Fang Yi’ai had already drawn Gao Yang’s eyebrows eight times, but Gao Yang was still very unsatisfied, believing that this rabbit-eyebrow style was insufficient to display her nobility. Having finally begged her father to get her husband back from Tongzhou, he had to pay back all the debts from not being home. The clumsy Fang Yi’ai, though covered in sweat, still wiped the sweat from his palms and continued helping Gao Yang draw her eyebrows. In his view, dying from exhaustion doing this wouldn’t matter.
Gao Yang was proud, willful, stubborn, and beautiful to boot. This made all the scoundrels in Chang’an city drool over her with desire. There were even beautiful young men who recommended themselves through other princesses. The princesses of the Li Tang dynasty loved beautiful young men most. Gao Yang accepted all the beautiful young men introduced by her aunts, but their fates were very miserable—they could only spend their entire lives in the performers’ academy. To the aunts who criticized her for wasting natural treasures, Gao Yang said: “I am originally a golden phoenix from the ninth heaven—I only perch on phoenix trees. Why should I land in muddy ground?” The aunts were greatly ashamed and retreated with covered faces.
No matter what character flaws Gao Yang had, during Fang Yi’ai’s absence from Chang’an, she insisted on moving back to the Fang residence, strictly observing etiquette. She never missed the morning and evening attendance on Fang Xuanling and his wife. Fang Xuanling was greatly comforted and praised Gao Yang endlessly before Li Er. Li Er joked: “Lord Fang said in the past that one must be deaf and mute to be a good father-in-law. Why are your ears and eyes now so clear?” The ruler and minister looked at each other and laughed heartily.
“Yi’ai, that Yun girl bullies me. She’s already hit me twice at the academy. Of all the people I’ve known since childhood, she’s the most annoying. Tell me, how can I get back at her?”
Fang Yi’ai, holding silk gauze, carefully refined Gao Yang’s eyebrows and said: “She hits you out of jealousy. Getting beaten at the academy is commonplace. I even beat Xiao You once—he cried so miserably. As your husband, being a man, I shouldn’t quibble with women. However, you just need to stand plainly in front of that Yun girl, and all grievances will be avenged. Even if she hangs all the Yun family’s treasures on her body, she wouldn’t be as good-looking as one of Gao Yang’s little fingers.”
After speaking, he brought over the mirror to let Gao Yang look. Gao Yang clapped her hands happily and said: “Tonight, wherever that Yun girl goes, I’ll go there. When the Heavenly Demoness taught makeup class, she said that when an ugly woman stands beside a beauty, it makes the beauty three degrees more beautiful and the ugly person uglier.”
Fang Yi’ai laughed so hard he could barely breathe. He took out a brocade box from his bosom and said: “Mother knows you love beauty, so she told me to give you this. This is the most beautiful of the two ancestral heirloom pieces of jewelry in the Fang family. Although it’s not very elegant, wearing this thing is what suits a person. Old items can show your distinction. Look at those noble ladies—on their heads or wrists, they always have one piece of old jewelry. Your aunt’s bracelet is actually copper, but look, the old lady treats that bracelet like her life.”
Gao Yang said in surprise: “How can that be the same? That copper bracelet was bought by Uncle Zhangsun for Auntie when he was down on his luck, so naturally she treats it like her life. Does this piece of jewelry in our family also have a story?” Gao Yang’s interest was immediately piqued.
“These two pieces of jewelry have been passed down for over three hundred years. Originally, they could only go to the eldest daughter-in-law. My eldest sister-in-law said you’re the one who supports and maintains our family household. She took a jade pendant to hang on my eldest brother, and this hairpin was left for you.”
Gao Yang loved hearing others praise her most. Her eyes curved with smiles. She let Fang Yi’ai insert the hairpin for her, then looked in the mirror once more before going to pay respects to Fang Xuanling and the old lady.
Fang Xuanling stood in the corridor looking at his son, who appeared refined and scholarly in blue clothes, then looked at Gao Yang, dressed like a golden phoenix. He smiled very happily. The eldest sister-in-law said enviously to Gao Yang: “Your eldest brother is inflexible and can’t walk the same path as Yun Ye and the others. Otherwise, I’d also want to see the luxury of the Yun residence.”
“Sister-in-law, if you want to go, just go. I don’t believe the Yun family would dare not receive you!” Hearing her sister-in-law’s words, Gao Yang immediately said loudly.
Lady Fang shook her head indulgently and said: “Our Fang family’s reputation still needs to be maintained.” She also helped straighten Gao Yang’s hairpin. Because Yun Ye invited the Fang household, Gao Yang’s personal carriage couldn’t be used. Lady Fang specially had the groom harness the family head’s black lacquered carriage to send them to the Yun family.
When the sun tilted westward, countless carriages sped along the newly paved stone road toward the Yun family estate. Front and back were household generals in bright helmets and armor providing protection. Anyone who saw them knew these were noble families, not those fat-brained wealthy merchants.
Today, to welcome nobles from all directions, the market in front of the Yun family only opened for half a day. The tenants of the Yun family estate had long since lost much curiosity about nobles—they saw them too often on ordinary days.
This didn’t prevent common people from other estates from coming to open their eyes. Good heavens! They were all people like immortals, especially those noble ladies wearing conical hats, each with graceful figures. After fantasizing, they looked at their own wives—why hadn’t they grown to look like noble ladies? When they got home, they would need to discipline them.
The Yun family’s garden today was forbidden territory for men. Of course, Chenxin was naturally not included in this category. He carried a huge red lacquered tray and shuttled among the women, constantly recommending various perfumes he had developed to those noble ladies.
