Li Weifeng came back again a few days later. He peeked through the gap in the gate first and spotted Er’zhu in the front courtyard, sweeping the grounds with a large bamboo broom. He hesitated a moment, then slipped around to the back courtyard.

Village households were simple, small affairs. Even though the run-down houses had been uniformly repaired at one point, the courtyard walls had never been raised.

Li Weifeng got one of his guards to help him stack up in a human pyramid, and scaled the wall with ease. One look inside and he broke into a grin — Xie Baozhu was sitting in the courtyard reading a book.

“Hey! Hey!” Li Weifeng called out to her.

Xie Baozhu looked up, visibly exasperated.

“This conduct of the Marquis is hardly befitting a gentleman,” she remarked.

Li Weifeng cleared his throat and said, “Stop playing the act with me. I know what you’re really like — I can see you’re no ordinary person. I came today to speak plainly with you.”

Xie Baozhu set down her book, and when she raised her eyes again, that polite and deferential expression had vanished.

“I’m listening,” she said.

Li Weifeng had already sorted out his words before coming. “Yes, I have a wife, and I’m not particularly fond of her. I also know you don’t want to be a concubine, so I’ve thought it through — you could be an equal wife. Look at His Majesty — His Majesty himself has taken equal wives before, three at once. What do you say?”

Xie Baozhu smiled with good grace and asked, “The laws of Da Mu were inherited from the former Zhao Kingdom and not a single article has been revised. I have read them all. Could you tell me which article has ever recognized an equal wife?”

Li Weifeng: “Huh?”

Xie Baozhu said, “The only arrangement that is recognized is the dual-household arrangement — a man may have two wives simultaneously. But these two wives are not equal wives; the relationship between them is that of two sisters-in-law from two separate households.”

Xie Baozhu gave a cold laugh. “An equal wife is nothing more than a pretense invented by men to disguise their shamelessness. Social custom and law have never recognized it. His Majesty indeed has three equal wives — but what has become of them? Does Da Mu have three Empresses? All women, and yet they are divided into wives and concubines — that division is about legitimate versus illegitimate birth, about the legal right of succession. If a wife were truly equal, whose children would be the rightful heirs under law? Within one household, it would be ruin. Within a nation, it would be catastrophe.”

Li Weifeng was left with nothing to say.

What had happened in Hexi back then — as someone who had lived through it firsthand, he knew better than anyone.

Xie Baozhu stood and said, “You have a wife, and I will not be a concubine. If you have the power, you may try to use force and abduct me by coercion. I will smash my head against the door and die. They say the Emperor is your sworn younger brother. He has gone to great lengths to leave behind a good name in the annals of history — it would be quite amusing to have you, his sworn elder brother, personally ruin that for him.”

With that, Xie Baozhu dropped her book and went back inside.

Li Weifeng hung on the top of the wall in a daze.

The next day, Li Gu kept Li Weifeng behind after the others had left.

“What is the matter with you today?” he asked.

Li Weifeng: “What do you mean?”

Li Gu said, “You’ve been distracted all day.”

Li Weifeng glanced at him — a strange, peculiar kind of look.

Li Gu said, “Say what’s on your mind.”

Li Weifeng said, “That Madam Xie you brought along last time — she really is something quite exceptional. Are you truly not going to take her in?”

Li Gu said, “No.”

Li Weifeng said, “Truly not?”

Li Gu was losing patience: “No!”

He reached out to take his teacup, but the moment his hand touched the saucer, something clicked in his mind. He looked up, and sure enough — his Seventh Elder Brother’s eyes were positively gleaming.

Li Gu found the situation rather exasperating, and asked, “You’ve taken a fancy to her?”

Li Weifeng said, “But you said yourself you wouldn’t take her in.” Don’t go back on your word.

Li Weifeng said, “Shiyi, issue an imperial decree and bestow her upon me.”

Li Weifeng had thought it through carefully. Xie Baozhu was not the sort of person who could be taken by force — that was simply out of the question. But this young woman did have her vulnerabilities.

She respected propriety and custom, observed the law, and abided by the greater good.

