Chapter 8

He had come with a grand display of betrothal gifts to demonstrate his sincerity.

Instead, he’d built a stage for his own humiliation.

“Pei Yan, did you think that once my reputation was ruined, once the world had trampled me into the mud, I would be too broken to rise again?”

“Then you would appear and marry me as your lawful wife. Such a boundless favor. I would think of you as my savior and remain grateful for the rest of my life.”

My words were sharp. None of the softness and submission I’d shown in the Pei house remained in my expression.

Pei Yan faltered for a moment.

His reply was low and emphatic, though he could not conceal his impatience.

“I have no intention of exploiting your difficulties.”

“It’s simply that, in your present circumstances, marrying into the Pei family is your best choice.”

I shook my head slightly.

“Lies.”

“Pei Yan, you laid this trap in secret to force me to give up. Yet you don’t even have the courage to admit it to my face.”

“Shameless. A flatterer.”

“Those insults you gave me would suit you better.”

Pei Yan went rigid.

He wanted to say more, but the gates of the general’s residence slammed shut.

Under the six ministries’ usual schedule, officials had two days off in every ten.

I took no extra leave. When the holiday ended, I reported to the Ministry of Works as usual.

The moment Vice Minister Ning saw me, he called me brazen and shameless.

I didn’t even look up.

“If my conduct is truly corrupt, His Majesty and the Empress will reprimand me.”

“Instead of spending all day on rumors, Vice Minister Ning might visit the bureaus more often and avoid neglecting his duties. Otherwise, we may find it’s someone else who deserves a reprimand.”

His rank was high and his experience extensive. I had always treated him respectfully and yielded to him repeatedly.

Faced with this sudden retort, he was nearly too angry to breathe.

Pointing a trembling finger, he demanded to know whether I had made or improved any military equipment since taking office.

When I shook my head, he straightened at once.

“Ordinary military equipment—iron armor, for example—takes four or five months to make. Though I hear your skill is exceptional, I have no wish to make things difficult.”

“I’ll give you three months. If you accomplish nothing, submit your resignation!”

When my brother heard I’d actually accepted the wager, he raised a hand to flick my forehead.

“One provocation and you agree? Where’s that impossible temper you use on me?”

I kept dodging.

“Brother, listen! I’m not acting on impulse.”

“If I want to stay at the ministry, I have to win their recognition. Only then can we work together. The Empress’s protection alone won’t make them truly accept me.”

Lady Wei had conveyed the Empress’s hopes for me.

These rumors seemed directed at me. In fact, some people did not want female officials to leave the inner palace, and were quietly resisting the Empress.

If I could turn the danger around, there would be no limit to what I might achieve.

“Throughout history, no one who accomplished great things escaped criticism. People are simply accustomed to attacking women through their private conduct.”

My brother had endured considerable criticism at court because of me.

I could not disappoint him.

Remembering some of Lady Wei’s hints, I smiled slyly and beckoned him closer.

“Brother, there’s a chance for you to beat Pei Yan openly, without any serious punishment.”

“Interested?”

A few days later, public gossip suddenly changed direction.

At wonton stalls and grain shops, among the women selling pickles and sauces and the children running through the streets, everyone was saying:

The young head of the Pei family preferred men.

“Did you hear? That story his family spread about a cousin shamelessly chasing him was all false!”

“She’d found out he liked men. They were afraid she’d tell people, so they struck first and deliberately ruined the poor girl’s reputation!”

“Oh, how can people be so wicked…”

At court that day, Pei Yan noticed many colleagues looking at him strangely.

The censors who, only days before, had kept submitting memorials against a female official entering the Ministry of Works now pursued him instead. They accused him of corrupt conduct and deliberately slandering another person.

Pei Yan was utterly bewildered.

When the Empress ordered him to return home and reflect in seclusion, with his duties temporarily assigned to others, he could only feel that he was dreaming.