The usually composed Xu Siyu nearly leaped out of his skin upon hearing this.

“This isn’t something you should be meddling in — you’ve gone too far!” His face turned slightly pale. “What exactly did you say to the First Princess? Who else was present at the time? Did you pass any notes or anything like that? With so many candidates in the selection, if word of your involvement gets out, those who make the cut might not think much of it — but those who are eliminated could very well redirect their resentment onto you. If the First Princess and her Prince Consort get along well, that’s simply how it should be; if they don’t, even the Princess herself might blame you. This is a perfect example of doing something thankless that only blows back on yourself!”

“Second Brother is overthinking this.” Jin Ge’er settled into the nearby armchair with an air of unconcern. “Everything has its good side and its bad side — it all depends on how you handle it. What Second Brother says does have some merit, but there are people out there who might be wondering about the nature of my relationship with the First Princess.” At this, he suddenly turned to Xu Siyu with lively curiosity. “Second Brother, just think about it — the First Princess is bold enough to want to choose her own Prince Consort. Once a man marries into her household, won’t he have to defer to her every whim?”

Xu Siyu looked at him, utterly bereft of any sense of urgency, and could not help feeling both amused and exasperated.

“How many men have you even met, and you’re already picking a Prince Consort for the First Princess? What if you misjudge someone — what happens to the First Princess then? Let me give you some advice: you’ve already taken a beating and sustained injuries on her behalf. I think you might as well use this opportunity to step back from the whole affair. That way, you can at least say you’ve done everything you could for the First Princess…”

He had not even finished speaking when Jin Ge’er burst out: “What do you mean, ‘taken a beating and sustained injuries’? It was that little wretch Chen Ji who took the beating, thank you very much!” He then continued, “Second Brother, I know you mean well. But I gave the First Princess my word — to just throw it all aside halfway through, what kind of person would that make me? You don’t even know what sorts of creatures are among those being considered.” His face took on a look of barely concealed fury. “There’s one who looks perfectly presentable on the outside, yet after ten years of studying under a teacher, he can barely recognize a handful of characters. If someone like that were to become the First Princess’s Prince Consort, she’d honestly be better off as a widow!”

Xu Siyu gave a start. “That can’t be right — candidates for Prince Consort are supposed to go through the Ministry of Rites…”

“Don’t even mention the Ministry of Rites!” Jin Ge’er cut Xu Siyu off with indignation. “That fellow happens to be the nephew of a Bureau Director in the Ministry of Rites. Goodness knows what strings he pulled, but he managed to get his name all the way in front of Her Majesty the Empress. The First Princess is at least my cousin on my mother’s side — how can we let her suffer such an indignity? I’ve been thinking of finding a way to make that Bureau Director’s life miserable. The nerve of him — a toad lusting after a swan!”

A Bureau Director in the Ministry of Rites managing to push his nephew’s name all the way to the Empress — whatever was going on behind the scenes was clearly no simple matter. Xu Siyu was even more reluctant to let Jin Ge’er get entangled in this.

“Since that’s the case, why don’t we go to Prince Yong instead? He is the First Princess’s own brother and holds great power and authority. With him involved, it would be a hundred, a thousand times more effective than the two of you flailing about like this.” He considered carefully. “The way you’re going about it — candidates who live in Yanjing are one thing, but what about those in Shandong or Shaanxi? How could you possibly assess all of them? If this delays the Grand Princess’s affairs, that would be a serious matter.”

Jin Ge’er listened, a pensive expression crossing his face.

Just then, Xu Sijie arrived.

“Ying Niang, why have you come over so early!” He saw his wife and hurried to help her to the nearby armchair, lowering his voice. “Didn’t I tell you to have someone send word the moment there was any news? All this running back and forth — if it stirs up the baby, that will be trouble.” He then greeted Xu Siyu, “Second Brother is here too?” and turned to Jin Ge’er: “I thought it over all last night. This has blown up so big — you were brawling in the middle of the market, and it’s hard to say no one recognized you. What’s more, the Shuntian Prefecture and the Five-Ward Constabulary were both alerted, so there’s no keeping the lid on this. You might as well be late this morning in going to pay your respects to Mother and Grandmother, and I’ll go find Third Brother right away to work something out — we can smooth things over with the Shuntian Prefecture and the Five-Ward Constabulary, have them act as witnesses and say the other party came at you aggressively, which was what caused the confrontation…”

That was actually not a bad plan.

Xu Siyu listened and gave an involuntary nod, looking at Xu Sijie in a somewhat different light than before. “I came back in quite a rush and haven’t had a chance to go to the Shuntian Prefecture or the Five-Ward Constabulary yet. If we ask Third Brother to step forward, I’m not sure whether he can manage it. Perhaps we should also mention it to Fifth Uncle? Fifth Uncle has been with the Imperial Guards a long time and has seniority — the Five-Ward Constabulary is largely made up of his former colleagues, and he should know them well. The people at the Five-Ward Constabulary and the Shuntian Prefecture also deal with each other regularly, so the Constabulary is sure to have someone who knows people at the Prefecture.”

Xu Sijie listened, and at first looked taken aback, then an expression of subtle, unreadable feeling came over his face.

Neither Xu Siyu nor Ying Niang knew the story behind that look. Seeing it, one assumed Xu Sijie was simply uncomfortable because his suggestion had not been adopted in its entirety; the other assumed he was uncomfortable because he feared he could not get an audience with Fifth Uncle but was reluctant to say so outright. Both were just about to offer words of encouragement when, to everyone’s surprise, a flash of resolve crossed Xu Sijie’s eyes and he made up his mind in an instant: “Alright then, I’ll go to Fifth Uncle myself at once!”

