“My lord treats me with such tender care — how could I not appreciate it?”

Hua Chun had originally prepared several different approaches to try to persuade her, to win her agreement to help — but she hadn’t expected the girl to be so understanding, agreeing so readily, and even giving her an easy way out of the conversation.

This left her feeling rather embarrassed instead. “I’ll treat you well. Once you find someone else you like, I’ll find a way to let the two of you be together — I’ll make sure you both live a good life.”

“Thank you, my lord.” Qing Niao smiled. “We can talk about that when the time comes. For now, just tell me whatever my lord wishes to do, and I’ll cooperate fully.”

“Good.” Hua Chun nodded, instructed the servants nearby to take good care of her, then went to share the good news with Madam Wan.

“She agreed?” Madam Wan frowned. “So readily?”

“Yes.” Hua Chun said. “That makes things easy, then. Since I’ll have some free time coming up, Mother, please go ahead and prepare the wedding.”

Frowning with some worry, Wan Liufang said, “Child, have you considered — this girl was sent by the Marquis Gongyu. Doesn’t it seem suspicious that she agreed so readily? Could there be some scheme behind it?”

“I have considered it.” Hua Chun nodded. “But your son has decided to trust her, this once.”

“Why?” Madam Wan didn’t understand. “You’ve barely known her any time at all — people’s hearts are hard to see through.”

That much was true, and applied everywhere. Someone who seemed kind on the surface might well be scheming against you behind your back.

She understood the principle well enough, but Hua Chun was willing to trust Qing Niao this once — whether it was because she reminded her of Qin Niao, or because she was simply so gentle, it didn’t much matter. Right now, trusting her was the only option left anyway.

“Your son won’t let her grow suspicious. We’ll just think of it as one more mouth to feed in the household.”

Madam Wan was deeply worried, all the usual spirit she had when scolding people with her hands on her hips gone from her eyes, and she could only let out a long sigh. “Very well, then.”

For the eldest young master to marry was no small matter in the Hua residence. Madam Wan discussed it with Master Hua for a while; Master Hua didn’t object, but he wasn’t particularly pleased with Qing Niao either — after all, she came from the pleasure quarters, and even if she’d been sent by the Marquis Gongyu, that didn’t make it a fitting match.

Meanwhile, the other concubines in the household made even more of a fuss over it. The moment Concubine Ren heard the news, she gathered melon seeds and went off to the garden with the others to gossip.

“And here I thought, after turning down both the Tang and Li families’ proposals, the eldest young master surely meant to marry someone even better. Who would have thought he’d bring home a prostitute instead — isn’t that a slap in the face to both the Tang and Li families?”

“Isn’t it just. And to think the Madam once swore up and down that the eldest young master would rather stay unmarried than settle for less. Who’d have thought that after waiting so long, he’d still end up choosing… tsk tsk.”

Having been holding in her frustration for days, Concubine Ren finally felt some satisfaction today, rolling her eyes with great flourish, laughing heartily. “Now, now, don’t say that. Our Madam is generous — I’m sure she’ll treat this daughter-in-law the eldest young master chose for himself quite well. It’s just that, well, the Prime Minister’s principal wife coming from the pleasure quarters — who knows how people at court will mock it.”

She was practically hoping Hua Jinghua would be too ashamed to show his face in front of others — that would settle the grudge in her heart nicely!

Just as she was gloating, she saw a young servant boy from over by Master Hua’s quarters walking over from the other end of the garden.

The concubines exchanged glances and fell silent.

“Madam Ren.” The servant boy came over and bowed. “Word has come from the palace — you’re asked to come to the front hall to hear it.”

From the palace? Concubine Ren’s eyes lit up.

Ever since Liuying had been demoted, she hadn’t received any word from the palace. This time, there was finally something — perhaps some good news.

Clapping her hands, Concubine Ren immediately lifted her skirts and hurried toward the front hall, running into Madam Wan halfway there, who was also heading that way.

“Well now.” Concubine Ren, in good spirits, gave a bow the moment she saw her. “What brings the Madam to the front hall too? Not busy with the eldest young master’s wedding preparations?”

Madam Wan glanced sideways at her. “The Emperor has sent down a reward. Jinghua is out on business, so naturally it falls to me, as his mother, to see to it.”

A reward? Concubine Ren was startled, thinking to herself that any reward from the palace really ought to go to her — how could it possibly be for Madam Wan? Surely there’d been some mistake?

Unconvinced, she followed along behind without saying anything more, but watching Madam Wan’s smug expression only made her more irritated. She kept thinking to herself that if the reward really was for her, she’d be sure to humiliate Madam Wan thoroughly.

However, that thought was destined never to come true.

The eunuch from the palace had brought two pieces of news.

“In congratulation of the Prime Minister’s wedding, His Majesty specially decrees a reward for Prime Minister Hua: thirty bolts of palace silk, one hundred taels of gold, ten pairs of gilded kingfisher-feather plum blossom hairpins, a pair of white jade ruyi scepters, one palace Buddha statue, and two sets of gold filigree peony headpieces — in recognition of the Prime Minister’s loyal devotion to the throne.”

Madam Wan’s face lit up with delight, and she quickly knelt to give thanks. Concubine Ren knelt behind her as well, secretly eyeing the rosewood chests the eunuchs were carrying in.

After all that listing, it amounted to ten loads of silk and two rosewood chests — nothing more. Which was to say, none of it was for her.

How could this be?

“There is also another matter.” Seeing that the Prime Minister wasn’t at the residence, the eunuch addressed Master Hua instead. “Yesterday, it seems Huo Consort angered His Majesty once again. This morning there was a reshuffling of consort ranks in the palace — Huo Consort has been demoted to Huo Pin.”

