Fu Kang and Shi Youtian were both welcomed into the Princess’s residence.

Shi Youtian felt as though he were in a dream. Though he had known that his wife must have had a past, must have had origins — he could never have imagined that she was a princess of the previous dynasty. A daughter of the imperial bloodline.

The future Empress’s younger sister!

He followed Yin Yin into the Princess’s residence, was bathed in fragrant water, changed into brocade and silk garments, and was installed in a chamber of painted beams and carved rafters.

Yin Yin bathed and changed. The maidservants shaped her brows for her and smoothed her face with thread. With nimble, skillful hands, they braided for her many fine, thin plaits, curving them to cover the burned half of her face, pinned up behind her head, with only the other half of her delicate and beautiful countenance exposed.

When she stood before Shi Youtian again, Fu Kang had golden hairpins in her hair, pearl drops at her ears, jade bracelets around her wrists. Slender and graceful, light as a drifting cloud.

Shi Youtian looked at his wife in a daze, and dared not draw near her.

Fu Kang comforted him. “Don’t be nervous — this is my sister’s residence. Just treat it as your own home. My sister is a very good person.”

Even though she had said so, Shi Youtian remained at a loss for what to do with himself.

Fu Kang patted his hand. “I will go and speak with my sister first, and come back to speak with you.”

Shi Youtian hurriedly nodded.

Once Fu Kang had gone, he sat alone in the room. The maidservants refilled his tea and brought refreshments — every item exquisitely fine, each one looking more like something for ornamental appreciation than for eating or drinking.

He hurriedly thanked the maidservant. “Thank you, elder sister.”

The maidservant covered her mouth with her sleeve. “You are the husband of the Twelfth Young Lady — please don’t address people so carelessly.”

Shi Youtian lowered his head and said no more.

The sisters, having endured the parting of life and death and now reunited, gathered together in conversation, their eyes filling with tears from time to time.

Xie Yuzhang had already learned in full the details of Fu Kang’s life these years, and knew that though she had not come forward to make herself known, she had been quietly following matters from a distance all along.

Once they had spoken of all this past history, Xie Yuzhang asked her about the future. “Have you thought about what comes next?”

Fu Kang said, “If you had not come to find me, I planned to go on living this way indefinitely. I know you feel that a life of coarse tea and plain rice is hardship. But truly it isn’t — he and I live our days in a solid, grounded way, and my heart is very much at peace.”

If another person had heard her say these words, they might very well have scoffed. But Xie Yuzhang would not — for she knew better than anyone else how difficult it was for a person to seek and find inner peace.

She said, “I had originally intended to let you part from him and return to my side.”

Fu Kang said, “Sister, I have no such wish.”

She also said, “Just now when I came over, I could see from his expression that he was somewhat distressed — he must be guessing whether I might leave him. I’ll go back and speak properly with him when we’re done here, so he doesn’t needlessly torment himself with wild thoughts.”

That Fu Kang could still notice that man’s state of feeling proved that she did indeed have a place for him in her heart. The bond between two people is a very complex thing — it is not simply a matter of liking or not liking, of a good match or a poor one.

Xie Yuzhang therefore said, “It doesn’t matter. Since you are willing to be with him, then stay together. Should he ever treat you badly in days to come, or should you no longer wish it, parting from him would be a simple matter. But you must clearly understand — though we are no longer the Zhao dynasty’s princesses, you are still my sister, and whatever happens, you must never wrong yourself.”

Fu Kang nodded earnestly. “I understand, Sister.”

Xie Yuzhang looked at Jia You, then looked at Fu Kang, and made up her mind.

“I originally had a difficulty on my hands that, now that you have returned, is neatly resolved,” she said. “Jia You has been with me all this while, but I am going to enter the palace. There are too many unhappy memories in the inner palace for Jia You — I have no wish to take her with me. Before, I was considering entrusting her to our second uncle. Now that you have come back, this could not be better. You need not return to that village either. From now on, live here — with you looking after Jia You, I am completely at ease.”

Jia You had lost all proper upbringing from the age of nine. But by then, Fu Kang had already been fourteen — the education that a young noblewoman should receive had been largely completed in full. She had sufficient learning to shoulder the responsibilities of mistress of a household.

Jia You immediately threw her arms around Fu Kang’s arm and gazed at her with pleading eyes.

She had grown up now, yet Fu Kang still reached out and ruffled her hair, as she always had.

“All right,” she said.

She returned to the courtyard that had been arranged for them and found Shi Youtian still sitting there in a daze. She walked over to him. “What are you doing? Why haven’t you eaten any of the refreshments?”

Shi Youtian startled as if waking from a dream. Seeing her, he shifted about uncomfortably and said, “You — you’ve finished talking with your sister?”

Fu Kang touched the tea in his cup — it had already gone somewhat cold. She called a maidservant in to bring fresh tea.

Those maidservants were all dressed in layered brocade and embroidery — all people Shi Youtian would never before have dared to look upon casually. Yet Yin Yin, though she had only arrived at this residence half a day ago, directed those maidservants in an utterly composed and natural manner. And those maidservants, before her, also naturally lowered their voices and held their breath, showing complete and reverent deference.

For she — was a person of distinguished birth, after all.

A princess of the imperial bloodline.

Fu Kang said, “My sister called me over and asked me about my future plans. She wanted to let me…”

“I — I’ll go back!” Shi Youtian abruptly interrupted her and rose to his feet.

Fu Kang was taken aback.

Shi Youtian said, “That piece of meat from yesterday — I said I was going to cure it, and it isn’t done yet. The weather’s warming up, and I’m afraid it’ll go bad.”

He looked at Fu Kang and said, “You — you don’t need to worry about me either. The money we’ve saved is still in the clay pot under the bed. I’ll keep saving, and once I’ve saved enough, I can take another wife and have a child, and live a decent life. In the future, when I come to this residence to deliver firewood, if you want to see me, you can see me any time you want.”

“You — you…” Shi Youtian gazed at Fu Kang, trying to hold himself back, but tears rolled down his face against his will. “Live your life well. Your sister has found you now — just stay properly by her side. I heard she’s going to be Empress. You’ll be the Empress’s younger sister in the future. You were always a person of distinguished birth. Letting you follow me through all these years of hardship — that is my fault.”

He tried to wipe his tears with his sleeve, then raised his hand, saw the brocade fabric, and dared not. He wiped clumsily at them with the back of his hand instead. Feeling that this place was truly too heart-wrenching to remain in any longer, he turned to go.

Fu Kang caught his sleeve and said helplessly, “Look at you — I haven’t even finished speaking, and you’re rushing off to think wild thoughts.”

She pressed him back down onto the couch.

Shi Youtian still had tears coursing down his face. Fu Kang took out a handkerchief and wiped his tears away, then told him, “My sister wants us to live here in the residence from now on, with her — you and me.”

Shi Youtian looked up, unable to believe it. “She didn’t mean for you to separate from me?”

Fu Kang said, “I am your wife, and you are my husband. I will not separate from you.”

Shi Youtian suddenly burst into tears and held Fu Kang tightly.

Xie Yuzhang gave this pair of husband and wife sufficient time alone before summoning Shi Youtian to appear before her. She received him in the front reception hall of the outer quarters.