Yuan Xiu’s message was delivered at noon, and by the afternoon, Shen Biwei had swept in through the doors of the Ye residence.

Just the previous night, she had warned Lingbo to keep her guard up against Dai Yuquan. They had parted on perfectly good terms — and then she had spent one night in the palace, and come out to find the sky had fallen.

She rushed to the Ye household just as Ye Lingbo was seeing her visitor out. She immediately demanded: “Are you out of your mind? I told you to be careful around Dai Yuquan, and you’ve gone and gotten yourself engaged to the man?”

Seeing Shen Biwei was, for Lingbo, entirely different from seeing Qinglan. She turned prickly at once, like a hedgehog, and said: “Did I ask you to make decisions for me?”

Shen Biwei knew her well enough from their long acquaintance to see that her expression was not ordinary. She also caught Xiao Liu’er standing nearby, frantically signaling to her with her eyes, and so did not press her head-on. She said only, “I’ll go speak with Sister Qinglan,” and slipped out of the room. Before long, Xiao Liu’er followed and, in a side room, told her the full story from beginning to end. Shen Biwei listened with eyes wide open in astonishment.

“Ever since our Young Mistress learned the truth about her origins, she changed,” Xiao Liu’er said. “She neither cried nor made a fuss — calm in a way that was frightening. That day in the carriage, when you spoke those words to her, she had already decided to choose General Pei. But then when she came home, all that happened — and she changed her mind. It’s all the fault of those in the main courtyard and their wicked schemes. That five-step viper is the worst of them all, and Master Ye is no better. And now our Young Mistress and General Pei’s match — what is to become of it…”

Shen Biwei now understood everything, and naturally felt her heart ache for Lingbo. When she went back in, the anger had left her. “Something this enormous happened in your household,” she said, “and you didn’t tell me? Where is the signal arrow I gave you?”

Lingbo only said coldly: “What good would telling you do?”

“What do you mean, what good? I’ll go and have my father submit a memorial at once — have him impeach your Master Ye and that Concubine Pan to their deaths. The evidence is still in Sister Qinglan’s hands, after all.” Shen Biwei set her jaw fiercely: “I’ve learned my lesson now — for creatures rotten to the core like them, the only way is to uproot them entirely. Don’t give them any opening, or there’s no knowing what harm they’ll do.”

She too had been badly frightened by that hornet attack. She and Qinglan were cut from the same cloth — however clever they were, both of them had a certain blind spot when it came to the darker depths of human nature. They did not always understand that when wicked people did harm, it wasn’t always to turn their fortunes around — sometimes it was purely out of a desire to drag everything down with them. If they couldn’t have something good, they couldn’t bear to see others have it either.

“That’s enough of that.” Lingbo showed little interest in her methods. “What would be the point of going after them now? Once I’m married, there will be no end of ways to deal with them. They’ll have their day of coming to beg and scrape.”

Shen Biwei looked at her with a complicated expression.

“Is that your reason for wanting to marry? You want to shed the identity of a Ye family daughter as quickly as possible, become Madam Dai, gain power and influence, and use it for revenge?”

Lingbo only toyed idly with the latch on her makeup case.

It was undeniably hasty. She hadn’t actually made any preparations for a trousseau — she had never thought marriage would come this year. She had prepared a great deal for Qinglan instead — and Qinglan’s things would remain Qinglan’s. As for herself, she had her own arrangements.

As Dai Yuquan had said — they were made for each other by heaven. She would now make all her preparations for the sake of his advancement. When things were going well, they would be of one mind as husband and wife, sweeping every obstacle before them. When the years had passed and the affection between them had faded, he would naturally grow weary of her — and having never given her heart, she would naturally feel no heartbreak. And so they would become a pair of perfectly coordinated partners, each keeping to their own courtyard, each living their own life. She would bear a child or two. She would learn from her mother’s example, take care of her health, run the inner household with firm efficiency, and become, in her heart, a still-water Madam Dai.

She would be like Han Yueqi — becoming a young mistress, and nothing more than a young mistress. Perhaps those of similar temperament always end up walking the same road. Just as Shen Biwei and Qinglan — had they known the full picture, neither of them would have supported her choice.

And so Lingbo only smiled and said: “Don’t be foolish — how could I change the course of my own life just for the sake of revenge? That’s merely incidental. I simply want power and influence — and Dai Yuquan is the best possible choice…”

“Then why were you perfectly fine when I left last night, and now, after one trip home, you’re marrying Dai Yuquan?” Shen Biwei was not so easily deceived, and pressed her: “Stop going around in circles with me. Say what you will — at the end of it all, you’re doing this because of what happened with those two in the main courtyard. Go and tell Dai Yuquan clearly — the Huaxin Banquet isn’t even over yet. What business do you have getting engaged now?”

“Rather than saying I was angered into it, let me say I had a sudden moment of clarity,” Lingbo told her calmly. “Last night, they wanted to drive me out. It was Qinglan who protected me — it was my mother who made arrangements for me long ago. But life is long, and the capital is treacherous — the world is full of those who flatter the powerful and trample on the weak. Such things will happen again and again. When one Lu Wanyang falls, another will rise to take her place. Wherever there are people, there is conflict. Better to think ahead than to scramble when the moment comes. Having power and influence to protect myself and my family — that is the most fundamental truth. Qinglan once stayed behind for my sake and Yanyan’s — there’s no reason I cannot do the same.”

Shen Biwei was sharp enough to catch the meaning beneath those words.

