“General, this way!”

Shen Qingwu, who had been hiding up a tree to avoid social obligations, was called down by Yang Su, the aide Bo Rong had assigned to accompany her.

Yang Su’s own background was evidently a good one — handsome and refined, smooth and skillful in company. He accompanied Shen Qingwu to pay her respects to the Princess, solemnly handing her the gift he had prepared in advance, and coaching her on exactly what to say when she met the Princess.

Yang Su said, “I hear all court affairs are held firmly in the Princess’s hands, and the young Emperor defers to her in everything. Next year’s military provisions and grain all depend entirely on her wishes.”

Shen Qingwu said, “Bo Rong has never come to the eastern capital, never sought an audience with the Princess.”

Yang Su said, “Which is exactly why the Yizhou army isn’t as powerful as the Longyou army.”

As he said this, he was reminded that the Longyou army belonged to the Shen family’s faction, and that Shen Qingwu was, in a way… he glanced subtly at her, but she was busy examining the gift he’d prepared, clearly with no reaction at all to his mention of the Longyou army.

Yang Su felt rather conflicted inside.

In his few days in the eastern capital, he had gathered that the General had not been well liked within the Shen family in the past.

Yang Su softened his tone. “It’s all right, there’s no need to be nervous. If anything goes wrong, Commander Bo will be there to take responsibility.”

Shen Qingwu looked up at him, puzzled.

Displeased at being underestimated, she said, “It’s just paying respects to the Princess, isn’t it? Something this simple, I can manage.”

No matter how uneasy Yang Su felt about this cold-faced, cold-hearted woman general, Shen Qingwu herself had always been fearless, the type to charge straight into a wall without turning back. She strode off tall and upright, head held high, to call on the Princess.

She glanced back at him once, signaling that Yang Su could scram.

Yang Su: “…”

He couldn’t help but laugh, amused by her.

Shen Qingwu met the Princess in one of the upper pavilions.

The Princess appeared to have some engagement to attend, and was in the middle of changing. But upon hearing that the Garrison-West General of the Yizhou army had come to call, she nonetheless graciously sent word to have her shown in.

Behind a flower stand, sixteen lamps shaped like birds and beasts illuminated a folding screen, adorned with bright pearls and kingfisher feathers. Within the quiet pavilion, tassels of five colors and the bells at the eaves swayed gently in the night wind, the whole room filled with a faint fragrance. From behind the screen came a woman’s voice, clear and melodious: “General, there’s no need to stand on ceremony. I know how hard life in the army is, and how busy you must be with official duties — that’s the only reason I haven’t summoned you sooner, not out of any neglect.”

Li Linge stepped out from behind the screen.

Shen Qingwu’s gaze wavered slightly.

She had seen a beauty like her cousin Shen Qingye before, and had assumed that most beauties in this world were probably cut from that same cloth. But Ande, Princess Imperial, was not like that at all. This princess wore exquisite makeup, her hair done up like clouds, her face like a flower — beautiful, and yet losing none of her dignity for it.

Li Linge’s beauty was grand, like some magnificent palace.

It was a presence that ordinary young women simply did not possess.

Shen Qingwu studied this princess. The eastern capital had no shortage of rumors about her — some said she had hollowed out the young Emperor’s authority and controlled him completely; some said her private conduct was improper and an affront to the throne; others said that as a girl, the Princess had once been an innocent, simple little princess, but a person was bound to grow up, more’s the pity…

Her long skirts trailing, Li Linge’s eyes moved like flowing water as she took her seat with a smile. “What is the General staring at me for? What, am I not what you imagined?”

Shen Qingwu answered, “No — Your Highness is better than I imagined.”

Li Linge waited a good while for something more to follow, but nothing came. She stared at Shen Qingwu in astonishment for a long moment, then broke into a smile.

The two chatted about various things — mostly the Princess’s curiosity about how a woman managed to live in an army camp, and why Shen Qingwu had gone there instead of joining the Longyou army.

