The news of Li Shu’s fall from the cliff and subsequent divorce spread throughout the entire city. Whatever others might think of it, Princess Anle was utterly astounded.

How had she suddenly fallen off a cliff? And how had she suddenly divorced Cui Jinzhi?

Anle could not sit still for even a moment. She absolutely had to go and get to the bottom of this.

True to her impulsive nature, Anle resolved to act at once. She had barely finished her morning meal before ordering the servants to ready her carriage and horses.

Yang Fang hastily tried to dissuade her. “Princess Pingyang has suffered a terrible shock and her injuries are not light. Now is precisely the time for her to rest in peace and quiet. If you are concerned for her, wait a few days until she has recovered somewhat before going to call on her.”

Anle paid no heed to his counsel. She did as she pleased and went where her heart led her. At his words she shook her head. “Did not the imperial physician say it was only her hands that were badly hurt? It is not as if she has lost her wits. What is to stop me from visiting her? I am hardly going to disturb her.”

Yang Fang heard this and could barely refrain from slapping his own forehead.

Never mind how serious Princess Pingyang’s injuries were — the woman had still been hurt, after all. And he knew perfectly well that Anle and Pingyang had never gotten along. Who could say whether she was going to visit the sickbed or simply make things worse?

Pingyang had suffered quite enough already. There was no need to add to her misery.

That was what he thought, though of course he could not say so aloud.

He tried again. “The sky is overcast and it may rain before long. Perhaps you ought to stay home after all. As it happens, I have the day off today — if you are truly worried, I can go in your stead and look in on Princess Pingyang for you.”

At that, Anle’s hands stilled on the hairpin she was adjusting, and her face instantly clouded over with displeasure. “She is a lady of the inner chambers. Propriety alone demands that I be the one to call on her. How would you possibly visit her? Surely you do not mean to go into her inner rooms to examine her wounds?”

Ever since Li Shu had let slip that she had taken an interest in Yang Fang, Anle had been on high alert about the matter, terrified that Li Shu might act on it in secret and lure Yang Fang away from her. Now, hearing Yang Fang volunteer to go visit Li Shu, Anle was naturally furious.

What business did he have going to see Li Shu? Hmph!

While the two of them argued, the servants had already prepared the carriage. Anle swept out of the mansion gates, and Yang Fang hurried after her. “I will accompany you.”

If the two of them really came to blows with Princess Pingyang, at least he would be there to step in and play peacemaker.

But seeing Yang Fang brazenly attaching himself to her, Anle grew even more vexed. Her pretty face pulled into a long scowl, as though she wanted to erupt in anger — yet she could find no legitimate grounds to do so.

She could hardly say that she was afraid Pingyang would try to seduce him.

So Anle swallowed it down and said with poor grace, “Come along then, if you must.”

With that she climbed up into the carriage, leaving Yang Fang with nothing but a cold, stiff back to look at.

Seeing her like this, Yang Fang let out a rueful smile and swung himself up onto his horse.

She was his wife. They shared days and nights together, and Anle had never been one to conceal her feelings. How could he not see through her intentions?

She was not going out of concern for Princess Pingyang at all. She was going to… inquire about the divorce. To find out about Cui Jinzhi.

Yang Fang had always known that Anle harbored feelings for Cui Jinzhi. In the past it had not troubled him — she was his wife, and if he devoted himself to her faithfully day after day, she would forget Cui Jinzhi in time. He had been certain of this.

Today, though, that certainty had deserted him. Would Anle divorce him and turn around and marry Cui Jinzhi?

A bitter smile that he could not quite suppress lingered on his face.

The first time he had ever laid eyes on Princess Anle, he had still been a young man. At a palace banquet she had worn a pale yellow palace gown, her hair ornaments swaying and glinting, and they had swayed right into his heart. She had been raised within the palace walls, and yet she was so guileless and tender — like a fledgling bird in spring, the very sight of her made warmth bloom unbidden in his chest.

He was not a man of outstanding talent, and his family background could not begin to compare with the Cui clan, that venerable house of a hundred years. He had written off any hope of Princess Anle as an idle fancy beyond his reach. How was he to know that the currents of court affairs would shift so swiftly? When the imperial edict bestowing her hand upon him arrived, his hands trembled.

Four years of marriage, like a great dream. He knew he was not worthy of Anle. He was not as handsome as Cui Jinzhi, nor as talented. Anle ate and drank at his side, and yet her heart dwelled on another man.

Now it seemed the dream was finally ending. Even the right to remain by her side was about to be taken from him.

The princesses’ mansions were all located in the Thirteenth Princes’ Ward. On an ordinary day, the journey from Anle’s mansion to Li Shu’s took no more than a quarter of an hour. But today the road crept by at an agonizing pace — two full quarters of an hour had passed, and they had covered barely two-thirds of the distance.

For one simple reason: the front gates of Princess Pingyang’s mansion were thronged with visitors. The road was crammed with the carriages of noble ladies from distinguished families and officials of every rank, all of them jostling to pay their respects and call on the princess.

Li Shu had survived a catastrophe, and the Emperor’s favor toward her was deeper than ever.

These past few days the palace had sent messengers to Li Shu’s mansion at regular intervals — not to deliver precious gifts, but for small, intimate gestures. Sometimes it was the Emperor sending someone to inquire after the princess’s health. Other times it was a few dishes sent over: whenever the Emperor ate something particularly to his taste at noon or in the evening, he would give the order, “That was excellent. Send a portion to Pingyang.”

Gold and silver treasures bespoke cold formality. What truly conveyed the Son of Heaven’s affection was the very food from his own table.

And so all of Chang’an knew that the Emperor was consumed with tender concern for Princess Pingyang, doting on her beyond measure.

