After lunch, Minglan had herself carried in a soft sedan chair on a tour of the Marquis’s estate.

Spring is ordinarily a season of lush abundance; the courtyards should have been ablaze with color like gorgeous brocade. But in a single night, the flowers had been ravaged — most of them trampled into the mud in the darkness by frantic, fleeing feet. The clean-laid bluestone slabs had been washed repeatedly, yet in several places the dark reddish marks of what had seeped into them remained stubbornly visible. Kou Xiang Courtyard was by far the worst — people had died both inside and outside those rooms, and several of the more timid maids wept and refused to enter. Minglan could not bring herself to force them, and was already planning to move Rong Jie’er to a different location. The original spot was somewhat out of the way to begin with — she might as well have it repurposed entirely.

But the most harrowing sight was elsewhere.

The great vermilion-lacquered gates, nearly half a foot thick, swung slowly open with a chilling groan of metal on metal. Looking out and down along the outward-extending bluestone steps, the ground outside was mottled with dried blood, and the scalding oil that had been poured, now cooled and congealed into blackened, charred clumps still clinging to strips of skin and hair. The corpses and severed limbs had been cleared away, but the thick, dark, pungent stench of it all remained overwhelming.

Scattered on the ground were several tree trunks as thick as a teacup’s mouth — no one knew from which family’s courtyard the bandits had hacked them. The large brass studs on the gate face had been beaten free in great numbers and lay scattered all around in no particular order. The estate’s gatekeeper, Steward Liu, stood nearby murmuring something about “thankful they weren’t gold-plated — they can still be melted back down” and so on.

Minglan wanted to laugh, but could not.

Back at Jiaxi Residence, she settled onto the warm bedding, low-spirited, staring out at the sky as it slowly turned amber-gold in the dusk.

Before dinner, Old Master Tu returned from outside, knelt beneath the curtain at the threshold of the outer corridor, and addressed Minglan directly. His complexion was grim — the look of a man who had been gravely cuckolded and was choking on it but unable to spit it out. “…That Han was indeed not clean! I failed to keep strict watch, and I beg Madam’s punishment.”

He had led a group of guards to Han’s home and torn the place apart, and came away having found two newly transferred land deeds and one tael of gold — Tu Hu had been so furious he had wanted to hack the man’s whole family into paste on the spot.

Minglan was quietly alarmed: “Did Master Tu take action?” Though Han had entered service under indentured contract, his family members were all registered as free citizens.

“No, nothing of the sort!” Old Master Tu said in frustration. “We have only had them placed under watch for now — it wouldn’t do to take action in the current moment. We can settle the account later.”

Minglan gave a weary nod: “Good. Whether beating or execution — wait for the Marquis to come back and decide.”

A person who cherished peace and ease the way Minglan did, being compelled over and over to handle matters of this nature — she was truly exhausted by it all. She offered a few more words of reassurance to Old Master Tu. In any case, this mole had clearly failed in his mission, so there was no need for excessive regret; vigilance going forward would be enough.

By the following morning, the martial lockdown had not yet formally lifted, but the atmosphere had noticeably eased, and many impatient households had already quietly sent manservants out to exchange news. The first to send word was the Duke of Lingguo’s residence — inquiring once again whether all was well, and adding that if Minglan was short of any personnel or supplies, whether guards, physicians, wound medicines, or medicinal broths, she was to go directly to them and ask. Zhang Madam had even said with a laugh that the Duke’s estate had spent the whole night on alert for nothing, and all their carefully prepared provisions had gone entirely unused.

Minglan felt a warm surge of genuine gratitude in her heart. No wonder Zhang Madam had remained one of the foremost figures among the aristocratic ladies of the capital for all these decades — looking at how she conducted herself, she truly had the bearing and magnanimity to deserve it. Not long after, this woman of great magnanimity had a daughter who sent a letter as well. The brief note was written in an agitated, furious hand, bristling with indignation.

The National Uncle’s residence had also not been peaceful that night — but what happened there was, in truth, nothing more than a straightforward robbery. “In my foolishness I have spent these past twenty years achieving little of worth, relying vainly on the Zhang family name and what little intimidating reputation I possess, thinking no one would dare provoke a tiger — and yet I never imagined I would suffer such a brazen attack.”

Zhang Shi had been well and truly astonished — she had never in her life expected that one day a band of common thieves would have the gall to come knocking at her door! After stewing in indignation for a good while, she finally remembered: oh, of course, this family’s surname was Shen, not Zhang. Though her father-in-law’s name for defeat was by then all over the capital, within the immediate neighborhood of the Duke of Lingguo’s estate, no pickpocket was open for business.

The letter stated that where there is no insider to open the door, no outsider can come in — and tracing it to its root, the trouble had been brought on by the Zou family boasting and flaunting their wealth outside.

“What had the Zou family been doing outside?” Minglan asked.

The manservant who delivered the letter looked equally disgruntled as he relayed the story: “…Those black-hearted Zous were going about saying the National Uncle was gravely injured out there, and that if anything were to happen to him, the young master would step into the title before you knew it — the maternal uncle would be a great stone of support, so would that Zhang woman still be able to hold her ground? Aiyo, our Madam was absolutely furious once it all came out…”

The reckless chatter at taverns had been overheard by sharp-eyed street ruffians who had seized on it. After plying the Zou family members with drink and cultivating their acquaintance, they extracted detailed knowledge of the Shen household’s inner workings — and then, seizing the opportunity of the capital’s upheaval, used the Zou name to bluff their way through the Shen estate’s rear gate in the dark of night, after which they proceeded to hack, plunder, and rob.

