Being a second wife is difficult

Qinghe was tidying up the teacups on the table, while Jiang Wan was sorting through the fabrics by the window. The courtyard was bathed in a faint orange hue unique to dusk, and another day was almost over.

Footsteps could be heard at the gate of the courtyard.

Jiang Wan looked up and saw Lu Zhao walking in front, wearing an indigo robe from the academy and carrying a book bag. Lu Wan followed behind him, tugging at his clothes with both hands like a little tail.

Lu Zhao walked to the corridor and called out "Mother!" Lu Wan peeked out from behind him and called out as well.

Jiang Wan put down the fabric and waved them in: "Why did you all come together today?"

Before Lu Zhao could speak, Lu Wan blurted out, "I was waiting for my brother to get out of school in the garden! I waited for quite a while!"

"You mean waiting?" Lu Zhao put his book bag on the table. "You were chasing butterflies in the garden, and only remembered to look for me when you got tired of it."

Lu Wan pouted: "Then I'll wait too."

Jiang Wan asked Qinghe to bring up a plate of freshly made sesame sugar cakes. Lu Wan tiptoed and glanced at the plate. Her eyes lit up, and she reached out to grab a piece. She took a bite, chewed it, and her cheeks bulged out.

Lu Zhao sat to the side without moving. Qinghe pushed the plate towards him, and he took a piece, taking small bites. He was much more refined than Lu Wan.

With her mouth full of cake, Lu Wan mumbled, "Mother, a new teacher came to the school today to teach us to draw."

"What did you draw?"

"I drew a flower," Lu Wan gestured, "It's awful, it looks like..."

She glanced at Lu Zhao halfway through her sentence, swallowed the rest of her words, and changed her words to: "Like a lump of dough."

Jiang Wan smiled and asked, "Do you like drawing?"

Lu Wan thought for a moment: "It's alright, but my brother won't be coming with us."

She glanced at Lu Zhao and said, "My brother was taught by Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen only taught him. Last time I passed by the study, I heard Mr. Chen talking about something... something about 'zhi hu zhe ye'. I couldn't understand a word of it."

Lu Zhao held his teacup, lowered his head to drink, and smiled slightly, but did not reply.

Jiang Wan glanced at Lu Zhao's expression and knew in her heart that the three children in the mansion went to school separately.

Lu Zhao was the eldest son, and his mother-in-law had arranged for Mr. Chen to come to the mansion to teach him privately from an early age. Mr. Chen was a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations and had taught two students, both of whom passed the county-level examinations. His mother-in-law valued him highly and paid him more than twice the amount he received at the school each month.

Lu Hui and Lu Wan attended the prefectural school, while the youngest, Lu Shan, was only 5 years old and had not yet gone to the prefectural school.

This prefectural school was located in the east courtyard of the Earl's mansion. It was established when the old master of the Lu family was alive, and he specially invited an old scholar to be the teacher.

Besides the children of the Earl's own family, children from the clan, collateral relatives, and even children from the neighborhood and rural households who are eager to learn can all be sent here to study, as long as they are of good character.

Tuition is not charged, and the writing implements are drawn from the manor's public account. The Earl's family runs this school not to make money, but to earn a reputation for "promoting education and assisting teachers".

In the future, if any one of these children becomes successful and passes the imperial examinations to become a scholar or a provincial graduate, they will be considered as someone from the Earl's family. Therefore, the family takes this matter very seriously and has never stopped allocating funds for building houses every year.

The teacher would leave as soon as he finished teaching, leaving sixteen or seventeen children in the room, but he couldn't attend to anyone.

Lu Zhao probably understood the difference, so when Lu Wan casually mentioned it, he just smiled and didn't respond.

Jiang Wan reached out and patted Lu Wan's head: "The school is lively with many people, and you can draw together. Your brother is all alone with Mr. Chen, so he can't slack off even if he wants to."

Lu Wan thought about it and agreed that it made sense, so she nodded vigorously.

Lu Zhao remained silent, but his lowered eyelashes twitched slightly, as if he had listened.

