Two days later, news arrived that Xia Di had taken the head of Menghe at Yumen Pass. The Emperor was greatly pleased and immediately drafted an imperial decree summoning Xia Di to return to the capital in triumph, along with sundry rewards.

From the moment Princess Derong heard the news, her mouth had not stopped smiling. She spent her days counting on her fingers to figure out when Xia Di would come home, and even began to look upon Feng Chuyue with a somewhat more favorable eye.

On this particular day, Xia Fen came home to visit her mother’s household. The moment she stepped down from the carriage, she could see that a great number of carriages were already crowded at the gate — all, she supposed, belonging to Chang’an officials who had come rushing to pay their respects upon hearing the good news.

Entering the main hall, she found her mother seated in the place of honor as expected, speaking in a gracious and pleasant manner with the assembled wives and relatives. Seeing her daughter return, Princess Derong smiled and beckoned her to sit, saying: “Your Second Brother has already broken camp and is on his way back to Chang’an. He’ll be back within twenty days at the most.”

Xia Fen smiled. “That’s wonderful news. I thought Second Brother would have to stay at Yumen Pass all the way until the New Year. You can put your mind at rest now, Mother — not only did Second Brother return unharmed, he’s even earned a military distinction. All your earlier worrying can be set aside.”

She sat and chatted with her mother for a while. The visitors gradually said their goodbyes and departed, and Xia Fen rose to go visit Feng Chuyue in the inner courtyard.

Princess Derong, however, hesitated for a moment and called her daughter back. “Now that you’re a married woman, there are things I needn’t hold back from you as I once did. There’s something I want to discuss with you.”

Xia Fen had a vague idea of what her mother was about to say. Her cheeks grew slightly warm, and she said gently: “Whatever you’d like to say, Mother, please go ahead. I’m listening.”

Princess Derong took her daughter’s hand and sighed. “A few days ago, the tutor Steward Liu, who had accompanied your Second Brother to Yumen Pass, sent a letter back saying that your brother is in every other way just fine, but that the two maids he took with him have both been passed off to other men — he hasn’t kept a single one for himself, and has no one to properly attend him. I thought to myself, he was in a foul temper when he married Feng Chuyue, but he’s still young — even if he wants nothing to do with Feng Chuyue, surely he wouldn’t refuse other women too? And yet it seems this child is so stubborn about it. A’Fen, what do you think is going on in your brother’s head? Could it be that he’s still brooding over that Qu woman?”

Xia Fen’s eyes flickered subtly. She smiled. “Mother, you’re worrying too much. From what I’ve heard, Menghe is treacherous by nature and commands several thousand Turkic soldiers — he’s been extraordinarily difficult to deal with. The fact that Second Brother managed to return victorious means he must have endured hardships we can’t even imagine. While he was at Yumen Pass, his thoughts were surely entirely consumed by military strategy and tactics — how could he spare any energy for other things? Those two maids, though they are servants, are still soft and pampered young women — once they arrived at the army camp, they’d have been unable to do a thing, which would only have made them a burden to Second Brother. Passing them off to others is not the least bit surprising. Once Second Brother is back in Chang’an, everything will naturally sort itself out.”

Princess Derong let out a relieved sigh and said to her daughter: “You always know just what to say. I do understand it all in my head — but I needed to say it to you before my heart could settle.”

She looked up at her daughter’s gentle and demure face, and asked quietly: “Is Seventh Prince treating you well?”

Xia Fen’s face flushed, and she gave a bashful nod.

“Good.” Princess Derong smiled and sighed. Then, thinking of something, she added: “You have always been clear-sighted about things. There is a custom in this dynasty that princes take one principal wife and four side consorts. Even if one or two of those side consorts happen to be in favor, they are still concubines in the end and can never surpass you. To involve yourself in rivalry with them would only diminish your own standing. “

Xia Fen lowered her eyes and dabbed at her lips with her handkerchief, and softly answered that she understood. She sat a while longer, then rose and went into the inner courtyard.

Princess Derong rarely visited Feng Chuyue herself, but she couldn’t very well object to her daughter going to see her second sister-in-law, and so she let her go.

