Within The Sound of Swallows - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: A Man’s Dignity Lies in Knowing Shame

Since she was an eloquent and quite sensible child, Lord Shen had often taken Shen Guiyan with him whenever he visited other officials’ residences in the past. As a result, Shen Guiyan was acquainted with many noble ladies. Among them, Lady Wu, the wife of the Vice Minister of Rites, held her particularly in high regard. She had met Concubine Qin twice and even formed a friendship with her.

Now that Concubine Qin had passed away, it was only proper for Shen Guiyan to send a mourning notice to the Gao residence, and no one could find fault with it.

However, Lady Wu was unlike most noblewomen. She was straightforward by nature and could not stand injustice. Inviting her at this critical moment was undoubtedly the right move.

“Good child, everyone says you’re blessed with good fortune, but how did you end up encountering so many setbacks this time?”

Lady Wu was dressed in a plain white skirt paired with a dark blue-edged white outer garment. She wore no gold or silver in her hair, only a simple mutton-fat jade ruyi hairpin. She immediately took Shen Guiyan’s hand and said, “I was just about to prepare gifts to send to the Prime Minister’s residence, but who would have thought the bride had been swapped? And Ruo Shui has also met with misfortune.”

Shen Guiyan’s eyes reddened. Feeling the warmth of Lady Wu’s palms, her voice trembled slightly.

“Qin Yiniang’s passing was so sudden… I don’t even know what to do. And now, in just a few days, I’ll be marrying the Fourth Young Master of the Prime Minister’s family. A joyous occasion clashing with mourning, I wonder if Qin Yiniang will resent me in the afterlife.”

“How could she resent you?” Lady Wu sighed. “She had always cared for you the most. Even the two times I saw her this year, all she talked about was how she looked forward to your wedding. It’s a shame you can’t marry Eldest Young Master Gu now, but your marriage isn’t something I can interfere with too much.”

“I understand. Madam’s visit here today already shows your care and kindness.” Shen Guiyan smiled and led her toward the main hall. “Since you’re here, Madam, you might as well meet Mother. She’s been preparing my dowry these past few days.”

Lady Wu nodded, though inwardly she felt somewhat reluctant. She and Madam Shen had never gotten along.  It would be best to just exchange brief greetings and leave.

In the main hall, Madam Shen was overseeing the inventory of Shen Guiyan’s dowry. The gift list appeared to be full of items, but the boxes themselves were surprisingly light. There were fifteen large chests, and each one rattled when shaken.

As soon as Lady Wu stepped inside, she spotted an open chest lined with red silk, containing only three large porcelain plates from the imperial kiln. They were neither heavy nor light items, yet they took up an entire chest. 

“Oh dear, did I come at the wrong time?” Lady Wu quickly stepped back, looked around at the scene, and smiled toward the woman seated in the main seat. “I came to give my greetings, but I didn’t expect Madam Shen to be so busy.”

Madam Shen frowned slightly and glanced toward the doorway, but still stood up with a polite smile. “Ah, Madam Gao.¹ Why didn’t anyone notify me of your arrival?”

She waved her hand to have the servants move the items aside and gave Shen Guiyan a quick glance. She then said with a strained smile, “Madam Gao, please come in and have a seat.”

Lady Wu did not stand on ceremony and promptly sat down. She glanced at the dowry items piled in the corner and raised an eyebrow. “Are these for the Third Miss’ dowry?”

“Yes, as she’s about to be married,” Madam Shen replied as she sat back down as well. Today, she was dressed in a white long skirt paired with a red begonia-patterned outer garment, which completely overshadowed Lady Wu’s more plain and modest attire. As she spoke, she couldn’t help but lift her chin slightly.

Lady Wu gave a light snort and picked up a cup of tea. “Just last month, my family’s fourth girl also got married. She is a daughter from the second branch, one I don’t even like much, but she still got twenty full chests in her dowry, not a single thing skimped on. Oh, I am not trying to meddle in your family affairs, but as the lady of the house, one must be generous. Otherwise, people will talk, and it will reflect poorly on your reputation.”

Madam Shen’s expression darkened, and she replied with a hint of displeasure, “Every family has its own ways of doing things…”

“Indeed, and those family customs reflect one’s status,” Lady Wu said with a chuckle, counting the chests again. “These things… I suppose Master Shen’s salary this year wasn’t enough to cover a proper dowry? No wonder it looks so frugal.”

Among noblewomen, comparisons were common—whether it was jewelry, clothing, their daughters’ marriages, or their husbands’ official ranks—everything was a subject of competition. Naturally, after hearing these, Madam Shen could no longer keep her composure. She pressed her lips together and said, “My husband’s salary is not something Lady Wu  needs to worry about.”

“Of course, it’s not my place to worry about it.” Lady Wu took a sip of tea and clicked her tongue. She then continued, “It’s just that when the time comes, we must make sure to invite over Vice Minister Xia’s wife to take a look. Last year, when she married off her concubine-born daughter and only provided eighteen chests of dowry, people mocked her for an entire year. This year, it seems that it’s someone else’s turn.”

Madam Shen opened her mouth but found no retort. Instead, she glared fiercely at Shen Guiyan.

Shen Guiyan raised an eyebrow, stepped forward, and respectfully bowed. “I believe this dowry is enough. You don’t need to trouble yourself, Madam. I won’t ask for more.”

“You’re quite a sensible girl,” Madam Shen said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “If you’re so sensible, then why bother inviting Lady Wu?”

