Ming Huazhang noticed the young man, his gaze unmoved. The young man did not seem to mind Ming Huazhang’s coolness at all, and walked up smiling: “Jingzhan, you came to the banquet and didn’t even tell me. I thought it was only I who had to go — I spent the whole journey regretting it. Who would have thought you came too — now the banquet will be far more interesting.”

The young man turned to look at Ming Huashang and said with a smile: “I take it this must be your dragon-and-phoenix little sister — I have long heard of you, and seeing you today, Second Little Sister is even more charming than I imagined.”

Ming Huazhang coolly shot the young man a glance: “She is your sister to call? Second Miss, pay no attention to him — let’s go.”

The young man did not mind Ming Huazhang’s dismissal. His pair of peach-blossom eyes curved gently upward, his smile warm and carefree: “I forgot to introduce myself to Second Little Sister — I am Xie Jichuan, your elder brother’s close friend.”

Ming Huashang had already guessed as much. She gathered her hands before her and bowed in greeting: “Master Xie.”

Xie Jichuan returned the bow graciously: “No need to be so formal. You are Jingzhan’s sister, and therefore my sister as well — just call me elder brother.”

Ming Huashang accepted this, somewhat overwhelmed by the unexpected warmth. Unlike her — a thoroughgoing deadweight — Xie Jichuan and Ming Huazhang were both figures of renown in the imperial capital, known throughout the official circles.

If half of Luoyang’s young ladies had Ming Huazhang as the man of their dreams, the other half had Xie Jichuan. Xie Jichuan came from the great clan Xie, a branch of the Chen Commandery Xie family — a lineage even more ancient and distinguished than the Five Surnames and Seven Clans.

Even though the Xie family had been greatly diminished by the turmoil of war, reduced to a shadow of what it had been in the Wei-Jin era, the illustrious name of Wang and Xie had endured for a thousand years — and that surname still made many hearts flutter.

Xie Jichuan was the eldest legitimate son of the Xie family’s current generation. He had been talented from childhood: reciting at three, composing at six, by ten producing essays without a single revision, his reputation as a prodigy spreading far and wide. His character and appearance were equally fine — regardless of the person’s rank or station, he treated everyone with the same gentleness and composure, without the slightest condescension or flattery. He was precisely the image of a great-clan gentleman that people had long imagined, and had won the hearts of no small number of young women.

Outstanding people always befriend outstanding people. Xie Jichuan and Ming Huazhang were on very good terms, often attending banquets and composing pieces together; people called them the Twin Brilliant Ones of the Shendu.

Even as reclusive a person as Ming Huashang had heard of the Twin Brilliant Ones of the Shendu. When Luoyang’s young ladies gathered together, the conversation inevitably circled back to these two men: one as cold and proud as the long moon’s light, one as free and graceful as the spring wind. They had always had their respective admirers. And now, both of them stood beside Ming Huashang — and she could already feel from all directions the pinpoint-sharp gazes aimed at her.

Ming Huashang had been well aware of Xie Jichuan’s existence for some time, but she and Ming Huazhang were not even close — let alone her elder brother’s friends. Today was their first formal meeting. She felt quite aggrieved at bearing the dagger-like looks of young ladies and married women all around her, and said diplomatically: “There is a bit of wind here — shall we go inside to speak?”

Xie Jichuan understood at once: “It is I who was too delighted at seeing Jingzhan and Second Little Sister, and got carried away for a moment. Let’s find lodgings first — we can’t let Little Sister catch cold.”

Where there had been only Ming Huazhang escorting Ming Huashang, there was now Xie Jichuan as well. Ming Huashang’s attempts to decline his company came to nothing. She could only carry her hand warmer and, surrounded by the envious and resentful stares from all around, walk in the company of two beautiful young men in search of a place to stay.

