her mother was younger than her father by more than a decade, far more beautiful, and thoroughly adored after the marriage. She gave birth to a son. But neither parent had any wish to disturb Wang Chen's inheritance, and so relations between them stayed warm. Because Wang Xi was only two years younger than Wang Chen's eldest son, her brother had essentially raised her as a daughter -- sometimes indulging her more than their father ever did. She did not dare press her father for things. Her eldest brother was another matter entirely.
She turned to Hongchou. "Go find Wang Xi and have him arrange a meeting with the big manager."
Wang Xi -- the other one -- was her milk brother.
For this trip to the capital she had brought her personal maids, her milk brother Wang Xi, her wet nurse Mama Wang, and two additional maids. All of them had come with her into the mansion.
Baiguo was not about to let Hongchou's suggestion pass unchecked. She spoke to Wang Xi quietly, her tone measured: "We traveled from Shu to the capital -- nearly two months on the road. Once the uncle receives the letter and sends the item back, more than half a year will have gone by. By then the young lady may well be preparing to go home. Rather than writing to the uncle through the big manager, it would be simpler to ask the big manager to look around the capital and see whether a clairvoyant of the same kind can be purchased here."
Wang Xi considered this and admitted Baiguo was right. She praised her for the foresight and told her to relay the new instructions to Wang Xi herself.
Baiguo answered with a smile, then stepped outside -- and the moment she cleared the threshold, she seized Hongchou by the ear and pulled her close.
"The young lady is still a child," she hissed, keeping her voice low, "and you encouraged her! Do you have any idea where we are? One wrong step, one breath of gossip reaching the ladies of this house, and I will have your skin."
When they had arrived, the eldest mistress had placed several of the maids under Baiguo's authority. Disobedience was not an empty threat.
Hongchou hunched her shoulders and did not argue -- only pleaded in a small voice: "Sister Baiguo, I only wanted to cheer the young lady up. She has been so low these past few days."
"Even so, you cannot urge the young lady to spy on a man practicing sword! And you nearly let it reach the uncle's ears. You are headed for disaster." Baiguo did not soften her grip. "The man with the sword is a young man, in case you have forgotten."
Hongchou's role was to keep the young lady entertained, but this had gone too far. If she let it pass without correction, there was no knowing what trouble would follow.
Baiguo twisted the ear harder. "The residence next door belongs to Princess Baoqing. Any man seen moving through her inner courtyard is no idle visitor. Did your discipline nurse not explain this before you left home? Princess Baoqing is the Emperor's only sister. She is married to Chen Yu, former Commander of the Five Armies Military Governor's Office and Duke of Zhenguo. Even the Marquis of Yongcheng receives him with full ceremony. And you thought it was acceptable to let the young lady peer into their private courtyard? Have you lost your mind entirely? You do not know how vast the sky is or how deep the earth runs."
Hongchou gritted her teeth against the pain. Knowing she had to say something useful or face worse, she pressed one hand over her ear and said: "The young lady said she only came to see the capital, to enjoy the mountains and the sights before going home. That is all I was thinking of--"
Baiguo went still.
In the wealthy Wang household, the eldest master ran the family business, and the young lady was his only daughter. People in Shu regarded her as a treasure beyond price. Matchmakers and families with ambitions had circled her for years without rest, their methods growing more tiresome by the season. The eldest mistress had finally concluded that the capital, with its layered hierarchies and hidden power, might offer what Shu could not -- a family worthy of the young lady. She had approached the old dowager of the Marquis's mansion and asked her to look for a suitable match.
The eldest master had refused outright, arguing the Wang family had no standing there to protect their daughter.
The eldest mistress had brought up the fifth aunt. "Without your three thousand taels, her reconciliation would never have gone smoothly, would it?"
The eldest master fired back: "That is because my second uncle's dowry for the fifth aunt was indecently small."
The eldest mistress shook with fury. "If you had not said what you said, those wolves would never have fixed their eyes on our girl."
He had nothing more to say. He gave his reluctant consent, and the young lady came to the capital.
Baiguo had assumed they would remain in the Marquis's mansion until the young lady was married and gone. What she had not anticipated was that the young lady -- who ordinarily sided with the old mistress against the eldest master -- had this time taken her father's side entirely.
She needed to speak with the young lady directly, and soon. She needed to understand what the young lady was actually thinking.
Baiguo released Hongchou's ear with a distracted flick. "I will let this go. Once more, and I will not be lenient."
Hongchou, relieved beyond words, immediately began kneading Baiguo's shoulders.
Baiguo shook her off with a helpless look. "You have a task now: stay close to the young lady, watch what happens next door, and keep her from getting herself into trouble."
Hongchou swore she would, and went back to find Wang Xi in the garden. Baiguo continued on to deliver the message.
She had barely passed through the hanging flower gate, however, when she nearly walked into Mama Pan -- the most capable attendant of Aunt Wang and the Marchioness -- coming from the opposite direction. A small maid trailed behind her carrying a copper basin.
