Wanting to send things along, and suggesting both of them go together — the matchmaking intention was plain. Hui Cun heard it clearly, and while her face betrayed nothing, she felt an inward flutter of shyness.

Mei Fen, too, was astute in the ways of the world. She turned to Madam Ming and said straightforwardly: “Mother, since Auntie has things to send over, why not send someone to South Mountain Temple to pass a message to Brother? If he gets out early enough, perhaps he could come by our residence on the way back.”

Madam Ming had her own calculations in mind, but when she worked out the timing, it simply didn’t add up. “Riding to South Mountain Temple takes half an hour. A trip there and back is an hour, and he may not be able to get away so easily. I don’t think today will work. Better to do it tomorrow — I will host a family gathering at our residence and invite the relatives to come. We can get together and speak our hearts.”

But in such a time, with the household not yet complete, the Princess Consort had little enthusiasm for going out to dinner. She said: “Our Grand Dowager Lady is still not feeling entirely well. To ask her out right now — I imagine she would be unwilling. Besides, with the two children not at home, even if we came to your esteemed residence, we could hardly help but feel sad. Let us leave it for now. Once Ji Fu and Si Si are back, we can all come and impose on you then. At that point we will be able to laugh and talk freely, without the worry that hangs over us now.”

Madam Ming understood perfectly, and said that was fine too. She then turned to Jin Shengyu. “Are you free, Sister? Come along with the Marquis.”

Jin Shengyu also said she was not free. “Tomorrow we must return to the General’s residence to pay New Year’s respects — Father and Mother have been looking forward to it.” Then she flushed slightly and laughed. “I mean… since I am expecting, my parents have sent people several times urging me to come home and see them.”

The others were surprised. The Princess Consort looked at her stomach. “Auntie-in-law, you are with child?”

Jin Shengyu grew even more flustered. She made a sound of assent. “A great surprise in old age — I never thought it would happen. It was only diagnosed a few days ago.”

This was a truly triumphant turn of events. Her first marriage had ended in separation precisely because she could not conceive. Now, married into the Marquis’s household for only a few months, she had good news already. This overturned everything people had believed about her. All those gossips across the capital who loved to whisper behind her back and called her a hen that couldn’t lay an egg — now that her belly was rounding, those words had been slapped right out of their mouths.

The Princess Consort and Madam Ming offered their heartfelt congratulations. The two young women stood to offer her their blessings. Jin Shengyu beamed, receiving their wishes with a nod from her chair. Then a shadow crossed her brow. “The only pity is that Ji Fu and Si Si are not at home. Otherwise, there would truly be nothing left wanting.”

At that reminder, a touch of helplessness fell over the gathering. Some more auspicious words were exchanged, and the occasion did not end in too much gloom.

Since it was the first day of the New Year, each family had their own affairs to attend to. The visit was not prolonged into a meal. After a little while they took their leave. Two carriages waited at the main gate, and the Princess Consort and Hui Cun saw the ladies to their carriages. The two vehicles drove off side by side toward the entrance of the lane.

Jin Shengyu pulled back the curtain on the window and called out to Madam Ming twice. The latter opened her window to respond. Jin Shengyu said: “I am a perfectly good matchmaker right here. If you are willing, I will broker the match between your two families.”

But Madam Ming seemed somewhat hesitant. “I just worry about people laughing at us — saying there are no other suitable matches in all the capital, that we just go around in circles within two families: cousins marry one pair of siblings, and then siblings marry another pair. When we see each other in future, the manner of address would be quite difficult.”

“What is there to worry about? Families intermarrying again and again is very common, and besides, you are already relatives by marriage. Marrying closer within the family — what is wrong with that? I find the Commandery Princess a most suitable girl. Noble status, and a good temperament too. That time she made a scene at the Geng family — I loved it. I admire a young woman with that kind of spirit and decisive mind. Your family’s young master is talented and accomplished, and has not yet been promised. Why turn away a perfectly good match you already know inside and out, only to go looking far afield?”

Madam Ming said that was exactly her own thinking too. “I only fear the Commandery Princess has high standards and might not look favorably upon our Xu.”

