Chapter 3

When the news reached Shu'er, she was filing a component in the shop.

Her hand stopped.

"Mother, I want to try."

I'd been waiting for those words.

"Then try. I'll be beside you."

For the next two months, she practically lived there.

Working with the old craftsmen, she tested and refined the sights and trigger mechanism, increasing the crossbow's range by thirty percent.

When the drawings reached the Ministry of War, the veteran generals examining them assumed they came from a major workshop.

Learning that their creator was a secluded young lady of just seventeen sent a stir through the hall.

A ministry director came personally to inspect the finished weapon.

After testing it, he held the crossbow and looked at Shu'er differently.

"Miss Lu, if we can produce these in quantity, the northwestern defenses could gain three years of stability! I'll petition for your reward at once!"

Sunlight fell across her face as she stood in the courtyard. She turned toward me, her eyes reddening.

I nodded.

At last, her path was beginning to brighten.

But just as the ministry prepared to report the achievement, an anonymous accusation reached the minister's desk.

It claimed Jinggong Workshop had stolen weapons designs improved by General Huo Jingxiu in the northwest, fraudulently claimed military credit, and deceived the sovereign.

Shu'er shook with anger.

"Mother, I drew those plans myself."

"I've barely met Huo Jingxiu. How could I have stolen his designs?"

I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't panic. I'll handle it."

I'd known this day would come.

He wouldn't stand idly by while she escaped his control.

He'd simply chosen the stupidest possible method.

I had the accusation traced. The answer came quickly.

One of his former army subordinates had written it. The man now held an inconspicuous junior post at the Ministry of War.

That was the important point. A ministry employee was secretly keeping close contact with Huo Jingxiu.

He must have forgotten that my mother, after years of business in the capital, had built an exceptionally discreet intelligence network.

My people intercepted a secret letter between him and the junior official.

In Huo Jingxiu's own hand, it said:

"Find a pretext to suppress Lu Shuqing's weapons designs. If you can't suppress them, turn the accusation against her. A sheltered woman implicated in deceiving the emperor is certain to die."

My fingers went cold around the letter.

He'd done the same at the frontier in our previous life.

Such viciousness.

I didn't rush to the authorities. I had a copy made and secretly delivered to the Minister of War's study.

Three days later, ministry officers arrested the junior official.

In prison, he named the man behind him.

His testimony pointed straight to Huo Jingxiu.

The Minister of War personally submitted a memorial impeaching Huo for "envy of talent, false accusations against a colleague, and intent to deceive the sovereign."

The first winter snow fell that night.

From the corridor, I watched it drift onto the roof of Shu'er's workshop.

Inside, she was making tea for the old craftsmen. Her clear laughter seemed the only warmth in the snowy night.

Anyone who tried to destroy my daughter's talent would find me destroying his prospects first.

05

After the impeachment memorial was submitted, the palace gave no response for a long time.

The Huo household, however, descended into chaos.

Suspended pending investigation, Huo Jingxiu stayed home all day. His temper changed completely. At the slightest provocation, he beat or berated the servants.

I heard that when Lu Yufu brought him ginseng soup one night, he kicked the tray over. Scalding soup splashed over her, and she didn't even dare cry aloud.

I thought she had only herself to blame.

But matters were far from simple.

Half a month later, an oral command summoned Shu'er and me to the palace.

Her palms were sweating with nerves. I fastened her cloak.

In the imperial study, the emperor sat behind his desk, examining the rolled designs.

The Minister of War and several senior officials stood below. Huo Jingxiu had also been summoned. He knelt to one side, ashen-faced.

The emperor ordered Shu'er to draw the design there and then.

She knelt before the desk and set to work. Within the time it took an incense stick to burn, a complete structural drawing lay on the paper: decisive lines, clear annotations.

The old ministers passed it among themselves, nodding.

The emperor then had Huo Jingxiu's northwestern weapons plans brought out.

Side by side, they shared only some basic features. Their core structures and approaches to improvement were entirely different.

"Huo Jingxiu, what have you to say?"

Prostrate, he answered hoarsely.

