On the day of departure for the north, Bai Mingxia found the Hua Family’s steward already waiting outside the city gates. Hua Zhi had not come herself.

Shen Qi’s disappointment was all too plain to see. Bai Mingxia could only shake his head. From what he knew, when the Hua Family had gone to dissolve the engagement, the Shen Family had agreed without the slightest hesitation. Had they known how things would turn out, why had they been so quick to consent?

A young woman with that sort of temperament kept both gratitude and grievances close. He had only looked after her a little out of consideration for Pingyang, and already she had extended such a promise in return. If Shen Qi had stood by her side from the very beginning and walked the road with her, the two of them could have had every happiness.

What a pity.

He tightened the reins and turned his horse around. Looking back at the towering city walls, Bai Mingxia thought of his mother’s unspoken words and his father’s silence when he had left that morning, and a bitter ache settled in his chest, impossible to name. His father had personally seen to his early education. The principle his father had taught him — to speak with loyalty and faithfulness, to act with sincerity and reverence — he had upheld. The one who had taught it to him had forgotten it himself.

The more he thought, the heavier the sorrow pressed. Bai Mingxia said nothing to Shen Qi and spurred his horse forward into a gallop.

Shen Qi set aside his own dejection and urged his horse after him. He was going, this time, to make amends.

On an ordinary day, Hua Zhi would have ridden out to see them off a stretch of the road — after all, those they were going to visit were members of her Hua Family. But not today. Today, the Food Hall was opening.

There were none of the elaborate promotional tactics of later eras, no lofty or distinguished name. Just the sign reading “Food Hall” hung at the door, letting people know this place existed.

For the opening banquet, Hua Zhi had simply sent invitations to the Lu Family, the Sun Family, the Zhu Family, and the Qin Family.

The Lu Family were partners in business; the Zhu Family was her maternal family; the Sun Family was the Sixth Prince’s maternal family; the Qin Family was her grandmother’s natal family. These were the households in the capital’s circle of great families who had, up to this point, clearly and openly extended goodwill toward the Hua Family.

The front-of-house matters were Du Cheng’s to manage; Hua Zhi did not involve herself, only glanced things over before making her way to the kitchen.

Inside the neat and well-lit kitchen, nearly ten people were at work in orderly fashion. Fu Dong sat bent over a dish, arranging the presentation for the steamed courses. She did not notice her young miss standing directly before her until she had finished and lifted her head — she immediately dropped into a curtsy.

Hua Zhi drew her back up and did not ask how the preparations were going. She only said, “Have you settled in?”

Fu Dong nodded vigorously, her eyes bright, her happiness written plainly across her face.

A kitchen this large, fitted out entirely according to her own wishes, with the dishes her young miss had promised she could prepare entirely as she pleased — and her young miss had also said this would earn her a great deal of silver. Aside from the small regret of not being at her young miss’s side to attend her, she was truly very glad.

“If anything comes up, you can tell Du Cheng, or come back and tell me. Don’t feel any pressure — it is only a business venture. If it succeeds, good; if not, it is not the end of the world. Your young miss has no shortage of ideas.”

Hua Zhi smiled warmly as she spoke, her voice gentle. The four senior maidservants had grown up by her side. Though they were mistress and servants, she had long treated them more as family — indeed, no true family had accompanied her as faithfully as they had.

Of the four, Fu Dong was the one who weighed heaviest on her mind. The other three, sent out on their own, could each hold their ground and would not come out the worse for it. Fu Dong could not — should she meet with an unkind fate, she would be the sort to be worn down to the marrow by others.

Though all four had said they wished to remain by her side and had no desire to marry, now that she herself had found someone, there was no reason to let them pass their lives so joylessly. She had no wish to match them to household servants either. When the time was right, she would return their indenture papers to them and free them from a life of service — so that their children need not be born to serve as well. Then she would find each of them a dependable household to marry into. With her looking out for them, none of them would be left to suffer.

