◎The Sky Changes◎

The three of them found a pavilion in the back garden at their leisure. After the maidservants brought tea and withdrew with lowered heads, He Yuankai looked around and said with a smile, “Young Master Zhou and his lady truly do come from the capital—even the servants in this household are so well-disciplined.”

Zhou Tan answered with a hint of implication, “Of course there must be discipline. Without it, how would one deal with a servant harboring ill intentions?”

Qu You covered her mouth and laughed. “My husband is joking. People need something to hold over them before they’ll fear being caught with ill intentions. Of course, even acting with a clear conscience doesn’t guarantee one won’t be framed—but I believe a good man like Master He wouldn’t do such a thing.”

Watching the two of them play off each other so well, He Yuankai took a sip of the tea beside him—not the kind commonly drunk in Ruozhou, but finely ground with a subtle, lingering fragrance. “Excellent tea, excellent tea. Since Madam has kept me here today, it’s clear you’re someone Young Master Zhou trusts completely. There are some things I needn’t hold back from saying in front of you.”

Though he said he “needn’t hold back,” he fell silent after this and said nothing more. Qu You glanced at the dusky sky outside the pavilion, understanding that he wanted an explanation, and said, “When you sent that child to carry the grain sacks to our gate, I already grew suspicious. Wu Fang may have acted with impunity all these years, but surely he wouldn’t be so brazen as to go this far. And other rice shops and grain stores, upon receiving such goods, ought to have disposed of the sacks quickly—why would they leave them for me to trace, all the way to the poor of Ruozhou?”

He Yuankai raised an eyebrow, signaling for her to continue.

“But at the time I was only suspicious. It wasn’t until Madam Wu’s former maidservant appeared that I became certain someone within Ruozhou city was helping my husband and me.” Qu You glanced at Zhou Tan. “Her appearance was simply too convenient. If this woman hadn’t died back then, and Wu Fang himself couldn’t find her whereabouts, how could I possibly track her down so easily? So I had someone follow this maidservant for a few days and learned she’d only recently moved into Ruozhou city. My maid sold rouge and hair oil outside her alley for several days before finally coaxing the story out of her—she said someone had rescued her back then and sent her outside the city, and now that she’d been brought back, it was to repay that kindness by telling Madam Wu the whole truth.”

He Yuankai narrowed his eyes. “Madam has quite the skill. I strictly forbade her from leaving the alley where she lived on ordinary days, yet from the very day you found her, you’d already arranged for someone at her doorstep.”

Qu You said with a smile, “Just a little trick.”

Zhou Tan gently swirled the tea in his cup. “You’ve been undercover in the Wu household for quite some time, sir—ever since Wu Fang married Wang Yiran, up until now, that must be over ten years. You earned his trust so completely that he dared to tell you even the secret about his wife’s son. I imagine that took no small effort on your part. What is it you want?”

Some tea spilled from the cup. Zhou Tan asked casually, “How does prefect sound?”

He Yuankai clapped his hands and laughed loudly. “I’m nothing but a commoner—in fact, an actor Wu Fang dug up out of the pleasure houses. Does Young Master Zhou really think I could become prefect?”

“I don’t mind telling you—from the day I set out from the capital for Ruozhou, this city was always destined to become mine, with or without you, with or without the Marquis of Xiangning’s household.” He drained the cup of tea and toyed with the sky-blue rain-glaze porcelain in his hand, saying indifferently, “Once Wu Fang is dead, I alone will remain in Ruozhou city. Naturally, it will be up to me who becomes prefect.”

He Yuankai’s expression changed the instant he heard “Marquis of Xiangning.” He listened, alarmed and uncertain, as Zhou Tan continued, “The Marquis knew Wu Fang loved music, and so arranged for you to be placed in the pleasure houses. You didn’t disappoint his expectations either—you’ve come this far, and the post of prefect is within your grasp. Do you… really think yourself incapable of it?”

