Chapter 8: Medicinal Soup

While Wei Xiao was lost in thought, the door opened and closed.

Momo Zhou tiptoed in and set the bowl of soup on the table.

“Young Master, the young madam is right. After drinking cold wine and being caught in the rain, you mustn’t rush to bathe. Hot and cold all at once can catch a chill.”

Wei Xiao said nothing for a moment. Just earlier, Momo Zhou had urged him to hurry in and bathe.

But after hearing Madam Lan’s words, she had changed her tune entirely.

Lan Yunjin put away her list, rose, and took an undergarment and outer robe from the cabinet, laying them on the wooden rack.

Wei Xiao didn’t speak. He bent down to sit and drained the bowl of yam and mutton soup in one go.

Madam Lan was sparing with her words. Once she’d spoken, she simply returned to her own tasks.

Even words of concern from her didn’t carry much warmth.

The mutton soup warmed his belly, bringing moisture to his mouth.

“Husband, shall I help you bathe?”

Lan Yunjin didn’t particularly want to ask.

She hadn’t attended to a man’s bath for many years. As the madam of her own household, she had been free to decide when to rest and when to bathe, entirely on her own terms.

With Momo Zhou watching in the room, if she showed no sign of the virtuous-wife-and-good-mother role, ignoring Wei Xiao altogether, it would only cause trouble.

Wei Xiao didn’t need to think; his answer came quickly: “No need.”

Lan Yunjin saw Momo Zhou give her a wink, clearly urging her to be more forward.

“Husband has worked hard all day; as a wife, I ought to take care of you,” Lan Yunjin said softly, lips pressed together.

By the lamplight, she avoided looking directly at Wei Xiao’s face.

The clearer his face became to her, the harder it was to treat him as someone of her own generation.

After all, she had died old. In a bronze mirror, her face had been wrinkled, her brows sparse and grey; even with distant-mountain-dye drawn on, her eyebrows were far from ideal.

When one is old, how could an appearance be compared to that of a girl in her teens?

But Lan Yunjin refused to yield to age—she insisted on walking twice daily around the mansion, had the maid buy the latest rouge and lip balm, and allowed herself to be dressed and groomed each morning.

As expected, Wei Xiao refused.

Lan Yunjin looked helplessly toward Momo Zhou; surely the nursemaid knew Wei Xiao’s temperament better than she did.

Momo Zhou could only give up on pushing the young madam to test him—most likely, the young master’s old ailment had not fully healed, and he still could not accept such close service.

Wei Xiao bathed for less than half an hour before emerging from the tub.

By then, Lan Yunjin had finished tidying herself. Yuchan removed her hairpins, gold hairpiece, and earrings. Her black hair fell down her back, reaching her waist.

Momo Zhou was nowhere to be seen.

Wei Xiao asked, “Have you bathed?”

Lan Yunjin, as terse as ever, nodded. “I have.”

This meant the couple would soon lie down to rest. Though they had shared a bed for two or three nights, at this moment Wei Xiao still found his desire rising uncontrollably.

His wife had said she would cure his ailment, but he suspected she was lying.

In less than two days, she had used three or four excuses to delay it, such as her monthly cycle was coming, her eyes were tired, her body was weary, she had to rise early to pay respects, etc.

Wei Xiao did not force her. When she declined, he reined in his desire.

His mother claimed he had an ailment, and at first, he let her guess as she pleased.

He didn’t believe he was ill, nor did he care much. He could not remember when the symptoms had started; often his palms and soles felt hot. The army doctor who checked his pulse said he had overindulged in tonics.

Wei Xiao didn’t understand, as the army rations were rough: wild fruit and flatbread, which was nothing that could possibly “nourish the body.”

He had cursed the army doctor as incompetent.

When it was severe, Wei Xiao couldn’t sleep all night. He would go outside the tent to train until he was drenched in sweat, then return to rest once fatigue and drowsiness set in.

In time, Wei Xiao began to think of it as an unspeakable illness.

The door creaked, revealing Momo Zhou, holding a porcelain bowl steaming with white vapor.

The young master’s return to Chang’an was rare, and his stay is brief; it might be years before his next visit.

So the madam was anxious, and as her nursemaid, she shared the urgency.

