Lu Tan acknowledged the instruction and retreated backwards into the outer room to relay the message. Before the person even arrived, Yun Pan had already begun adjusting the arrangement of the bowls and chopsticks.

When it came to the aesthetics of her private life, she had her own particular sense of things in the smallest details. The chopsticks rested on the celadon dish, with only one inch of the handles extending past the dish’s edge. The three dining plates could not be placed in a straight line — they had to be gathered together and arranged in a proper triangle.

Nanny Yao stood to one side watching, and said in a low voice, “Tomorrow the wife of the Vice Commissioner of the Eastern Audience Reception Hall is coming to call on you. If Madam does not wish to see her, you could claim illness and put her off. Or let me go out and meet with her for a while, to find out what business she has — why she has to choose this particular time to trouble Madam.”

Yun Pan shook her head. “She is my father’s own sister. Since she has come looking for me, I must see her one way or another, no matter what. Otherwise, word will spread quickly, and by the day after tomorrow the capital will be full of rumors that I do not respect my elders. Besides, one can avoid her once, but not forever. Next year when His Majesty holds court on alternating days, she is sure to come to the capital with Uncle-in-law. At that point, with her so near, if she sends calling cards every other day, it will exhaust me to deal with her one visit at a time. Better to settle it all in one meeting. If she comes in good faith to congratulate me on my marriage and conducts herself like a proper aunt, I will naturally respect her and we may come and go freely. But if she comes with some purpose and hidden motive, then let her not blame me for showing no mercy. After this one meeting, she need never set foot in my door again as long as I live.”

She was decisive by nature. When people treated her well, she repaid a drop of kindness with a flood of gratitude in return, but when people schemed against her, she did not indulge them — she would cut them back sharply and make them feel it.

Nanny Yao felt reassured hearing her say this. It was true that her temperament was quite unlike her own young mistress. If her young mistress had encountered such an aunt, she would probably have been too soft-faced to handle it, and gone along with whatever the aunt said. Not so with Yun Niang — she had the heart of one who made swift and decisive judgments. Good relatives were never too many; bad relatives could not cross the threshold even once. Only in this way could one avoid being harmed and keep oneself free from trouble.

Nanny Yao acknowledged it. “Then we will see her first and take it from there. Even if she is Madam’s aunt, she would not dare to make a scene in the Duke’s household.”

While this conversation was ongoing, Li Chenjian had changed into a plain-collar robe and came in from the side hall. When he was not wearing his official robes, he had a certain ease of manner that recalled the literary men — though he had always insisted he was a military man, there was a quality of innate gentleness about him that had nothing to do with soldiering.

The day had darkened outside, and inside the room candlelight danced warmly, its orange glow casting a cozy warmth over everything.

As he passed the bronze ice-chest near the screen, he lifted the lid and gave the ice a few prods, loosening it so it would disperse more easily. He replaced the lid, and then settled into the seat across from her.

They did not speak during the meal, yet there was never a moment of inattention as he placed dishes on her celadon plate for her. The two of them ate the whole meal in this comfortable silence, each keeping their own space, each free to turn over their own private thoughts. Sitting across from each other over food, hearing only the occasional faint chime of bowls and chopsticks — and glancing up to find the other person still there — gave one a sense of settled peace in the present world.

After the meal, the maids came to remove the food table. Yun Pan changed and washed, then turned to her account books and shop plans. Li Chenjian sat down by the lamplight to read.

The water-clock dripped on. When the first half of the Hour of Pig arrived, he set down his book and reminded her, “You are tired today — let us retire early.”

At the mention of retiring, she felt a stumble in her heart. What had happened last night came back to her in clear detail. Meeting him during the daytime, dressed formally in proper robes on both sides, had brought only a brief moment of awkwardness, but nothing she had dwelt on. Now, however, it was once again time to share the same bed. Those memories came flooding out as though a gate had been opened. The tips of her ears burned, and the flush of color spread all the way down into her collar.

She hesitated, shuffling slowly in place, a look of uncertainty on her face. Li Chenjian saw this and stood at the bed-step, asking, “Shall I carry you to bed?”

“No — no need.” She said with considerable embarrassment, and bolted straight toward the daybed. She ran a little too hastily, and at the final leap, the soft slippers on her feet flew off and landed some distance away.

He watched her flustered dash and gave a quiet smile. He went and retrieved her slippers, then placed them side by side neatly at the foot of the bed-step.

The red candle on the desk was still burning. He leaned over and blew it out, then made his way back to the bed in the faint light of the night-watch lantern hanging under the eaves. The crimson gauze curtains were lowered, enclosing the bed apart from the rest of the room. Just as she had said in the carriage — when one can no longer see what is outside, the mind begins to swim.

