Jiang Heng had rushed to give his daughter away — what calculations lay behind it, he knew himself. But children, when grown, must eventually form their own households. Si Si was sixteen this year, and in most noble families, a daughter of that age would have to be married off even if one were reluctant to part with her. He was simply carrying out the arrangements his County Princess had made during her lifetime and seeing the wedding through — it was not truly so heartless.

As for guilt — there was inevitably some. All these years he had leaned toward Liu Shi, giving insufficient care to his primary wife and eldest daughter. On the eve of his daughter’s wedding, he could only hope she bore no lasting resentment.

“Between parents and children, in the end that old saying proves true: the feast laid out a thousand li long will one day be cleared. A daughter goes to her husband; a son departs for his ambitions in distant places — both are the partings of life. Father hopes you understand this.” Jiang Heng slowly stroked his wine cup, then paused and continued: “You are my eldest daughter. Father hopes you will live in wealth and honor all your life. When you are at the Commandery Duke’s residence, live well. If you miss home, you may come back and visit. Your mother is no longer with us, but Father is still here. Even if we have quarreled over trifling things, what grudge can a father and daughter carry overnight? Father thinks of you always.”

Yun Pan remained as unruffled as ever, and replied: “Father speaks too seriously. The marquis’s residence is my maternal home — even if I were at the ends of the earth, I would remember to come back.”

In truth, they did not truly hope she would return. The moment she said those words, Liu Shi’s expression dimmed slightly. Xue Pan was more direct, speaking in a tone dripping with sarcasm: “The Commandery Duke’s household is such a lofty household — its rules and proprieties must be even stricter than in our own home. Elder Sister has in-laws above her to attend upon, and must also manage the affairs of her own courtyard — she will hardly have leisure time.”

Yun Pan was not in the least vexed. She turned to look at Xue Pan, and said: “The rules of a ducal household are indeed strict. When I read the Yan Family Instructions, there was a line I found most reasonable — Do not be greedy in marriage for a family of power and influence. Younger Sister should bear it in mind — not for any other reason, but so that you may freely return home whenever you wish.”

The barb beneath the softness struck home at once. Xue Pan’s face immediately fell into an awkward expression, and she burned with indignation inside, hating that she had never once bested her in an exchange.

There was a certain kind of person who was born carrying an air of lofty detachment. In their presence, one would feel, without cause, that they were impossible to match — and even their lightest, most offhand remarks were impossible to refute. Jiang Yun Pan was exactly that kind of person.

Yun Pan paid this concubine-born younger sister little mind. She turned to Jiang Heng with composure and said: “Father may set his mind at ease. The Commandery Duke’s household is also in Youzhou — it is no great matter to come back for a visit. Since the betrothal was arranged long ago and the date has now been set, your daughter has nothing further to say. We may proceed according to the customary rites.”

All in all, the family banquet ended in a pleasant enough harmony.

After the meal, Qin Dan helped her back to her courtyard. Walking along the covered corridor, she said as they went: “There are only twenty days — we must make haste with preparations. In truth, one place that brings little comfort, exchanged for another, may well prove fitting in every regard. The Commandery Duke’s household is a proper imperial relation — though a few generations on they have been reduced in rank, such a household is still one of very few to be found throughout all of Youzhou.”

Perhaps so. In any case, she held no great expectations of marriage. It was simply that at this age, one did as was fitting for one’s age. The commands of one’s parents could not be defied — and fortunately, the law was merciful to women in the present day. If it truly proved unbearable, one could still dissolve the marriage.

That night she dreamed of A’Niang — still looking just as she always had, hair coiled up, sitting upright before the window, instructing her in matters of etiquette.

A porcelain lotus cup from the imperial kilns was poised between her fingertips, to be placed upon a sky-blue lotus-leaf saucer — but however she set it down, it made a sound. The anxiety left her in a cold sweat all over.

A’Niang smiled. Spring light spread out a soft, vast expanse, and A’Niang on it was like a finely crafted shadow-puppet on a screen. She raised her hand and said: “Haste makes one careless. Setting it down too quickly will inevitably produce a sound. Try a little slower this time.”

Yun Pan did as she was told. This time she was finally able to set the cup back onto the saucer soundlessly and with perfect composure. A’Niang smiled her dimpled smile: “Just so — slowly. Slow means steady. The essence of a nobleman’s daughter lies in that single word: slow.”

Slow… that word rolled around in her mind and on the tip of her tongue. Half-awake, half-dreaming, she heard the patter of rain outside. She opened her eyes and looked out the window. The plantain tree stood freshly drenched in the rain, its leaves gleaming with an oily, vivid green.

Mu Xiang and Chen Xiang appeared beyond the curtain when they saw her sit up, and came to help her dress and comb her hair. When Qin Dan came in carrying a tray, Yun Pan was standing at the table examining the ink sticks she had just made. Her wide-sleeved robe in the color of wisteria blossoms, with fine gauze trim along the collar edge, trailed loosely behind her as she bent her head — revealing the pale, snow-white nape of her neck, so delicate and luminous, like the new shoots of a narcissus just emerging.