Shen Qingwu gave brief, haphazard answers, and Li Linge found herself laughing again and again.

Li Linge sighed. “General, you truly are a heroine among women — one could search the whole world and not find a second like you. If only I could be as formidable as you, striking out alone across this vast world.”

Shen Qingwu did not understand what she was sighing over. “If Your Highness wishes to go to an army camp, you may do so anytime. No one would stop you.”

After all, she was a princess, not the Emperor himself.

Ande, Princess Imperial, had already seen that this Shen Qingwu was not one for reading subtext, and smiled faintly at this, choosing not to explain her own meaning any further.

Having chatted with her for a good while, Li Linge grew tired, and said, “I know why the General has come, and I’ve accepted your gift. But this is only so the General may feel at ease — there’s no need to bring gifts like this next time.

“As fellow women, I understand how difficult it must be for the General in this world, and I will naturally look out for you. I hope for smooth sailing in your official career, General, and that in days to come you won’t forget this humble, short-sighted woman who has spent her whole life shut away in the deep palace.”

Shen Qingwu’s gaze flickered once or twice.

Li Linge blinked, wondering whether Shen Qingwu simply couldn’t tell she was being politely dismissed.

Just as Li Linge was deciding whether to make her meaning more explicit, Shen Qingwu suddenly looked up and asked, “As fellow women, I am naturally closer to Your Highness than to others at court. I am well aware of the care Your Highness has shown me. If not for Your Highness, I would have had a very hard time dealing with all the talk in the eastern capital, and the impeachments from the Censorate.

“I have only just entered official life, but there are plenty of officials in the Shen family, and I know how difficult that world can be.”

Li Linge’s eyes showed a flicker of pleased amusement.

Just as she was about to indulge in a bit more self-praise, she heard Shen Qingwu ask, “I would like to ask Your Highness something. At first you had no idea I was a woman — so why did you promote me? Bo Rong… Commander Bo says that someone like me shouldn’t have risen so quickly.

“Before Your Highness came to appreciate me, how did you come to know of me at all?”

Li Linge froze for a moment, her gaze flickering.

Shen Qingwu continued, “Did someone else recommend me to Your Highness, tell you that I was a woman, and that was what led Your Highness to decide to make use of me? Since I have no one to rely on, Your Highness must have felt more at ease using someone like me, who has already broken with the Shen family.”

Li Linge fell silent for a moment, then asked, “Does the answer matter so much to you?”

Shen Qingwu lowered her eyes. “It matters a great deal.”

In the grand hall, the candlelight flickered.

Shen Qingwu lifted her gaze once more, her expression still cool and distant, though she already had a fair idea of the answer in her own heart. “Was it Zhang Yuelu who recommended me?”

After a long pause, Li Linge said coolly, “Yes.”

Seeing Shen Qingwu freeze, a look of bewilderment crossing her face, and then fall silent, head bowed, for a long while, Li Linge offered a bit more explanation. “At court, Zhang Xingjian and Kong Ye are constantly at odds with each other. He didn’t want you drawn into either faction.

“At first I even thought he was fond of you…”

The Princess, suppressing her impatience, glanced repeatedly at the water clock. “But when has a son of the Zhang family ever had room in his heart for love? It wasn’t until he became betrothed to your cousin that I realized he’d been looking out for you all along for Shen Qingye’s sake. That future brother-in-law of yours is quite the remarkable man — you’d do well to stay on good terms with him.”

As the night mist deepened, Shen Qingwu left the pavilion and strode swiftly down the long corridor.

Yang Su hurried after her. “General, wait… Shen Qingwu, why are you in such a rush, who are you going to find?”

Shen Qingwu walked through the shadowed corridor, layer upon layer of leaf-shadow rippling across her face and feet like drifting waterweed. She walked fast, hurrying toward the night banquet ahead, the Princess’s ambiguous, half-smiling expression turning over in her mind.

Shen Qingwu was not one to think things through.

But she was, in fact, not stupid.

Li Linge’s words had been half-veiled, half-revealed, and Shen Qingwu had understood them perfectly well.

