Five days later, news arrived from the front courtyard that Fu Shuang’er had left behind a letter and vanished, leaving her room empty.
Fu Shangyi paced back and forth in the flower hall with a furrowed brow and his hands clasped behind his back. Cheng Xiqiu sat in the seat of honor reading the letter while Madam Liu sat in a side chair sipping tea. Though her words sounded anxious, her demeanor was one of relaxed composure. “Whatever shall we do? The Fang family’s betrothal gifts are already on the way. Even if their business isn’t what it used to be, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse; we can’t afford to offend them.”
Anxious and frustrated, Fu Shangyi couldn’t help but snap at Madam Liu, despite his usual favoritism toward her. “This is all the trouble you’ve caused! I told you long ago that Shuang’er is still young and should stay at home a few more years, yet you insisted on finding her a match!”
Madam Liu was displeased. Just as she was about to slap the table and retort, she remembered Cheng Xiqiu was still present. She adopted an aggrieved expression instead. “Without your approval, why would I have gone to such lengths, begging everyone I knew to contact the Fang family? In the end, wasn’t it all for your precious daughter to have a good life? And now you turn around and blame me?”
Fu Shangyi was rendered speechless; he had indeed agreed to the matter. However, he never imagined his usually sweet and obedient daughter would have the nerve to elope with someone! He also blamed himself for not paying closer attention; he hadn’t even realized his daughter was involved with some tea-planting lad.
“Then did you know she had a sweetheart?”
Madam Liu replied, “I knew a little.”
“You knew? You knew, yet you still arranged a match for her! Weren’t you just forcing her to leave?!”
Madam Liu looked as if she were about to burst into tears. “Even if I knew, what about it? Would you be willing to marry your daughter off to some crude brute? I had only the best intentions for Shuang’er, yet here you are blaming me instead?”
“I… I didn’t mean it that way.” Fu Shangyi was like that; whenever anything went wrong, he would always lay the blame on others.
As the biological older brother, Fu Jingxuan had been summoned early to help devise a plan. He spent his time sniffing the camellias one moment and admiring a new painting the next, appearing lazy and cynical. Fu Shangyi despised this side of him most; his beard twitched with rage as he slammed the table. “Your own sister has run away! And you, as her brother, still have the heart to look at paintings?”
Fu Jingxuan sat up straight, cast a brief glance at Madam Liu, and asked, “Then should I go find her myself?”
“No need,” Madam Liu said hurriedly. “I’ve already sent the servants. Jingxuan, just stay home and wait for news.” She paused for a moment, her eyes flickering. “Of course, finding Shuang’er is important, but we must also prepare for the worst. If she isn’t located in a few days and the Fang family’s sedan chair arrives at our door, we can’t really let them return empty-handed, can we?”
Fu Shangyi asked, “Then what do you suggest? Who else can fill the vacancy?”
Madam Liu looked troubled. “It’s a pity our family has only one daughter; if there were another, we wouldn’t be in such a bind. If we find an outsider to stand in her place, we won’t know their background, and it would be difficult to take responsibility if anything went wrong.” She pondered back and forth, then seemed to have a sudden flash of inspiration. “Oh! I recall that Jingxuan met Zesheng a few times when you guys were young, right?”
Fu Jingxuan raised his eyes and gave a brief hum of assent.
“Back then, your relationship was so harmonious, you two got along quite well!” She spat out the word “well” through gritted teeth. She had a vivid memory of Fang Zesheng; those two little rascals had bullied Fu Jingye together, leaving him soaking in the river for two days and two nights. He had even helped Fu Jingxuan get a hold over her, allowing him to act tyrannically over her head for all these years! Every last one of them deserved to be a cripple! Deserved to be despised!
Fu Shangyi also reminisced, “They did meet a few times at the tea-tasting gatherings; chasing cats and teasing dogs together, dragging Shuang’er up onto roofs and into trees; completely unlearned and worthless!”