“Miss mentioned yesterday she wanted seven-treasure ginger porridge. This servant had the kitchen prepare it — please come and taste it, Miss.” Qin Dan set the bowl on the small table and called for Yun Pan to come and sit.

She moved over, spooned up a small taste, and saw Qin Dan’s expectant eyes. She smiled and said: “This is exactly the flavor — just the same as what I had at the night market last year.”

The happiness of a young girl was, by nature, very simple. When A’Niang had been alive, she had gone to the market stalls a few times, but afterward, in mourning at home, she had been avoiding lively public gatherings for over a year.

Qin Dan was two years her senior and watched her finish the porridge bowl by bowl, smiling with the warm, indulgent expression of an old nursemaid. When she set down her spoon, Qin Dan passed her the spittoon vessel to rinse her mouth. Just as everything had been tidied away, a maidservant from the gate came in with a message: a guest had come to call, specifically to see Miss.

“To call on me?” Yun Pan was a little puzzled. She stood and asked: “Which family’s guest is it?”

The maidservant stopped at the corridor and replied: “In answer to Miss — it is a young gentleman from the Dongchang Commandery Duke’s residence. The steward has invited him into the front hall’s reception room to be served tea, and sent a maidservant to convey the message to Miss.”

A young gentleman from the Dongchang Commandery Duke’s residence — that could only be the second son, Li Fang. Yun Pan and Qin Dan exchanged a glance. Qin Dan also looked a little uncertain, but since the visitor had already come, she had to be received. So she composed herself, took up her painted silk wrap, and made her way to the front reception hall.

Two people who were already betrothed had no need to meet behind a screen. The architecture of Youzhou was largely connected by covered walkways. The man sitting in the reception hall heard a set of footsteps approaching and looked up — the legitimate daughter of the Yong’an Marquis’s household, attended by her maidservants, had already appeared on the slanting corridor across from him.

As for looks — Jiang Yun Pan could be counted as exceptional. The only daughter of the Yuyang County Princess, her brows and eyes carried a quality of innate, refined elegance. Her beauty was not of the kind one could see through at a single glance — it was the distinctive sort that struck one as breathtaking at first sight and more intriguingly layered upon a second look. Outside, the rain stretched across the sky, and her eyes held the same misty quality of soft, hazy rain. She walked forward and gave a graceful bow of greeting — and did not, despite the unusual nature of their relationship, display any shyness or constraint.

Li Fang came back to himself and gave her a bow in return. “I have come uninvited and caused a disturbance — I ask that Miss forgive the intrusion.”

Yun Pan studied him in turn. This man was her betrothed, yet in truth she had only met him once before, and they had not spoken. She had heard nothing but praise of him from others — such talk, whether good or ill, coming through other people’s mouths, was worth hearing but not to be taken as definitive. Now seeing him again, she still found nothing particularly remarkable about him — just a young man of distinguished birth and a smooth official path ahead of him.

Yun Pan gestured to invite him. “Second Young Master is too polite. Please, be seated.” She returned to her seat on the opposite side of the hall, then had fresh tea brought, before asking: “Second Young Master has come today — I trust there is something important you wished to discuss?”

Li Fang said there was. He hesitated briefly before speaking: “During Miss’s period of mourning, it was not convenient for me to call. Now that the mourning is concluded, I have come without notice — and there is something I presumed to ask.”

No real acquaintance between them, and yet an imposition — clearly it was not good news.

Yun Pan said: “Second Young Master speaks too formally. May I ask — does your household know of your visit today?”

He shook his head. “It was my own decision. My family is not aware of it.”

Yun Pan said: “Please then, Young Master, speak.”

As if what he was about to say required immense courage — he pressed his hand against his knee before he spoke: “Yesterday the two families settled on a wedding date, which Miss has surely already heard. I wonder — does Miss have any thoughts about this marriage?”

That was an odd way to put it. More than half the betrothal proceedings had already been completed — only the formal reception of the bride remained. For him to come now and ask whether she had any thoughts about it was plainly a sign that something had gone wrong on his side, and that he hoped she too had some dissatisfaction, so that they might mutually agree to part and limit the damage as much as possible.

Yun Pan genuinely thought it over carefully, and in the end still shook her head. “This marriage was made on the command of my parents — there was never any place for me to voice my own opinions. Since Second Young Master has come today, he evidently already has his own views formed. I ask that Second Young Master state them plainly, so that I may give my father an honest account.”

She was a perceptive person — before he had even made his meaning clear, she had already discerned it sharply. Speaking with someone like this was not tiresome. Had it not been for this change of circumstance, taking such a woman home as his wife would indeed have been a blessing.

Li Fang glanced at the maidservant standing beside her. He had been about to ask her to dismiss the attendants, but then reconsidered — this matter would be known to all sooner or later, and there was no point trying to avoid it. He gathered himself and said in one breath: “I ask that Miss forgive me. This marriage — I fear it cannot come to pass. I have come to hold feelings of mutual affection with the granddaughter of Grand Councilor Yan of the Zizheng Hall — but fate was unkind, for we came to know one another only after your and my betrothal was already made. This bond has thus become one of ill fortune. I have thought many times of severing all connection with her — but sometimes one cannot master oneself… Having thought it over and over, rather than live the rest of my life in regret, I believe it is better to speak the truth plainly to Miss.”

