Chapter 3

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Years ago, when her prince consort had favored a concubine and neglected his wife, the Princess of Jing’an had angrily severed their marriage. She had lived alone for many years ever since and hated faithless men above all else.

I continued to raise my teacup at my leisure. Only when I saw Wei Jing’s face change did I look up in feigned surprise and say gently, “My lord, I’m so sorry—I forgot to tell you. The old dowager of Prince Kang’s household came to see the brocade I embroidered for you today. She’s been resting in the inner room this whole time.”

As it happened, the Princess of Jing’an was passionate about embroidery, especially Suzhou embroidery from Jiangnan.

Before the wedding, I had deliberately sought out Jiangnan’s most renowned embroiderer and made sure word of her work spread throughout Bianjing. That was what caught the princess’s attention.

A few days ago, I had even paid the embroiderer a visit, pretending to learn the craft. I let the needle prick my fingertips until they bled, yet refused to ask anyone else to do the work for me.

At the time, the embroiderer had sighed and scolded me in front of her apprentices.

“For the marquis’s sake, you’ve stayed up night after night. Aren’t you afraid you’ll ruin your eyes?”

The Princess of Jing’an had been standing just outside the door when I said it.

She was deeply moved.

Later, the embroiderer told her that the brocade I had worked so hard to sew was finished. Every stitch was so fine that even the embroiderer herself could find no fault in it.

The princess had been eager to see it, so she stopped by the residence—and walked straight into this little “performance.”

Liu Yingying had come from the pleasure quarters. Besides pretending to be frail and playing on men’s instinct to protect a beautiful woman, she knew little else.

So when she was scolded, her first instinct was to hide behind the marquis and weep.

She had no idea this was exactly the sort of thing the princess despised most.

The princess gave a cold laugh. Her gaze swept over Liu Yingying’s tear-streaked face, then fell on Wei Jing.

“Well, well, the young lord of the Wei family!”

“Today I’ve truly opened my eyes.”

“I used to hear rumors that on your wedding day you drew your sword in front of all your guests for a courtesan. I thought they were nothing but vulgar gossip.”

“Now that I’ve seen it for myself, I must say our Marquis Mingyuan really does treasure that brothel trinket as if she were a pearl.”

…

4.

The Princess of Jing’an left in a fury. The next day, she attended the chrysanthemums-viewing banquet hosted by Bianjing’s noblewomen.

She lashed out with cutting sarcasm, leaving the Wei matriarch so humiliated she had to invent an excuse to leave in the middle of the gathering.

As soon as she returned home, the old madam summoned two experienced matrons who had once instructed women in the imperial harem.

“The Wei family is a distinguished house of merit, yet a courtesan has dragged us through the mud and ruined our good name! Teach that wretched girl a lesson. Show her what the rules of a marquis’s household are!”

Those two matrons had once trained imperial consorts. Their methods were naturally severe.

With a little help from me behind the scenes, Liu Yingying could not take it for even half a day. At dinner, she stumbled into the main courtyard and dropped to her knees on the steps, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Old Madam, please have mercy! I know I was wrong!”

The old madam had been dining with me. She set down her chopsticks and glared.

“What is all this noise? You have no manners!”

At her command, a burly stewardess seized Liu by the arms, dragged her away, and threw her out of the courtyard.

Wei Jing held his chopsticks, his hand tightening and relaxing several times. He seemed about to speak, but in the end he only lowered his head, picked up a mouthful of rice, and hurriedly left the table beneath the old madam’s icy gaze.

After the wedding, I took over the household accounts and managed them so neatly that every expense was recorded, with not a single loophole.

My mother had been born to a wealthy merchant family in Yangzhou. I had grown up watching people balance accounts, so managing a household was hardly difficult for me.

The Wei residence had been a tangled mess, its stores leaking money while no one bothered to notice. In only half a month, I uncovered three years of old debts. Even the Wei matriarch had to praise me:

“Mingzhu truly has a gift for managing a household. She has some of her mother’s bearing.”