Entering the palace late at night, he had his plan. He requested an imperial decree to go to Khalkha, not willing to stay in the capital for even one more day.

The Emperor naturally consented. Pacifying Northern Khalkha was certain; troops, horses, and provisions had all been fully equipped, lacking only a brave general to set out. As for who this brave general would be, the candidate was undecided, but no one other than Hong Ce was considered. As the court ministers put it, Prince Chun had administered Khalkha for more than ten years and knew everything about the place inside out. One servant should not trouble two masters—it was time for Prince Chun to serve the court again.

He had long figured out what was on the Emperor’s mind. The reason the imperial decree had not been issued immediately was precisely because he had been stationed in Ulaanbaatar for so many years. Reasonably speaking, with his half-disabled body, he should be the last person to be appointed. So the Emperor waited, expecting him to volunteer, which would fulfill his sense of duty. The Emperor would embody heavenly principles, and Prince Chun would demonstrate patriotic loyalty—both would gain a good reputation.

He would have to leave sooner or later; the only difference was whether it would be sooner or later. He resolutely made up his mind to muster troops overnight, leading thirty thousand soldiers out of the capital, to meet up with the frontier garrison troops at Uliastai. Since the Emperor had made preparations, there would certainly be no concerns about what was left behind. Having received the general’s command, he led his troops north early the next morning.

At the fifth watch when it was barely light, Ding Yi leaned drowsily against the head of the kang bed, vaguely hearing several cannon shots that made the house tremble. Having already slept lightly, she was awakened, her mind becoming active again, remembering the incident from the previous night, which seemed both real and unreal, like falling into a dream.

Unable to sleep soundly anyway, she sat up and called for Bao’er, but it was Sha Tong who entered.

“Master, you’re awake? How are you feeling now?” Sha Tong approached and draped a warm jacket over her shoulders. “Yesterday we didn’t let the imperial physician examine you. The servants brewed some medicine to nourish your qi and replenish your blood, and I’ve had someone bring it to you. A small month of recovery is even more damaging than a full month. You should rest well and not get out of bed.”

She shook her head, telling him to set the medicine aside. “What was that noise just now? Where are they firing cannons?”

Sha Tong stood in the candlelight, on the verge of tears. “The court has dispatched troops to help the Great Khan of Khalkha suppress the rebellion. This morning, the Great General led his army to set out; those were the ceremonial cannons. I should have gone along to serve, but the Twelfth Prince said someone must remain by your side, so he had me stay…”

She sat woodenly, her blood seeming to freeze throughout her body. “The Great General sent by imperial decree to suppress the rebellion is the Twelfth Prince?”

Sha Tong answered yes, several times almost blurting something out, but constrained by her illness, he didn’t dare tell her that the Twelfth Prince had gone to the palace to request the imperial decree himself after being provoked.

But even without him saying it, Ding Yi understood in her heart. He had left angry, without coming to say goodbye, going far away to the northern desert. It seemed he had been traveling for these past ten years or more; the roads he had traveled, many people couldn’t complete in a lifetime.

Outside, it wasn’t yet fully light. The oil lamp illuminated half the room; the concave parts of the table edges and cabinet corners sank in, becoming pitch black; the convex parts rose high, edged with a layer of gold.

Leaning against the pillow, she couldn’t even cry. She had brought this upon herself! It wouldn’t matter if she died, but she must not harm him. She asked Sha Tong, “Who else accompanied him?”

Sha Tong said, “The Emperor assigned a Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet, a Secretary of the Grand Council, and a Commander of the Foot Guards to assist the Twelfth Prince. Master, don’t worry. Those few are all battle-hardened and are good assistants to the Twelfth Prince. I just feel distressed because I’ve been by the Twelfth Prince’s side in Khalkha for ten years, but this time he didn’t take me along. I… I feel like an abandoned dog.”

She slumped against the pillow, “It’s because of me. Yesterday I made him very angry.”

Sha Tong raised his head, opened his mouth, thought for a while, and still decided to comfort her, saying it wasn’t because of that. “The Twelfth Prince’s mother is a princess from the Sain Noyon tribe. The circumstances of the princes are greatly related to their maternal families. When the maternal family has troubles, if you don’t go to handle the aftermath, who will? Khalkha is now like a burr, stuck to the Twelfth Prince no matter what. If they stay quiet for a couple of days, the Twelfth Prince can rest in Beijing. But as soon as there’s any movement there, the Twelfth Prince is the first to face the spearhead. So regardless of whether you and the Twelfth Prince disagreed, he would still have to go to Khalkha. Right now, don’t worry about anything; just take good care of your health. That’s the greatest kindness you can show the Twelfth Prince.”

