Under Li Zhenzhen’s arrangements, Li Gu consummated his marriages one after the other with both Cui Yingniang and Deng Wanniang.

When he joined Li Zhenzhen and Nuan’nuan for a meal, Li Zhenzhen said: “Stop being so stubborn about it. I don’t know who you carry in your heart — but heirs are a serious matter. Think about how my father died.”

Li Gu said: “Understood.”

He then turned to help Nuan’nuan with her food, and told her with a stern face: “No picking at your food.”

Nuan’nuan looked at her mother. Her mother smiled pleasantly, showing not the slightest inclination to come to her rescue. Nuan’nuan ate her vegetables with aggrieved resignation.

Li Zhenzhen then asked: “When do you set out?”

Li Gu said: “The day after tomorrow.”

“Good.” Li Zhenzhen said. “Then tomorrow, let’s invite Fifth Lady and Seventeenth Lady over — we’ll all eat together as a family.”

Li Gu said: “All right.”

Deng Wanniang and Cui Yingniang had both become Li Gu’s wives in full, and yet they treated Li Zhenzhen with even more respect than before.

The Li family had risen on military merit — newly wealthy — and Li Zhenzhen’s upbringing was far inferior to these girls of the great aristocratic houses. Deng Wanniang, on account of this, had quite looked down on Li Zhenzhen.

So Li Zhenzhen had arranged for Cui Yingniang’s consummation to happen before hers. When Deng Wanniang’s mother learned of this, she had given her daughter a thorough scolding. From that point on, Deng Wanniang’s temperament had tempered considerably, making her truly worthy of the gentle grace her name suggested.

The following day, the whole family indeed sat down together for a reunion meal.

During the meal, Deng Wanniang was radiant, Cui Yingniang warm and gentle. Li Gu’s gaze swept over his wives’ lovely faces, and unbidden, a line came back to him: great merit and authority, a hall full of wives and concubines.

Since consummating the marriages, he had gradually come to feel, truly and tangibly, that he now had a home and a household. The weight of responsibility on his shoulders felt ever heavier.

“If anything should happen to me on this campaign,” he said solemnly, looking at them, “don’t wait for me. Find your own paths.”

Both women’s expressions changed.

Li Zhenzhen pressed a hand to her forehead: “Why are you frightening them like that?!”

“They should get used to it.” Li Gu said unmoved. “A soldier like me genuinely doesn’t know when he might die on the battlefield.”

At that, the two women finally exhaled and pressed their hands to their chests in relief.

Deng Wanniang said with fond reproach: “Look at you, always making people’s hearts jump.”

Cui Yingniang raised her cup: “My husband — return to us victorious.”

All the women raised their cups. Even Nuan’nuan held up her little pink carved carnelian cup with both hands, and called out in her childish voice: “Uncle, you have to win, all right? Don’t lose!”

Everyone laughed.

The gentle tension in Li Gu’s expression dissolved. He said: “All right. I won’t lose.”

He drank his cup.

When the meal was done, Li Zhenzhen said with a smile: “Yingniang, take Shiyi Lang to rest.”

Cui Yingniang responded with tender compliance.

Deng Wanniang kept the smile on her face, but lowered her eyes.

The unspoken undercurrents between women — Li Gu could sense them well enough. But compared to the great storms he faced outside, these were matters of no consequence.

Cui Yingniang and Deng Wanniang were both proud daughters of great families, evenly matched — truly difficult to choose between.

If Li Gu absolutely had to choose between the two, he would choose… Li Zhenzhen.

That was Li Gu’s stance and position in the inner quarters. By now, both women had read this clearly.

Deng Wanniang returned to her own rooms, washed and changed, and sat before her mirror while her maids removed her hairpins and unbound her hair. She sighed: “I don’t know what to say about my luck — I meet such a fine husband, and yet there’s this tigress…”

Her personal Nanny dismissed the maids, then personally combed her hair and chided her: “It was I who told you to be respectful to Li Da Niang, and you wouldn’t listen.”

Li Zhenzhen was the daughter of a military family, and her fierce reputation was known throughout all of Liangzhou. The true aristocratic families didn’t quite respect her — yet because her father had been the unchallenged lord of Hexi, they had no choice but to bow their heads.

Deng Wanniang said: “I thought that with Li Ming dead, she would be nothing more than a figurehead. The idea of sharing a husband with such a coarse woman — I simply couldn’t stomach it. I never imagined that she would…”

The Nanny said: “The lady still has a husband who holds her in reverence as an elder sister. The Madam had said — don’t look at her as the Master’s wife. Think of her as a senior sister-in-law.”

After her mother’s scolding, Deng Wanniang had shifted her perspective and thought of Li Zhenzhen as her husband’s elder sister — and the meaning clicked into place immediately.

The only trouble was that she had offended her before, and even now she was still being maneuvered, Li Gu’s visits consistently directed to Cui Yingniang’s quarters.

“From now on, not another step out of line — you must be respectful to Li Da Niang,” the Nanny said.

