Lingbo and Qinglan, however, waited at the Princess’s residence until after dark.

At last, the Grand Princess’s ceremonial carriage returned to the residence — she had evidently already made arrangements with the palace. Female Official Su went to receive Her Highness, and Qinglan brought Lingbo along. The Grand Princess, upon seeing them, looked somewhat surprised. “Qinglan is still here?”

“Presumably the eldest Miss Ye wished to assist Your Highness in handling the group of wives outside,” Female Official Qin said.

Her intention was to mock Qinglan, but the Grand Princess said unexpectedly, “That is fine. Jingrong, go and have them brought in.”

Although Lingbo still harbored resentment over the way those Northern Vanguard Army wives had treated Qinglan before, seeing their present state, she could not help but feel a pang of pity. Snow, and a full day of kneeling — how was that any different from being plunged into an icy pit? Every last one of them was nearly frozen stiff, and several had already lost consciousness. The Princess’s household staff, obedient to a fault, helped them all inside, where they knelt in a heap, sprawled across the carpet this way and that.

Yet they were truly united. More than thirty of them, kneeling together, frozen and disheveled, still leaning against one another — tending to those who had fainted, rubbing their hands, supporting their heads to feed them hot tea. The sight was both a testament to solidarity and deeply pitiful.

It was Madam Wei Shanhu who had the constitution to still manage a response. “This subject-wife Wei Shanhu, together with thirty-one wives of Yangling City, kowtows before Her Highness the Grand Princess. Long may Her Highness flourish. We beseech Her Highness to uphold justice for us.”

The Grand Princess, naturally, did not acknowledge this directly. She sat high upon her seat, unhurriedly drinking tea, while Female Official Qin stepped forward to rebuke them: “Even filing a complaint requires a proper written petition.”

“We have one.” Wei Shanhu immediately produced a rolled document from inside her garments and raised it above her head. Female Official Qin’s eyes shifted slightly; a palace maid came forward to receive it, presented it to her, and she unrolled it for the Grand Princess to examine.

As she read, Female Official Qin gave a cold laugh. Qinglan had already sensed she had been trained in legal matters, with a disposition that seemed very much the product of Legalist schooling. True to form, Qin picked apart the petition: “What logic is this — the generals in the army are all officials of the court, and taking concubines is entirely within the bounds of law. Your claim of unauthorized concubinage falls apart at the start. If unauthorized concubinage cannot stand, then neither can the matter of Chen Yaoqing and his wife privately sending a concubine. And if it is a matter of a gifted concubine, then the charge of consorting with courtesans collapses as well. Three wives and four concubines are a common matter among the capital’s officials. One cannot ask for the punishment of serving court officials simply to appease the jealousy of their principal wives, can one?”

Those who understood statecraft knew that the assertion of authority was a standard opening — court proceedings had their intimidation rods, after all, and the first act upon entering was to deliver thirty strokes to cut down arrogance. Moreover, the very fact that the women had been brought inside from the courtyard to give their account already signaled willingness to hear the case. Otherwise, why not dismiss them in the courtyard, as had been done when they blocked the imperial palanquin earlier and raised their petition — to which the Grand Princess had not sent anyone to receive it?

But Wei Shanhu evidently did not understand this.

She assumed Female Official Qin was simply rejecting them on the Grand Princess’s behalf, and did not think to ask herself: if the intention were rejection, why bother bringing them inside first? Worn down by a full day of kneeling, her righteous anger boiling over, she cried out, “Does the Grand Princess’s word at that banquet mean nothing? ‘The wife of one’s humble beginnings shall not be put aside’ — ‘the Flower Viewing Banquet shall not be a den of filth and corruption’ — were those words only said to deceive us?”

Female Official Qin’s response was simple.

“Strike her mouth.”

At once, a capable senior maidservant came forward and dragged Wei Shanhu out. The other wives surged forward to protect her, but Wei Shanhu, to her credit, still had enough presence of mind to cry out, “None of you are to resist.” Her authority held; the other wives could only endure in tearful silence, watching as the maidservant raised the paddle — and then a voice sighed from behind the screen.

“Madam Luo’s offence against Her Highness truly warrants punishment. But if impertinence of speech merits a beating, then the Chen family’s contempt for the rules Her Highness established for the Flower Viewing Banquet — their scheming to have Northern Vanguard officers cast aside the wives of their humble beginnings, destabilizing the army’s morale and corrupting the spirit of the Flower Viewing Banquet — how does Female Official Qin intend to punish that?”