Zhang Xingjian and the Chancellor were locked in a fierce, unresolved struggle at court. Zhang Xingjian had no wish for her to side with the Chancellor, and he also knew perfectly well she would never side with him either. So he had recommended her to the Princess, hoping to win the Princess’s favor for her.

A general needed to know how to fight and command troops.

But a general could not survive on fighting and commanding troops alone.

Zhang Xingjian must have calculated that Li Linge’s favor would make it easier for a woman general like Shen Qingwu to hold her position.

…And so now, all of the eastern capital believed that it was Li Linge who was fond of Shen Qingwu, Li Linge who wanted to make her a general.

No one knew that Zhang Xingjian had been behind it all along.

What an unfathomable moon he was! Was it because she had once saved his life, or because she was Shen Qingye’s cousin?

“General!”

Behind her, Yang Su’s voice drew closer. Shen Qingwu reached the end of the corridor and, without warning, found herself before the splendid, magnificent night banquet — the sound of singing stages and drunken revelry, song and dance in full swing.

Even more unexpected was the sight of the young lord standing beneath the palace lanterns by the lake.

Zhang Xingjian stood among a group of court officials, several dancing girls and singers gathered around them. The other men were all quite lost, their eyes fixed helplessly on the beauties, but this young lord with his elegant, clean features merely spoke and smiled with the others.

The way he looked at people always carried a certain gentleness, as though his affections ran deep as the sea — but in truth, he likely would have worn that same gentle look even gazing upon a pile of cow dung.

His cleanliness and elegance won him the favor of every woman present, and the dancing girls drew near him by degrees, as if by chance. He only smiled, his mind clearly elsewhere.

The soft moonlight fell over him.

Beneath a ribbon of moving light, he stood still beside the water, seeming to merge with the moon itself — cold, pure, untouched by feeling or desire.

“Shen Qingwu, what’s gotten into you? This is no place to act recklessly!” Yang Su had finally caught up with her, his voice a little raised from exertion.

There, amid his conversation, Zhang Xingjian caught the name “Shen Qingwu,” and his smiling face lifted, glancing toward this direction with his usual air of casual indifference. It was a habitual gesture of his — he would glance once, then look away.

But this time, he found Shen Qingwu staring straight at him without blinking.

Zhang Xingjian froze for a moment.

Across the dim glow of the palace lanterns, he saw that her eyes were like swords tempered in ice, fixed on him with a fierce, unrelenting stare. And yet beneath that fierceness, something desolate lurked in the depths of her eyes — something that looked like anger, or perhaps grievance, or perhaps… confusion.

Zhang Xingjian’s jaw tightened faintly, his hand closing more firmly around his wine cup.

He thought: what’s wrong with her? Has she run into some difficulty? He thought he’d more or less resolved things for her already. Or had he offended her again somehow, without realizing it?

Pinned by that murderous glare of hers, Zhang Xingjian felt lost, hesitant: should he show her more concern? But might showing more concern give her the wrong impression — wouldn’t that be worse?

The lanterns burned bright, the night wind thinned, and a scatter of yellow leaves drifted down. Across the sea of people and the strains of music, the two of them gazed at each other in silence.

Shen Qingwu, stopped on the steps before the corridor, felt her gaze flicker faintly.

Zhang Xingjian was watching her, lost in thought. A dancing girl offered him a cup of wine; he had refused it once before, but now, distracted, he took it and drained it in one swallow.

The young lord’s flushed lips, wet with wine, looked like peach blossom petals.

The dancing girl’s eyes lit up softly.

Beneath the dark old cypress trees lining the corridor, moonlight like water, Shen Qingwu’s expression suddenly changed.

She remembered now who that dancing girl was; she now knew exactly who the unlucky soul about to be drugged was. And from the Princess’s earlier act of changing clothes behind the screen, and the faint impatience in her voice as they’d spoken — she suddenly understood exactly what was happening:

The Princess had set her sights on Zhang Xingjian. She meant to have him.