After seeing Prince Shun off for the evening, Xu Lingyi said: “Prince Shun may seem carefree and jovial on the surface, but he is actually quite steady in how he conducts himself. If he were not, the Emperor would never have entrusted him with overseeing the Imperial Household Bureau. He and I have a close private friendship, and he knows my temperament well. Since he believes this business is worth doing, there should not be any great trouble with it. Your Happiness Shop has only just gotten started — being able to take on small commissions like this from time to time would bring in a bit of income, however small.”

The implication was that, if it was business introduced through Prince Shun’s good offices, it was still worth considering.

Eleventh Miss felt no particular surprise at this.

Since the two men had grown up playing together from childhood, they ought to know each other thoroughly. Prince Shun had clearly known that Xu Lingyi disliked those close to him becoming entangled with the Imperial Household Bureau, yet he had introduced the business directly in front of Xu Lingyi. He must have been certain Xu Lingyi would not object. Thinking back further to how Xu Lingyi had appeared wholly detached during the exchange, while Prince Shun had carried that faintly teasing air — and now this seemingly offhand but genuinely weighty show of concern — she could not help wondering whether Xu Lingyi had known about all this from the very beginning, or whether this whole piece of business had originally been arranged at Xu Lingyi’s own quiet prompting.

The thought flashed through her mind and she gave herself a small start of alarm.

Doing business with the Imperial Household Bureau depended entirely on connections. Once the right connections were in place, it was a trade that could not fail to turn a profit. There was no telling how many people were willing to pour money into small commissions — like the work of adding rank-badge embroidery to garments — just to open the necessary channels, and then advance step by patient step, nibbling away until they had become the wealthiest merchants in the land. The examples of Yuan Niang and Wen Yiniang were right before her eyes. How could Xu Lingyi possibly make the same mistake?

With that thought, she felt she had been overthinking things.

Whatever the truth of the matter, both Prince Shun and Xu Lingyi meant it kindly. She smiled and offered her explanation: “When you have been entrusted with something, you must see it through faithfully. Better to think it over carefully beforehand and proceed with caution than to later let down Prince Shun’s good intentions.”

She was saying, was she not, that one must act with sincerity and keep one’s word?

Xu Lingyi listened with a smile on his face, his gaze resting gently on Eleventh Miss.

He suddenly recalled the circumstances of the very first time he had met her.

Just as quiet and still as she was now — had he not been wary of someone barging in and carefully looked over the room at the time, he likely would not have noticed her at all.

Thinking on it carefully: whether facing Da Taitai’s injustice or Third Sister-in-law’s selfishness, whether dealing with a maidservant’s misconduct or the quarrels among the concubines, whether confronted with his own cool reserve or Madam Li’s flattery, and even when it came to the dowry Yuan Niang had left behind or the business opportunity Prince Shun had brought — she had always been as still as a deep, clear pool, maintaining a broad and unbothered composure.

Honest and trustworthy. Never given to self-aggrandizement.

She had always had her own convictions. She neither drifted with the current nor shut herself away in haughty isolation. She neither flattered the world nor set herself so far above it that no one could reach her. Like a great rock in the middle of swift water — let the winds blow and the rains fall, let the current run fast or slow, she held her own depths within herself.

The thought passed in a flash, and he found himself studying her carefully.

Her dark hair was casually gathered into a coiled bun, a pair of solid-gold crabapple-blossom earrings hung at her ears, and she wore that pale blue jacket she often put on — fitted snugly to her figure, showing the gentle curves of her chest and the slenderness of her waist, tracing out a graceful, delicate silhouette.

Something stirred quietly within Xu Lingyi.

Eleventh Miss seemed to have grown a little more. That jacket was getting a bit small on her now…

While he was still turning this over in his mind, the faint sound of the night-watch drum drifted through the air.

He tilted his ear to listen. It was already the beginning of the hai hour.

Hearing it, Eleventh Miss smiled and rose to her feet.

“It is getting late — we should rest early!” Yet she did not call the young maidservants in to help Xu Lingyi change out of his clothes.