They had no way of knowing how much of the young master’s ailment had improved. If he didn’t take his medicine regularly, when would the young madam be able to conceive?

Wei Xiao was used to this; his mother had the kitchen prepare “fire-purging” soup every night, and it never seemed to work.

Pipa took the porcelain bowl and presented it to Wei Xiao.

Momo Zhou had often whispered to Pipa that servants must do their utmost to help the young madam secure her place in the household by ensuring she bore the young master’s child as soon as possible.

Pipa had repeated this to Yuchan, who said Momo Zhou truly had their young lady’s best interests at heart.

Pipa gave Yuchan a look; the two of them withdrew together, leaving a single lamp burning for light.

The soup in the porcelain bowl had a strange taste, with a faintly fishy smell.

Lan Yunjin frowned. “Husband, what medicine are you drinking?”

After that night, Madam Zhang’s words were nothing short of deceit.

All medicine carries some poison; since Wei Xiao was perfectly healthy, why was Madam Zhang still having medicinal soup prepared for him?

In the dim lamplight, Lan Yunjin’s face was half-lit, half-shadowed.

No snow-white face powder, no dewy, rose-tinted lip balm; her tone was no longer like someone reciting from a book.

The heat in his body rose and fell in waves, each surge stronger than the last.

Wei Xiao replied, “It’s a tea for clearing heat and soothing the lungs.”

Tea…?

From the decades of medicinal herbs she’d consumed in her later years, Lan Yunjin wouldn’t claim mastery, but when it came to identifying the scent and properties of common herbs, she was rarely wrong.

What Wei Xiao was drinking was most certainly not tea. Deer antler’s chief effect was to tonify yang and relieve fatigue.

In her old age, Lan Yunjin’s temper had grown short. The younger generation in the mansion feared her; behind her back they’d run to their mothers, crying and asking whether Grandmother truly counted them as her own grandchildren.

Why did Grandmother not dote on them at all?

She forced them to study and practice their writing, and if the work was poor, there would be scoldings and punishments to copy passages.

Lan Yunjin herself didn’t know why.

She once had her adopted son invite a physician to take her pulse. The doctor said she suffered from excess yin and deficient yang, an imbalance of the two forces, making her unable to bear contradiction; thus, she could not restrain her temper.

Before he could finish speaking, Lan Yunjin ordered her maid to send him away.

She had labored for the Duke’s household her entire life, obeying her mother-in-law’s orders, pouring in her heart and energy, only for others to call her a strange, fearsome old crone.

Lan Yunjin could not accept that.

That physician was, in truth, skilled. He took no offense at her dismissal and carefully wrote out a prescription.

Knowing she had been in the wrong, she paid him generously and followed his instructions.

Since the prescription worked and since deer antler was an indispensable ingredient, Lan Yunjin would watch the maids decoct the medicine, learning to recognize the herbs.

After a pause, Lan Yunjin said, “Husband, do you know this brew contains deer antler?”

“Deer antler?” Wei Xiao had no knowledge of herbs. “Isn’t that for clearing heat?”

Lan Yunjin was silent for a moment. If Wei Xiao remained in the dark and kept drinking these tonics, the harm would be far greater than any benefit.

In the end, it came down to Wei Xiao suffering from a lack of learning and to Madam Zhang’s misguided cleverness of making guesses about her son’s condition without seeking the truth, brewing medicines on speculation, heedless of whether they might harm him.

Lan Yunjin said, “I studied medical texts in the women’s quarters. Deer antler is a warm tonic for kidney yang. If this truly were tea for clearing heat, how could it carry the scent of deer antler?”

Apart from the wedding night, Lan Yunjin had not allowed herself such reckless actions and refused Wei Xiao any contact.

He was young and full of fire; if he kept swallowing these tonics at Madam Zhang’s urging, sooner or later something would go awry, and she would not escape blame.

Softly, she said, “If you trust me, Husband, try not drinking this medicine. Your illness might well be cured.”

Without suspicion, Wei Xiao got up, fetched a wineskin, and poured the medicine into it.

—

The night passed in peace; nothing happened.

When Lan Yunjin woke, the space beside her pillow was empty, which means he had gone to the back courtyard to practice martial arts as usual.

