Chapter 5: with translation of chapter title

On the side wall of the Prince's Mansion garden, many openwork floral carvings were made, all in the shape of plum blossoms; most of the openwork gaps were very small, but a few gaps were fairly large, so from afar the whole wall looked like a plum blossom painting, quite beautiful.

But at this moment, a tiny body was stuck tightly in one of those openwork gaps.

It was Tuan Tuan.

Seeing Cheng Ru'an almost running over, Tuan Tuan pouted and shouted loudly: "Mother! Mother! I can't get out!"

The gap held her little buttocks tight, while her small arms and legs flailed in the air, like a little carp hanging on the wall.

Beads of sweat appeared on her round, chubby face, her eye sockets slightly reddened, her mouth turned down, and she looked about to cry.

Cheng Ru'an almost laughed from exasperation, feeling both affection and helplessness, and quickly stepped up to her.

"How did you come to be here? Who let you crawl into the wall crack?!"

"Over there!" Tuan Tuan pointed with her little hand at the flower bed on the ground, grumbling: "There's something shiny and sparkling; going around the wall would take far too long, but crawling here is quick, so I squeezed in."

Though her voice was low, her tone was self-righteous, yet she knew she had caused trouble; she cautiously glanced at Cheng Ru'an's expression and shrank her neck slightly.

"Picking up a thing can get you stuck on the wall! You really…" Cheng Ru'an muttered, while her hands swiftly embraced Tuan Tuan's upper body: "Come, take a breath, Mother will pull you out."

"Huh—" Tuan Tuan sucked in a breath: "Ouch!"

"Hold on a bit, don't rush, try again."

"Mother, be gentler, my butt's about to fall off!"

Cheng Ru'an shook her head helplessly: "Your butt won't fall off, be good, try again."

After quite a struggle, Cheng Ru'an finally pulled her daughter out of the wall.

After landing, Tuan Tuan rubbed her little buttocks, gave Cheng Ru'an a grin: "Didn't fall!" Then she plunged into the flower bed and picked up the "treasure" that had led her adventure.

It was a small bronze mirror.

The mirror surface was tarnished, the rim had a few small chips; Tuan Tuan carefully wiped off the dirt and placed the treasure into her pink embroidered pouch at her waist.

"Cough cough!" A voice sounded from behind—it was the Old Madam, who had been standing aside watching for a while.

Cheng Ru'an took Tuan Tuan's little hand and walked to her: "Tuan Tuan, kneel and kowtow; this is your grandmother."

"Grandma!" Tuan Tuan called out, obediently giving the Xia clan a deep bow.

The Old Madam narrowed her eyes slightly, lowered her head, and looked at the little child before her.

She was delicately made up, with two deep dimples on her face, a conspicuous embroidered pouch at her waist, and large eyes that blinked at her own reflection, clear gaze and sweet smile.

Indeed she was endearing, making it hard to dislike her.

But she still kept a stern face and did not respond to that "Grandma."

Tuan Tuan also looked at her, smaller than her mother, her face all scrunched up, so cute! Except her eyes were dull and gray.

"Grandma, this is for you!" Tuan Tuan pulled out the small bronze mirror she had just picked from her embroidered pouch and held it high: "Look at it tonight, you'll surely see something good!"

The Old Madam lowered her head to glance at the mirror, then at her, did not reach out to take it, kept a stern expression, and snorted: "What propriety! Nonsense."

"No nonsense!" Tuan Tuan widened her eyes: "Grandma, look at it tonight, tomorrow everything will be fine!"

"What good?"

"Grandma," Tuan Tuan scrambled up, shoved the mirror into the Xia clan's hand: "To pick this up, I almost, almost…" She tilted her head, thinking hard: "I almost died! Grandma, just take it!"

Cheng Ru'an held back laughter: "Don't talk nonsense! Mother, Tuan Tuan is young and speaks without thinking; don't take it to heart."

The Old Madam gripped the mirror with a blank face: "I won't bother with this nonsense-spouting little girl."

"I'm tired; I'll go rest first. Come to the Listening Rain Pavilion tonight." Having said that, she leaned on a servant's hand and turned to leave the garden.

"Yes." Cheng Ru'an performed a salute and watched her go.