She turned her head to look at him. She lay there stiff as a board, the very picture of someone braced for an ordeal. A faint impulse to tease arose in him. He turned on his side to face her and asked, “Madam — are you still in pain?”

In this narrow space, every word spoken felt like a whisper, and though he had merely lowered his voice a little, something about it, she could not say what, set her heart into a great turmoil.

Yun Pan stammered, “N-no, no pain — I told you so this morning already.”

He made a sound of acknowledgment. “Good — as long as it does not hurt.”

And then? Surely he was not about to go further? Yun Pan thought with mounting apprehension. Their wedding night had not been a wholly pleasant experience for her. She hoped that having fulfilled her duty and given an account of herself before the Princess Consort and the Grand Dowager Consort, that would be sufficient.

Fortunately, he indeed made no further move. She allowed herself a visible relaxation and said brightly, “It is late — let us sleep!” Then she turned over quite naturally, putting her back to him, deciding he should understand her meaning well enough.

Sure enough, the person behind her fell silent and said no more. Yun Pan set her worry down, closed her eyes, rested her cheek on her hands, and prepared to have a sweet dream.

But in the very next instant, she felt a hand come to rest on the side of her waist. Before she could react, the person behind her pressed close, and she was drawn firmly into his arms.

“Have I been too inconsiderate a husband?” There was something like three parts of self-reproach in his voice. He sighed, and the soft sound of his breathing scattered over the outer curve of her ear in a way that made her skin tingle.

She flinched her neck slightly. He noticed, and raised his hand to knead her earlobe. The small knot formed by the piercing shifted against his fingertip, moving just out of reach, impossible to catch — it was maddeningly tantalizing.

Yun Pan felt her heart nearly leaping out of her chest. There was nowhere to go, and yet she did not find his closeness entirely unwelcome. In truth, after what had happened last night, she was still a little uncomfortable. After a whole day of being out and about, there was a heavy, lingering feeling she could not describe, though it was not something she could very well mention to anyone.

His hand moved away from her earlobe. His long and slender fingers traced along the line of her jaw, as though examining the most exquisitely made vessel, unwilling to miss a single change in its contour. All his attention was gathered in that small movement, and with every inch traveled, the effect on her was one of wave upon wave of feeling.

Yun Pan was lost in a daze. Her heart was thundering, and at the same time she found herself thinking: the Weiguo Duke at night was truly a different person from the one by day. In daytime he always presented that manner of warm and composed elegance, so much so that the phrase “a gentleman of quiet grace” would sometimes float into Yun Pan’s mind unbidden. But the Weiguo Duke at night was as though a different person entirely — deep, inscrutable, self-possessed to the very extreme, yet from that extreme there arose another quality altogether: a wild desire, dark and unfathomable, never satisfied, as though at any moment it might swallow a person whole.

“My Lord…” She was at a loss.

He made a sound of acknowledgment — a faint, rising note through his nose that stirred the soul.

Yun Pan was, after all, no longer an inexperienced girl. Though unskilled, she was not oblivious. Through a single layer of fabric she could feel the heat of his desire. Both shy and afraid, she felt him near, close enough to leave her no room to move.

Fortunately he made no further move, but held her and said let us sleep, his words blurring together: “Rest and recover your body…”

And yet that particular place of his continued its refusal to stand down — surging, insistent, unsettling.

Yun Pan did not dare move, afraid that the slightest motion might provoke some unforeseen consequence. She remained very still with her knees drawn up, waiting for him to gradually cool.

He had a truly remarkable degree of self-control. He was as good as his word. He released her and lay back against his own pillow.

Silence fell between the two of them. Yun Pan waited for what felt like a long time, and when she was confident he had fallen asleep, she very carefully turned over to look at him. Even in sleep his face held that quality of ease, of someone who passes through time without strife or anger. In his features, one could see the settled calm of a life unmarked by shock.

In the dim light, Yun Pan blinked her tired, stinging eyes. She was just about to raise her hand and rub them when she suddenly heard him say, “Is Madam unable to sleep? Looking for something to do, perhaps?”

She gave a start and hastily said, “I am sleeping right now.” She dared not make any more mischief, and wrapped herself in her little quilt and closed her eyes.

The next morning she woke feeling wonderfully rested after a full night’s sleep.

The maids attended her as she dressed, and then she went together with Li Chenjian to Mao Garden to pay their morning respects.

The Princess Consort, since having seen that handkerchief, had been entirely satisfied in all things. She smiled and said, “The child rarely has ten days of wedding leave — you need not rise so early.” She glanced over at Grand Dowager Consort Hu. “Mother, let us excuse them from the morning greetings too. The young couple has just married — they might as well sleep a little later.”