The speaker was Ye Qinglan. As she spoke, she stepped out from behind the screen, still lightly powdered, modestly dressed, luminous as the moon.

But the positions today — hers and theirs — were a precise mirror image of how things had stood that day at Madam Wei’s banquet, when the wives had surrounded her with mockery and contempt. Even the dullest of the women understood that she was speaking on Wei Shanhu’s behalf, and on behalf of all the wives of Yangling City.

Positions reversed. Repaying unkindness with grace. This was what that looked like.

The wives’ hearts flooded with a turmoil of feeling no single word could name. Those with thinner skin had already gone crimson, eyes brimming with hot tears, unable to bring themselves to look at her. Even Wei Shanhu, direct and unyielding as she was, flushed red and met her eyes with a gaze full of guilt.

Ye Qinglan was not surprised by any of this.

The Emperor was cold and detached; the Grand Princess was not. Female Official Su had felt aggrieved on Qinglan’s behalf, because twice she had remonstrated and twice she had received no reward. But the Grand Princess had kept her here to witness the handling of the Yangling City wives — and had chosen the most implacable of her officials, Female Official Qin, to preside — precisely so that Ye Qinglan would speak up in the wives’ defense.

She wanted the Yangling City wives to feel indebted to Qinglan.

What reward could compare to this?

This was the nature of a true master of statecraft: every move made openly, by design. Every person in the room could see their own role clearly, yet none could refuse it — all they could do was follow where her arrangement led.

Just as now, even Female Official Qin could only say coldly, “Chen Yaoqing’s side will be dealt with in due course.”

“The Chen family was the first to disregard the rules, and Madam Luo’s verbal offense came afterward. If Chen Yaoqing is to be dealt with later, then Madam Luo’s punishment may likewise be held in abeyance — to be administered after Female Official Qin has dealt with Chen Yaoqing. There is no urgency, is there?” Ye Qinglan said, unhurried.

The wives were astonished. Only Wei Shanhu was not. Even when a single glance from Female Official Qin made the maidservants lower their hands, she showed no surprise — only a burning warmth in her eyes.

Ye Qinglan had been the model of a young lady from a capital family — Wei Shanhu had always known this. She had always known that Ye Qinglan could hold her own in argument against the palace’s female officials and even prevail. Ye Qinglan had a gift with words like no one else. Watching her challenge Female Official Qin without violating a single propriety, Wei Shanhu finally understood why her own outburst had earned a beating: however deep one’s grievance, one could not aim it directly at the Grand Princess. Just as Ye Qinglan, with every word of rebuttal, addressed herself only to Female Official Qin.

Otherwise she would never have looked up to Ye Qinglan the way she had once worshipped the most formidable of elder sisters.

Cui Jingyu’s heart must be just as turbulent, Wei Shanhu thought. After Ye Qinglan broke off the engagement, Cui Jingyu had gone to the battlefield. Wei Shanhu had seen him when she went to see Luo Yong off — in under half a month, he had lost an entire circle of weight. The once magnificent, untamed General Cui, who had ridden so dashingly in his fine clothes, had changed in the eyes within half a month. Wei Shanhu had been escorting the winter garments the wives had prepared, and during the handover she had wanted to say something to him — but could not find the words.

At Madam Wei’s banquet, had she truly believed Ye Qinglan to be as contemptible as she’d acted? Not genuinely. She had been angry. She had always known that Ye Qinglan was still Ye Qinglan — still everything she had always been — and only that Ye Qinglan no longer belonged to them.

Or rather: Ye Qinglan had released them.

A flame raged in Wei Shanhu’s chest — guilt and wounded pride burning together, the fire almost scorching through her ribcage, making her eyes hot.

“There is no need for Miss Ye to speak on my behalf.” Her voice came out stiff. “I am ignorant of capital protocol, and I have been disrespectful to Her Highness and to Female Official Qin. I will accept whatever punishment is given. But I beg Her Highness to uphold justice for us, the wives of Yangling City — I, Wei Shanhu, would die without regret.”

Having said this, she pulled free from the maidservant’s hands and pressed her forehead to the ground in a deep bow, hard enough that it broke the skin and drew blood. This was the fierce spirit carried in the bones of army wives.

Qinglan looked calmly toward the Grand Princess and found her expression unchanged, but beside her, Female Official Su’s face was shaken, her eyes pained.