Deng Wanniang sighed: “I know.”

The next morning, Li Gu rose early and reached for his clothes, and Cui Yingniang flung her arms around his lean, narrow waist from behind, her tears soaking through to his back.

Li Gu turned his head to look at her — and recalling the tenderness of the night before, something soft moved in his chest. He held her and kissed her, reassuring her: “Don’t cry. Don’t be afraid. You’ll need to get used to this.”

Cui Yingniang pressed her face against his chest, muffled: “If anything happens to you, I shall still wait.”

Li Gu sighed: “Foolish girl.”

He kissed her hair, and said quietly: “For your sakes — I’ll make sure nothing happens.”

If only that ‘sakes’ could be removed, Cui Yingniang thought to herself.

She rested against Li Gu’s solid chest and gave a gentle, obedient sound of assent.

At the sendoff outside the city walls of Liangzhou, both Cui Yingniang and Deng Wanniang followed the custom of soldiers’ wives, tying silk handkerchiefs to their husband’s elbow, wishing him a safe return.

One said: “Be victorious.”

The other said: “Come home soon.”

Li Zhenzhen said: “The household is mine to keep.”

Li Gu said: “I leave it to you, Big Sister.”

Then to his two wives: “Take good care of yourselves.”

His manner toward them had changed entirely from before — the instincts of a husband were fully his now.

Li Weifeng murmured to Chen Zhiliang with a click of his tongue: “Would you look at that. Just look.”

Chen Zhiliang smiled: “I said it all along — once you take a new wife, everything finds its place.”

He glanced sidelong at Li Weifeng: “You should take a wife too.”

Li Weifeng shot back: “Get lost! It’s a rare thing that Big Sister isn’t managing me anymore, and now you want to take over?”

Then, inexplicably, he felt a pang of loss: “Ah… Big Sister doesn’t manage me anymore.”

So many things were quietly becoming different from before, stirring an inexplicable wistfulness in one’s chest.

Before he’d even finished his brooding, Li Gu had already bid farewell to his family across the way and swung up into the saddle. Men mounted all around him — armor swept and metal rang out on all sides, and something in the spirit snapped to attention at the sound.

Li Gu called out: “All forces, hear my command—”

“Move out!”

That day, the Hexi army set out for the south.

Iron cavalry, cold war drums, hooves shattering the frozen river.

Li Gu’s ironclad force had, at last, ridden out of Hexi — and was about to level the world beneath it.

About a month after his departure, Cui Yingniang and Deng Wanniang began, one after the other, to suffer from tightness in the chest, nausea, and dry heaving.

Li Zhenzhen had borne a child and knew in her heart what this meant.

She summoned a physician to take their pulses. It was, as expected, double good news.

Li Gu, out in the field with his army, received Li Zhenzhen’s letter and was overcome — the usually calm and composed man could not hold himself back, and immediately told Li Weifeng: “I’m going to be a father!”

The generals were all greatly pleased, and each of them pumped their fists: “Tomorrow we take this city — let it be a gift to Shiyi Lang to celebrate.”

Within days, the city fell.

The Hexi iron cavalry — vast, unstoppable, like a flood tide.

Compared to Li Gu, Xie Yuzhang’s days could only be described as peaceful and content.

Since Wuwei had taken her as his wife, his favor could be called exclusive. Not only did he spend every night in her tent — any newly acquired gems and precious stones, rare flowers and exotic plants, beautiful garments, he thought of sending to Xie Yuzhang’s tent first.

Zhadayali cared only about Dielitele’s position and right of succession; the romantic entanglements between men and women, a few trinkets here and there, were of no concern to her.

In her mind, Xie Yuzhang had been her daughter-in-law before, then became her sister, and in the future… it would not be impossible for her to become her daughter-in-law again. What Xie Yuzhang possessed all belonged to Wuwei, and what Wuwei possessed would one day all be Dielitele’s.

The logic was perfectly consistent.

Xie Yuzhang had previously kept to a very disciplined routine — daily archery and riding practice, punctual and regular. But since the wedding, Wuwei kept her up so late that she rose later and later each morning.

She had lived through two lifetimes. Her heart and spirit were long since different from what they had been. She had originally resigned herself to accepting Silibo — only for Wuwei to take his place instead. Wuwei was in the prime of his manhood, strong and vigorous, and in appearance was the very image of what Silibo must have looked like in his youth, bold and martial.

In her heart, Xie Yuzhang simply thought of him as a young Silibo. She was a woman who had come into herself fully, and was well acquainted with the pleasure of a union between man and woman.

And for that, she had Zhadayali to thank.

As a powerful prince, Wuwei in the marriage bed was remarkably well-versed in tenderness. Other than Zhadayali’s guiding hand, Xie Yuzhang could think of no other explanation.

In her past life, she had endured the painful ordeal of her first wedding night and the later degradations at Xia’erdan’s hands. It was Wuwei’s gentle and devoted love that had gradually healed the shadows lodged in her heart.