“You stayed behind for Qinglan — didn’t you?” she said. She and Lingbo had been close friends for many years and knew each other far too well. She immediately moved to stand before her, pressing her: “You think Qinglan sacrificed herself for you, and so you feel you don’t deserve to pursue your own happiness — that you must, like her, give of yourself for the sake of your sisters. Don’t be foolish.”

Lingbo’s silence only confirmed her suspicion. Shen Biwei, being the kind of person she was, could not endure it, and immediately said: “Then I’m going to tell Qinglan this instant!”

“You dare!” Lingbo snapped at once. “If you say a word, we’re done as friends.”

Shen Biwei stared at her in shock.

“Ye Lingbo, have you lost your mind?” She was the kind of person who responded to soft approaches, not hard ones — and especially not threats. She fired back immediately: “You go and find some Dai Yuquan out of nowhere to marry, I question it a little, and you come at me like this. Fine! I’ll go tell Qinglan this moment — I can’t manage you, so I’ll let her manage you!”

Lingbo knew at once that she had made a misstep, and immediately softened, grabbing hold of her arm: “Stop making a scene — it’s not as though I’ve done anything wrong. What are you going to report, going to tell on me for? Do you think we’re still seven or eight years old, running to the grown-ups over every little thing?”

The word “report” — useless against most people, but with Shen Biwei it was immediately effective. Sure enough, she stopped shouting about going to tell Ye Qinglan, and instead said with great displeasure: “You were the one who started making a scene. You kept all of this from me and Qinglan, did things behind our backs, and now I’m in the wrong for trying to stop you?”

Lingbo let out a quiet sigh.

“I did keep this from you and Qinglan — but not out of fear of your knowing. Just as I’m not marrying Dai Yuquan because the main courtyard tried to interfere — but because I suddenly understood something.” She took Shen Biwei’s hand and had her sit down, then asked: “Weiwei — do you know why you’re always constrained?”

Her eyes were sincere, her voice clear and steady — nothing like someone who had backed herself into a corner. She seemed, rather, to be genuinely reasoning through a question with her. Shen Biwei had no choice but to ask directly: “Why?”

“Because you want everything all at once. You want your freedom, and you want to protect the people you care about — and so you find yourself fettered at every turn. It was your father, the Duke of Yongguo, who led you astray. With his military genius, even he could not have it all. He served with loyalty, and yet could no longer give full play to his talents, and could not even hold on to the dukedom. You see how difficult it is to seek what is perfect on all sides — sometimes one must be absolutely resolute, and cut a path through by force. If you are always thinking of having it both ways, in the end you will end up losing both ways.”

Seeing that Shen Biwei was somewhat moved, she went on: “A person’s life, lived within this world, is sometimes very small — because there is no way to decide one’s fate. Just as Han Yueqi bested Lu Wanyang, and yet who could have foreseen the hornet attack? Just as I thought I had considered everything, and was setting off with such enthusiasm to marry Pei Zhao — and yet how could I have known that I am not truly a Ye family daughter? That the very identity I have today was only possible because of all that my mother and Qinglan bore on my behalf without my knowing. But a person can sometimes be very powerful too — human will can indeed conquer heaven. If you set your heart with ironclad resolve on doing one thing, the whole world will yield a path for you.”

“Just as Qinglan’s one desire was to protect us — she made it her ironclad resolve, and so she achieved it. As for her marriage with Cui Jingyu — she put that in second place, and so at every turn, it gave way and came to nothing. I set my whole heart on mending the red thread, and yet I never knew that she had long since made her choice — which was why I could never mend it no matter how hard I tried. If you have studied the Taoist writings, you will know this too — it is a kind of following the natural course.”

“What I want most is for my family to be safe and happy, for no one to ever be able to harm them. Pei Zhao cannot give me that. Therefore he is not my destined match. And so I go to become Madam Dai — and this too is following the natural course.”

But Shen Biwei was Shen Biwei, and she was not easily persuaded. She and Qinglan were alike — they pursued what was right and true, not what was merely expedient. What they had decided on, they would do though everything shattered around them, regardless of how it ended. Lingbo and Han Yueqi were another kind of person entirely — they pursued outcomes.

And so Shen Biwei still urged her: “But you are no longer in danger. Why must you accept this so-called absolute safety at the cost of your own happiness? Is there truly any such thing as absolute safety in this world? Even if new dangers arise, we can face them together — just as with the hornets, we were not safe because we were prepared, but because we were near the right people. Power and wealth are passing clouds — only the right person will never disappoint you. Does my mother lack for power and wealth? And yet why is she always unhappy?”

By this point, neither of them could quite convince the other.

But in truth, Lingbo had not been trying to convince Shen Biwei.

She always had her own purpose. And those she cared about — hidden among all her many purposes — that was where a thread of her truest feeling lay.

“Perhaps even if I chose Pei Zhao, I would still be unhappy,” she said earnestly, looking at Shen Biwei. “In that case, choosing Dai Yuquan is no worse — and at least power and wealth are a certainty.” She took Shen Biwei’s hands and pressed her sincerely: “We are friends. I have made my choice. I ask you to respect it, and not to tell Qinglan about what happened between me and Pei Zhao. I do not want her to be unhappy on my account because of this engagement. Can you promise me that? I beg you.”

She had known her for so many years — she understood perfectly what would move Shen Biwei, what would lead her, even through the torment of her own principles, to make a promise.

And sure enough, under the weight of her gaze, Shen Biwei relented.

“All right. I promise you.”