Feng Chuyue was dressed in crisp new clothing, her belly visibly rounded as she stood in her room sorting through a pile of congratulatory gifts. Most of these gifts had been sent by officials’ wives — people who wanted to ingratiate themselves with the Duke of Wei’s household, or perhaps with Xia Di himself, but who, being newly arrived in Chang’an, didn’t know enough about Feng Chuyue’s background and had erred on the side of sending things addressed to the Second Madam of the Xia household.

Feng Chuyue was not at all bothered by this and simply accepted everything sent to the Second Madam without hesitation.

When Xia Fen walked in, Feng Chuyue was holding a pair of tiny gleaming gold bracelets up to the window, examining them with an expression of pure, unguarded delight.

Catching sight of Xia Fen, she at least had the sense to restrain herself. She quickly set the bracelets back in their box, pushed it to one side, and pressed a hand against the small of her back as she rose and came forward warmly. “A’Fen.”

Xia Fen had taken only one glance to guess where all those gifts had come from. She thought of how her mother, always too dignified to trouble herself with such petty matters, had let Feng Chuyue take advantage of the gap. When Second Brother returned and found out, he would undoubtedly lash out at Feng Chuyue all over again.

She inwardly sighed, let a smile bloom across her face, and personally helped Feng Chuyue with her arm, calling out warmly: “Second Sister-in-Law.”

Seeing Feng Chuyue’s expression brighten visibly at that form of address, she allowed a small, inwardly contemptuous smile to pass across her features, then sat down beside her and gently placed a hand on Feng Chuyue’s belly. “Has my little nephew been behaving himself lately?”

Feng Chuyue laughed without a trace of guile. “Everything else is fine — it’s just that he likes to kick at me inside my belly for no reason at all. He’s terribly mischievous.”

Xia Fen accepted the cup of tea that a maidservant offered. “I heard Imperial Physician Lin say once that a restless child in the womb is a sign that the baby is thriving well — plenty of strength because he’s been nourished so fully. A child like that, once born, tends to be easier to raise than others, and nine times out of ten will be a little son.”

At these words, the smile on Feng Chuyue’s face spread even further. She rested a hand on her belly and looked down at it from time to time with an expression of fond, absorbed happiness, as if it harbored some rare and priceless treasure.

Xia Fen watched this and remarked casually: “Second Brother should be back by the end of the month. How fortunate — there’s still some time before the baby arrives, so he’ll be here in time to see the little one born.”

Feng Chuyue was also hoping to use the birth of the child to soften Xia Di’s hostility toward her. Hearing this, she couldn’t help but feel a flicker of hopeful anticipation. “That’s just what I was thinking — I had thought he might still be at Yumen Pass when the time came.”

Xia Fen saw that the moment was ripe, and suddenly let out a sigh. “Still — as long as Second Brother’s heart remains knotted up, given his temperament, even after he comes back, he won’t view the little one with any particular favor.”

This struck directly at Feng Chuyue’s most vulnerable point. Xia Di felt nothing for her; the child was her one and only hope of changing her situation. If Xia Di softened toward her even a little for the baby’s sake, she would stand on firmer ground, and life in this household would become far easier. But if she gave birth and Xia Di remained as cold toward her as ever, she would have no further means of turning her circumstances around.

These thoughts she kept carefully inside, while her face deliberately put on an expression of puzzlement, and she smiled with feigned confusion: “What do you mean by that?”

Xia Fen dismissed the servants and let out a sigh, looking at Feng Chuyue with an air of reluctant sympathy. “You’re usually so sharp and quick-witted — how can you be so confused about this? Just now at Mother’s, I heard that Second Brother passed those two personal attendants you sent him off to other men and kept neither one.”

Feng Chuyue, who had just been quietly noting that Xia Fen’s manner seemed a little different from usual, was genuinely startled to hear this. “How is that possible? Those two girls were exactly the type he should have found to his liking.”

“What type is that?” Xia Fen fixed her gaze on Feng Chuyue. Watching Feng Chuyue look evasive, at a loss for how to answer, she gave a slow nod. “You needn’t hide it from me. Mother told me already — you deliberately selected two maids who resembled Qu Qin Yao to serve Second Brother. You put real thought into it, I’ll give you that. A pity Second Brother didn’t appreciate the gesture.”

Feng Chuyue gave an awkward smile. “Second Brother’s mind is truly not easy to read. I honestly meant to please him well, and even that I managed to do wrong.”

