CHAPTER 112: CHAPTER 112: IDENTITY (1)

What does the Grand Dowager’s birthday have to do with them? Xiqiu smiled as she listened to what the Lady had to say.

"In the past years, official kiln porcelain and enamel glass have lacked novelty... It just so happens that your eldest sister heard that a few days ago, the Grand Dowager went to the Shouning Bo Mansion for a wedding banquet and saw several blooming crabapple trees. The Grand Dowager admired them for half a cup of tea’s time and even mentioned wanting to ask Old Madam Lou for some to plant in the garden. This way, she could also appreciate them in her own garden next year." The Lady paused, looking at her three daughters and said, "I thought it would be better if you collaborated to embroider a piece together. First, it’s handmade by you, and your sincerity is incomparable to other things. Second, the Grand Dowager has such vast experience; she’s seen all sorts of precious things, and even if we search for something else, she might not necessarily like it. Simplicity might just appeal to her."

When embroidery was mentioned, Tong Xiyan frowned deeply and said, she couldn’t even make a pocket: "Mother, why would you want to give an embroidery and have us do it ourselves? There are only a few days left, and no matter what we embroider, it’s simply too late!"

The Lady tapped Tong Xiyan’s forehead, disappointed, and said, "You’re not young anymore, spending all day in a pile of books. What’s the use of having a belly full of knowledge like a man? From today on, you’ll stay obediently in the room and practice embroidery."

Tong Xiyan’s face was full of discontent.

The Xuanning Marquis Mansion’s Mrs. Xiao, during the era of Emperor Wen, was a highly influential Imperial Uncle. At that time, they could be said to have swayed the imperial court. Later, when Chengzong ascended the throne, the Empress Dowager had health issues from her youth, and in the third year of Chengzong, she fell ill and never recovered, finally passing away after several lingering months bedridden.

The Empress Dowager’s departure dealt a great blow to the Xuanning Marquis Mansion. Although Chengzong and the then Marquis were legitimate cousins, their relationship wasn’t particularly deep. Chengzong was also a capricious person, and from then on, Mrs. Xiao’s fortunes declined rapidly. At the time, the Marquis withdrew from all official roles to focus on managing household affairs. He even went so far as to plant a vegetable garden in the rear garden of the Mansion with the current Grand Dowager, living a pastoral life far removed from politics.

Several years later, when the Miaojiang region began to stir, the court was unable to find a capable leader. Chengzong personally visited the Marquis Mansion to request the Marquis lead an expedition to Miaojiang.

The Marquis eventually agreed to go on the expedition, entrusting his three-year-old eldest son and newly one-year-old second son to the Emperor’s care, while he took to the field with the army accompanied by the Grand Dowager. The couple set off for Miaojiang, and who would have known it would take three years before the Marquis returned victorious? By then, Chengzong had been imprisoned by Emperor Dezong in Liang Xu Palace for half a year. When the new Emperor learned of the Marquis’s return, he sent orders for the two Xiao sons to be brought fifty li outside the city to welcome him.

The Marquis, seeing the tide had turned and his sons were in Dezong’s hands, decided quickly, surrendering his military badge and entering the city with the Grand Dowager alone.

His decisive action saved the Marquis Mansion. Emperor Dezong, mindful of the Marquis’s past service in pacifying the disturbances, did not pursue old grievances and even said that Empress Dowager Xiao had been kind to him in the past. Not only did he not revoke the Mansion’s title, but he also resigned the Marquis’s honorary title of General Rongwei. However, during those three years in Miaojiang, the Marquis sustained a serious injury in an engagement. Although healed, in wet and cold weather, his entire body became exceptionally stiff, making movement extremely difficult!

The position of General was merely an empty title.

Ten years later, the Old Marquis passed away, and the eldest son, Xiao Yanji, inherited the title. The Grand Dowager, with five sons and one daughter, upheld the household. Though valiant on the battlefield, as a woman, the Grand Dowager could not match the strength of former days.