Xie Baozhu was a Commandery Princess of the former dynasty. As a woman from a conquered nation, she occupied an extremely weak position in the world. So she used ritual, law, and the greater good to protect herself — and for that same reason, she held herself to those very same principles.

In other words, if you acted within the logic she herself followed, she would have no way to resist.

In this world, the only thing that stood above ritual and law was the Emperor.

Li Weifeng was convinced that if he tried to take her by force, Xie Baozhu might truly smash her head against the door. But if it were an imperial decree, Xie Baozhu would in all likelihood “gratefully receive the Emperor’s benevolence.”

Li Weifeng’s mind was not capable of working all this out in any systematic way, but guided by an instinct as sharp as an animal’s, he had felt it to be true.

One could not help but say — Li Weifeng’s instincts were truly extraordinarily keen.

Li Gu, however, said, “I can issue the decree, but only if she consents of her own will.”

Li Weifeng crossed his arms with a flourish: “She’s willing!”

Li Gu fixed him with a long look.

Li Weifeng puffed out his chest to fortify his position.

Li Gu was speechless for a long while, then called Fu Kang in and instructed him: “Go to Xie’s Village and bring the Kangle Commandery Princess of the former Zhao here.”

Li Weifeng called out after him, “When she enters the palace, have a sedan chair ready for her — she can’t walk that kind of distance!”

Xie Baozhu had not expected she would enter the palace a second time and stand before the Emperor once more.

The Emperor asked her, “My Seventh Elder Brother has feelings for you and wishes me to issue a decree of bestowment. Are you willing?”

If the Emperor truly intended to issue the decree, he would have simply done so without asking. If he issued the decree and she refused to comply, she would be in defiance of imperial will — she would be ruined herself, and her family would be dragged down with her. Just as Li Weifeng had anticipated, in that situation, she would have had no choice but to obey.

But by summoning her and asking, the Emperor was giving her the chance to refuse.

Xie Baozhu said, “I am not willing.”

Li Weifeng quickly said, “I’ll set up a separate residence for you — you won’t have to live alongside Zhang Shi, and each household will be independent.”

Li Gu told Xie Baozhu, “Although you would not be the first wife, I can still confer a title upon you so that no one would dare to demean you.”

Xie Baozhu said, “I am not willing.”

Li Weifeng was anxious to speak, but Li Gu raised a hand to stop him, and asked her, “Why?”

Since Li Weifeng had already seen through her true nature, Xie Baozhu saw no point in keeping up the guise of meek compliance.

She spoke directly: “The Xie Grand Ancestor of Zhao killed his brothers to seize the throne, and from that point on, in the Zhao dynasty, fraternal strife and the killing of kin recurred without end for hundreds of years. Da Mu has barely been established, and already the Emperor confers a title upon a concubine — if such is the precedent, throughout the Da Mu dynasty, the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate birth will be blurred and the order of the natural hierarchy will descend into chaos. This is a dangerous precedent, and it must never be set. Above all not by the founding Emperor.”

Neither Li Gu nor Li Weifeng could find a word to say.

Xie Baozhu continued, “Secondly, if I were to follow Beirong Marquis, I would die at the hands of Zhang Shi. It would be the same as sending me to my death.”

Li Weifeng immediately called out, “That could never happen — I would protect you!”

Xie Baozhu asked, “If I were to die, would you then kill Zhang Shi to pay with her life for mine?”

Li Weifeng was taken aback and had no answer.

“You would not,” Xie Baozhu said. “And as long as you would not kill her for it, she would kill me. Why? Because what would it matter if she disposed of me? There would be no price to pay.”

“There was a spring flower-viewing gathering some years ago. Zhang Shi wore a skirt made of double-weave silk. At the time, double-weave silk had only just come into fashion in the south and had not yet spread to Yunjing. Zhang Shi had newly acquired a piece and fully expected to be the only one in all of Yunjing to wear it. To her dismay, a daughter of an official who had recently arrived from the south wore one as well — and hers was cut more beautifully than Zhang Shi’s.”

“That young woman later fell into a pool. The spring water was cold; she caught a chill and died a few months afterward.”