Xia Fen noted that Feng Chuyue showed not the slightest trace of jealousy, and inwardly frowned. She said, in a measured tone: “Which goes to show just how much importance he places on Qu Qin Yao.”

Watching Feng Chuyue’s expression stiffen for a fraction of a moment, she allowed the corner of her mouth to curve upward almost imperceptibly, then continued in a calm voice: “I know Second Brother’s character. He may be wild and unbridled, but once he has set his mind on something, he is never easily willing to let it go. That was especially true of how he came to marry you —” she gave Feng Chuyue a meaningful look, “— I mean nothing by this, but you know as well as I do that when he married you, the person he was going after was Qu Qin Yao, and the person he was determined to take as his wife was her, not you. Who could have predicted that you would step in and—”

Even Feng Chuyue’s skin had its limits. Words like these were still difficult to hear. She gave a strained, embarrassed smile and shifted her body quietly and discreetly deeper into the chair.

Xia Fen lowered her eyes, concealing the contempt in them. “So it’s hardly surprising that Second Brother still can’t get Qu Qin Yao out of his heart. To have lost something so close — look at the two of them and you’ll understand what that means. And that resentment of his is not something that will dissolve in three to five years. In someone else, perhaps — he’d mull it over for a while, make his peace with it, and eventually let the matter drop. But my Second Brother has been the kind of person since childhood who feared nothing and answered to no one — even our parents could never manage him. Unless he himself gives up on Qu Qin Yao, nothing will change his attitude toward you and the child. Nothing.”

Feng Chuyue straightened in her chair a little, her fingers pinching the fabric of her sleeve. She murmured with a question: “But how would one make him give up on A’Yao?”

Xia Fen saw that the fish had taken the bait, and something inside her eased. She rose, walked over to the table, and with an idle, nonchalant air began running her fingers over the stem of a magnolia blossom in the vase there. “My Second Brother has always held himself to a high standard. There are very few young women he has ever found worthy of his notice. If Qu Qin Yao had not deliberately played at tempting him back then, how could he have been drawn in so deeply? Which goes to show that underneath all that appearance of pure, spotless virtue she puts on, there’s no telling what tricks she played on my Second Brother behind the scenes.”

Feng Chuyue curved her lips into a forced smile but offered no reply.

Xia Fen kept Feng Chuyue’s reaction in her peripheral vision, and raised an eyebrow. “The reason my Second Brother holds her in such high regard is, first of all, his belief in her character. He said more than once that Qu Qin Yao is bright and straightforward — quite unlike other young women. But what if he were to discover that Qu Qin Yao is actually a fickle woman who plays with men’s hearts — that aside from him and Eleventh Brother, she had another man she was keeping a hold on, unwilling to let go? Do you think he would still spend his thoughts on Qu Qin Yao? If anything, he would only berate himself for having failed to read her character, for having been toyed with all along, and from then on he would cut all thoughts of Qu Qin Yao off entirely.”

“And once he had cut off all thoughts of her—” she turned her head to look at Feng Chuyue, “— he would naturally realize that what happened back then was truly not your fault, and that Qu Qin Yao was never worth all that feeling he wasted on her. Once he worked through that, Second Brother would certainly pull himself together and begin to treat you and the child properly.”

“But…” Feng Chuyue gave two dry laughs. “A’Yao really doesn’t seem like that kind of woman. Aside from the Young Lord of Prince Lan’s estate, I never saw her having any dealings with other men either…”

Xia Fen looked at Feng Chuyue at those words, then stepped closer, bent forward, and studied her face from up close — as if trying to determine whether she were playing the fool or truly was one.

After a moment, she straightened and sat back down beside Feng Chuyue, giving a cold, contemptuous laugh. “To my knowledge, aside from Eleventh Brother and my Second Brother, there is one other — someone she also made every effort to entice.”

Feng Chuyue played innocent. “Who?”

Xia Fen pressed her lips together and shook her head again and again. “Who else? Naturally your eldest brother — the current Prince Consort — Feng Boyu.”

Feng Chuyue shot to her feet. “A’Fen, that is not something to say carelessly.”

Xia Fen gave a cool smile. “Second Sister-in-Law, I am going to such lengths for the sake of bringing you and Second Brother together — why do you act as though I’m trying to harm you?”

