The sixth day of the third month was the day of the Grand Princess’s marriage. A full month in advance, Wang Xian was invested by the Ministry of Rites as Prince Consort with the title of Imperial Consort-Duke. On the day of the wedding, the Emperor commanded the Crown Prince himself to escort the bride. One month after the wedding, Wang Xian was enfeoffed as Marquis Jingshan and given charge of the Court of the Imperial Clan. In an instant, the entire court was thrown into an uproar, with memorials flooding in from all sides: Wang Xian had been ennobled through imperial favor, not in accordance with the established regulations. The Emperor declined to act on any of them. Remonstrance Official Li Yongchun of the Ministry of Rites knelt in prostration before the Zuoshun Gate and refused to rise. The Emperor paid no attention. Nine censors including Li Qingji and Chen Ji assembled before the Zuoshun Gate. The Emperor issued a decree appointing Wang Xian concurrently as Junior Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. The officials wept bitterly and would not stop. The Emperor commanded the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission to enclose ten thousand acres of fertile land as an estate for the Grand Princess…

“…This will only mean competing for profit with the common people!” Wang Li wiped the sweat from his brow. “The Emperor originally intended to bestow favor on the Prince Consort, but this course of action will likely achieve the opposite — leaving the Prince Consort sitting over a fire. It is most unwise. Princess Yinghua ought to counsel the Emperor on this matter!”

Xu Lingyi said nothing and lowered his head to drink his tea.

“I know this puts you in a difficult position.” Wang Li smiled ruefully. “But apart from you, I truly cannot think of anyone else who could speak to the Emperor under these circumstances. Moreover, this is also for the Grand Princess’s own good.”

Jiangdu was the Grand Princess’s title.

Xu Lingyi raised his head and suddenly smiled slightly: “It was someone from the Wang family who asked you to come, wasn’t it?”

Wang Li laughed awkwardly: “Nothing escapes your eyes. You’re right — this matter was indeed entrusted to me by the Prince Consort of the Grand Princess Jiangdu.”

So this Wang Xian was also a man of careful and circumspect character!

“I will find a way to look into this matter!” Xu Lingyi said at once. “Whether it can be accomplished is another matter.”

Wang Li laughed: “Now that you’ve agreed to try, I’d say the odds are eight or nine in ten that it succeeds!” He dropped the subject and asked after Xu Sijin: “…How is he doing over there? It’s nearly been a year now, hasn’t it? The Empress’s birthday is in the seventh month — perhaps that would be a good time to seek an imperial favor and have him called back?”

“We’ll see how things look when the time comes,” Xu Lingyi replied noncommittally, and steered the conversation toward cabinet affairs. “Elder Statesman Liang has retired — who does the Emperor have in mind to fill the vacancy?”

“Elder Statesman Dou has put forward Grand Secretary Jiang from the Hanlin Academy; Elder Statesman Chen has put forward Vice Minister Du from the Ministry of Rites.” Wang Li said this and glanced at Xu Lingyi. “The Emperor’s mind has been occupied these days with the matter of the Grand Princess Jiangdu, and has not accepted either proposal.”

Grand Secretary Jiang… Elder Statesman Dou… Elder Statesman Chen… Vice Minister Du… When Zhun Ge married, Vice Minister Du had served as matchmaker for the Jiang family…

Xu Lingyi smiled slightly — an expression laden with meaning.

Back in the room, Eleventh was there reading a letter.

“You’re back!” She rose to help Xu Lingyi change his outer garment. “Has Lord Wang left?”

“Mm.” Xu Lingyi’s gaze fell on the low table beside the kang. “A letter from Jin Ge’er?”

Eleventh smiled and nodded: “It came this afternoon.”

Xu Lingyi, visibly eager, picked up the letter and began to read.

Eleventh assumed he missed his son too much, smiled, and turned to brew tea for Xu Lingyi.

The letter contained nothing beyond a report that all was well and greetings.

Xu Lingyi breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

The night before, he had also received a letter from his son. The contents, however, were entirely different.

In that letter, Jin Ge’er wrote that he had by chance come upon a silver mine — located at the border between the tribal peoples’ territory and Pingyi Garrison, unknown to both the tribal peoples and the thousand-household officer of Pingyi.