Grand Dowager Consort Hu was just then having her tea, and she nodded in agreement when she heard this. “That is exactly what I was going to say. Let us excuse the morning greetings for these few days. It is not court — as long as the thought is there, that is enough.”

Li Chenjian himself had no particular feelings about it either way — everything was entirely up to Yun Pan’s wishes. As for Yun Pan, she was a new daughter-in-law of the household. The elders might show consideration, but she could not afford to let her own conduct slip.

She sat sideways in her chair and smiled. “Everything in the family is peaceful and well. The only service I can offer Grandmother and Mother is to pay my morning respects. If even that were excused, what would be left of my filial devotion?”

In truth, the more she declined, the more willing the elders were to show their consideration. Grand Dowager Consort Hu’s expression softened into a smile as well, and she said, “Then let us follow my wishes. On the days when Ji Fu goes to court, you will be seeing him off at the door anyway — stopping by to greet us on the way is itself a mark of your thoughtfulness. On the days when Ji Fu has leave, the morning greeting can be dispensed with. When we were young we liked to sleep late too. Let the young couple spend more time together, and give us a little one to hold at the earliest opportunity — that is the greatest act of devotion you could show us.”

At this, the Princess Consort was all smiles, her eyes full of expectation, as if the daughter-in-law already carried good news. Yun Pan flushed and did not know quite how to respond. It was Li Chenjian who answered for her, “Then let us follow Grandmother and Mother’s wishes.”

The family sat together in the small reception hall taking tea and talking, and the morning hours flowed past in an easy, unhurried way. Yun Pan was new to this household, yet she began to taste something of the warmth she had known when A’Niang was still alive. By comparison, her husband’s family was warmer and more full of human feeling than the Marquis’s household was now. She had once worried that such a prominent and powerful household must be full of dangers and complications at every turn, but looking around her now — perhaps she had been overconcerned.

Of course, in any smooth and easy life there are always one or two things that will not let you rest easy. After returning from Mao Garden, Li Chenjian went out to thank the subordinates and colleagues who had helped block the roads during the wedding, while Yun Pan received the aunt who had sent in her calling card.

Word came in from the front courtyard: the wife of the Vice Commissioner of the Eastern Audience Reception Hall had come to call. Yun Pan had Nanny Yao go out to receive her and bring her through the inner gate.

Peng Furen followed Nanny Yao the whole way in, and the grandeur of the Duke’s estate dazzled her eyes. After all, Peng Sheng was only a minor official of the seventh rank — in terms of rank and station, she would never have had occasion to step through such a gate in her lifetime. She had thought the Marquis’s household in Youzhou already quite magnificent, but compared with this Duke’s estate, it was nothing — small beside great. With a household this illustrious, now that her niece had married into it, she too could bask in the reflected glory. Look at these maids and servants — every last one of them bowed to her. Peng Furen savored a taste of what it felt like to look down on others.

Nanny Yao led her along the western veranda, and as she watched Peng Furen gawking from side to side like a first-time visitor, she could not help but feel a quiet disdain. With manners like these, no wonder the County Princess had always looked down on her.

“Commissioner’s wife, this way please.” Concealing her disdain behind a polite smile, Nanny Yao gestured ahead. “The Duchess is waiting in the front reception hall.”

Peng Furen acknowledged this and followed her around a corner. Ahead lay a small exquisite courtyard, with delicate bamboo and water flowing gently around it — if one listened carefully, the soft sound of running water could be heard. Moving closer still, through the high and low-hanging bamboo curtains, maids could be seen passing, their sashes trailing like a brushwork illustration on a scholar’s desk.

Peng Furen lifted her skirts and climbed the wooden steps, and at last she saw a composed young woman sitting in the depths of the reception hall. Looking at her features, they were much as she remembered from before, but now that the young lady had climbed to a high branch and married a fine husband, even her bearing had grown noticeably more distinguished.

“Madam, the Commissioner’s wife has arrived.” Nanny Yao stopped outside the door and announced within.

The Yun Pan seated on the daybed raised her head, and seeing that Peng Furen had reached the door, she stood and called out, “Aunt — please, come inside.”

Peng Furen obliged, stepped over the threshold smiling, looked Yun Pan up and down, and began to exclaim, “My dear child — I have been stuck in little Guankou this whole while and have not been out. Since we last saw each other at your mother’s funeral last year, it has been more than a year already. A few days ago I finally got word that you had married, and your elder Aunt and I, being at Duke Shuguo’s household for the occasion, could not conveniently come to the door. But we have been thinking of you all along. It has now been three days since your return visit, and I came to see you on the fourth day — that is just right.”