Fortunately, Zhang Shi had already been on high alert, and upon hearing the alarm, immediately led her guards in to drive off the bandits. Common street thugs were no match for the well-trained fighters of the Duke of Lingguo’s household — within a short time, some had been killed and others captured.

Zhang Shi had been nursing a bellyful of suppressed rage — all those preparations had been made for a serious, large-scale political threat, after all! She then personally shot and wounded several bandits with the close-range soft bow she kept near her person. Two of the more fierce and bold captives, once seized, still acted arrogantly in the presence of a room full of women and children, hurling foul and threatening language. Zhang Shi’s fury reached its limit, and without a word, she drew her blade and in swift, slashing strokes sliced off those two bandits’ ears, then threw them on the floor to feed to her black mastiffs. The entire scene fell into dead silence — no one in the Shen estate so much as breathed aloud.

The manservant told the story with a face full of pride. Minglan internally gasped in astonishment.

From that point on, every person in the Shen estate gave Zhang Shi a wide berth when they saw her coming. Zhang Shi’s days in the decades that followed were equally commanding — concubines did not dare talk back, stepdaughters did not dare be troublesome, and if one were to say that disaster had brought unexpected fortune, it was not entirely without basis. But that is a story for another time.

Beyond this, the female family members of the Duan, Zhong, and Geng households had not yet returned home from the palace; the details of their situation remained unknown. The manservants sent to the Bo family and the Fu family finally returned with word — both had been set upon along the way, stranded in private homes, and had only been able to hurry back when the lockdown eased. Both reported that those families had come through entirely unharmed — the Bo family especially, for the entire household of women had gone to the countryside early on with Old Madam Bo.

The letter from the Sheng household was the thickest of all — Chang Feng had composed it, sprawling across more than a dozen pages, and Minglan patiently read through it to the end before she couldn’t help remarking that her brother was quite something. The events themselves were actually quite simple: their father had gone about his usual daily routine, and after eating a bowl of rice and half a roasted chicken, had begun inspecting Chang Feng’s coursework. He had just gotten to “if you still don’t pass the autumn examinations this time, I will…” — with the threat still unfinished — when all outside broke into commotion.

The capital fell under martial lockdown, and Father Sheng was left with no choice but to sit at home idle for two days, unable to return to his duties to this day — as was the situation for most officials. Suffice to say that compared to the last time a rebel prince had caused an uprising, the focal points of disaster had shifted considerably.

A simple family letter, with no great matters and essentially no small ones either, was nevertheless composed throughout in ornate and meticulously rhymed language; just the lamentation of unstable times alone deployed no fewer than nine literary allusions, and even the kitchen auntie’s inability to go out to buy fresh vegetables was given a self-composed doggerel verse: “Turmoil stirs in the heavens, and the kitchen god sighs.”

Tuan Ge’er had originally been lying with his eyes wide open and rolling with curiosity, refusing to be coaxed to sleep no matter what. Then Minglan began reading the letter aloud to her son — not even a page and a half in, and the little chubby one had already drooped his head and was nodding off to sleep.

“Fine, then. I won’t have any expectations about you reading books. In the future you can just follow your father and train to crack boulders with your chest.” Minglan very acceptingly patted her son’s plump little arms and legs, his small belly rising and falling already in the rhythm of deep sleep.

News from the Zheng family came late — not until candles were being lit did word finally arrive. And it was more troubling than the news of the National Uncle’s residence being robbed.

The manservant choked with grief: “…Our Old Master passed away the day before yesterday. And this morning, the Old Madam also… also…passed.”

Both elders, gone within a single day?!

Minglan was shocked beyond measure: “How can this be? They were perfectly well — how could they simply… be gone…?” She was eager to press for details, but the Zheng household was run with strict discipline, and Zheng Da Furen’s manservant simply shook his head, unwilling to say a single word more.

“…The Old Master and Old Madam have never been without illness these many years… Da Furen has asked this servant to convey that she and Second Madam are currently too occupied to attend to anything else. When a moment presents itself, she will come to speak with Madam Gu Marquis in full detail.”

Minglan saw that the manservant looked exhausted, drenched in sweat, yet still maintained proper speech and impeccable conduct throughout. She felt a private admiration for Zheng Da Furen’s remarkable household discipline, had Luzhi press a handful of copper coins into the man’s hand as a reward, and then had him seen out.

Cui Mama watched his figure disappear from the doorway before saying: “Madam, something about this doesn’t sit right. Just a few days ago we sent the fruit wine we’d been brewing all winter to the Zheng household, and the Old Master and Old Madam were perfectly fine then. As the old saying goes, a thin pole bent from bearing a long load — this… this…” She cycled through a few more “this-es” without being able to finish.

Minglan understood what she meant. The older a person who had long been confined to bed with illness, the less likely they were to pass away suddenly — from deterioration to the final moment, there was usually a span of several days to linger. Both elders had been well just a few days ago, and had now died so abruptly — it was indeed strange.

