Lingbo and Qinglan waited at the Grand Princess’s residence until nightfall.

Finally, the Grand Princess’s carriage returned to the residence—clearly, word had already been sent ahead to the palace. Female Official Su went to receive Her Highness the Grand Princess, and Qinglan brought Lingbo along as well. When the Grand Princess saw them, she seemed somewhat surprised and said, “Qinglan is still here?”

“Miss Ye must wish to assist Your Highness in dealing with that group of women outside,” Female Official Qin said.

Her intention had been to mock Qinglan, but to her surprise, the Grand Princess said, “That’s fine too. Jingrong, go summon them in.”

Although Lingbo still resented how rudely the women from the Northern Garrison Army had once treated her, seeing their wretched state now, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity. Heavy snow, kneeling for so long—how was that any different from falling into an ice pit? Each of them was frozen nearly stiff, and several had already fainted. The servants of the Grand Princess’s residence were dutifully obedient, helping all of them inside, where they knelt in a crooked, huddled mass on the carpet.

But they were truly united—some thirty women, kneeling together, frozen and swaying, still leaning on each other, tending to the companions who had fainted, rubbing their hands, propping up their heads to feed them hot tea. It looked both united and pitiful.

Wei Shanhu, being the sturdiest of them, could still force herself to speak: “This humble wife, Wei Shanhu, bringing thirty-one women of Yanglin City, kowtows to Her Highness the Grand Princess. May Your Highness enjoy boundless fortune. We beg Your Highness to uphold justice on our behalf.”

Naturally, the Grand Princess paid no attention, still sitting high above, unhurriedly sipping her tea, while Female Official Qin stepped forward to reprimand them: “If you wish to file a complaint, you ought to have a written petition.”

“We have one.” Wei Shanhu immediately pulled a rolled petition from inside her robe, raising it high above her head. Female Official Qin’s eyes flickered; a maid stepped forward to take it, presented it to her, and she unrolled it to examine it closely before showing it to the Grand Princess.

As she read, Female Official Qin sneered coldly. Qinglan guessed she must have studied law, her temperament much like someone trained in the Legalist school. Sure enough, she found fault: “What reasoning is this? Military officers are all court officials, and taking concubines is entirely within the law—your complaint about private concubine-taking doesn’t hold. If private concubine-taking isn’t wrong, then Chen Yaoqing and his wife privately sending a concubine isn’t wrong either. And if it’s a matter of sending a concubine, then visiting brothels can’t be prosecuted either. Having multiple wives and concubines is common practice among officials in the capital—surely we can’t punish court officials just because you principal wives are jealous?”

Those who understood the art of power knew that establishing authority was routine—even in the courtroom there were rods to “strike down arrogance,” thirty strokes upon entry to humble the spirit first. Besides, having them go from kneeling in the courtyard to being brought in to state their case already showed a willingness to hear them out. Otherwise, why hadn’t anyone gone to receive their petition earlier, when they’d blocked the imperial carriage holding it high?

But Wei Shanhu clearly didn’t understand this reasoning.

She only assumed Female Official Qin was rejecting them on the Grand Princess’s behalf, never considering that if they were to be rejected, it would have been done in the courtyard—why bother bringing them in only to reject them again, an unnecessary extra step? Combined with a full day of kneeling and a heart full of righteous indignation, she cried out angrily: “Does that mean the rules Her Highness announced at the banquet don’t count for anything? ‘A wife who shared hardship shall not be cast aside,’ ‘the Flower Letter Banquet shall harbor no filth’—were these all lies to deceive us?”

Female Official Qin’s response was simple.

“Slap her mouth.”

