Yun Pan could not help but want to smile. She had no idea what he was happy about — had something good happened at the yamen? Or was it because he had just gotten married?

In ordinary times when she looked at him, he always had that quality of the moon in the sky — a kind of lofty pride that could not be reached or plucked. Yet who would have thought that drunk on wine he was like this?

He was bending over, drawing himself down to be near her, unable to stand straight. This clinging, tenacious manner of his — seen by the servants, what kind of picture would that make?

Indeed, everyone around them covered their mouths with muffled laughter. Yun Pan’s face was red too, yet she still had to put on an air of composure and coax him. “All right, all right — I know you are happy. My Lord, shall we go and rest in the bedchamber? Sleep it off, and when you wake the effects of the wine will have passed.”

He gave a murmur of agreement. At least he was aware enough to know that his weight would be too much for her to bear. Swaying and unsteady, he still managed to shuffle his feet forward — only he needed her to guide his direction so he would not walk straight into a doorpost.

Yun Pan strained to support him and steered him into the inner bedchamber. When he saw the daybed he toppled sideways onto it. With great effort she managed to remove his boots and heave those long legs up onto the bed.

She reached over to undo the ties at his collar. He opened his eyes in a drowsy haze and stared fixedly at her, asking, “What are you going to do?”

It was as though she were taking liberties with him. Yun Pan flushed with embarrassment at being watched like this, and said awkwardly, “I was going to help you take off your outer robe so you might sleep more comfortably.”

He understood, and spread his arms wide in a gesture of offering himself up to be dealt with as she pleased. After she had undone all the fastenings of his full robe, he wrestled it off himself somewhat clumsily, then asked her, “Will Madam sleep alongside me?”

Yun Pan stifled a laugh and graciously declined his invitation. Turning around, she saw Qin Dan coming in with a sobering decoction. She brought it to him and said, “My Lord, please drink the sobering decoction before you sleep.”

He listened, propped himself up with his own arms, and poured it all down without any concern for whether it tasted good or not. When he was done, his eyelashes drooped as he reached around for the pillow. He felt across it once, twice, smoothing and patting every inch of it flat, and only then settled back contentedly to lie down.

Yun Pan gave a quiet sigh to herself. She had often heard people speak of those who made a drunken scene, but fortunately he had no such habit. Seeing that he was already asleep, she withdrew to the outer room, where she could sit in the round-backed chair by the window, sip a cup of tea, look at the view in the courtyard, and think over her own past and future.

Qin Dan came to report back. “Following Madam’s instructions, word has been sent to the Grand Dowager Consort’s and the Princess Consort’s courtyard that we will not be crossing to Mao Garden for the evening meal tonight.”

Yun Pan gave a small nod, raised her teacup, and took a sip.

Qin Dan had been at her side through everything — every storm they had weathered, Qin Dan had been there with her. With so much happening of late, they had been too busy to have a good personal talk. Now that there was finally a quiet moment, Yun Pan pointed to the nearby round-backed chair and invited her to sit.

Qin Dan thanked her for the seat, and in private still called her “Little Mistress.” “Several days have passed since you married out — how are you finding things? Are you content?”

Yun Pan turned her head to look at her, just as she used to when they were in the family home — cheek resting against her arm, with a somewhat languid air. She thought for a moment and said, “Things are going well, and every day my heart is glad. To be honest, I had thought that once I married, there would surely be a great many trying things — that this one might look down on me, that one might give me a hard time. But none of that has happened. The Duke, as you can see, is a good man — the Grand Dowager Consort and the Princess Consort are very broad-minded, and the Commandery Princess is a wonderful young woman. To encounter such a household and such a family spirit — I really am the fortunate one.”

Qin Dan had her sleeves pulled in at the wrists, and an expression of heartfelt relief came over her face. “It must be that the Madam in heaven could not bear to see the young lady suffer, and arranged the Duke for her — so that from now on you can live well.”

Yun Pan smiled a little. “Only now that there is an extra person beside me, things feel somewhat unfamiliar. Before today, I had never seen a man drunk on wine.”

Qin Dan said, “The Duke is not like us — he is not shut up in the inner household all day. Men have a wide world outside, and human relations and obligations are surely not easy to manage.”

Yun Pan said: yes, that is true. “Every person has it hard.” Then she thought of herself and said with a smile, “I have it hard too.”

Qin Dan raised her eyes, and a shade of quiet sorrow appeared on her face.

