Grandmother acknowledges this mismatch with one of her own. “Yunxian is studying to be a physician, while Meiling will get filth on her hands when delivering babies.”
“My daughter carries my family name, for she has no father. Your granddaughter is descended from—”
“We could continue listing all the reasons not to formalize something that many people, including my husband, would find unsatisfactory, but may you and I consider the positives instead? Both girls were born in the Year of the Snake, specifically the Year of the Metal Snake. A Metal Snake can be gifted with a calculating mind and enormous willpower—”
“Or a Snake can be a scheming loner,” the midwife says, still unwilling to list a good attribute.
“A Metal Snake craves luxury and easy living, which Yunxian was born to,” Grandmother goes on.
“A Metal Snake without these comforts can have an envious streak, find it difficult to face failure, and will seek to settle scores.”
“Which one is Meiling?” Grandmother asks.
Midwife Shi responds with a question of her own. “What does it matter if both girls were born in the Year of the Snake? Their natures can be nothing less than different, with the potential to cause many conflicts.” When Grandmother doesn’t argue the point, the midwife continues. “For as long as anyone can remember, a beautiful face has been acknowledged as a window into a girl’s inner character. It shows her to have a ‘beautiful’ nature—to be kind, generous, and diligent. It can also change a girl’s fate, allowing her to improve her status through marriage.”
Grandmother visibly perks up. “Have arrangements been made for Meiling?”
Grandmother loves me and is doing everything she can to give me a good future, but it hurts to realize that when the subject of beauty arose, she assumed the girl in question was Meiling.
“A matchmaker has completed the arrangements for Meiling,” the midwife answers. I’m surprised. A midwife’s daughter has had her betrothal settled before I have? “My daughter is to marry the son of a tea merchant—”
“In Wuxi?”
“I would not marry out my daughter to a family far away, no matter what the bride price.”
Grandmother nods her approval.
“Lady Ru, why do you seek a special friendship between your granddaughter and my daughter?” Midwife Shi asks bluntly.
Grandmother doesn’t answer the question. Instead, she says, “The girls never should have touched White Jade.”
“Agreed. That task is for bonesetters alone.”
“But they did,” Grandmother says. “Fortunately, no blood was involved.”
“I would say what is more fortunate is that they called for you and they caused no harm.”
Grandmother takes another sip of tea. Then, “For now, we can say that the girls did not panic or run away. Not only did they not hide their faces in our skirts but they had the correct idea about how to treat White Jade.”
Midwife Shi quietly waits. I dare to peek sideways and find Meiling staring at me.
“My husband—all men—would say these two should be kept apart,” Grandmother continues. My breath catches at the thought.
“And yet they have become friends,” Midwife Shi points out.
“Indeed.”
“But you are considering another factor.”
“We live in a world of contradictions,” Grandmother says. “Midwives have lowly reputations, while doctors are respected. Midwives can get rich, while doctors can acquire fame—”
“You aren’t telling me anything I don’t know already.”
“What I’m saying is that, in my experience, it isn’t a matter of either-or. Both things can exist at once.”
“So?”
“I see something special in my granddaughter, but I also see something special in your daughter—”
“Meiling learns quickly.” Midwife Shi smiles. “With the right connections, she could go very far as a midwife.”
“I agree.” A long silence follows. Finally, Grandmother speaks again. “I have not known my granddaughter long, but I’ve learned she has certain physical frailties. It would give me peace to know that a midwife could look in on her from time to time when she moves to her husband’s home. Your daughter could do that for me.”
“I see.” Midwife Shi quietly thinks this over. “I am not opposed,” she says at last, “but one girl’s reputation could be stained by the girl below her, while that girl could reach for riches, ideas, and position, only to be disappointed that she can never attain them.”
“It is a risk, no doubt.” Grandmother laces her fingers together. “And there’s the issue of the other work your kind does.” She lowers her voice, but I can still make out the words. “I’m speaking of the help you give the coroner.”
Midwife Shi lifts a shoulder as though this were insignificant. “Would you prefer female victims be examined by men? In death, especially by violence, I’m the last person to touch a woman or girl. I usher her to the Afterworld with dignity.”
“But you also check for chastity in court cases! Those are living girls!”
“Can you tell me that your husband would not want to prove the state of a servant’s childbirth gate if your son were accused of—”
“This would never happen!”
“It happens all the time.” Midwife Shi visibly bristles. “Look. You’re the one who invited us here. You’re the one who, from the beginning, encouraged this friendship.”
An uncomfortable silence falls over the two women. Midwife Shi has been insulted, while Grandmother seems to be weighing the wisdom of her plan. I glance at Meiling to see how she’s reacting to all this. Her expression confounds me.
As is typical when she’s considering something, Grandmother’s eyelids fall to half-mast, and she strikes a beat on the arm of her chair with the nail of her right index finger. Tap, tap, tap…
“Friendship is a contract between two hearts. With hearts united, women can laugh and cry, live and die together,” she recites. “Despite the various barriers and potential problems, I still believe there could be benefits for both girls, as well as for the two of us, if we go forward with my proposal.”
Midwife Shi’s loud and gravelly laugh fills every corner of the room. Hearing the coarseness of it, Grandmother looks away. After a sip of tea to regain her composure, she says, “My granddaughter lost her mother. Who knows how long I will remain on this earth? Your daughter never knew her father. You are in good health, but we can agree that your fortunes are forever precarious, depending on the outcomes of childbirth and the good words that pass from family to family about your skills—”
“The same can be said for a doctor of women’s medicine.”
“Exactly.”
The two women regard each other silently.
“There is one more thing,” Grandmother says at last.
“Another one?”
Grandmother ignores the barb.
“As women,” she says, “we can hope that Yunxian and Meiling will marry into families that are kind and generous, but who knows what fate has planned? You and I do not always agree on treatment methods, yet I believe respect exists between us. I want Yunxian to have someone she can trust and who will stand by her for years to come, whether or not her mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, or—”
“All those other women who cohabitate in a household such as this,” the midwife finishes, gesturing vaguely with her hand, not quite able to control her impatience.
“Even the richest woman on earth must live under a mother-in-law,” Grandmother says.
“Forever true,” the midwife agrees.
“I want Yunxian to have someone who can share in the care of women and offer comfort when things go wrong.”
“No one likes to lose a baby or a mother in childbirth,” the midwife admits.
“I do have one condition. There is to be no talk whatsoever coming from your daughter on aspects of your profession unrelated to midwifery.”
Midwife Shi gives a single curt nod.
* * *
Not long after this, the terms for my bride price and dowry are settled. The Letter of Betrothal arrives, announcing that the conditions between the two families are equal and that a geomancer has determined that the year, month, day, and hour of my birth are compatible with those of my future husband. In seven years, I’m to be married to Yang Maoren, the only son in a wealthy family that owns mulberry groves, silkworms to eat the leaves, and several silk factories in and around Wuxi. The Yangs live in a mansion-compound called the Garden of Fragrant Delights. My husband-to-be has three younger sisters. I’m told he is one year older than I am. Therefore, he was born in the Year of the Dragon—the most powerful and admired of all signs. Nevertheless, this is not a match of an official family to another official family. Rather, I’m to be married out to a merchant family.