At once, a capable Nanny stepped forward to drag Wei Shanhu out and strike her across the face. The other women, unwilling to allow this, moved to shield her—but Wei Shanhu still had some presence of mind and shouted, “None of you are to resist!” Her authority held; the other women could only swallow their tears and watch as she was dragged out. Just as the Nanny produced the paddle for the face-slapping, a voice sighed from behind the curtain: “Madam Luo offended Her Highness and indeed deserves punishment. But if offensive words merit a slap to the mouth, then Chen Yaoqing and his wife, who disregarded the rules Her Highness set for the Flower Letter Banquet and incited the Northern Garrison generals to abandon the wives who shared their hardships, destabilizing military morale and corrupting the spirit of the Flower Letter Banquet—how does Chief Female Official Qin intend to punish them?”

The one speaking was none other than Ye Qinglan. As she spoke, she walked out from behind the curtain, still lightly powdered, elegantly dressed, radiant as the bright moon.

But her situation now, compared to her situation back at Madam Wei’s banquet, when all the women had surrounded and mocked her—it was like a mirror image. Even the dullest of the women present understood she was speaking up for Wei Shanhu, and for the women of Yanglin City.

Positions reversed, kindness repaid for enmity—nothing more than this.

The women’s hearts churned with mixed emotions. The thin-skinned ones already flushed red, eyes brimming with hot tears, hardly daring to look at her. Even someone as unyielding as Wei Shanhu flushed and looked at her with guilt in her eyes.

Ye Qinglan was not surprised by any of this.

The Emperor was cold-hearted, but the Grand Princess was not. Female Official Su had felt wronged on her behalf, since neither of her two remonstrances had earned any reward. But the Grand Princess had kept her here to observe how she handled the women of Yanglin City, deliberately using the most ruthless Female Official Qin—precisely because she wanted Ye Qinglan to speak up for justice.

She wanted the women of Yanglin City to remember their debt to Qinglan.

What reward could compare to this?

A true master of political maneuvering worked exactly this way—using open strategies for everything, done in plain sight, where every person in the scheme even knew the role they were meant to play, yet could not resist, only follow along with her arrangement.

Just like now, Female Official Qin could only sneer coldly: “As for Chen Yaoqing, that will be handled separately.”

“Since the Chen couple disregarded the rules first, and Madam Luo’s offensive words toward Her Highness came only afterward, and since Chen Yaoqing’s punishment is to be handled later, then Madam Luo’s punishment might also be set aside for now—once Chief Female Official Qin has punished the Chens, it won’t be too late to punish Madam Luo then,” Ye Qinglan said, unhurried.

The women were all astonished—all except Wei Shanhu. Even when Female Official Qin’s glance made the Nannys stop, she wasn’t surprised, only felt her eyes grow hot.

Ye Qinglan was the model of a noble young lady from the capital’s great families. She had always known that Qinglan could debate with the palace’s female officials—and even win. She also knew Qinglan spoke better than anyone. Even she herself, after hearing Qinglan’s words that defeated Female Official Qin without violating any rule, only then understood why her own outburst had earned her a beating—no matter how much grievance one held, one must never direct it straight at the Grand Princess. Just as Qinglan had, every word of rebuttal aimed only at Female Official Qin.

Otherwise, she would never have worshipped her back then like a younger sister worshipping the most impressive elder sister.

Cui Jingyu’s heart must be churning with the same mixed feelings. After Ye Qinglan broke off their engagement, Cui Jingyu had gone to the battlefield. When Wei Shanhu had gone to see Luo Yong off, she’d seen him—in less than half a month he’d grown thin, and the once dashing, unruly General Cui had, within half a month, developed an entirely different look in his eyes. Wei Shanhu had been delivering the winter clothes the women had prepared; at the handover, she’d wanted to say something to him, but found she couldn’t say anything at all.

At Madam Wei’s banquet, had she truly thought Ye Qinglan so unworthy? Not really. She had simply been angry. She had always known that Ye Qinglan was still Ye Qinglan, still just as wonderful—only that Ye Qinglan no longer belonged to them.

Or rather, Ye Qinglan no longer wanted them.

Wei Shanhu’s heart burned like fire, both guilty and indignant, the flame nearly searing through her chest, and her eyes grew hot because of it.