Her difficulties were there for Qin Dan to see. People all said she had become a Duchess — what glory. But the principle of advance or fall back held nowhere more clearly than in such a household as this. She had to begin preparing early. Before she had even left home she had needed to let her mother-in-law see her good qualities, to make her younger sister-in-law like her for being nimble and attentive. Once inside the door, she had to be skilled in planning ahead, to have her own views, and to let the Grand Dowager Consort understand that she was wholeheartedly devoted to her husband’s interests.

When others admired you and said you were wonderful in every way — in truth all of it came from your own effort in cultivating it. If you did nothing, if every day you only showed up punctually for morning greetings and said your polite words — did a household like this lack beautiful women of no great quality? If the Duchess were so mediocre, anyone could fill that role.

Qin Dan gave a gentle sigh. “The young lady naturally has it hard. The Duke knows it too, and holds great respect for you. To manage the household with such skill as its mistress — that is already more than most of the fine ladies of the capital.”

Yun Pan listened, and gave a small smile, then said no more. She had her own thoughts — after all, it had only been a few days, and the new is always pleasant.

When A’Niang and Father had overcome a thousand obstacles to come together, it had given them barely three years of loving companionship before it all faded to what it became later. Now she had married into the imperial clan, where continuing the line was of great importance. It would surely not be long before the Grand Dowager Consort and the Princess Consort hinted that she should be taking in a concubine for the Duke.

The very thought of it made her heart sink. If the concubines could be as quiet and well-behaved as the few in Aunt’s household, she would not mind one or two, or even three or five. But if there happened to be another like Liu Yanqiao — one was enough to upset the whole household’s peace, and she would then need to divide her energy toward managing the inner household. Just imagining it gave her a headache.

Of course, it was not yet before her eyes — all of it was just borrowing trouble. She lowered her head and took a sip of tea. “Tomorrow let us make litchi summer drink!”

Qin Dan replied, “Tomorrow the household is holding a family banquet at Ban Lou, has Madam forgotten? If you want litchi summer drink, I will stay in the household to prepare it, and it will be ready for you to drink when you return.”

“Ah…” She rubbed her forehead. “I had entirely forgotten.”

Qin Dan said, “That is because Madam has been too busy today. Just managing that aunt alone was enough to tire you out.”

Quite so. And now Li Chenjian had drunk too much as well. In two hours at most the sky would be dark, and the afternoon rest hour had already passed… Never mind — she might as well tally up the shop’s various expenses. And those promissory notes — once these next two days were through, buying and selling, it would be time to start putting them to work.

So she had a table and small stand moved out before the wicker chair on the back corridor, and by the natural light going over the account books that had been submitted from outside, she sketched in her mind the shape of the craft workshop she envisioned.

Five storefronts — this was the first time she had put down such a large sum of money, to set in motion a great undertaking she had only ever dared to imagine before, never attempt. All five frontages opened into one another, to be appointed with the finest materials, the private rooms each carefully separated — flower pear tables and chairs, and little training pine trees in containers twisted into artful shapes.

Open the window and in spring you would see willows, in summer the moon. On a winter’s day when heavy snow pressed down on the city, you would look out onto the vast and wintry scene of the Grand Canal, with commercial ships coming and going slowly. Guests sitting before a small earthen fire-stove, cradling a warm cup of tea — what a particular joy that would be in their hearts.

And so this summer evening, truly, was full of wonder. All was still everywhere, with only the occasional sound of a maid passing, leaving a clear and bright sound of footsteps on the wooden corridor.

The sun gradually slanted westward, and the great cascade of light was cut short by the courtyard wall. Half the courtyard stood in brightness, half in shadow, and a sense of evening solitude gradually settled over it.

Yun Pan put down her brush, gathered the sketches she had drawn together, and had someone store them in the study. She rose and went into the bedchamber.

“Tonight let us eat something light — I imagine the Duke will have little appetite,” she said, turning back to instruct Lu Tan. Then she went past the screen into the inner bedchamber.

The person on the bed had probably heard her speaking, and came hazily awake. He covered his eyes with his hand and asked what hour it was.

Yun Pan glanced at the water-clock. “Nearly the Hour of the Dog.” She turned back her sleeve and poured a cup of clear tea, then brought it to him. “Has the Duke’s wine worn off?”

He propped himself up and took the teacup, saying, “There is still some dizziness — it has mostly cleared.” He gave a somewhat sheepish smile. “You have only just come through the door, and here I have already made a fool of myself before you. I hope Madam will not laugh at me.”

