Making Inquiries

"Teacher, I came unannounced without even sending a calling card. Please forgive me."

As soon as Lin Yunwan saw Lady Guo, she curtsied in apology.

Lady Guo hurriedly helped her up and said with a chuckle, "Child, when have you ever forgotten me at the three great festivals or on my birthday? And now you're bothering with these empty courtesies?"

"Come, sit down."

Lin Yunwan took Lady Guo's gentle hand and sat beside her. By the reckoning of this life, it might have been only a few years since she and Lady Guo had seen each other, but in truth... it had been over a decade.

Her teacher's hair had already turned white by this time. But though she had never married and had silver strands in her hair, she was lively, with a rosy complexion and a gentle, untroubled gaze. One look was enough to tell she had no worries weighing on her.

"Yun Wan, what are you looking at?"

Lin Yunwan came back to herself and smiled. "Nothing." She only thought that living a whole life like her teacher's might not be so bad.

Lady Guo studied Lin Yunwan from every angle. They had been apart for only a few years, yet somehow the girl seemed very different.

Lin Yunwan hurriedly smiled and said, "I came today because there's something I wanted to ask you about."

Lady Guo's attention immediately shifted. Smiling, she asked, "What is it? Go on."

Lin Yunwan said, "A woman in the Lu family wants to divorce her husband, but given her status, I'm afraid it won't be easy. I remember once, when I was still unmarried, I happened to hear you and Grandmother mention that an older sister of one of your female students had married, then divorced her husband and remarried?"

What was more, that student came from no ordinary family.

Although the court permitted women to remarry, women from official families were rarely divorced by mutual agreement or repudiated, especially in noble households like a marquis's residence, which would never allow a woman to return to her maiden home.

The Lin clan, with its reputation for upright scholarship, went even further. It would rather have a woman hang herself with a length of white silk than allow her to divorce and return to the Lin family.

"I know it's another family's private affair, so if it's inconvenient for you to tell me, Teacher, that's all right."

Lady Guo felt relieved. Yunwan was asking on behalf of a woman in the Lu family. She clasped Lin Yunwan's hand tightly and said, "There's no harm in telling you. My student's father was a high-ranking official of the third rank, and her sister married into a distinguished family as well. Who would have thought that although her sister's husband came from a scholarly family, he was a man who liked to beat people? My student's sister endured it for three years, until she truly couldn't bear it anymore and had nearly lost her life. Only then did she tell her family."

Lin Yunwan was somewhat startled. It wasn't unheard of for men in official families to strike women, but the cases she knew of involved men shoving or laying hands on their principal wives during quarrels. She had never heard of a man beating his wife nearly to death.

"Did my student's family ask for a divorce because of that? Did her husband's family agree at once?"

"Alas, how could it have been so simple? Her family did ask for a divorce and even submitted an impeachment memorial against her husband's family, but it was no use. His family refused to let her go, no matter what. The laws of the court were there in black and white: once a woman married into her husband's family, she had to die there too. Her own family was utterly helpless."

Lin Yunwan asked curiously, "Then how did she finally manage to get divorced?"

Lady Guo lowered her voice. "Her family swallowed their anger for another year. Later, the first empress died, and the emperor appointed a new empress. My student entered the palace and became empress, and only when the emperor intervened did her sister's husband's family write a Divorce Deed."

Lin Yunwan's heart jolted. So that was how it happened.

Under all heaven, how many women seeking a divorce could secure the emperor's intervention?

It was impossible for her.

Lady Guo said, "Although the emperor intervened to secure a divorce for the empress's legitimate elder sister, she still had to marry far from the capital to quiet the gossip, and she could only return to her maiden home once every few years. Though she escaped her wicked husband's family, she was still separated from her parents and siblings, her own flesh and blood. She was unfortunate too."

That was how the world was. No matter why a woman divorced or was repudiated, it was still the woman who suffered.

Lady Guo asked with concern, "What happened between that woman in the Lu family and her husband that made it impossible for them to go on together?"

