For her part, Xie Yuzhang was in easy, bright conversation with the Emperor.

“The weather is visibly turning warmer,” she said. “I would like to send some bolts of fabric and some provisions to Xie Family Village. Everyone there is living in peaceful contentment now, and every one of them is grateful for the Emperor’s grace. I live so much better than they do — I simply must take care of them.”

In this world, there were no permanent arrangements — least of all in the relationships between people, which required constant tending to survive. In the past, her fifth brother had been her late father’s own son, and even he had needed to go through her — a favored younger sister — to have her occasionally mention his name before their father, in order to consolidate imperial favor. In the center of power, being pushed to the margins meant weakness. She too had to maintain a visible presence before the Emperor.

When she had still been Princess Baohua, she had never needed to concern herself with any of this. But now she was Princess Yongning — and although both were princesses, the difference in substance was absolute. She had to think of herself as a subject, and like any other subject, find ways to appear before the Emperor at regular intervals, or better yet, to do something for him.

Speaking of that, the person she most admired in the new dynasty was Marquis Beirong, Li Weifeng — who had married Zhang Fen on the Emperor’s behalf, offering his own body as a sacrifice. Such loyalty was enough to move heaven itself. No wonder his imperial favor surpassed everyone else’s.

Compared to Li Weifeng, Xie Yuzhang felt she came up short. She only resented that she was a woman — there was so little she could do for the Emperor.

Li Weifeng’s eyes brightened immediately, and he opened his mouth: “If you’re going to Xie Family Village, then I…”

Xie Yuzhang smiled and cut him off: “Seventh Brother need not worry. My people have already memorized the route. There’s no need to trouble Seventh Brother — I will go by myself.”

When had she started calling him “Seventh Brother”? The Emperor gave Marquis Beirong a puzzled sidelong glance.

Li Weifeng still wanted to speak, but Xie Yuzhang continued: “And the Festival of Serpents is barely half a month away — Seventh Brother’s wife and ten beauties at home, has new clothing been made? I’ve had several new outfits made for my sister, and I’ll have them sent over together this time.”

At the mention of the Marquis of Beirong’s household affairs, Li Weifeng deflated. Even the Emperor’s mood turned gloomy.

Only Xie Yuzhang remained all smiles.

Both men knew perfectly well how infuriating she was — yet this maddening woman had exquisitely beautiful eyes and brows, and when she smiled, her gaze was radiant and flowing, more captivating than the spring light itself. Who could work up a genuine anger toward her?

After Xie Yuzhang withdrew, Li Gu kept Li Weifeng back, and the two walked together toward the Zichen Hall.

After a few steps, Li Weifeng turned and looked behind him, letting out a sound of surprise. “What is Mantou saying to Yongning? They look so happy.”

Li Gu looked back. Far down the corridor, Xie Yuzhang — who had already taken her leave — stood with her back to them, speaking of something unknown. But facing them was the commander of the inner guard, Hu Jin, who was pressing the back of his own head with one hand and grinning like a flower in full bloom.

Looking at that expression, and thinking of the pretty words that seemed to flow so effortlessly from Xie Yuzhang’s lips, both Li Gu and Li Weifeng could well imagine it — she had obviously piled praise on the man until he didn’t know which way was up.

Back in the Zichen Hall, before Li Gu had even spoken, Li Weifeng had already shoved Hu Jin inside and demanded: “What were you talking about with Yongning?”

The Emperor too fixed his gaze on him. Hu Jin had no choice but to understand the meaning, and quickly said: “Princess Yongning had asked me to handle something for her, and it’s now done. She was just thanking me.”

Li Weifeng asked: “What kind of matter that she’d come to you? Why didn’t she come to me?”

Hu Jin replied: “Does Your Highness remember Wang Shitou in the Princess’s entourage, and Li A’da, who came to the capital earlier to deliver a letter? The Princess wants to help the two of them secure a future for themselves, and she asked me to arrange a good position for them.”

“Good grief, why not come to me? I’m right there in the Ministry of War,” Li Weifeng said, dissatisfied.

He had barely finished complaining when he understood the answer himself — if Xie Yuzhang came to him with a request, he would most certainly use the opportunity to attach some condition relating to the person in Xie Family Village. He would not truly mean anything improper by it — at the most, he would just want to tag along with Xie Yuzhang and sneak a look at that person. But Xie Yuzhang guarded against him so thoroughly that she would rather go to the trouble of seeking out Hu Jin — Mantou, the Emperor’s former shadow and trusted bodyguard — to ask for a favor, rather than come to him.

Li Gu asked: “Have the two of them not stayed on in the guard?”

Wang Zhong and Li Yong had both been personally trained by him back in the day. The two of them and Mantou and a few others had traveled together all that way — they were old acquaintances.

Hu Jin nodded. “The two of them are much stronger than they were — they’ve truly been forged into something now. They want to make a name for themselves.”

Then he added: “The Princess is also glad to see it happen. She even personally ran this errand on their behalf. It seems over the years they’ve truly been through hardship together — there’s genuine affection there.”

