Among Xie Changgeng’s subordinates was a man named Liu Guan, exceptionally capable and gifted in the planning and management of affairs. This man had formerly served in a minor position in the court’s Ministry of Personnel, where, unrecognized despite his talents, he had grown deeply disheartened. He had then been convicted of some offense against his superior and sent into exile, but escaped midway. He had joined Xie Changgeng when the latter was still traveling the Yangtze waterway, and now served as a Deputy Official in the Military Governor’s residence — though in truth he was also one of Xie Changgeng’s small circle of secret advisors.

He possessed another particular skill: on account of his former position in the Ministry of Personnel, he had a thorough command of affairs across all the feudal kingdoms. From royal chancellors down to every rank of official — whoever held a post or rank, their background and history he knew in full.

Xie Changgeng summoned Liu Guan and asked about Yuan Handing.

Liu Guan said: “This man is the adopted son of the now-deceased Chancellor of the Kingdom of Changsha. He grew up alongside Mu Xuanqing, and in his youth served as a companion-reader in the royal palace. Though young, Yuan is of outstanding ability and the making of a fine general. In the years before the Kingdom of Changsha concluded its marriage alliance with you, the various feudal kingdoms were locked in conflict. The Kingdom of Changsha was caught in the chaos, its borders unsettled on all four sides. There were several armed clashes with the southern tribal chieftain Jiang Rong over boundary disputes. At the time, Yuan Handing was no more than a boy of fifteen or sixteen, yet he had already joined the old King of Changsha in taking the field and had distinguished himself with great merit. Of all those in the Kingdom of Changsha today, apart from Lu Lin, who can just barely manage affairs, only this Yuan Handing remains.”

Xie Changgeng sat in thought.

Liu Guan assumed he wished to recruit talented men.

Over the past several years, Xie Changgeng had repeatedly suppressed internal uprisings; his reputation and standing grew by the day. What he still lacked was a great victory over a foreign adversary.

The present dynasty, lingering to this day, had its mandate fading and its decline well underway, unable even to manage its internal strife, let alone resist foreign incursions. Three prefectures and twenty cities north of Hexi had been seized one by one by the northerners. Whenever the people spoke of it, they seethed with righteous indignation, and their dissatisfaction with the court’s incompetence grew ever stronger.

Three years ago, the northerners had massed heavy troops at the border, intending to seize Hexi once more.

At that time, Hexi was rife with clashes between the tribal people and the local population, the soldiers at various garrison posts were not of one mind, and many feared the northerners — truly beset by troubles from within and dangers from without. The former Military Governor had been unable to cope: the very first engagement ended in defeat, and yet another city was lost. After his dismissal, the situation in Hexi became critically precarious. No one in the court dared take on the position of Military Governor, each fearing that Hexi would be lost on their watch and they would bear the nation’s condemnation for all time.

At the time, Xie Changgeng had been recommended by the King of Changsha for appointment, having entered official service barely a year earlier, just having made his mark in suppressing the feudal kings’ uprising.

There was no comparison between fighting the northerners — a powerful enemy pressing down with massed troops — and fighting domestic feudal lords. In his circumstances at the time, without the certainty of victory, it would not have been wise to wade into those murky waters.

It was while he was mopping up the last remnants of Prince Jin’s forces that he received the court’s urgent edict, summoning him to the capital.

Liu Guan and the others had all counseled him at the time: this was not the moment to take on Hexi, that treacherous prize. If he failed, not only would his reputation and career be ruined, but all his previous schemes would come to nothing. They recommended that he deliberately let the remnants of Prince Jin’s army escape, allowing them to regroup for another uprising — this way he could cite unfinished military business as a reason to neatly sidestep the crisis. Once his power had grown sufficiently and Hexi had been further battered and weakened, he could step in to clean up the mess with half the effort for twice the result.