After puzzling over it for a long while without arriving at any conclusion, Minglan could only bemoan her own limited imagination. She lay clutching a pillow in bafflement for the entire night. As a result, first thing the following morning, someone came to her door to enlighten her.

Liu Madam was wearing a half-worn reddish-brown garment with gold-thread brocade patterns, and had a dark red velvet band an inch wide tied around her head, with a large pearl set in the center. Her face was powdered, with small red flowers tucked at her temples — she looked just like a version of the Liu Laolao character from a story, in the style of a woman who had turned her fortunes around in the new era.

At that moment, Minglan was in the middle of eating breakfast, and out of habit extended a casual invitation. To her surprise, Liu Madam said yes without hesitation, picked up her chopsticks, and began to eat.

She appeared to be in particularly high spirits, eating and complimenting everything in the same breath: “Sister’s household really does show its refinement in the food — oh my, this glutinous rice porridge is so fragrant… what did you put in it, exactly? Aiyo, Sister is pretty as a picture, and these little oil-fried pastries of yours are pretty as a picture too…”

Minglan felt a quiet despair at the comparison, forced a smile, and said: “Not at all, not at all — it’s all from recipes handed down over generations.” In distinguished households with a long heritage, even the cooks’ skills passed down from one generation to the next, and every family had a few signature dishes that anchored its reputation at the table. “If you like it, I’ll have someone copy out a few recipes and send them over.”

“Oh no, no.” Liu Madam waved her hand hurriedly and grinned: “Truth be told, our household — old and young alike — have never quite taken to the food here in the capital. We had a special cook brought up from Sichuan just before the new year. I was only making conversation — don’t take it to heart, Sister… I’ve been told since I was small: when you go to someone’s home, always find something to praise.” Then she chattered on in this vein for some time.

Minglan opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Liu Madam was not merely a woman who could only prattle on — once the meal was done, she patted her mouth clean, rinsed her hands, and without waiting for Minglan to prompt her, quite sensibly launched into the reason for her visit. “Last night, close to midnight, my husband came home — goodness me, covered in blood all over… aiyo, I won’t talk about that part, I’d hate to give you a fright, Sister… My husband had a great many things to tell me. He sent me here today to lay things out clearly, so that Sister’s heart can be put at ease, and she doesn’t worry herself into harming her health… hmm, now then… where to start? Sister, what is it you most want to know first?”

Of course she wanted to know whether Gu Tingwei was dead yet, whether the Marquis’s estate was safe, whether that old witch Stepmother-in-law had finally met her end — but of course she couldn’t say any of that! This was the ancient world, and she was an imperially enfeoffed Lady of First Rank!

Minglan swallowed those words alive, stifled them flat at the back of her throat, gave a few dry laughs, and said: “Naturally, it is the welfare of His Majesty the Emperor and the Empress that concerns me most — as loyal subjects, that is always our first and foremost thought.”

Liu Madam seemed genuinely moved. “Sister is truly loyal and devoted to the throne.”

Having moved herself, and wishing to demonstrate that her own political consciousness was no less admirable, she proceeded to sing the Emperor’s praises.

“…Those jumping buffoons — scheming in shadows, conspiring in secret, fancying themselves so terribly clever — little did they know that our Emperor is a rarely-seen-in-all-history enlightened ruler, with celestial constellations descended to assist him, and had seen through them long, long ago. Only out of consideration for the late Emperor’s feelings, and wishing to spare some dignity for the Shengde Empress Dowager and the Rui Prince’s mother — yet who could have expected that they…”

Minglan endured the ache from her teeth nearly being soured to their roots and inserted: “Is it truly connected to the Shengde Empress Dowager and the Rui Prince?”

“Who else? Who do you think had the nerve to forge an imperial edict and deceive the wives of court officials into entering the palace?” Liu Madam dabbed at her dry eyes, adopting the manner of the lead mourner at a village funeral. “Aiyo, our Emperor — what a magnanimous Son of Heaven he is! That Shengde Empress Dowager — one, she is not the Emperor’s birth mother; two, she was never elevated to the rank of Empress herself. Yet out of respect for a single word spoken by the late Emperor, our Emperor has observed morning and evening salutations, complied with her in all things, been a paragon of filial piety, thoughtful and devoted in every way…”

Minglan privately felt the last idiom was somewhat misapplied — but seeing the woman’s emotions building to a crescendo, she thought better of pointing it out.

“…She was cherished and revered and placed upon a pedestal — yet she was still not satisfied, and would not rest until she had seized our Emperor’s throne for herself! And then there was that Defei — truly a pack of wolfish, dog-hearted conspirators! It was only thanks to General Zheng’s wholehearted loyalty that our Emperor was not struck by a treacherous blow from within…”

What followed was a full half-hour of Liu Madam talking — during which half was devoted to singing praises, while Xiaotao refilled the teapot twice and Luzhi replenished the refreshments once, before Liu Madam finally sketched the broad outline of this upheaval.

In truth, by Minglan’s own assessment, while the Shengde Empress Dowager’s faction was certainly scheming and treacherous, the Emperor — so universally beloved, so devoted to both loyalty and filial piety, so reverently respectful of heaven and so compassionate toward the people — was hardly a spotless, innocent little lamb either.