“Let me go instead,” Jin Ge’er said. “It’ll give me a chance to explain things to Fifth Uncle as well. That way, when Father finds out, there’ll already be someone to put in a good word.” He had thought it through: this matter would not simply end because a fight had been won. Chen Ji was the son of the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, and his family had their own connections at court. After being beaten that badly, there was no way they would simply swallow the humiliation. Even if they could not trace it back to him, his father was sharp-eyed enough to see through things the moment any fuss was made. Better to take precautions than to face Father’s fury later. Besides, Fifth Brother and Fifth Uncle had never been entirely in step with each other — rather than put Fifth Brother in an awkward position over his affairs, it was better to go himself, both to show sincerity and to spare Fifth Brother the difficulty.

“That’s a good idea!” Ying Niang, worried that Xu Sijie might keep insisting, told him about the singing father and daughter Xu Siyu had found. “Let’s first put Grandmother’s and Mother’s minds at ease, and then see about the rest.”

Xu Sijie found his wife’s seemingly off-topic answer a little odd, but Jin Ge’er had already risen decisively. “I think we should just settle things this way.” He said, glancing toward Xu Siyu as if asking whether he thought this would work.

Time was pressing. The immediate obstacle had to be cleared first.

Xu Siyu immediately nodded. “Then I’ll head back to my room and change. You wash up and go pay your respects to Mother and Grandmother first — after that it won’t be too late to go find Fifth Uncle.”

Jin Ge’er nodded, and everyone returned to their respective rooms.

Even though Xu Siyu had devised a fairly good plan, Jin Ge’er kept his own counsel. He waited until well into the first quarter-hour after the hour of Chen, and then hurried over to the Dowager Lady’s quarters just as Eleventh Madam was paying her morning respects.

“I stayed up late last night and ended up sleeping in this morning,” he said with a drowsy, bleary look about him. “Please forgive me, Grandmother and Mother.”

Xu Lingyi and Xu Sizhun had already gone to the outer courtyard. Eleventh Madam, Fifth Madam, and the others all gave a start at the sight of the cut at the corner of his mouth, and none of them thought to press him on anything else.

“Who did this to you?” The Dowager Lady immediately took Jin Ge’er’s hand. “And where were those guards? Were they just there to eat their pay?” Her face was drawn tight, not a trace of warmth in her eyes. Though her voice was not raised, it carried a grave severity. She was no longer the kind and gentle old lady of everyday life — a certain authority that comes from long years of seniority in a high position seemed to radiate from her very person. Not only Jin Ge’er, but even Eleventh Madam and Xu Siyu were taken by surprise.

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing!” Jin Ge’er quickly reassured the Dowager Lady. “I was careless and got hit once. The guards weren’t expecting it either.”

“What exactly happened?” the Dowager Lady asked gravely. “And what became of the one who struck you? Has he been bound up?”

The first question asked what had happened; the second asked whether the attacker had been tied up — before she had even heard the full account, it was clear her mind had already made its judgment.

Xu Siyu let out a quiet breath of relief.

As long as the Dowager Lady was made to believe what they told her was the truth, she would naturally picture Chen Ji as the one who had thrown the punches. Even if Father were to find out, the Dowager Lady’s involvement would give him pause in how severely he dealt with Jin Ge’er.

“Sixth Brother did something admirable yesterday!” Xu Siyu suddenly spoke up. Everyone in the room turned to look at him.

“Yesterday, I was on my way to Chunxi Restaurant to welcome a classmate. Partway there, I saw people brawling in the street…” He proceeded to tell a vivid, lively story.

No one questioned it.

First, because the storyteller was the unfailingly steady Xu Siyu. Second, because the world is full of all manner of things — even in Yanjing, there are those brazen enough to cause trouble without the least regard for consequences.

Before Xu Siyu had even finished his story, the Dowager Lady had already gathered Jin Ge’er into her arms, her heart full of tender distress. “My darling child, what a terrible injustice. How could there be such unreasonable people in the world — you were kind enough to step in and make peace, and they beat you for it.” She then called to Nanny Du: “Pass along my words — every person who helped defend Sixth Young Master is to be rewarded five taels of silver each. Tell them that following the master out means being prepared to share his burdens. This is how it should always be.” She continued, “That singing father and daughter — go and find out where they’re from. If they’re willing, we’ll put up some travel funds to see them home. It would be a kindness to anyone who crossed paths with our Jin Ge’er.” She added finally, “And go speak to Head Steward Bai — have him ask an Imperial Physician to come take a look at Jin Ge’er.”

Nanny Du answered cheerfully in the affirmative.

Eleventh Madam looked at her son with warm, gentle eyes. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“No, no!” Jin Ge’er, who had been holding his breath all along, finally let his heart settle. Second Brother truly was something else — someone who never told lies had such a terrifying talent for telling them when he did. “With me, unless I’m caught off guard, who could ever land a hit?” He straightened his back with the same proud air as always.

Everyone broke into laughter.

The Dowager Lady kept Jin Ge’er by her side. “Once the physician comes, I’ll have Zhihong prepare your medicine.” She then said to Eleventh Madam and the others, “The new year is almost upon us — go attend to your own affairs. Tonight we’ll put on a proper welcoming banquet for Siyu.”

Xu Siyu still had a great deal to take care of today. He smiled and agreed at once, citing his classmate’s impending departure as an excuse, and excused himself first. The others soon dispersed as well. Only Shen Ge’er and Cheng Ge’er remained, staring at Jin Ge’er with wide eyes as if he had suddenly sprouted horns.

“Sixth Brother, let’s spar!” Shen Ge’er pulled Jin Ge’er aside. “I want to see exactly how many people I could take on!”

Jin Ge’er had been trying to find an excuse to go find Xu Lingkuan. He immediately grabbed Shen Ge’er and headed out to the courtyard.

—