Jiang Wan changed the subject and asked Lu Zhao a few more questions about his studies. Lu Zhao answered briefly but clearly, saying that he was talking about what Mr. Chen had taught him.

Jiang Wan didn't offer much comment after listening. She knew her knowledge was limited, and it was best not to speak uninformed in front of Lu Zhao.

As they talked, Lu Wan finished one piece of cake, picked up another, and suddenly asked out of the blue, "Mother, why doesn't Second Uncle have any younger brothers or sisters?"

Jiang Wan paused for a moment while holding the teacup.

Fang and Lu Huaiyu, the second husband, had been married for several years, but they had no children. Although Fang was fierce, she had never given in on this matter, and Lu Huaiyu, the second husband, had never mentioned it either.

The mother-in-law did mention it once, saying that it was ultimately not a good thing for the second wife to have no children, but it was eventually dropped. Perhaps Fang's family had some influence, as her father worked in one of the Six Ministries, so the mother-in-law couldn't say anything too harsh.

"It's not something a child should ask about my second uncle's family matters," Jiang Wan said without giving a direct answer.

Lu Wan blinked, about to ask again, when Lu Zhao whispered from the side, "Can't you shut up even if you're eating cake?"

Lu Wan shrank her neck and immediately lowered her head to concentrate on eating the cake, not daring to ask any more questions.

Jiang Wan got up and went to the inner room to get something. It was a small brocade box, about the size of her palm. She opened the lid and took out the kitten hairpin.

This hairpin was given to Lu Wan shortly after she entered the family. Later, she fell and got injured, then broke it again and had it sewn back on. It was repaired several times.

When the hairpin broke last time, a crack appeared on it. Jiang Wan covered it with silver foil and then used a fine brush to draw some light brown lines on it, turning the originally clean white kitten into a patterned tabby cat, making it look more lifelike.

"Wan'er, come here."

Lu Wan put down the cake she was holding and ran over.

Jiang Wan pulled her in front of her, untied the crooked hair tie from her head, and gently combed the stray hairs at her temples.

Lu Wan's hair was fine and soft, and easily tangled. Jiang Wan combed it slowly, smoothing it out strand by strand, before pinning the little cat hairpin on.

The new hairpin has been decorated with a few more tabby cat patterns, which reflect a faint light under the lamp. The little tabby cat is perched on a branch, tilting its head to look at people.

Lu Wan raised her hand to touch the top of her head, looked at herself in the bronze mirror, and exclaimed in surprise, "Mother, it's changed its pattern!"

"Is it pretty?"

"It's beautiful!" Lu Wan turned to Lu Zhao and asked, "Brother, look, a kitten!"

Lu Zhao looked up and glanced at him, a slight smile curving his lips. "Mm."

Lu Wan touched the hairpin in her hair again, several times, as if afraid it would fall off.

Jiang Wan tidied up her stray hairs and patted her shoulder: "Alright, stop touching it so much, or it'll fall out again."

Lu Wan immediately lowered her hand and put it behind her back.

Qinghe called out from outside the door, "Madam, Aunt Zhou has arrived."

Jiang Wan put down her comb and went out to greet her. Aunt Zhou stood at the courtyard gate, holding a small food box in her hand. She had changed into a plain lotus-colored jacket and came alone without any help.

She paused for a moment when she saw Lu Zhao and Lu Wan inside, then smiled and said, "It's lively here, Madam. I've come at an inopportune time."

"What a coincidence, come in and sit down." Jiang Wan stepped aside to make way for him.

Aunt Zhou entered the room, placed the food box on the table, opened the lid, and inside was a plate of almond cookies, baked to a golden brown, sprinkled with a thin layer of icing sugar, and neatly arranged.

She glanced at Lu Wan and Lu Zhao, greeted them, and then looked at Jiang Wan: "I've made a plate of pastries, hoping Madam will try them. This is almond shortbread, which is lighter than osmanthus cake and not greasy. Miss has a weak stomach, so this is more suitable for her than sugar cakes."