Jin Shengyu spoke bluntly as ever. “I don’t think so. If she had no regard for him at all, would she have kept crossing paths with him these past times? Both children are thin-skinned and too shy to let their minds go in that direction. One encounter after another, and a good match could be missed. We are the boy’s family — if we have this intention, we need to be more proactive. Though the Duke’s household has hit a rough patch at the moment, a commandery princess is still a commandery princess — wherever she goes, she will always be highly sought after. Sister, you had better think it through clearly.”

Madam Ming nodded again and again. “We are such close relatives — my niece is in their household right now. Could I fear being implicated? Since things are as they are, let us set a date, Sister. You help me sound out the Princess Consort’s intentions on my behalf. As long as the betrothal can be settled, I will have peace of mind.”

Jin Shengyu agreed. They would have liked to discuss it further, but the crossroads arrived, and the two carriages went their separate ways, leaving the rest of the conversation unfinished.

The next day she went back to her parents’ home, bringing many gifts. After all, she had married well, and now was expecting a child — it felt something like a homecoming in glory.

Jin Shengyu and Jiang Heng returned together to the General’s residence to pay their New Year’s respects to the old General and his wife. The old lady wept and said: “Heaven has truly opened its eyes. And to think of what that Qiu family said — on and on about how Yu would cause their family to have no descendants. Well, look now — Yu is perfectly capable of bearing children. It is their Qiu son who is lacking! And as for that concubine giving birth — who even knows if the child is his!”

She could barely contain herself, wanting the belly to swell right now so she could show up at the next great banquet, let everyone see it, and set the record straight once and for all.

Both the old General and his wife were so happy they wiped away tears. The General’s daughter-in-law standing nearby smiled with a hollow warmth, thinking to herself: what is there to be pleased about? The Duke’s household has fallen. Even if she produces a living dragon, without Duke Weiguo’s backing, what can Jiang Heng amount to?

The old General took Jiang Heng aside to talk. The former Senior Protector-General of ten-fold merit was, in his lucid moments, a man of considerable bearing. He began by humbly saying his daughter had a difficult temperament and so forth, and then asked how Jiang Heng’s household affairs were faring.

“In perfect order,” Jiang Heng said immediately. “Father-in-law, my Lady is my salvation. If it were not for her, what kind of household would I have now? With the former wife gone, I had the household under concubines and maids, and the result was that everyone laughed behind my back and the family affairs nearly fell to ruin. Now that my Lady has taken charge, the Marquis’s residence is finally a proper Marquis’s residence, and I can hold my head up when I walk among people.”

Later at the dinner table he drank too much, and shed another flood of hot tears, taking Jin Shengyu’s hands and saying: “Truly… truly… I have to thank you… you manage the household for me, and you are giving me a child…”

Jin Shengyu hurriedly covered his mouth. “All right, all right — say less.” She called people over and had him helped into her own courtyard to rest.

When the old lady at last found a quiet moment alone with her daughter, she laughed and said of this son-in-law: “The Marquis was a little out of sorts today.”

Jin Shengyu said: “Mother doesn’t know the whole of it — he is worried too. His daughter and son-in-law are confined in the Side Gate. They are close family, after all. He won’t say it aloud, but how could he not carry it in his heart?”

The old lady sighed. “It is just that one thing that makes me a little displeased. Why has the Duke’s household fallen so suddenly? I had been counting on having some support.”

Jin Shengyu reassured her mother, saying only: “It is just confinement — there may yet be a chance for reinstatement.”

The old lady accepted this. “Your father, though not in office anymore, can still read the political situation clearly.” She leaned in toward her daughter, covering her mouth, and said in a low voice: “Suppressed first, elevated later — it may not be a bad thing. Among the three imperial nephews right now, only Duke Weiguo has His Majesty’s real favor. Confining him removes him from the pressure for a while.”

The old General had grown a little eccentric in his age, and only his wife still took his words seriously.

Jin Shengyu just kept smiling. “Then I will take Father’s words as a blessing. If my son-in-law rises to prominence, we who are close to him will all rise along with the tide. No one will dare look down on us again.”

In any case, it was her first New Year back at her parents’ home since the marriage. As long as she could ignore her sister-in-law’s fawning and condescension, it passed well enough.