“Miss Ye needn’t clear my name for me.” Her voice choked as she spoke: “I don’t understand the etiquette of the capital. I offended Her Highness, I offended Chief Female Official Qin—whatever punishment is due, I’ll accept it myself. But I beg Your Highness to uphold justice for the women of Yanglin City. I, Wei Shanhu, would die without regret.”

Having said this, she wrenched free of the Nanny’s grip and struck her forehead hard against the ground, splitting the skin and drawing blood. The women of the military households carried no small measure of fierce spirit within them. Qinglan watched the Grand Princess calmly and saw her expression unmoved, but beside her, Female Official Su’s expression showed genuine shock and pity.

Long ago, when her mother had still been alive, Lord Ye had still been a loving and respectable father. Once, returning from a palace banquet, flush with youthful success and having had some wine, in high spirits, he had taught his two daughters a lesson. Speaking of the art of rulership, he’d said a sovereign shows neither joy nor anger—so how were officials to guess at the ruler’s true intentions? By watching those close to him. A good ruler always kept a few people near him; one shouldn’t assume he was simply deceived by them—those permitted to serve as close attendants were always permitted by the ruler himself. Loyal ministers and treacherous ones alike were each one facet of him. Put together, they formed the ruler’s complete image.

Just as the Grand Princess had many facets—Female Official Qin’s sharp severity was certainly one side of her, but Female Official Su’s uprightness and compassion was also her.

Wei Shanhu’s situation—how different was it, really, from that of Marquis Wei? Though skilled enough in martial arts to easily break free of the Nanny’s hold, she willingly accepted punishment, kneeling prostrate on the ground, willing to endure the slap, all simply to ask the Grand Princess for fairness. This was loyalty etched into the very bones of the Wei family, which only made the Chen family’s hidden scheming look worse by comparison.

Even a ruler with a heart of stone and iron would surely be moved by this.

But Female Official Qin was clearly accustomed to serving as a sharp blade.

“You ask Her Highness to uphold justice, but when has the Chen family ever violated your justice? Her Highness said a wife who shared hardship shall not be cast aside—the Chen family never schemed against your position as principal wife, merely sent a concubine, which happens all the time among the capital’s households.” She said coldly: “Under the laws of Great Zhou, officials taking concubines violates no principle of law. Among the wealthy and noble households of the capital, there are plenty with multiple wives and concubines. If you wish to become titled ladies, you cannot avoid this. You weren’t even absent from the Welcome Spring Banquet—surely you don’t expect Her Highness to establish a special law just for you, forbidding all Northern Garrison generals from taking concubines?”

Her words were sharp, biting, yet entirely within the bounds of law, leaving the women chilled to the bone and speechless. Even Wei Shanhu had nothing to say for a moment.

It was clear that those caught within a situation couldn’t see it clearly. Qinglan sighed and gently answered on their behalf.

“What Chief Female Official Qin says of the law is certainly correct, but beyond law, there is also human feeling.” She calmly voiced the women’s grievance: “No concubine should be taken without the principal wife’s consent—taking one in secret is no different from slapping the principal wife’s face; a noble person may be killed but not humiliated. It’s natural enough for wealthy households to have multiple wives and concubines, but these women once risked their lives, following their husbands to the border, sharing life and death with them for four years. What they sought was never wealth and status, and wealth should not be used to repay them either.”

Her words struck everyone like a thunderclap of understanding.

Sometimes debate is like battle. Qinglan had torn open an opening for them, and Wei Shanhu immediately seized the opportunity, stepping forward with tears to report: “Your Highness, just as Elder Sister Ye said, when we married them, we sought not titles and fiefs, but were willing to share life and death, willing to bear even the smallest portion of their burden. While the Northern Garrison fought at the front, we held the rear steady—winter coats, summer herbs against the heat—all of Yanglin City was the foundation of the Northern Garrison Army, every citizen a soldier. When we spent three sleepless days and nights making winter coats, did any of them mention wanting to take a concubine then? When they were trapped on the quicksand flats and we climbed mountains of snow to deliver grain, did they mention it then either? All they spoke of was single-hearted devotion, a lifetime without betrayal. If they wanted concubines, they should have said so before we ever married them—the same concubine-taking, the same title of lady, we could have had by marrying into the noble families of the capital instead, sparing ourselves these four years of hardship, through ice and fire, shedding layer after layer of skin! If this isn’t betrayal, what is!”

