But Qian Xiaoyu was not comforted. If anything, her worry deepened. “We are in the middle of a war. Everyone is trying to keep their own heads above water. While we are all still here in Maolin County, it is one thing — but once the situation settles and the Princess of Rui returns to the capital, what will she do to you in revenge, Sister?”

Hu Xuesong gave a cold, contemptuous laugh. “Return to the capital? I am afraid that will prove rather difficult.”

Hu Xuesong, stationed at the naval garrison, had access to information more current than the local officials around him, and understood the present situation better.

The calls for the Prince of Dongping to ascend the throne were growing louder by the day. Even the military encampments in the surrounding area were spreading the word that the Prince of Dongping had already taken control of the capital and united the feudal princes — the enthronement was imminent.

If the Prince of Dongping became Emperor, a new reign meant a new set of men in power. What would either of the Fang daughters have to do with any of it?

Who could have imagined it? Everyone had assumed the Fang family had the winning hand from the start — that between their two daughters, a Empress was all but guaranteed. Yet here they were now: two phoenixes plucked of their glittering feathers, skulking in a rural backwater, grateful simply to keep their lives.

But in the days just before this, another set of forces had entered the game.

Zhao Dong’s northern army had also reached the capital.

The Emperor was still at the detached palace, but he was effectively held in the hands of Empress Wang and the Sixth Prince. Any direct assault on the palace would very likely cost the Emperor his life.

This was precisely why the Prince of Dongping and the other princes who had entered the capital had surrounded the palace but held back from attacking the gates — storming the palace with troops was no different from forcing the Emperor, held there as a hostage, to his death. That was the kind of infamy that would cling to a name for generations, a disgrace beyond all washing away. The various Han princes who had arrived under the banner of loyal defense each deferred politely to the others, none willing to be the one to step forward and soil himself with it.

Zhao Dong had originally intended to enter the palace and meet with the Empress personally — to appeal to her as a son-in-law, reason with her on grounds of both feeling and principle. As long as the Empress and the Sixth Prince were willing to hand over the Emperor unharmed, he was prepared to offer something in return: turn a blind eye and allow mother and son to flee.

But the detached palace, beyond its own garrison, was ringed so completely by the Prince of Dongping’s troops that not even water could trickle through.

Fighting through to reach it would inevitably mean a drawn-out, bloody battle. And since the Prince of Dongping was operating under the name of loyal defense on behalf of the imperial family, Zhao Dong could not very well treat him the same as an outright rebel force.

With both sides at a standstill, the Prince of Dongping proposed a negotiation with Zhao Dong.

No one knew precisely what passed between them. Only that when Zhao Dong came back from the meeting, his face was the color of iron, and he was a different man from before.

Then — inexplicably — the Prince of Dongping began withdrawing his troops, while Zhao Dong’s army struck straight for the palace, cutting a path through everything in its way.

The garrison defending the palace was barely holding on. By all accounts, the palace gates were on the verge of being breached. But then something erupted in Zhao Dong’s camp — someone had, it was said, assaulted General Zhao Dong himself.

And then, just as suddenly, Zhao Dong ordered a retreat. His entire force scattered and fell back. The Prince of Dongping, without lifting a finger, rode the wind Zhao Dong had raised for him and entered the palace, bringing Empress Wang and the Sixth Prince under his control.

Yet the Prince of Dongping did not bring the Emperor back to the capital. On the pretext that His Majesty’s health was too fragile for the journey, he left him at the detached palace to “recuperate.”

The Prince of Dongping also refrained from killing Empress Wang and the Sixth Prince, keeping all three of them confined together in the palace under soft arrest. Using this as a bargaining chip, he then turned and negotiated with the Changxi Wang family — the Empress’s people — arriving at a mutually agreeable exchange of interests, and securing the Wang family’s support for his enthronement.

Word was circulating that the Emperor was drafting an edict to pass the throne to the Prince of Dongping, and that the tailors commissioned to alter the imperial robes for the new sovereign had already begun taking measurements.