Long ago, when her mother was still alive, and Master Ye had still been an affectionate and respectable father — after attending an imperial banquet as a young man in his prime, flushed with wine and in good spirits, he had come home and shared his understanding with his daughters. He spoke of the Emperor’s way: a true ruler shows no emotion. So how does an official read the ruler’s heart? Look at those close to the ruler. A good ruler always keeps certain people nearby. Do not believe that the ruler is deceived by them — those who become inner attendants do so with the ruler’s permission. Whether loyal official or favored flatterer, each one is a reflection of the ruler. Together, they compose the ruler’s full image.

And so it was with the Grand Princess, who had many faces. Female Official Qin’s sharp severity was one of them. But Female Official Su’s upright compassion was another.

How different was Wei Shanhu’s position from that of Marquis Wei? She possessed full martial skill — she could easily break free from the maidservants’ hold — yet she submitted willingly to the punishment, kneeling with her forehead to the floor, accepting the threat of the paddle, all in order to appeal to the Grand Princess for fairness. This was the loyalty carved into every bone of the Wei family, and it threw Chen family’s scheming into all the sharper relief.

Even a ruler with a heart of iron would have been moved by this.

But Female Official Qin had long since become accustomed to playing the blade.

“You ask Her Highness to uphold justice — yet when has the Chen family ever wronged your justice? Her Highness spoke of not casting aside the wives of humble beginnings — but the Chen family has never sought to take any of your places as principal wives. They have merely sent a concubine. Such things happen all the time in the capital. According to the laws of the Great Zhou, it is not unlawful for an official to take a concubine. Among the capital’s noble families, having three wives and four concubines is perfectly common. You who aspire to the title of Lady of Noble Rank must accept as much. You were all present at the Spring Welcoming Banquet. Does Her Highness need to establish a special provision just for you, forbidding Northern Vanguard officers from taking any concubines at all?”

The words were sharp, cutting, and yet every one of them was legally sound. The wives sat stunned and silenced, the cold radiating through to their very bones. Even Wei Shanhu was momentarily at a loss for words.

It was clear that when one was inside the situation, one could not see it clearly. Qinglan sighed quietly, and in a calm voice, answered on their behalf.

“What Female Official Qin says of the law is certainly not wrong. But beyond the law, there is also human feeling.” She quietly put words to the wives’ grievances: “The taking of a concubine has always required the principal wife’s consent. To take a concubine without it is tantamount to slapping the principal wife across the face — a person of dignity may be killed but not humiliated. Three wives and four concubines may well be the common custom among the capital’s noble families. But these wives followed their husbands into the frontier at the risk of their lives, having shared life and death together for four years. What they sought was not wealth and prestige. And wealth and prestige should not be offered in return for what they gave.”

The words struck everyone in the room like a bell.

In argument, as in battle, one must find a breach. Qinglan had opened one, and Wei Shanhu seized the opportunity at once, stepping forward in tears to address the Princess: “Your Highness, as Elder Sister Ye has said — when we married them, we did not seek the glory of high rank and honor. We were willing to live and die by their side, so long as we could share even a portion of their burden. The Northern Vanguard fought on the front lines; we held the rear. The winter cotton garments, the summer medicines against the heat — the whole of Yangling City was the bedrock of the Northern Vanguard. We are a city of soldiers and civilians both. When we worked three days without sleep to rush the winter garments, why did none of them say they wanted concubines? When they were trapped at the Quicksand Shoals and we climbed over snowfields to deliver grain, none of them spoke of concubines then either. What they said then was: one heart, one devotion, faithful for a lifetime. If they want concubines — they should have said so before we agreed to marry them. Concubine or no concubine, we are wives either way — why didn’t we simply stay in the capital and marry into some noble household, sparing ourselves four years of hardship, burning alive in snowfields, our skin stripped away layer by layer? If this is not betrayal, then what is?”

As she grew more impassioned, she rose to her feet, pulling two of the wives along with her and presenting them before the Grand Princess. “Elder Sister Wu, Elder Sister Li — show Her Highness your hands.”

The two wives she drew forward knelt before the Grand Princess and extended their hands, their knuckles misshapen and deformed. Wei Shanhu spoke through her tears, addressing the Grand Princess: “These deformities are from climbing the snowfields to deliver grain. Their hands were frostbitten, and now, whenever there is wind or rain, the pain cuts to the bone. Back then, when the Northern Rong forces attacked and we fled into the mountains, Elder Sister Wu lost her child. And there is Elder Sister Li’s leg, and Sister Song’s eye…”

What Qinglan had offered in counsel and precept was not unlike a display of loyalty before the throne; what Wei Shanhu was doing now was no different from a meritorious general baring his scars and accounting his service before a hall of honor.