She spoke with growing agitation, standing up directly, pulling a few of the other wives forward, saying to the Grand Princess: “Sister Wu, Sister Li, let Her Highness see your hands.”

The women she dragged forward to kneel before the Grand Princess extended their hands—the joints all deformed. Wei Shanhu spoke through tears: “These hands were ruined years ago climbing snow mountains to deliver grain—now on rainy, windy days, the pain cuts to the bone. When the Northern Rong invaded, we fled into the hills, and Sister Wu lost her unborn child there. And Sister Li’s leg, Sister Song’s eyes…”

Qinglan’s use of the principles of loyal remonstrance had not strayed from the point—what Wei Shanhu was doing was truly no different from meritorious officials at the Lingyan Pavilion baring old wounds to tally their achievements.

Even Chief Female Official Qin, cold and hard-hearted as she was, had still been raised as a pampered young lady of a great family. When had she ever seen such severe wounds on women who, like her, held the title of wife? Even keeping her expression cold, she couldn’t help but feel shaken. The young maids were affected too, watching the women with expressions of pity. Female Official Su’s face showed outright indignation, barely restraining herself as she looked toward the Grand Princess.

Only Nanny Song, pouring tea for the Grand Princess at her side, remained unaffected—after all, a seasoned veteran of the palace who had seen every kind of storm, the older and shrewder she’d become. Not moved in the slightest, she instead smiled and advised: “Madam Luo speaks a bit too extremely. That the ladies suffered greatly at the border, His Majesty knows well enough—otherwise they wouldn’t each have received the title of lady. As the saying goes, a woman’s fortune follows her husband’s—marry a rooster, follow the rooster; marry a dog, follow the dog. Common as this saying is, it holds some truth. The ladies chose their own husbands back then—wasn’t this great gamble one you all won, in the end? To speak bluntly, had you stayed in the capital, you might not have married so well after all.”

Her words set the women abuzz, and Wei Shanhu was practically bursting with anger. Just as she opened her mouth to respond, Nanny Song smiled again: “Now, ladies, don’t be so quick to anger—you ought to think of Her Highness too. Right now you’re all filled with righteous fury, wanting to sue your own husbands, wanting Her Highness to punish the Chen family for you. But after the punishment is done, then what? Husband and wife always quarrel at the head of the bed and reconcile at the foot. Once Her Highness has meted out punishment and you’ve gone home to resume your lives, the Chen family will certainly have something to say about it.”

“We’re not the spineless sort!” Wei Shanhu shot back immediately.

Nanny Song smiled.

“Now that’s childish talk, Madam Luo.” Nanny Song said unhurriedly: “Don’t think me tiresome, but you do have some cause for anger, this old servant understands that too—even the opera sings of Qin Xianglian’s tale. But can you really have Chen Shimei executed on the spot? If you truly divorce in a fit of anger, doesn’t that just benefit outsiders? Chief Female Official Qin put it well—if you’re to be ladies, you can’t avoid this. You must broaden your thinking; concubines and mistresses are nothing more than playthings. You are the ones who hold your titles as steady as iron. You should have the bearing befitting a lady. You’ve all met Young Madam Shen—now there’s someone with true wisdom…”

Wei Shanhu, provoked to burning anger by this advice, clenched her fists tighter and tighter, but she still bore her responsibility, so despite the fire in her eyes, she only kept looking at the other women.

And then Wu Jingxian, who had remained silent all this while, lifted her head and met her gaze.