Bao Xia came in quickly. “Young Miss, the Sun Family’s old madam has arrived.”

“So early?” Hua Zhi was mildly surprised. She turned and headed out. “Has A’Jian arrived yet?”

“Not yet.”

The Sixth Prince had set out from Shizi’s residence, dressed in new clothes that fit him neatly and well, riding his horse with a steady, upright bearing, his hair bound with particular care — he looked every bit full of spirit.

Gu Yanxi rode at his side. His role today was as the Sixth Prince’s personal guard.

“Yanxi-gege, why did Hua-jiejie invite the Sun Family?”

“The Hua and Sun families have an old connection. They were only forced to let it lapse because both families held positions of importance at court. Now is a good moment to take it up again.” Gu Yanxi gave the surface reason and did not tell Xiao Liu that what Zhi wanted was to pass through the Sun Family openly. After all, Xiao Liu was the Sun Family’s sole heir — if they did not agree to his remaining at the Hua estate, Zhi would not sincerely keep him there. She always thought well ahead.

If the Sun Family, having seen the Hua Family fallen, were disinclined to associate with them… Xiao Liu would likely be barred from so much as entering the Hua Family’s gates.

Once he heard this explanation, the Sixth Prince let go of his inner unease and with gleaming eyes began sharing his happy news with Shizi-gege. “Yesterday, Hua-jiejie merged the two classes in the clan school to study together.”

Gu Yanxi looked toward him.

The Sixth Prince’s eyes sparkled with all the brightness of a young boy. “Hua-jiejie told us about the sea. She said that beyond the sea there are countries, but the people there look different from us and speak differently. Yanxi-gege, have you ever seen them?”

“I have not.” The ships of the Great Qing dynasty could not travel that far.

“Hua-jiejie also said that if we ever have the chance to meet them, we should not treat them as strange beings — because however different they seem to us, we seem just as different to them.”

Something Zhi would say. Gu Yanxi watched the younger boy’s face, full of wonder, and could not help thinking that the imperial study hall ought to add such a subject as well — to let those princes know how vast the world beyond their walls truly was, rather than keeping their eyes fixed on that single seat of power.

But he would not be able to find a teacher for it.

“Hua-jiejie said that when planting season comes she will take us to the estate, so we can know where the food we eat actually comes from. Oh, and she also had us go to the markets and write down the prices of everything on sale…”

Gu Yanxi did not interrupt him, simply listening as every other sentence began with “Hua-jiejie this” and “Hua-jiejie that.” And as he listened, a quiet happiness stirred within him. The children Zhi raised had a different quality to their spirit — like Bailin, like the young children in the Hua clan school, who seemed entirely untouched by the shadow of the Hua Family’s confiscation and exile.

At this moment, in the private room on the second floor of the Food Hall, Hua Zhi came face to face with the Sun Family’s old madam.

The title was on the tip of her tongue, but Hua Zhi could not bring herself to say “Old Madam.” The woman simply looked far too young — by any measure, she appeared no more than a handsome matron in her prime.

So she settled on “Madam Sun” and performed the bow of a junior.

This was a quiet test — a measure of the Sun Family’s attitude toward the Hua Family.

Madam Sun accepted her bow and then stepped forward to lift her up herself. She drew Hua Zhi to sit beside her, and with a smile tinged by a sigh, she said: “I had thought I would never again be able to spend time so freely with anyone from the Hua Family. When I received your invitation, I was quite startled. Did you arrange all of this yourself?”

Hua Zhi’s smile reached her eyes at once, and her manner and expression were filled with the deference of a junior toward an elder. “Yes — it is simply a place that serves food. I have a fondness for eating, so I am rather inclined to meddle with things like this.”

“Whatever is done with care and skill becomes something fine.” Madam Sun studied this young woman who had become something of a legend in the capital’s gossip. Looking at her now, there was nothing about her that suggested any great remarkable quality — yet if she were so easy to read at a glance, she would not have kept her depths hidden all these years.