After all, the Prince of Dongping now held the Emperor as a lever over all the other lords, and had the backing of the Wang family as well. Such a perfect opportunity to ascend — how could he let it slip by?

Luoyun felt a bad premonition settle in her chest the moment she heard this.

You Shanyue’s letter had told the Prince of Dongping not to worry about Zhao Dong — that he had his own method of handling the matter. What was that method? And what had the Prince of Dongping said to Zhao Dong in that negotiation?

Now, watching the situation tilt steadily in the Prince of Dongping’s direction, it was plain that You Shanyue’s scheme to overturn the imperial order was on the verge of succeeding.

Luoyun was here in this place, blind to everything, knowing nothing. All she could do was pray that news of the Iron Mask Army would arrive soon.

Not long after, a few more aristocratic families fleeing the capital drifted into Maolin County, bringing with them a tangle of conflicting reports.

According to some, the Prince of Dongping’s side had run into unexpected trouble. A force of unknown origin had appeared from nowhere, bearing no identifying banners, disguised as palace servants carrying luggage. They had launched a lightning assault, overrun the detached palace, and spirited the Emperor away.

Several days later, definitive word at last arrived from the capital: the Emperor had been escorted back to the palace.

The title of Empress Wang had been stripped by imperial decree. The Sixth Prince had been confined to a side hall in the western palace.

As for the Prince of Dongping and the other princes — all of them had been captured in a single sweep.

The Prince of Dongping, who had privately commissioned imperial robes and harbored traitorous ambitions, had been beheaded before the Meridian Gate of the palace. By all accounts, the ground before the gate that day had run with blood, body after body falling in succession, leaving barely any place to set one’s feet.

Within the span of a few days, the fortunes of the capital had turned upside down, the heavens and earth themselves seemingly shifted.

Now the capital had issued public announcements, and the Emperor had personally written a decree denouncing Empress Wang for colluding with the rebel Prince of Dongping to plunge the realm into disorder — a proclamation made to set the record straight before all the world.

The moment these announcements were posted, the noble families sheltering in Maolin County broke into what amounted to cheers.

After all, those who had managed to escape to this place were all of the Ninth Prince’s faction. With Empress Wang and the Sixth Prince fallen, the princes’ rebellion crushed, and the Emperor safely returned to the palace, the upheaval was entirely resolved.

They had endured to the end. They could go back to the capital and resume their lives of silk and plenty.

For a time, the official residence where the Lu Ducal household was staying took on the character of a small palace, as the noble ladies sheltering temporarily in Maolin County came one by one to congratulate the Princess of Rui on having survived the storm and emerged into the light.

The Ninth Prince had been the rightful chosen heir, and yet he had died such a sudden and violent death. The Emperor himself was in his final decline. The Changxi Wang family’s crimes could not be escaped — they were certain to face a sweeping purge. And though the Ninth Prince’s son was still only a swaddled infant, he had behind him the power of the Fang family and the support of many Fang relatives. No candidate for the imperial succession could be more fitting.

The freshly widowed Princess of Rui could not ascend to the throne as Empress — but she could rise in a single step to become Empress Dowager, presiding over the infant Emperor and shepherding the realm.

At such a pivotal moment, the ladies who had taken refuge here naturally needed to pay their respects to the future Empress Dowager and cultivate their connections with her.

Fang Jinshu had watched, in those few days, the full spectrum of human nature displayed before her.

When the first news broke that the Prince of Dongping was about to proclaim himself Emperor, those same aristocratic families had avoided her as though she carried plague. Even a stroll along the riverbank required them to take a wide detour around her. Had it not been for her father’s former student commanding troops to protect them, she and her son might well have been seized by someone seeking to curry favor with the new ruler.

And now — with word that the Emperor had purged those beside him and returned to the palace — these very same people, shameless as ever, were coming to her with honeyed words and fawning smiles.

Fang Jinshu watched their sycophantic performance with cold eyes and said nothing — only offered the occasional contemptuous smile.

But more than watching their flattery, she wanted to see that merchant woman — the one who had dared order her men to slap her — in a state of panic, not knowing what to do with herself.