Even Female Official Qin, cold-hearted and composed as she was, still came from the sheltered upbringing of a noble family — she had never in her life seen injuries this severe on women who were, themselves, ladies of rank. Though she kept her expression impassive, shock was unavoidable. The young palace maids were visibly affected, watching the wives with expressions full of grief. Female Official Su looked positively indignant, straining to hold herself back as her eyes sought the Grand Princess.

The only person unmoved was Senior Maidservant Song, who stood beside the Grand Princess pouring tea. She was a person who had come up through the palace — she had weathered countless storms, and the older she grew, the sharper she was. Not a flicker crossed her face. Instead, she smiled and gently said: “Madam Luo’s words are rather extreme. The Emperor is well aware of the suffering the ladies have endured in the frontier — otherwise he would not have granted each of them a title of nobility. As they say: a woman’s honor rises with her husband’s; she who marries a rooster follows the rooster, she who marries a dog follows the dog. It is a common saying among the people, but it holds a measure of truth. The ladies chose their husbands of their own free will. Did you not all win your gamble? To say something that may sound unpleasant — had the ladies stayed in the capital and married here, they might not have done nearly this well.”

Her words naturally threw the wives into an uproar. Wei Shanhu was already furious enough to feel her lungs would burst. She was just about to retort when Senior Maidservant Song smiled again and added: “Ladies, please don’t be angry just yet — spare a thought for Her Highness’s position. Your indignation is real, and you’ve come here to bring complaint against your own husbands and to ask Her Highness to deal with the Chen family. But once the accusation is made, once the punishment is given, then what? Husband and wife are bound to reconcile in the end. Her Highness punishes them — and you go home and carry on living, while the Chen family will certainly have things to say about it.”

“We are not people of such spinelessness!” Wei Shanhu declared at once.

Senior Maidservant Song laughed.

“That is a young person’s talk, Madam Luo.” She said, unhurried. “Don’t take offense at an old woman’s rambling — your anger is understandable, I do see it. Even the operas sing of Qin Xianglian. But was the traitor Chen Shimei truly put to death in the end? If you truly vent your frustration and petition for separation — are you not only handing an advantage to outsiders? Female Official Qin said it well: to be a lady of noble rank, one must accept certain things. You must learn to let it go. A concubine or a chambermaid — they are nothing more than playthings. You are ladies of noble rank who cannot be shaken. You must cultivate the bearing of a true mistress of the house. You’ve all met the young Madam Shen — now that is true wisdom…”

Wei Shanhu felt her heart flare with barely restrained fury, her hands clenching tighter and tighter. But she was still the responsible one, so even with fire blazing in her eyes, she only looked out across the other wives.

And it was the one who had been silent all along — Wu Jingxian — who raised her head and met Wei Shanhu’s gaze.

She was the oldest among the wives, her face weathered with hardship, looking to be somewhere in her thirties, her appearance unremarkable. Senior Maidservant Song had already understood something when she heard the mention of the lost child. Women who endure such extreme hardship fear internal ailments of the body more than any outward wound — conditions affecting their health for childbearing and otherwise, difficult to cure and prone to return, wearing on both the constitution and the face. It was said that Madam Wei had sustained such damage after giving birth to Wei Leshui; at forty or so, surrounded by wealth, she lacked the health to enjoy it and spent much of her time confined to bed.

Yet this careworn woman offered Wei Shanhu a faint, wan smile.

“The senior maidservant says we have won our gamble. But as Miss Ye said, we were not seeking wealth and honor. Now that we have won the wealth and honor — what does it mean? We have, in the end, lost our gamble. And we accept the loss.” She spoke with calm, and what she said shook the room: “The senior maidservant is right — the law is what it is. If being a lady of rank means enduring three wives and four concubines, then let us stop being ladies of rank!”

Her words drew out a look of fierce resolve from the other wives — women who had truly been through blood and fire, who answered with the same blunt spirit: “Then we won’t be ladies of rank!” “I’ve long been sick of this worthless title!” “There isn’t a place in the world where we couldn’t earn a living for ourselves and our children — why stay in the capital and swallow this foul treatment!” “Then let’s give up the title! Some title — constant banquet after banquet, while our husbands are out carrying on with other women! An ordinary commoner lives better than this!”

