One trying to pull the blanket away, the other clutching it with both hands and refusing to let go.

Commander Hu said loudly: “If you don’t let go, this subordinate will have to be disrespectful to the Marquis!”

The Marquis of Beiying snorted: “You can’t even beat me in a fight!”

Commander Hu could indeed not beat the Marquis of Beiying in a fight. But that did not prevent him from using underhanded methods.

If Li the Seventh refused to release the blanket, then there was no need to wrestle for the blanket at all.

Hu Jin moved swiftly, rolled Li Weifeng and the blanket up together into a tube, and hoisted the entire bundle over his shoulder.

Li Weifeng erupted with a string of curses: “Hu Bantou, you bastard — put me down!”

Hu Jin called out: “Wu San, bring the Seventh Master’s clothes!”

Wu San had a knife scar across half his face, thoroughly disfigured, with one arm missing. In the middle of the night he looked rather alarming.

Wu San used his one hand to efficiently bundle up Li Weifeng’s clothes and shoes together and stuffed everything into the hands of the inner guards Hu Jin had brought along. He yawned and said: “Hurry up — all this noise is giving me a headache.”

Hu Jin said: “Get me a carriage!”

In the end, no carriage was needed. Li Weifeng was carried on Hu Jin’s shoulder all the way to the gatehouse, where he was unrolled from the blanket, dressed himself in his clothes and shoes amid a torrent of grumbling, and rode off on horseback with Hu Jin.

Wu San yawned, directing a cluster of one-armed and one-legged household servants to shut the front gate.

The newly hired Second Steward of the Marquis of Beiying’s residence was a middle-aged man with a trim beard, with an appearance and bearing so composed and distinguished he resembled a lord of some consequence — more imposing than many a minor official. He asked with concern: “This won’t cause trouble, will it?”

Wu San yawned again and waved him off: “No trouble.”

The Second Steward remained visibly anxious.

This Second Steward had previously served a certain prince’s household under the former Zhao. Since coming to the Marquis of Beiying’s residence, he had put everything in order from top to bottom, giving the household the proper bearing of a noble establishment.

He was also not greedy for power: though he had effectively taken over almost all of the steward’s duties, he remained scrupulously respectful toward Wu San, who held the nominal title of Head Steward. Wu San was quite fond of him. Seeing that he was still worried, he waved again and said warmly: “It’ll be fine. Our lord and His Majesty — they’re fine. Old Qiu, go sleep.”

Li Weifeng grumbled the whole way there, and Hu Jin endured it all.

When they reached a certain junction, Li Weifeng pulled his horse’s head in a different direction: “This way.”

Hu Jin assumed he was trying to slip away and grabbed his sleeve: “The palace is that way!”

“I know!” Li Weifeng snapped. “Why should I be the only one dragged into this? Come on — let’s go pull Chen Zipeng out of bed too!”

Chen Liangzhi’s courtesy name was Zipeng, and he too was a man who had followed Li Gu for many years. In official matters he was deeply trusted; in personal matters he was someone Li Gu could actually listen to. Hu Jin heard this, slapped his thigh: “Right!”

The two of them cheerfully went and hammered on the Chen family’s door, hauled Chen Liangzhi out, and brought him along to the palace.

They had barely entered the palace and the gates had closed behind them when Chancellor Zhang Gong and the others arrived and were refused at the outer gate.

The three men walked quickly, and soon reached Zichen Hall, where they found Fuchun.

Fuchun’s face wore a strange, cryptic smile. He told them: “He’s still angry. Just now Lady Li came — he wouldn’t even see her.”

The three men thought: you don’t need to look like your face is having a spasm just because he’s angry — and went in together.

Li Gu was indeed still angry.

The rosewood imperial writing table had been righted and its contents replaced. Li Gu sat behind it in silence, his expression dark.

Li Weifeng strode in, gathered his breath to his core, and called out: “Your Majesty!”

A inkstone came flying toward him with the force of the wind.

Li Weifeng sidestepped it. The precious inkstone struck the ground and shattered.

Li Weifeng said, irritated: “Eleven! What is all this nonsense about?” Waking everyone up in the middle of the night.

Li Gu said: “Leave me alone.”

Li Weifeng was even more irritated: “You think I want to be here?” Was there something wrong with his bed? His sleep?

