That evening, Xu Lingyi returned: “I heard Fifth Sister-in-law visited today. Was there something the matter?”

“The Marquis is back!” Eleventh Miss smiled and stepped forward to take his cloak, catching a faint trace of wine on him. “Fifth Brother-in-law had also heard about the child and specially sent Fifth Sister to come and ask after things. She ate the midday meal with the Grand Madam and sat for a little while before heading back.”

Xu Lingyi nodded and went to the washroom to freshen up and change his clothes.

“What are we having tonight?” he asked as he finished, stepping out and slipping off his shoes to settle onto the large heated bed by the window.

“Mutton hotpot.” Eleventh Miss took the tea from a junior maidservant and handed it to Xu Lingyi. “There’s a kind of dried wild vegetable called mountain amaranth — when you cook it in the hotpot it’s quite delicious.” Then she asked with a smile, “Has the Marquis been drinking today?”

Xu Lingyi took a sip of hot tea and leaned back against the large bolster pillow with an air of ease: “Wang Li came by. We all had a little.”

Eleventh Miss smiled and went to make up the bed.

Xu Lingyi reached out and caught her hand: “Come sit with me a while.”

Eleventh Miss did as he said and sat down on the heated bed.

Xu Lingyi let out a long breath: “I’ve never been made to look such a fool in all my life.” He smiled wryly at Eleventh Miss. “Every kind of remark imaginable. Truly, nothing is beyond people’s imaginations or their tongues.”

Eleventh Miss laughed: “That is the nature of rumor.” The common masses had an extraordinary fascination with the private affairs of noble and aristocratic families — not to mention that the Qu family had been fanning the flames all along.

“I had half a mind to offer some explanation, but looking at them — shifty eyes and furtive expressions, every one of them — it was plain they had come to watch me make a spectacle of myself. If I explained, it would only encourage them further. So I said nothing at all.” Xu Lingyi shook his head with a helpless smile; yet there was no trace of anger in his brow, which made it evident he had not taken the antics of those friends to heart.

“Rumors lose their power before those with wisdom.” Eleventh Miss still spoke words of comfort. “In a few days it will all pass.”

Xu Lingyi nodded: “As it happens, the Deputy Minister of Works’ household has had a case of wife-killing and wife-snatching. I’ve already sent people to spread it around. Once everyone hears something new and exciting, they’ll gradually forget about our affair in a day or two.”

Rather than expending effort chasing down a rumor, it was better to replace it with something else — redirect attention, let it be forgotten.

While husband and wife were discussing how to turn a great matter into a small one and a small one into nothing, the Emperor was making his way to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility with a smile playing at his eyes.

The Crown Prince had returned to the palace only the day before, and the Empress had summoned the palace maidservants who attended him to question them. Hearing the report from an attendant eunuch, she hurried out to receive him.

The Emperor took the Empress’s hand and they entered the inner chamber.

Palace maids brought tea, then retreated on quiet feet.

The Emperor smiled: “This afternoon, while deliberating with several cabinet ministers over the defense of Fujian, I heard rather an amusing tale.”

The Empress’s heart gave a start, and her thoughts flew at once to the Qu family.

“Amusing to the Emperor must mean it is very amusing indeed. Please tell me, Your Majesty,” the Empress said with a bright smile. “Let me hear something to broaden my horizons.”

The Emperor laughed aloud and said: “They say that three years ago, Marquis Yongping brought back a female chieftain from the Miao borderlands and has been keeping her in the Horse Traders’ Lane on the western side of the city. The child is said to be already three years old.”

“How can that be?” The Empress’s face was full of shock. “How could the Marquis have done something so reckless?”

It was well known that pacifying the Miao had been the Emperor’s first military campaign after his accession. To demonstrate the might of the Great Zhou, all captured chieftains had been put to death… Bringing back a female chieftain would be equivalent to privately releasing a prisoner of war. Should the censors seize upon this and refuse to let go, it could very well escalate to the level of “colluding with the enemy and betraying the nation.” That was the kind of charge that carried the extermination of nine clans.

