With a ready-made golden and jade match like this right here
Even now, Jiang Xuesui couldn't forget the times in her childhood when she went to Sui Garden with her parents. She would sit between them, her father feeding her from a small bowl, and her mother occasionally placing her favorite dishes into that bowl. When her lips got stained with sauce or rice, her mother would wipe her mouth with a silk handkerchief that smelled of magnolia, her face adorned with a gentle, elegant smile. If she threw a tantrum and refused to eat her greens, her father would tell all sorts of interesting little stories to coax her patiently. When she picked up the food that had fallen onto the bib around her neck and placed it in the bone dish, her mother would praise her for being a good girl. If only her mother could have stayed, how wonderful that would have been.
She always envied her cousins on her maternal side, who had a family reunion every Mid-Autumn Festival. That was why she loved her father the most, and he loved her the most in return. Over the years, colleagues, friends, and relatives had often advised her father to remarry, or at least take one or two concubines to carry on the family line. But her father was content to guard his wife's lonely grave. Three years ago, he had even dug his own burial plot beside her mother's grave and erected an unmarked stele. When his time came, he would sleep in the same tomb as her mother. Having a son was never an obsession for her father. He would tirelessly tell those who urged him, "My Yuanyuan is the eternal flame of our family."
Jiang Xuesui also read some history books and novels that depicted the world, and she knew what it meant to "eat up the property of a childless couple" and what "return to the original clan after three generations" meant. Moreover, her family was immensely wealthy, famous throughout Jiangnan. Jiangnan encompassed seven provinces, and in those provinces, her family owned tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land. One hectare was fifteen mu, and one mu was worth sixty taels of silver. Just from that land alone, the money could be squandered for ten lifetimes. So her marriage—easy to say, difficult to do. After all, she could choose any worthy young man under heaven. But if she wanted to find someone who came for her alone, there was probably none in ten thousand.
As Jiang Xuesui grew up, she had few worries but many regrets. She hated that bandits had kidnapped her, causing her mother to worry and fall ill, eventually dying without recovering. She often thought: if she hadn't insisted on going to the street to buy sugar-coated hawthorns that day, would the bandits not have had the chance? Would her mother not have left her so early? After that, she never ate a single sugar-coated hawthorn again.
And Wen Qiao—if he hadn't rescued her that day, she might have ended up in a foreign land, unrecognized even by her parents. When bandits kidnapped and extorted, even after receiving the money, they rarely returned the child. Wen Qiao had saved her life. Her father said that this debt of gratitude could never be repaid in a lifetime; the Jiang family would forever owe Wen Qiao. Because in her parents' hearts, she was a priceless treasure. And when that priceless treasure was recovered, the person who returned it naturally incurred a priceless debt.
*
On the seventh day of the third month of the fourteenth year of Zhengshi, the spring sun was warm. Wen Yuan'ai, Wen Yuanjia, and Wen Yuanxi were offering sacrifices to the peach blossom spirit of March in the garden. The portrait of the Peach Blossom Lady had been painted by Jiang Xuesui herself. The three Wen ladies had each invited their close friends to join in the fun. That day, under the peach blossom grove, the air was filled with the fragrance of clothes and the shimmer of hair ornaments—a scene of stunning beauty.
"Yuanyuan's painting is truly wonderful. This Peach Blossom Lady has such pure divinity and visible compassion. Anyone who sees it believes the Peach Blossom Lady really looks like this."
"Yuanyuan's paintings have even been praised by His Majesty. Many masters of the Jiangnan painting school have heaped praise on her. Do you know the market price of her earlier painting 'Spring Court Ladies'?'"
"Five thousand taels?"
"Eight thousand taels?"
"Good heavens, surely it didn't exceed ten thousand taels?"
"Ten thousand in gold, equivalent to over sixty thousand taels of silver."
The young ladies were all exclaiming and raising their eyebrows. Suddenly one of them asked, "Where is Yuanyuan? Isn't she coming to worship the Peach Blossom Lady today?"
Wen Yuan'ai laughed. "Yuanyuan says the Peach Blossom Lady is the goddess of marriage, so it's not good for her to worship."
A young lady teased, "That's true. She's only been to a few polo matches and hasn't even played yet, yet many young masters are already gazing at her pavilion. If she worships the goddess of marriage, the peach blossoms would be crushed under her."
Wen Yuan'ai: "Exactly. Yuanyuan is probably under the pear tree in the northeast corner, swinging on a swing. After you finish worshipping the Peach Blossom Lady, go find her to play."
After Wen Yuan'ai finished worshipping, Fuzi, her mother's maid, came to summon her. Fuzi said, "Relatives from the main wife's family have arrived—your grandaunt and your younger cousin and cousin's wife. Please go quickly to the Penglai Study to meet them."
Wen Yuan'ai had some memory of this Grandaunt Wu. Grandaunt Wu had married a wealthy Jiangnan merchant, but it was said that in recent years the family business had declined, and their circumstances were much worse, somewhat straitened. This grandaunt, with whom they rarely interacted, had suddenly come calling—probably because they were in trouble and wanted her mother's help. Her mother was soft-hearted. If Grandaunt Wu was a good person, it would be fine to help, but if she wasn't, her mother would end up being a good-for-nothing. Wen Yuan'ai's thoughts raced as she arrived at the main room of the Penglai Study.
