The slanting sun shone through the window lattice, tracing neat rows of diamond-shaped patches of light across the exquisite reed mat. The patches grew larger as they spread toward the eastern wall. Half of Chen Caozhi's body lay within them; his face was calm and thoughtful, his eyes seeming especially deep.
When the study suddenly fell quiet, Xiao Chan grew a little frightened. "My lady, Young Master Caozhi, did this servant say something wrong?" she asked timidly.
Ding Youwei waved a hand to signal that Xiao Chan should say no more for the moment, then gazed at Chen Caozhi. "Caozhi, do you think Xiao Chan's suggestion would work?"
Chen Caozhi straightened his back, sitting a little more erect on his heels, and said, "Like Zongzhi and Run'er, I wish I could take you back to Chen Family Cove with us this very moment, Sister-in-law. I know you're unhappy here. Unable to be with your own flesh and blood, even a garden full of spring blossoms brings only sorrow to your eyes. It isn't that I haven't considered what Sister Xiao Chan suggested, but I cannot do that. Why? I think Palace Attendant Quan's appreciation of me owes a great deal to Military Aide Huan's admiration. Military Aide Huan has a subtle understanding of music. In that moment when he appreciated my flute playing, our hearts understood each other, without any distinction of high or low, noble or humble. But Palace Attendant Quan is different. His seemingly friendly manner is really the magnanimity of someone lofty toward someone lowly, a display of courtesy toward men of talent beneath him. He can discuss calligraphy and music with me and praise me generously, but if I imagined I had gained his patronage and asked this favor of him, I fear he would immediately turn a cold eye on me. Then the immense gulf between the great clans and humble families would appear at once. So I cannot ask him. Asking him would only invite humiliation."
Ding Youwei sighed softly. "You're quite right, Caozhi. You leave me both heartsore and comforted."
Not wanting the mood to grow oppressive, Chen Caozhi asked with a smile, "After all I've said, won't you give me a little more praise, Sister-in-law? Like Zongzhi and Run'er, I need praise too."
Ding Youwei's sorrow gave way to a smile. In the same affectionate tone she used with Zongzhi and Run'er, she said, "Very well, I'll praise you. You're neither arrogant nor impetuous, you stay calm when things happen, and your thinking is meticulous. What else? Tell me yourself-"
Everyone in the room laughed, sweeping away the gloomy mood.
Run'er asked, "But Ugly Uncle, when can Mother go home with us?"
"It won't be long," Chen Caozhi said. "We'll take it one step at a time. Run'er trusts Ugly Uncle most, doesn't she?"
"Yes!" Run'er nodded vigorously, and Zongzhi nodded beside her too.
Ding Youwei watched the close-knit uncle and nephews, thinking that in a few days the three of them would return to Chen Family Cove, while she would be unable to go with them. Agu was getting old, and Zongzhi and Run'er still needed someone to care for them. The West Tower Chen Clan owned a fair amount of farmland, all of which needed managing. Although the young master handled matters with maturity and steadiness, he was still only a boy, and he needed to concentrate on his studies rather than be distracted all day by petty worldly affairs-
"Caozhi, copy out that musical score now. I'll take it to my uncle."
Taking the musical score Chen Caozhi had copied onto silk, Ding Youwei went to see her uncle Ding Yi, with A Xiu accompanying her.
Chen Caozhi took the siblings Zongzhi and Run'er for a walk in the little garden and jumped beneath the osmanthus tree, trying to reach higher. This frail body needed persistent exercise; being sickly would never do. Many people of the Jin sought immortality and pursued the Dao, but they seemed little interested in physical fitness. With warfare and epidemics making life bitterly short, it was better to seize what pleasure one could. But Chen Caozhi would not think that way. He meant to live well, attend to his widowed mother and sister-in-law, care for his nephew and niece, pursue learning and advancement, and bring prosperity to his Qiantang Chen Clan...