This is why Xiao Yanji, faced with the war against the feared pirates, took it upon himself to lead an expedition to Fujian, hoping in this way to earn a glorious future for the Marquess’s household.

Xiqiu slowly sipped tea, the past of the Xiao family flickering through her mind. Despite the Xuanning Marquis Mansion not being what it used to be, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. When compared to the Tong Family, it was still a world apart. So when she heard the eldest daughter of the Tong Family was marrying into the Marquis Mansion, she was indeed taken aback, unable to understand how the Xiao family, eager to restore past glory, would marry a daughter of a fifth-rank official, offering no assistance to the Marquis Mansion.

It was only later, after asking Madam Xia, that she learned it was originally not Tong Xihua, but the second Miss Tong Xixue from the second house, whom the Marquis Mansion had proposed to. At that time, the Second Master was thriving in the Ministry of Personnel, with the competent support of Lord Yan holding the reins of power. Second Miss was almost a coveted match, and even the Xiao family had been interested.

The Marquis’s second son and the daughter of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the legitimate granddaughter of Lord Yan, were not incompatible in terms of family status.

Unluckily, though, it was known that the second house had a second Miss of marriageable age, but no one knew she was born frail and had been in weak health since childhood, needing help even to walk in the sun.

The Second Master worriedly discussed with Lord Yan. Both felt the marriage was good; however, the second house had no other girls of marriageable age apart from the second Miss. Thus, the Second Master discussed with the First Master whether to propose having Tong Xihua marry into the Marquis Mansion instead.

Originally, they thought the Marquis Mansion would consider it for a few days, but unexpectedly, the next day, the Grand Dowager sent a matchmaker over, and with the traditional betrothal gifts, brought Tong Xihua into the Mansion, thus establishing the marital connection between the Marquis Mansion and the Tong family.

The Grand Dowager she had never met, but from this matter alone, one could tell she was definitely not your average gentle and virtuous inner-courtyard lady, but rather a decisive and farsighted woman with skills.

The Lady said she liked crabapple flowers and wanted to give her an embroidered piece as a gift. Personally, she thought it wasn’t a good idea.

While thinking, Xiqiu still wore a gentle smile, listening to the Lady’s instructions: "As for what to embroider, I haven’t quite decided..." She paused to look at Tong Xihua: "How about a screen?"

Tong Xihua tilted her head to imagine, wondering how a screen fully embroidered with bright red crabapple flowers would look, but she was already saying: "A screen is hard to finalize. If it’s large, we’re afraid we won’t have enough time; if it’s small, while it might appear delicate, it also tests the embroidery skills..." She looked at her younger sisters and said, "Only Sixth Sister’s embroidery is presentable. Fourth Sister and Eighth Sister won’t be able to help much."

The Lady frowned as well. The matter of the third girl was already settled, but next was the issue of Tong Xiyan’s marriage. She had been in poor health since childhood and rarely went out; now she was of age and ultimately needed to be seen out in society. As the saying goes, ’A good daughter attracts a hundred suitors’, but one must let others know she’s good to make it work.

A few days ago, she mentioned the Zhou family to the First Master. He didn’t object, but said there was no hurry. She understood; after the incidents involving Madam Wang and Tong Xiyang, the First Master had become more cautious about the children’s marriage affairs, to which she had no objection. Indeed, recently, matters in the household had been one after another, especially with Madam Wang’s miscarriage, leaving the First Master less trusting of her than before.

But the First Master’s caution was his concern. Tong Xiyan was her daughter, and her marriage could not be taken lightly.

The Lady hesitated, as if contemplating what exactly to embroider. At this moment, Xiqiu smiled at Tong Xihua, seemingly casually saying, "There’s just a month left; a screen, regardless of size, would likely not be enough time. Since the Grand Dowager likes crabapple flowers so much, why don’t Fourth Sister, Eighth Sister, and I work together to make a set of clothes for her? Using crabapple flowers as the theme, we can focus on the hem. First, it’s just clothes, saving us much effort, and second, cutting and assembling clothes is also much simpler."