Chen Liangzhi sighed and stepped forward: “Shiyi Lang, what’s happened now? Why did you send all the young ladies back?”

One called him Eleven; the other addressed him as Shiyi Lang. In that hall, there was no Emperor, no general, no official and guard commander — only Shiyi Lang, Seventh, Zipeng, and Bantou.

Li Gu said: “The inner palace has enough people. No more need to be added.”

This was not a question of having enough or too many people at all. And the matter of establishing an Empress had only been settled after so many factions had competed and negotiated. Had it not all been agreed upon?

Chen Liangzhi frowned: “Then what is your reason for reversing course?”

Li Gu was silent.

Chen Liangzhi said with resignation: “If you dislike the Zhang girl, choose someone else. Yang the Attendant Counselor’s niece is also a respectable candidate.”

He had made similar arguments about the Cui and Deng women back in the day. But today’s situation was different.

Li Gu said: “No replacement. No one.”

Chen Liangzhi stared at him.

Li Weifeng said, exasperated: “What lunacy is this now? Without an Empress, who manages the inner palace?”

Li Gu said: “Elder Sister will continue to oversee it.”

Li Weifeng was startled: “You want to make Elder Sister the Empress?”

Chen Liangzhi said: “Is that it?”

As members of the Hexi faction, they would not oppose this.

But Li Gu was silent for a long moment before finally saying: “The position of Empress will remain unfilled for now.”

Even Li Weifeng knew this was deeply wrong: “That won’t do.”

Li Gu said: “Elder Sister will hold the rank of Noble Consort of the highest order, as first among the consorts, overseeing the inner palace. That is entirely defensible.”

Chen Liangzhi said: “Even if you choose not to fill the position, you still need a reason. Why?”

Why?

Li Gu didn’t know why.

He had never cared much about the inner palace, never cared much about an Empress. He had thought to see the candidates, and as long as no one was too unsuitable, let matters be settled. After all, the determining factor was never the young ladies themselves.

Yet the Empress candidate the old Yunjing party had delivered to him had torn open a fissure in something inside him.

Whoever became Empress would become the most honored woman in the Great Mu dynasty.

All other women would look up to her.

Whomever she marginalized, whomever she mocked and insulted — that person would have to lower her head and yield, just as the Feng girl had done today.

In the moment Li Gu overturned the imperial writing table, something inside him had marked the position of “Empress” with one decisive, obliterating stroke.

As for why — he did not want to think about it.

He had the vague sense that the moment he examined it, he would have to confront something directly, and something in the realm of reality would shatter.

Li Gu refused to give an answer, and Chen Liangzhi’s head was throbbing.

He too was angry now. He said: “A man must keep his word. This was all agreed upon. If you go back on it now, are you simply trying to renege on a debt? The rest might be manageable, but the Empress position — how do you explain this to Zhang Gong? Everyone knows his granddaughter was to be the Empress. If you send her back like this, who will marry that girl now? What are you trying to do — make an enemy of him?”

Li Gu was silent.

Then he slowly raised his eyes and studied Li Weifeng.

Li Weifeng, under that gaze, felt his skin crawl. He forced a laugh: “Why are you looking at me? I have no ability to fix this for you — Bantou was the one who dragged me here.”

Li Gu looked at him and said: “Old Seventh… you are twenty-eight…”

Li Weifeng immediately cried out: “Not me! I can’t do it!”

Li Gu said: “Old Seventh, it’s time you had a wife.”

Li Weifeng refused: “Why does it have to be me?”

Li Gu said: “Old Seventh, consider it a debt I owe you.”

Chen Liangzhi tucked his hands into his sleeves and sighed: “There really is only Seventh.”

And so between those two men, Li Weifeng’s fate was thoroughly arranged without his consent.

He had drifted recklessly all the way to twenty-eight. At last, it seemed, a wife was coming his way.

The next morning Zhang Gong arrived at the palace at first light, intending to confront the Emperor about the previous night. But the Emperor struck first: “Chancellor Zhang, your granddaughter is gentle and courteous. I wish to arrange a match for her.”

Zhang Gong was dumbstruck.

The Empress position — a duck already cooked and on the platter — had flown away.

