Two days after news of the uprising in the prefectural city arrived, Yang Hong made a brief trip home. He was in great haste, and explained that he was passing through on official business. Due to the sudden nature of Liu Chong’s affair, he had received orders from above to strengthen the border defenses along the Great Wall, and he had no way of returning for some time to come.

He set down the rice and flour he had brought home, then repeatedly warned them: things were still unsettled outside; unless necessary, do not go out, and stay home to wait for the situation to calm down, lest they bring trouble upon themselves.

Zhang Shi, who had been seized with fright and cold sweat these past two days whenever she thought of her previous single-minded determination to send gifts and work through connections, and who had gone back and forth between relief and lingering fear, quickly nodded in agreement upon hearing her husband’s instructions.

Yang Hong added with greater emphasis: “The superior officer who bore me a private grudge was also arrested yesterday on charges of being an accomplice. I made a special detour home today just to tell you once more: the fact that I was able to escape this calamity is not because my fate was lucky — my fate was good! That day, if the young lady had not dreamed that Liu Chong would meet disaster, and had not run out to warn me to keep my distance from him, I would have no life left at this moment! I’m telling you again: if it weren’t for her, this family would already be finished today! From now on, if you dare act the way you have been, you know what I mean!”

Her husband’s tone was unprecedentedly severe. Zhang Shi was deeply ashamed, her face flushed crimson, and she said in a low voice: “I understand. I won’t dare again — rest assured.”

Yang Hong judged that this time she really would not dare to defy him in private, and after settling the household affairs, he hurried out and left.

Zhang Shi’s attitude toward Pu Zhu indeed changed somewhat, and with a presumption of the other’s feelings, she assumed Pu Zhu might bear resentment toward her. Whenever she caught sight of her, her expression always carried a trace of sheepishness. Old Lin Shi underwent an even more drastic overnight transformation, as if she had exchanged her face entirely: not only did she no longer cast barbed insults at Pu Zhu, she actually wore a look of deference, and no longer ordered Pu Zhu to do chores — she even competed to do A’Ju’s tasks herself.

Just like this, half a month passed quickly. Seeing no major incident, the initial tense atmosphere in the town gradually relaxed. Idle people gathered at the post station every day, freely discussing the latest news filtering in from the prefectural city. They said this time the court had been able to swiftly exterminate Liu Chong and the Prince of Tianshui’s rebellion, preventing any great upheaval in He Xi — all thanks to the merits of General Chen Zhude.

Chen Zhude was the son of the brother of the current Empress Dowager Chen, a figure who had been gradually rising within the court these past few years, and who had a successful southern campaign against Jiaozhi two years prior to his name. According to accounts, Liu Chong and the Prince of Tianshui had agreed upon a date to rise up, planning to rebel simultaneously in both places and support each other from afar. Yet on the very night before the appointed day of action, while Liu Chong was in his residence summoning his key followers to swear an oath of loyalty in blood, Chen Zhude arrived with troops, surrounding the place from out of nowhere. Caught completely off guard, after a brief and confused fight, Liu Chong was caught like a turtle in a jar, and Liu Chong along with all his people were successfully captured in one clean sweep, thus nipping a great catastrophe in the bud.

In barely half a month, his name had spread throughout He Xi; even the old soldier at the Fulu post station who was somewhat hard of hearing knew it.

It was to the sound of discussion heaping praise upon Chen Zhude on all sides that Pu Zhu accompanied A’Ju out of the post station and returned to the Yang household not far away.

A’Ju was accustomed to keeping busy and could not sit idle. Coming through the door, she saw a pile of firewood in the courtyard that hadn’t been chopped, and went to pick up the axe.

She had only managed two chops when Old Lin Shi came rushing out of the kitchen and snatched the axe from A’Ju’s hands.

“You rest, you rest! I’ll do it in a moment! Go have a drink of water!” And with that she pushed A’Ju inside to sit down, and not only that, actually went and poured a bowl of water and brought it over for her to drink.