Reading between the lines of his son’s letter and sensing his barely-contained eagerness to act, Xu Lingyi felt a pang of unease.

Gong Dongning was shrewd and capable, and had been managing affairs in Guizhou for years. If Jin Ge’er made no move, all would be well. But the moment he made a move, it would certainly not escape Gong Dongning’s notice. From what Xu Lingyi knew of Gong Dongning: if the man had wanted to return to Yanjing, he would have found a way to do so long ago. The fact that he had stayed in Guizhou all these years — beyond the appeal of a remote province where the mountains were high and the emperor far away, and no one could constrain him — was almost certainly connected to businesses like this: dealings that couldn’t bear scrutiny yet poured gold into his coffers day after day. Personal friendship was one thing; money was another. If Jin Ge’er truly opened that silver mine, Gong Dongning would be an obstacle impossible to get around.

Should he warn his son?

His son’s purpose in going there was not to get rich. Why let a silver mine disrupt the original plan?

With that thought, Xu Lingyi set down the letter in his hand.

This boy — afraid of worrying his mother, he hadn’t breathed a single word of it to her.

The thought flashed through his mind and he allowed a quiet smile.

Or perhaps — let him go ahead and make his move.

Some things, no matter how much elders say, will never truly be taken to heart until you have lived through them yourself.

To conduct yourself well as a person is the foundation — and the same is true of leading troops in battle. Rotating to a new post every three years was simply to sharpen his ability to navigate the world and read people. If through this silver mine affair his judgment in dealing with others and his ability to scheme and act were both refined, it might not be a bad thing at all. Besides, from the outset he had quietly sent four skilled martial arts practitioners to stay discreetly by his son’s side. If anything dangerous arose, that hidden card would be enough to protect his life… Or perhaps — send two more to his side?

Xu Lingyi was a man of swift decision.

He called out loudly to the maid Hanzixiao: “Go — have Steward Bai come here.”

Hanzixiao was one of the two beautiful maidservants the Prince Consort of Suiping Princess had sent to Xu Sijin, the other being Lengxiang. Eleventh had kept them both in her own service.

Eleventh walked in: “It’s so late — what do you need Steward Bai for?”

Xu Lingyi lifted his teacup and replied with something entirely unrelated: “Didn’t you say you wanted to make a trip to Fourth Lane? Have you gone? How did things look over there?”

Fourth Lane was where Cao E and her son were living. Lantian had arranged to meet Eleventh there.

“I went,” Eleventh said. “Lantian leaves the day after tomorrow to return to Fengshui. Cao E plans to stay in Yanjing another two years. Lantian is worried that after she leaves, the Jiang family will stir up the Gan family to trouble Cao E, and asked me to keep an eye on things. I agreed.”

The Jiang family had been causing something of a scene these past few years — word of it had even reached him in Yanjing.

Xu Lingyi gave a nod and raised the matter of Wang Li’s visit: “…Tomorrow send in your name card and make a trip to the palace. Speak to the Empress about it. The court officials won’t dare to speak ill of the Emperor directly — they’ll simply believe it is Wang Xian acting arrogantly on the strength of imperial favor. In time, it will only damage Wang Xian’s reputation.”

Eleventh gave her assent. Steward Bai arrived.

Xu Lingyi and he withdrew to the study to speak.

Denghua suddenly came running in in a great fluster: “Madam, Eunuch He has come! He asks the Marquis to go to the palace at once!”

Eunuch He was the Emperor’s most trusted attendant. At this hour, summoning Xu Lingyi to the palace…

Eleventh’s heart lurched. She went with Denghua toward the study and asked: “Do you know why Eunuch He has come?”

“I don’t!” Denghua said. “But from the look of it, his expression was most unsettling.”

Then this was no good news!

She turned this over in her mind as she passed through the inner corridor.

“Who accompanied Eunuch He?”

“Palace guards,” Denghua replied quickly. “Forty or fifty of them — and not a single lantern between them.”

Eleventh’s heart began to pound wildly.