Maolin County was not large. Fang Jinshu knew the woman had a habit of going to the river wharf morning and evening to watch the boats and listen for news. And so she chose her timing deliberately, brought her maidservants and attendants, and arranged to cross paths with that merchant woman by apparent coincidence.

Sure enough, early one morning, she spotted the slender figure clad in plain white garments standing at the wharf, gazing into the distance.

When Fang Jinshu walked over, she had expected to see this woman thrown into anxious confusion. But Su Luoyun looked up at her just as she always had — expression unchanged, manner composed — offered a bow of greeting, and then began to turn and walk away.

“Stop!” Fang Jinshu snapped at her back.

Luoyun halted and asked calmly: “Is there something the Princess needs?”

Fang Jinshu curled her lips into a smile. “Your brother is a county deputy magistrate — he will have received word by now that the Emperor has safely returned to the palace. You have offended me. Are you not at all frightened?”

Su Luoyun blinked, looking genuinely puzzled. “Why should I be frightened? Is it not good news that the realm is at peace? If things have settled, my father-in-law and my husband will no longer need to trouble themselves over the imperial family’s affairs and can simply return to Liang Prefecture and continue living their lives. Is that not perfectly fine?”

Fang Jinshu could not tell whether this woman was truly dense or merely pretending — she seemed completely oblivious to the implication beneath the words. The sheer obtuseness of it was almost funny enough to make Fang Jinshu forget her anger. “You should understand that the Emperor’s remaining sons are all without talent or backing. My son, however, is the sole blood of Prince Rui, with the full support of the Lu Ducal household, the Jun Ducal household, and others behind him. Do you really think that once I become Empress Dowager, you will be able to live your peaceful days back in Liang Prefecture?”

Su Luoyun smiled faintly and replied in an unhurried tone: “Liang Prefecture has always been self-sufficient. Beyond paying its regular taxes to the court, it requires very little attention from the imperial seat. Whether life there is peaceful depends rather more on whether Heaven chooses to send timely rain and good harvests, and whether the crops grow well. Even those in positions of supreme power cannot simply act as they please without bringing catastrophe upon the people. Besides — the old man’s horse that seemed a misfortune turned out to be good luck; the horse that seemed good luck led to disaster. Is that not how things tend to go?”

Fang Jinshu narrowed her eyes. “What are you implying?”

Su Luoyun said plainly: “The Changxi Wang family’s rebellion has only just been suppressed. The Emperor has lived through the suffering caused by power concentrated in the hands of outside relatives. Now that the Wang family has fallen, will there be a second Wang family rising in their wake? The Emperor’s intentions are impossible to fathom — I would not presume to speculate. But throughout history, it has not been unheard of for a son to be kept while the mother is removed. Looking back across the annals, one finds no shortage of cases where, just before a child emperor ascended the throne, his birth mother died quite suddenly of an acute illness. Young as the boy emperor was to lose his mother, with two or three reliable and seasoned ministers to guide him, even such a sovereign could grow into a wise and capable ruler…”

“Su Luoyun! You are extraordinarily bold — do you have any idea what you are saying?” Fang Jinshu’s face had gone a greenish-white, though whether from fury or something else entirely was difficult to say.

Watching the Princess of Rui flare into outrage, Su Luoyun simply offered another bow. “I was merely discussing history. Since the Princess finds it unpleasant to hear, I will take my leave.”

With that, Luoyun turned and walked away. Ji Qiu, following just behind, took advantage of the turning of a corner to glance back, and found the Princess of Rui still standing frozen in place, a complicated expression on her face, apparently deep in thought.

Ji Qiu turned back and murmured quietly to Su Luoyun: “Shizi’s Consort, you really do dare to say such things. If the Princess of Rui holds a grudge over this, what then?”

Luoyun walked quickly, keeping her voice low as she replied: “If I do not frighten her a little, a woman of her nature will show up tomorrow with a group of noble ladies to make our lives difficult just for the pleasure of it.”

She had already gotten herself thoroughly soaked. Since she had offended every powerful person there was to offend, one more made no difference.