Pu Zhu stood watching her from the side. Old Lin Shi smiled at her and pulled her into the kitchen, turned to glance at Zhang Shi’s room, quietly closed the door, and smiled flatteringly as she whispered: “Young lady, all my life I’ve been a pitiful soul — no sons or daughters to depend on in old age, at this age still having to fawn on others and serve them, and when I die there won’t even be anyone to come burn incense and paper money at my grave. This life I have no hope for — I just want to accumulate some merit somehow, so maybe in the next life my lot will be better. Young lady, if you have that gift of divine insight, couldn’t you go to sleep and have a dream on my behalf to ask?”

Pu Zhu suddenly understood.

No wonder her attitude had been so good lately!

“The other day when the little boy’s father came back, both husband and wife were saying you dreamed Liu Chong would meet disaster, and that’s how you knew. It must have been a divine spirit sending the dream, and that’s how you came to know. Take pity on me — help me out this once. Before, I was black-hearted, but from now on your A’mu won’t have to do any work at all — I’ll do it for her!”

She was staring at Pu Zhu with a pleading expression.

Pu Zhu had no desire whatsoever for others to know her secret. If this gossipy Old Lin Shi went out and blabbered about it, affecting her grand plans, that would be most undesirable.

She said seriously: “What sort of gift of divine insight could I possibly have? That time, I simply felt that path was risky, and was afraid the money lent to Uncle Yang would be thrown into a bottomless pit, so I made it all up on the spur of the moment to persuade him. I never expected I’d actually be right — it was purely coincidence.”

Old Lin Shi was greatly disappointed: “Really?”

“Why would I deceive you? If I truly had the gift of divine insight, would I have spent all that time being bullied by you, washing clothes in the frozen river in the dead of winter?”

Old Lin Shi was instantly red-faced and ashamed, speechless.

Suddenly at this moment, a clamor came from outside the courtyard gate, with someone rapping loudly at the door.

Pu Zhu was puzzled and did not know what had happened. She walked out and opened the door, and was not prepared — she got quite a fright.

Outside the door was a crowd packed tightly in layer upon layer; roughly speaking, it would not be an exaggeration to say that half the town had turned up. Everyone’s expressions looked extremely envious. In front were several of Yang Hong’s subordinates; Pu Zhu recognized the one leading them — a beacon post commander, she thought his surname was Hu.

At this display, it seemed as though townspeople had followed this beacon post commander over to watch the spectacle.

What was this about?

“Commander Hu, is there something you need?” Pu Zhu asked him.

“Young lady! Wonderful news! Commander Yang has been promoted! He is too busy to return himself, so he has sent us to come and escort you all to the prefectural city! Look, the carriages are all ready!”

The commander pointed to what lay behind.

Pu Zhu raised her eyes — sure enough, two horse carriages had already pulled up beside the road at the entrance, and she was momentarily stunned.

“A’mu, what’s going on outside? Why is it so noisy? What happened?”

Zhang Shi was inside feeding her son his meal. Hearing the commotion, she called out.

Pu Zhu had already collected herself, and turned to Old Lin Shi, who had run out: “Go tell Auntie that Uncle has been promoted, and someone has been sent to take us to the prefectural city.”

Old Lin Shi’s mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg inside, and she stood rooted to the spot, not moving an inch.

“Lin Shi, why aren’t you listening when I speak to you?”

Zhang Shi’s voice came from inside again.

Old Lin Shi gave a start, slapped her own thigh, and leaped three feet into the air with a wail: “Promotion! We’re going back to the prefectural city!”

…

The carriage came to a gentle stop before the main gate of an official residence.

The double doors were thrown open, black lacquer and copper nails, seven tiers of green-stone steps before the gate, a stone lion crouching on each side — it looked very imposing.

This was the main gate of the He Xi Xuanwei Commander’s Mansion, the typical configuration of offices in front and residence in the rear. Since the border commanderies were vast and sparsely populated, even in a prefectural city, the population was only a few tens of thousands at most, and what was never in short supply was land. Residences of this kind were thus built extremely large. This Xuanwei Commander’s Mansion was no exception. Because the previous occupant, who had already lost his head, had liked to indulge himself, the official residence had not only a very large rear garden, but also an artificial pond dug within the garden — in a place like this, that was quite a lavish undertaking, and it was one of the most imposing buildings for miles around.

