Xie Yuzhang reported to Zhaoxia Palace every day.

She arrived early each day, while Li Gu was still attending to matters of governance, and had no need to go first to Zichen Hall to see him — she went directly to Zhaoxia Palace.

Li Gu, for his part, did not disturb her at her work. Yet whenever he came to look in on her, and however many times, Xie Yuzhang would always find out through Liang Chen.

Just as she worked at controlling the distance between them, so too did Li Gu.

At times Xie Yuzhang would look up at the flowers blooming lushly in the central courtyard and think: Li Gu truly is a gentleman. If in the end she followed him after all, if her life concluded this way — it wouldn’t be so bad.

When that time came, she would tell Li Gu — she would still want to live in Zhaoxia Palace. Her life had begun within palace walls, and within palace walls it would end.

All of it was so much better than her previous life.

Working every day was exhausting, and Xie Yuzhang occasionally allowed herself a day of leisure — she would dress up and attend a banquet. There she observed that many young women were wearing gowns with designs unmistakably like what she had worn at the spring banquet. That, she supposed, was what it meant to set a trend.

When people asked about her recent activities, those who were well-informed already knew she had been entering the palace daily to work on revising the court regulations.

“They’ve conscripted me into service,” Xie Yuzhang said with a show of complaint. “Only His Majesty is tender-hearted toward those in his household and won’t let the Noble Consorts wear themselves out. With the Noble Consort ill, and Honored Consort Cui and Consort Shu both preoccupied, I had no choice but to step forward.”

Everyone laughed. “The matter of imperial descendants is paramount — of course the Noble Consorts must put that first. Besides, there is no one in all of Yunjing more familiar with the old palace protocols than you. His Majesty truly knows how to use the right people for the right tasks.”

Although Xie Yuzhang held the rank of Princess, she was after all of a different surname. Her going to help the Emperor perform duties more suited to a female official was something people could understand.

Of course she couldn’t control what others said behind her back.

“Some outsider of a different surname waltzing in and out of the inner palace every day — who knows how she’s ingratiating herself with the Emperor,” Zhang Fen said.

Her cousin was alarmed. “Please stop talking like that. Grandfather was furious before, and even First Uncle and First Aunt got a scolding over it.”

Zhang Fen’s face soured. “Am I not speaking the truth?”

The cousin said, “We don’t actually know whether it’s true or not. If it isn’t, she’s of Princess rank — there’s no reason to go provoking her. If it is — if she has that sort of influence — then you’d better keep quiet.”

Zhang Fen’s face went even more sour.

Though she spoke ill of Xie Yuzhang behind her back, when Zhang Fen hosted a flower-viewing banquet, she still sent Xie Yuzhang an invitation.

She was living so splendidly now — how could she not let Xie Yuzhang see it?

Xie Yuzhang declined. Zhang Fen was the sort of person one might exchange a few words with upon an accidental encounter — not someone worth going out of one’s way to associate with.

Zhang Fen was furious, feeling that Xie Yuzhang had given her no face. It happened that Li Weifeng had returned to the marquis’s residence to see his daughter, and Zhang Fen cornered him: “I hear you’re close with Xie Shi. Go and fetch her for me.”

Li Weifeng said, “What’s wrong with you? If someone doesn’t want to deal with you, there’s no need to force it.”

Zhang Fen said, “I am the granddaughter of the Prime Minister, the Marchioness of Beirong. How many people in all of Yunjing would dare disrespect me? But she has a face that large — to disrespect me like this.”

Li Weifeng truly couldn’t be bothered with her. He stuffed their daughter into Zhang Fen’s arms, turned, and made to leave.

Zhang Fen gave a cold laugh. “If you don’t go, I’ll go tear down your private estate outside the city.”

Li Weifeng stopped and turned. “What private estate outside the city?”

Zhang Fen sneered. “Do you really think I don’t know? You spend every holiday running out of the city. You and the Emperor are cut from the same cloth — both of you strung along by women of the Xie family. One of them a commoner from the fallen dynasty — I’m above lowering myself to argue with her. But if she truly angers me, I can crush her with one hand. And that sickly little wretch Kangle — I wouldn’t even need to raise my hand. I could frighten her to death.”

“If I die, will you kill Zhang Shi to avenge me?”

Li Weifeng fixed his gaze on Zhang Fen.

Zhang Fen raised an eyebrow, about to speak — when Li Weifeng took a step toward her, closing the distance.

His eyes held an expression Zhang Fen had never seen in them before.

“If anything happens to her,” this man said, staring at her, “you will pay for it with your life.”

His voice was not loud — one might even call it quiet.

He was an easy-going man, given to laughing and joking without much dignity in day-to-day life, and within this marriage he had yielded to her more often than not. Zhang Fen had always looked down on him somewhat. But in this moment, Zhang Fen suddenly felt fear.