With Ming Huazhang and Xie Jichuan present, Ming Huashang had only to hold her hand warmer. Xie Jichuan looked at the large and small bundles in the servants’ hands with curiosity: “Second Little Sister, what is all this — why do you have so much luggage?”

Ming Huashang said with a touch of embarrassment: “Actually it’s not much — I mainly brought just a small amount of food, which is why there appears to be so much.”

A small amount? Ming Huazhang arched an eyebrow slightly, saying nothing.

That was probably not the case.

Xie Jichuan, upon hearing that Ming Huashang had even brought her own food, was briefly taken aback, then laughed: “Second Little Sister really is thorough in her planning — how did I forget about that.”

Ming Huashang waved a hand: “Elder Brother Xie flatters me. You and Elder Brother have your minds full of poetry and scholarship — what you bring is the ink of learning; I have nothing in my head but eating and drinking, so I can only eat my way wherever I go. Does Elder Brother Xie enjoy pastries? I brought many different kinds — if you don’t mind, we could share them.”

Xie Jichuan laughed and agreed readily, sighing: “Second Little Sister is absolutely delightful — not at all like Jingzhan.”

“That is no way to speak,” Ming Huazhang said coolly, shooting Xie Jichuan a glance. “She is a young woman. Her rooms are hardly somewhere you can simply enter.”

Xie Jichuan was incredulous: “We are the best of friends — in my heart she is like my own little sister. What is there to be circumspect about?”

“That is still not acceptable.” Ming Huazhang was unmoved. Xie Jichuan, confronted with Ming Huazhang’s unyielding manner, was rather at a loss: “Jingzhan, you are only sixteen — how can you be as rigid as an old pedant?”

Ming Huashang, afraid the two would start arguing, quickly said: “It doesn’t matter — I prepared food for Elder Brother as well. I’ll have Zhao Cai bring it to his rooms.”

Xie Jichuan blinked, thinking he had misheard, and slowly raised an eyebrow: “Zhao Cai?”

“Yes.” Ming Huashang turned and waved to those behind her. “Zhao Cai, come and pay your respects to Elder Brother Xie.”

Zhao Cai trotted over with small quick steps and made a bow to Xie Jichuan with crossed hands before her: “Your servant pays respects to Master Xie.”

Xie Jichuan, finding that Zhao Cai was indeed the very Zhao Cai he had imagined, was caught between wanting to laugh and something like exasperation. His pair of peach-blossom eyes flicked with amusement toward Ming Huazhang. Ming Huazhang gave him a slight shake of the head, indicating he should say nothing and respect the names Ming Huashang had given. Xie Jichuan suppressed his laughter and said to Ming Huashang: “How have I not met Second Little Sister sooner? She is really too entertaining.”

Then he gave Ming Huazhang a sidelong look of affected suffering: “Not at all like Jingzhan — rigid and dull.”

Ming Huazhang couldn’t be bothered to respond to Xie Jichuan. Having known each other for years, they were long used to this sort of mutual disparagement. But Ming Huashang took it seriously and spoke up in earnest defense of Ming Huazhang: “Elder Brother Xie, you must not say that. My Elder Brother holds firm to the virtue of a gentleman, and a gentleman without gravity lacks authority — Elder Brother is doing it for my sake as well.”

Xie Jichuan was surprised once more. He glanced sideways at Ming Huazhang, saw that even Ming Huazhang looked somewhat taken aback — apparently he had not expected Ming Huashang to say such a thing. Xie Jichuan let out a drawn-out sigh: “How wonderful it must be to have a little sister, to be looked after at every turn. Why did I never get a little sister?”

Ming Huazhang was about to rebuke Xie Jichuan for putting on an act when his expression suddenly sharpened. With one hand he pulled Ming Huashang behind him, and with the other he raised his arm as a shield in front of him.

Ming Huashang had not even registered what was happening — in the corner of her vision she caught a flash of something tawny yellow, and before she could make out what it was, Ming Huazhang had already yanked her away.