But Xie Changgeng did not heed their counsel. He swiftly wiped out the last remnants of Prince Jin’s forces, then accepted the assignment in a moment of crisis, immediately leaving the capital for Hexi. Over the years that followed, he drilled his troops, built up grain stores, pacified external threats and settled internal unrest — pitting weakness against strength, leading from the front — and through sheer force of will united the hearts of the men. He repelled the northerners’ incursions again and again, and only through this had Hexi arrived at its present, temporarily stable condition.

After that episode, Liu Guan and the others were truly and thoroughly awed by him, their loyalty absolute.

Liu Guan knew Xie Changgeng’s mind was meticulous and his stratagems without flaw. But even now, at times when he recalled the moment Xie Changgeng had disregarded all counsel and taken the dangerous gamble of accepting the Hexi Military Governor’s post, Liu Guan was still not entirely certain what had driven that decision.

Was it that he was unwilling to see Hexi fall into the hands of the northerners, and had resolved to turn the tide by his own strength alone? Or was it that he had such full confidence in his ability to hold the situation together even under such unfavorable conditions that he was willing to stake everything on that single bold move, daring to leave the capital against all odds?

But in any case, he had won in the end. Looking back at that decision, it had truly been a wise move.

As matters stood now, if he could turn defense into offense in the northern campaigns, achieve a decisive victory, and retake those three prefectures and twenty cities — he would truly stand as the people’s one true choice, his prestige without rival. He had only to wait for the Empress Dowager Liu to make her move against him; citing self-defense as his justification to rise up, the tens of thousands of soldiers in Hexi would obey his every command without question. At his single call, they would come like an avalanche, sweeping all before them — who in the court could stand against him? The favor of heaven, the advantages of geography, and the hearts of the people — all three were entirely on his side. If he himself did not decline this throne, who in the realm could stop him?

The day of the great northern defeat would be the day he changed the dynasty and ascended the throne.

Seeing that he had not spoken for some time, Liu Guan continued: “While the Military Governor is eager to attract talent and generous in welcoming the worthy, this Yuan Handing has ties to the Mu family that run as deep as kinship — they are as one family. He is unlikely ever to enter your service. Besides, Hexi has no shortage of fine generals as it is. Rather than recruiting this Yuan Handing, you might instead…”

The other half of what he wanted to say was somewhat inconvenient to voice.

Within Hexi itself, one hidden concern remained: the tribal people.

When it came to those stubborn tribal people, even the Military Governor — who had never faced an obstacle he could not overcome — seemed to find himself at a loss.

From what Liu Guan had observed, the mistress who had been sent away by the Military Governor appeared to be a possible opening for dealing with the tribal people.

But if he himself had thought of it, there was no way the Military Governor, with his keen mind, had not also noticed.

What he could not quite understand was why the Military Governor had not made good use of this and had instead sent the woman away.

But these were matters between husband and wife — an outsider had no real place to speak of them. And since he had already sent her away, there must be other considerations at work.

Liu Guan’s words trailed off halfway, and he stopped, looking at Xie Changgeng across from him. Seeing no response still — as though he were sunk in some private current of thought — Liu Guan called out: “Master?”

Xie Changgeng came back to himself, said “Ah,” looked toward Liu Guan, and nodded: “I understand. Thank you.”

After Liu Guan departed, the steward returned to the Military Governor’s residence, went to Xie Changgeng, and reported: “Following your instructions, I have brought the people from Changsha to the inn in your name and settled them in.”

“The leader, General Yuan, asked me to relay his words — he says he has brought a personal letter from Prince Mu Xuanqing to you, and hopes you will find time at your earliest convenience to grant him an audience. He would be most grateful.”

“Apart from that, did he say anything else?”

The steward shook his head, then suddenly remembered.

“Ah yes. He also asked about the young mistress. Following your instructions, I did not mention that the young mistress had already returned home, and only said I didn’t know.”

Having said this, the steward saw Xie Changgeng’s expression was distant and unresponsive, and made no further inquiry. He bowed and withdrew — only to be called back, and was given a certain set of instructions.