Madam Liu’s teeth itched with hatred, yet she said, “Forget it, forget it. They were only twelve or thirteen then, right at the peak of their mischief.” Changing her tone, she added, “Since there’s this childhood connection, if Shuang’er isn’t found, why not let Jingxuan get into the sedan chair when the time comes?”
“Nonsense!” Fu Shangyi snapped. “Lao Er is a man; what business does he have in a bridal sedan?”
Madam Liu explained, “But besides Xuan’er, there truly isn’t a better candidate. Someone must get into that sedan chair. Xuan’er is acquainted with Fang Zesheng; he can explain the situation clearly to him when the time comes. That would be better than sending an empty sedan back and leaving ourselves open to gossip—people would say our Fu family took advantage of Old Master Fang’s passing to propose and then recant, proving we don’t take the head of the Four Families seriously. Master, we cannot act in a way that would have people turning on us with their words.”
Fu Shangyi hesitated. “But once Lao Er enters the sedan, he must perform the wedding ceremony. Once they’ve bowed together, he counts as having married into the Fang family. How is that handled later?”
Madam Liu picked up her tea bowl and blew on the lukewarm tea. “Then just have Zesheng find a reason to divorce him.”
“No,” Fu Shangyi said. “Divorcing a wife is like sending a sedan chair back; it invites gossip! It’s utterly undignified!”
Madam Liu curled her lips into a smile and looked at Fu Jingxuan, who was playing with a folding fan. “Then this matter still depends on whether Jingxuan has a way to handle it without leaving any fodder for gossip or not.”
Fu Shangyi found it difficult to speak for a moment. After all, no matter how little affection he felt for Fu Jingxuan, he was still his father; such major life events shouldn’t be decided so recklessly. Meeting his hesitant gaze, Fu Jingxuan suddenly became “understanding” and said, “As a member of the Fu family, I must step forward in a moment of crisis. Whether I marry in her place or not, and whether I am divorced or not, I will abide by the arrangements of Father and the First Madam.”
Lacking his own resolve, Fu Shangyi sought Cheng Xiqiu’s opinion. After listening for some time, she set the letter aside and summoned Fu Jingxuan to her room. She had a maid serve tea, seated the two of them opposite each other, and then tapped his forehead with a smile. “You clever little monkey.”
Fu Jingxuan played dumb. “Did First Aunt start raising monkeys?”
Cheng Xiqiu smiled and said, “Isn’t that right? After raising you for over ten years, you’re still thinking of someone else in the end.”
“I am not.” Fu Jingxuan went quiet for a moment, then leaned on the table and said, “I just wanted to demand an explanation.”
“An explanation? And that turned you into someone else’s bride?”
Fu Jingxuan snorted, “What else could I do? That man’s personality is cold and foul, and he is incredibly stubborn.”
Despite her words of reproach, his eyes gleamed. Cheng Xiqiu said warmly, “Zesheng is a pitiful child too. It’s just that after all this time; I don’t know if he still remembers the moments you shared…”
Fu Jingxuan said, “It doesn’t matter whether he remembers or not, as long as I do.”
Cheng Xiqiu said helplessly, “You really trapped Madam Liu this time. She thought she had successfully kicked you out of the house, but she didn’t realize she had fallen right into your pit. She spent every last bit of her savings to smooth things over with the Fang family.”
“Second Madam Liu really didn’t let me down; I really ought to thank her.”
Cheng Xiqiu asked, “How did you know she would definitely do that?”
Fu Jingxuan grinned. “Second Madam Liu is a clever woman with a devious mind, unlike her son, who truly only knows how to take his anger out on others, she has disliked me for a long time but lacked a legitimate reason to drive me away, so I reckoned she would eventually start with Shuang’er. The Fang family was a certainty from the start. Second Madam Liu is malicious and can’t stand to see others do well; she was bound to interfere in Shuang’er’s marriage, and the worse the match, the better. After looking around, the destitute Fang family suited her best. It must have also been within her expectations that Shuang’er would refuse to comply for Kang Lin’s sake. As long as Shuang’er fled the marriage, she would naturally arrange for me to get into the sedan chair as if it were the logical conclusion.”