Ming Huashang stumbled backward a few steps; if Ming Huazhang’s grip had not been on her wrist, she would have nearly fallen. She looked up in astonishment and saw Ming Huazhang standing before her, one hand gripping a scabbard: his crimson robe with dragon-and-phoenix patterns lay smooth against his body, a black leather belt cinched his waist, tracing the line of his upright shoulders and back, his slender limbs, his lean torso.

Clinging to the scabbard was a strange creature — something like a cat, but far larger, with long limbs, robust and agile, covered in pale brown fur. Ming Huashang and the cat-like animal’s cold, cunning green eyes met — they both froze. Then Ming Huazhang abruptly spun the scabbard hard; in the instant the large cat lost its balance, Ming Huazhang raised his leg and delivered a sharp kick to the creature’s belly, sending it tumbling far into the snow.

The whole sequence of movements was clean and fluid, and by the time Ming Huashang came back to herself, the large cat was already lying in the snow. She blinked and asked uncertainly: “That is…”

“A lynx.” Ming Huazhang withdrew his scabbard and looked back at Ming Huashang. “Are you hurt?”

Ming Huashang shook her head like a rattle-drum. She peered curiously past Ming Huazhang at the snowfield behind him. The lynx had climbed back to its feet, lowering its forelegs in a threatening posture and growling at them — but it did not dare approach again.

Ming Huashang truly appreciated what it meant to be accomplished in both arts and martial skills — to have such steady, calculating courage. She hadn’t even noticed the lynx hiding anywhere!

Perhaps because Ming Huazhang was there, Ming Huashang’s confidence was soaring; she felt not the least bit worried for her own safety, and was even finding room to study this large cat with curiosity: “How did a lynx get in here?”

Xie Jichuan had also come to look; he followed the tracks in the snow with his eyes and said: “It must belong to one of the guests.”

Ming Huashang could not believe it: “A guest’s? Who goes out to visit with a cat this large?”

Though Ming Huashang called it a large cat, the lynx was far more dangerous than any cat. Princess Taiping’s guests included a good number of women, and if a woman happened to encounter it and was bitten or clawed, the result could be fatal.

If it had not been for Ming Huazhang just now, Ming Huashang would have been the first victim.

Fearing exactly what had come, another group of guests arrived from behind — and it was a party of women. When the women saw what looked like a half-cat, half-leopard creature with long fur crouching in the snow, they screamed in fright. Ming Huazhang frowned, and handed Ming Huashang off to Xie Jichuan: “Watch over her — I’ll go catch the lynx.”

Xie Jichuan nodded and stepped forward half a pace, positioning himself at Ming Huashang’s side and slightly ahead. Ming Huazhang was just about to go when suddenly a spear came flying through the air and drove hard into the snow.

The lynx was startled by the spray of snow kicked up and retreated two steps. A young woman in red robes shouted a command and came running, kicking the red-tasseled spear up from the snow into her hand with one foot: “Wretched beast — do you dare harm people?”

Ming Huashang’s eyes went wide as she watched in shock. People came to a princess’s villa for a banquet bringing lynxes — and now someone had brought a spear?

She was genuinely having her horizons expanded. Ming Huashang suddenly felt that packing only food was, in truth, the most sensible thing anyone here had done.

The young woman in red wielded her spear with vigorous, commanding force, sending up wave after wave of snow mist. Ming Huazhang sheathed his blade. He turned back and, seeing that Ming Huashang was pressed close behind Xie Jichuan, gave an imperceptible frown and pulled her toward himself by the wrist: “All right — it’s fine. Let’s go put down the luggage.”

Ming Huashang, who had genuinely never been out much, found this scene extraordinary and could not stop looking. She asked: “Who is that? The lynx looks very fierce — should we not stay and help?”

Xie Jichuan chuckled and shook his head: “No need. You must not get out much, Little Sister — you may not recognize her. She is quite well known in the capital: she is the daughter of the late Marquis Pingnan — Miss Ren Yao. That lynx is no match for her. I’d say it is the lynx’s owner who ought to be worried.”