All she could do now was pray with all her heart that her husband had not been swept up in the princes’ rebellion — that he had kept his head clear of all of it. As long as Han Linfeng held his military force intact, just as he had said: he could live boldly and freely on his own piece of ground, and walk away from all of this with his life and position secured.

When the Emperor passed and a new ruler ascended, it would take time to consolidate power before anyone would move against the northern territories. Before that point came — just as Han Linfeng had predicted — no one would lightly come and provoke the Beizhen Wang household of Liang Prefecture.

But Maolin County was no longer a safe place to remain. She needed to find a way to take her brother and his wife, and her uncle, and get out as soon as possible.

Earlier she had gone to the wharf to check on the boats, and discovered that since the Emperor’s return to the palace, martial law had been imposed throughout the area. All vessels and vehicles, whether public or private, were forbidden to travel without a Ministry of War pass. Even if Luoyun had her own boats, leaving was not possible. The water route was closed. She needed to find some unofficial back channel and see about departing Maolin County sooner.

But when she returned and was just beginning to discuss this with her uncle, another fleet of boats entered Maolin County. These arrivals bore Ministry of War passes and an edict written personally by the Emperor — they had come to escort the Prince of Rui’s son back to the capital for a reunion between grandfather and grandchild.

Of course, the noble families who had sheltered in Maolin County and protected the imperial heir were deemed to have performed meritorious service. As long as they could confirm they were not of the Sixth Prince’s faction, they were welcome to return to the capital together.

Su Luoyun had just been thinking that this plague of houseguests was finally about to disperse — when a eunuch arrived bearing a verbal imperial command, cordially requesting that the Shizi’s consort of Beizhen also return to the capital.

Luoyun stood there, bewildered, unable to understand how the Emperor in the capital could know she was here.

Just at this moment, Qing Yang came striding in with a small contingent of men and spoke before he had fully arrived: “Shizi’s Consort, the Shizi sent me to escort you to the capital!”

At the sight of Qing Yang, Luoyun felt her heart finally settle back into place. She was so overwhelmed with relief that tears came to her eyes. “What? The Shizi is in the capital?”

Qing Yang smiled and nodded. “It was the Shizi who led the troops to escort His Majesty back to the palace. But at the time I was in the capital managing the dispersal of displaced commoners, and I did not clearly see how he took his men to storm the detached palace. You can ask the Shizi himself when you see him.”

Luoyun still knew very little of what had happened — but knowing that Han Linfeng was safe and unhurt was enough to settle her completely.

Qing Yang’s meaning was that not only Su Luoyun but Uncle Hu and Su Guiyan and his wife should all go to the capital.

Su Luoyun’s brow creased slightly at this. She fixed her gaze on Qing Yang and asked: “Why must everyone go to the capital? Nothing has gone wrong, has it? Did the Shizi say this to you in person, face to face?”

After these weeks of maintaining constant vigilance, Qing Yang’s words had the sound, to Luoyun’s ears, of a net being drawn to catch everything at once. She could not help regarding him with suspicion.

At first Qing Yang, honest and slow on the uptake, did not understand her meaning. Then, seeing the Shizi’s consort staring at him with a taut, searching expression, it dawned on him: “Of course the Shizi said it to me directly in person — why would I deceive you? You know perfectly well I… when I lie to people I tend to… to start stuh-stuh-stutering, and then I can’t bloody get a word out straight.”

His stutter broke through at the worst moment. The big, rough-hewn man stamped his foot in frustration. “Shizi’s Consort, please stop looking at me like that. If I am lying to you, may I fall dead on the battlefield beneath a rain of swords!”

Luoyun knew perfectly well that Qing Yang was not capable of lying. What she feared was that someone had deceived and manipulated him. Still, if that was what Han Linfeng had arranged, she would naturally follow his wishes and go to him in the capital as soon as possible.

Only — boarding the boat that day did not go entirely smoothly.

As it turned out, there was no need for the Princess of Rui to say a word. The old habit of making trouble for the Shizi’s consort of Beizhen assembled itself without any prompting.