When Chen Caozhi emerged from his bath, Lai Fu and his son Lai De were already waiting outside the courtyard gate. They reported on their trip to Qiantang County that day to recruit tenant farmers, saying they had found two suitable households, both registered commoners of good standing. There were unregistered refugees too, and they cost even less, but because the Qiantang Chen Clan was not a great clan and could hardly offer them protection, they generally would not seek refuge with them.
Chen Caozhi nodded and told father and son to go eat and rest, and to call for him tomorrow so they could enter the county town together.
Just after Lai Fu and his son left, Ding Youwei returned. She summoned all four maids-Xiao Chan, Qingzhi, A Xiu, and Rain Swallow-to the upstairs hall, saying she had instructions for them. Naturally, Chen Caozhi and the two children would listen as well.
Ding Youwei called their names one by one. "Xiao Chan, A Xiu, Qingzhi, Rain Swallow, which of you four would be willing to go to Chen Family Cove? I mean to live there from now on."
The four maids exchanged glances. Delighted, Xiao Chan asked, "My lady, has the master agreed to let you return to Chen Family Cove?"
Ding Youwei shook her head. "I still cannot return for now."
She had just asked her uncle Ding Yi for permission to return to Chen Family Cove to visit Agu, and he had firmly refused. Ding Youwei had known he would not agree. He feared that once she left, she would never return, and the resulting uproar would once again become known throughout the county, damaging the family's reputation. This had been Ding Youwei's stratagem: deliberately making a request her uncle could not accept so that she could then ask for something less. Thus, when she proposed sending two of her four personal maids to Chen Family Cove to care for Zongzhi and Run'er and fulfill her filial duties by attending to Agu in her stead, Ding Yi hesitated in silence rather than opposing her firmly as before. After Ding Youwei pleaded repeatedly, he agreed.
Xiao Chan spoke first. "I'll go to Chen Family Cove with Young Master Caozhi."
Qingzhi immediately said, "I'll go with Xiao Chan. I like looking after Run'er and Zongzhi."
A Xiu and Rain Swallow hesitated. Both had been born into the household, and their parents and brothers farmed at Ding Clan Manor as protected households of the Ding Clan. Xiao Chan and Qingzhi were orphans.
A Xiu and Rain Swallow said together, "My lady, then let us go too-" Their tone was questioning, unlike the certainty of Xiao Chan and Qingzhi.
Chen Caozhi smiled. "If all four of you go to Chen Family Cove, who will attend to my sister-in-law?"
"Uncle only agreed to let two go," Ding Youwei said. "Let Xiao Chan and Qingzhi go, then. A Xiu and Rain Swallow will stay. I need people by my side too." Then she told Chen Caozhi, "Caozhi, Uncle has also agreed to let you, Zongzhi, and Run'er visit me again in the ninth month, and twice a year from now on."
Zongzhi and Run'er both smiled until their eyes narrowed to slits. Poor children-to be so happy simply because they could see their mother twice a year.
Chen Caozhi said joyfully, "Sister-in-law, aren't these all good things? Set your mind at ease too. Everything will get better for us."
Ding Youwei was filled with joy, truly feeling that everything would get better.
That night, after settling the two children to sleep, Ding Youwei listened closely. In the distance, a manor guard on patrol struck a wooden clapper to mark the hour, its tok-tok sounding through the night. It was already the hour of the Pig. She had A Xiu bring a lantern and stepped into the corridor to look out. A light drizzle was falling, and in the lantern's glow, the blue stone slabs of the courtyard below shone wetly.
"Young Master Caozhi hasn't gone to sleep yet," A Xiu said. "His light is still on."
"Let's go and see," Ding Youwei said.
Mistress and maid went to the room at the western end. The door stood ajar, and a slanting strip of yellow candlelight spilled through the crack.
A Xiu peered through the gap, then turned and said softly, "Young Master Caozhi is writing."
Ding Youwei had A Xiu knock, and they heard Chen Caozhi say, "Please come in. The door isn't bolted. Just push it open."