She could tell that Sha Tong resented her. Servants care for their masters, and all the rejections the Twelfth Prince had faced from her these days were witnessed by him. Perhaps in others’ eyes, she was just someone who wouldn’t appreciate a good life and was making trouble for no reason. Even if all her family members died one by one, because Hong Ce was innocent, she should still marry into the Yu Wen family.

It sounds so easy, but what kind of inner strength would it take to achieve that?

She loved Hong Ce and had never changed in that regard. It was just that in the end, they couldn’t be together because the environment wouldn’t allow it.

She lowered her head, pondering for a long time. Every blade of grass and tree here was arranged by him. If Prince Chun’s Mansion recalled all the eunuchs and maids, she would be left without anyone.

“Now that the Twelfth Prince has gone to the northern desert and the child is also gone, I have no relationship with him anymore. Please invite my master here. All your people should withdraw. Tomorrow I will move out, and you can have someone come to reclaim the house.”

Sha Tong hurriedly said, “Please don’t joke with me. In your condition, where could you go? Don’t you know the Twelfth Prince’s character? In his heart, you are his Lady. No matter how many setbacks he’s encountered before or how many harsh words have been said, his heart will not change. He’s heartbroken about losing the little master—anyone would feel the same. The Twelfth Prince’s goodness to you, others may not know, but I do. Can you be so hardhearted?”

She remained unmoved, “What you said earlier was wrong. I am the truly abandoned dog.”

Sha Tong was taken aback, staring at her blankly. Seeing that her mind was made up and there was no other way, he had to obey her command and go to the Prince’s Mansion to invite Wu Changgeng.

When Master came, Xia Zhi naturally came too, eyeing her up and down. Ding Yi felt guilty and turned away, not looking at him. She sent the people around her out and invited Master to sit.

Wu Changgeng was concerned about her and asked how she was feeling. She was sheepish, vaguely saying she was better.

Wu Changgeng nodded, “Then take good care of yourself. This morning, the Prince left Beijing. The two of you… now have no status or relationship. The Twelfth Prince has marched out with his troops, which will take at least a year, or possibly three to five years. You need to have your plan.”

Ding Yi said, “I’ve already made things clear with him. With his departure, he will no longer take care of me. I want to move out, but I can’t arrange it myself. I’ll provide five thousand taels of silver and ask Master to help me acquire a residence where I can settle.”

Wu Changgeng clicked his tongue, “Why are you doing this? Although you haven’t performed the wedding ceremony, you’ve already had a child together. In this life, your connection is a tangled one that can’t be cut. Why try to withdraw now? Why didn’t you do this earlier?”

She stammered, “It’s precisely because the child is gone, so it’s better to make a clean break…”

“Is it truly gone?” Xia Zhi suddenly said, “The Twelfth Prince left too hurriedly; I didn’t get a chance to see him. Let me ask you, did you play a trick? Where did the chicken blood come from?”

She choked, “What chicken blood? Are you having a fit?”

“Stop fooling people.” Xia Zhi turned to Wu Changgeng and said, “Master, she asked me for a live chicken yesterday. I ignored her, thinking she would give up, but who knew she would still succeed.” He turned back to her and asked, “Tell me, what did you want a live chicken for? You faked a miscarriage and slaughtered a chicken—how capable of you! Now that you’ve done this evil deed and driven him away, how do you plan to resolve this?”

Wu Changgeng was completely stunned, “Is this true? Little Tree, you…” He was so angry that he couldn’t speak, his finger pointing at her repeatedly. After a while, he finally said, “You’re digging a hole for yourself! How could you joke about a child? The child is still there, but you say it’s gone—what will you do when it’s born? This child is of imperial blood; would you let him wander outside? Master knows you can’t get over this in your heart, but you’ve thought too little about this matter.”

She covered her face with her hands and said softly, “Being with him would inevitably mean dealing with the Yu Wen family. I’m just afraid, I don’t want to see them. I once told him that I would rather be his concubine. Why? Because I wanted to hide my background; revealing it would be good for no one. Later, events developed beyond my imagination, and I couldn’t control the situation. Ru Jian had good intentions; he wanted to overturn the verdict and let me openly be his Lady. But now, look—can I still sit in that position? I also know that the Wen family’s enemy is only Prince Zhuang, but such words are just self-deception. Prince Zhuang is from the main branch; he has intricate relationships with those people in the imperial clan. Otherwise, why would someone send a memorial tablet to the Twelfth Prince after he was detained? If I insisted on being with him, he would have no place to stand in the capital. What then? All the difficult and exhausting tasks would be piled on him, yet he is still a prince!”

Wu Changgeng fell silent. What she said wasn’t entirely unreasonable. A young woman, encountering such matters with no one to consult, had to rely on her judgment. Sometimes, when stuck in a dead end with nowhere to turn, she followed her ideas. Many things in this world are hard to judge right or wrong; it’s just a matter of different perspectives.