She lowered her head to look at Tuan Tuan, took her little hand, and walked toward Jinglan Court: "Mother will give you a bath, then change you into clean clothes—you're all covered in dust! From now on you're not allowed to crawl in wall cracks; if you get stuck, what will we do?"

"Oh!" Tuan Tuan replied obediently.

That evening, Tuan Tuan had played all day and lay down early; Cheng Ru'an watched her fall asleep, then rose and went to the Listening Rain Pavilion.

In the inner chamber, only the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were present; the Princess Consort recounted in detail how she had seen ants forming characters outside the ancestral hall, how she had retrieved Tuan Tuan from the ruined Daoist temple, how she had brought her into the mansion, and how, when paying respects to the ancestors, Tuan Tuan discovered the Severed Blessing Worm mentioned by the National Preceptor.

And how, on the way home, Tuan Tuan had repaired the carriage; she related all of this in full.

The Old Madam's expression grew increasingly solemn as she listened.

"That's how it is; the daughter-in-law dares not act rashly, yet she cannot help but believe—this child Tuan Tuan is indeed the ancestral spirits' manifestation, a gift bestowed upon our Xiao family."

The Old Madam's face was complex: "I see now, I understand; you may go rest."

Cheng Ru'an left, and the Old Madam sat alone on the couch, pondering for a long time; she took out the small bronze mirror Tuan Tuan had given her and examined it under the lamp, turning it over and over for a while.

The mirror's surface was mottled, the rim damaged, with nothing miraculous about it; she snorted, tossed the bronze mirror onto the bedside, blew out the lamp, and went to sleep.

The next morning, just as dawn broke, the indoor light was still dim.

The Old Madam woke up, opened her eyes, slowly sat up, and glanced at the incense burner on the table: "Shun Gu, why is there a spider crawling beside the incense burner? Lead it out; don't kill it."

"Yes." Shun Gu hurried in at the words.

Just as she was about to shoo away the tiny spider, she suddenly shuddered: "Madam! Did you—see that?"

The Xia clan was startled, then realized her eyes were no longer blurred; the heavy black mist that had always clouded her vision had vanished, leaving everything bright, and she could now see that tiny spider clearly!

She sat stunned on the couch for a moment, then sprang to her feet, walked to the cabinet, and picked up the embroidery basket.

Her vision was clear, the threads distinct; she drew out an embroidery thread and deftly passed it through the tiny hole at the needle's tip.

She lifted her head, locked eyes with Shun Gu, both voices trembling: "Come look, is this… threaded now?"

"Yes yes yes!" Shun Gu exclaimed with delight: "Madam, your eyes! They're finally healed! This truly is divine blessing, the ancestral spirits' manifestation!"

The Old Madam put the needle and thread back into the embroidery basket, returned to the bedside, picked up the bronze mirror, and rubbed its surface with her hand, murmuring low: "This child…" "Could it really be the ancestral spirits' manifestation, a gift to our Xiao family?"

She recalled everything the Princess Consort had said the previous night, about the Severed Blessing Worm and what the National Preceptor had said: "Let it not be spread; only you and I need to know."

"Yes."

At the same time, inside the Defying Frost Pavilion, Jin Xiu was combing Fang Qingyan's hair: "You didn't see, yesterday that wild girl ran wild in the garden, I don't know what she was thinking, but she actually went to bore into that openwork wall crack!"

"She got stuck inside and couldn't get out; the Princess Consort expended great effort before pulling her out. Almost all the servants in the mansion saw it, and the Princess Consort's face—she lost all dignity."

Jinxiu giggled and laughed: "You've gotten all dirty! The Old Madam is standing right there, her face drawn long."

Fang Qingyan curled her lip in disdain: "Sure enough, she's just a wild girl picked up from somewhere; if such a child became the legitimate daughter of the Prince's Mansion, wouldn't she be laughed to death by the nobles and aristocrats of Jingcheng?"

"At noon, after the old lady finishes her meal and before her afternoon nap, we'll go pay our respects to her. I'm doing this for the reputation of the Prince's Mansion, asking her to preside over the situation; the Old Madam will surely be pleased, and perhaps she will thereafter take a dislike to the Princess Consort."

"That's more thoughtful of you." Jinxiu agreed.