Senior Maidservant Song had subtly implied that the wives had come from common origins and should count their current prestige as an unexpected stroke of luck. The wives may or may not have caught the implication, but they didn’t care either way. Many of them had indeed come from humble backgrounds, and even those from respectable scholarly families had been roughened by years in the frontier. The way they spoke now was raw and plain, and the female officials and senior maidservants all visibly winced.

“Ladies, please mind your words.” Senior Maidservant Song immediately moved to check them. “As the saying goes: better to tear down ten temples than to ruin one marriage. Ladies, your marriages are good ones — you are young couples. How can separation even be mentioned? It is this old servant’s fault for raising it. Ladies, even if you do not think of yourselves, you should think of your children…”

“Think of the children?” Wei Shanhu saw the wives united as one, and her own spirit surged at once. “The capital wives who didn’t separate — are their children faring so much better? Aren’t they being bullied endlessly because some concubine is whispering poison in the husband’s ear? When ladies fight against concubines, the husband still gets to arbitrate the outcome. We are capable women — why should we live a life dependent on the goodwill of others?”

“Exactly!” Li Pinggu, though she walked with a limp, was no less fierce for it, and immediately cried out: “The saying goes: better a mother who begs than a father who holds office! We managed four years in Yangling City — and we never saw him around then, maybe once a year at most! We are living women — what can’t we provide for our children? At worst, we go back to Yangling City and live there. The kind of scheming and jockeying for favor they do in capital households — we want no part of it. We won’t take this foul treatment!”

The wives had not learned much in the way of capital propriety since arriving, but they had seen a great many operas. The sort that show a favored concubine destroying the principal wife, forcing her to give birth in a temple; the sort that show a father, under a concubine’s influence, nearly beating his own son to death and marrying off his daughter far below her station. The capital ladies who watched such operas wept over their own sorrows. The Yangling City wives watched with clenched fists and rising indignation — and now, with those images fresh in their minds, every last one of them burned with fury.

“We’ll just go back to Yangling City!” “So long as we sisters are together, we can raise children anywhere!” “Even if I die ill, I’d sooner leave my children in your care than let them suffer under a faithless man and his mistress!” “If my child clings to this wealth and rank, then that child is no kin of mine!”

The wives’ outrage spilled over in all directions — and most of them could endure it, but there was one who could not hold back.

If it were only a matter of the Yangling City wives having been wronged, Lingbo would not have involved herself. She had seen them kneeling in the courtyard and, finding their earlier mockery of Qinglan fully repaid, considered the matter settled.

But the moment the talk turned to a favored concubine destroying the principal wife, to the misery visited upon the first wife and her children — she could not sit still.

She also knew one should always show deference to those in positions of power. So she followed Qinglan’s example, saying nothing at first — and then walked out from behind the screen, knelt on the carpet, and said: “This subject-daughter Ye Lingbo has something to say and asks for Her Highness’s gracious permission.”

Even the Yangling City wives were startled — to say nothing of the Grand Princess herself, who was slightly taken aback. But Master Ye’s conduct had been, through Qinglan’s many appeals for help in years past and through the servants’ word spreading it across the capital, known to all of the capital’s society. On reflection, then, it was not surprising.

The Grand Princess studied Lingbo. The face was too plain, the bearing not refined enough, the manners too rusty — she was no match for her elder sister. Still, it remained to be seen what words she had to offer.

“Speak,” said the Grand Princess, coolly.

Ye Lingbo swept her gaze once across the Yangling City wives, and then replied.

“Your Highness, just now, listening to the ladies speak of separation — of returning to Yangling City, of raising their children by their own hands — I find myself, while full of admiration, also thinking it a little impractical…” She spoke without hurry, guiding her listeners step by step. Her manner was unlike Female Official Su’s, and unlike Female Official Qin’s, and unlike her sister’s — it bore a resemblance to Senior Maidservant Song’s, and carried an even greater ease. She even smiled as she said: “Your Highness, consider: the ladies’ injuries were not sustained for themselves. They were sustained for the Northern Vanguard Army, for the merit of our Great Zhou. The Emperor himself acknowledges their merit — otherwise, he would not have granted every wife a title. By rights, it is not only the rank and honor that belong to them equally — even the Emperor’s rewards, which were given to husband and wife as one, should rightly be divided half to the wives. How is it that the moment separation is spoken of, the ladies are left to carry their children away alone and destitute?”

In a single sentence, she had brought realization to the assembled wives. The sharper among them grasped it immediately. Wei Shanhu, impatient by nature, said at once, “Yes! The property ought to be divided half and half!”