She was the eldest among all the women present, her face weathered by hardship, appearing already around thirty, her features quite ordinary. In truth, when Nanny Song had heard about the lost child earlier, she had already understood what suffering this woman had endured. For women who toiled and traveled hard, what they feared most was never external injuries, but internal gynecological ailments—difficulty bearing children being only one part of it. These were the hardest to cure, prone to recurrence, aging the complexion and tormenting the body. It was said that Madam Wei herself had damaged her health giving birth to Wei Leshui, and so even now in her forties, despite boundless wealth, could not enjoy it, often confined to her sickbed.

But this haggard woman still managed a bleak smile toward Wei Shanhu.

“Nanny says we won the gamble, but as Miss Ye said, what we sought back then was never wealth—now that we’ve won wealth, what does it even mean? In the end, we lost the gamble. A bet lost is a bet accepted.” She spoke these startling words calmly: “Nanny is right—the law is as it is; if being a lady means enduring multiple wives and concubines, then let us simply not be ladies!”

The moment she said this, the other women’s faces all turned resolute—truly fitting for those who’d come through blood and fire on the battlefield, they too spoke with fierce satisfaction: “Good, then we won’t be ladies!” “I was sick of this troublesome title of ‘lady’ long ago!” “Wherever we go, we can scrape together a living for ourselves and our children—better than swallowing this rotten anger in the capital!” “Then we won’t be ladies! What good is this damned title of lady, feasting at this banquet and that banquet every day while the men go out and sleep with other women! We’d be happier as common folk!”

Nanny Song had meant to subtly mock the women’s humble origins, implying their current wealth was already an unexpected blessing. Whether they hadn’t understood or simply didn’t care, many of them did indeed come from modest backgrounds—but even those from genuinely scholarly families had, after years on the battlefield, grown rough and blunt, and their words now carried the coarseness of the marketplace. At once, the female officials and Nannys all frowned.

“Ladies, mind your words,” Nanny Song immediately cautioned: “As the saying goes, better to tear down ten temples than destroy one marriage. Such a fine match, such a young couple—how can you speak of divorce so lightly? This old servant misspoke. Even if you won’t consider yourselves, you ought to consider your children…”

“Consider the children?” The moment Wei Shanhu saw the women united as one, her spirit surged again: “The ladies in the capital didn’t divorce, and how much better off were their children? Weren’t they constantly whispered against by concubines, beaten without cause? Even when ladies compete with concubines, it’s still the husband who decides who wins. It’s not as though we lack the ability—why should we live at the mercy of others?”

“That’s right!” Li Pinggu, though lame in one leg, was tough enough, and immediately shouted: “As the saying goes, better a beggar mother than an official father. Four years in Yanglin City, and he barely looked after the three of us—might not even see him once a year. We’re grown women, perfectly capable of raising our own children. Worst comes to worst, we go back to Yanglin City to live. As for these capital dramas of fighting over concubines and favor, we’re sick of watching them, we won’t swallow this rotten anger any longer!”

The ladies, though they hadn’t learned much etiquette since coming to the capital, had certainly watched plenty of opera. Stories of favored concubines destroying principal wives, of forcing original wives to give birth in temples; stories of mothers dying young, fathers listening to pillow talk from concubines, wanting to beat their own sons to death, marrying their daughters off beneath their station—when the ladies of the capital watched these, it stirred up their own sorrows and they wept. But these women instead clenched their fists, filled with righteous fury, and now, with these memories stirred up, each of them grew indignant.

“Exactly, worst comes to worst we go back to Yanglin City!” “As long as us sisters stay together, we can raise our children anywhere!” “Even if I died, and my child was left to you all to raise, that’s still better than suffering under a faithless man and some shameless woman!” “If my child can’t bear to give up this wealth, then he was never truly mine to begin with!”

The women were all filled with righteous indignation—everyone else was fine with it, but one person could no longer hold back.

If it were only the women of Yanglin City suffering grievance, Lingbo wouldn’t have interfered. Though she’d seen their pitiful state kneeling in the courtyard, and her anger over their earlier mockery of Qinglan had mostly subsided, she still only considered it settled, even.