This time, Fang Jinshu did not take the lead. She sat absorbed in her own thoughts, staring blankly at the child in her arms.

It was the Duchess of Jun who could not bear the sight of the Beizhen consort’s people — not a single one of them.

Watching Su Luoyun prepare to board a boat, the Duchess sniffed and said: “During the chaos of the war I did not stand on ceremony about such matters — but now that the Emperor has returned to the palace, there should be some proper order. I hear that Lord Beizhen and the Shizi also led troops into the capital. A feudal lord who enters the capital with troops without imperial summons commits the crime of rebellion. The Prince of Dongping and the other princes have already paid for their crimes with their lives — one wonders whether the Beizhen Wang household has been granted any pardon from His Majesty. Surely it is not quite appropriate for the family of someone accused of crimes to travel on the same boat as the Princess of Rui?”

The moment these words landed, they were met with murmurs of agreement from the other ladies and lords standing nearby. The glances they turned on Su Luoyun were full of contempt — this down-at-heel prince from some remote provincial branch of the family, apparently oblivious to his own situation, had been hoping to take advantage of the national crisis to make something of himself.

Now that the Emperor had returned to the palace, every single one of those princes who had entered the capital would be called to account. There was no escaping it.

And this sharp-tongued Beizhen consort ought to be the first in line — most deserving of a charge of grave disrespect. In all likelihood she would be kneeling before the Meridian Gate alongside that Beizhen father and son, and her blood would water the stone pavement alongside theirs.

Just at this moment, a guard came to speak to Su Luoyun: “Shizi’s Consort — you are not boarding this vessel. Your boat is the one at the back.”

Luoyun did not mind in the least. She had no desire to share a boat with these sour-tongued ladies. Even a leaky vessel would have been preferable. She said “Mm” and turned to walk toward the boat at the rear.

The Duchess of Jun, having taken her dig at that merchant woman, felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction. How utterly presumptuous — the woman had actually dared to put on airs before her face! With no sense of her own place — a woman of low birth, without the faintest restraint in the presence of true aristocratic ladies. She fully intended to watch what wretched end this merchant woman and the hopeless Beizhen Wang household came to.

But just at this moment, a lady standing nearby shielded her eyes to look toward the back of the fleet and said quietly, in a tone of startled disbelief: “Did she get on the wrong boat again? The boat I see her boarding — doesn’t it look like the pleasure vessel His Majesty used for his excursion on the Wei River?”

The Duchess of Jun turned to look. There, in a sweep of brilliant sunlight, Luoyun was lifting the hem of her skirts and stepping aboard a great carved-dragon vessel that had just glided in and moored — its hull gilded, its sails stacked in overlapping layers.

If memory served, this was the very ship newly built two years ago for the Emperor’s pleasure outing with his favored Noble Consort Qiong — a vessel the Emperor himself had barely used twice.

How was it that that lowborn woman was boarding it alone? Surely there had been some mistake below?

In truth, Su Luoyun herself was muttering inwardly as she boarded.

Even if the wartime disruption had left too few boats for use in the capital and they had pressed an imperial pleasure vessel into temporary service, it ought by rights to be the Princess of Rui and the other illustrious noble families who traveled on it. After all, the boat those ladies were on, though large, was an ordinary merchant vessel with nothing remarkable about it.

To have only her own party and her uncle’s group on this vessel — it was wildly beyond what propriety allowed. Han Linfeng was at it again with that quietly contrary streak of his. Now that he had escorted the Emperor back to the palace, he must certainly be managing the allocation of boats and transport. Was this some abuse of his new position — pressing a convenient advantage to make a pointed statement, and to embarrass the Princess of Rui and the others in the process?

Luoyun broke into a helpless, rueful smile. It seemed that when it came to offending powerful people, she and her husband were more alike than they knew — both of them, without any coordination at all, running headlong toward the same kind of trouble.

And so, arriving at the boat’s side, she stopped and turned to ask Qing Yang: “Where exactly did you get this vessel? It is really not appropriate for me to ride on it.”

