“As for Second Mistress Jin — she is quite a woman of spirit. I had originally assumed that after Liu Shi’s disruption, the match would certainly have come to nothing. But unexpectedly, Second Mistress Jin came right out and told the Marquis to proceed quickly with the betrothal gifts, and declared that if he dared go back on his word, she would come and beat her way to the Kaiguo Marquis’s residence.”

Nanny Yao relayed what she had heard word for word to Yun Pan. Yun Pan was in the middle of decocting a herbal drink of ophiopogon root and dried tangerine peel, and on hearing Nanny Yao’s words, she smiled and said: “Excellent — I was right about her.”

Qin Dan said: “Truly, Madam — before, when you had Nanny send word to that Peng family paternal aunt, this servant was quite anxious, afraid that they really would go cause a scene at the Jin family’s door, and Second Mistress Jin — seeing the household in such a state — would refuse the match outright. How were we to manage then?”

Yun Pan said: “I was gambling too, in truth — gambling on whether this person had the resolve to deal with a concubine. I did not want to trap an innocent person into a life of misery. As things turned out, this is just as I hoped. I had calculated that Liu Shi would not just sit still — once she found her way to the Jin family’s door, Second Mistress Jin’s capabilities would be put to the test. I was giving her advance notice: here is a household with a troublesome concubine; if she was not daunted, she could put Liu Shi down in one sharp move and establish her authority; if she hesitated, that would tell me the family looked down on the marquis’s household and was unwilling, and I could only regret there was no fate between them — and begin looking for someone else for Father in good time.”

Nanny Yao covered her mouth laughing. “Well, no one could have expected Second Mistress Jin to have such thundering methods — beating and binding all at once, sending Liu Shi back in defeat. It can be said to have repaid a measure of Madam’s grievances on her behalf.”

“She is a general’s daughter — not a sheltered lady raised quietly in some ordinary household’s inner chambers. She would not be afraid meeting Liu Shi’s lowdown tricks. Only this kind of person is capable of holding a place like the marquis’s household. Anyone else brought in would only create more trouble.” Yun Pan paused to reflect, then added: “Afterward, please draw up a calling card in my name and prepare some pastries to send to the General’s residence, to ask the Mistress not to be angry — to offer her a small welcome.”

This was the mark of her careful and considerate way of doing things. To go and call on her warmly in person at this point would be the very thing to avoid. Even though the other party had now agreed to the match, the engagement was not yet formally made, and the marriage not yet celebrated. With Yun Pan’s position as Duchess, to be insufficiently self-restrained and dignified would be to lose her own proper footing. Stepmothers and stepchildren had always been a difficult relationship — she only wished her father a good settlement; as for the relationship between herself and this future stepmother, there was no need for them to be particularly close — so long as they were courteous and proper upon meeting, that would be enough.

Nanny Yao went out to see to the matter, and at the door she met the Duke of Weiguo returning. She quickly bent low and called out: “My Lord.”

Li Chenjian nodded. “Is Madam inside?”

Nanny Yao said yes. “She is just now preparing a nourishing drink for my Lord.”

He heard this and stepped inside, lifting the hem of his robe. Passing through the screen-partition, he saw her kneeling on the cool woven mat, a small brazier burning hot before her, with mist rising above it. She had opened the bamboo tube’s small cap and was using bamboo tweezers to add agilawood threads into the boiling water. Seeing him return, she rose and called out: “My Lord — I obtained some fine processed tangerine peel and am decocting a nourishing drink in place of tea; it will benefit my Lord’s health.” She walked over and said gently: “Change out of your clothes first — come back in a moment and drink it; the timing will be just right.”

Li Chenjian said good, but he did not need her to help him. He said only: “You sit — I will go change and come right back.”

Yun Pan did not insist. She told the attendant who normally helped him change clothes to go in and assist, then returned to her place before the low table. She poured the strained drink into the cups and quietly waited for him to return.

The afternoon breeze blew gently; the bamboo curtain swayed under the eaves, and the sunlight filtered through its close-woven slits, casting narrow lines of light and shadow on the floor.

He came back soon enough, changed and freshly washed, looking no longer tired. He sat down across from her.

She drew back her sleeve and pushed a cup toward him. “Try it?”

He lifted the cup and took a sip. It was an unusual fragrance — the agilawood mingling with the tangerine peel.