Hu Jin’s own origins were humble — just a bodyguard. With that background, seeing Xie Yuzhang personally running around on behalf of those below her, he was naturally full of admiration.

Li Gu asked: “Who has been brought up to lead the guard?”

The answer was rather unexpected. Hu Jin said: “A Hu person.”

“One who has assimilated — speaks the Central Plains tongue as well. Has slightly curly hair, but black eyes,” he said. “He is the son-in-law of the Princess’s household steward. Used to be a slave; elevated by military merit.”

Li Gu frowned.

Li Weifeng said: “She has no one left?”

Hu Jin said: “It isn’t quite that. I spoke with Princess Yongning about it. The Princess said that those who had followed her were all of humble birth. Though they were tested on the steppe, now that they are back in Yunjing, they have a deep-seated awe of the capital’s nobles and powerful families at heart. When the leader harbors awe, those beneath him have even less spirit. The Princess said: this Hu person does not much understand Central Plains customs and official protocol, but he listens to her completely, and he is afraid of absolutely nothing. That is precisely what she needs.”

The hall fell quiet for a moment.

Li Weifeng crossed his arms. “Hmm. Our Yongning has quite a mind of her own.”

Hu Jin privately thought: the only one who could call her “our Yongning” was you, Your Highness.

Li Gu asked: “Have the two of them been placed well?”

Hu Jin said: “All arranged. Yesterday Princess Yongning had someone send me a golden riding crop as a thank-you gift.” He stole a glance at Li Gu as he said so.

Li Gu only said: “Mm.”

After both Li Weifeng and Hu Jin had left, Li Gu summoned Fuchun. “There is a golden saddle in the treasury — have it brought out and set aside for use.”

But his treasury was now overflowing with items, and there were more than one golden saddle. Fuchun genuinely could not tell which one the Emperor meant — yet from the tone of his voice, it was clearly a specific one. He ventured to ask.

The Emperor paused, then said: “Go and ask Hu Jin. He will know.”

Fuchun went off and came back half an hour later to report: “Commander Hu found it. But as time has passed, the gilding has faded. It has already been taken away to be redone.”

After a long silence, the Emperor only said: “Mm.”

It was a small matter, and Fuchun thought nothing of it.

Princess Yongning’s residence had engaged craftsmen to seal the door between the northwest corner courtyard and the main residence, and open a new gate to the outside instead. Turn right out that gate for a short distance, and the back entrance of the princess’s residence was right there. It was a small construction job, and it was finished before the third month. Wang Zhong’s family of four, along with several former slaves now serving as household staff, moved in.

When Li Yong and Yuexiang returned, they were full of envy. Li Yong sighed: “We were a step too late.”

Yuexiang gave him a look: “Don’t be greedy. Wanxiu is more composed than I am, and she needs to look after the Nineteenth Young Lady — of course the Princess chose her.”

Li Yong said: “I’m not greedy at all. But I’m more sensible than that fool Wang Shitou.”

At the mention of Wang Zhong, Yuexiang thought of the whole wretched, maddening mess with his family and felt a surge of rage: “Following the Princess, whether in the Zhaoxia Palace in those days or out on the Mobei steppe — we have never suffered that kind of humiliation! We married you lot of rough men without a word of complaint. You repay us by letting your families run all over us as they please?”

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got — she rounded on Li Yong with a sound thrashing. Li Yong was completely innocent and utterly wronged, and when Wanxiu was away he snuck over to Wang Zhong’s door, stood there with his hands on his hips, and gave Wang Zhong a thorough scolding: “Did you ever imagine in your wildest dreams you’d marry someone this beautiful who can read and write besides? You foolish lout — you don’t know how lucky you are! And now you’ve dragged me into getting beaten too!”

And he gave Wang Zhong a beating.

Wang Zhong did not raise a hand in return.

Wanxiu was meticulous and steady, with something of Lin Fei’s manner about her. After some time as Jia You’s governess, she noticed something.

“Does Your Highness know,” Wanxiu said, and her voice already held a note of sadness, “the Nineteenth Young Lady — she has never, not once in all her life, been out on the streets.”

Xie Yuzhang was stunned.

Xie Yuzhang had been a pampered and beloved legitimate princess, with an imperial maternal family that was the Meritorious Duke’s household — one of the eight founding ducal families.

From a very young age, she had been able to travel freely in and out of the palace in a lavish carriage. When she was old enough to ride, her elder brothers and cousins would take her out — hunting parties, polo matches, a game they called cuju. As she grew older still, she no longer needed her brothers to accompany her; she had a whole crowd of friends her own age to roam about with.

She had even gone with her fifth imperial brother to watch the famous Butterfly Madam perform at the Mingyue Pavilion — a well-known entertainment house — when that celebrated dancer came to the capital.

There was nowhere in all of Yunjing that she could not go.

“Going out on the street” — something as natural as breathing — she had never once thought that someone might have lived an entire life without that experience.

Jia You’s birth mother had been merely a palace maid who had entered the palace through the selection process, with common family ties and relatives living a thousand li away. The late Emperor of the former Zhao had paid the maid a single careless visit on a whim. The maid became pregnant and bore a princess; only then did Noble Consort Shufei grant her a lowly rank.