Momo Zhou set out the morning meal. “Young Madam, there will be guests in the mansion today. The young master and the master will be hosting them in the main hall. We womenfolk will not go to the front court.”

Lan Yunjin replied, “Yesterday my mother-in-law told me to procure items for the schoolroom. I’ve made a list—please have Steward Hu see to it.”

The study was in the back courtyard; it wouldn’t hinder her work.

After dressing for the morning greeting, Lan Yunjin went to Madam Zhang’s quarters.

On the way, she encountered Xue Yan and her second sister-in-law, Liang Miaoyin, so the three went together.

Madam Zhang, as always, awaited her daughters-in-law early in the day. Though she could not treat them all equally, she favored the Lan family’s daughter most, as her conversations with her were long and detailed.

As tea was replenished pot after pot, Xue Yan reminded Madam Zhang, “Should we take Ying-niang to the garden today to let her get to know her sisters and sisters-in-law’s quarters?”

The mansion, with its three entrances and four exits, had twenty-odd women’s quarters.

The bamboo grove Xue Yan mentioned housed the younger ladies of the family.

One such young lady was in the garden, playing with a wooden sword. When she saw Madam Zhang and the others approach, she stopped at once.

“Grandmother, may you be well.”

Wei Jun and the girls of the Bamboo Grove had grown up steeped in martial arts. They loved to act out tales of chivalry; two or three would play the part of bandits, and four or five would be sword-wielding heroines, all dressed in men’s robes, hair loosely tied. Their features held a touch of heroism, and at a glance they could pass for spirited young men.

Madam Zhang coughed. “What sort of conduct is this?”

Xue Yan pressed her forehead, saying the sight gave her a headache, and ordered the maids to take them back to the women’s quarters to change.

Lan Yunjin smiled faintly. She had never been fond of children.

Though she and her elder sister shared the same face, the children of the Lan family preferred the elder sister, while when they saw her, they either pulled a long face or ignored her entirely, except for Seventh Sister.

Seventh Sister might complain that she was not as gentle as her elder sister, yet she would still generously say, “Fifth Sister may not be gentle, but she’s a good playmate.”

The Wei family’s young ladies, no doubt, were not ones to sit quietly in the study reading.

Adults were easy enough to handle, but children were the most difficult. Misjudge their moods, and they would only take a dislike to you.

Silently, Lan Yunjin resolved that in the days ahead, she must not give herself away before the children.

Xue Yan sighed. “Forgive me for letting my younger sister-in-law see such a scene. I truly have no way to manage these children.”

Lan Yunjin said, “Children are lively; they’ll grow out of it.”

Thinking of her sister-in-law’s twin, Xue Yan asked, “Ying-niang, you and your sister must be very close. Do you ever quarrel?”

Afraid her sister-in-law might misunderstand, she laughed. “My eldest and second sons fight every few days. When tempers flare, they come running to my room, insisting I judge the case between them.”

Lan Yunjin said, “My sister and I have quarreled too. Between siblings, when opinions differ, harsh words are bound to be said in the heat of the moment.”

By then, the young ladies had begun descending from the loft one by one.

Pausing, Lan Yunjin brought up the Spring Banquet. “Mother-in-law, I had planned to return home in a few days, but now that the capital is preparing for the Spring Banquet, it will have to be delayed.”

Madam Zhang knew the hardship of a married daughter unable to visit her natal home, so she comforted her, “Ying-niang, I won’t let you go a year without visiting. When this busy spell passes away, your father-in-law and I will pick an auspicious day, and ask Changyang to take a leave to escort you back.”

“Thank you for your kindness, Mother-in-law.” Lan Yunjin’s smile deepened slightly. “Yesterday, when I visited the Noble Consort in the palace, she told me that my sister and brother-in-law will also be coming to Chang’an next month for the banquet.”

Madam Zhang brightened. “That’s wonderful news! When your sister arrives, she should come to stay here in our mansion.”

In the east, the morning sun slowly unfurled its golden face. Light spilled through the bamboo grove, dappling the hibiscus leaves swaying lazily in the breeze. There were flowerbeds here and fresh green grass, but no bamboo.

Lan Yunjin lowered her gaze.

She was now riding a tiger and could not dismount.

By the banquet’s date, her elder sister would already be on the road to Chang’an.