When Xie Yuzhang heard the news, she did not stir.
She was busy attending to a happy occasion — she had arranged Wanxiu’s marriage to Wang Zhong.
Among those who had come to forge the alliance, Yuan Yu held the highest station. But he was advanced in years.
Among the younger and more able-bodied men, Wang Zhong held the highest standing, and he had earned Xie Yuzhang’s deep trust. He was the man she had personally elevated to replace Ma Jianye.
Among the Zhao people, there was no shortage of those who wished to marry their daughters to Wang Zhong. Young women sending him handkerchiefs and food was a common enough occurrence.
Wang Zhong had indeed begun to think about finding himself a wife. The thought had come to him before — but in the past he had been too poor, and could not afford to marry, which was how he had remained a bachelor to this age. Now things were different. He had risen in the world, and he wanted to find a wife — a warm hearthside with a wife and children.
But Li Yong had been quick to give Wang Zhong a word of warning: “Don’t get yourself into a muddle.”
Wang Zhong’s face turned red: “When have I ever gotten into a muddle? I am nothing like Ma Jianye!”
Li Yong pressed his hand to his forehead: “What I mean is, don’t go looking for a wife on your own. Wait for the Princess to give the word.”
Wang Zhong was bewildered: “What does the Princess have to do with me finding a wife?”
Li Yong sighed: “You fool.”
Li Yong — originally known as Li A’da — deserved his reputation as the cleverest person in the entire village. As it turned out, he was entirely right. Wang Zhong’s wife was not his own choice to make.
“I would like to give Wanxiu to you in marriage — are you willing?” Xie Yuzhang summoned Wang Zhong to her tent and asked him directly.
Wanxiu!
Wang Zhong was struck senseless by this gift dropping from the heavens!
Wanxiu was composed and capable — one of the most dependable people at Xie Yuzhang’s side, outranked only by Lin Fei herself. And she was beautiful besides!
Now that Wang Zhong had risen in the world, all he had really wanted was to “find himself a wife” — but he had never once dared set his sights on any of the people in Xie Yuzhang’s inner circle.
The handmaidens at Xie Yuzhang’s side were the equals of daughters from distinguished families — far beyond what someone like him would dare dream of.
He stood there for a long while without saying a word, which put Xie Yuzhang in an awkward position. She looked at him with surprise: “You are unwilling?”
Though she had full authority to decide the matter, in this kind of affair, if either party was reluctant, the outcome would not be a good one — and it might even breed resentment, which was the last thing she wanted.
Xie Yuzhang’s question, and the slight furrow of her brow, jolted Wang Zhong back to his senses. His face flushed a deep red. He was at a complete loss, stumbling over his words: “This — this subordinate is not unwilling, this subordinate — ah, that is, how could this subordinate deserve someone like Miss Wanxiu, that — Wanxiu, Wanxiu herself, does she — is she willing? If she is not, Your Highness please don’t — don’t force her…”
It was common practice for those of higher station to arrange marriages for their servants and attendants, and such arrangements very often had nothing to do with the wishes of those involved, who had no need to consent.
Yet those last two sentences came out quite smoothly — evidently sincere — and he even thought to consider Wanxiu’s feelings, fearing she would be wronged.
Xie Yuzhang’s spirits immediately lifted.
Wang Zhong was admittedly a bit slow-witted, but there were also genuinely good qualities in him. Had it been otherwise, he would not have risked his life in her past life to lead people to rescue her.
Xie Yuzhang looked at his beet-red face and broke into a laugh: “Of course I asked her first. I would never wrong her. And do not sell yourself short — if you fear she will be wronged, then simply treat her well. If you treat her badly, she can come and report it to me directly. I can arrange for her to marry you, and I can equally arrange for her to leave you.”
“I — I would never!” Wang Zhong said loudly. “This subordinate will never let her suffer even a moment’s wrong!”
That last outburst had been rather too loud — from within the inner chamber came the sound of young women’s bright, tinkling laughter. Whether Wanxiu was among them, no one could say for certain.
Wang Zhong’s face grew even redder — the flush spreading all the way down his neck.
Even Lin Fei raised her sleeve to cover a smile, and gave Xie Yuzhang a light nudge.
Xie Yuzhang laughed her fill before composing herself and saying with gravity: “Then it is settled. Go and find a matchmaker to come and make the formal proposal. Though we are far from home in a foreign land, we will observe all six traditional rites in full and proper order — not a single one may be skipped.”
Wang Zhong floated out as if walking on clouds. The felt curtain of the inner chamber was lifted, and Mingqing and Yuexiang came out laughing, shepherding Wanxiu between them.
Wanxiu had already been teased and joshed by them at length while she waited inside. The fair skin of her face was also suffused with a rosy flush.