Over the past several years, as the Emperor’s faction had grown in strength (Zhang, Shen, Gu, Zheng, Duan, Liu, and their allies), the Emperor’s hand had grown increasingly bold and decisive, and he had spared no effort in weakening the Shengde Empress Dowager’s network. Among the high officials and senior ministers, they were either die-hard loyalists of the Emperor’s camp — with Elder Yao at their head — or men like the retired Elder Zou, who played the fool and sat on the fence.

Of the senior statesmen who had received the late Emperor’s deathbed charge, those who had most loudly urged the Emperor to be filially obedient to the Shengde Empress Dowager had, over the past several years, quietly been stripped of real power or had been “persuaded” to retire.

As for those of the fourth rank and below — the Rui Prince was after all still young, and claiming he had any real claim to legitimacy was debatable. Among the active mid-career ministers of the court, very few were willing to wade into the murky waters of a succession dispute.

Seeing the current Emperor’s hold on the throne grow more and more secure, while the princes on his knee grew gradually older, the Shengde Empress Dowager’s faction grew increasingly frantic and desperate. On the other side, every time the Emperor saw the bright and spirited Rui Prince, it was like having a thorn stuck sideways in his throat.

The Shengde Empress Dowager’s faction wanted to act, but had found no opportune moment — they did not dare. The Emperor knew full well they harbored treasonous intentions, but could not take the initiative in striking first — for fear of being given the infamous reputation of one who fails to tend to an imperial consort or to care for a nephew. The two sides remained locked in this stalemate — rather like two nations in the modern world who both want to come to blows but neither is willing to bear the name of the aggressor, and so they provoke and probe at each other endlessly, each praying to every god available that the other side will fire the first shot.

By last year, the Emperor felt he had achieved overwhelming superiority, and his patience began to run out.

And so he laid a trap designed to bring down birds with a single stone — in fact, with multiple stones aimed at multiple birds.

It is worth remembering that several years prior, the Jie nomads had taken advantage of the new Emperor’s accession to conduct mass raids southward, plundering freely. Though they were ultimately repelled, they retained control of several northwestern border towns. The Emperor had spent years sharpening his forces and replenishing his strength, until at last he had marshaled a great army to go and reclaim what had been lost — this was the first bird.

A great army marching west, leaving the capital thinly defended — a perfect “opportunity” for rebellion, one that would lure the snakes out of their holes — this was the second bird.

The Shengde Empress Dowager herself was of northwestern aristocratic origins, and over the decades her family had put down roots throughout that region, with extensive in-law connections and influence everywhere, at times dominating northwestern civil and military administration. (It was precisely this network that had been relaying and transmitting the false reports of defeat for the Zhang and Gu armies.) The Emperor had privately instructed Old General Bo that suppressing the enemy was secondary — the primary objective was to pacify and subdue the local warlords. If the Shengde Empress Dowager’s faction lost control of themselves in the process, so much the better; if they managed to restrain themselves, then this was still an opportunity to strike down this great threat in the northwest once and for all — this was the third bird.

Reportedly there were also several smaller birds, but Liu Madam could not explain them, and Minglan could not guess at them herself.

“The Emperor was truly bold — with all the great armies gone out, if anything had gone wrong — this, this would have been terrible…” Betting big wins big, it is true — but if the divine forces should fail to favor you, you might well lose everything down to your very last coin.

“What manner of person is our Emperor? He is the very descent of the true dragon from on high…” After Liu Madam had sung another warm anthem to the Emperor’s brilliance and divine wisdom, she revealed the truth — the Emperor had long ago issued a secret imperial decree appointing General Zheng as an internal agent, to coordinate with Liu Zhengjie from inside and outside to stabilize the situation.

Military power in the capital was divided among three forces: Liu Zhengjie’s Imperial Guard; the Garrison Troops jointly commanded by General Zheng and another senior military officer; and the Five District Militia Command. To stage a rebellion, one would need to bring at least one of them over.

Among the troops, aside from General Zheng himself, the remaining several commanders were all men from humble origins whom the Emperor himself had personally elevated and promoted. When close associates of the Rui Prince — who shared the same aristocratic background — came to win General Zheng over, he falsely agreed, preparing to capture the conspirators once the plot unfolded, to catch them in the act with irrefutable evidence.

It should be said that General Zheng’s mission had been executed brilliantly. In general, a man of steady, seasoned bearing makes all the more convincing an actor — and up to this point, things had proceeded quite smoothly.

What had not been anticipated, however, was that just as the Emperor knew to plant agents inside the enemy camp, the enemy also knew — and had planted two of their own.

On the morning of the day the upheaval broke out, the Emperor had returned from morning court as usual, when he suddenly suffered a severe dizzy spell and lost consciousness, unable to be roused. Empress Dowager Sheng’an and the Empress were at a complete loss, and could only weep helplessly. As the palace dissolved into chaos, the Shengde Empress Dowager seized the moment to launch her move.

“Was it Defei who struck?!” Minglan listened with her eyes wide as copper bells. “The Emperor doted on her so much!” The relationship between the Emperor and the Empress had not been bad to begin with, and for Defei’s sake the Empress had quarreled with her husband more than once.

Liu Madam said hatefully: “That fox and seductress!” In Liu Madam’s view, no concubine was ever a good person.