Her father’s scolding words rang in her ears: Do you think Li Ziyi’s title fell from the sky? He cut his way to it himself!

Zhang Fen had never, until this moment, been so starkly conscious of the fact that Li Weifeng was, at his core, a man who lived by killing.

Li Weifeng patted his daughter on the head, turned, and left.

Zhang Fen was drenched in cold sweat.

But Li Weifeng still went to Yongning Princess’s residence to find Xie Yuzhang: “Just this once. Give Seventh Brother some face.”

Xie Yuzhang was irritated. “Why do you keep running off to Xie Family Village?”

Li Weifeng bowed his head. “I don’t do anything. I just go and see her. Just seeing her — that’s enough for me.”

Indeed, very like another man who stood beneath the eaves and only watched. No wonder they were brothers.

Li Weifeng promised, “I guarantee you come back in one piece.”

Xie Yuzhang sighed. “Don’t underestimate Zhang Fen too much. Since she’s the one who wants to save face, she won’t let something happen to you in her own home — that would be the disgrace. Just think of a way to manage things with my sister. I’m genuinely worried.”

Li Weifeng said, “I’ve placed people there. The commanding officer of the village guard is my man. Xie Family Village is like an iron fortress right now — I won’t let anything happen to her.”

Xie Yuzhang knew him well enough from their familiarity. He was a man of rough exterior and careful mind, one who had an accurate read of situations. Having risen from poverty to the status and prestige he now held, he was absolutely not someone to be underestimated.

It was simply that his relaxed and laughing manner had deceived many people.

And so that day Xie Yuzhang did go, after all. Zhang Fen treated her without discourtesy. The marquisate was filled with the atmosphere of wealth and prestige, and Zhang Fen was the undisputed mistress of the household — all the women there looked at her with a mixture of envy and jealousy. Zhang Fen relished this feeling.

Both father and mother having good looks, her daughter had turned out beautiful too. All that was missing was a son, and her life would be complete.

Li Weifeng had arranged two martial maidservants for Xie Yuzhang, who stayed close beside her. In the end it proved unnecessary. Zhang Fen did nothing.

When Xie Yuzhang left, Li Weifeng was actually waiting for her outside the marquis’s gate — she found it somewhat baffling. Truly, Zhang Fen had spent her whole life confined to the inner courtyard and didn’t even have the capacity to commit a truly grave wrong.

“If something had happened to you, my head would be forfeit,” he said, relaxed and joking once more now that it was over.

Xie Yuzhang asked about the martial maidservants. Li Weifeng said, “They’re all women from Hexi — their fathers and brothers serve under me. Don’t worry. I put the two strongest ones by your sister’s side. A single one of them can take down several grown men.”

Xie Yuzhang was reassured.

Li Gu did not disturb Xie Yuzhang when she was at work, but every ten days on the last day of the ten-day cycle it was their agreed-upon day. On that day Xie Yuzhang had to go and fulfill their arrangement, and see Li Gu at Zichen Hall.

She said, “Seventh Elder Brother has it hard.”

Li Gu said, “You think many people have it hard.”

His eyes held something like anger.

Xie Yuzhang was embarrassed and explained, “One can only sympathize with those at the same level or below — it’s not appropriate to look upward.”

She escaped back to Zhaoxia Palace using the pretext of “this subject still has work to attend to.”

Along the way she encountered Consort Shu Deng, accompanied by the wet nurse and a long train of palace attendants, carrying the Second Prince in her arms and enjoying the good weather in the imperial garden, basking in the sun.

Seeing Xie Yuzhang, she smiled. “Yongning.”

These days, with Xie Yuzhang entering the palace daily and needing to summon the Six Bureaus female officials, and Deng Wan managing inner palace affairs together with the three Consorts on behalf of the Emperor, the two of them had had quite a few dealings. Their acquaintance was no longer as superficial as it had once been, no longer limited to polite formalities.

They were both perceptive and straightforward women, and their conversations were frank.

Xie Yuzhang smiled. “The Second Prince is looking stronger and sturdier by the day.”

Deng Wan beamed with open delight.

Xie Yuzhang thought she radiated a glow, holding her child — she looked truly beautiful.

After the two parted ways, Xie Yuzhang continued toward Zhaoxia Palace. She walked a little way, then stopped and looked back from a distance, asking the eunuch leading the way, “How old is the Second Prince?”

The eunuch answered, “Over six months — nearly seven months.”

Xie Yuzhang murmured an acknowledgment.

In the previous life, how old had that child been when he was gone?

Xie Yuzhang didn’t know. It had all happened before she returned. By the time she came to know Consort Shu Deng as a person, she had already become a woman with coldness between her brows and rarely a smile.