“She was not from an established clan — her father had been appointed to his post through the personal summons of the throne. The Zhang family was powerful, and in the end, the matter was settled quietly with a payment of money.”

“To outsiders, what had Zhang Shi done? Nothing more than a jealous quarrel between young women, a moment where she accidentally pushed another girl into a pool. The girl died of a chill — not directly at Zhang Shi’s hands. Yet a life was gone just like that. Why did Zhang Shi dare to do it? Four words: she had nothing to fear.“

“I am nothing but a woman from a conquered nation. Beirong Marquis may be fond of me today and weary of me tomorrow. And even if he remained fond of me always, could he truly remain at my side every hour of the day?”

“A constitution like mine — it would only take a fall into cold water, or a mouthful of the wrong food. One single incident, and I fear my life would be over.”

“As long as Zhang Shi knows that Beirong Marquis would not kill her to avenge me, she will have nothing to fear.”

“Neither His Majesty nor the Marquis comes from great clan backgrounds and may be unaware of the filth that festers within the inner chambers of powerful households. But I have only one life. If Beirong Marquis does not regard it as worth protecting, there is no need for any imperial decree — he may as well take me away now. After all, I am only a woman from a conquered nation. What does it matter if she dies?”

The two men in the hall were silent for a very long time.

Li Gu said, “No one will force you. I once made a promise to someone that I would see you live well. That is why I summoned you here today — to hear your own wishes in person. Since you are unwilling, so be it. Return to Xie’s Village.”

Xie Baozhu looked at Li Gu, something dawning in her expression. She said, “Then I will accept the kindness of that person.”

Fu Kang escorted Xie Baozhu away.

“Seventh Elder Brother,” Li Gu said in consolation, “a woman of her caliber and sharpness is not the kind you are fond of.”

Li Weifeng said nothing. He turned and left.

Li Gu opened his mouth to call after him, but no sound came out.

Li Weifeng missed court for two consecutive days. Li Gu grew uneasy and sent Hu Jin to check on him.

Hu Jin went to Li Weifeng’s outer residence, shared a drink with him, and came back to report.

Li Gu asked, “What did he say?”

Hu Jin clicked his tongue a few times.

“She’s extraordinarily beautiful. Her voice is extraordinarily pleasant. She carries herself with extraordinary refinement. I know she’s a formidable woman on the inside, but there’s just something about looking at her that feels right.”

“Meeting her made me realize what kind of wife I actually want.”

“But I’ve already taken a wife.”

Li Gu listened, fell silent for a long while, and said, “I have burdened Seventh Elder Brother.”

“It’s all right, it’s all right,” Hu Jin said. “Seventh Lord has made his peace with it himself.”

“Forget it. Tell Shiyi not to bother himself with my affairs anymore. That constitution of hers — if she gets worked up, I’d truly be afraid something might happen to her. Forget it, forget it. I’ll just think of it as a dream. I’ve got ten beauties to keep me happy.”

Hu Jin smiled and said, “Back when it was your turn, old Chen and the Seventh Lord said — take a wife, and everything passes. And it did all pass, didn’t it? The First Prince is already this big now. The Seventh Lord will get through this too, it’ll only be for a little while.”

The Emperor’s lashes trembled faintly. He raised his eyes, and the candlelight danced in his pupils, as though it would never rest.

The battle reports from the northern front arrived once every ten days.

At first they seemed acceptable enough, but as time slowly wore on, Li Gu’s brow grew more and more deeply furrowed.

In his private letter, Jiang Jingye had made it clearly known: Princess Baohua of the former Zhao had declined his proposal to speak on her behalf to the royal court for the handover of the Zhao Princess. She had her own plans.

Yet — he had no need for her to do all this. He needed her to return home, safe and whole.

But Li Gu’s gaze pierced through the page, and his thoughts drifted back to the day they had parted years ago.

He had wanted to kill for her, to clear the obstacles from her path. And what had she said?

“These are my people and my affairs. I will handle them myself.”

Back then she had barely come of age. Years had passed since, the seasons turning without pause. What had that young girl become…

Was she still the same as the one in his memory?