“My husband said — the Shengde Empress Dowager had deceived Defei, saying: aside from the First Prince and the Second Prince, Defei’s son is the eldest remaining. When the Emperor passes away — ” she spat out several rapid sounds of denial and disclaimers to make clear these were not her words, or her husband’s, but the Shengde Empress Dowager’s — “by pushing the crime of poisoning the Emperor onto the Empress and her son, the Prince could ascend to the throne of great treasure!”

“And Defei actually believed something like that?!” Minglan found it truly incomprehensible. She had met Defei on occasions when presenting herself at court and had always thought her to be a woman of rather sharp intelligence. “Why would the Shengde Empress Dowager bother placing Defei’s son on the throne when she has a perfectly good grandson of her own?!”

Liu Madam let out a loud and contemptuous sound: “What kind of brain does that sort of woman have — a woman who… who, uh, uses her looks to serve men? The Shengde Empress Dowager sweet-talked and deceived her, saying that the Rui Prince wasn’t really her own flesh and blood either — she only sees him on the major festivals, and there’s no real warmth or bond between them. Whereas the Prince is always before her, paying his respects and keeping her company — she’s grown very fond of him… besides, isn’t Defei always at odds with the Empress? If the eldest prince takes the throne, what good outcome is waiting for Defei and her son?”

Minglan fell into thoughtful silence. The Empress, though magnanimous in nature, was not a woman who could perform the role of the virtuous, tolerant consort with convincing theatrics. Defei was proud and imperious by temperament, her background of high status, and her imperial favor had been continuous and uninterrupted for years; with her son showing such promise, her prestige was beginning to rival that of the two princes born before him. Conflicts between the rear consorts had been sharp and constant, and on more than one occasion the Empress herself had been required to step in and smooth things over.

Fear and greed — the simplest bait, and the most effective.

“And how stands things now? Is His Majesty in good health?” Minglan knew perfectly well that the Emperor must be unharmed at this point, but still could not entirely suppress the lingering dread.

Liu Madam pressed her palms together and raised her eyes heavenward repeatedly: “Aiyo, my Buddha above… thankfully our Emperor is blessed with incomparable divine fortune — because he had been working through the night reviewing memorials the day before, he was already not quite right that morning. His usual favorite cream tea curd, he had taken only two spoonfuls of…Truly, heaven has eyes…”

She had already, in the privacy of her own heart, cursed Defei’s entire line back eighteen generations along with every one of their illicit companions. If the Emperor had fallen, men like those in the Gu and Duan factions, being military officers, might still have had some chance of survival — but a man like her husband, who had built his career from internal intelligence work, would in all likelihood have faced grave and dire consequences.

Minglan also quietly raised her hands toward the empty air in silent supplication — if anything had happened to the Emperor, even if Gu Tingye had personally captured the Jie nomad chieftain himself, his fortune and fate would still have been uncertain.

Not only within the palace — the Shengde Empress Dowager’s faction had also applied considerable pressure from external quarters, managing to bring over Teng Anguo, the deputy supreme commander of the Five District Militia Command.

Minglan blinked, and before her eyes appeared a man nearing fifty, with a sinister and shifty gaze. She frowned: “If I recall correctly, this Commander Teng… was he not one of the men from the old imperial household before the Emperor ascended the throne…”

Liu Madam spat in contempt and said dismissively: “The very same! And to tell the truth, he had been with the Emperor longer than most — but without much real ability, and forever trading on his early seniority. At the Emperor’s thirtieth birthday banquet, when His Majesty laughingly called him and the National Uncle and a few others ‘the Five Tigers,’ this man actually caused a scene while drunk! And after coming to the capital, he still complained that the Emperor hadn’t given him enough advancement! It was only because our Emperor is so magnanimous — otherwise, who would bother with a man like him!”

Minglan said nothing, only sighed inwardly.

With men like Shen, Gu, and Duan — all vigorous and in their prime — steadily accumulating merit and accomplishment, Teng Anguo had harbored his grievances for years and could see less and less chance of getting ahead. It was not hard to understand how the temptation to “take a gamble” might have grown.

After conspiring together, Teng Anguo had used his positional authority to gradually allow a great number of men dressed as jianghu wanderers — in fact rebel troops — into the city. Before long, Liu Zhengjie noticed something was wrong and went to confront the supreme commander of the Five District Militia Command, a man surnamed Dou from the western regions.

Just as Dou was in the process of uncovering the full details, he was assassinated on his way home. To prevent Liu Zhengjie from finding out, the rebel faction had no choice but to force their hand and act immediately, and decided while they were at it to eliminate Liu Zhengjie as well.

And so: Defei on the inside, Teng Anguo on the outside — and General Zheng, who had just “defected,” stared at the situation in complete consternation.

This was not what had been agreed upon — the plan was to coordinate from inside and outside, and catch them all in one net.

In the end, the Emperor had arranged things thoroughly in advance, and General Zheng Jun was quick-witted and resourceful, acting with decisive boldness at the critical moment — he turned against the conspirators and struck, capturing the Shengde Empress Dowager and the Rui Prince’s mother first, then joining forces with Liu Zhengjie to crush the rebel forces, who by then had lost their linchpin, in one decisive blow.