In the inner palace, her reputation had been nothing like Honored Consort Cui’s, who had raised the First Prince. But in those days Zhang Fen had been there — Zhang Fen, who was wont to press others down, so that even Cui Shi had been less vibrant than she was now.

On the first day of the fourth month, the Emperor announced the restoration of Chengjing Academy. Master Mo accepted the invitation to emerge from retirement and became the Emperor’s teacher.

In the third year of the Kaiyuan reign, Mobei had submitted, the Zhao Princess had returned, Chengjing Academy had been rebuilt, and the Imperial Mentor had come out of reclusion. The new dynasty was full of vitality — it was truly a good year.

Xie Yuzhang had finally managed to finish organizing the palace regulations before Li Zhenzhen’s confinement ended. It hadn’t actually been that difficult — the parts that had been burned or gone missing needed to be discussed with the female officials and carefully supplemented, while the rest simply required recopying and reorganizing.

Xie Yuzhang went to Li Gu in high spirits to report her completion of the task. “I have not failed in the duty entrusted to me.”

Seeing her pleased expression, Li Gu’s mood also lifted. He asked, “What reward do you want?”

Xie Yuzhang said, “This is something I was meant to do for His Majesty — how could I ask for a reward every single time?” Then she asked, “Has Second Elder Brother sent a reply yet?”

Li Gu said, “It should be within these next couple of days — don’t worry.”

Xie Yuzhang said, “I am worried. When a fine woman is sought by a hundred suitors, Lin Shi is extremely sought-after right now. If Second Elder Brother doesn’t tell his family soon, I’m afraid he’ll be done for.”

Li Gu said, “As I recall, you mentioned he had proposed before, but Lin Shi had no interest in him.”

Xie Yuzhang said, “Back then we were still in Mobei — our hearts and eyes were wholly fixed on nothing but the three words ‘return to the Central Plains.’ Who had time for any of this business of love and affection? Besides, Lin Shi had been separated from Lin Third Master and the others for over ten years, and her heart was set entirely on reunion. Second Elder Brother picked the wrong moment entirely. Now that she’s settled in, I still need to think of my brother’s interests — he is my elder brother, after all.”

She had barely mentioned Lin Zi when a eunuch came to report, “Official Lin of the Secretariat has arrived.”

Xie Yuzhang said at once, “Your Majesty must be busy. This subject takes her leave — I’ve been so exhausted these days, I need to go and enjoy myself for a few days.”

Li Gu smiled. “Go on.”

Xie Yuzhang stepped out.

Li Gu picked up his brush, but then heard voices from outside.

“Third Elder Brother!”

“Your Highness.”

The young Secretariat official entered and paid his respects to the Emperor.

The Emperor gave him one look.

Xie Yuzhang returned to her own residence. “I can finally breathe again,” she said.

The maidservants cheerfully chorused, “Do rest, Your Highness. You’ve been worn out these days.”

Xie Yuzhang asked, “Has the horse been found for Nineteenth Younger Sister?”

Xie Yuzhang had originally planned to teach Jia You to ride horse once the weather warmed up, but had been conscripted by Li Gu and put it off until now.

A maidservant said, “Found. Already gelded, very gentle and well-mannered — and beautiful.”

“The weather is so lovely. Go tell Wanxiu to have Jia You change into riding clothes. I’ll teach her to ride.” Xie Yuzhang said happily.

The Princess’s residence was unlike an ordinary household, with the scale befitting its rank. Besides which Li Gu would never be stingy with Xie Yuzhang. Within Yongning Princess’s residence there was a practice ground where one could ride and shoot.

Xie Yuzhang had Jia You mount the horse. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid — I’m holding the lead, nothing will happen.”

She personally led the horse for Jia You, circling the practice ground.

Sitting beneath the shaded pavilion, Ya Ya was eating a piece of malt candy and said with her mouth half full, “Ya Ya wants to ride the big horse too.”

Wanxiu laughed and ruffled her head.

When Ya Ya tugged at Jia You’s sleeve and said so, Jia You hesitated for a moment, then looked to Xie Yuzhang.

Xie Yuzhang simply looked back at her and said, “If you say nothing, how am I to know what you mean?”

Jia You was silent for a long time, then said, “Ya Ya wants to ride a horse.”

Xie Yuzhang turned her head away and wiped her eyes, then turned back with a smile. “Very well. I’ll lead both of you.”

The next day, someone came from the palace to tell Xie Yuzhang: “Second Young Master Yang’s letter has arrived.”

The messengers had come all the way here, yet had not brought the letter along with them. Xie Yuzhang privately complained under her breath about the Emperor’s small pettiness.

But she obediently went back to the palace nonetheless.