“Oh, just listen to what you’re saying!” Lady Wu was displeased now. She stood up and looked at Madam Shen. “The Third Miss invited me to offer incense for Concubine Qin, that’s not overstepping, is it? How was I supposed to know you were handling things like this? You prepared these so shabbily, and yet you can’t stand other people pointing it out?”

Madam Shen also stood up, clearly on the verge of an outburst.

Sensing the tension, Shen Guiyan quickly stepped forward to pull Lady Wu aside and said, “Madam Gao, perhaps we should go offer incense to Qin Yiniang first? We didn’t come here today to talk about these things.”

“Incense?” LadyWu sneered. “If Concubine Qin knew her daughter was being mistreated like this, I’m afraid no amount of incense would put her soul to rest! If I hadn’t seen this with my own eyes today, everyone would still think Lady Bao² is a generous and kind matriarch. Anyway, I won’t meddle further in your family affairs, but rest assured, we’ll all be watching closely on the Third Miss’ wedding day.”

With that, Lady Wu flung her sleeve and left first. Shen Guiyan quickly instructed Baoshan to escort her out, while she braced herself and stayed behind in the main hall.

If she had followed Lady Wu and left now, Madam Shen would see it as bringing in outside reinforcements to suppress her. Which was, admittedly, true, but she couldn’t let Madam Shen realize that.

“That meddlesome shrew!” Madam Shen fumed. “Why did you have to bring her here? Now she’s poking her nose into our Shen family business. Is the Gao household not big enough for her?”

Shen Guiyan quickly pacified, “Madam, please calm your anger. Madam Gao is just that kind of person; you know this isn’t the first time she acted like that. She truly came here today to offer incense for Qin Yiniang, and I didn’t know you were organizing things here in the front hall, so…”

Madam Shen huffed and sat fuming in her seat for quite a while before finally waving her off. “You may leave.”

“Yes, Madam,” Shen Guiyan replied, bowing politely before exiting the hall. She then quickly ran to catch up with Lady Wu.

Lady Wu was waiting for her at the front gate, with not a trace of anger left on her face. When Shen Guiyan came closer, she sighed and said, “You clever girl. I knew there must be some trouble, which is why you called for me here.”

Shen Guiyan blushed faintly and gave her a formal curtsey. “Thank you, Madam.”

“Enough of that, I’m willing to help you anyway.” Lady Wu said with a low chuckle. “You did the right thing in calling me here. If it were someone else, even if it’s the Prime Minister’s wife, it might not have been effective. That Bao Shilan, she cares so much about her face. After being put in her place today, she definitely won’t dare skimp on your dowry again. Otherwise, we’ll mock her at every gathering in the future; she wouldn’t be able to bear the shame.”

Shen Guiyan nodded gratefully. “I don’t need a lavish dowry. All I want is just enough to maintain dignity. Thank you for your help, Madam.”

“You sweet child…” Lady Wu patted her hand. “If you get the chance, chat with Jin’er sometime. She’s still unmarried and has nothing better to do. She’s just idling at home.”

“I will,” Shen Guiyan nodded, as she watched Lady Wu get into her carriage and leave.

With Lady Wu’s intervention, Madam Shen spent the rest of the day fuming before quietly instructing the steward to procure additional items. Scraping together from here and there, they barely managed to assemble twenty chests of dowry.

Earlier, she hadn’t thought it through. It was fine if Shen Guiyan lost face, but it was no small matter if it concerned her own reputation. So what if there were a few more boxes? In the end, Shen Guiyan would still be beneath Ya’er once she was married.

With the issue of the dowry resolved, Shen Guiyan could finally focus on preparing for her wedding. She would observe mourning for fifteen days, and then don her bridal gown.

Yet before those fifteen days had even passed, another visitor appeared outside her window, just five days after the last incident.

“Yan’er, I thought about it for a long time, and I still can’t accept it.” Gu Chaodong stood outside her window and spoke to her seriously,  “That day, your hair and clothes were clearly messed up by yourself. When you opened the window, you were perfectly fine. Nothing happened between you and my fourth brother, right?”

Shen Guiyan looked at him with indifference. “Young Master Gu, everything that needed to be said was already said last time. Since you willingly married Fifth Sister, you shouldn’t keep entangling yourself with me. Whatever happened between me and the Fourth Young Master is none of your concern.”

He was already a married man, yet here he was, sneaking around her window in the middle of the night like some kind of bat. If Shen Guiya found out about this, what would she think?

However, Gu Chaodong’s face lit up with joy, completely ignoring her words as he continued to ramble on his own. “I knew it, you’re still untouched. Since that’s the case, why not just be with me? At worst, I’ll just confess to Father and take the blame. Even if I get flogged, I still want to be with you.”

“Smack.” Shen Guiyan shut the window in his face, completely void of expression.

To think that she had once placed such high hopes on this man, had her eyes been clouded with sand back then? How could she have ever thought that someone like Gu Chaodong, so refined in appearance and seemingly cultured and well-mannered, would make a good husband?

She had been raised under strict propriety. Since the marriage had been arranged by their parents and a matchmaker, she had always regarded Gu Chaodong as her future husband, investing her real feelings in him.  Yet now, this man not only betrayed her, but shamelessly expected her to have an affair with him?

Does he have no shame at all?

For the first time, Shen Guiyan found Gu Chaodong utterly repulsive. She turned to pick up the half-cooled teapot from her table and reopened the window.

“Yan’er, listen to m—”

Shen Guiyan dumped the entire teapot out on him and then placed it in his hands. “A decent man should know shame. I won’t be seeing you out, Young Master.”

***

✒️ TL Note:

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