“This must be a rumor.” The Empress’s expression was anxious, and fine beads of perspiration had appeared at her temples.

“I know.” The Emperor lowered his eyes and brushed the tender leaves floating in his tea bowl, failing to notice the change in the Empress’s manner. “The Fourth is always meticulous and cautious in everything he does. Even if something of this sort had occurred, he wouldn’t have let it become the talk of the whole city.” He looked up, and a sharp gleam flashed briefly in his eyes. “However, Elder Cabinet Minister Liang spoke of it with such detail and conviction — even describing what the child looks like — that this matter is likely not as simple as it appears. I think you should make arrangements as soon as possible and invite the Marquis Yongping’s wife into the palace for a conversation. Tomorrow the seals are closed for the New Year — the censors’ memorials cannot be submitted for the time being. But come the third day when the seals reopen…”

By then, impeachment memorials would surely come flying in like snowflakes.

“I understand.” The Empress replied quickly, then gently broached the matter with the Emperor: “But the Marquis’s wife is still young. I’m afraid she may not be able to explain things clearly in the moment. Would it not be better to invite the Grand Madam to the palace instead…”

“Let us invite the Marquis Yongping’s wife.” The Emperor considered for a moment. “The Grand Madam is getting on in years — the younger generation tends to hide things from her when trouble arises. And if she were to be suddenly agitated and it affected her health, that would be most undesirable.”

The Empress heard this and felt a faint chill settle in her heart.

The Emperor had received this news in the afternoon, and yet had only told her now after the palace gates were locked for the night, and he was specifically requesting that the youthful Eleventh Miss come to the palace… Time had passed, and the husband she had once known had become the sovereign she now served.

But when she thought of that clever, capable little sister-in-law of hers, her heart eased slightly.

“The Emperor is right.” She replied in acquiescence. “I shall summon the Marquis Yongping’s wife first thing tomorrow morning.”

The Emperor nodded, then instructed the attendant eunuch, Palace Superintendent He, beside him: “The rest of you may withdraw.”

This meant he would be staying here tonight.

He then smiled at the Empress: “That ‘Filled-Bone Abalone Cream’ you prepared the last time I was here was exquisite. Let us have that same dish for the night’s supper.”

The Empress smiled and agreed. As she sent a palace maid to bring the night meal, she was quietly turning things over in her mind: Could he still not trust me? Does he wish to watch with his own eyes how I instruct the eunuchs, lest I send word to warn Marquis Yongping?

The next morning she rose early, and sure enough — with the Emperor watching — she had someone summon Eleventh Miss into the palace.

“…They say the Marquis brought back a female chieftain to Yanjing and is keeping her in Horse Traders’ Lane. They even say the child has a pair of phoenix eyes. What exactly is going on?”

The warm inner chamber was utterly still, not a soul in sight. Her Highness the Empress had her brows furrowed, her expression grave, and her questions pressed with an air of urgency.

Eleventh Miss was taken completely aback.

Although she had been summoned to the palace without warning and in great haste, she and Xu Lingyi had carefully thought through many possible scenarios beforehand: the palace learning of Fengqing’s existence and sending someone to inquire; the Qu family using political framing to recount the story in a way designed to damage Xu Lingyi; even the Empress summoning Eleventh Miss to the palace for a reprimand after hearing the rumors… But what she had not anticipated was the Empress’s manner. The two of them were alone together, yet she still maintained the full dignity of the imperial family — crown adorned with nine dragons and four phoenixes, seated upright on the phoenix throne in the dark greenish ceremonial robe embroidered with twelve pheasant patterns.

Her mind moved at lightning speed.

From their few brief encounters, it was clear to Eleventh Miss that the Empress was not a cold and rigid woman. Moreover, they were speaking of a matter that touched on the Xu family’s very survival — how could she look so formally severe and impassive… unless she feared being overheard? But this was the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, the Empress’s own residence — who would dare spy here?

The thought flashed past in an instant, and already cold sweat had soaked through her collar.

In this imperial palace, the only person the Empress truly feared… was the Emperor himself.