He Yuankai stared at his face and repeated, “The Marquis of Xiangning?”

“The day of Madam Wu’s grand banquet, I noticed the iron token at your waist,” Zhou Tan recalled. “A hawk spreading its wings, soaring ten thousand li. For a scholar like you to have earned that iron token from within the military—had you been born ten years earlier, you’d surely have followed General Xiao into battle and become a great Confucian scholar in your own right.”

He Yuankai rose from the stone table, asking with some loss of composure, “How do you know all this?”

Zhou Tan answered calmly, “I have one too.”

He raised his head, and at last a trace of a smile appeared in the depths of his eyes. “Has the Marquis’s test of me been sufficient? On the day Ruozhou changes hands, please take me to pay my respects to him.”

He Yuankai quickly composed his expression and nodded. Before leaving, he asked one more question. “And if… I hadn’t chosen to help you, what would Young Master Zhou have done?”

“Under Wang Juqian’s command, I already have people I placed there years ago,” Zhou Tan replied. “In truth, I never expected the Marquis to send someone to help me. When you return, sir, you may also relay a message to the Marquis for me—Ruozhou is my teacher’s last unresolved concern. Now that I’ve come to the western frontier, I will surely bring about renewal here.”

After a few more pleasantries, He Yuankai rose to take his leave, and the sky had by then grown completely dark. Qu You wandered the garden a couple of times, lost in thought.

A maidservant brought a lantern for the two of them. Zhou Tan took it and asked casually, “What is my wife thinking about?”

Qu You said, “I’m looking for an empty spot in front of my window. This place would really suit planting apricot blossoms.”

Just as Wang Juqian arrived at the main hall of the Wu residence, he heard a sharp sound of something shattering from within.

His sister, who for thirty years had been gentle and sorrowful, was now shouting in a hysterical voice he had never heard from her before: “How could you do this to me?”

The guards stationed at the door wanted to go in and announce him, but a single glare from him froze them where they stood—General Wang’s expression at that moment was simply too terrifying; no one doubted that anyone who dared enter now would be cut down on the spot.

Wu Fang’s voice came from within the room, somewhat flustered but showing no sign of backing down. “Where on earth did you hear such nonsense? I’ve told you already, don’t believe…”

Before he could finish, Wang Yiran cut him off with a shrill cry. “Liuye served me for ten years! If you weren’t guilty, why lie to me and say she’d already died of illness? After Nuo’er died, every maid around me was replaced one by one—I never suspected it before, but now I realize how foolish I was! You and that vile little wretch had been in collusion all along, and you even caused our son’s death—and here I was, grieving and blaming myself, even personally arranging for her to become your bedchamber concubine! I spit on you… if I didn’t have witnesses and evidence in hand, I would never have imagined such a thing…”

A vein pulsed at Wang Juqian’s temple. Steeling himself, he listened at the door to a few more unbearable exchanges, and eventually Wu Fang actually admitted to everything, right to her face. “A woman’s whole life is fulfilled just by supporting her husband and raising children—your husband has his own plans, what’s the point of you making such a fuss? Careful, or I’ll find some excuse to say you’ve gone mad and lock you in the woodshed. Your brother may dote on you, but the interests he’s built up in Ruozhou over the years run deep in his bones—do you really think he’d throw away his own wealth and status for your sake?”

Then came the sound of a slap from within the room, followed by Wang Yiran’s pained cry.

Wu Fang had actually struck her!

Wang Juqian thought numbly—so this was the good match he’d found for his sister, the man he’d devoted himself to helping.

He could bear to listen no longer. He kicked the door open. Wu Fang froze, as though he’d seen a ghost, his voice stammering. “Bro—brother-in-law…”

Wang Yiran threw herself down at Wang Juqian’s feet from the side, weeping in heart-wrenching sobs. Though both siblings were already approaching middle age, Wang Juqian, without a moment’s hesitation, bent down and lifted his sister up, just as he had done long ago when the two of them had relied on each other after their parents’ deaths. “Sister, don’t cry anymore. Brother’s taking you home.”

