We conclude Chapter 6 with a look at another family member. The Hongmen feast makes a reappearance…
Second Mistress (Yi Lianshen’s wife)Chapter 6.4
Qin Sang felt that the day of the battle was no different from the other ordinary days. It was probably because they were stuck in the residence and could hear the cannons going off outside, starting and stopping, stopping and starting. Other than the fact that Yi Lianshen had no time for their usual tête-à-tête, everything else remained the same. The days were like a river frozen in deep winter. The surface of the river had long been frozen solid and the water was deeply sealed under the ice, slowly and noiselessly flowing forward. And not one of them knew what the future would be like.
The only thing that surprised her was finally meeting with Second Mistress. Since the recent upheaval in the family, Second Mistress had not been seen. After Qin Sang was brought to see her, she realised that Second Mistress was not much better off than the rest of the womenfolk. The only difference was that she was still staying in her own quarters and had more of Yi Lianshen’s men around her providing protection, which was really surveillance by another name. Having seen this, Qin Sang knew it would be impossible to say too much to her. Second Mistress was already about five to six months with child, her movements hampered by her growing belly so she had a big table of dishes prepared, saying that she had yet to have a welcome meal for Qin Sang despite the latter having returned for so long.
Second Mistress inquired: "Is Da Sao well?"
Qin Sang answered, "Tolerably well." She then added, "So are the aunts. Si Meimei was ill for a while but I hear she’s recovering these days."
Second Mistress said, "That’s good then."
These few pleasantries having been dispensed with, they could only sit across from each other in silence as they ate, a silence in which even the delicate click of their silver chopsticks could be heard. It was hard to enjoy the delicacies, especially halfway through lunch when they heard the abrupt sound of cannon fire which was near enough to make the house shake slightly and cause some dust to slowly drift down from the ceiling beams. Second Mistress seemed especially startled by this cannon fire. Blankly pressing a hand to her chest, she did not even notice that the chopsticks had slipped from her grasp. Observing her thus, Qin Sang felt strangely conflicted.
Second Mistress raised her head and suddenly smiled at Qin Sang, saying, "I"m really tired. Could I trouble you to help me upstairs to rest?"
Since the guards could not conveniently enter the bedroom upstairs, several servant girls accompanied them up instead. Second Mistress did not say a word on the way back and only when they had entered the bedroom and Qin Sang had closed the door did she let out her breath and nod slightly at Qin Sang.
Qin Sang and Second Mistress were not close because their husbands did not get along; moreover they lived apart and did not see each other except a few times a year. Her sister-in-law obviously wished to speak with her but the servant girls were still hovering about, evidently on Yi Lianshen’s orders. Qin Sang, struck by sudden inspiration, softly asked her in English: "Er Sao, do you have something to tell me?"
Second Mistress, a thoroughly modern woman, was the complete opposite of Eldest Mistress. A cla.s.smate of Yi Lianshen"s, she was a wealthy young lady who had been educated abroad in the latest fashion of the time. She was as adept at riding as she was at dancing and was fluent in both English and French.
As soon as she heard Qin Sang speaking English, her eyes lit up and she instantly replied in kind, "Help me persuade Peter. He’s refused to see me ever since that incident but I hear that he"s met with you."
"Peter" was Yi Lianshen’s English name. Qin Sang said quietly, "Er Sao, you understand Er Ge better than I do. Since he has already decided on this course of action, why would he listen to anything I have to say?"
The light in Second Mistress"s eyes slowly died out and after a pause she asked, "Then, can you persuade him to come and see me for a while?"
Wondering why this Er Sao was asking an outsider to pa.s.s messages to her own husband, Qin Sang stared a little before eventually saying, "I haven’t seen Er Ge these past few days but if I do, I’ll do my best."
Second Mistress clasped her hand with her own slightly cool fingers and said to Qin Sang, "Thank you."
After dinner, Second Mistress personally walked Qin Sang out to the main door.
When Qin Sang went back, she only told Eldest Mistress that she had seen Second Mistress but not the details of their conversation.
Eldest Mistress only sighed and said, "This must be divine judgement. Who would have thought things would end up like this? She doesn’t even know what Er Di is doing, much less manage him. Now we can only hope for that foolish brother to come to his senses and for the Coalition Army to withdraw quickly."