She drew a quiet breath, yet in her heart, she settled into a stillness as undisturbed as an ancient well.

“Your Highness the Empress,” Eleventh Miss raised her sleeve to cover her face, “this is the most terrible injustice. The Marquis’s conduct is upright and his character forthright — how could he do such a thing?” While she spoke, she blinked rapidly, praying that the tears would come quickly. “Who could have said such a thing? If this were to reach the Emperor’s ears, would the Marquis still have his life? Your Highness, you must speak on the Marquis’s behalf! Someone is clearly trying to frame him — someone is plotting against his life!” As she said it, the corners of her eyes grew damp. “To think of the Marquis, who gave half his life to the battlefield and suffers from a disability that leaves him unable to walk easily — just when he should finally enjoy a little peace, and now this is being said of him… What are we to do?”

She put on a look of grief-stricken helplessness.

The Empress’s expression shifted — first a flash of delight, then a look of surprise, then the corner of her mouth turned upward in a fleeting smile.

The delight was because she had said nothing at all, yet her brother’s household was already prepared — for otherwise, why would Eleventh Miss have spoken as she had? The surprise was at the manner in which Eleventh Miss was speaking — heedless of all else, bursting into tears, every bit the picture of an unworldly young girl who had not yet seen much of life. And yet recalling the words she had once offered by way of counsel, she knew this was in all likelihood a deliberate performance, done willingly. She had not expected that this young woman would disregard her own dignity to this extent for the sake of the Xu family. Having someone like this by her brother’s side, she felt deeply comforted. She could not help but smile — then, recalling the Emperor resting in the inner chamber where he could hear every sound clearly, she swiftly concealed the smile.

“Stop crying.” Her voice carried a warmth even she had not noticed. “Come, sit down first.” She indicated a brocade stool to her right.

Eleventh Miss heard the calm in the Empress’s voice and knew she had done the right thing.

She let out a breath of relief, drew out her handkerchief and dabbed at the corners of her eyes. Inwardly she was fretting anxiously over why the tears wouldn’t come properly, and composed herself into the posture of someone quietly weeping as she settled onto the brocade stool.

“I want to ask you — have you heard this rumor?” The Empress trusted her brother, but the way the cabinet ministers had spoken of it with such certainty left her with lingering doubt.

“I have heard of it.” Eleventh Miss answered with a catch in her throat. “Not only have I heard of it — the child is actually being kept at Crescent Pond!”

“Ah!” The Empress’s face changed dramatically.

Eleventh Miss, all the while keeping an ear toward the inner chamber, caught a faint stirring within.

So the Emperor really was in there listening.

“And that is precisely why the Marquis is so wronged!” Before the Empress could speak, she said at once: “That child is not the Marquis’s — he belongs to Fifth Master.”

“What?” The Empress’s expression changed completely.

She had not expected there to actually be a child.

Eleventh Miss, who had been watching for any movement from the inner chamber, heard the faintest footsteps pause just at the door curtain.

“I am not entirely clear on the precise details myself.” She carefully told the Empress everything that had happened on the day in question: “…and then suddenly this rumor spread, saying the child had been born to the Marquis by a camp courtesan. They even said it was my elder sister’s jealousy that prevented the Marquis from bringing the child home.” As she spoke, she began to cry in earnest. “Your Highness, these people are too vicious. They will not even leave the dead in peace. Your Highness, what am I to do? The Marquis would certainly never explain himself, but without his permission, not even before the Grand Madam have I let a single word slip…”

The Empress’s heart was at that moment in utter chaos.

This child might not be Xu Lingyi’s, but he was still a child of the Xu household.

To defend Xu Lingyi would inevitably drag in Xu Lingkuan, which would in turn drag in Danyang County Princess, and then Danyang’s father, Marquis Dingnan. But if she did not defend Xu Lingyi, this grave accusation would be more than the Xu family could bear.

It was like the palm and the back of the hand — though you knew the palm was thicker with flesh, striking either side hurt all the same.

She could not help but glance toward the inner chamber’s curtain.

—