Even though these were Lady Sang's relatives by marriage, Old Madam Wen had invited Lady Zhu and Lady Yu to accompany them, and Imperial Consort Dowager Sang had also come. At that moment, Imperial Consort Dowager Sang and Old Madam Wen were seated at the head. Grandaunt Wu and her granddaughter Wu Zhaodi sat on embroidered stools to the lower right. Although the Wus' clothes were brand new, the fabric colors were old-fashioned and the patterns outdated. Grandaunt Wu still wore some gold and silver jewelry, but Wu Zhaodi had only two plain silk flowers in her hair. With Imperial Consort Dowager Sang present, Lady Sang felt much more confident and straightened her back in front of her two sisters-in-law.
Wen Yuan'ai stepped forward to greet the elders one by one, and finally exchanged courtesies with Wu Zhaodi. Wu Zhaodi rose shyly to return the greeting, her movements awkward.
Seeing that only Wen Yuan'ai had come, Grandaunt Wu's expression soured. "Doesn't this mansion have four young ladies, including Sister Ai, plus that young miss who's a guest? I've set my eye on that guest miss to be my grandson's wife. I really want to see what kind of exquisite person she is."
Hearing that Grandaunt Wu had come to arrange a match for her grandson and granddaughter, Lady Zhu and Lady Yu wanted nothing to do with it. They had specifically instructed the maids not to let Wen Yuanjia and Wen Yuanxi come here. They also found Grandaunt Wu's big talk absurd—she wanted the guest miss to be her grandson's wife, without even considering her own status.
Old Madam Wen, though displeased, maintained a warm spring-like demeanor. "Today the young ladies invited their close friends to play. Jia girl and Xi girl can't just abandon their guests, so I asked only Ai girl to come."
"Then there must be many noble daughters in the garden. I'll go take a look later. This guest miss of yours is good, but unfortunately, she lost her mother early. I'm afraid she's an uncultured wild child. My Yaozu is the sole heir of eighteen generations, so his marriage must be approached with great caution."
Grandaunt Wu didn't notice the chilling glare Imperial Consort Dowager Sang directed at her. Old Madam Wen and the three Wen wives all looked mortified. Calling Jiang Xuesui an uncultured wild child was as good as treating them—her grandmother and aunts—as dead. The death of her daughter Wen Xincheng at twenty had always been a thorn in Old Madam Wen's heart, and Grandaunt Wu had just ripped open that wound. If Duke Xiangguo, Second Master Wen, or Third Master Wen had been present, they would have ordered the servants to throw Grandaunt Wu out.
Imperial Consort Dowager Sang gave her niece a meaningful look. Wen Yuan'ai snorted at Grandaunt Wu. "My cousin's father is a powerful frontier official. Her family background is more than enough for a royal consort. Can your bankrupt family's grandson match my cousin?"
Grandaunt Wu's face flushed with anger as she glared at Wen Yuan'ai, looking as if she wanted to devour her. "No wonder you can't get married—it's because your tongue is so sharp. How dare a junior interrupt when an elder is speaking? Unlike my Zhaodi, who is so well-behaved. Isn't that right, Ling Yi?"
Grandaunt Wu turned to Imperial Consort Dowager Sang with a fawning expression. Imperial Consort Dowager Sang was sipping tea and nearly choked on a tea leaf when asked. "Ling Yi, before your father died, he instructed that our families were to be joined by marriage. That Qiao boy of Miaoyi has no title to inherit, and the Yu boy who will inherit the title is still too young. I think your little prince is very good. My Zhaodi's figure suggests she'll bear many children—she'll definitely give you a bunch of plump, white grandsons."
Grandaunt Wu was completely oblivious to the sneers on Lady Zhu and Lady Yu's faces. Old Madam Wen was dissatisfied with Grandaunt Wu's picky attitude, but out of deference to Imperial Consort Dowager Sang and Lady Sang, she refrained from making a sharp remark.
Imperial Consort Dowager Sang said, "When Father mentioned marriage, it was about our generation—Ling Yi and Miaoyi—marrying into your family. But at that time, Aunt didn't fancy us sisters as daughters-in-law, saying we were of merchant origin and base character. She chose a magistrate's daughter instead. As for the next generation's marriage—for example, my Xiao Lin—I can't make decisions for him. He's determined to choose someone he likes."
"But the little prince hasn't even seen my Zhaodi. How does he know he won't like her?" Grandaunt Wu was persistent, determined to make her granddaughter the Princess of Duan.
Seeing that Lady Sang seemed to want to speak but hesitated, Lady Zhu sighed and spoke up to help Imperial Consort Dowager Sang: "Prince Duan and our guest miss grew up together like childhood sweethearts. One wears a jade qilin, the other a golden qilin. Moreover, the guest miss has a good family, good looks, good talent, good character—everything is good. With a ready-made golden and jade match like this right here, Grandaunt Wu, don't bother yourself with this."
"Talking about all these good things, she's just a little demon who brings harm to her father and mother. Such thin fortune, I'm surprised you, Ling Yi, would even consider her." Grandaunt Wu was furious, seeing everyone look down on her family's humble status.
Old Madam Wen was so enraged by these words that she clutched her chest and asked for heart pills. Imperial Consort Dowager Sang had had enough and slapped Grandaunt Wu across the face. "Aunt, please show some respect. Don't act like such a miserable old thing."
Grandaunt Wu flew into a rage, threw herself on the ground, and started rolling around. Wu Zhaodi was helpless with her grandmother and, blushing with shame, started crying silently. The scene was in utter chaos.
Then Hailan lifted the curtain and came in to report: "Our Miss Suijie'er was terribly wronged today. She was almost hit by this Young Master Wu. Fortunately, Eldest Young Master Wen arrived in time to rescue her, or else she might have lost her life."