Chapter 3

With no one left to oppose me in the marquis's household, Xie Jing'an and I spent several loving years as husband and wife.

He would sit beneath the dim lamplight, stroking the old scar on the back of my hand again and again, then pull me into his arms and sigh:

“You risked your life to protect me and gave me your whole heart. What more could a husband ask for than a wife like you?”

He had once loved me, protected me, and stood by me.

When my mother-in-law used the account books to make things difficult for me, he stood outside the window in the cold wind.

Every time she tormented me, he fell ill.

In the end, my mother-in-law could only give up.

Even with a high fever, he smiled at his mother and said:

“It's hard to be both filial and dutiful. Your son can't be unfilial to you for the sake of his new wife. But as a husband, if I can't protect the woman I love and let my new wife suffer, then I'm useless.”

“Now I've fulfilled my duty to you and shared your hardship with my wife. Are you satisfied, Mother?”

“If you aren't, that's all right. If she suffers, I'll suffer with her. One day you'll calm down. I can wait.”

He could wait. His body couldn't.

One bout of fever cost him a chance at a promotion.

I added a few details and shed a few tears in front of an aunt who had long been at odds with my mother-in-law.

Soon, the whole clan turned against my mother-in-law, surrounding her on every side.

At last, she admitted defeat, retreated to the Buddhist hall, and stopped interfering in the household.

When my sister-in-law looked down on my birth, Xie Jing'an stood behind me and defended me.

He smiled without warmth at Madam Zhao.

“As the elder brother's wife, she's like a mother. Is this how the Zhao family teaches a younger brother's wife to speak to her elder sister-in-law?”

“Clearly, noble birth doesn't count for much. The Zhao family has been a family of scholars for generations, yet it still produced someone who doesn't know her place.”

“If my younger brother can't manage his inner household, perhaps I should petition His Majesty to send him back to his hometown for three years of mourning. He can take his wife along so she can cultivate herself and temper her temper.”

Madam Zhao went pale.

My husband's younger brother clasped his hands and apologized repeatedly, saying every flattering thing he could think of before he was able to escort her out.

Even the wet nurse my mother-in-law had brought with her was someone I couldn't easily deal with.

Xie Jing'an did it without hesitation. He gave her a generous purse and sent his own wet nurse back to her hometown to retire in comfort.

Everyone in the capital knew that Marquis Xie treasured his wife like a jewel.

Even though he already had both a son and a daughter, he never brought another woman into his household.

Those years—

Whether his affection was sincere or not—

Were the rare, happy, carefree years of my first two decades.

Until my elder sister fell gravely ill.

**05**

After I took the great catch, Xie Jing'an, away from my sister, she didn't fall apart.

With Father backing her and her mother helping her scheme, she soon climbed high enough to catch the Third Prince.

She couldn't resist coming to gloat in front of me.

“So what if you stole Xie Jing'an? He's a gullible fool. You might have taken him today, but someone else can steal him back tomorrow with a few tears.”

“But the Third Prince is different. His mother is the most favored consort in the palace, and he fiercely protects his own. If I win his heart, I'll have everything.”

“Shen Yuemian, your retribution is still coming.”

Retribution?

Then I'd make her taste it soon enough.

My stepmother and Shen Yuetang had joined forces to kill my little brother and drive my mother, a concubine, to her death.

And they still expected to keep me under their heel for the rest of my life?

I would never let them have their way.

At a banquet, I made Bùi Vân Châu's handkerchief fall from Shen Yuetang's sleeve in front of everyone.

I also exposed the essays and policy proposals of hers that Xiao Ce, the Third Prince, had praised. They had all been polished line by line by dozens of scholars whom Father had pressured with the power of his position as Minister.

The celebrated talent Shen Yuetang fell from her pedestal.

Consort Lin, Xiao Ce's mother, couldn't tolerate the slightest offense.

She immediately asked the Emperor to arrange Shen Yuetang's marriage to Bùi Vân Châu.

In the end, my sister still married the second-best catch.

She got what she wanted and even married into her maternal uncle's household. It could hardly be called retribution.

But less than three years later, my secret machinations put Bùi's father in prison for embezzling money intended for epidemic relief.

The Bùi family fell into ruin. Bùi Vân Châu was framed, demoted, and banished a thousand miles from the capital.

My sister couldn't hold things together alone and fell ill, never recovering.

As she lay dying, she watched my happiness with jealousy burning in her eyes.

She used the bond we'd shared as children and the bloodstained handkerchief to beg Xie Jing'an to visit her one last time.

But then she laid out, one by one, every scheme I'd ever carried out.

I'd used my concubine mother's death to drag my stepmother and the legitimate child in her womb down with her.

I'd used a bloody, battered appearance to win Grandmother's sympathy, so she'd take me in and raise me at her side.

I'd exploited my closeness to Bùi Vân Châu to strike at my sister's deepest insecurity.

Then, when she made things difficult for me, I'd seized the chance to cling to Xie Jing'an.

I'd even locked the deserted courtyard door and set it on fire, destroying my sister's match with Xie Jing'an and taking the wealth, honor, and future of the Marquis's household for myself.

My stepmother was gaunt, clinging to the last of her strength.