He had laid it all out openly — and thoroughly startled Qin Dan, who was standing beside Yun Pan. Qin Dan looked at Yun Pan in alarmed distress: “Miss…”

The granddaughter of the Grand Councilor of the Zizheng Hall — no small pedigree. No wonder the Commandery Duke’s household had been slow to propose a new date — the Duke and Duchess must themselves be in a very difficult position. They had finally settled on a date recently — most likely to force Li Fang to make a definitive choice, since a Grand Councilor’s granddaughter could not possibly humble herself to become a concubine in the Commandery Duke’s household.

What an absurdly ironic situation, however. The daughter of the Yan family was a far thornier problem than Liu Yanqiao. Yun Pan lowered her head and considered for a moment, then asked Li Fang: “And what does Second Young Master intend? Both our families are known figures in Youzhou — if we break off this betrothal, it is likely to invite gossip.”

Li Fang had imagined her reaction beforehand and expected her to be unable to bear such humiliation — he had thought she would fly into a rage. He had not expected her to be this composed. She was only concerned about how the matters following this would be handled, and there was in her manner the inclination to resolve this without unnecessary trouble. His heart settled back into place, and he said openly: “Miss’s honor is more important than mine. I would ask that the marquis’s household be the one to withdraw from the engagement. Since it will be I who have proven inadequate to Miss, should Miss enter into a new betrothal in the future, it will not diminish Miss’s reputation.”

The way he put it actually sounded as if he were doing her a favor — and it left one rather at a loss.

Yun Pan had never had much enthusiasm for this marriage to begin with — if it fell through, she felt no real regret. What was unfortunate was that it would disrupt her father’s plans, and he would have to think of some other means to see her out the door.

For now, the more pressing matter was dealing with this Second Young Master Li Fang. She shifted slightly in her seat and chose her words with deliberate care: “In truth, Second Young Master should raise this matter directly with my father. I am a woman of the inner chambers — I am not in a position to make such a consequential decision. Since you have come and spoken of it with me today, I will naturally report it to my father. As for how it will ultimately be handled, that will depend on my father’s judgment.”

But to her surprise, a faint flicker of condescension appeared on Li Fang’s face. “I will not conceal it from you. When my mother originally settled on this match, it was out of admiration for the County Princess’s distinguished lineage and the Kaiguo Marquis’s household’s reputation for strictness of conduct. After the County Princess passed away, with a bond servant in your household performing the duties of the mistress, and with the manner in which the Marquis of Jiang manages his household affairs… it appears he is not particularly adept at such things. That is precisely why I chose to come and speak with Miss directly.” He rose and gave her a long, sweeping bow. “It is Li Jibai who has failed Miss. In future, should Miss have need of anything, Li Jibai will go through fire and water to repay Miss this great debt.”

Yun Pan was actually a little displeased this time. In a cool voice she said: “Second Young Master has come because his affections lie elsewhere and you wish to ask me to withdraw from the engagement. As for the affairs of our household, you need not concern yourself with them. As to what comes next — I cannot yet say how Father will handle it. But I have one request of you, Young Master. If you are able to fulfil it, we may then discuss the matter of dissolving the engagement.”

Li Fang realized he had been impolite and felt somewhat awkward. He gave a bow with clasped hands: “Please speak, Miss.”

“You are not to become betrothed again before I do.” Yun Pan rose, tilted her head, and regarded him. “I wonder if Young Master is able to promise this?”

Li Fang had not anticipated such a request, and was momentarily hesitant. “This…”

“What — can the young lady of the Yan family not wait?” If she could not wait, then there was even more to be said about it. Yun Pan smiled slightly. “This is not only for the sake of protecting my reputation — it is equally for the sake of protecting the dignity of you both. I ask that Young Master reflect on it carefully.”

All things considered, this request was not an unreasonable one. Li Fang thought it over and agreed.

After he had gone, Qin Dan looked at Yun Pan with a forlorn expression and murmured: “Miss has been wronged — how could such a thing have come to pass…”

Yun Pan was also somewhat displeased — but she felt no regret. The heart can change at any moment. Before the betrothal, A’Niang had sent people to make careful inquiries, and everyone had said that the second young master of the Li family was a clean-living, upright young man of good character. A year later, it had come to this.

She suddenly understood last night’s dream. Perhaps A’Niang had also sensed something was amiss with Li Fang, and had told her to go “slow” — seeing clearly before the wedding was always better than dissolving the marriage afterward.

She was not one to brood and tie herself in knots. With this marriage off, she felt instead a lightness, as if a burden had lifted. With bright cheerfulness she said: “The Fanhua Banquet is in just a few days — make preparations. The scenery outside the city is beautiful now. We have rarely gone out — let us enjoy ourselves to the fullest.”