That Chenxin was at the Yun family was something everyone knew. The perfumes developed by his hands were already quite famous. Some lazy women would even tease Chenxin, causing other noble ladies to burst into laughter.
Yun Ya was very angry because no matter where she went, Gao Yang would follow behind with flirtatious gestures, even intimately linking arms with her, appearing very close.
Knowing she had ill intentions, she couldn’t rudely shake her off. All along the way, she constantly heard other noble ladies praising Gao Yang as beautiful and of noble temperament, which made her angry, because when it came to herself, there was just one phrase: “Truly a good woman!”
Whenever someone said this, Gao Yang would very seriously nod in agreement and repeat the phrase. But why did she hold her own head up so high?
When Xiao Wu appeared dressed as an unmarried woman, she immediately left many ladies dumbstruck. Xiao Wu seemed to dress very casually, just hanging a string of pink beads around her neck, but her natural beauty simply couldn’t be concealed.
“This is Marquis Yun’s second disciple. I heard she’s already betrothed to the eldest son of Di Zhixun, who is also Marquis Yun’s third disciple. She’s been taken under Marquis Yun’s tutelage since childhood. The knowledge she studies is truly immortal knowledge. I heard that in learning, she’s already on par with Master Hypatia. The Empress has already personally memorialized His Majesty to grant her an official position—a real official position, not like the official positions we women have. Originally, she should have taken up her post long ago, but because she encountered the national mourning and couldn’t marry, it was delayed. Otherwise, we would all be addressing her as Master Wu today. She’s the only married woman who uses her given name.”
As soon as Xiao Wu appeared, Gao Yang’s spotlight was immediately lost. Yun Ya turned her head and whispered to Gao Yang: “I know I’m not as beautiful as you. If you have the ability, try standing next to Xiao Wu.”
Gao Yang also knew that Xiao Wu was a prodigy. Humans couldn’t compare with prodigies. Back then, Father Emperor had already been considering which of his sons to betroth Xiao Wu to, but was strictly stopped by Mother Empress, who believed that such a woman marrying into the imperial family would not be the imperial family’s blessing. That’s why it was dropped. When Mother Empress selected talented ladies for Father Emperor, she specially avoided the Yun family estate and the academy. Gao Yang knew that actually, she was avoiding Xiao Wu.
Looking at Xiao Ya’s pert nose, Gao Yang became happy again. She tightly clung to Xiao Ya and had her take her to tour the Yun family’s garden. When passing Chenxin, she even giggled and pinched Chenxin’s face. At the academy, this had been one of Gao Yang’s favorite games. Coming out of the academy had given Gao Yang a habit—as long as men were overly handsome, she believed all these people were the same goods as Chenxin. Having become accustomed to Chenxin’s peerless beauty, those common chickens and pottery dogs couldn’t enter her eyes at all. Every one of them was soft and limp—even thinking about it was disgusting. Those men who rode horses, wore swords, and fought for the country were real men.
Lan Ling married Dou Huaizhe at fifteen. Today’s Dou family was very different from the Dou family of the past. To this day, Yun Ye still didn’t know what kind of person the Dou family head, Dou Zhong, was. Just from the fact that Li Er was willing to marry Lan Ling to his eldest son, one knew that Dou Zhong was no simple person.
Their family was very low-key. Besides expanding her milk candy business, Lan Ling rarely associated with others. However, she now seemed to have taken a fancy to the perfume Chenxin made. The two of them stood at the edge of the bamboo grove whispering and chatting.
Princess Xiangcheng married Xiao Rui. Her husband was lively by nature, humorous and clever, but Xiangcheng was completely a dull gourd. However, she attached great importance to ritual propriety. Li Er personally issued an edict proclaiming Xiangcheng as teacher to all the princesses. Dressed properly in a jewel-blue robe, she was now mediating between Gao Yang and Yun Ya, as the two had started quarreling again.
When Xinyue came out, Gao Yang was already very happy because Yun Ya had been called away by the Heavenly Demoness. Those barbarian dancing girls who were about to dance still needed Xiao Ya to communicate with them. The Great Tang language spoken by the barbarian girls was very strange—currently, only Xiao Ya could understand it.
“Your Highness Gao Yang, you are truly radiant today. Only you look appropriate wearing this cloisonné Shu brocade robe. When we small households wear it, it looks awkward no matter how you look at it. Oh my, how incredible! This must be the old Fang family’s ancestral treasure, right? Look, the old appearance on it isn’t concealed at all. The new jewelry on this humble one’s head is too ashamed to show its face.”
Before Xinyue could speak, a woman in green clothes leaned over and fired off a string of flattery. It was acceptable for the daughter-in-law of the Ma family to flatter.
With outsiders present, Gao Yang immediately became reserved. No matter how Ma Jiuhu’s wife complimented her, she only maintained a faint smile and just listened. Many words couldn’t be taken seriously—some people came to the Yun family just to say nice things. After the Ma family’s woman also received a few compliments from Gao Yang and left, Gao Yang immediately grabbed Xinyue’s sleeve to complain—that Yun girl had viciously stepped on her foot when she left just now…
Yun Ye’s mouth was crooked from laughing because Cheng Chumo had lost his official position. He broke a provincial governor’s leg. As a mere cavalry commander, you had nothing to do with a provincial governor—just because the man liked to drag out his words when speaking, Cheng Chumo imitated that provincial governor’s speech with an extremely strange voice. The whole hall of guests laughed themselves into a complete mess. As for Cheng Chumo losing his position, who would take it seriously?