Ju shook her head, hands tightening their grip on her cup. “A few months after the birth of her daughter, Wu Chu went to visit her grandparents who live in another city. Xiàn went with her. It was supposed to be a safe trip, but with all the rain we had that year…”

Olivia grimaced. “Mudslide?”

“It took everyone with it,” Ju bowed her head. “The only reason anyone found out was that the Xue Sect had been alerted to the event and went to investigate. It's the duty of all sects to inspect the sight of natural disasters, to prevent Hungry Ghosts from rising. I received a letter a little over a month after the wagon left, informing me of Xiàn’s death.”

Olivia glanced over at the small shrine. So that’s what that small scroll had been. “My condolences to you, Ju. I know it’s hard losing a loved one.”

“Thank you,” Ju smiled. “I’ve had seven years to cope with Xiàn’s death. Ping and Min have been a big help.”

Olivia nodded. “So, I’m guessing the trouble with Xiàn’s family started sometime after the news?”

“About a month after I received the letter.”

“What?” Olivia slammed her hands on the tabletop, cups rattling. “You mean they’ve been harassing you for over seven years? And no one’s tried to stop them?”

Ju flinched. “The Bǎozhèng have a lot of sway within the province-”

“And I call rubbish on that, Ju,” Olivia growled. “Seven years and no one said anything? A lot of power or not, there had to be someone not on good terms with them. Or at the very least a sense of ‘this isn’t right’ variety that could and would take it to them. How could anyone-”

Olivia blinked as a thought came, anger temporarily forgotten. “Wait a second, how did they even find out about Xiàn and you? You never got the chance to inform his family, right?”

“We didn’t,” Ju sighed. “The Bǎozhèng found out when they went with the Wu to deal with Xiàn and Wu Chu’s estate.”

Olivia rubbed her forehead against the growing pain. “I guess that finding out their son was married to another woman of humble origin didn’t sit well with them.” And if they had thought that the money would have gone right back to their coffers, finding out that someone else had claim to it had to have been a blow.

“No,” Ju pursed her lips before continuing, “I heard both families got into a heated argument right in the Keeping of Records main hall. The Wu family was furious about the order of marriage, accusing the Bǎozhèng of hiding it, and demanded reparations for it.”

“Order of marriage?" Olivia asked, halting her headache remedy. "What’s that?”

“If a man has more than one wife, their rank amongst each other is dictated by the order that they married their husband,” Ju explained. “It’s more stringent if the man is of lower rank than one of his wives, who would be considered the First Lady of the House regardless of her place in the order of marriages. Since Xiàn was of higher status than myself and Wu Chu, my marriage to him before Wu Chu placed me as the First Lady.”

“But…wasn’t your plan for him to claim you as the Second Lady? To avoid that kind of problem.”

“It was, but…” Ju sighed. “We were careless. For centuries, it was common knowledge that all official records were ordered by only month and year. We had thought that if anyone went to look for the document, it would show that Xiàn married Wu Chu and I in the same month, but it wouldn’t show the day.”

Uh-oh. “So, I'm guessing the date was included in your marriage document?”

“Yes. Neither Xiàn nor I knew that official documents started including the day within the last decade to aid in better record keeping. Something about preventing fraud and the like."

“And you married the same day he proposed to you.” Olivia slumped. “Can I guess that his marriage to Wu Chu was later?”

“About a week after,” Ju confirmed.

“Great. So, what about those fees that guy was going on about?”

“After my marriage to Xiàn was discovered, the Wu family demanded that the marriage between him and Wu Chu be annulled immediately and that the dowry be returned.”

“Can they do that? And what about the baby? Who's got guardianship of her?”

“It has been done before, usually in the case of death caused by the husband or a member of his family. As for Xiàn and Wu Chu’s daughter,” Ju grimaced as if remembering a foul memory. “I heard the Wu family handed her off to a distant relative, scrubbed her from their family records, and selected a fourth cousin as heir. The thought of their family being second to a peasant didn’t fancy them, I suppose.”

Olivia’s face fell flat. “Seriously? All that, and they just decided to hand the only remaining member of their family, their only grandchild, just because they couldn't handle being in second place once? Talk about being unfair to the innocent.”

“So, what have your in-laws been doing other than sending their lackey after you?” Olivia asked. She immediately didn’t like the stressed face Ju was now sporting.

“I, well, I haven’t left this property for about five years,” Ju explained with a grimace. “When I had gone out, I was sure a few times that someone sent by the Bǎozhèng was following me. I haven’t been able to claim the money Xiàn left me out of fear of being attacked, and as you saw this morning, they would hire someone to do that.”

“But, how have you survived?” Olivia asked, incredulous. “Sure, you have that garden, and that water well, but you can’t satisfy all your needs with just those.”

“A lot of the people here were friends with my parents and watched me grow up. They help where they can. Mr. Yuan helps the most.” Ju smiled a little before returning to a frown. “I wish he was a bit careful. I’m certain that Madam Bǎozhèng has people watching me, trying to see if and when I’ll leave the property. Or to know who has visited me.”

Olivia snorted. “Bet to make a spectacle in the middle of the city. Has she been accusing you of seducing her son?”

“Not to my face, no.”

Sighing, Olivia lifted her head to the ceiling, allowing Ju to rest her voice. I want to help her, but I’m a stranger here. I don’t have any clout to get her in-laws to leave her alone. Ju shouldn’t have to live like this, nor do Ping and Min.

A thought suddenly came to Olivia. “Hold on a second.” She faced Ju once more. “Didn’t the two families use a matchmaker? That is a thing here, checking if the stars align or something like that, right?”

“Er, well, yes, why?”

“Then why didn’t she tell them he was already in love with another woman?” Olivia waved her arms about. “I mean, those people are supposed to converse with the stars, right. They should have seen a big flashy sign saying, "Sorry, already taken. Please try again." That matchmaker should have her eyes checked and her license up for review for such a miss.”

It wasn’t a laugh, but it was better than before, with Ju slapping a hand over her mouth to keep the less polite giggles at bay. Her shoulders told a different story, rapidly shaking as the other woman tried to contain her laughter.