She said softly: “The ‘Suwen: Treatise on Regulating the Spirit with the Four Seasons’ says to nourish yang in spring and summer. If nourishment begins now, by the time the weather turns cool, my Lord’s cough will not be so severe when his old illness returns.”

He listened and showed a faint smile. “Madam has gone to such trouble — though I am afraid this nourishing drink will have to be set aside for a few days. Today at court, the Emperor has ordered another movement of troops. The garrison forces of Xizhou that were under my authority are to have a third of their number transferred into the Lulong Army. I must set out for Xizhou tomorrow, and the journey will likely take ten days or so.”

Yun Pan heard this and was slightly taken aback. “To transfer Xizhou’s garrison forces into the Lulong Army? The Lulong Army is led by the three Dukes…”

She was quick-minded and had already grasped the intent behind these repeated reshufflings of military authority. The three Dukes were men the Emperor trusted not at all; Youzhou was close to the capital, and a strengthened Lulong Army could stand against the Garrison Command, the Palace Command, and the Tiande Army in counterbalance — and no matter which side made a move, the Lulong Army could reach the capital at the swiftest pace to answer the summons.

Li Chenjian’s expression remained as measured and unhurried as ever. He lowered his eyes, refilling each of their cups, and said softly: “I have my own understanding of it — Madam need not worry.”

With just this one assurance from him, Yun Pan felt she truly had no need to fret unnecessarily.

The currents of a man’s life at court shift at any moment. To truly worry about it would mean spending the whole of one’s life in fear and anxiety. The Emperor had his own strategies of balance; a subject who kept in his proper place could still have his own retreat and countermeasures. Li Chenjian was a man with deep judgment — he would not tell her too much, for there was no use in saying much. He only needed her to keep her mind at ease and go on living her tranquil household life; if he could handle things on the outside without anything to hold him back on the home front, that was enough.

“I will pack a change of clothes and other things for my Lord for the journey.” Yun Pan said with a tinge of wistfulness, and paused before asking: “Will you ride or take a carriage? Such a long road — the jolting on horseback, I am afraid your body may not take it well.”

He smiled slightly at that. “My health is not as fragile as people have rumored — Madam should know this.” Then, feeling he had been slightly too forward, he quickly composed his expression again. “In the height of summer it is not as serious — only once autumn comes will the old illness gradually resurface.”

Yun Pan’s face was still easily flushed, and hearing his oblique little tease she felt color rising in her cheeks. Not wanting to give him cause to laugh at her privately, she lowered her head with a somewhat abashed expression, and after quite a long while said: “Take Bi Xie and Bi Han along — with them attending on my Lord close at hand, my Lord will be better cared for while away.”

He said good. “I served five years as garrison training commissioner at Xizhou — everything there is already prepared for me.”

She gave a sound of acknowledgment, and then said: “Ten days or so — being away that long…”

They had not yet been married a full month when he was leaving for ten days. He caught from her faint, regret-tinged tone a note of reluctance to part, and felt a warmth come over his heart that he could not quite account for. It seemed this had never happened before — his mother had of course fussed and urged ten thousand cautions each time he went out in those years, but he had been young and full of a roaming spirit, leaping onto a horse and riding off with ease, without much sense of attachment. Now that he was married, now that he had the ties of home — perhaps it was simply that one more young wife had been added to the home’s ties — yet it weighed on him all the same, and he even found in himself a touch of reluctance to leave.

Yet there was no way to express it, nor did he know how. He turned his head to look out the window, where the afternoon sunlight fell in full abundance over the eaves and even the ornamental rocks gleamed white with light. He said: “Ten days pass in a blink. While I am away, Madam can visit Duke Shuguo’s household to see Miss Mei, and Father’s new residence needs to be arranged as well. In the capital, your tasks may well be no lighter than mine in Xizhou.”

True enough. Yun Pan smiled. “It seems I am busy every day. The shop has already been sent people to renovate — five storefronts, and just painting the walls will take several days.”

When she smiled, she gave people a profoundly settled and pleasing sense of things in their right place. The small dimples, the softly curved brows and eyes — something of the cloud that had gathered in his heart also dispersed by half. He said warmly: “Xizhou is most famous for its azurite and malachite mineral pigments. I will have some purchased and brought back for you.”

