The great gates of the Hua Family home shut heavily behind them, cutting off every prying gaze from the outside world.

Hua Yizheng looked at the familiar grass and trees, the corridors and columns of the courtyard. The heart that had drifted far from home for two years seemed at last to have found its place, settling into peace at this very moment.

He looked at his eldest granddaughter, a faint shadow of worry passing through his eyes. “Is your grandmother ill?”

At this point, Hua Zhi could not conceal it any longer. She sank to her knees and forced out the words that had been so difficult to say.

“Your granddaughter was unable to keep her promise. On the day I returned from Yinshan Pass in the eleventh month, two years ago — Grandmother passed away.”

Hua Yizheng swayed. His mind went blank. When he had not seen her among those waiting, he had told himself she was likely too unwell to move, that there was no way she would not have appeared had she been able. But he had not imagined — had not imagined that in the very first year, she had not been able to hold on.

That woman — never especially capable, but who had kept a measure of kindness and simple beauty in her heart even in her old age — had not waited for his return. He dared not imagine how much regret she must have carried in those final moments, how worried she must have been.

“Father…” Hua Pingyu, who had been equally struck by the devastating news, came back to his senses and called out softly, his eyes falling on the daughter still kneeling on the ground. This could not be blamed on Ah Zhi.

Hua Yizheng looked blankly at his eldest son for a moment, then followed his gaze. Gradually, his spirit returned to him. He reached down and helped her up, his voice hoarse as he said, “So for the past year — nearly two years — all of it, inside and out, was carried by you alone.”

“Not only me. The inner household matters were in the hands of Mother and the three aunts-in-law — I rarely had to manage those. And as you know, I have several capable maids who handled all the business affairs. The brothers were overseen by Bailin, and the sisters have all grown in their own ways… It was because everyone worked together with one heart that we are here today.”

“This is the First Young Miss’s achievement.”

Wu Shi was the first to speak up in refusal. Hua Bailin followed right after. “It is Elder Sister’s achievement.”

Then the voices of everyone present rose together. “It is the First Young Miss’s — Elder Sister’s — achievement.”

Hua Zhi shook her head and said nothing more.

She felt she could not face her grandfather. She had said she would not let the Hua Family lose anyone — yet she had let him lose his wife.

Hua Yizheng walked toward the family shrine. Everyone else followed in silence.

Amid the curling wisps of incense smoke, Hua Yizheng first paid his respects to the ancestors, pressing a lit stick of incense into the censer. Then he lit three more sticks, walked to the tablet placed to the side, and pressed them into that smaller incense burner. He looked at the tablet — clearly newer than the others — and after a long silence, asked, “Did she wait for your return?”

“Yes. Grandmother entrusted the family to your granddaughter before she was willing to leave in peace.”

“In peace?”

“Yes. In peace.” Hua Zhi raised her eyes to the tablet, and it was as if she were once again back in that day of falling snow — her heart overflowing with joy at finally coming home, only to return to grief. “I promised Grandmother that I would let the Hua Family find a quiet corner to shelter in. That those who should study would study, and those who should embroider would embroider. That I would bring the men of the Hua Family home. And that one day, the Hua Family would restore every last measure of its glory.”

Hua Yizheng stood in a daze. He remembered that day — his granddaughter, once so utterly lazy, standing in the wind and snow and making her fierce, ringing pledge. Even then, he had believed her. He had believed that everything she promised would come to pass. And so the peace with which his wife had departed — her heart eased by that very promise — must have felt the same as what he himself had felt in that moment.

“Grandfather does not blame you.” Looking at the granddaughter with guilt written across her face, Hua Yizheng sighed. “I had thought that with your grandmother holding things together in the household and managing the relationships between each branch, with your ability to assist from without, things would be kept stable. But I had not foreseen that she would leave so soon, and that the entire weight of this enormous burden would fall entirely on your shoulders. Ah Zhi — this is not your fault. No one could have done better than you.”

Hua Zhi pressed her lips together and quietly answered, “Yes.”

“What illness was it? Your grandmother — what did she fall ill with, to have been taken so quickly?”

Hua Zhi no longer concealed anything. She recounted everything that Hua Jing had done, and held nothing back regarding how she had later dealt with Hua Jing and the Chen family.