Senior Maidservant Song quickly said, “Second Miss Ye, that is not a thing easily said — Her Highness is here to preside over the Flower Viewing Banquet, not over the separation proceedings of the Northern Vanguard…”

Ye Lingbo smiled.

On her thin face, a smile made her look something like a fox — and smiling, she asked Senior Maidservant Song: “Senior Maidservant has grown confused as well. The Emperor charged Her Highness with presiding over the Flower Viewing Banquet — naturally, Her Highness presides over the affairs of the ladies and young misses. The generals and officials — those are men’s affairs, and men answer to the Emperor. Women naturally look to Her Highness as their sovereign. Otherwise, why would these wives not seek a direct imperial audience, but come to Her Highness instead?”

Her gaze drifted lightly across the assembled wives like silk, but everyone in the room found themselves holding their breath, listening. Her words seemed to carry within them an inexhaustible allure.

“The ladies speak of returning to Yangling City after separation — but I don’t think they need to. In any case, the fiefdoms the Emperor granted the generals are all in the outskirts of the capital; the gifts of wealth and valuables are all in the capital. The northern frontier is bitter and cold — the capital is far preferable. Everyone divides the fields, properties, and assets, and just as they did in Yangling City, they pool their resources and buy residences, live together, look after one another, and find strength in solidarity. Wouldn’t that be perfectly fine? They all hold titles as Ladies of Noble Rank — even the local officials would need to treat them with respect. At the Flower Viewing Banquet, they are guests of honor. Though Madam Wei’s health is not what it was — with Her Highness presiding, what matter would be beyond resolution?”

The Yangling City wives could not fully follow this speech; even Wei Shanhu might not have grasped all of it. Female Official Su had been schooled in the classics, and Female Official Qin was the Grand Princess’s blade. Only Senior Maidservant Song — steeped in the ways of the world as she was — understood it at once.

What Qinglan and Female Official Su had offered was an appeal to emotion and reason. What the Yangling City wives had given was a display of pure courage, driven by righteous feeling. These were all very moving.

But Lingbo believed in none of that.

She believed only in interest. And she appealed only through interest.

All grand talk of righteousness and benevolence — she had long seen through it. Any argument could be made from two sides. Upholding justice for the Yangling City wives was right; but Senior Maidservant Song’s saying about tearing down temples rather than breaking marriages also seemed to hold. When there is power behind you, people will always come to dress up your cause with fine words.

Only interest does not change. The Yangling City wives possessed a force — and the Grand Princess needed that force. It was as simple as that.

This was all Lingbo believed, because only this could bring absolute security to herself and her family. Of course, she still had to put it delicately — as she did, speaking of the wives relying on the Grand Princess, rather than the Princess needing the wives.

The Yangling City wives did not understand, but they sensed the shift in atmosphere, felt that Ye Lingbo’s words had worked some subtle change. Even Wei Shanhu grew less agitated.

It was at this moment that Qinglan spoke.

“Your Highness, please forgive my younger sister — her words were rash. She is direct by nature and, in her concern for the wives, forgot to consider Your Highness’s position. This is a weighty matter with many unresolved questions and cannot be decided hastily…”

Wei Shanhu, predictably, could not let that pass.

“What unresolved questions?” she demanded at once. “Are we people who do not honor our word? Who would go back on ourselves? If any such person exists, Yangling City would not have them — let all of us swear an oath here today…”

Qinglan did not let her continue. She smiled lightly and said, “Setting others aside — General Luo never took a concubine without consent, and Madam Luo is not among the wronged. So why is it you who leads the call for separation?”

Wei Shanhu took the bait perfectly.

“Elder Sister Ye, I know you are helping us today — but you need not dissuade me. I have always disliked being called Madam Luo in the capital. What is the point of marrying, if one loses even one’s own surname? I am Wei Shanhu, and nothing but Wei Shanhu. Yes — Luo Yong did not seek a concubine. He came back and told us so himself. And I did not come here to seek separation. But Madam Wei’s health is poor, and so I am the head of this group. When the ladies suffer injustice, I must bear that responsibility with them — lead them in seeking justice.”

She glanced at the female officials and senior maidservants around her, then knelt before the Grand Princess. “Your Highness, I know I have not learned capital propriety well — I am still learning. If Your Highness orders me beaten, I accept it. But I must still ask: inviting a wolf into our midst was indeed our mistake — the mistake of the Yangling City wives. But our dealings with the young Madam Chen began because we believed her to be a lady of the Flower Viewing Banquet — a sister to us. We trusted in the Grand Princess’s repeated edicts, and it was on that trust that we opened our doors to the ladies of the Flower Viewing Banquet — and so invited the wolf in, only to find fire breaking out in our own household. I am the one who bears the responsibility of a leader. Your Highness, as the presiding authority of the Flower Viewing Banquet — does Your Highness not also bear the responsibility of a presiding authority?”