She said good, thought it over, and added: “You must still drink the nourishing tangerine peel drink regularly. I will pack some up for Bi Xie to take along — it is not convenient to decoct it over a fire on the road, so just steep it with ophiopogon root for tea instead. The flavor will be more muted, but as long as it has its medicinal properties, that is all that matters.”

Later she helped him put together everything he would need for the journey — from clothes to shoes, all arranged very carefully, even preparing a few extra pairs of foot-wrappings and two additional hair coronets.

Bi Xie loaded bag after bag onto the horse’s back, thinking to himself: this is what it is like to go on a long journey after you are married — a wife carefully attending to everything, and seeing you off all the way to the main gate, urging and reminding Bi Xie again and again to be sure to look after the Duke well.

Li Chenjian swung up onto the horse, and took one long look at her. She lifted her face to look up at him, and in those clear, bright eyes of hers, his own reflection wavered… He smiled: “Go on back!” Knowing that to look any longer would be to invite too much of the soft sentiment between a man and a woman, he resolutely turned the horse’s head, raised his whip, and set off along the straight road ahead.

Yun Pan watched him ride away into the distance. The summer heat was fierce, the ground swept by waves of hot air, the air itself rippling and shimmering — it felt as though the very earth were walking through fire.

“Xizhou is two hundred li from the capital…” she murmured softly.

The parting between a young couple always gave rise to a certain sorrow. Nanny Yao smiled: “There are plenty of tea houses along the road, and also relay stations — my Lord will rest when he is tired. Madam need not worry.”

Yun Pan smiled with a touch of self-consciousness. “I am over-thinking it.” She turned then and made her way back through the residence gates.

Having seen him off, she sat at loose ends for a good while before it occurred to her — she ought to let her aunt know about Father’s affairs. With the betrothal gifts left in Liu Shi’s hands to prepare, who knew what further mischief might be stirred up; and with no capable person at home to oversee things, in the end she would still have to look into it herself.

But now that she was out of her father’s household, her every move needed to have the approval of her mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law first. So she went to Maoyuan, to ask for their guidance as well.

Li Chenjian had gone to the garden to bid his elders farewell before setting out; the two senior ladies, mindful that the young couple would have much they wished to say in their parting, had not come out to see him off. Though they had not seen him off, they had been watching through the doorway; seeing Yun Pan arrive at the covered walkway, Wang Shi rose and asked: “Has Ji Fu set out?”

Yun Pan said yes. “All necessities have been prepared, and Bi Xie and Bi Han are accompanying him — Grandmother and Mother may rest easy.”

She said all this, yet inwardly she could not quite put it down — strange, she thought, to have never felt so preoccupied with a person before. He had only just left, and she was already calculating when he might return.

Wang Shi could see the shadow of a slight worry about her brow, and said with a smile: “He went into the army in his early years and was gone for seven or eight months at a stretch — that is how he was raised. Later, when he was wounded, the Emperor granted his return to serve in the capital. Now he goes to Xizhou on occasion and is back in a few days. It is not long.”

Yun Pan nodded and smiled. “I am just thinking the weather is so hot — I am afraid that traveling under such a blazing sun, he might suffer from heatstroke.”

The sight of the young couple’s affection for each other was always the greatest pleasure for the elder generation. Even the Dowager Lady came to reassure her: “Men are meant to be hardened in the world. Your maternal grandmother in her time even drilled troops in the height of summer — there is no giving in to weakness in the Li family’s descendants. If he cannot bear even this small hardship, how can he amount to anything great in the future?”

Yun Pan and Wang Shi both laughed at that, and Wang Shi said: “They are a newly married couple — their first separation after the wedding; it is natural for them to miss each other.”

Then she asked Yun Pan: “Has the marquis’s household made its preparations? This matter cannot be dragged out — miss this opportunity, and there may not be another.”

Yun Pan said yes. “I came precisely to discuss this with Grandmother and Mother. I was thinking of going to my aunt’s household in a little while, to ask my aunt to help handle this. Having the betrothal gifts prepared by Liu Shi — I am afraid she will stir up more trouble. There is truly no capable person at home, and I will still have to look into it myself.”

Wang Shi said all right. “I, too, think you should go. No one will attend to your father’s affairs for you if you do not do it yourself. Now that Jin Shengyu and that concubine have had an open falling-out, having the concubine prepare the principal wife’s betrothal gifts is simply not workable.”