Yang Hong was now Acting Xuanwei Commander, meaning he temporarily held the position of Xuanwei Commander in an acting capacity.

The Xuanwei Commander was the highest office in He Xi after the Commander-in-Chief, overseeing all the other commanders. The former Xuanwei Commander had been executed as Liu Chong’s accomplice, and Liu Chong himself was dead; no new Commander-in-Chief had been appointed yet. So, at least for the time being, Yang Hong was the highest official in He Xi.

His sudden leap from a minor post commander to this conspicuous position was entirely due to the arrival of one person.

That person was the current Crown Prince, Li Chengyu.

After Chen Zhude had secretly led troops here and struck Liu Chong and his accomplices with swift and decisive force, he sent a memorial to the court, reporting that Liu Chong’s influence had taken deep root here, the case involved a great many people, and the populace was in a state of panic and anxiety. Upon receiving the report, the emperor dispatched the Crown Prince — who had come of age the previous year — as special envoy to take charge of affairs in He Xi: to thoroughly investigate the case, and simultaneously to act on behalf of the court in proclaiming the imperial grace and comforting the people. The Crown Prince spared no effort and came post-haste to He Xi, and apart from investigating the case, also went about in disguise to call on people in various places. He quickly learned that Yang Hong enjoyed considerable prestige among the local frontier soldiers, that he had also accumulated military merit, and should long since have been promoted to commander — yet because of a personal enmity, he had been suppressed by a superior all along, and was still serving as a mere minor post commander. The Crown Prince immediately sent for him. That day, Yang Hong, who had been attending to sentinel duties near the Great Wall beacon towers, received the summons and hastened over. The Crown Prince questioned him at length, was greatly impressed, judged him to be a man of great use, and promoted him on the spot.

Such was the course of Yang Hong’s promotion.

This was entirely different from what had happened in her previous life.

In her previous life at this time, she and A’Ju had been homeless, taken in out of kindness by Xu Chong at the post station, doing hard labor every day, the prospect before them seeming utterly dark with not a sliver of hope — and moreover she had not known that A’Ju would soon be worked to death.

And now, she was holding tightly to A’mu’s arm, her head leaning against her, riding in a carriage to the prefectural city, and settling into this imposing residence.

Compared with Zhang Shi and the others, who had been so excited they couldn’t sleep for several nights after moving in, Pu Zhu’s heart held not the slightest trace of excitement.

Having scaled Mount Tai, a small hill like this — how could it catch the eye?

In this lifetime, she would certainly navigate toward fortune and away from calamity, advancing with success in all things — she knew this.

This was only the first step she had taken on her ascent to the summit.

Perhaps because the conditions really were better now — the official residence came with its own stewards and servants, and there was simply no concern about feeding one or two extra mouths — or perhaps because Zhang Shi was genuinely thankful that her husband had been stopped by Pu Zhu in time and that was why the family had this good fortune today, and she looked upon Pu Zhu as the family’s good-luck star — in any case, Zhang Shi now treated Pu Zhu with nothing but courtesy and consideration, arranging for her to stay in a secluded courtyard by the rear garden. The courtyard was elegant, the rooms were new, and when Zhang Shi had brought her to look at it, she had said if Pu Zhu found it unsatisfactory, she could take her pick and live wherever she pleased.

Pu Zhu followed her arrangement and chose this place. For one thing, the courtyard was perfectly fine; for another, she knew she would not be staying long.

By the fourth month, the weather was warming, and once next month arrived, she would be summoned to the capital.

It was only just over a month away — it made no difference where one lived.

“Thank you, Auntie. I’ll take this place, it’s very good.”

She had settled in, calm and composed.

The commander’s mansion was not short of servants, and A’Ju no longer needed to do any work. Every day she accompanied Ju A’mu as they sat indoors doing needlework, or Pu Zhu would stroll alone in the rear garden, quietly plotting over possible problems she might encounter when she entered the capital and the ways to handle them. Without realizing it, seven or eight days had passed. On this day, she received word from a maidservant Zhang Shi had sent to attend her: Yang Hong had just dispatched a rider racing back to the mansion to report that the Crown Prince would be entering the prefectural city that evening, and would be staying at the mansion for several days. He told Zhang Shi to make some preparations; the Crown Prince’s court attendant had already arrived ahead of time. Zhang Shi was greatly flustered, and had just a moment ago summoned the mansion’s stewards and servants to gather, to follow the court attendant’s instructions in preparing to receive the Crown Prince.