She was deliberately trying to provoke Feng Chuyue into revealing the truth. “The things that went on between Qu Qin Yao and your eldest brother in those earlier days are hardly any great secret at this point. When she was still a girl, she kept very close company with your brother. Then before long, your brother discovered that she was changeable in her affections — that she was carrying on with Eleventh Brother at the same time — and found her conduct beneath him, after which he cut off all contact with her. Am I right about this?”

Feng Chuyue denied it point-blank: “That is absolutely not what happened. It’s true that A’Yao and I have known each other for a long time, but it was for entirely different reasons — it had nothing whatsoever to do with my eldest brother—”

Xia Fen grabbed her by the hand and pressed urgently: “Why are you frightened? If this came to Second Brother’s ears, it would only make clear to him what kind of person Qu Qin Yao truly is, and he’d never let her occupy his thoughts again. You wouldn’t even have to be the one to do anything to him directly — you’d only need to let something slip in front of Kangping. Say that Qu Qin Yao once used to chase after your brother, that he found it utterly tiresome and finally cut all ties with the Qu family just to be free of her. Given Kangping’s temperament, she’d be sure to blurt it out in front of everyone before long — and then Second Brother would understand Qu Qin Yao’s true character for himself, wouldn’t he?”

Every time Feng Chuyue tried to speak, Xia Fen cut her off. At last finding her moment, she broke in quickly: “But surely I can’t go around fabricating things about people — inventing something that never happened just to defame another person. A’Yao doesn’t know my brother at all; they’ve never even exchanged a word. How could there be any question of her enticing him?”

Xia Fen stared at Feng Chuyue in silence for a moment, and then suddenly smiled. “Is it that you’re worried that if Kangping knew, she might blame your brother? Don’t you know how much Kangping dotes on your brother? Even if she found out about this, she would only turn her anger on Qu Qin Yao — she would never think to blame your brother for any of it. And remember — you are the Prince Consort’s own younger sister. What you say carries more weight than what anyone else might say. Once it’s said, Second Brother and Eleventh Brother will both come to understand the kind of person Qu Qin Yao truly is.”

At that last sentence, something clicked into place for Feng Chuyue. She stared at Xia Fen, her mouth falling open in astonishment, and then suddenly let out a sharp cry: “Oh! Oh my — why does my stomach suddenly hurt so much? A’Fen, I — I think the baby may have been disturbed.”

Her cry was loud enough that before Xia Fen could so much as react, the maids and old women waiting outside had already heard the commotion. They came flooding in all at once, a flurry of hands and voices, helping Feng Chuyue lie down on the bed. Someone else took off running to Princess Derong’s quarters to fetch a physician.

Amid all the chaos, Feng Chuyue still found a moment to catch Xia Fen’s eye over the shoulders of the clustering maids, and mustered an apologetic smile. “A’Fen, I’m so sorry — look at this, I haven’t even managed to… to properly entertain you…”

Xia Fen was pushed to the back of the room by the press of maidservants, standing to one side with a dark expression. Not until Princess Derong came rushing in at the news did she put on a look of anxious concern and move forward to receive her mother.

Xia Fen did not return to Prince Wu’s residence until the evening. She had barely stepped into the main room when a servant crept forward and reported in a hushed voice: “His Highness is inside, in the inner chamber.”

Xia Fen made a soft sound of acknowledgment, then glided gracefully into the inner chamber. She saw Prince Wu and gave him a sweet smile. “Seventh Brother.”

Prince Wu’s smile was as warm and open as ever, but his body had not moved. He said only: “You’re back.”

Xia Fen changed her clothes, dismissed the servants, and settled beside Prince Wu with perfect elegance. She said idly: “I meant to come back earlier, but my second sister-in-law suddenly felt the baby move and unsettled her, so I stayed until the imperial physician had seen her before leaving.”

Prince Wu poured his tea without looking up and smiled. “You always put others first.”

“It’s only right.” Xia Fen walked to the dressing table, picked up a small jar of jasmine cream, and applied it to her wrists, smoothing it in slowly, her every movement graceful beyond reproach. “My Second Brother is away on campaign, and my second sister-in-law is with child — all things considered, one could say she’s in a rather pitiable situation.”

Prince Wu’s gaze followed Xia Fen’s movements to the cosmetic boxes on the dressing table, and he said suddenly: “A’Fen, do you still remember that piece of East Sea cold jade I gave you once?”