Jiang Wan picked up a piece and tasted it. It was crisp and not sweet, and the aroma of almonds spread in her mouth. She nodded and said, "Auntie is very skillful. This is better than osmanthus cake."

Lu Wan smelled the fragrance and came closer, then withdrew.

Jiang Wan glanced at her and said, "Eat it if you want, it's not very sweet."

Lu Wan then reached out and took a piece, carefully took a bite, chewed it, her eyes lit up, and she took another piece.

Jiang Wan asked Qinghe to take a purse from the cabinet and hand it to Aunt Zhou: "This is a gift to return to you, Aunt. It's not very well embroidered, so please don't mind."

Aunt Zhou took it and turned it over to look at it.

The purse was made of moon-white satin, embroidered with a pomegranate branch. The pomegranate was half-open, revealing its plump seeds. Below the pomegranate were two leaves, in varying shades, creating an elegant color scheme.

The embroidery wasn't the most exquisite, but it was done with care. Each pomegranate seed was round and plump, giving off a sense of abundance.

Aunt Zhou examined the purse for a while, her smile becoming more genuine than before: "Madam, is this embroidered... a pomegranate?"

"Pomegranates have many seeds, which is a good omen."

Aunt Zhou lowered her eyes, clutching the purse in her hand, and after a long while spoke, "Madam is very kind."

She tucked the purse into her sleeve and glanced at Jiang Wan again, her gaze softening slightly compared to before.

Lu Zhao remained seated to the side without moving, with half a sesame cake still in his hand. He had no appetite for it. He glanced at Jiang Wan, then at Aunt Zhou.

The two sat facing each other, one handing over a purse and the other accepting it, speaking politely with smiles on their faces, but each word was carefully chosen.

Unlike what he had seen in plays before, where stepmothers and concubines were always fighting, this was not the case. It turned out that plays were all fake.

Lu Zhao looked down at the remaining half of the cake in his hand and silently took a bite.

The group chatted lively for a while longer. Seeing that it was getting dark outside the window, Aunt Zhou got up to say goodbye. Jiang Wan saw her to the door and thanked her again with almond pastries.

Aunt Zhou waved her hand and said, "Madam, you're too kind," but her steps were lighter than when she came.

Lu Wan wandered around the room again, touched the hairpin in her hair, waved in front of Qing He, and then ran to the door to show it to Jiang Wan, asking her if it looked good. Jiang Wan patiently answered four or five times that it looked good before she finally stopped.

"Mother, my brother and I are leaving." Lu Wan stood at the door, still clutching half a piece of almond shortbread in her hand, the little cat hairpin in her hair shimmering in the light.

"Go ahead. Come back tomorrow."

Lu Wan nodded, took two steps out the door, looked back, took a few more steps, and looked back again.

Lu Zhao followed from behind, stood at the door and glanced at Jiang Wan. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but Jiang Wan waited. He then closed his mouth, adjusted his satchel, and said softly, "Mother, I'm going back."

"Go ahead, it's getting dark and the road is difficult to walk on."

Lu Zhao nodded, turned around and followed Lu Wan. The brother and sister walked out of the courtyard one after the other. Their small figures, one taller and one shorter, cast two shadows on the bluestone road in the moonlight.

Jiang Wan stood on the veranda watching them walk away before turning back into the house. Qing He was tidying up the teacups when she looked up and said with a smile, "Madam, the second young master seemed to want to say something just now, but he didn't say it."

"He wanted to say thank you, but he couldn't bring himself to say it." Jiang Wan sat down under the lamp. "No rush."

Qinghe put the teacups back on the tray and asked, "Madam, now that the purse has been given to Aunt Zhou, is her gift reciprocated?"

"There's no end to repaying favors." Jiang Wan picked up a handkerchief from her sewing basket and continued embroidering. "She gave me one, and I returned one to her. She accepted mine, and she's willing to lend a hand if I need anything in the future. This is just the beginning."

Qinghe didn't ask any more questions.