Master Hua’s face went pale, and Concubine Ren was even more stunned, staring blankly up at the eunuch. “What did you say?”

The eunuch glanced back at her, ignoring her, and pulled Master Hua aside to murmur quietly, “Your servant has often received the Prime Minister’s kindness in the past, so I’ve come today to give a word of advice. It looks like Huo Pin won’t easily regain favor now — if the household still has a daughter of marriageable age, it might be worth sending her into the palace.”

Hua Zhengrong fell silent for a moment, slipped the eunuch some silver, thanked him repeatedly, and personally saw the palace attendants out himself.

“This… how could this happen?!” Concubine Ren was still kneeling on the ground, staring blankly at the two rosewood chests. “Liuying has always been sensible and well-behaved from a young age — how could she keep angering the Emperor? She was just demoted from Noble Consort, and now straight down to Pin? Not even the sun sets that fast!”

Madam Wan, in an excellent mood, hummed a little tune, entirely ignoring her, admiring the jewelry the Emperor had bestowed with great delight. She said to Master Hua, who had just returned, “Come look, dear — things from the palace really are exquisitely made!”

Master Hua, feeling a mix of joy and worry, glanced at the items and nodded. “Keep them safe for Hua’er. When he comes back, tell him to come to my study.”

“Yes.” Madam Wan agreed, raised an eyebrow at the maid beside her to have the chests carried off, glanced at Concubine Ren still kneeling there muttering endlessly, had someone carry her around in a circle three times right past her, gave a gloating little “oh my,” and then sashayed off in high spirits.

Concubine Ren ground her teeth in fury, then turned to pout at Hua Zhengrong. “My lord, did you see that?”

Hua Zhengrong’s expression turned very stern as he stared at her. “What is there to see? It’s only thanks to her that Jinghua was born — otherwise, with Liuying offending the Emperor day after day like this, the entire Hua family would have been implicated long ago!”

Her heart lurched, and Concubine Ren knelt there obediently, not daring to say another word.

Things had been going badly for her lately — ever since Hua Jinghua had been reprimanded, she and Liuying had suffered one setback after another. Had they offended some malevolent spirit? Should she go burn some incense?

She suddenly felt rather hopeless. Before, when Liuying had still been Noble Consort, she could at least feel some pride — but now she was merely a Pin, and one demoted by the Emperor himself at that. She’d likely be neglected for a good long while, and had no standing left to compete with Madam Wan.

She needed to find another way forward.

Hua Chun had left the residence to go see He Chang’an.

After all, he had, in a sense, played matchmaker for her and Qing Niao — by rights, to get married she ought to treat him to a cup of matchmaker’s wine. So, with no memorials to attend to, Hua Chun took the opportunity to pay a visit to the Marquis’s residence.

“Jinghua.” Seeing her arrive, He Chang’an was naturally pleased — though the events of this morning’s court had already spread far and wide, and he couldn’t help but feel some concern. “Are you all right?”

Hua Chun looked utterly baffled. “What could possibly be wrong with me? Only happy news — I came specially to ask Second Brother to get ready to drink a celebratory cup.”

“Hm?” He Chang’an raised an eyebrow. “Who are you marrying?”

“The very girl Second Brother gave me — Qing Niao.” Hua Chun looked at him with a smile. “Don’t you remember?”

He Chang’an: “……”

He remembered well enough — but Qing Niao was merely a woman from the pleasure quarters. How could she possibly be fit to be principal wife?

“What is it?” Hua Chun took the tea handed to her by a maid nearby and looked at him. “Does Second Brother think something’s not quite right?”

“This marriage of yours is coming together awfully fast.” After a long pause, He Chang’an said. “You could certainly afford to take your time and think it through properly.”

Hua Chun shook her head, slapping her thigh. “Second Brother, you have no idea — even getting married at all has been terribly difficult for me. The Emperor won’t even grant me leave! If it weren’t for thinking I’d have some free time coming up soon, I wouldn’t be rushing to marry so quickly either.”

It was practically a limited-time flash sale — miss this window, and who knew when the next chance for free time would come.

Stunned for a moment, He Chang’an raised an eyebrow. “The Emperor won’t even grant you leave to get married?”

“That’s right.” Hua Chun said, sounding wronged. “After working so diligently and dutifully all these years — I won’t even mention overtime pay, but not even the smallest bit of consideration?”

That was strange indeed — He Chang’an recalled there being a rule at court that important ministers were entitled to three days’ leave upon marriage. Yuwen Jie was bullying him again, wasn’t he?

“I really must go into the palace and have a word with the Emperor about this.” he said. “It’s precisely because he’s always so harsh on you that those officials dared to bully you like that today.”

Bringing this up still left Hua Chun feeling a bit gloomy. She shrugged. “Let them be happy, I suppose. From now on, whatever memorials there are, they can just send them up themselves — it’ll save me the trouble.”

“Don’t think of it that way.” He Chang’an said. “The Emperor still needs you a great deal — it’s only that his temper is difficult, and he won’t back down. But his attitude shapes how most of the court officials behave too, so it seems you’ll just have to bear with it a while longer.”

“Ah, well.” Hua Chun shook her head. “It’s fine — I’ll keep serving His Majesty loyally regardless.”

Though he was unreasonable, thankless, and impossible to deal with, what could she do? He was the Emperor, after all.

Watching the man before him wearing such a woebegone expression, He Chang’an found it rather endearing, and couldn’t help having a servant bring out some freshly made pastries from the residence to comfort him. “Try some of this.”

“Thank you, Second Brother.” Hua Chun looked at the plate of glutinous rice dumplings, licked her lips, and immediately picked one up and popped it into her mouth.