Hua Yizheng found it utterly absurd. She had been brought down by that unfilial daughter of theirs? The woman who had been so hale and vibrant when he left — driven to her death by anger? He wanted to dig Hua Jing out of the earth and flog her corpse!

Hua Zhi steadied her grandfather, whose chest was heaving violently, and gestured to Bailin to go and fetch the elder physician that Yanxi had asked to stay temporarily at the Hua home. “Grandmother was already driven away by her. Are you going to let her drive you into ruin as well?”

Hua Yizheng looked down at his hands, trembling beyond his control. He could not comprehend it — as the eldest daughter of the Hua Family, she had been raised with care, married off grandly and with great face. How could she feel not even a shred of gratitude? When the family had fallen on hard times, not helping would have been one thing — but to try to take advantage and extract benefits from them? Did she think the Hua Family was her second Hua family — a family like the He family she had married into?

“She is already dead, Grandfather. A person cannot die twice.” Hua Zhi guided him to sit beneath the covered corridor. “An unfilial child, an unfaithful husband, and she herself did not come to a good end — that is the greatest punishment she could have received.”

Looking at the granddaughter whose pale skin appeared even more so in the sunlight, Hua Yizheng felt a sharp pang in his heart, and the storm of emotion that had refused to ease slowly began to settle. He was right — how could he be making Ah Zhi use up all her breath trying to comfort him at a time like this?

“Imperial Tutor.”

Hua Zhi was startled for a moment, and then suddenly felt quite self-conscious. Since taking on the post of Imperial Tutor, not one member of her family had ever addressed her by that official title. To hear it now, spoken suddenly by one so close to her, gave her the distinct feeling of wielding an axe in front of the master.

But Hua Yizheng laughed. The dazed, dreamlike feeling that had settled over him the moment he learned of his wife’s passing finally began to lift, slowly. He leaned back against the corridor column and teased her, “Before, it was already one household with two Hanlin Academy scholars. Now there is yet another First-Rank Imperial Tutor to add — such glory truly is something unique under heaven.”

“I hold no place in court and have no authority over governance. It is only an honorary title. When the Emperor takes his consort in three years, my duties will be complete. This was personally agreed upon by the late Emperor, and the Empress Dowager has since made the same assurance. I trust no one will find cause to make an issue of it.”

“Have you ever considered walking the path of officialdom for the long term?”

“Grandfather…” Seeing her father emerging from the other side, Hua Zhi was momentarily at a loss for words. One household contributing three distinguished officials at once — for a time, people might be understanding, but given long enough, who would not be launching relentless impeachments against the Hua Family? Besides, she had never had such ambitions to begin with.

Hua Pingyu settled down on the other side of his daughter. “Knowing you now serve as Imperial Tutor, we discussed it on the road back. Your father could…”

“Father!”

Hua Pingyu waved his hand. “Let me finish. During two years at Yinshan Pass, I was not without gains. Compared to being a dignified but removed Hanlin Academy scholar, I find that I am far more drawn to the work of teaching. If you wish to pursue an official career, your father will find an opportunity to retire from his post and do what he loves — do not assume your father is making this sacrifice for your sake. In truth, your father would be doing this for himself.”

“I have no such intention. Not even slightly.”

Hua Yizheng laughed. “I told you Ah Zhi would never allow you to have your way, and you didn’t believe me.”

Hua Pingyu, exposed in front of his daughter, reddened in embarrassment. “A talent like Ah Zhi’s would be such a waste to leave idle.”

“Father wishing to retire is not out of the question either.”

Hua Pingyu looked toward his daughter with eager anticipation. Even Hua Yizheng, thinking his granddaughter had changed her mind, straightened up.

Hua Zhi looked over toward the young man hurrying in their direction from the other side — willowy as a white poplar sapling — leading the elder physician along. “As Bailin’s companion student, he will be often at the Emperor’s side in the years to come. If Father has no desire to remain in officialdom, it would be just as well for him to step down sooner.”

Father and son looked over together. And yes — after everything they had been through, the younger boys of the family had clearly all steadied and matured. Of these, Bailin’s change was the most striking of all.