Yun Pan stood and curtsied: “Then I will go — thank you Grandmother and Mother. I will certainly be back before nightfall.”

Wang Shi nodded. “If there is anything you need help with, just have someone bring word back.”

Yun Pan said yes, curtsied again, and then withdrew from the main room.

Ming Niang did not understand. “Since my Lord is not in residence, why does Madam not simply go back to stay a couple of days in the west residence? Miss Mei must have been longing for you.”

Yun Pan smiled but said nothing. Nanny Yao supplied the answer: “She is now a woman with her own household — she cannot take advantage of the elders’ fondness and lose her own sense of propriety. The west residence, though it is close family, is after all not her own maiden home, and besides, there is an unmarried young master in the household. To avoid any appearance of impropriety, it is better to keep a proper distance.”

So the food boxes were prepared and some ordinary tea and small things packed, and they got into the carriage and went to Duke Shuguo’s residence. Madam Ming came out to receive her upon hearing the news, and took her hand as she stepped down from the carriage, asking as they walked: “Ji Fu has gone to Xizhou again? Your uncle tells me that Xizhou’s forces are being transferred into the Lulong Army… The situation in the court is growing increasingly tense.”

Yun Pan acknowledged this, and as they walked inside arm in arm, said quietly: “I do not understand military affairs — I only feel that he is quite overworked, and that someone like my uncle who has stepped back from power is rather fortunate.”

Madam Ming laughed at her young way of seeing things. “Your uncle shed blood and came through countless brushes with death before he could set down the military authority in his hands. Ji Fu at this age — to surrender power would not be a good thing. How many in the court are truly without hidden motives? If your hand holds no cards, others will press down on you to their utmost.”

Yun Pan understood this perfectly well — she was only indulging herself with a little childishness before her aunt, expressing a few gloomy words.

Arriving at this household, the very first person she wished to see was Mei Fen. Madam Ming knew they missed each other, and led Yun Pan directly to Zilan Courtyard.

On the way, Yun Pan asked her aunt: “How has Elder Sister been lately? Is she better?”

Madam Ming said much better. “Everything you spoke to me about last time, I told your uncle completely. He was so furious he nearly smashed his cup and wanted to ride off to Luoyang to interrogate He Xiao’s entire family. But with something like this, once it gets out, it is always the girl who suffers for it. I also asked Mei Fen’s own wishes — she does not want it to blow up into a big matter; as long as her father and mother believe in her, she said, she is already content.” She sighed again. “My own child — so many years of silent suffering, and it is our fault as parents for being careless. My Mei Er — she was such a lively child. Who could have expected that she would be damaged so by He Xiao — it was we who were blind, who misjudged that man.”

Yun Pan, seeing her aunt blame herself, naturally came to offer comfort. “There are so many people in the world who put one face forward in public and hide another in private — their ugliness is not something they would display before everyone to see. He simply relied on my uncle and aunt’s fondness for him, and on his own honeyed tongue, to deceive you both so thoroughly that you had no cause for suspicion. Now that this man’s true face has been clearly seen, the thing to do going forward is to guard against him carefully.”

As they talked, they entered Zilan Courtyard, and the maid at the door went inside to announce them. Mei Fen came running out.

Looking at her now — her steps were lighter, and there was a smile on her face. The joy in her eyes was a joy from deep within — unconstrained and unguarded. She came forward with delight and called out “Si Si — how did you come today?”

Yun Pan smiled and said: “My husband has gone to Xizhou, and I asked leave of the elders to come specially to see Elder Sister.”

Mei Fen took her hand warmly and led her up to the covered walkway, saying as she went: “Those small dishes you had sent over for me that day — I ate them all. They were so good — thank you for always thinking of me.”

Yun Pan took the opportunity: “That Banlou has so many delicious things — it is a real pity you haven’t been. I’ll tell you — I have taken on five storefronts in the South Bridge market, and already had people start renovating them into a workshop. Private rooms have been arranged inside for guests. When the first snow falls, I’ll come and fetch you — we can go to my shop and drink tea and watch the snow. How does that sound?”

Mei Fen, though still somewhat resistant to going out, no longer looked as conflicted about it as before. Madam Ming and Yun Pan waited quietly to see her reaction, and to their surprise she actually agreed — she nodded and said yes: “The day of the first snow, I’ll go and see how well your business is coming along.”