The days that followed were calm and uneventful. The court was on leave for six days. Starting on the seventh day, His Majesty held court only on odd-numbered days. Jiang Heng noticed nothing unusual except that these past few days the patrol officers and palace guards on the streets seemed more numerous than usual. One day on his way home, his carriage collided with a guard’s horse, giving him a tremendous jolt inside the carriage that nearly cracked his teeth. He opened the carriage door to look, and the other party was still grumbling and cursing. He was immediately furious. “Where do you come from, riding roughshod through the streets like this — is the road your family’s private property?”

The other party had not known who was in the carriage, but seeing someone in official dress, they could only cup their hands and offer a casual “official business, my apologies” before moving on.

Jiang Heng had no desire to tangle with the man. He slumped back into the carriage, waving his hand in irritation. “Go home — go home.” And that was that.

When he arrived home, it was another day of domestic chaos. Xue Pan had grown weary of being confined and was bent on going out, only to be blocked at the gate by the matron on duty. At this she broke into furious shouts: “What have I done wrong? Why won’t you let me go out?”

Jin Shengyu looked at her with thinly veiled contempt. “What you have done wrong — do you not know it in your own heart? Is it not enough humiliation as it is, or shall I say it again? Nanny Liu’s school for young ladies takes in all the noble girls of the capital — why was it only you she refused, even dragging the third young lady into it? You have caused trouble enough for this whole family, and now you want to go out — is there someone waiting for you?”

Xue Pan had been held in check by the situation with Liu Shi, and now Jin Shengyu was bearing down on her personally. She deeply resented Jin Shengyu and could not conceal it. She stiffened her neck and said: “Mother speaks very harshly. I was the one being sought after in that household — it was their doing, so what could I do? Now it has all become my fault. Mother, why not go and ask the other party’s side of the story instead of placing all the blame on me?”

Jin Shengyu snorted. “Spare me the shame of it — go and ask? I would only hear that you have no dignity, and then the Marquis’s residence would be too embarrassed to show its face. I’m telling you: you had better pray for yourself. If nothing has happened yet, well and good. But if you yourself took a wrong step and were taken advantage of, that is your own doing — and not one person will go and demand justice from the Liu household on your behalf.”

“Mother thinks that poorly of me?” Xue Pan flushed crimson. “Just because I am born of a concubine, I deserve to be put down at every turn. Even if I come to harm, no one would stand up for me?”

Nearby, Yu Pan saw their standoff growing dangerous, her heart racing, afraid Xue Pan’s unguarded tongue would produce yet another inappropriate outburst. She said in a lowered voice: “Elder Sister, say no more — please go back inside.”

But Xue Pan had no gratitude for the gesture. If she could not afford to offend Jin Shengyu, was her own sister someone she could not scold? She turned a cold eye on her. “You are a sealed-up gourd — if you want to keep your head down, that is your business. Don’t try to drag me down with you. Do you think that making yourself small and submissive will get you anywhere good? You are concubine-born too — in time you’ll end up just the same as me. What are you trying to prove right now?”

Yu Pan was stung and speechless, and could only turn her head away in indignation.

Jiang Heng stood watching from the side, too tired by now even to frown. He was curious to see what else she would say next.

And indeed, very quickly, words sharp enough to cut to the bone arrived. Xue Pan said: “Our own household keeps perfectly well, yet here we learn from other people’s example and start confining people ourselves. As if one person being confined were not enough — now you want me to be the second? What in the world have I done to deserve to end up like Yun Pan?”

That mouth of hers was truly sharper than iron tongs. The implication was that Yun Pan had done something terrible and was therefore confined — releasing herself from blame and stepping on Yun Pan in the same breath.

Jin Shengyu spat. “You know nothing of what goes on at court! Their confinement — is that the same as your house arrest?”

Xue Pan rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “What same or different — in any case it is a muddled mess. A caged sparrow — probably going to be locked in there until they die. Locked away to death — serves them right!”

The moment these words left her mouth, Jiang Heng struck her across the face with a ferocious slap.