"I admit my fault. But I was merely... foolish for a moment. I feared Miss Lu's youth might endanger military affairs. I never intended to frame her."

I almost laughed.

Afraid she would jeopardize important work, so he first destroyed the person capable of doing it?

His logic was perfectly consistent.

The emperor gave no opinion. He simply ordered Huo Jingxiu taken away.

Then he turned to Shu'er, his tone softening.

"I hear you're a daughter of the Lu family, of the Marquis of Yong'an's household. You scarcely seem like one."

Neither haughty nor servile, she replied:

"Your Majesty, I'm only a young woman who loves making things. If I can serve the country, it is my duty."

He nodded and decreed an imperial plaque for Jinggong Workshop, a reward of a thousand taels, and, by special exception, a position as an external specialist at the Ministry of Works, participating in improvements to the northwest's military equipment.

The snow had stopped when we left.

Once inside the carriage, Shu'er suddenly embraced me and burst into tears.

"Mother, he said I wasn't like a Lu daughter."

I patted her back and smiled.

"That was praise."

"You shouldn't be like those people."

She broke into laughter through her tears.

It was dusk when we reached home.

We'd barely passed the inner gate when a maid ran up. The Old Madam had fallen ill.

I stopped.

What timing.

I sent Shu'er to rest and went alone to the Hall of Prosperity and Longevity.

The Old Madam lay in bed, her face yellow as paper. My sister-in-law attended her, eyes swollen from crying.

At my entrance, she rushed forward.

"Sister, you're finally back! Mother worried herself sick over you! Now General Huo's been jailed. What will become of our family?"

I frowned and approached the bed.

The Old Madam opened her clouded eyes and fixed them on me.

"Satisfied? All this crossbow nonsense for one girl, and you've offended the Huo family so thoroughly. Do you know who stands behind them?"

"Your branch has had its revenge. The entire clan will be buried with you!"

Her voice brimmed with deep resentment.

I sat beside her and gently straightened the quilt, my voice soft.

"What are you saying, Mother? The family is perfectly well. Shu'er has an imperial plaque. We may yet become more illustrious than the Huo family."

She abruptly seized my hand, her nails almost digging into my skin.

"You... you won't be satisfied until you've killed us all!"

I gently freed myself.

"If I truly wanted the Lu family destroyed, I'd have spoken before the emperor today."

"My silence wasn't out of old affection. I simply decided it hadn't come to that."

"So you'd do best not to force me."

Behind me, my sister-in-law screamed.

"Your branch is turning everything upside down! You've made Mother this ill. Have you no respect for your elders?"

I turned toward her.

"If you've breath to shout here, why not find out how your fine son-in-law treats your daughter? Then come back and tell me who's turning things upside down."

She went white.

I left without looking back.

06

On the tenth day after Huo Jingxiu's imprisonment, urgent news came from the frontier.

The Northern Di had invaded in force, taking three cities in succession. The northwestern defensive line was in danger.

The court was shaken.

Worse still, trouble had struck the front-line arsenal. Large numbers of mechanical crossbows were damaged, and the new equipment hadn't arrived.

The defending commander sent twelve urgent dispatches, pleading for immediate aid.

The emperor summoned his ministers that night.

Shu'er received an urgent summons too.

I took her to the palace gates. Holding my hand, she said, "Mother, I'm a little afraid."

I smoothed the hair at her temples.

"Don't be. Your crossbows are the best in the world. The soldiers at the front are waiting for your work to save their lives. It's the idle men drawing salaries without doing their duty who should be afraid."

She pressed her lips together and went inside.

I sat motionless at home until dawn.

She returned as the sky brightened, bringing news.

The emperor had ordered her to accompany the army northwest and help the military arsenal repair and improve all its crossbows.

My heart seemed to miss a beat.

"With the army?"

She looked at me, unusually firm.

"Mother, I want to go. I want to see for myself how the things I make protect this land."

I was silent for a long time.

She'd died in the northwest in our previous life. Now she wanted to go back.

I tightened my grip on her hand.

"I'm going with you."

She stared.