The steward was greatly surprised.

Over the years, court officials dispatched to Hexi on public business had always been received by the relevant subordinate officials of the Military Governor’s residence, following official court protocol.

This time, the steward truly could not fathom why the Military Governor would show such “generous hospitality” to that General Yuan from the Kingdom of Changsha.

But since the instructions had been given, the steward naturally carried them out, bowing and withdrawing to go make the arrangements.

The following morning, a beautiful female entertainer was brought before Xie Changgeng by the steward.

The entertainer knelt on the ground, frightened, and said: “Master, it is not that I was unwilling to follow your command — it is that the General Yuan refused to have me attend him. I tried every manner of enticement, and even knelt and begged, saying that if I were sent away, you would punish me for poor service. He then told me to stay, while he himself went out to share a room with others. There was truly nothing I could do. I am useless — I beg for your forgiveness, master.”

Xie Changgeng dismissed the entertainer and stood by the window.

The steward could make no sense of the purpose behind last night’s arrangements. After waiting a moment and seeing Xie Changgeng say nothing, he addressed his back: “Master, might you see him today? This morning he saw me again and asked when you would be available to meet.”

Xie Changgeng turned around, his expression remote: “There’s no rush. Tell him to wait a few more days.”

Yuan Handing waited anxiously in the inn for three days, barely able to get through each one. On the third day, he at last received word that a meeting had been arranged, and set out immediately.

Xie Changgeng received him in the conference hall of the Military Governor’s residence. There was no one else present — only the two of them. Xie Changgeng was seated behind his desk. Yuan Handing paid his respects and presented the personal letter from Mu Xuanqing. Xie Changgeng opened it, then invited Yuan Handing to be seated, showing a smile on his face, and said: “These past several days have been occupied with many affairs. Only at this moment have I been able to break free. I have kept General Yuan waiting. Please do not hold it against me.”

Yuan Handing replied respectfully: “The Military Governor is too kind. To have been received by you today and to have delivered the Prince’s letter, I am already deeply grateful.”

Xie Changgeng glanced through the letter, set it down, and smiled: “The King of Changsha and I are connected by marriage — like family. Even when there has been friction, there is no enmity that lasts the night. The King of Changsha need not stand on such ceremony as to have you make this long and arduous journey. His goodwill I gratefully receive. If you do not disdain this remote and humble place of mine, by all means stay a few days. Courtesy calls for reciprocity — it would give me the chance to prepare some modest gifts for General Yuan to bring back and present to the King of Changsha when you depart.”

In his letter, Mu Xuanqing had thanked him for having previously taken his sister out of the capital, and had also expressed the hope that on this trip Yuan Handing might be able to bring his sister home with him.

Yuan Handing had waited three days amid anxiety and speculation, and now at last he found himself face to face with Xie Changgeng.

He had expected to be met with coldness, or even humiliation — much as Xie Changgeng had been treated during his visit to the Kingdom of Changsha. What he had not expected was for the man across from him to be entirely at ease, all trace of past grievances swept away — whether it was real or not. In this moment, the long-suppressed concern he had carried in his heart for the young mistress, and the urgency of his feelings, could no longer be held back.

Seeing that Xie Changgeng said not a word of her, Yuan Handing spoke: “Thank you for the Military Governor’s kind offer. Before I departed, the Prince repeatedly instructed me to convey to the Military Governor his hope that you would grant your accommodation and allow me to escort the young mistress home on his behalf. The Prince’s letter surely also touches on this matter. The Prince asked me to make known to the Military Governor that should the young mistress be able to return, he would offer his fullest repayment. Whatever lies within his means, he would not begrudge.”

Having spoken, he held his breath and watched Xie Changgeng.

Xie Changgeng regarded Yuan Handing for a moment, held his gaze, then said: “What if I told you — you have come too late, and she is no longer here? Just a few days ago, I was acting on the Empress Dowager’s orders and had her sent back to the capital to keep the Empress Dowager company. What would your Kingdom of Changsha do then?”