Xie Yuzhang dismissed the others and kept Wanxiu alone to speak with her: “You heard him just now. That is the kind of man he is — a little blunt and straightforward, perhaps, but his heart is good. He is a few years older, but he has made something of himself. You marrying him puts my mind at ease more than any other arrangement.”
Likewise, Wanxiu marrying Wang Zhong put Xie Yuzhang’s mind more at ease than any other woman marrying Wang Zhong.
Xie Yuzhang had grown up in the deep palace, and she understood all too well the power a wife could have over a husband through quiet influence close at hand.
Wanxiu’s face was still pink as she replied: “This servant understands. Your Highness has given this servant the very best.”
Wanxiu was no fool. Wang Zhong was somewhat older, but his standing spoke for itself.
He was the kind of honest, guileless man who understood when the common village girls sent him handkerchiefs and food — what those gestures meant — but had utterly failed to grasp that the particular warm greetings, the extra portions of pastries, and the bowls of hot soup he received every time he came to Xie Yuzhang’s tent were the carefully considered expressions of the handmaidens’ own tender hearts.
These sentiments had been expressed too subtly and delicately, and Wang Zhong, not daring to presume on these lovely handmaidens, had simply not caught on. He had gone so far as to think about looking for a wife on his own — had it not been for Li Yong holding him firmly in check.
Several of the women at Xie Yuzhang’s side were seventeen or eighteen by now, all of marriageable age. And though Wang Zhong was somewhat older, he was still the most dazzling bachelor among all the Zhao people — everyone understood that well enough.
Everyone had to consider their own future.
In the end, this piece of good fortune landed in Wanxiu’s hands. Yet Xie Yuzhang had still worried that she might find Wang Zhong’s age off-putting, and feel she was getting the lesser bargain.
In Xie Yuzhang’s heart, all these young women who had followed her on this far journey to Mobei with no hope of returning — every one of them deserved to be cherished.
Now that both parties were willing, it was the best possible outcome. Xie Yuzhang smiled and said: “Go back for now. You need not attend to me these coming days — take the time to prepare yourself properly. Have a look through my storehouse for good fabrics. The wedding dress needs to be cut.”
Wanxiu withdrew, pink-cheeked and shy.
Wang Zhong floated back to the camp as if walking on air. Spotting Li Yong, he came back to himself. He surged forward and threw his arms around him, landing several loud kisses on his face.
Li Yong let out a startled yell: “What are you doing, you great fool! Let go of me!”
Wang Zhong roared with laughter: “I am going to marry Wanxiu!”
Then he said: “Where is Yuan Ling? Where is Yuan Ling? I must go find him!”
For a matchmaker, the most respectable choice was naturally the Princess’s household steward, Yuan Yu.
With that, he was off like the wind. His spirits had returned entirely — nothing remained of the dazed, muddled state he had been in earlier.
Li Yong, though he had sensed that Xie Yuzhang must have plans for Wang Zhong’s marriage, had not imagined that she would give him such a beautiful woman as Wanxiu.
It seemed as though, since coming to Mobei and following the Princess, all of their lives had become something different altogether.
Li Yong stood there, his gaze quite blank.
Xie Yuzhang had married her most loyal and trusted handmaiden to the head of her guard — Yuan Yu approved wholeheartedly, and was delighted to serve as matchmaker. The marriage was thus settled, and news spread quickly among everyone. People came one after another to offer Wang Zhong their congratulations.
Wang Zhong went about day after day grinning so widely he could not close his mouth.
In private, he quietly commissioned a craftsman to make a silver hairpin, a pair of silver bracelets, and a set of silver blossom-shaped earrings, and asked Lin Fei to deliver them to Wanxiu on his behalf — now that the betrothal gifts had been formally presented, they were an engaged couple, and by Da Zhao custom the two were not permitted to meet before the wedding.
Wanxiu stayed hidden away in the small tent where the handmaidens lodged, and in her shyness accepted the gifts. She in turn asked Lin Fei to bring Wang Zhong the shoes she had just finished making.
Wang Zhong tucked them into his breast and quickened his pace on the walk back. By the firelight that evening, he examined the stitching — fine and close, row upon even row. He treasured them so dearly he could not bear to part with them, yet pressed them beneath his pillow and refused to wear them.
“Fool,” Li Yong said, with a sourness he could not quite conceal. “From now on, you will have more shoes than you can ever wear.”
The handmaidens all offered Wanxiu their congratulations in turn. But there were those who could not help a trace of envy, offering their good wishes while sighing: “Only he is rather too old.”
A manner as though they were lamenting and feeling sorry for Wanxiu on her behalf.
Wanxiu looked up calmly: “The Khan is even older, and our Princess is even younger.”
