Chapter 2
Edward Quan ·
04
My father's wife moved quickly. Within three days, matchmakers were coming and going from the marquis's house.
“Young Master Li comes from a family of scholars. He is only a licentiate, but a man of fine character. The only difficulty is that he will take you only as an honored concubine.”
“The Zhangs are imperial merchants and very wealthy. His temper is rather overbearing, though, and he already has seven or eight bedchamber maids.”
“The Wangs are a respectable family and don't mind whether a daughter is legitimate or concubine-born. But you would be a second wife and have two children to look after.”
Seated above me, she turned over the cards one by one.
“Yunzhi, these are the good families suited to your station. Choose for yourself. Once you've chosen, I'll arrange it.”
I knelt on a cushion and examined each card.
The Lis were too poor. The Zhang man was too ill-tempered. The Wang man was too old.
With less than half a month left before Shen Yunyi's wedding, Lady Shen's patience was nearly gone.
“What? None of these pleases you? Are you still hoping to reach for some noble branch?”
I kept turning the cards in silence. Then my fingertips stopped on one.
“Gu Yan. Twenty-three. Formerly of the household of the Earl of Yongchang.”
My heart gave a sudden thump.
Pei Heng had mentioned this man in my previous life.
When Gu Yan passed the imperial examinations, the chancellor had offered him his daughter's hand on the spot. He'd refused in front of everyone.
“I will not marry a powerful man's daughter. I will marry only the wife who shared my hardships.”
For that, he'd been sent straight to the bitter northern frontier. He never returned in all the decades that followed.
He never married, and eventually died at his post.
Pei Heng had called him inflexible, but another judgment had stayed with me.
“An upright, incorruptible man. A true gentleman.”
Seeing that I hadn't moved for some time, Lady Shen followed my gaze.
“Gu Yan?”
She paused.
“He's a distant relation through your great-aunt's family. By kinship, he counts as a cousin to you and Yunyi. But his family fell on hard times years ago. We've long since lost touch. Do you want to meet him?”
Shen Yunyi was there too. She frowned and tried to dissuade me.
“Think carefully, Yunzhi. I hear he had to borrow even his traveling expenses to the capital. Marry him, and you may have nothing but the wind to live on.”
I shook my head.
“Mother, I would like to meet this cousin.”
Lady Shen glanced at me.
“Very well. I'll arrange it. Whether it comes to anything is up to you.”
05
On the day of the meeting, I took my maid to the teahouse.
As we rounded a corner, guards in black armor came galloping past. People hurried out of their way.
I looked up and saw the familiar black-and-gold carriage.
The curtain stirred. Pei Heng glanced out, and our eyes met across the street.
His gaze stopped abruptly, cold enough to pierce bone.
I turned at once and stepped into the shadow of a cloth shop's signboard. Only after the procession passed did I continue.
I'd barely gone a few steps when a guard barred my way with his halberd.
“Third Miss, His Highness would speak with you.”
My heart sank.
In a small courtyard, Pei Heng sat alone at a stone table, turning an empty teacup between his long fingers.
He dismissed the servants. My maid remained outside as well.
“You really have learned your lesson this time.”
I stood respectfully by the door.
“I don't understand, Your Highness.”
He gave a soft sneer.
“Do you truly think I haven't noticed?”
He rose slowly. The hem of his dragon-embroidered robe brushed the ground as he advanced on me.
“You were cowering at the back of the crowd that day, but one look was enough to tell me you'd come back too.”
“What now? Are you retreating so you can advance? Hoping I'll soften?”
My fingertips trembled, but I kept my head lowered.
“You give me too much credit, Your Highness. I wouldn't dare.”
“Wouldn't dare?”
With a cold laugh, he suddenly gripped my chin and forced my face up. His narrow eyes were icy, the chill seeming to seep into my bones.
“You chose this street and dressed yourself up for a chance encounter. Wasn't it all to make me look at you again?”
I stared in surprise.
He actually thought I'd planned it.
“Unfortunately for you...”
He released me and wiped his hand against his sleeve in disgust.
“If there's one thing I despise, it's a scheming woman like you.”
“In your last life, you stole that position. In this one, you've changed to feigned retreat. You're just as repulsive.”
He sat back down by the window, his voice mocking.
“Still, if you learn to behave and stop your petty tricks, I might consider giving you the rank of Liangdi once Yunyi becomes crown princess.”
“If you dare say too much and ruin my plans...”
He paused, a cruel curve forming at his lips.
“I'll make you wish you could die.”
06
Only after Pei Heng left did I walk out of the courtyard, dazed.
The rank of Liangdi—a place among his concubines. The words lodged in my heart like a tiny thorn, cold and painful.
My thoughts were in such turmoil that I missed the stone step beyond the threshold and pitched forward.
The pain I expected never came.
A steady hand caught my arm.
The grip wasn't forceful, but it was firm.
A faint, cool plum-blossom scent reached me—not quite the scent of winter blossoms after the snow had melted, but something clean and clear.