A Xiu pushed the door open. Standing at the doorway, Ding Youwei looked inside and said, "Why isn't either Xiao Chan or Qingzhi here to attend to you?"
Chen Caozhi rose. "Oh, it's you, Sister-in-law. I told Sister Xiao Chan and Sister Qingzhi not to attend to me, because I read late into the night. I can look after myself. Please sit, Sister-in-law."
Ding Youwei sat on one side of the low rosewood table, facing Chen Caozhi. Glancing at the books, brush, and ink on the table, she said, "You shouldn't stay up too late, Caozhi. It isn't good for young people."
"Sister-in-law, I can't fall asleep if I go to bed too early," Chen Caozhi said. "Six hours of sleep a day is enough for me, because I sleep very soundly. Some people sleep eight or ten hours every day and still have no energy, don't they?"
Ding Youwei laughed and shook her head gently. "I can't win an argument with you. Just take good care of yourself. Now, what are you writing?"
Pointing to a silk scroll on the table, Chen Caozhi said, "This is Liu Shao's The Characters, which I found on your bookshelf. I thought it was very interesting, so I wanted to copy it out."
Ding Youwei looked at the stack of Zuo Bo paper filled with Chen Caozhi's distinctive small running-regular script, graceful and elegantly vigorous. Then, in the candlelight, she noticed that the joints of his brush-holding fingers were slightly red and swollen, and could not help saying tenderly, "If you want that book, just take it. Why copy it? Look, you've written until your hand hurts, haven't you?"
"It's nothing, Sister-in-law," Chen Caozhi said. "It's because I haven't worked hard enough yet. Once thick calluses form where I hold the brush, it won't hurt anymore. Besides, it's best to copy a book out yourself. It deepens your memory and gives you a chance to practice calligraphy-two gains with one effort. No, three gains. You get a book too."
Ding Youwei and A Xiu both laughed. A Xiu praised him. "Young Master Caozhi, you study so hard. You're practically hanging your hair from a beam and pricking your thigh with an awl."
"Wouldn't that frighten you and Sister-in-law terribly?" Chen Caozhi said. "If you came in and saw me hanging my hair from a beam and pricking my thigh with an awl, you'd surely cry out."
Holding back her laughter, Ding Youwei said, "Caozhi, there's something I need to tell you. Didn't my uncle agree to let you, Zongzhi, and Run'er come visit me again in the ninth month? On the ninth day of that month, the county holds an elegant gathering by the river, where people climb to a height and speak of their aspirations. When you come, you can attend the Riverside Gathering as well. With your present learning, you have a chance to make your name there in a single stroke."
"Yes," Chen Caozhi said. "Mother mentioned it to me a few days ago, but she said I was still young and that next year would be soon enough to attend."
"It would be better to attend this year," Ding Youwei said, "because that Palace Attendant Quan is very likely to be responsible for the Nine-Rank System assessments in the twelve counties of Wu Commandery."
"Very well," Chen Caozhi replied. "I'll do as you say, Sister-in-law, and attend this year."
The Riverside Gathering on the ninth day of the ninth month stirred memories of Ding Youwei's girlhood. "Your elder brother first distinguished himself at the Riverside Gathering too," she said. "That was where I first met Qingzhi. Back then, I particularly disliked those powdered and perfumed sons of great clans. With Qingzhi, it was as though we were old friends from the moment we met..."
Outside, the rain rustled softly; within, the room was quiet and warm. Chen Caozhi watched his beautiful, graceful sister-in-law and listened as she recounted her first meeting with his elder brother. An entirely ordinary chance encounter had brought about a marriage between a great clan and a humble family that was almost impossible in this age. It should have been a beautiful tale, yet heartbreakingly, his brother had died too soon, leaving his sister-in-law, Zongzhi, and Run'er behind in this vast world-
Then Chen Caozhi thought, My brother was fortunate too. He married a wife as beautiful and virtuous as Sister-in-law. And I, Chen Caozhi-what sort of wife will I marry someday?
Before you continue