Yuan Handing’s heart gave a heavy thud. His color changed slightly, and he sprang abruptly to his feet.

“What day was she sent away?” The words left his mouth before he could stop them.

Xie Changgeng said in an indifferent tone: “Oh? Are you thinking of intercepting her on the road and taking her away yourself?”

In that moment, having been so precisely read in his heart, Yuan Handing’s mind was thrown into boundless turmoil and crushing heaviness.

If he could do as he wished, he would go after her without a single thought and bring her back.

But he knew he could not do that.

And she would never permit him to do it either.

Just as before, when he had known full well that the capital was a wolves’ den for her, he had been powerless to do anything — only able to watch, helpless, as she left Dongting.

Yuan Handing looked across at the man seated facing him — calm in expression, and also the young mistress’s husband — clenched his jaw, and said, one word at a time: “I would not dare!”

He composed himself, suppressed the turmoil in his heart, and continued: “Given that the Military Governor previously took the young mistress out of the capital, you must have had goodwill toward her. Now to have sent her back, you must have had no choice. The Military Governor’s kindness toward our Kingdom of Changsha remains unchanged, and the Prince, upon learning of it, will carry it in his heart always. With the young mistress in the capital, Changsha has no means to help her — only you, master, can keep her safe. On behalf of the people of Changsha, I offer you my thanks in advance.”

Having said this, he rose from his seat and moved toward Xie Changgeng, preparing to kneel and perform the full prostration.

Xie Changgeng watched the figure before him about to kneel and bow to the ground in gratitude, and said: “General Yuan need not do so. What I said just now was merely a jest. Having brought the young mistress out of the capital, why would I then send her back? She is indeed no longer here — but not because she went to the capital. She has returned to your Kingdom of Changsha.”

Yuan Handing failed for a moment to take it in, paused, and then at last came back to his senses.

Still he could barely believe it.

“Military Governor Xie, is this truly so?”

“Unless I am mistaken, she should have arrived long since. When you return, you will be able to see her for yourself.”

Xie Changgeng said in an indifferent tone.

It was as though his entire being had been lifted at once from the valley floor to the mountain peak.

Yuan Handing was struck by an overwhelming wave of joy, and had no time to think about why the man across from him — having clearly already released her and let her go — had first played that manner of jest with him.

Without a second thought, far from rising to his feet, he immediately bowed his head toward the man in the seat across from him in a deep, full prostration.

“On this journey, Yuan was entrusted by the Prince with the hope of bringing the young mistress home. My gratitude to you for making it possible. Please accept this bow from me, master!”

His eyes shone with a brightness he could not conceal.

In that very instant, facing those shining eyes, for the first time in his life, Xie Changgeng felt with complete and unmistakable clarity, deep in his heart, what it was to be consumed by remorse.

He regretted having sent her back to the Kingdom of Changsha just like that.

He had been enduring her all along. At the time, her attitude had truly enraged him. And what had pushed him to his final breaking point was that, in order to be rid of him, she had not hesitated to take that ferocious and toxic medicinal draught.

She was versed in medicine; even that physician had known the drug’s potency, so she certainly knew as well what the consequences of long-term use would be.

And yet she had done it anyway — solely to avoid any further entanglement with him in the days to come.

He had asked himself whether he had not already treated her well enough — and found no fault in how he had behaved toward her.

It was in that moment that, beneath his anger, his heart had gone cold, and a feeling of revulsion had taken hold.

He had utterly run out of patience.

She was, after all, just a woman — and a woman who was no longer pure, at that. Why should he continue to entangle himself with her?

And so, in that moment, he had dismissed her without the slightest hesitation.

But Xie Changgeng was not a man given to tolerance.

Even if Mu Fulan was nothing particularly special to him, she was his wife.