Xia Fen’s body went slightly stiff. The hand playing with the cosmetic cream slowed to a stop. A moment passed, and then she turned with a smile. “Of course I remember. Why do you suddenly ask about that?”

“I was just thinking of how, when I gave it to you, you had originally planned to have it made into a paperweight.” Prince Wu set his teacup back on the table. “And yet you ended up making it into an apricot blossom hairpin. I’ve always wondered what made you change your mind.”

Xia Fen gave an uneasy little laugh and went to sit on the edge of the bed. “I just thought that piece of East Sea cold jade was too fine a thing — it seemed a waste to make it into a paperweight. Better to turn it into jewelry instead.”

“Is that so?” Prince Wu watched Xia Fen steadily. “Yet I happened to notice, just a few days ago, that the Qu woman was also wearing an East Sea cold jade hairpin — and the design was nearly identical to yours. If you didn’t look carefully, you couldn’t tell them apart.”

“Oh — so that’s what Seventh Brother has been working up to all this time,” Xia Fen said, with a deliberately light tone. “She had hers made at the same shop as mine. She saw mine and thought it looked lovely, so she had one made for herself.”

Prince Wu’s expression slowly darkened. “Which shop? Would it be Runyu Pavilion? That shop, though not as famous as Zhaixin Tower, is still not particularly difficult to find.”

The expression froze on Xia Fen’s face.

Prince Wu rose from his seat and walked unhurriedly to stand before her. He clasped his hands behind his back and bent down, fixing her with his gaze. “I went to that shop just yesterday. And what should I hear from the shopkeeper but that the plum blossom pin came first, and the apricot blossom pin came after.”

Xia Fen instinctively tilted her head back to follow Prince Wu’s movement as he leaned closer. She opened her mouth, but not a single word came out. A cold sweat began to seep slowly down her back.

Prince Wu spoke in an even tone: “I searched the whole of Chang’an, and there is only one jewelry shop that has ever made this kind of East Sea cold jade hairpin. And on the very day after the first customer bought the plum blossom pin, a young noblewoman of Chang’an brought her own piece of East Sea cold jade to the shop and commissioned the shopkeeper to make her a second pin — in the same design as the plum blossom one, but rendered as apricot blossoms.”

Xia Fen’s mind raced at full speed, and she was just about to force a smile and speak — when Prince Wu cut her off without a pause and changed direction. “Oh, and I remember something else. A few days before the betrothal decree was issued, there was that one time you spent the night in the palace and arranged a tryst with me. When I came, calling out to you from behind — why did you startle like you’d seen a ghost?”

Xia Fen’s body remained perfectly still. But a drop of sweat rolled slowly down from her hairline along her temple.

The coldness in Prince Wu’s eyes shifted to scorn. “I’m not asking about anything else. I simply want to ask you — why did you choose, of all places, to arrange our tryst at that lotus pond in front of the duty quarters? You knew perfectly well that it was the only path back to the duty rooms.”

Xia Fen shook her head and grabbed Prince Wu’s sleeve. “Seventh Brother, listen to me—”

Prince Wu pulled his sleeve free from her grip in one clean motion. He bent forward and gave her cheek a light, unhurried pat — a smile on his face, but no warmth in it. “I really did underestimate you.”

That said, as if even one more look at her were more than he cared for, he let out a contemptuous sound, turned, and walked out of the room with rapid, decisive steps.

Xia Fen watched Prince Wu’s figure disappear through the doorway. Her body went limp, and she collapsed back onto the bed, pressing her face into the pillow and pounding the bedboards with furious, seething blows.

Before long, her wet nurse, Nanny Liao, came hurrying in.

Hearing the commotion, Xia Fen quickly sat up straight and rearranged her hair, doing her utmost to appear as though nothing had happened.

Nanny Liao came to the bedside and said urgently: “My Lady — weren’t you and His Highness just speaking together quite civilly inside the room? How did he turn around and go straight to Side Consort Kang’s courtyard? They’ve barely been married a month — if word gets out, how many people will be gossiping behind your back? My Lady, you must find a way to keep His Highness in the main room!”

Xia Fen, already at the end of her patience, could no longer hold together the gentle expression she had been wearing. “Nanny — can you not close your mouth and let me have a moment of quiet!”