Mama Pan spotted her first and called out warmly: "Isn't this Miss Biao's Baiguo? I swear you grow prettier every time I see you!"
Baiguo was puzzled. Mama Pan had never shown them this kind of warmth before.
She kept her expression pleasant and closed the distance, exchanging greetings while stealing a quick glance at Aunt Wang. Aunt Wang gave a small smile and a subtle nod -- don't worry.
Mama Pan had already taken Baiguo's hand. "It is exactly the season for shad, and someone sent two fine ones over. The mistress knows Miss Biao has come all the way from Sichuan and likely finds the food here difficult -- so she asked me to bring them personally and add them to Miss Biao's table tonight. She wants the kitchen to prepare them herself."
So this was an apology on the young lady's behalf.
The cooks in the Marquis's mansion were well rewarded and held high rank among the household staff, yet they had barely acknowledged the food needs of her young lady. Wang Xi's people had quietly arranged for the big manager of the Beijing branch to hire two women skilled in Sichuan cooking to serve them directly. Word of this had apparently reached the Marchioness.
She was embarrassed enough to send shad.
Baiguo held all of this behind her eyes and answered with perfect courtesy: "What trouble the Marchioness goes to. When the young lady has a moment from attending Madam Tai, she will come herself to give thanks. The Marchioness has been so thoughtful -- not a detail has been overlooked. The young lady is grateful for every kindness. Please convey that to the Marchioness, and ask her not to think her ungrateful for the delay."
The senior wives who managed the Marquis's household had, on the whole, been good to their young lady -- especially the old dowager, far away in Jinling, who treated her almost like a granddaughter: taking her to temples and Taoist shrines, praying for her health and safety, bringing gifts from thousands of miles away. But large households always had their gradations, and not everyone kept their eyes level. That was simply the nature of great houses.
Baiguo exchanged a few more pleasantries with Mama Pan, and they parted ways.
The backyard of Qingxue Garden was white with pear blossoms. They covered every branch so completely that the trees looked as though they had been buried under the season's first snow.
Wang Xi wore a fitted narrow-sleeved jacket in bean-green brocade woven with a pattern of ten treasures, and kicked a shuttlecock beneath the pear trees with Hongchou.
The morning sun slanted gold through the branches and caught her flushed face, making her brighter than the spring itself.
Mama Pan, following Aunt Wang through the lattice of boughs, stood arrested for a long moment before she recovered herself.
The first time she had seen Wang Xi, the girl had been wrapped in a Shu-embroidered skirt and a shawl of dark mink, moving through a crowd of maids, ropes of gold at her neck, and a ruby the size of a goose egg hanging at the center -- heavy, vivid, impossible to look away from. You could not see the girl for the jewelry.
She had not expected that beneath all of it would be a face like this.
Looking more closely -- yes, she bore a strong resemblance to the great-aunt of their own household. Four parts in ten, perhaps five.
Mama Pan smoothed her expression into a smile and stepped forward to greet her.
Wang Xi spun on one foot, kicked the shuttlecock neatly to Hongchou, and stood still beneath the blossoms. She reached toward the small maid at her side who was holding a warm cloth, smiled once at Mama Pan in acknowledgment, and waited.
The maid lowered her gaze and offered the cloth with both hands.
Wang Xi wiped her hands, unhurried, then looked at Mama Pan and said: "What brings you here? Is there something for me?"
She sounded less like a young lady and more like a young lord.
Something in the directness of it made Mama Pan stand a little straighter without meaning to. She kept her smile and repeated her errand.
Wang Xi received the words without particular ceremony.
Her father had taught her when she was very small: give effort where the relationship calls for it. Between equals, you use your mind. Between unequals, what matters is simply who holds the greater weight. Mama Pan and she were clearly not equals. So she took what Mama Pan said at face value and thought nothing further of it.
She tossed the warm cloth back to the maid and waved the girl carrying the copper basin forward.
In the basin, two shad lay alive in clear water, each no longer than half a foot, their scales bright and clean, moving with quick energy.
Wang Xi slipped her pale fingers into the water and stirred gently.
Both fish thrashed their heads and tails, nearly clearing the rim of the basin.
She pressed her lips together to suppress a smile, took the fresh warm cloth from the maid's hand, dried her fingers again, and then told Mama Pan to convey her thanks to the Marchioness. She added: "No need to send someone to watch over the kitchen. The cook in my own rooms manages perfectly well. Let her handle it."
Was that a comment on the skill of the mansion's kitchen staff? Or was she signaling that she felt she had been slighted?
Mama Pan's face burned. She spent some time explaining: "The fault was entirely mine -- an oversight I should never have allowed. The Marchioness only learned of it just now and has already gone to speak with the old dowager about how best to make it right."
The kitchen woman in question had originally been one of the old dowager's personal attendants brought into the household from her own family. That was the only reason she had dared to be so bold.