Within the palace she kept herself quietly invisible, keeping a low profile.

A princess born of such a low-ranking consort naturally had no opportunity, as a pampered legitimate princess of a powerful maternal family would, to move freely in and out of the palace. Of course it was also because Jia You was still young — when Huang Yungong’s military chaos engulfed the palace, she was only nine years old. Growing up, she had never taken a single step beyond the palace walls.

After the chaos, it was not only she — even the Emperor himself had lived in constant terror. Though the last Emperor still wore the title of “Emperor” at the time, he was nothing more than a puppet. Though he still resided in the Zichen Hall, there had been incidents where the eunuchs had all gone off to serve at Huang Yungong’s banquets, leaving him to go hungry.

Later still, the imperial family had fallen to the Xiaoyao Marquis’s residence. The adults had not dared set foot beyond the gates, let alone Jia You — a “mute little fool who couldn’t speak” — who had no opportunity at all to pass through those doors.

The customs of Da Zhao had been flowing and liberated, with noblewomen frequently roaming freely about the city. And this younger sister of hers was now fourteen years old, yet from birth to now she had still never known what “going out on the street” meant.

Xie Yuzhang stood stunned for a long moment, and tears rolled down her face.

She turned her head to wipe them away, then rose and went to Jia You’s room.

Because of Jia You’s special circumstances, Xie Yuzhang feared any mishap and had assigned many attendants to her. Inside the room, between the senior maids and the junior maids outside the door, there were seven or eight visible at once.

Niuniu was rolling about on the floor at play. Yaya was on the raised platform, sitting in Jia You’s lap, and Jia You was quietly feeding her snacks.

Xie Yuzhang had originally thought Jia You — a young woman — was far too somber and heavy-spirited, which was why she had Wanxiu bring Niuniu and Yaya to Jia You’s room. That decision had been exactly right.

Niuniu had just turned six, and Yaya was not yet four. Children by nature are noisy and unrestricted.

Both had taken after Wanxiu in their looks, with delicate, lovely features, and the maids all adored them — everyone who saw them wanted to spoil them, everyone wanted to hold them. Under this shower of affection, the two little ones did as they pleased, utterly unconstrained, rolling about before Jia You with complete abandon.

Wanxiu had originally told Xie Yuzhang: “If they disturb the Nineteenth Young Lady, I’ll send them home.” But to her surprise, Jia You only watched them without showing any sign of displeasure. And so the two little ones stayed, coming every day with their mother, returning home at night. There were all kinds of good snacks here; at noon they napped in the side room, the beds fragrant and clean. Both children were thoroughly happy and had no wish to leave.

One day Xie Yuzhang came over and was talking with Wanxiu when Yaya, clutching a paper candy box, toddled over toward them in her round, unsteady way. She tripped over herself, and her plump little figure hit the floor — the candy scattered everywhere.

Yaya immediately burst into loud wails.

Everyone rose to their feet. But before the little maid assigned to watch Yaya had moved, Jia You had already stepped quickly over and gathered Yaya into her arms.

Xie Yuzhang then put out a hand to stop Wanxiu and the others from coming forward, and simply watched in silence.

Yaya had spilled her candy and could only cry. Yet everyone else held back, and the one who came to comfort her was this one — who never smiled. Yaya only cried all the harder.

Xie Yuzhang then watched as Jia You said nothing, but clumsily held Yaya close and kept gently, gently patting her on the back. She was extraordinarily patient. Even when Yaya pushed her away several times, she did not let go, and kept softly patting.

Until Yaya’s crying gradually quieted into hiccupping sobs. Jia You labored to lift her up and carry her, swaying a little, onto the platform bed. She lifted the lid of the lacquered treasure box on the low table, scooped out a handful of candies, and placed them in Yaya’s small hands. Yaya broke into smiles through her tears, leaned against Jia You’s chest, and happily ate her candies.

From that point on, Yaya grew very close to Jia You, no longer fearful of her at all.

Xie Yuzhang came in and sat down on the platform, asking: “What are you eating?”

“Butterfly pastries,” Yaya said, and immediately pulled free from Jia You, climbed over the low table, and scrambled to Xie Yuzhang’s side. “Your Highness, have some.”

She had grown up under Xie Yuzhang’s eye, after all, and was even more attached to her than to Jia You.

Xie Yuzhang then saw a flash of loneliness pass through Jia You’s eyes.

Xie Yuzhang paused, then said in a gentle voice: “Jia You, the weather is especially fine today, and we have nothing pressing — let us go out on the streets.”

Jia You said nothing.

Yaya said in her soft, childish voice: “Yaya wants to go out on the streets too.”

Jia You raised her eyes.

Xie Yuzhang stroked Yaya’s head and said: “Yaya is too small to go yet. We shall take the Nineteenth Young Lady first, and when Yaya is bigger, we will have the Nineteenth Young Lady take Yaya. All right?”

“All right,” Yaya said. She was a good, obedient little one, and immediately said: “Nineteenth Young Lady, go out on the streets.”

Jia You said: “Agreed.”