“Heaven be praised — the capital has finally settled! My husband lifted the lockdown early this morning.” Liu Madam did not forget to put in a good word for her husband, then added: “Sister, you may set your heart completely at ease — my husband said an urgent dispatch arrived last night: the Duke of England’s great army is fine — and what’s more, they smashed the enemy chieftain’s golden tent in a magnificent victory! They are now marching back to the capital to put down the rebellion. My husband said this is called… what was it called…”

“Luring the enemy,” Minglan said calmly. For some reason, she felt as though she had already known all along.

Liu Madam slapped her knee and laughed: “Yes! That’s it — luring the enemy.”

In order to make the effect convincingly real, when the Zhang and Gu armies transmitted false reports of reckless advance and disastrous defeat, the Emperor — knowing all along that this was his prearranged plan to lure the enemy — had been forced to swallow it and put on a face like a cast-iron pot lid, performing the role of the “imperially displeased ruler” for the court.

His acting was impressive — every last civil and military official at court had been completely deceived. And precisely because of this, the Shengde Empress Dowager’s faction had grown all the more confident in setting their plan in motion.

Liu Madam, seeing Minglan’s expression remain calm and steady, felt a flicker of concern. She remembered clearly the first time she had met Minglan — fresh and bright like a piece of ripe fruit, carefree as a child, without a worry in the world. And now? The pregnant woman before her was about to give birth at any moment — her color thin and her face pale, her figure gaunt, the furrow between her brows holding a shadow of weariness that was difficult to put into words.

“Sister, please don’t hold it against your brother-in-law — my husband didn’t know the details in advance either, so you can see how tightly the Emperor kept it under wraps. My husband says, it was all those officials out west rushing to send word of the army’s defeat — otherwise, following the usual custom, with such a great distance between here and there, how could word have spread through the whole city so fast? Perhaps Sister wouldn’t even have heard the false news before the official report of the great victory was already on its way.”

Minglan quietly opened her palm within her sleeve — it was cool and damp — she did not change her posture, and smiled gently: “What is there to hold against anyone? Surely one cannot ask a husband to first explain all the secrets of military and national affairs to set a wife’s heart at ease before going off to do his duty… Sister, please — tell me what you know of the attack on our Marquis estate that night.”

“Aiyo, look at my head!” Liu Madam laughed and smacked her own forehead, then lowered her voice. “Sister — you guessed correctly. The ones who came to harm your household that night — it truly was your own family’s elder!”

Minglan’s pupils contracted sharply, then just as quickly returned to calm, and she put on an expression of anxious concern: “Can Sister be certain? He is, after all, the blood of the Gu family — just because a handful of servants claim to have seen him, how can such a terrible accusation be laid at his feet?”

Liu Madam understood perfectly well, and offered her full assurance: “My husband’s way of handling things — Sister, trust him. Just before dawn the day before yesterday, didn’t he send men rushing here? After chasing down that group of bandits, some escaped out of the city, some were captured…”

“The elder himself was captured on the spot?!” Minglan gasped, pressing a hand to her chest.

Liu Madam looked awkward: “Well — not quite.”

Minglan allowed herself a trace of disappointment, but quickly offered reassurance: “Then Lord Liu must have made other gains.”

Liu Madam relaxed visibly and hurried on: “My husband interrogated them over several sessions, and they all confessed. The bandits said they were mountain brigands from outside the city, hired for this job about two months prior. The one who came to arrange the deal was an old man, while the one who led them here that night was a young man — and they heard their chief calling him ‘the young master.’ Someone described his features in detail — wasn’t that your household’s third eldest? My husband immediately led men to surround that Madam’s residence. Sure enough, the third eldest was not at home — but they dragged out of the cellar a steward surnamed Lu. Brought out for identification, and — ha — wasn’t he the very old man who had made the original deal!”

Minglan considered this in silence for a moment, then said: “So our Elder was only engaged in breaking in and plundering — not in treasonous conspiracy?”

“That’s not necessarily so.” Liu Madam smiled with a particular meaningful quality. “My husband said — in ordinary housebreaking and robbery, how would they have timed it so perfectly, arriving right at the moment things broke open at the palace, with the elder moving simultaneously to force his way in and kill his sister-in-law and nephew?”

Minglan looked at Liu Madam steadily for a moment, and then, with perfect clarity in her heart, said in a low voice: “Thank you, Sister — I understand it all. The Marquis and Lord Liu are as close as brothers, and he truly was not misplaced in his trust.”

Liu Madam privately thought: that goodwill was not extended in vain. She smiled warmly and picked up her teacup.

In truth, by Liu Zhengjie’s estimation, Gu Tingwei had broad connections throughout the city and had likely only learned fragmentary details of the conspiracy — he probably had never formally joined the plot. His original intention had been to wait until he had learned the precise date before making his move. But on that day, catastrophe had struck without warning, and the Shengde Empress Dowager’s faction had launched their rebellion ahead of schedule. Caught without time to make proper arrangements, Gu Tingwei had no choice but to personally appear, bring the mountain bandits into the city, and lead them to raid the Marquis estate.

Strictly speaking, Gu Tingwei’s offenses amounted only to murder and arson, to attacking his sister-in-law and nephew — not to treason or rebellion, and the crime did not extend to his parents or descendants. But why draw such a fine distinction? Liu Zhengjie was the head of the imperial intelligence service, not a judge of the open court.

