Since awakening from her dream, Shen Xiling’s health had become increasingly frail. Her constitution had never been robust to begin with, and she had been prone to illness as a child. It was only through the careful attention she received while by Qi Ying’s side that her health had gradually improved. After coming to Shangjing, however, she constantly harbored worries in her heart, and over time this too had become an ailment. In this light, her recent illness had traceable origins. Even now, though her high fever had broken and she had awakened, she remained without strength and could hardly be considered recovered.

Lian Zi and Wan Zhu were loyal servants no less devoted than Shuipei and Fengshang had been, constantly working to restore their mistress’s health while relieving the General’s concerns. Besides the daily preparation of medicinal brews, they served her three nourishing soups per day, fearing their mistress might not eat and drink enough.

Shen Xiling’s sister-in-law, Qin Shi, had always maintained a close friendship with her and often came to visit her room together with little sister-in-law Gu Jingqi. Sometimes their conversations ran long and inevitably coincided with meal times, so they would occasionally dine together.

Gu Jingqi had always enjoyed coming to her eldest sister-in-law’s room for meals, knowing this sister-in-law was generous with money and that the food had authentic Jiangzuo flavors, which naturally felt novel and appealing. However, since sister-in-law had been convalescing recently, though the soups and broths were all nourishing, they invariably carried a faint medicinal taste. She had come to find this somewhat off-putting, arriving at Shen Xiling’s quarters earlier and earlier each day, intentionally avoiding meal times.

Gu Jingqi had just turned thirteen this year, truly in her budding youth—precisely the age when young girls are lively and love excitement. Every day after school she would run to Shen Xiling’s room, where Qin Shi would usually already be present, either sitting with Shen Xiling at the round table in the small flower hall chatting about domestic matters, or reading and writing together in leisurely contentment.

When Gu Jingqi arrived, she would inevitably chatter away with her sisters-in-law about exciting topics, her little mouth going a mile a minute in quite an endearing way.

Shen Xiling had always been very fond of this little sister-in-law, finding her naturally innocent and charming, and now she looked at her with even more complex feelings.

Having just awakened from that great dream, she still couldn’t completely extricate herself from those visions and would frequently be drawn by some unrelated trigger back into the thoughts from her dream. For instance, every time she saw little sister-in-law now, she couldn’t help remembering that in her dream she too had been a girl of barely ten-odd years. Even at the very end when she parted from that person, she had been only sixteen—roughly the same age as Gu Jingqi now.

What had she been like then?

Certainly she had been different from Jingqi, far less cheerful, lively, and endearing, but she had indeed experienced a period of great brightness, starting from age twelve and lasting nearly five years. During those years she had enjoyed a very peaceful life, laughing and crying freely before the man she adored, brazenly demanding his favor, and even receiving heartfelt promises from him.

It had all been so beautiful.

She felt somewhat nostalgic, and the dream scenes seemed to threaten to engulf her again. Fortunately, Jingqi kept talking beside her, barely managing to pull her attention back somewhat.

She was talking about her eldest brother.

The little girl sat by the round table cracking melon seeds while speaking to Shen Xiling with great seriousness: “Sister-in-law, have you noticed that eldest brother has been coming home rather late these past few days?”

Lian Zi and Wan Zhu, who were attending Shen Xiling, both smiled upon hearing this. Before Shen Xiling could respond, Qin Shi tapped Gu Jingqi’s little nose and laughed: “What business does a little girl have meddling in matters between husband and wife?”

Gu Jingqi was greatly displeased by these words and said even more seriously, “Not so!” She continued: “Sister-in-law shouldn’t say such things. Brother and sister-in-law aren’t outsiders, so their affairs are naturally my affairs too. How could I not care?”

Everyone in the room was amused, while the little girl remained quite earnest, pulling on Shen Xiling and saying: “Sister-in-law mustn’t take my words as a joke. My eldest brother is naturally attractive to women, and there might well be some vixen trying to steal him away while you’re convalescing—though my eldest brother is an upright gentleman, with persistent temptation it’s hard to guarantee he won’t be swayed. Sister-in-law should keep a closer watch!”

This little girl was truly comical, her words combined with her earnest expression making everyone burst into laughter. Even Shen Xiling was amused, pinching her little face and saying: “What vixens, what being swayed—is this what you’re learning at your home school every day? Be careful or I’ll tell your brother, then we’ll see who needs to watch whom more closely.”

Upon hearing that Shen Xiling would tattle to her eldest brother, Gu Jingqi immediately deflated and hastily begged for mercy: “Sister-in-law, have mercy! Please don’t do that! The eighth day of the fourth month is almost here, and if I get caught with some fault at this crucial moment, I definitely won’t be allowed to go to the Buddha Bathing Festival! Dear sister-in-law, please spare my life!”

Shen Xiling released Gu Jingqi’s little face and shook her head with a smile. The little girl rubbed her face while muttering: “I really am looking out for sister-in-law’s good. Brother really has been coming home late these days. Even Wan Zhu told me—she said for several days now he hasn’t come back to dine with sister-in-law…”

The mentioned Wan Zhu shrank her neck, Lian Zi turned to glare at her, and she stuck her tongue out at Lian Zi in response.

Qin Shi took up the conversation, saying to Gu Jingqi: “What do you understand? Eldest brother holds the position of Pillar of State—with court duties weighing on him, naturally he’s bound to be busy. These past days he missed court to care for sister-in-law, which must have created a backlog of official business. Naturally he needs to spend more time handling these matters now. What’s strange about that?”