Still shaken, I hurried to find my footing, stepped back, and lowered my head.
“Thank you for helping me, sir.”
He said little, merely glanced at me and went on.
With my head lowered, I saw only his slightly worn indigo padded robe, which made his slender figure look even more spare and scholarly.
I put the incident from my mind, taking him for an ordinary passerby.
But when I opened the private room at the teahouse, I stopped short.
Seated upright by the window was the same young man who'd caught me outside the courtyard.
At the sound, he turned. His face was almost translucently pale, his lips light, his brows and eyes carrying a scholar's air.
His expression was calm and gentle. A smile of just the right degree of courtesy touched his eyes.
“Third Miss Shen.”
He inclined his head.
“I am Gu Yan.”
I composed myself and stepped forward to bow.
He made no mention of helping me. Instead, he explained his circumstances plainly.
His parents had died young. His family had fallen into decline. He was staying at an inn in the capital, living on his few remaining savings, and had no certainty of passing the examinations.
“You may not know this.”
He lifted his cup and offered his advice sincerely.
“It isn't easy for a poor scholar to succeed. If you're looking for a husband, it might be better to wait. Once the results are posted, you can choose from the successful candidates. You'd have more options, and a safer prospect.”
Looking into his clear, candid eyes, I shook my head. My voice was quiet but firm.
“You misunderstand, Young Master Gu. I'm not looking for a husband whose name appears on the honor list, with great achievements, high office, and a generous salary.”
He looked up, a little surprised.
“I only want someone with whom I can live in peace.”
I lowered my eyes.
“You needn't feel inferior because of your family. I'm only a concubine's daughter in the marquis's house myself.”
The room fell briefly silent.
Sunlight stirred in the tea, scattering little flecks of gold.
His fingers stilled around his cup.
Then his lips slowly curved into a faint but genuine smile.
It wasn't like Pei Heng's smiles, always edged with calculation or coldness. Like the air about him, it was clean and gentle, inexplicably reassuring.
He set down his cup.
“Then tomorrow, I'll send a matchmaker to your house.”
I looked up, startled.
His gaze was steady, his seriousness unmistakable.
Sure enough, early the next morning, news came from the main hall.
Gu Yan, formerly of the Earl of Yongchang's household, had sent a matchmaker with a properly observed proposal and gifts.
Lady Shen held the proposal card, frowning. The offering was modest, but every courtesy had been fulfilled.
In the end, with my assent, she accepted the match.
07
A few days later, Pei Heng came to the marquis's house to discuss Yellow River flood relief.
As he passed the reception hall, soft, clear laughter drifted from inside.
He hadn't meant to stop. Yet his eyes strayed through the curtain.
Shen Yunyi stood in the middle of the room, holding a gold hairpin fashioned into a deep red crabapple blossom. Fine tassels swayed between her fingers.
Smiling, she placed it neatly in Shen Yunzhi's hair.
Yunzhi looked up at her, her brows curved with happiness. Pei Heng had never seen her so vivid.
“Our third sister is fortunate indeed.”
A girl in pale yellow laughed.
“Our eldest sister loves you so much. Not only is she willing for you to marry on the same day, she's even sharing her dowry with you.”
Pei Heng stopped.
Marry on the same day?
His gaze rested on Shen Yunzhi's face.
Instinctively, he assumed she'd told the marquis and his wife about his offer to make her a Liangdi.
So the household intended to send both sisters to the crown prince's residence together.
But he'd only spoken those words in anger that day, deliberately for her to hear.
He ought to go in and expose the pretense before everyone.
Yet at the sight of Shen Yunzhi's shyness, her hints of hope and delight, he found he couldn't do it.
Very well.
He turned. His robe brushed the peony petals by the steps as he left without looking back.
If she wanted it, he would let her have it.
It was only a concubine's place.
08
On the wedding day, the capital filled with the carriages of the powerful.
Mounted on a tall horse draped in red silk, Pei Heng arrived at the marquis's gate to the sound of wedding music.
He sat straight in the saddle and surveyed the vermilion entrance.
There was no second bridal sedan.
Something stirred uneasily within him, but he quickly suppressed it.
Of course. Shen Yunzhi was only to be a Liangdi, a concubine. How could she deserve to enter through the main gate alongside the crown princess?
She must already have been carried quietly into the Eastern Palace through a side entrance.
Reassured, he dismounted and accepted the red silk ribbon the wedding attendant handed him.
He took Shen Yunyi's hand. Beneath her red veil, she wore a heavy bridal gown. Together, they completed every elaborate rite.
That night, tall red candles burned in the bridal chamber.
He looked at Shen Yunyi's shy face, yet now and then Shen Yunzhi's lowered, loving eyes rose unbidden in his mind.
This was fine, he told himself. As long as she knew her place, he might still grant her a little dignity.
The next morning, the bride served tea.
In the Eastern Palace's main hall, all seemed harmonious.