As she was thinking, she went and opened the door.
Standing at the door was a plump, well-rounded middle-aged woman in a red dress. Her cheeks were rouged a rosy red, and her lips were two thin, crimson lines. She did look familiar, like someone Milady had seen at a family gathering before. Upon seeing Milady, the woman smiled instantly. "I just knew you'd be home."
A look of confusion crossed Milady's face.
"Don't just stand there in the doorway. Let's go in and talk," Aunt Hong said, linking her arm through Milady's with practiced familiarity. As she guided her inside, she continued, "My, you're all grown up. Look how tall you are! It's wonderful. A young lady should be tall and graceful…"
By the time Aunt Hong had settled onto the narrow, old, straight-backed sofa, several theories had already run through Milady's mind.
'Perhaps the family women needed an extra hand with some task. Or maybe a job was short-staffed. It was even possible they wanted to set her up with someone—the children of lower-ranking members were always the first to be married off.'
She was in no mood to deal with relatives and was just trying to figure out how to send her guest away as quickly as possible when Aunt Hong leaned forward, smiled, and patted her hand.
"We haven't seen each other in so long. Why don't you come to my place for afternoon tea sometime? Who are you close to in the family? You should invite them to come along."
'So she really is trying to set me up.'
Milady politely listed the names of a few of her female cousins, taking care to avoid mentioning anyone who was already married.
"Oh," Aunt Hong nodded. "They must have come to comfort you often during this difficult time, haven't they? In times of trouble, you have to rely on family and friends..."
"Yes, they've come to see me several times," Milady said, clasping her hands.
"I saw Dorin this morning. Such a kind-hearted girl," Aunt Hong said with an overly familiar air. "She mentioned that you were never home last week, but this week you haven't taken a single step outside. She's worried about you."
Milady shifted in her seat. "Is that so..."
Dorin had always looked out for her. She was gentle and kind, and Milady was usually fond of her older cousin. But for reasons she couldn't quite articulate, hearing this made her vaguely uncomfortable.
"What's wrong? Not feeling well?" Aunt Hong's beady black eyes stared straight at her from beneath reddened lids. "Were you, perhaps, running around outside too much last week?"
The feeling of discomfort intensified.
'Last week she had been crafting the letter and figuring out how to send it; this week she'd been at home waiting for a response. So it was true she'd been "out and about, then never at home." The real question was, how did Dorin know? Dorin was busy preparing for her study trip to Chang'an and hadn't visited at all lately.'
"I don't want to do sanitation work," Milady said, cautiously offering the excuse again. "So I spent last week asking around about other jobs. I really wore myself out, so I just wanted to rest for a few days."
Aunt Hong nodded. "And who did you ask?" She nonchalantly picked up the teapot from the table as if she were in her own home, poured a cup, and slid it toward Milady.
'She had almost forgotten.'
'In Haidu, when members of the major Political Families looked for outside work, the typical response was something like, "Why would a person of your standing need to come suffer with us?" Besides, anyone who refused their family-assigned duties would be forced to move out of the family residence and lose its protection. Very few worked outside the family. Aunt Hong must have assumed she meant she'd been looking for solutions within the family last week.'
'Who was she supposed to name?' Milady couldn't help but cross her legs and fold her arms across her chest. "I went to the family affairs office to ask..."
Those beady black eyes fell to her crossed arms.
Just as the detail was about to slip past her, Milady suddenly heard a lesson from Yidan, her mother, from many years ago.
"Don't cross your arms when you talk to someone," her mother's voice echoed from deep in her memory. "It's a closed-off posture. It shows you're defensive, or that you're unwilling to open up. If you have no reason to be defensive, why make them feel like you're putting up a wall? And if you do have a reason to be defensive, why would you let them see it?"
Milady immediately uncrossed her arms, forcing her posture to become open and relaxed.
"So, who did you speak with at the family affairs office?" Aunt Hong asked warmly, averting her gaze, as if deeply fascinated by the question of who Milady might have talked to last week.
'...Just what was this aunt really here for?'
"To tell you the truth," Milady began, letting out a sudden sigh, "I was asking around outside the family. The docks, the apothecaries, I tried them all... Please don't blame me, Aunt. I wasn't thinking clearly at the time. When I came to my senses, I realized... how could I ever really leave the Tower family?"
Aunt Hong nodded slowly. It was as if she had carefully inspected this piece of information, folded it up neatly, and filed it away in her mind.
"Don't you worry. There will be other opportunities." She patted Milady's knee again. "Oh, and look at my memory, I almost forgot to tell you the real reason I'm here! I came to invite you to a ball being organized by the young people of the family. Terry insisted that you have to be there."
The name "Terry" made Milady's heart go THUMP, THUMP.
'That... was a little strange, wasn't it? Why would someone from the older generation be sent to extend an invitation to a party for young people?'
"You and Terry get along well, don't you?" Aunt Hong was sitting just to her right, and as she scrutinized Milady, it was as if she were trying to pry her open with her gaze to see what was inside. "Didn't she take you to a casino?" she asked quietly.
'Wait—could it be—'
Aunt Hong turned her head, glancing around the room. When her gaze fell on Milady again, she smiled, her rosy, fleshy cheeks puffing up into two little mounds.
"Have you recently... bought any stationery imported from Chang'an?"