But the Coalition Army did not withdraw and instead fought on for almost half a month. It would have been a stalemate but then the Coalition Army received some outside help. Yi Liankai had somehow managed to persuade the j.a.panese Army to intervene. This intervention involved the j.a.panese naval fleet entering west of the river and sailing right up to Fuyuan"s most important granary, Ji"an. Having been cut off from its most important supply route, Fuyuan held out for another month before entering into negotiations at home and abroad. The terms of the negotiations were extremely harsh and when Qin Sang, secretly listening to the English broadcasts on the radio, heard of the ten conditions demanded by the Coalition Army, she knew Yi Lianshen would never accept them.
As expected, Yi Lianshen did not accept such terms and retaliated but this battle was over very quickly and the bombardment stopped after half a day. Shortly after, Yi Lianshen sent for Qin Sang.
Qin Sang did not know what was happening outside of Fuyuan because other than the daily sound of cannon fire, the residence was as peaceful as of old.
The weather had turned cold and Eldest Mistress had time on her hands so she began working on a silk cotton-padded robe, saying it was for Father.
Eldest Mistress was an extremely filial daughter-in-law who made Yi Jipei a new cotton-padded robe every year. Even though Yi Jipei’s fate was unclear, she still went ahead and started sewing one.
Qin Sang did not know sewing but watched her and started learning how to shape the silk wadding. As they were busy with this, the door was unlocked and the guard told Qin Sang that Yi Lianshen wanted to see her.
Although she didn’t know what it was about, she couldn’t disobey his summons. She had not seen him for over half a month and guessed that with the uptick in military affairs, he had very little mood for idle talk. Now he wanted to see her again, who knew whether for good or for ill, but clearly the fighting had reached a certain state even if it was not clear whether the Coalition Army had prevailed or his forces had defended successfully.
Yi Lianshen was not in uniform. He wore a changpao — a traditional long robe — and was waiting in the early winter wind. He had lost some weight and looked like some genteel Confucian scholar. They dined again at the waterside pavilion but by this time the osmanthus had long wilted and the day lilies were yellow and withered; the sky was grey with heavy clouds that hung low which somewhat darkened the pavilions in the garden. The long windows had been closed against the cold and looked out upon the pond full of withered lotus flowers. Although it was a fine day, an occasional sighing wind from the west could be heard. Qin Sang saw that the table was laden with food and could not help looking questioningly at Yi Lianshen who explained, "Last time it was a welcome feast. Today it’s a farewell feast." Qin Sang remained silent and Yi Lianshen, still in that unruffled tone, continued, "That third brother of mine is certainly interesting. During negotiations he wanted me to send Father out of the city but never mentioned you at all. At this rate, even I’m starting to worry for him: how long does he want to carry on with his tantrum?"
Qin Sang said, "Er Ge exaggerates. I already said I was a nonent.i.ty whom he couldn’t care less about. "What care a man if he hath no wife?"¹ What is a woman compared to achieving great things?"
Yi Lianshen burst out guffawing, saying, "Can that third brother of mine be considered to be achieving great things? Well, if you think so… ." As usual he picked up the flagon and poured a cup of wine for Qin Sang, saying: "Last time you refused to drink. This time you"ll oblige me."
Qin Sang said, "Er Ge, I don’t drink. Please don’t force me."
Yi Lianshen said: "You"ll drink this, whether you can or not, want to or not." His tone was casual, as if the matter were of no importance. "Because this wine has poison — cyanide actually — a favourite of Russian spies. Death will be instantaneous and virtually painless." Qin Sang unhesitatingly picked up the wine cup and downed it in one swallow which faintly surprised Yi Lianshen. She was not used to drinking and choked a little from having drunk too fast. After she got her breath back, she said, "It didn’t taste funny at all. I wonder when it"ll take effect."
Yi Lianshen clapped his hands and exclaimed: "Qin Sang! Qin Sang! How did such a fine woman like you come to be married to someone like Yi Liankai? What merit does the son of a mere concubine have to deserve a wife like you?"
Qin Sang said flatly, "Er Ge is drunk. Like two instruments in perfect harmony,² you and Er Sao make a perfect couple. It"s Er Sao who is worthy of being called a virtuous wife. Er Ge must not let her down."
12’s notes: ¹ "What care a man if he hath no wife" is my translation of ｢大丈夫何患無妻｣, a remark made by Zhao Yun (courtesy name Zilong) who lived during the early Three Kingdoms period. The second half of the quote says that to a man, ambition and making something of himself are more important than marriage.
² 琴瑟 qínsè: qin and se, two string instruments that play in perfect harmony (fig. marital harmony)
Translated and edited by 12