Without another word, he turned and walked out. Wu Fang stumbled after him. “Brother-in-law, let me explain…”

Wang Juqian turned back and gave him a cold, single glance.

That glance was like a blade of frost, and Wu Fang shuddered violently. Wang Juqian kicked aside the shattered teacup the two of them had broken earlier and strode out of the residence. No one in the Wu household dared stop him, and within moments, the two of them had vanished from Wu Fang’s sight.

Wu Fang, terrified, nearly stumbled at the doorframe. Just then, He Yuankai came hurrying in through the front gate. Wu Fang, as though grasping at a lifeline, immediately seized the hand of this aide who had served him loyally for over a decade, ever since he’d rescued him from the theater troupe. “Little He, Little He, Wang Yiran already knows what happened back then. As for Wang Juqian… I’m afraid there’s no hiding it from him anymore.”

He Yuankai looked slightly surprised and quickly asked, “What does my lord intend to do?”

“Ha, does Wang Juqian really think that I, the prefect of this city, would simply let him push me around?” Wu Fang, holding onto his arm, climbed up from the ground, clearly at a loss but forcing himself to appear calm, repeating over and over, “Back then… I already guessed a day like this might come, so of course I kept a contingency in place. If he’s smart, it’s just one woman—is she really worth throwing away years of wealth and glory?”

“Besides, even if he wanted to show his loyalty to this newly arrived Zhou Tan, we’ve worked together for years—would that man really trust him? Besides, he’s useless on his own anyway. It’s fine, it’s fine.”

His words came out disjointed, as though he were trying to comfort himself.

He Yuankai listened quietly with lowered eyes. Wu Fang suddenly shook his shoulders, a flash of viciousness crossing his eyes. “I keep death soldiers in my household too. Wang Juqian is in the city right now, with only a handful of household guards at his residence—how could they possibly withstand men I’ve handpicked and trained for years from the military? Besides, with Wang Yiran there, he’s bound to be exhausted and off his guard. If we miss today, and he has time to reconsider, we won’t get another chance!”

He Yuankai immediately understood his meaning. “Then I’ll go gather all the death soldiers right away and have them lie in ambush around the General’s residence. We’ll wait for the chance to poison them, and once night falls, leave no one alive. It’ll be so sudden that Wang Juqian won’t have a chance to prepare. If we succeed, Ruozhou will still be ours. And even if we fail, he’ll never know who did it.”

Wu Fang nodded repeatedly. “Go, go! Bring everyone, fifty-odd men, surely enough to succeed! If all else fails, just set a fire—the garrison troops are stationed outside the city gates and can’t arrive in time. Go and watch, and the moment you’re certain he’s decided to defect to someone else, act immediately!”

He Yuankai bowed respectfully. “Yes.”

Overcome with fear and panic, Wu Fang didn’t dare leave the house after He Yuankai took his men and left. He kept a dozen or so guards stationed tightly around the residence gate and hid himself in the main room, not daring to come out even when told that a few old acquaintances had come to call. He wouldn’t let them in.

By now he had no energy left to deal with anything else. Besides, these visitors always used to come during the day—why would they suddenly all come calling at night?

Something so out of the ordinary had to be a bad omen. Better not to see anyone.

He didn’t sleep all night. Just as the eastern sky began to turn pale with dawn, Wu Fang’s heart started pounding with dread. He opened the window and stared fixedly at the gate, hoping desperately that He Yuankai would return with his men and put his mind at ease.

But no matter how long he waited, no one came back.

Instead, it was the steward guarding the gate who came running up first, gasping for breath. “My lord, my lord… that Zhou…”

The moment he heard the word “Zhou,” Wu Fang suddenly recalled that everyone had gone to Zhou Tan’s banquet the day before, Wang Juqian included. Could this sudden turn of events have something to do with him?