Yet the Emperor had already stated his intentions plainly. Zhang Gong had no choice but to force a smile and ask: “This subject is greatly honored. May I ask whom Your Majesty has in mind?”

Li Gu glanced at Li Weifeng standing nearby, expression blank, and said: “My seventh elder brother.”

He added: “Old Seventh and I share a bond forged through life and death — as close as brothers of the same blood. If Chancellor Zhang is willing, your granddaughter would be as a sister-in-law to me.”

Zhang Gong looked at Li Weifeng, his mind working at speed.

By the Emperor’s manner, though no one yet understood the full reason, the Empress position was clearly out of reach. The compensation being offered: Zhang Fen would marry Li Weifeng instead.

Zhang Gong felt that, given the loss was already certain, this compensation was acceptable.

Li Weifeng had howled “why does it have to be me?” the previous night.

Why him, indeed?

Hexi had once spoken of the Twelve Tigers — a name that had been swallowed by the blood and fire of the Hexi uprising. Of those twelve, five now remained.

Among them, Shiyi Lang Li Gu had become Emperor, and toward his former sworn brothers he called Li Da “First Brother,” Li Mao “Fifth Brother,” and Li Chongming “Eighth Brother.” Compared to how others addressed them — by name, courtesy name, or ancestral land — this was naturally far more intimate.

Yet among all of them, everyone knew Li Weifeng held a place apart.

Li Gu had always called him “Old Seventh,” never wavering. The warmth of the Emperor’s regard for him was plain to see.

The Emperor also presented Zhang Fen with a lavish betrothal gift, and the match was thus settled. Through the entire process, Li Weifeng, the party concerned, had no room to voice any objection.

Once Zhang Gong had departed, Li Gu said: “Old Seventh, I owe you for this.”

Li Weifeng wore a blank expression and recited his lines: “Whether thunder or gentle rain, all things are the grace of the sovereign. This is this subject’s honor.”

Li Gu’s voice softened, reaching for words of consolation: “The Zhang girl is a daughter of a distinguished house. She does not diminish Old Seventh.”

Li Weifeng erupted: “Nonsense! She’s a formidable one — I looked into her long ago! I can’t stand that type! I like gentle women, with a pleasant voice!”

He fumed for a good while, then asked: “Old Chen gave me a task — he wants me to find out what actually happened. Why did you suddenly go off like that?”

Those words insulting Xie Yuzhang — he could never let another person hear them spoken again. Last night, in the moment of it, Li Gu had felt that Zhang Shi deserved to have her tongue cut out.

Everyone thought he had lost his mind. But he had, in fact, maintained enough composure to resolve the matter into its current shape.

Li Gu said: “I don’t want to talk about it. Don’t ask.”

That was enough for Li Weifeng to know nothing more would come out of him.

He huffed for a moment, then asked: “Really not going to appoint an Empress?”

Li Gu said: “We’ll speak of it later.”

He hadn’t closed the door entirely. Li Weifeng was slightly reassured. He planted his hands on his hips: “If the Zhang woman doesn’t suit me, you owe me ten beauties!”

Li Gu agreed at once.

Li Gu then summoned Chen Liangzhi and asked: “How long before I can take the field again?”

Chen Liangzhi said: “The north is exhausted — no sooner than three years of recovery.”

Li Gu said: “We have money.”

The former Zhao court had not fallen through poverty — far from it. Its downfall had come from losing control of the regional powers, but the imperial treasury had been exceedingly rich.

All of those resources had passed into Li Gu’s hands.

Chen Liangzhi said: “Grain is the problem — all the money in the world can’t replace it. Think of how much land has lain fallow these past years. You need to let the people recover. Don’t be impatient — give me three years, and I will give you an army well-fed, well-trained, and supplied to cross the river.”

Li Gu said: “We are not crossing the river.”

Chen Liangzhi was taken aback.

Li Gu said: “We are going north.”

“Zipeng, the south is the great rice-producing heartland. If the grain does not move north, they alone cannot consume it all.”

“Wealth stirs men’s ambitions. In the old days, Hexi merchants braved the Gobi and traversed the grasslands in pursuit of profit. I do not believe the grain merchants of the south are content to watch their prices sink.”

“Zipeng, I give you one year. Open the southern trade routes for me — get that grain moving north.”