But when it came to talk of favored concubines destroying wives, of the misery of principal wives and children—that, she could not sit still for.

She also knew that before nobility, one must first show deference, so following Qinglan’s example, she said nothing at first, walked out from behind the curtain, knelt on the carpet, and said: “This lowly subject, Ye Lingbo, has something to say. I beg Your Highness’s permission.”

Not just the women of Yanglin City, but even the Grand Princess herself, showed slight surprise. But given Lord Ye’s past conduct—widely known throughout the capital thanks to Qinglan’s repeated pleas for justice back then and the spread of the story through Lingbo’s contact with the servants—upon reflection, it wasn’t truly surprising after all.

The Grand Princess studied Lingbo—her appearance was quite ordinary, her bearing unremarkable, her features rather plain, and her etiquette clearly lacking as well, not a match for her elder sister. She simply didn’t know what Lingbo might say.

“Speak,” the Grand Princess said coldly.

Ye Lingbo glanced once at the women of Yanglin City, then spoke.

“Reporting to Your Highness, this subject just now heard the ladies say that after divorcing, they intend to return to Yanglin City and raise their children by their own labor. Hearing this, I admire it, but I also find it rather absurd…” She spoke unhurriedly, gently guiding the conversation—her rhetorical style unlike Female Official Su’s or Female Official Qin’s, and unlike her elder sister’s either, bearing instead some resemblance to Nanny Song’s, even smiling with composure: “Your Highness, consider this—the wounds these ladies bear were not suffered for themselves, but for the Northern Garrison Army, for the honor of our Great Zhou. His Majesty himself recognizes their contributions—otherwise he wouldn’t have granted every one of them a title. By rights, it isn’t only status and honor that should be shared, but His Majesty’s rewards too—husband and wife are one body, and the ladies ought to receive half of everything. Why speak of divorce, of leaving alone with your children in solitude?”

Her words struck the women like an awakening. They all fell into thought, and the quick-tempered Wei Shanhu immediately said, “That’s right, the family property should be split in half too!”

Nanny Song hastily interjected: “Second Miss Ye, this isn’t something to say lightly. Her Highness is here under His Majesty’s decree to preside over the Flower Letter Banquet, not to preside over the Northern Garrison Army’s divorces…”

Ye Lingbo smiled.

Her face was thin-featured, and when she smiled, she looked even more like a fox. Smiling, she asked Nanny Song: “Nanny seems confused too. His Majesty had Her Highness preside over the Flower Letter Banquet precisely to preside over the ladies and misses—the generals and officials, that’s men’s business, men answer to His Majesty as their master, and naturally women answer only to Her Highness as their mistress. Otherwise, why would they come here to petition Her Highness instead of going to lodge an imperial complaint with His Majesty directly?”

Her gaze was like silk, seeming to drift lightly over each of the women, yet everyone unconsciously held their breath to listen to her, as though her words concealed some endless temptation.

“The ladies say that after divorce they can only return to Yanglin City, but I think that’s not necessarily so. After all, the fiefs His Majesty grants the generals are all near the capital, and the wealth rewarded is all here in the capital too—the northern frontier is bitterly cold, far worse than the capital. If everyone divides the land, houses, and property, it would be just like Yanglin City—you could all buy residences together, live close by, look after one another, huddle together for warmth. Wouldn’t that be good? You’re all titled ladies of rank besides—even the local officials must show you respect, and you’d still be honored guests at the Flower Letter Banquet. Though Madam Wei’s health is poor, with Her Highness backing you, what couldn’t you handle?”

These words, the women of Yanglin City could not fully grasp—even Wei Shanhu likely didn’t fully understand. Female Official Su had studied the classics; Female Official Qin was the Grand Princess’s blade. Only someone as worldly as Nanny Song understood at once.

What Qinglan and Female Official Su spoke of was principle. What Female Official Qin upheld was dignity. What the women of Yanglin City sought was an explanation.

And what Lingbo and Nanny Song spoke of was one and the same thing.

Interest.