Before he could think it through, the steward continued, “My lord, something terrible has happened. That Young Master Zhou took up his new post today, and he’s actually put up a notice at the city gate calling for displaced refugees whose household registration had been withheld, unable to settle down, to come forward with their documents and register properly.”

Wu Fang’s mind went blank with a roaring sound, and he could only mutter, “What did you say? He… he’s got some nerve! Who would dare believe such talk?”

The steward said urgently, “At first, of course, no one dared believe it, and no one came forward. But then that Master He… Master He brought several women from our own household to the prefecture gate first, and they immediately received their stamped registration papers… The angry mobs suspected it was all an act, and so he simply led people to storm the gates directly!”

Wu Fang felt a strange sense of absurdity wash over him.

Just yesterday, Zhou Tan had still been, in his mind, a timid, soft lamb easily manipulated—how, in a single night, had he suddenly gained the nerve to act so boldly? Who had given him such authority, who had given him troops?

But he had no time to think further. The elite guards of the Wu residence had all been sent out the day before, and a squad of soldiers easily broke through the gate, bound him hand and foot, and dragged him all the way to the prefecture gate.

The Ruozhou prefecture office was built atop a stretch of abandoned city wall. Just as he was dragged before the gate, he raised his head and saw Zhou Tan and Wang Juqian standing together atop the wall, looking down at him from above, their gazes cold and severe, sending a chill through him.

Zhou Tan turned his head slightly toward Wang Juqian and nodded. “General Wang has quite the resolve, capturing him so quickly.”

Wang Juqian answered with some shame. “I served as an accomplice to a tyrant for years without knowing it. I’m grateful Young Master Zhou still gave me a chance. Yesterday my sister wept and told me everything, and only then did I realize what a mistake I’d made! Better late than never to mend the fold after the sheep has strayed.”

The two of them had Wu Fang hung down from the city wall, and a full sheet of white paper was set up at the prefecture gate. He Yuankai stood before it, writing out Wu Fang’s crimes for the public to see.

The refugees, who had been watching cautiously until now, had been fearful, suspecting this was another of Wang Juqian’s schemes. But seeing the man himself hung half-dead before the city gate, they belatedly realized that the sky over Ruozhou had truly changed.

The crowd’s emotions ran high, and He Yuankai’s sheet of paper was soon covered edge to edge, filled by noon. Wu Fang, still cursing loudly in midair, eventually lost his strength after being pelted with vegetable leaves and rotten eggs. Fortunately, Zhou Tan had hung him quite high—had he been lower, the enraged crowd surely would have trampled him to death outright.

By the time the sun set in the west and the crowds finally dispersed, a blood-red sun sank slowly below the horizon, leaving behind an indescribable desolation.

Wu Fang suddenly felt the rope holding him loosen by a few inches. Those above seemed unwilling to let him fall to his death outright, and lowered him slowly and gently until he lay on the ground before the gate.

He struggled a few times but had no strength left, crawling a few steps along the ground like a dog, croaking hoarsely, “How dare… how dare you, all you generals of Ruozhou—whoever kills Zhou and Wang, I’ll reward with a hundred taels of gold and promotion in rank…”

Ruozhou’s curfew began early, and after dusk the streets were nearly empty. Wu Fang, straining to lift his eyelids, suddenly saw two women approaching slowly from the far end of the street before him. He stared in disbelief, taking a long moment to make out who they were.

One was Zhou Tan’s wife, whom he’d seen at the banquet before—no matter the circumstance, she always carried that gentle, elegant air of a capital woman about her, only now the look she gave him was no different from the look one gives a dog. And the other one…

Wang Yiran, of frailer build than her brother, rarely wore armor or carried weapons, but now she was dressed in plain military garb, her hair simply tied up in a knot, holding a long, freshly sharpened blade in her hand.

The clear moon rose higher, casting its cold light across the blade.

Wu Fang instinctively called out, “Yi… Yiran…”