Even if later, when convenient, he were to cast her off, she had still been a woman he had taken in proper and formal marriage. That would not change.

Whenever he thought of that man — the one who in their youth had won her affection, taken her purity, and brought dishonor upon him — he felt as though a thorn were pressing into his back.

This feeling was like a poisoned spike, buried deep and fixed in his heart.

Now that she had been sent away by him, and he had no intention of seeing her again, yet whenever he thought of it, he felt only a deeper and more restless resentment.

He desperately wanted to know who that man was.

Before, when she had been here, there had been several occasions — after the clouds and rain between them — when he had been on the verge of pressing her for an answer.

But out of considerations of dignity, and knowing she would never tell him, each time he had forced himself to hold back.

He had once suspected that man to be Zhao Xitai, the son of Prince Qi. But after their youthful parting at court, Zhao Xitai and Mu Fulan appeared not to have seen each other again until she re-entered the capital the previous year.

Unless the two had been in secret contact in the intervening time, the possibility did not seem great.

After this suspicion of Zhao Xitai had somewhat diminished, acting on instinct, Xie Changgeng’s thoughts had turned to the young general named Yuan Handing whom he had encountered during his trip to the Kingdom of Changsha.

They had grown up together, close from childhood, having made a private pledge to each other — until the force of circumstance had compelled her to obey her father’s arrangement and become betrothed to him instead.

Today, with just a slight probing, Xie Changgeng felt increasingly certain his suspicion was correct.

This young general from the Kingdom of Changsha claimed to have come bearing a royal mandate, and in front of Xie Changgeng he concealed his intentions toward the royal daughter with the greatest caution. Yet his instinctive, unguarded reactions — how could any of them escape Xie Changgeng’s notice?

His every response went far beyond what was proper for an ordinary envoy or subject.

Xie Changgeng suppressed the rising tide of jealousy and fury within him, giving nothing away in his expression, and rose from his seat, walked to stand before Yuan Handing, and with his own hands helped him up from the ground, saying with a smile: “A small matter. You have come so far, with such loyal devotion — I am genuinely moved. Since you have made this journey, do stay a few more days before leaving.”

Yuan Handing’s sole purpose on this trip had been to escort the young mistress back and convey Mu Xuanqing’s gratitude to Xie Changgeng. He had expected the task to be difficult; he had not thought it would go so smoothly. What was more, the young mistress had already returned on her own. Even if this place were a paradise of immortals, he had no wish to linger. He declined at once.

Xie Changgeng fixed his eyes on him and said: “The beauties here are too common and vulgar to suit General Yuan’s tastes — and far too little to keep you here. Since you have matters to attend to, I will not press you to stay, so as not to delay your important affairs.”

Yuan Handing thought of the beauty from that night and hurried to say: “Please do not jest with me, Military Governor. I am deeply grateful for your generous hospitality and will carry it in my heart always.”

Xie Changgeng laughed it off, summoned the steward, and ordered a farewell banquet to see Yuan Handing off.

Yuan Handing’s heart was already flying back home. As soon as the banquet was over — without even waiting for night to pass — he that very day led his party, bid farewell, and departed Guzang, heading back to the Kingdom of Changsha.

That night, the lights in the study of the Military Governor’s residence burned until the middle of the night, long refusing to go out.

Xie Changgeng sat alone in the study, his gaze resting on the scroll of documents in his hands. For a long while, he had not turned a single page.

His brow deeply furrowed, lost in thought for a long time, he suddenly thought of a certain person.

When he had departed Yue City the previous year, he had left Zhu Liuhu behind in the city.

Nearly half a year had passed. In the intervening time, Zhu Liuhu had sent him only a sparse few letters that said next to nothing, reporting that he had detected nothing unusual in the Kingdom of Changsha.

Xie Changgeng had originally been thinking of calling him back.

He took out a sheet of letter paper, lifted his brush, and wrote a letter. He summoned a man, gave orders for the coded letter to be dispatched.