“Since you’ve made up your mind, then move out early! Staying won’t solve anything. When the Imperial Clan Court comes to check on the child, and the Twelfth Prince isn’t here, it will be difficult for you to explain.” He pondered for a moment and added, “But you must understand clearly—it’s easy to leave, but once you leave, you can never enter Prince Chun’s Mansion again in this lifetime. In the future, when the Twelfth Prince marries and has children, it will have nothing to do with you. Can you bear that?”

Hearing this, she began to cry, sobbing, “I know, I just don’t have the fortune. I’ve missed such a good person, and there’s no future to speak of. I’ve thought it all through. Like Hai Lan, I will never find anyone else in this lifetime. I’ll raise the child well and not think about having him acknowledge his ancestors or family. Being a common person isn’t bad. As for the Twelfth Prince marrying and having children, that’s as it should be. He should match with a good girl, from a good family background, who can help him a bit.”

At this point, no one could help her. Wu Changgeng sighed, taking Xia Zhi out with him.

To find a house, to be honest, wasn’t that easy. It needed to be reasonably priced and satisfactory—where could one find such a place quickly? Ding Yi was urgent, so there was no choice but to mobilize everyone to search through the alleys. But after looking at several households, none were satisfactory. As the sun was about to set, they decided to go back and continue the search tomorrow. However, upon arriving at the Prince’s Mansion, Lu Shenchen from the steward’s office stopped him.

“No need to search anymore. Just now, the Fourth Prince sent a message saying that our master had asked him to redeem the Wen family’s compound a few days ago. The current owner is his bondservant—it’s just a matter of one word, and it’s done.” Lu Shenchen handed him a large bunch of keys. “The house has been vacated. The resident in front is Heng Tai, the Vice Minister of Revenue. The house has been well-maintained, with no worry of wind or rain—one can move in right away.”

Wu Changgeng held the keys, murmuring, “The Prince’s kindness…”

Lu Shenchen shook his head, “Why go to such trouble to get back the old house? Firstly, to comfort the Lady’s heart—the Prince is a kind-hearted person. Secondly, I suspect he can’t let go. If she’s out wandering, and one day he wants to find her but she’s disappeared, he’d have to search the world over. The Wen family compound is the Lady’s root; with the root there, the person won’t run away. The poor Twelfth Prince, for the first time in his life, and it had to be so difficult. How could he not be disheartened!”

Wu Changgeng nodded in agreement, “Indeed, it’s not easy for any of them.”

He delivered the keys to Jiucu Bureau Alley, but it was late, so he didn’t go in himself, giving them to a little eunuch instead. The little eunuch carried them to the back courtyard. Ding Yi was still learning to cut children’s clothes by lamplight. Hearing the announcement from outside, she hurriedly hid the material.

Sha Tong brought the keys in, explaining everything in detail. She didn’t say anything, just waved for him to leave. The keys lay on the kang table in front of her, very unfamiliar, no longer the original ones. But as she looked at them, tears flowed uncontrollably.

It wasn’t about getting the old house back—to be honest, she didn’t care about those things. What was lost was lost; there was no need to dwell on it. If there was any regret, it was because Ru Jian couldn’t live to see this day. What made her most sad was Hong Ce. He was always like this—clearly saying he would let go, yet why did he still arrange everything for her? Just as he had said before, he was accustomed to saving her, looking after her. The more he did this, the more she felt she had wronged him.

In the drawer of the kang cabinet was a sheepskin map. She opened the scroll and lay under the candle, measuring inch by inch. She had looked at this map dozens of times. Khalkha’s territory was not vast, to the north of Great Britain. Crossing through Inner Mongolia to the border, the journey was about the distance from Beijing to Shengjing. But if one had to go deep into the hinterland for battle, then Ulaanbaatar would be equivalent to another Ningguta.

It’s said that Khalkha is extremely cold. He left in such a hurry; she wondered if he had brought enough warm clothing. The army moved slowly, taking two or three months on the road. By then, the child would be five months old and would be showing. She hoped his campaign would be successful, that he would quickly subdue Khalkha and return triumphantly. Though not daring to hope to see him, at least knowing he was safe would allow her to raise the child with peace of mind.

“Father is not just a prince on official business; he’s also a great general prince.” She smiled, gently stroking her belly. “By the time he returns, we’ll probably have grown teeth and learned to walk. Then when he enters the city, Mother will take you to see him. Riding a tall horse, the most spirited and handsome one is him.” She counted on her fingers, “The round trip will take seven or eight months, plus the time for combat. If all goes well, he could return in two years. Two years isn’t that long. But… I’ve already started to miss him.”