After such words, what could the Grand Princess say?

Female Official Qin, naturally, said: “You are insolent — how dare you question Her Highness?”

But the Grand Princess silenced her with a gesture and said evenly, “Your words, though extreme, are not without some merit. I did repeatedly establish rules against impropriety at the Flower Viewing Banquet. Since you are resolved to seek justice, I should give you justice.”

It was only a few words, but the wives were overwhelmed with gratitude. Several of the more impulsive ones began to weep outright. Even Wei Shanhu — who had been strung taut as a fully drawn bow all day, her spine held straight as she knelt — finally released, sinking to the floor as her strength left her, torn between joy and grief and not quite knowing which it was, tears streaming down her face before she was even aware of them.

The Grand Princess raised her hand; Female Official Su stepped forward. As Female Official Qin handled legal proceedings, Female Official Su naturally handled documentation — every courthouse has need of both. The Grand Princess then issued her decree, and Female Official Su raised her brush to record it.

“It is late now. Return home first, and discuss among yourselves — how many of you wish to separate, in what manner, and what property is to be divided. Once you have deliberated, come back together tomorrow to see me.”

The wives’ hearts clenched at once, fearing the Grand Princess meant to defer and delay the matter. But they saw the Grand Princess exchange a glance with Senior Maidservant Song, who stepped forward at once with a smile. “Silly ladies — Her Highness has given her word to uphold justice for you, and so she shall. It is only that there are more than thirty of you, and some may find themselves in the same position as Madam Luo — having no need for separation — or unable to bear parting from their children, or with circumstances they have not spoken of. You may discuss this privately; no one need be compelled. As for dividing the property, that too requires careful consideration. You may rest assured — Her Highness’s words, once spoken, are never empty. At the very least, this old servant will go back with you and see you settled, and give an account to Madam Wei as well. Consider it our pledge to you.”

Of course she was not truly going to give an account to Madam Wei. She was going to help them divide the fields and assets, to ensure they were not shortchanged — for a loss to them would be, in turn, a loss to the Grand Princess. The one who handled documentation was well-suited to documentation; the one who handled legal matters brought sufficient authority. And Senior Maidservant Song handled interest — she would not surrender so much as a scrap of it.

But the wives knew none of this, and were flooded with gratitude. They took hold of Senior Maidservant Song’s hands and said, “Thank you so much, Senior Maidservant — with you coming along, our minds are at ease.”

Senior Maidservant Song only smiled slightly and tilted her head in the direction of the Grand Princess. The wives, after weeks of learning capital etiquette, had absorbed at least this much. They understood immediately — rose, straightened their clothes and composure, and under Wei Shanhu’s lead, prostrated themselves in a full bow before the Grand Princess, speaking in one voice to express their thanks: “We thank Her Highness for upholding justice. Your subject-wives will repay this grace as grass repays the dew, as the ring repays the kind stranger’s gift.”

Such uniformity — thirty or so titled ladies, bowing their heads in obedience. Even the most serene of persons could feel the magnitude of this power, and would have been moved by it. But it was a bit too plainly put; Female Official Su stepped forward at once and smiled: “There is no thought of repayment here — Her Highness acts in the name of justice. This one matter alone will bring Her Highness into conflict with no small number of people.”

The wives were all the more moved. Many shed tears and pressed their foreheads to the floor, saying, “Her Highness’s great virtue and grace are something we could never forget in this lifetime. Were we to be reborn as cattle or horses, we would gladly serve to repay it.”

The Grand Princess smiled at last and said, “All right — you’ve been kneeling all day and are not yet exhausted? Jingrong, arrange carriages to send them home. And see the two Miss Ye sisters home as well.”

Qinglan and Lingbo came forward to offer thanks. Female Official Qin remained cool and distant; Female Official Su Jingrong could not hold herself back, and hurried over to help the two of them to their feet.

The Yangling City wives were entirely sincere in their feelings. Though they understood enough to thank the Ye sisters, and even Wei Shanhu — proud as she was — had revised her address and called Qinglan “Elder Sister Ye,” they had no way of knowing just how great a role the Ye sisters had played in bringing things to so satisfying a conclusion.