Ming Huashang had been too much of a recluse to recognize many faces, but she knew the names. She craned her neck to look once more — so this was Ren Yao, the sole surviving child of the Marquis Pingnan, the recognized heir to the famed Ren family spear technique.

Ren Yao was also well known in the capital — but unlike Ming Huazhang and Xie Jichuan, her reputation was not entirely favorable.

The entire male line of the Marquis Pingnan’s house had died on the battlefield. People said the Ren family was finished, and it was a pity about the Ren family spear technique. Ren Yao was the Marquis Pingnan’s only surviving child. Refusing to accept defeat, she had trained in spearmanship from childhood, vowing to carry on the family’s supreme skill and take her father’s and brothers’ place — to go to the battlefield and fight.

A woman like this was naturally unwelcome in social circles. In the handful of times Ming Huashang had gone out, she had heard noble young ladies gathered together making cutting remarks about Ren Yao, mockingly calling her “Lady Marquis.”

Even if Ren Yao truly was the Marquis Pingnan’s only blood heir, a woman could not inherit a noble title — the remark was unmistakably a jab about the fact that every man in Ren Yao’s family had died, leaving no father or brothers.

The first time Ming Huashang had heard it, she had thought: a young woman has the ambition to carry on her father’s and brothers’ legacy — that is admirable. Why should she be mocked for it? She had not joined in with those young ladies’ sneering, and today, seeing Ren Yao in person, she found the spear technique displayed was indeed extraordinary — in no way inferior to a man’s.

Ming Huashang was a deadweight herself, but she had deep admiration for those who had both ambition and the will to act on it — such as her elder brother Ming Huazhang, such as Ren Yao. Ming Huashang looked back three times in as many steps, unable to help herself from tugging at Ming Huazhang’s sleeve: “Miss Ren’s spear technique is really impressive — should we not stay and say hello?”

“You are the treasured daughter of Duke Zhenguo’s household; whoever you wish to befriend, you may.” Ming Huazhang actually stopped walking. He called over a servant who had been cowering behind a tree in terror and said: “Go to the Marquis Jiang’an household’s quarters and pass a message — the lynx their young master keeps has gotten loose. If they don’t come, they will have only a body to retrieve.”

Ming Huashang heard another familiar name: “Marquis Jiang’an’s son? Elder Brother, how do you know it belongs to the Young Master Jiang?”

From behind came a soft laugh; Xie Jichuan, sleeve folded in his hands, smiled and said: “Second Little Sister, it seems you truly do not enjoy going out. The Western Regions presented a batch of lynxes and spotted leopards as tribute to the Empress Regnant; the Empress Regnant bestowed them upon Princess Taiping. The Marquis Jiang’an dotes on his son endlessly — he specifically went to Princess Taiping to ask for a special favor, and secured his son a lynx and a leopard. Jiang Ling never goes anywhere without these two precious creatures in tow. Who in Shendu hasn’t heard of Marquis Jiang’an’s son and his beloved pets?”

Jiang Ling, young master of the Marquis Jiang’an’s household — another notoriously profligate son. Ming Huashang slowly said, “Ah” in understanding. She rarely ventured out, but she at least knew that the Marquis Jiang’an was Princess Taiping’s right-hand man. Jiang Ling was the only son left behind by the Marquis Jiang’an’s first wife, doted upon to a degree that perhaps compared to Duke Zhenguo’s indulgence of Ming Huashang.

If it was him — no wonder he had been able to bring such a dangerous creature to the banquet.

Ming Huashang clicked her tongue inwardly. One Ren Yao, one Jiang Ling — both were formidable. With those two facing off, things were not likely to end well.

The thought had barely formed in her mind when from behind came a cry of absolute anguish, delivered at full volume: “Treasure — who did this to you?!”