These few words were enough to show her through. A well-bred person would not put on such a show.

There is no such custom in the world as opening a conversation with “my dear child.” When the young lady was an unmarried girl in her family’s home it might have been tolerable, but now that she was a first-rank Duchess with an official title to match, to address her this way without any sense of propriety — fortunately there was no one else present. Had there been outsiders, would this not invite ridicule?

Yun Pan, knowing her character and what she was made of, did not trouble herself over it. She still welcomed her with a pleasant expression and offered her a seat. “Truthfully speaking, Aunt and I have indeed not seen each other for more than a year. Is Aunt keeping well? And Uncle and the younger brothers and sisters — are they all doing well?”

Peng Furen said they were well enough. “Only the mother-in-law at home is in bed twelve months of the year, needing someone to attend to her every meal and drink, and constantly requiring doctors and medicine. It is truly exhausting.”

This was her usual practice — whenever she opened her mouth, she started with complaints. At first A’Niang had sent her a little assistance, but after hearing so much of it she grew disinclined to pay any attention.

Yun Pan kept the small smile on her face, did not take up her words, and turned to instruct Qin Dan instead, “Have someone bring tea, refreshments, and fruit. Aunt has traveled all the way from Guankou to the capital this morning — she must be tired. Please have something and rest a while.”

Peng Furen thought to herself: what is there to rest for? The whole reason she had come all the way here was for a purpose, and she could not let Yun Pan distract her with small talk and sidestep the real issue.

So she had her attendant maidservant present a red silk wrapped parcel and two large boxes of celebratory pastries, and smiled as she said, “I was unable to come on your wedding day, so I am making it up today. You know my circumstances are difficult — it is only three or five taels, hardly worth your notice, but it is Aunt’s heartfelt thought, and you must accept it no matter what.”

Nanny Yao nearly laughed out loud. To first cry poverty before handing over a gift — was the person supposed to take this red packet or not?

Yun Pan, being gracious, responded politely, “We are all family — the thought is what counts. Would I pick fault with Aunt’s consideration? Since Aunt says her circumstances are difficult, please keep this silver for yourself and use it to buy food for the elderly invalid at home. I manage well enough here, and Aunt need not worry about me.”

But Peng Furen had fish-eyes — those sharp little pupils of hers darted around the room in a single sweep, and she laughed. “Oh my, you have married such a highly placed noble and are now a first-rank Duchess, and you only say you ‘manage well enough’? Surely you are treating Aunt as a stranger. Look at this residence, look at all these furnishings — every piece would take a peddler or laborer several lifetimes to earn, and yet you undersell yourself. It makes one’s heart quite uncomfortable to hear.”

As for the gift money she had deflected — well, if it truly was not to be taken, so be it. A household of great wealth and splendor was not going to care about such small scraps.

Yun Pan said nothing further, picked up her teacup, lowered her head, and took a sip.

Peng Furen’s exclamations seemed endless, and she went on talking to herself: “No wonder every girl wants to marry as high as she can — even if in the end you cannot win your husband’s heart, the wealth and honor will never be lacking…”

The further she talked the more improper it became. Nanny Yao saw Yun Pan’s expression shift slightly, and without ceremony picked up where Peng Furen had left off. “How true,” she said with a smile. “Girls choosing a husband really must keep their eyes wide open. A husband of high birth and family — at the very least he excels in every quality. But what would be the point of marrying down? To keep the gate of a poor man’s household, and get not even a word of thanks for all your trouble.”

Peng Furen paused. Even someone as slow as she was could hear the barbs in what the old nanny had just said. Judging by how things were going — Yun Pan keeping her at a distance and saying nothing but polite surface words, no matter how hard she tried to be friendly she could not get a real response — it was better to just come out with it.

So she shifted in her seat, squeezed out a small smile, and asked cautiously, “Have you heard about the matter of your father wanting to establish a Marquis’s household here in the capital?”

Yun Pan nodded. “Next year His Majesty will hold court only on alternating days, and Father will have no way to keep traveling between the two places.”

“Exactly,” said Peng Furen. “It is just that buying a residence in the capital is an enormous expense. It was mentioned just the other day — even selling the old house and putting it all toward the purchase might not be enough. You, clearly, are living so comfortably now that you have no worries for yourself — but you could do your part to give your family a helping hand. After all, a woman’s standing in her husband’s household ultimately depends on her own family for support.”

Yun Pan heard this and finally understood the purpose of today’s visit. She set down her teacup and smiled as she asked, “And what sum does Aunt consider most appropriate for me to contribute?”

Peng Furen turned her eyes around and held up four fingers. “This amount — I expect that should be roughly right.”