What they had been able to follow was Ye Qinglan’s earlier speech — moving them with feeling, guiding them with reason. But Lingbo’s words that followed were one of the highest arts of counsel: enticing with interest. And then Qinglan’s final two exchanges, which drew Wei Shanhu into speaking with such righteous force — those were the other half of that art: persuading through principle.

Lingbo had laid bare for the Grand Princess the benefit of upholding justice for the Yangling City wives. It was sharp and precise — but in the end, too nakedly practical. In this world, though everyone acts from self-interest, it cannot be spoken aloud. Beyond interest, there must always be a presentable face — just as every good play, however it unfolds, needs in the end a righteous and avowable meaning, a fine quilt to cover and dignify what lies beneath.

Qinglan was that quilt. She turned the conversation back, let Wei Shanhu herself speak the words of grand righteousness, let her petition the Grand Princess to uphold justice herself. In this way, the Grand Princess’s involvement was not an act of seeking power or advancing a faction — it was the discharge of her solemn duty as the presiding authority of the Flower Viewing Banquet. It was the righteous path.

These two Ye sisters — this was what it truly meant to be made for each other. The one who dealt in interest was sharp as a blade, performing the work of庖丁 the butcher — finding the joints and seams, entering between them without force, dividing all the stakes and considerations cleanly as butchered meat, and extracting from it all the most precious portion to lay before the Grand Princess.

And the elder sister, having read to the bottom of every classic text, had the most righteous and luminous argument ready — to drape that prime cut in brilliant brocade, so that the Grand Princess might receive it by every principle of propriety. Even presented before the censors at court for inspection, not a single fault could be found.

Only sisters like these could have cut a path out of a household that devoured people — where a favored concubine destroyed the principal wife, where a father smiled serenely and heard nothing, where a stepmother plotted against fortune and lives.

The Yangling City wives did not understand this. But under the Grand Princess’s command, who was simple? Both Female Officials Qin and Su were no fools; neither was Senior Maidservant Song. The moment she had seen the guests out, Female Official Su came to attend the Grand Princess while murmuring a quiet complaint: “That is the second time now — Your Highness has sent her away just like that.”

“What else is to be done — bestow a title of nobility upon her? She has refused to become a wife herself, and she is twenty-four years old already. What exactly is there to bestow?” Female Official Qin said coolly. “As for the younger sister — she is an interesting one. A remarkable person.”

“Remarkable? I call that calculating.” Female Official Su thoroughly disagreed and went on to complain: “Your Highness is far too hard on Ye Qinglan. I have heard of keeping a concubine in an outer residence, but never of keeping a strategist in an outer residence.”

The Grand Princess had been occupied all day, and even her robust constitution felt some fatigue. Female Official Su Jingrong was young enough to be her daughter. Hearing this, the Grand Princess smiled and gave Female Official Su’s forehead a light tap. “Jingrong, that remark is a bit too sharp.”

Female Official Su did not mind, but a glance at the doorway revealed a palace maid hovering there, looking as though she wished to speak. “What is it?” she asked.

“In response to the Senior Official,” the palace maid stepped forward and curtseyed, “Marquis Cui has come with several Northern Vanguard generals to present a card, requesting to escort the wives home.”

“Just as expected — they’ve come to make trouble,” Female Official Qin said with a frown. “These men — they simply regard their wives as personal property. One can only hope that those Yangling City wives are as resolute as they claim, and don’t go back and reverse course — refusing to separate after all. That would have been a great deal of effort for nothing.”

She finished speaking, then noticed that everyone was smiling — the Grand Princess and the senior maidservants, of course, but Female Official Su as well.

Female Official Qin had chosen of her own will not to marry and had remained in the palace. Though she understood the ways of the world, she had severed all connection with matters of the heart. Female Official Su, by contrast, had a betrothal already made; the Grand Princess and the senior maidservants were women who had lived through such things themselves — and so every last one of them understood.

“Female Official Qin has grown confused as well — they’re hardly here to make trouble,” one of the senior maidservants said with a laugh. “With Her Highness here, no faithless man would dare show his face. The ones who’ve come to escort their wives — those are the men of integrity.”

“Men of integrity — that I’m not so sure of,” Female Official Qin said. “Cui Jingyu had his engagement broken by Ye Qinglan, and has since been elevated to a marquisate. How could he not feel vindicated? If he had genuine feeling, he would have proposed again long since. The Northern Vanguard has a poor reputation in this regard as well. If Your Highness values Ye Qinglan, the proper course would be to bring her in early and appoint her as a female official.”