Jiang Heng had, by Xue Pan’s standards, always been an indulgent father. From childhood to now, he had never laid a finger on her. This sudden, searing blow to the face stunned everyone present.

“Say another word like that and I will hit you again!” Jiang Heng gritted his teeth and shouted. “Not even a shred of kinship — you are a beast!”

Words like “locked away to death” had become the greatest taboo for him. Anyone who dared utter such inauspicious words deserved to be struck.

Xue Pan was dazed, and said with her hand pressed to her cheek: “Father, you hit me? For the sake of that Yun Pan who has no prospects left — you hit me?”

Jin Shengyu found her even more revolting. “So you have already decided your elder sister has no prospects, and think you can outshine her? I am telling you — even if you were reborn twice over, you still would not measure up to her.”

These words stabbed Xue Pan to the heart. She had already lost all reason from the slap, and now Jin Shengyu’s words were salt in the wound. In a frenzy of rage, she aimed herself directly at Jin Shengyu’s abdomen and charged forward, heedless of everything.

For one frantic moment the household was in uproar. Jin Shengyu’s maidservants and matrons managed to pull her aside. But Jiang Heng, who had tried to block the way, was caught squarely in the collision and sent tumbling backward onto the ground.

Yu Pan cried out: “Father!”

Xue Pan was frightened herself, but before she could stand there stunned, she was already seized by Nanny Jiao and the others.

Jiang Heng shook his dazed head and struggled to sit up, pointing at her. “She has gone mad! Truly mad! Take this unfilial, unfeeling creature to the Buddha Hall and make her kneel until tomorrow morning before she is allowed to rise!”

The matrons received the order and dragged her away. Jin Shengyu gestured to the maidservants to help her up, and said coldly: “This is the daughter the Marquis has cherished all these years. If no one had been quick enough to stop her, my life would have ended here today.”

Jiang Heng had now given up every last shred of hope for this daughter. He shook his head. “It is my fault — my fault for spoiling her so. She used to be such a thoughtful, considerate child. How has she become like this?”

Jin Shengyu smiled without warmth. “She was thoughtful before because she always got whatever she wanted. The moment anything went against her wishes, let’s see just how considerate she would be.” She said no more, and went back to her own room to calm herself.

That evening when Jiang Heng came to the inner chamber, Jin Shengyu had him sit down and said seriously: “My brother has a deputy general under him whose home is also in Cangzhou. He is twenty-five this year, has never been married. His looks are plain, but he is exemplary in his filial devotion to his parents. He is looking to arrange a match right now. I have confirmed the details — he holds a rank of the seventh grade from the lower tier. With the right opportunities ahead, his prospects are not bad. I think to match him with Xue Pan is not dishonorable to her. My thought is that a girl grown to this age cannot be kept much longer — all of these incidents trace back to her marriage remaining unsettled. Once it is truly decided, she should settle her heart as well.”

Jiang Heng thought it over carefully. “Twenty-five — that is a bit old…” He immediately regretted saying it, and looked over at Jin Shengyu awkwardly.

Jin Shengyu did not mock him for his own age and only said: “Older men know how to care for someone — there’s nothing wrong with that. Given Xue Pan’s temperament, if she were to marry a civil official, she would have the roof over her head knocked out within the day. To save being cursed to the eighteenth generation of ancestors, I think a military man is better. Civil official families have too many strict rules, while military households are more relaxed about these things. Look at how Miss Mei and Miss Yun — they are both matched to military men, and in no way inferior to others for it.”

What she did not say outright was this: military households may have fewer rules, but they could keep order through force — far more efficiently than talking someone around. The young man was scrupulously obedient to his elders — in fact rigidly so. And as it had already been mentioned, after the wedding the in-laws intended to return to Cangzhou, and the young wife would have to follow and attend to them. They were not in the least concerned about whether she was from a noble or marquis family — once she entered their household she would be their people, and everything would be done on their terms.

Jiang Heng had been thoroughly vexed by Xue Pan of late, and after today’s scene he felt deeply that the longer she stayed, the more bitter things would become. He said: “Let my Lady decide. As long as the character and family are acceptable, we can settle it. Once it is settled, everyone can have some peace.”