Besides — it was Liu Zhengjie’s professional responsibility to detect threats before they materialized. He had neither caught wind of the anomaly within Defei’s family in advance, nor discovered Teng Anguo’s treachery ahead of time. While he had rendered meritorious service in suppressing the rebellion after the fact, there remained the matter of his failure of due diligence — none of which compared to the merit that Gu Tingye would bring in the end.

Thinking of this, Liu Madam’s attentiveness and consideration toward Minglan grew all the more earnest, and she answered every question put to her without hesitation.

“The elder… he’s fled out of the city by now, I imagine…?” Minglan asked with some hesitation.

Liu Madam gave a nod. “A good number of rebel remnants fled out of the city along with him. My husband says none of them will get far. Besides, their household has already been placed under watch. Aiyo — such a pity for the innocent wives and children left behind…” Women have no say over their own lives or wealth.

Minglan laughed coldly inside. That old witch could hardly be called innocent — in all likelihood she had been the mastermind behind the entire plot, with Gu Tingwei as nothing more than her errand-runner. But Zhu Shi — she had so deeply longed for a future…

The two sat across from each other and sighed together, each for their own reasons.

After a long silence, Minglan vaguely recalled there was still one matter that seemed unclear to her. “…Oh, that’s right — yesterday the Zheng family sent word that their Old Master and Old Madam had both passed. This… does Sister know the reason?”

She asked merely in passing, not genuinely expecting an answer — yet Liu Madam gave a long sigh and said with a bitter smile: “Now that truly is a misfortune that came from nowhere. On the day of the upheaval, word spread all through the city that General Zheng had committed treason — it was told with such convincing detail that there was no keeping it from the family inside. Old Master Zheng is a man of deeply upright and loyal character — he was so overwhelmed with outrage that he choked on a breath and collapsed on the spot, dying then and there! Old Madam Zheng grieved for two days, nearly fainting from weeping several times over. Then yesterday morning, General Zheng rushed home and explained everything clearly — and Old Madam was so overjoyed she nearly went mad, couldn’t catch her breath, and she too…followed him.”

Minglan sat with her mouth half open, unable to recover from the shock.

The father had been literally struck dead by fury; the mother had been literally killed by joy. Such sudden shifts between grief and elation — the elderly truly cannot endure them. In this entire affair, General Zheng had suffered the loss of both parents — yet in losing them, he had made the complete transition from a beloved son-in-law figure in the Emperor’s inner circle to the Emperor’s foremost and most trusted heart companion.

What a blood-drenched path to officialdom! One’s very life was the wager!

Liu Madam’s visit had been like a timely rain — dispelling doubt and putting the heart at ease.

Perhaps owing to the excessive mental strain of recent days, Minglan felt thoroughly unwell throughout her body. Her feet were swollen to the size of buns, her face was puffy as though she had received two good slaps, and a fine thread of blue vein protruded along her neck, as if someone had her by the throat.

Running her fingers over the bony prominences jutting through Minglan’s skin, Cui Mama sighed deeply and repeatedly — so many years of painstaking care and nourishment, all undone in a single night.

Minglan pressed her palm against her swollen belly with an apologetic heart. She remembered that when she had been carrying Tuan Ge’er, even when she could barely walk another step, she had still been rosy-cheeked and full of vigor. But this time she had been reduced to this state… She placed her hand against her abdomen and felt the steady, strong movements of the baby within — slow but rhythmic, like an eighty-year-old grandfather taking his unhurried evening stroll. She smiled: “This child — he’ll have a slow and steady nature when he grows up.”

Cui Mama did not answer. She was staring at Minglan’s belly, counting the days on her fingers.

In truth, Minglan had already reached her due date. But every experienced servant woman who had looked at her said the belly had not yet dropped, and the baby had not settled into the pelvic bones. The physician Zhang had been called to examine her and declared that she likely still had seven or eight days at minimum — ten days at most, or perhaps eleven or twelve — which had very nearly gotten him thrown out of the room. Though he had spoken nothing but the truth.

(As the physician Lin would later say: physicians, from the moment they enter this world, have healing arts and rhetoric seeping from every pore.)

A slight delay in the due date is perfectly normal, and Minglan did not worry herself about it. She simply settled in to rest and tend to her pregnancy with a calm heart, obeying Cui Mama’s instructions in all things without protest, and worked diligently at returning to the round-the-clock routine of eating, sleeping, and eating some more.

Once the lockdown outside was officially lifted, friends and family came one after another to call on Minglan, taking the opportunity to also catch a glimpse of the great gate and stone steps still bearing their dark stains of old blood. The very first to arrive was, surprisingly, Father Sheng!

Minglan was startled, and Sheng Hong was equally startled. He had seen his youngest daughter plump and rosy-cheeked for so many years now in the Shouan Hall — to see her so suddenly yellow and gaunt made him unable to hold back: “I said so at the time — marrying into a military official’s family always brings inconveniences, and it would have been so much better to give her to someone from a gentler background. But her mother was so overjoyed she forgot herself and agreed on the spot!”

Minglan said blankly: “When did Father ever say such a thing? I’ve never heard a word of it.”