Qing Yang replied with complete certainty: “The Shizi heard from Old Cui and his son that you suffered terribly from seasickness on your way here, so he specifically arranged this boat — apparently it is extraordinarily stable on the water, so you won’t be uncomfortable again.”

Luoyun shook her head with a helpless laugh. Even if it was wartime and regulations were loose, traveling on this boat would leave her open to criticism. She absolutely should not board it.

But Qing Yang pressed: “Shizi’s Consort, the Shizi is waiting for you. If you don’t take this boat, there simply are no other boats right now with a Ministry of War pass — without one, you cannot enter the capital at all.”

The boats ahead were already beginning to move. Swapping vessels now was out of the question.

Urged along by Qing Yang until she had no choice, Luoyun reluctantly went ahead and boarded.

Once she was on board, Su Guiyan made a circuit of the cabin, and stood looking at the intricately carved and painted interior walls and the sandalwood seats bolted to the deck, and heaved a long sigh. “I have heard this was newly built two years ago. The court treasury has been crying poverty for years — and yet they could produce something as extravagant as this. It is hardly surprising that things have come to…”

He caught himself at the last moment, feeling he had said too much, and cut himself off hurriedly.

But Luoyun understood perfectly well what her brother was lamenting. He was surely thinking that when those in power indulge in such luxury, it is no wonder that something like this princes’ rebellion would eventually erupt.

Now that the Emperor had returned to the palace and recovered his footing, there would inevitably be another round of settling accounts. The only question was whether the Beizhen Wang household, having rendered the extraordinary service of rescuing the Emperor, could safely come through the waves of retribution that were sure to follow.

But as the siblings spoke on deck, they had no idea that people on the boats sailing ahead were watching them from a distance.

The Duchess of Jun was full of uneasy speculation. She drew close to the Duchess of Lu and whispered: “Have you heard anything, my lady? How is it that that woman gets to ride on the Emperor’s pleasure boat?”

The Duchess of Lu had no more idea than she did. Like the Duchess of Jun, she had been stuck in Maolin County and cut off from the outside world — so she could only murmur in agreement: “I cannot make it out either. By rights, this vessel — apart from the Emperor himself, it would seem only the palace ladies could use it…”

The ladies fell to private speculation: could it be that the Emperor, in his final rallying flicker before death, had set his eyes on the beautiful young wife of a junior member of the imperial family and intended to bring her into the palace?

Surely not — that would be too outlandish. Or perhaps it was simply a mistake on the part of the people below, and the boat meant for the Princess of Rui had been sent to the wrong woman?

But however they turned it over, no one could arrive at an answer. In a world as topsy-turvy as the one they were living in, any kind of strange new thing was hardly surprising anymore.

As for Luoyun, once settled on the boat, she took the opportunity to ask Qing Yang in full detail why there had been no news at all from the Shizi since his arrival in the capital.

Qing Yang answered honestly: “In truth, we arrived quite early. But we did not stop in any of the prefectures or counties along the way — we camped in the hills and countryside the whole time. The Shizi said that even with the capital in chaos, a feudal lord who enters the capital with troops without imperial summons — even with a loyal-defense pretext — leaves a handle for others to use against him. Better to watch and wait first. And besides, there were far too many princes already rushing into the capital — the Shizi said there was no point in joining that crowd.”

Luoyun nodded and asked: “And did Old Cui get the intelligence to him in time?”

Qing Yang replied quickly: “Very much in time — and it was an enormous help. No one had imagined that that old scoundrel You Shanyue was playing such underhanded games against the Shizi. Once the Shizi knew they were using carrier pigeons, he had people investigate the Maoxiang Money Houses in several prefectures and counties. They found that some of the money houses had pigeon relay stations in their back courtyards. Old Cui and his son caught a few more birds there as well — which gave them a clear picture of the Prince of Dongping’s movements.”

Luoyun thought of Zhao Dong, and went on to ask about him. But Qing Yang’s expression grew troubled. “Shizi’s Consort, there are some matters the Shizi has instructed us not to let out yet — to avoid spoiling things. Once you reach the capital, everything will become clear.”