Yun Pan shook her head. “When the Duke has obligations at official social gatherings, there is always going to be the occasional extra cup to be drunk. Only, next time hold back three parts — too much wine is bad for one’s health. Do not forget.”

A new wife’s gentle and tender words carried a different kind of weight than anyone else’s habit of saying the same old thing, and what might otherwise have been an answer brushed aside now felt like something worth taking to heart. He answered her seriously, “I will not do this again. Do not worry.”

Yun Pan pressed her lips into a satisfied smile and asked warmly, “Shall you sleep a while longer?”

He said not, “There is still a smell of wine about me — I will go and change my clothes.”

He got up and went to the outer room. Yun Pan moved to the side hall to prepare the evening meal.

From the kitchen came taro paste noodles, cold cakes, dried salted garlic shoots with young eggplant, and pickled plum ginger — all refreshing and easy to digest. She carefully arranged the dishes and waited for a while, and then he came in from outside, changed into a round-collar robe of moon-white ramie cloth. In that in-between hour when day was fading to night and a man stood in the soft light, he was in every moment of every kind of lighting always fresh and composed and upright in bearing.

Yun Pan gestured toward the seat. “My Lord, please sit.”

He lifted his robe and sat down, took the white jade chopsticks she passed to him, and then remembered to ask, “Did Aunt come today? Did she say anything?”

Yun Pan’s expression dimmed slightly. She had not originally planned to tell him, yet she was afraid that those people might truly come to trouble him in the future, and so she told him the full account of what had happened, and said at the end, “The relatives on the Jiang side are truly a great deal of trouble. If in the future they come looking for you, please, my Lord, do not show them any consideration on my account — pass them all on to me. Just say you do not manage household matters and have them come and find me.”

He said he would, his eyes lowered as he said in an unhurried tone, “As for setting up the Marquis’s household — if Father truly runs into difficulties, we cannot simply ignore it. I know of a residence. It is where the late Dingyuan Marquis had his household in the capital in earlier years. After they moved the entire family to Shuofang, the residence has stood empty. Recently word came that it is to be sold off. Let me send someone to inquire — if we can buy it and convert it for the Kaiguo Marquis’s household, that would be a fitting solution.”

He had every intention of helping. But Yun Pan felt it was entirely unnecessary. “I understand what my Lord is thinking — a daughter who has married into the household of an imperial Duke, and her own father cannot even manage to establish a proper residence: that is a loss of face not just for the Kaiguo Marquis’s household, but for our Duke’s household as well. But in my heart, I simply cannot accept it. To set up a fine residence for them to move into and live comfortably — that would truly be letting them off lightly. Besides, Liu Shi insists the Marquis’s household has no money — so where has all the money gone? When A’Niang was alive, there were shops, land, and estates. Of what she left, half was given to me and the other half remains in the Marquis’s household. What kind of household management has Liu Shi been doing, that in barely a year’s time there is not even enough money for a move? If this goes on, all the estate A’Niang built will be picked apart and ruined by her.”

The more she spoke the angrier she became. Liu Yanqiao naturally had brothers and sisters of her own. Those two brothers of hers who went about now looking as though they were somebody — who did they have to thank for that but their sister’s gifts? The Marquis’s household had been stripped bare, and now they came to ask her for money — forever eyeing the private savings A’Niang had left her with envy, scheming to get at them by one means or another.

She always kept herself on an even keel, but the moment anything touching on that family came up, it stirred resentment in her that had no bottom. He watched her and quietly smiled to himself, having no wish to make her angry. He left the matter of the Marquis’s household entirely in her hands to deal with as she saw fit.

As for Yun Pan, she had lost her composure before him and was a little embarrassed. “I should be more careful going forward — I cannot keep letting myself lose my peace of mind over them.”

He gave a nod. “Do not let yourself get angry over people and things that are not worth it. When relations have ill intentions, just stay vigilant — that is all that is needed.”

He had considerable experience in that regard. When it came to relatives with ill intentions, those around him were beyond counting. Since there was no way to stop it entirely, there was nothing for it but to stay on guard. Comparing her situation to his, Yun Pan felt that her own troubles were nothing at all — there was truly no point in injuring her mind over a handful of petty people.

When the meal was over, she turned to look outside. The vast evening afterglow had finally faded away. Several maids came carrying lanterns, lighting them one by one along the eaves.

The sun was gone, and a coolness rose in the courtyard. After dinner they strolled along the wooden corridor, watching several maidservants carry bundles of dried wormwood and smoke the corners and edges of the courtyard to drive away the mosquitoes.