The deeper the Emperor’s doting, the louder the clamor outside Princess Pingyang’s mansion grew. Waves of well-wishers arrived one after another, bearing all manner of gifts and precious medicines that flowed into the princess’s mansion in an unceasing stream. The avenues of the Thirteenth Princes’ Ward were among the broadest in the city, yet of late the carriages had nearly choked them entirely.

Officials great and small alike were of one mind: the Emperor showered the princess with such favor — whatever their past relations with her might have been — they had best cultivate good ties with her now. Even if they could not manage that, they should at least put on a proper show for the Emperor to see.

Anle had been caught in precisely this snarl of traffic.

She lifted the curtain and peered out. Carriages and horses stretched as far as the eye could see, without end. She pursed her lips and let the curtain drop with a disgruntled snap.

Not even her own mansion ever saw this many visitors! Pingyang forever managed to outshine her.

In the end it was Yang Fang who rode ahead to negotiate a path through the crowd, prevailing upon those in the lead to make way, and at last Anle’s carriage passed through the gates of Princess Pingyang’s mansion.

A maidservant led Anle toward the rear courtyard, while Yang Fang was received by the mansion’s head steward — since the divorce, Cui Jinzhi had moved back to the old Cui family residence, and the princess’s mansion now had no male master to speak of.

The steward was run off his feet that day. So many officials had come to pay their respects, so many gifts to receive, record, and store away — there was not a moment’s rest. The princess herself was indisposed and could not manage these tedious affairs, so it all fell on the steward’s shoulders.

The steward had only walked a few steps alongside Yang Fang toward the main reception hall when a young manservant came trotting over to report. “Head Steward, the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Affairs, Sir Shen, has sent a calling card saying he has come to call on the princess and has brought a box of winter caterpillar fungus. Will you have him admitted?”

Before the steward could reply, Yang Fang beside him asked with some curiosity, “Would that be the new top graduate, Sir Shen Xiao?”

The manservant nodded.

The steward promptly instructed, “Quickly, invite Sir Shen in at once.”

The princess had given express instructions: should Shen Xiao come to call, he was not to be turned away under any circumstances, for she had matters she wished to discuss with him.

At the moment, however, the princess was in the rear courtyard, tied up with a string of noble ladies, and could not get away for the time being.

Fortunately, Yang Fang was tremendously curious about Shen Xiao. “I have long heard of Sir Shen’s reputation, yet we have never had the opportunity for a proper conversation.”

The steward immediately said, “Quickly, invite Sir Shen into the main reception hall.”

*

From the moment Li Shu had risen that morning, her rooms had not known a single quiet moment.

Every little while, a maidservant would usher in another wave of noble ladies, who would sit for a short while, exchange a few words of concern, and then take their leave.

Though no single visitor stayed long, Li Shu had spent the entire morning doing nothing but sitting on her daybed and receiving them in an endless succession. There was no help for it — too many people had come to call.

Just now, the maidservant had dropped the bamboo curtain at the doorway and seen the latest group of visitors out.

Hong Luo brought over a bowl of medicine and helped Li Shu take a sip, then urged her, “You must be worn out from this morning, my lady. The imperial physician said you need proper rest. Why does Your Highness not claim illness and refuse to see any more visitors? With all this commotion, you simply cannot recover in peace.”

But Li Shu shook her head and drank another mouthful of medicine. “There is no need for that. Great official or minor functionary, noble lady of whatever rank — all those who have come to call on me recently, I will see each and every one of them.”

Li Shu said this with a slight furrow of her brow, and settled her arm on the edge of the table to let it rest suspended in the air.

The wounds were at the stage of knitting themselves back together, and her palms ached and itched at the same time, yet she dared not scratch. It was summer, and she could not wrap too many layers of gauze around them for fear the wounds would fester. If she inadvertently clawed at her hand, she would catch the injury.

Every last scrap of Li Shu’s patience was spent enduring the pain. In truth, she had no desire whatsoever to receive visitors.

But there was nothing to be done. She absolutely had to receive visitors these days — and she could not be selective about it. Officials of every rank, all of them had to be seen.

All of it was for Shen Xiao’s sake.

The Seventh Prince was her younger brother, and he had always cultivated a reputation for fraternal devotion and brotherly respect. Now that she had been injured, he would certainly come in person to call on her. This was an excellent opportunity to discuss serious matters.

The problem was that Shen Xiao was delicate to handle. She could hardly summon him openly and outright — that would make her intentions far too obvious.

As it happened, the flood of visitors calling on her these days provided convenient cover. Shen Xiao could come along with the general tide of well-wishers, and no one would suspect a thing. Since she was already receiving everyone without distinction, summoning Shen Xiao afterward to speak privately would raise no eyebrows either.

When pitting herself against the Crown Prince, every step had to be taken with the utmost care.

There was nothing for it but to grit her teeth through the pain and keep receiving visitors. Another wave of ladies was being ushered in.

When Anle stepped into the room, she found it packed with noble ladies from distinguished families, and Princess Jincheng from the palace had come as well.

The room glittered with jewels and ornaments. Li Shu sat on the daybed, leaning languidly against the cushions, dressed in a simple, undyed house robe. Her complexion was pallid, her expression composed and distant.

Before Anle had arrived, the room had been alive with cheerful chatter, the ladies keeping Princess Pingyang company and lifting her spirits. The moment Anle walked in, the buzz of voices cut off abruptly, and everyone present straightened their expressions and curtsied to her. “We pay our respects to Princess Anle.”

Good heavens. What was Princess Anle doing here visiting Princess Pingyang?

Surely she was not here to call on the sick — more likely she had come to make trouble. Princess Pingyang had only just divorced, and who could not guess what Princess Anle had in mind?

Every noble lady in the room was thinking precisely the same thought as Yang Fang.

Today’s entertainment had just arrived.