Gu Jingqi pursed her lips and argued confidently: “But there’s no war going on now. Eldest brother is a general, not a civil official—where would all these urgent matters come from? If he’s not coming home to dine with my sister-in-law, he’s clearly hiding something from her!”

These remarks had quite a thunderous impact, though they were truly too childish. Both her sisters-in-law merely took them as jokes and paid them no mind.

Shen Xiling and Gu Juhan weren’t truly husband and wife to begin with. He had been forced to marry her only to obtain an astronomical sum from Qi Ying to save his country and family—she was merely a bargaining chip. Naturally she had no standing to interfere in his life, nor did she have the heart to. Rather, she actually hoped Gu Juhan could find a confidante, so he wouldn’t be as delayed in marriage as she was.

Therefore, on the second day of the fourth month, when Gu Juhan rarely returned early to dine with Shen Xiling, she dismissed the attending maids and spoke to him about this matter, beginning quite indirectly.

She first ladled him a bowl of soup, handing it to him while asking: “General, you’ve been returning late recently. Are there difficulties with official business?”

Gu Juhan indeed looked quite weary, and somewhat distracted as well, as if something weighed on his mind.

He accepted the soup bowl Shen Xiling offered, somewhat surprised by her question—she rarely inquired about his private affairs unless they related to Qi Ying. In their five years of marriage, there had never been an exception. He was actually rather flattered.

He coughed, thanked her, then lowered his head to drink the soup. After setting down the spoon, he answered: “Nothing major, really. Just that I missed court for several days previously, so some matters were delayed. I need to catch up and review them all recently.”

Shen Xiling said: “This was my fault, troubling the General.”

Gu Juhan was startled upon hearing this, only then realizing his previous words had been rather inappropriate—they sounded as if he were blaming her for falling ill and delaying his official duties.

He certainly hadn’t meant that at all, and immediately said: “That’s not what I meant. Please don’t overthink it…”

How had he forgotten that she was very sensitive?

Actually, Gu Juhan’s assessment wasn’t entirely correct. Shen Xiling had naturally been sensitive as a child, but now that she was grown, nearly all of her youthful delicacy had faded away, and she wouldn’t repeat her childhood habits. She simply felt bad about troubling Gu Juhan—ultimately, she was very courteous with him.

Shen Xiling smiled and didn’t pursue the matter further. The two ate quietly together for a while, until after some time Gu Juhan heard Shen Xiling say: “General… shall I arrange a secondary wife for you?”

Gu Juhan’s chopsticks paused.

He looked up at Shen Xiling, then continued using his chopsticks to pick up food, asking: “Why bring this up again? Didn’t we discuss this before and agree not to mention it anymore?”

Indeed, he had said that.

This had been before her illness, when they had returned together from Yilou to the Duke’s mansion and were feeding fish in that garden she had modeled after Wang Garden. He had said then that given the complex situation he faced, he had no heart to drag another innocent woman into trouble and add to his burdens.

At the time, Shen Xiling had found this explanation quite convincing, but since awakening from her dream, her thoughts had undergone some changes.

She pressed her lips together, considered for a moment, then said: “Today, Miss Xue came to see me.”

Gu Juhan was startled upon hearing this, frowning as he asked: “Xue Yuan?”

Xue Yuan—Gu Juhan’s childhood friend, the only daughter of Marquis Anding, niece of Lady Pingjing, a troublesome pest who had been infatuated with Gu Juhan for years to the point of becoming notorious throughout Shangjing.

Shen Xiling nodded.

Gu Juhan’s frown deepened, and he looked at Shen Xiling with great concern, asking: “What did she come for? Did she make things difficult for you? Or say something unpleasant?”

He appeared somewhat angry.

Shen Xiling knew he had misunderstood and quickly shook her head, also setting down her chopsticks as she said: “The General misunderstands. Miss Xue bore no ill will. She… came to return a hairpin.”

This matter with the hairpin had occurred not long ago.

In the third month, when Great Liang’s princess had traveled far to Shangjing for the marriage alliance, Emperor Wei was greatly pleased and had organized a polo match. When Qi Ying claimed illness and didn’t attend, the young Duke Yanguo stole all the spotlight that day and claimed the first prize—an exquisitely crafted, magnificent golden hairpin.

Duke Yanguo had given the top prize to his wife, and at Lady Zhong’s tea gathering several days later, the meddlesome Wan Zhu had pinned this hairpin in her mistress’s hair, drawing envious looks from all the ladies in the back garden.

It was also on that day that Shen Xiling, desperate to see Qi Ying, had secretly removed the golden hairpin from her hair and tucked it in her sleeve, then claimed the hairpin was lost, forcing Lady Zhong to mobilize many people to search the entire mansion. This created an opportunity for her to slip away unnoticed and secretly visit the guest quarters.

Today during the day, Xue Yuan had come to Duke Yanguo’s mansion specifically to return this hairpin.

She had arrived when the sun was just right, around the si hour, bringing only one maid as she requested an audience with the Duke’s wife.

The servants at the Duke’s mansion all knew Miss Xue didn’t get along with their mistress, and with the General absent during the day, they worried that their mistress, just recovered from serious illness, might be upset and suffer harm. Naturally they were very wary and advised Shen Xiling to simply refuse the visit.

Author’s Note: Though this chapter’s ending doesn’t count as their official reunion, there will be a meeting~