But Lin Yunwan found it difficult to answer.

If she had not met that end in her previous life, she could have remained secure as the wife of the Heir Apparent of Wuding Marquis Residence for the rest of her days. In other people's eyes, she simply had not won her husband's heart and had no children of her own. How could that justify asking for a divorce?

Afraid of worrying her teacher, she smiled and said, "Perhaps it's only a woman's complaints. It may not necessarily come to a divorce."

Lady Guo understood. Since Lin Yunwan had come specially to ask about it, the matter certainly could not be as simple as "a woman's complaints."

But Lin Yunwan was already the mistress of a marquis's household and had difficulties of her own. It was all right if she did not explain in detail.

Even so, Lady Guo spoke a few heartfelt words. "It isn't easy for a woman to make her way in the world. I remained unmarried all my life only because my parents died early, I had no siblings, and I was distant from my relatives, so no one could control me. Besides, I've always been strong-willed and have some ability to support myself. I needn't ask anyone for help, and I'm in no one's way.

"To say something terribly improper, how many women under heaven are as 'fortunate' as I am?

"Once an ordinary woman is married, unless she truly can't go on, she can turn her thoughts away from her husband and live her own life, raise her children and manage the household. Somehow, she can get by."

Lin Yunwan lowered her head slightly. "You're right, Teacher."

The two chatted about other things. Lin Yunwan was very concerned about Lady Guo's health and how she had been lately.

Lady Guo felt warmth in her heart, and her smile softened. "My health is much the same. It's better on sunny days and worse when it's overcast. There's nothing much to keep me busy ordinarily—just books and incense."

As she spoke, she glanced at the bronze incense burner with its beast design on the small table. A slender wisp of smoke curled up from it, soft and white as mist.

"Still aged Mysore sandalwood."

Lin Yunwan recognized it as the incense her teacher usually liked to use.

Lady Guo nodded with a smile.

Lin Yunwan suddenly looked intently at Lady Guo and asked, "Teacher, have you been exploring Buddhism or Daoism lately?"

"No." Lady Guo found the question very strange. "You know I don't believe in gods or Buddhas. I rarely even pray to them or hold Daoist rituals."

Lin Yunwan fell into thought. That was rather strange. In her previous life, her teacher...

"My lady, an honored guest has arrived."

Lady Guo's maid suddenly came in to announce the visitor.

The maid had served at Lady Guo's side for years. Lin Yunwan herself was an honored guest of Lady Guo's, so the visitor who had just arrived was even more distinguished than Lin Yunwan. Lady Guo understood.

Lin Yunwan tactfully rose and said, "Teacher, I've imposed on you long enough. It's time I took my leave."

Lady Guo clasped her hand warmly and said, "I'm just an old woman with little to do, and I'm often at home. Come again when you have time."

Lin Yunwan smiled and agreed, then added as if in passing, "Oh, right. I'd also like to ask you for a calligraphy model—the Bamboo Branch Calligraphy Model you used to teach me when I was little."

Lady Guo readily agreed and sent someone to find it for Lin Yunwan to borrow. Then something struck her as odd, and she asked, also in passing, "That model is for children just beginning their studies. As I recall, there aren't any children at the marquis's residence ready to start, are there?"

The maid brought the model and handed it to Lin Yunwan. Unable to bear her elder's loving concern, she accepted it and lowered her head in shame. "The Lu family adopted a child into my name. It's for him."

Lin Yunwan curtsied and left.

Lady Guo stared in astonishment. She was only in her twenties; why would she need to adopt a child as her own?

Could it be that the woman at the Wuding Marquis Residence seeking a divorce was Lin Yunwan herself?

"What's wrong, Teacher?"

A distant, slightly cold voice sounded. Lady Guo came back to herself and bowed to the young, noble-looking man. "Your Highness Prince Huan."

Lady Guo's honored guest was none other than Prince Huan, the emperor's most favored prince and the empress's only legitimate son, Qi Lingheng.