White smoke billowed up in great drifts, spreading slowly along the base of the walls. The air was thick with the fragrance of wormwood, and looking out over it all, the misty haze drifted here and there like the immortal realm in a picture book.

Only they could not stand there long — the panicked mosquitoes were fleeing in all directions, buzzing loudly in every ear. She batted at them with her fan, but they were beyond batting. In the end there was nothing for it but to follow him back into the inner bedchamber.

After washing up, they lay on the bed and talked for a while. Yun Pan said, “A few days ago I asked Nanny Yao to go out and make inquiries about someone.”

He made a sound of acknowledgment. “Who is it?”

“The younger sister of General Jin Zhizhen, of the Loyal and Martial rank.” She turned on her side toward him and asked, “Are you acquainted with that General?”

Li Chenjian thought for a moment. “He commands the Pinglu Army and has always been stationed in Qingzhou. When he comes back to the capital I have attended a few banquets with him — we are barely more than nodding acquaintances. Jin Zhizhen must be past forty by now, and the old general in the household is approaching sixty, I believe. What has Madam been inquiring after his sister for?”

Yun Pan said, “Nothing of particular import. I saw her once at the raisedbanquet of Chief Minister Han’s wife, and heard that she divorced her husband and has been living in the general’s household for more than two years now.”

She left it at that, and only smiled and looked at him.

He understood at once. “Jin Zhizhen seems to have some connection with Uncle-in-law. But this is not something Aunt is well-placed to handle directly. Let me ask A’Niang about it tomorrow, or perhaps simply ask the Chief Minister’s wife to act as go-between. As long as the lady has not made up her mind never to remarry, it should be very nearly certain.”

She nodded with pleasure. “I will speak privately with Mother tomorrow. Only I fear it is a little presumptuous — a daughter meddling in her father’s marriage matters.”

A strand of hair had fallen against her cheek. He reached out and tucked it away, and simply said, “There is nothing presumptuous about it. This is the most straightforward and fundamental approach. That household is in need of someone respectable to anchor it — otherwise it will stop being a proper Marquis’s household at all.”

Speaking the most decisive words while making the most delicate of gestures — Yun Pan felt a warmth come over her, and smiled in spite of herself. In the privacy of the inner bedchamber, she was still not as at ease in her own skin as he was.

As for him — he was a man of inner subtlety, and seemed constitutionally incapable of anything impetuous. Even when a quiet thought moved in him, he acted on it with care and deliberateness, drawing slightly closer, touching her fingers with the tip of his — barely touching, and then not.

Where ten fingers are connected to the heart — that saying became particularly vivid here. The lamplight on the desk gave a warm cast to her brow and eyes, and in the subtle shift of those autumn-water glances, a hint of soft allure gradually began to surface.

He could not help himself. He turned and rose, bracing above her. In his eyes was a bright and burning flame. She knew what was coming next, and flushed, looking away.

That movement exposed the slender line of her neck. He gave her earlobe the lightest of nibbles and asked against her ear, his voice low and full, “May I tonight?”

Yun Pan’s heart leaped in every direction at once. Since it had already come to this, what was there to refuse?

She raised her hand and let it rest gently against his back. He understood at once. The flame in his eyes blazed and spread without limit — vigorous and surging, as though it would swallow a person whole.

It was nothing like the first time — much less difficult to endure. He was a rare master of sentiment, always able to bring her back to clarity within the vertigo, so she knew clearly, every moment, that the person beside her was him.

The distance between two hearts that had been kept apart by day closed to nothing at last. Through rising warmth she saw the depth of his intoxicated gaze, and from it arose another quality entirely — unfamiliar, intensely assertive, a wildness full of bold and boundless desire, hunting and circling without cease, as though it would shake a person to pieces.

Yun Pan could not suppress the trembling catch in her throat. At the very moment she was nearly crying out, she heard his quiet exhale, and then everything slowly, gradually settled into stillness. Satisfied, he murmured her name. “Si Si…”

She loved the way he said it. Those two syllables rolled on the tip of his tongue, and somehow coming from him they sounded more beautiful than from anyone else.

She thought to herself: this is what is called husband and wife in harmony. He was thoughtful and tender — he even wiped away the traces for her. Of course she was mortified and curled up small. His smile deepened, and he reached out and drew her into his arms.

Yun Pan closed her eyes and gently stroked the inside of his elbow. This night was as rich and heady as wine, like medicine, like liquor — irresistibly intoxicating.