Sheng Hong appeared to realize he had misspoken, cleared his throat quietly, and said evasively: “…At the time… when that man came to the Sheng household to court… ahem ahem, to ask for Rulan’s hand…”

Minglan understood at once — this was referring to when Gu Tingye had come to the Sheng family under false pretenses — well, when he had come to propose.

She reflected on this, then shot a sideways glance at Sheng Hong, thinking to herself: spare me the act, Father — you were actually quite delighted at the time yourself. You simply had more restraint than Wang Shi and expressed it with more subtlety.

Time flies like an arrow — in the blink of an eye, Tuan Ge’er was already old enough to run errands, and Father Sheng’s temples had gone gray at both sides. Minglan found that all her old grievances had simply dissolved. She laughed and showed two bright white teeth, waving her little handkerchief in farewell to Father Sheng as he departed in his cultivated air of stern dignity.

Very well — this father of hers, though unreliable in all manner of ways: having once forgotten his first wife’s mother for the sake of a new family, having forgotten his first wife for the sake of a concubine, and then having forgotten his “true love” for the sake of his career prospects — still, she had made use of him for over ten years. It was a serviceable arrangement.

Father was seen off in the morning; her daughter arrived in the afternoon.

Elder Brother-in-law Yuan personally escorted her, and Hualan — her condition not yet showing — walked in with graceful, swaying elegance. The moment she saw Minglan, her eyes went red. She gripped the door frame and called out in soft distress: “You tiresome little wretch — how did you come to look like this? If Grandmother were to see you, imagine how her heart would ache!”

Minglan swayed and nearly toppled sideways on the bed platform. This manner of soft and weeping complaint — even Elder Sister had never been given to such display, not even at sixteen. She needed a moment to adjust.

Ever since this pregnancy, Hualan had grown unexpectedly given to sentiment and melancholy — she choked up at flowers falling, teared up at fledglings leaving the nest, and even a gust of wind stirring a scattering of autumn leaves could grieve her for a spell. And Elder Brother-in-law Yuan had by now become thoroughly devoted to indulging her every whim, the two of them perfectly content in their own sweet, private world.

“Doesn’t Elder Brother-in-law need to be busy outside?” Minglan asked, puzzled.

Hualan pouted: “I wanted to come and see you, and he wouldn’t feel easy letting me go alone, so he asked half a day’s leave from his superior.”

“At a time like this! There isn’t a place in the capital that doesn’t need every available person — you two…” Minglan was pained to the point of exasperation. “You two just go ahead and do whatever you like!”

Speaking of this upheaval — it had brought misfortune to nearly everyone. Yet Elder Brother-in-law Yuan’s fortunes had turned to the good.

He held a fairly senior position within the Five District Militia Command and had not been among those suborned by the conspiracy. Teng Anguo had been contemplating whether to eliminate him early, when Yuan happened to mention he had business at the horse farms and requested leave to go beyond the passes. Teng Anguo could not have been more delighted and granted the leave on the spot.

But then Yuan Ge’er returned home, and heard that Hualan was with child. He was overjoyed beyond all reason and absolutely refused to leave, hiding away at home to keep his wife company. As a result, he was fully present throughout the entire upheaval in the capital — led a group of his younger brothers-in-arms, charged out at the right moment, and ended up earning no small share of merit.

In equally fortunate circumstances was Molan’s husband — as a man in the formal mourning period for his father, he had been completely unaffected by the events, and had in fact led his household guards to help the families on the neighboring street repel opportunistic looters. The neighbors of Yongchang Marquis’s estate being, without exception, of wealth and rank, Liang Han found himself the recipient of no small amount of praise and admiration.

“After all this, the Five District Militia Command will certainly need a thorough overhaul. Your elder sister’s husband says — Fourth Brother-in-law — well, he may have an opportunity to make something of himself.” Hualan peeled open a piece of lotus-leaf candied preserved fruit at an unhurried pace. “Ah — if only Molan had any sense, and lived her days properly, things might not turn out badly for her in the future either.”

After chatting through it all, and having delivered her exhortations to Minglan to take good care of herself during her pregnancy — elder sister’s feelings thoroughly expressed and fulfilled — Hualan returned home contentedly.

Over the next two days, Da Xuan, Di’er, and even Kang Yun’er came to pay visits. Throughout, not a single person made mention of that Madam. The Duan, Zhong, and Geng family women came as a group, each bringing generous packages of abalone and ginseng, their gratitude overflowing in every expression. They said again and again that Minglan had thought of them even in the midst of such chaos, and that this alone showed the depth of her kindness and benevolence.

Geng was especially moved — she took Minglan’s hand and said over and over: “Sister is trustworthy and reliable. Next time, I will follow Sister’s word completely and without question — that would have saved us from the suffering we endured!”

Zhong gave a pointed cough and gave her a gentle nudge with an elbow: “There won’t be a next time — the world will be at peace from here on.”

Geng knew she had misspoken but refused to concede: “Look at all your cleverness — I meant other things, of course! Renovating one’s residence, matters of social conduct — in everything like that, I’ll follow Sister’s lead from now on.”

Watching the two of them like this, Duan Madam shook her head and laughed: “You two — having shared such great hardship together, and now calling that ‘sharing in adversity’ — and yet you still can’t stop bickering! By the time you’re both grandmothers and great-grandmothers, I wonder if you’ll still be at each other!”