By rights, there were three auspicious days when a concubine first entered the household. Last night, he had been drunk and slept here. Tonight was the second day…

Xu Lingyi nodded and called Chunmo in to help him change.

It took Eleventh Miss some time to come back to herself.

Absentmindedly finishing her washing and rinsing, she came back to find Xu Lingyi reclining against the headboard on the outer side of the bed, reading a book. Seeing her approach, he showed no intention of moving over.

Feeling rather put-upon, Eleventh Miss climbed over from the foot of the bed to the inner side.

“Go to sleep first!” Whatever the book was, Xu Lingyi was absorbed in it — when he addressed her, he did not even glance up.

Eleventh Miss gave a murmured acknowledgment and lay down.

Xu Lingyi was tall of frame, and she lay in his shadow, which at least spared her eyes from the lamplight. But thinking of the matter of Yang Yiniang, she felt it was a thorny problem.

With him being so noncommittal, she truly did not know how best to settle Yang Shi’s situation — Yang Shi was, after all, unlike an ordinary concubine. There had been no precedent for this in the Xu household before now. Her daily living arrangements and routine expenses would all need to have a proper standard established.

She glanced over at him several times. Xu Lingyi’s eyes remained fixed on his book, and once she even caught him smiling.

Eleventh Miss had no choice but to raise it herself: “My lord, what are your intentions regarding Yang Yiniang?”

The moment the words left her mouth, she heard a suppressed laugh from Xu Lingyi.

Eleventh Miss stared at him in bewilderment and propped herself up to look — only to see Xu Lingyi hurriedly turn a page, then become absorbed in reading again with every appearance of concentration.

He had not heard a single word she said.

Eleventh Miss sank back down in dejection and decided to ignore him entirely, counting little woolly sheep until she drifted off to sleep.

From behind him came the soft, even sound of her breathing, and Xu Lingyi knew she had fallen asleep.

Like a child — no matter how weighty the matter, she could lay her head on the pillow and be gone at once.

The thought rose in his mind, and in some small corner of his heart, something melted, sending gentle ripples spreading through him.

Xu Lingyi turned over quietly.

Eleventh Miss was nestled close against him, sleeping on her side. Her dark hair lay spread like clouds against the pillow with its pattern of red lotuses in full bloom, and in the soft, amber haze of the lamplight, her skin was unimaginably fine and pale — like white jade, or fine porcelain.

Smiling, he brushed the strands that had fallen against her cheek back behind her ear, and smiling still, sat up to prepare to blow out the lamp and rest — but the corner of his eye caught the slender line of Eleventh Miss’s neck, then fell, quite of its own accord, to her chest.

Her skin was the colour of moonlight on snow, making even the white inner garment of Songjiang three-wale cloth seem dull by comparison.

He thought of the graceful beauty of her figure in that pale blue jacket.

He reached out, intending to cup one of those still-tender curves in his hand, but his fingertips brushed against the jade pendant hanging at her chest.

That pendant was the coming-of-age gift he had given her — carved with the auspicious Three Yang Bringing Prosperity pattern. She seemed very fond of it. She had even braided a large red corded tassel in a plum-blossom cluster design and worn it close against her heart.

The bright, vivid red of the cord, the flawless white softness of her figure, and the jade pendant rising and falling with each breath… all of it transformed in that moment into a dazzling, soul-stirring vision of spring warmth, and his desire surged forward like a dam breaking open, rushing and irresistible.

“Mo Yan…” He half covered her with his body, murmuring her small name against her ear while loosening the ties of her garment.

Perhaps feeling the weight pressing down upon her, Eleventh Miss gave a small, instinctive struggle — and her rounded white shoulder slipped free of the inner garment Xu Lingyi had pressed down upon, bared to the open air, giving off a faint sweet scent.

Xu Lingyi was suddenly reminded of the great white peaches, sweet and full of juice, that the palace had once bestowed in his childhood.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he leaned down and gently bit into her.

Eleventh Miss woke with a startled cry.

There was no need to wonder what had happened.