The study blazed with light. Xu Lingyi and Steward Bai appeared to have just finished speaking, and were emerging one after the other from the study. Seeing Eleventh and Denghua, both wore expressions of surprise.

Steward Bai quickly bowed to Eleventh.

But Eleventh had no time to acknowledge him. She quickly told Xu Lingyi about Eunuch He’s arrival.

Xu Lingyi’s expression grew grave.

Everyone looked to him, not daring to make a sound. Beneath the eaves, the candle in the great red lantern gave a sudden crack and pop — the oppressiveness of the silence only deepened.

“Denghua, take a few sharp-witted manservants with you and follow me. Wait outside the Zuoshun Gate — the moment anything stirs, run back home with the news.” Xu Lingyi’s voice was calm and measured. Denghua’s heart seized; she gave a quick “yes” and bolted toward the outer courtyard.

Xu Lingyi instructed Steward Bai: “If things take a turn for the worse, I leave the household in your hands.”

Steward Bai’s eyes suddenly reddened: “Marquis, be at ease. I know what to do.” His voice caught slightly in his throat. He bowed with deep reverence to both Xu Lingyi and Eleventh, then turned and left.

Only Xu Lingyi, Eleventh, and a few young maids who stood looking at each other in bewilderment remained in the courtyard.

Xu Lingyi pulled Eleventh close.

“Silent,” he said quietly. “Do not alarm the others. If I am unable to return — bring Ting Ge’er, Zhuang Ge’er, and Qing Ge’er to your side. Steward Bai will arrange for you all to return to the ancestral home. Xiang Yi and his wife are people you can trust. As for Jin Ge’er — you need not worry. I will have word sent to him. Even if you cannot see him for a time, when the moment is right, you mother and son will be together again…”

Eleventh suddenly understood.

He was arranging his final instructions…

Tears streamed down her face.

She longed to say: nothing will happen.

Yet she trusted, above all, in Xu Lingyi’s foresight.

Her whole body was trembling as though she had fallen into an ice cellar. She tried to return his embrace, but her arms felt frozen stiff and would not rise.

“I — I understand!” Eleventh heard her own voice shaking uncontrollably. “I will take good care of the children.” Her vision had already blurred to nothing. “You don’t need to be so pessimistic — the Emperor has treated you well these past few years. Perhaps it’s something else entirely…” Her words tumbled out incoherently as she tried to console him.

Xu Lingyi smiled faintly. His fingertips gently traced the outline of her brow and eyes. Tenderly, he pressed a kiss to her forehead: “Go inside and rest. I may well be overthinking things.” Then he released her and stepped out of the main courtyard without the slightest hesitation.

Eleventh watched his retreating figure, her body trembling long before it finally stilled.

If Xu Lingyi truly could not return, there was still much she would need to do…

She drew a long, deep breath and, her voice composed, said to Hanzixiao: “Let us go back.”

It was an extraordinarily difficult night to endure. Many years later, when Eleventh occasionally recalled it, the memory would be hazy — yet what stood out with vivid clarity was the look of startled joy on Steward Bai’s face the following morning, when he told her: “The Emperor has fallen into a coma. The Marquis and Elder Statesmen Chen, Dou, and Wei have been charged to assist the Crown Prince in managing state affairs.”

“The Emperor has fallen into a coma — is this news reliable?” Rather than relaxing, Eleventh asked Steward Bai with an expression that had gone perfectly still. “Is there any way to get a message to the Marquis?”

Steward Bai, seeing no sign of relief in her face, was taken aback, and after quite a long moment finally replied: “Yes, it is possible. Now that everyone knows the Marquis has been entrusted with affairs in this hour of crisis, and with the Empress in residence there, passing a message in would be simple.”

“Good then,” Eleventh said, her voice low and steady. “Just tell the Marquis: ‘Be wary of settling scores later’ — nothing more.”

Who knew whether the Emperor might yet wake… If Xu Lingyi were to shine too brilliantly, who could say whether the Emperor, upon waking, might begin to grow suspicious of him again!

Steward Bai’s expression changed entirely. He bowed with deep respect and hurried off to arrange for the message to be sent.

Eleventh turned her gaze toward the window, where the sky was growing gradually lighter, and let out a long, slow breath.

—