He was genuinely worried, too. A girl like Xue Pan — so desperate to be married — who knew what she might do next if things were dragged out any further.

Jin Shengyu said good. Having received the master of the household’s approval, this matter could now be handled. She went straightaway to ask the wife of a adjudicating official under her brother’s command to serve as go-between. The other party initially hesitated when they heard it was the sister of Duke Weiguo’s wife — given the Duke’s current circumstances — but reconsidering, she was after all the daughter of an Earl of Founding Merit. If it weren’t for her elder sister’s household falling out of favor, this match would never have come to a seventh-grade attendant-guard.

The man’s family could not ask for more. What remained was Xue Pan herself.

This time Jin Shengyu did not go in person, but sent Wei Shi to do the persuading. Wei Shi went to Xue Pan’s courtyard to try her luck, saying the man was young and already serving as an attendant-guard — his future was unlimited.

Xue Pan listened with undisguised scorn. “Twenty-five and only seventh grade from the lower tier — is my concubine-mother trying to make a fool of me?”

Wei Shi found herself thoroughly rebuffed, and finally lost what patience she had left. She crossed her arms and said: “Young lady had better know which way the wind is blowing. Since you are at such odds with your stepmother, you should be prepared to leave this household before long. Unless the young lady has already made other arrangements? If a man of the seventh grade is beneath you, then you must surely have a first-rank or second-rank senior official waiting to take you as his principal wife. If that is truly so, just say so — the Marquis and the Lady want nothing more than for you to find a good match. But if there is no such person, then a seventh-grade official is not a bad deal at all. What do you think you are — some young lady of ten thousand taels of gold, turning her nose up at a minor clerk, expecting to be paired with some prince or champion general?”

Xue Pan was flushed red from being spoken to this way. She was accustomed by now to their contempt — but to actually marry a seventh-grade military man — that was absolutely out of the question.

“This is clearly Jin Shi degrading me. My elder sister and I are father’s daughters from the same father — on what grounds did she get to marry Duke Weiguo, while I am supposed to marry some uncouth brute not even worth mentioning?”

Wei Shi shook her head. “Same father, but not the same mother. Her mother was a county princess; yours made her living selling wine — and is now in custody at the Bureau of Investigations. How could they possibly be the same?” She softened her tone and said kindly: “Young lady, stop holding out for better. A suitable match is not easy to find these days. Military men advance quickly. With the Loyal and Martial General’s patronage, why worry about his future rise? As they say, don’t look down on those who struggle when they are young — many a man who seemed to amount to nothing has left people in awe three or five years later. Besides, couples who wed in humble times have a deeper bond, and what fewer troubles than the great and wealthy households. There is one thing in particular: the young gentleman holds our Marquis’s household in some awe — he would not rush to take a concubine right away. Is that not quite good?”

Xue Pan still refused. She cried and made scenes and threatened to take her own life. Jin Shengyu then had someone send a rope and a knife to her room, saying — please, help yourself. With that, things at last went quiet. The household finally had a long-overdue taste of calm.

That evening Jiang Heng sat at the table turning things over in his mind. “If I hadn’t met Si Si’s mother, I would have been stuck at sixth-grade rank back then myself. Xue Pan matched to a seventh-grade man — that is hardly wronging her.”

While he was still speaking, suddenly a commotion erupted outside. He thought something had happened within the household. He went out to look and found beyond the perimeter wall fire blazing to the sky, with shouts, running footsteps, and the thunder of hooves — all of it shattering the peace of the capital in an instant.

“What is happening?” he called from the covered walkway.

A page came running in to report: something was terribly wrong. “A fight has broken out outside! Someone set fire to a guard post of the Palace Command, and the Palace Command soldiers seized that person — and it turned out the man was an operative of the Iron Cavalry.”

Jiang Heng’s heart lurched. “Quickly, quickly — have people secure the gates!” With that he stepped back inside and slammed the door shut.

Jin Shengyu had just unpinned her hair and called out loudly from behind the screen. “What is it?”

Jiang Heng’s face had gone white. He raised one finger and kept hissing “shhhh.” Only after a long moment did he drop his voice and say: “Merciful heavens. Something major is about to happen!”