When the maidservant spoke of this, her expression was very excited.

Li Chengyu, as Crown Prince, would naturally have certain requirements for his accommodations upon formally entering the prefectural city. First, security had to be guaranteed; second, at the very least, the conditions could not be too crude.

In a border commandery, even the relay station in the prefectural city had quite simple conditions, and security was even harder to guarantee. As for that Commander-in-Chief’s mansion that was somewhat larger than the Commander’s mansion — it had seen too many killings inside, was inauspicious, and its main gate was still sealed with official strips, so naturally it could not be used.

By comparison, the Commander’s mansion was the best choice.

Pu Zhu’s heart stirred slightly. She thought for a moment, then asked where the Crown Prince was to be accommodated.

“The commander’s wife said the western courtyard has higher ground, most fitting for an honored guest such as the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince’s court attendant has also agreed.”

Pu Zhu walked to the window and gazed toward the western courtyard.

The distance between it and where she lived was not very close — there was a courtyard and a wall in between — but there was a gate, and once opened, they could come and go freely between the two sides. The main structure was a two-storey building set on high foundations, and from where she stood, looking in that direction, she could see the overhanging hip-and-gable roof above the perimeter wall and part of the upper storey. At this hour, she could dimly make out several figures moving back and forth in the windows — they must be the servants who were busy cleaning and furnishing the space to receive the honored guest.

Pu Zhu gazed at that building with slightly narrowed eyes, and an idea slowly took shape in her mind.

In her previous life, Li Chengyu had also come to He Xi at this time as a special envoy for consolation and pacification, but at that time she had been staying in the post station at Fulu Town and had had no chance of meeting him. It was only after she was summoned to the capital and became Crown Princess that she met him for the first time.

And in this life, because of the change in Yang Hong’s fate, her own circumstances had changed along with it, and by this most unexpected turn she found herself in the same place as him, earlier than ever.

She had more than once examined her own life in her previous life. After becoming Crown Princess, she had put the greater part of her time and energy into securing the imperial favor. There had been no choice — at that time, securing favor was of paramount importance to her. Without Li Chengyu’s affection, she would have had nothing.

That sounded very bleak, and very humbling, but it was the only truth.

And in this life, faced with a man she already understood thoroughly — could even predict his innermost thoughts from his frown or his smile — she was completely free to put her energy into things she had never had the opportunity to consider in her previous life. Such as: giving birth to her own son; cultivating a powerful force loyal to herself that she could rely upon; eliminating hidden dangers one by one; helping her husband resist the enemies to the north; and removing all those treacherous ministers and rebels who might threaten her husband’s throne, in order to pacify what was within and safeguard what was without, and make the dynasty secure.

Crown Prince Li Chengyu — her husband from her previous life — although his abilities were not exceptional, and he was somewhat given to acting on impulse, was a man with ambitions and a desire to improve himself, and when calm, was not one who refused to listen to counsel. In this life, with her own foreknowledge to navigate around danger and toward fortune, he would at the very least never become an incompetent ruler.

That was sufficient.

She certainly dared not compare herself to Grand Empress Dowager Jiang Shi — the thought had never entered her mind in her previous life either — but now she felt she might try.

To become someone who could call herself the Empress Dowager, a supreme figure as perfect and flawless as Jiang Shi, without any weakness — this was her ready-made model and ultimate ideal for this lifetime.

Outside the window there was an apricot tree in bloom. Spring came late to He Xi, with its cold winds; in the inner regions, the apricot blossoms would have already fallen by now, but here the buds were just reaching their fullest bloom and bursting open, drawing several bees that hovered and flew over the flowers, sipping their sweet nectar.

Since they had already met, and were this close, it was perhaps the will of heaven — why not take advantage of the moment to meet him early, to make him fall for her sooner, which would also make things easier between them in the future?

She quickly made up her mind and, facing the fragrant breeze that drifted in from outside the window carrying the scent of flowers, breathed in one long, deep breath.