Ever since Da Taitai had passed away, though he had been sleeping in her rooms, he had always… Why this sudden change tonight…

“My lord!” she called to Xu Lingyi in a spoilt, imperious tone she herself did not even notice, while pushing against him. “I am still in mourning!”

Once a daughter married, she belonged to another family. And so, while an unmarried daughter was expected to observe three years of mourning for a parent, a married daughter need only observe one. And since she lived in her husband’s household, after the forty-ninth day had passed, certain things would be quietly overlooked. But if something went amiss and others caught wind of it, it would be a thoroughly shameful matter.

Yet her resistance was to Xu Lingyi as an ant trying to topple a great tree — she could not move him in the least.

“I know.” Xu Lingyi gazed at her with smiling eyes. “Let me look.” He took her hand and guided it down beneath him.

Eleventh Miss recoiled as if she had touched fire.

Knowing she disliked it, Xu Lingyi did not press her, and only leaned close to her ear and whispered softly: “Let me look.”

Before Eleventh Miss had even recovered from her earlier flustered state, her upper garment had been stripped away entirely by Xu Lingyi.

Only then did she understand what he meant by “let me look.”

“No!” Eleventh Miss reached for the inner garment he had tossed to the edge of the bed — and in that moment Xu Lingyi took the opportunity to pull off her underskirt.

Eleventh Miss tumbled back onto the bed, startled and mortified, grabbing at anything within reach to wrap around herself.

Seeing her face flushed scarlet, Xu Lingyi took care not to go too far, and quickly gathered her into his arms, wrapping her in the bedding, kissing her and coaxing her all at once: “…Let me look.” He also took her hand again and pressed it against him below, this time not releasing it as easily as he had before.

Eleventh Miss felt her face burning as if it were on fire.

Xu Lingyi released her hand and murmured softly against her ear.

His firm desire pressed against her rounded bottom, and Eleventh Miss, thinking of how he had been spending every night in her rooms these past days, turned her face away and said nothing, pressing her lips together.

Xu Lingyi then lifted a small corner of the bedding and peered inside, murmuring against her ear: “…Your waist is still just as slender as before… They say skin like congealed fat — I think most people who say that must be thinking of you…”

Eleventh Miss had never been treated this way in her life. First she tugged the bedding this way and that in a flustered attempt to cover herself, then, finding that his words were only growing more outrageous, she waited for an opening and shoved him away to make her escape — only for Xu Lingyi to reach out and pull her straight back, and in the same motion press her beneath him, with her completely at his mercy.

“Xu Lingyi!” Eleventh Miss was truly frightened now, her face going slightly pale.

“Don’t be afraid.” He held her gently, lifting her to sit across his lap. “I am here.” Then he kissed her cheek, and little by little made his way into her body.

“No—” Eleventh Miss struggled, but her waist was held fast in his grip, and she could only feel with perfect clarity that she was being overcome.

“Xu Lingyi!” Eleventh Miss went rigid.

“Mo Yan,” he wrapped the bedding around her, “don’t be afraid — I am here.”

He is here?

Eleventh Miss looked at Xu Lingyi.

His gaze was ardent, yet also sincere, blazing with a brilliant light.

She thought of that half-finished pleasure. She thought of the cup of warm water in the middle of the night. She thought of his tightly pressed lips when he had been drunk…

Eleventh Miss closed her eyes. Her arms wound tightly around Xu Lingyi’s neck, and she surrendered the initiative to him.

Her body was as if tossed upon surging waves, while Xu Lingyi held the soft, boneless figure clinging to him and wished he could fold her entirely into himself — tender when he longed to be free, free when he longed to be tender, and it was only Eleventh Miss who suffered for it, now fire, now water, not knowing what to make of herself, clinging to Xu Lingyi and weeping in fine, delicate sobs.

In a daze, she heard a voice at her ear: “Mo Yan — this is Marquis Yongping’s estate. You are my wife, Xu Lingyi’s wife.”

Eleventh Miss’s eyes flew open. She saw Xu Lingyi withdraw from her body in urgent haste.

The bedding was full of the scent of chestnut blossoms.

—