A hush fell over the handmaidens.
The woman who had spoken froze, then hurried to say: “This servant spoke out of turn — please do not take offence.”
Wanxiu lowered her eyes and said nothing.
But she told Lin Fei of it all the same. She was about to be married, and Yuan Yu had no wife — among the married women, she would rank below the Princess and above all others. There was simply no possibility of her remaining at Xie Yuzhang’s side as she had before.
Which meant Xie Yuzhang would certainly be looking to elevate new people. In ordinary times everyone seemed harmonious and well-meaning, but it was in moments of difficulty that true character revealed itself. Those with divided loyalties and impure hearts — Xie Yuzhang needed to know of them.
As Wang Zhong’s wife-to-be, Wanxiu no longer feared making enemies.
Lin Fei duly told Xie Yuzhang.
Xie Yuzhang asked: “Who was it?”
Lin Fei said: “Zijin.”
Xie Yuzhang sighed: “Zijin is still so young — she is only one year older than me.”
Lin Fei said: “The younger she is, the more she should know better.”
Xie Yuzhang said: “Understood. Just let Zijin remain in the outer chamber, then. In a few years, she will be married off. Let us focus on managing Wanxiu’s wedding first.”
“Indeed,” Lin Fei said with a smile. “It will be the first joyous occasion we have had since coming here.”
Xie Yuzhang opened the storehouse.
Her dowry was a dazzling array — fine things in great abundance.
Wang Zhong had originally been sharing quarters with Li Yong — not because there were not enough felt tents, but because a single man alone had no purpose to it, and sharing gave them someone to talk to.
This time, Li Yong was not asked to move out. Instead, a larger felt tent was built for Wang Zhong separately. Xie Yuzhang rummaged through her own storeroom selecting this and that — there was no need to commission craftsmen to make furniture, as the things she bestowed filled Wang Zhong’s new tent directly. Everything was of the finest and most refined quality, far beyond anything Wang Zhong had used in his entire life.
Wang Zhong finally began to carry himself with something of the bearing befitting the head of a guard — quite dignified and presentable indeed.
As for Wanxiu, Xie Yuzhang prepared a generous and distinguished dowry for her. Bolt upon bolt of brilliant red silk woven through with gleaming golden thread was given to her for the making of her wedding dress.
The handmaidens of Zhadayali came to see it and went back chattering about it at length. Princess Zhao’s fine things truly were numerous — that vivid brilliance of color, that shimmering golden thread, how exquisite and beautiful it all was.
The nomads too came to know that the Zhao people were holding a celebration. Even Ashina heard of it, and asked Xie Yuzhang about it.
“It is my head of guard, marrying one of my handmaidens,” Xie Yuzhang said happily. “Come next year, they will have children — and our numbers will keep growing.”
People were the foundation of a tribe’s flourishing. Ashina loved to hear that.
The old scoundrel said with a grin: “Then you should hurry up and give me children too.”
Xie Yuzhang’s brows shot up: “By the ancestral gods—”
“Silence!” The old scoundrel hastily clapped a hand over her mouth. “Do not speak carelessly — the ancestral gods are listening!”
Xie Yuzhang seized his hand and sank her teeth into his arm: “Then you should not speak carelessly either!”
Her expression suddenly changed.
“Have you washed your hands?” she demanded sharply.
Ashina swore to the heavens: “I washed them. I truly did!”
Wang Zhong came to receive Wanxiu as his bride at the end of the fourth month.
Ashina Khan bestowed upon him one hundred sheep and ten slaves as a gift. The wedding was held with great dignity and ceremony.
From that day on, Wanxiu bore the title of Wang Furen. Wang Zhong, from the moment he obtained her, held her as though she were a treasure he feared to damage, handing over every coin of his wages and his household affairs entirely into her keeping.
Wanxiu had once been a princess’s handmaiden, yet she showed not the slightest arrogance — she treated Wang Zhong with great warmth and tenderness, and showed generous care toward all his fellow soldiers as well, earning the praise of everyone around them.
Under Wanxiu’s management, Wang Zhong was kept clean and tidy — his hair neatly dressed each day, his clothes immaculate, his step carrying a certain confident ease, as though he had shed several years from his age.
Li Yong watched them for a good while, and at last went before Xie Yuzhang to make a request of his own.
“Oh?” Xie Yuzhang looked at him with surprised amusement. “Who have you taken a liking to?”
“Anyone will do,” Li Yong said, rubbing his hands together. “As long as she is someone from Your Highness’s side — someone with a good heart who does not stir up trouble, and whose loyalty to Your Highness is true — anyone like that will do!”
Truly the rare fine-minded man among that rough and sturdy band of fellows.