In this life, her circumstances and state of mind were both entirely different. She still possessed the identity of Princess Zhao, and understood very well how to enjoy what she had.

“Back in Yunjing, I used to hear vague rumors about the imperial aunts keeping male favorites and handsome servants — and I couldn’t fathom it.” She yawned. “Now I think the aunts really knew how to live.”

She had barely finished whispering this to Yue Xiang when Lin Fei walked in.

Both of them felt a flash of guilt and snuck a glance at her.

Lin Fei was speechless. She looked up at the sky and sighed.

When she went over to help Abazha, she found herself staring at him for a long moment.

Abazha asked: “Is something wrong? Did I mistranslate something?”

Lin Fei turned her head sharply. “No.”

In this uncivilized wilderness of savages — even if you tried to find the best of a poor lot, there isn’t a single one to be found!

Abazha: “???”

After the Central Plains New Year passed, and they were preparing to welcome the Khanate’s own new year, Dielitele came unexpectedly to visit Xie Yuzhang, and asked to take someone from her.

“She says she is carrying my child, and wishes to come to me.” The tall young man said.

If Wuwei was a middle-aged Silibo, then Dielitele was a young one. And Xie Yuzhang would even say that Dielitele resembled Silibo more than Wuwei did. It wasn’t merely the face — it was the light in his eyes.

Strangely, deeply familiar.

But Xie Yuzhang’s expression at this moment was quite unpleasant. She said: “Where is Zijin? Summon her.”

Dielitele spoke of this matter before Xie Yuzhang without a shred of embarrassment — if anything, with a trace of pride. In the eyes of the grasslands people, a man getting a woman with child was a mark of his strength and vigor, something to be proud of by nature. Central Plains people might find it hard to understand, but Dielitele coming personally to Xie Yuzhang to speak of this was another form of peacock displaying his feathers.

Zijin was summoned before Xie Yuzhang at once, her face full of shy bashfulness.

Xie Yuzhang asked: “You are carrying Dielitele’s child?”

Zijin nodded shyly in confirmation.

Xie Yuzhang said: “Bao Zhongxin has medicine that can remove the child.”

Zijin’s face drained of color in an instant. She dropped to her knees with a thud. “Your Highness, spare me!”

Xie Yuzhang said: “You needn’t be afraid — I’m not blaming you. Between man and woman, these things happen naturally. It’s only that I said to all of you before — I hope that when you marry, you will each marry a man of Zhao. I do not wish for you to have children with men of Mobei.”

Zijin wept: “But — but this child is already in my womb. I — I want to give birth to him. I want him to have a father and a mother…”

Xie Yuzhang had still held some hope, but hearing this, her heart became a clear mirror.

Dielitele was young and powerful, and was widely recognized as the Khanate’s future heir.

Xun’er had just last month married a cavalry soldier from the guard. The next one to be matched would have been Zijin.

Zijin… had set her sights higher.

Xie Yuzhang harbored beautiful wishes for everyone around her, but Xie Yuzhang also possessed a heart forged through two lifetimes.

She could not tell Zijin that there would come a day when they returned to the Central Plains. Given this imbalance of information, this was a choice Zijin herself had made.

Xie Yuzhang gazed at Zijin for a long moment, then shifted her eyes to Dielitele.

Dielitele did not understand the language of the Central Plains, and had no idea why Zijin had suddenly knelt down and wept. He was rather confused — in his mind, this ought to be a joyful occasion. He had added to the tribe’s population, contributed to the people’s numbers. Xie Yuzhang, he thought, should offer him cheerful congratulations.

Xie Yuzhang addressed him in the language of the grasslands: “Zijin, though she is a handmaid, is not a slave. Her family is from near Yunjing in Great Zhao — she is a freeborn commoner of entirely clean birth. In the old days in the imperial palace, only a girl of such an unsullied background could become my handmaid. I hope that you can give her the status of a wife.”

Zijin’s delight showed on her face immediately.

But in truth this was actually a very minor request.

Because the title of “wife” in the grasslands was of no great significance. As long as one was not a slave girl, even the daughter of an ordinary herdsman could in fact become the wife of a nobleman.

Only a wife of such humble origins, with no family bringing assets with her, no retinue of slaves to her name, would be as lowly as a slave girl in the eyes of wives who came from high birth and wealthy families.

And as for the children born — there was no distinction between legitimate and illegitimate in the grasslands. The only distinctions that mattered were between rich and poor, the powerful and the powerless.

Dielitele agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Xie Yuzhang had secured a proper status for Zijin, which could be counted as honoring the bond of mistress and servant between them in this lifetime.

After the Khanate’s new year passed and the temperature gradually began to warm, the Central Plains merchant caravans — absent for an entire summer, an autumn, and a winter — appeared on the grasslands at last.

Carried by the gradually warming southern winds, they brought with them their glittering merchandise, and also the news: turmoil in Yunjing, the death of Li Ming, and Li Gu’s seizure of Hexi.