“We have been having nightmares for quite a number of days.” Shao Yao lay pressed close against Hua Zhi on the inner side of the bed, and though she said this, the smile on her face could not have been more evident. Hua Zhi’s body was recovering — and recovering from the very root of the condition. There was nothing more joyful than this, not even the capture of the ruler of the Yan Kingdom had made her this happy.

Hua Zhi knew she must have given everyone quite a fright this time — otherwise Yanxi would not look as though he had shrunk an entire size, and the rest of the household would not all be so visibly worn. She reached out and patted Shao Yao’s arm — and in doing so felt something amiss. She laboriously lowered her gaze to look, then raised her eyes in silent question.

Shao Yao kept her expression perfectly composed as she talked nonsense without a flicker of guilt: “I did go to the battlefield, after all — getting a few bumps and scrapes is perfectly normal, isn’t it? It’s nothing, just a small wound, almost healed already.”

Hua Zhi thought about it and agreed. If you could come back alive from the battlefield, you were already among the fortunate — a small injury was hardly worth mentioning. In the end, both who had gone to battle had come back safely, and that was all she had ever asked for.

Her other hand moved slowly across the bed to find Yanxi’s. Gu Yanxi could not bear watching her strain, and hurried to wrap her hand in his. Without any discussion, every person present silently agreed to conceal what the two of them had done to themselves.

“Son-in-law… I have been wanting to ask since the first day — what is that form of address about?”

Everyone exchanged glances. Shao Yao rolled her eyes this way and that, then nimbly climbed down from the bed, swept the maids along with her out the door, and thoughtfully pulled it shut behind her.

This sort of thing, the people involved really ought to explain themselves.

Gu Yanxi gave a quiet laugh, moved to sit at the head of the bed, drew her into his arms, and pressed a kiss to her. “We are married. Naturally that makes me the Hua Family’s son-in-law.”

Hua Zhi’s eyes flew wide open. Married? When had that happened? How long exactly had she been asleep?!

Gu Yanxi chuckled continuously, quietly and to himself. This bewildered, thoroughly-at-a-loss expression on A’Zhi’s face was a rare sight indeed.

Hua Zhi, with all the force she could muster, gave him a sideways look. “Tell me. Now.”

“Right while you were unconscious. No matter what we tried, nothing could rouse you. So I used myself as an auspicious offering and held the ceremony to ward off misfortune on your behalf.” Gu Yanxi touched his forehead to hers. “Madam — you have a husband now.”

“!!!” Astonishment did not begin to describe what Hua Zhi felt. Just like that, she had been married off? Yet she had not the slightest impression of having been a new bride!

Gu Yanxi laughed all the more freely, until laughter actually came spilling out of him in sound. The dread of all those days before had been so overwhelming that it had buried the joy of the wedding — but now that the dread had receded, the joy came surging to the fore.

He was married!

He had taken A’Zhi as his wife!

And now they were a couple bound together in name and in right — with the entire court of civil and military officials as witnesses, the Grand Empress Dowager as officiant, the Emperor as guarantor. Who dared not recognise it!

“When you are well, I will go through the three matchmakers and six rites properly and bring you home to the Prince’s residence as my Princess Consort.”

Hua Zhi’s brow furrowed slightly. She asked in a tone of negotiation: “Must I wear the phoenix coronet? It is far too heavy.”

“I will have a lighter one made for you.”

Fair enough. Noble houses had no tradition of brides going without a phoenix coronet at their weddings. Hua Zhi — her disposition naturally shifting back toward the once-unremarkable eldest young miss who had never sought to stand out — did not overthink it and gave a soft nod. She would not go doing anything that set her apart from convention.

She covered a small yawn. Hua Zhi was feeling a little pleased with herself — married now, after all. She could already feel a blissfully idle and comfortable life reaching out its hand to beckon her.

Lost in these pleasant imaginings, she drifted back into a deep sleep — as though making up for every hour of rest she had been owed. From this point on, she would wake each day, only to sleep again for long stretches at a time.

It was only after all this that Gu Yanxi could spare some portion of his attention for matters of state. The south could not be left without a commanding general to hold it; the various battles across the land were also drawing to their conclusions, and the question of how to manage the aftermath required clear direction. Not every matter could fall to him, yet he could not wash his hands of all of it entirely either.

The Emperor, gifted as he was, was still young, and had not been raised from the beginning as a crown prince. His ability to manage those beneath him and navigate the balance of power still had certain gaps. The court ministers now pulled together as one — but when personal interests were placed before them, each would first consider his own. What Gu Yanxi needed to do was hold those men in check, give the Emperor time to feel out his own path as sovereign — and when guidance was needed, offer it; when a word of caution was called for, speak it. He would shield the young Emperor through this process of growing into his wings, until the day he was ready to soar on his own.

And it was at this time that the Hua Family officially returned to prominence. Hua Yizheng resumed his position overseeing the Hanlin Academy; Hua Pingyu remained as a Hanlin member; several of the collateral branches likewise returned to the posts they had once held. On the surface it looked much the same as two years prior — yet everyone understood that no family in the realm could now compare with the Hua Family.

A single household bearing two Hanlin members plus a Grand Tutor to the Son of Heaven: all the scholars of the land looked to the Hua Family. Every pair of eyes was watching — watching how the Hua Family would conduct themselves, and watching whether the new Emperor might come to be at odds with them.

The foreign threat had been put to rest; the internal strife had been quelled. The veiled rivalries among the great noble houses began to show their edges once more.

“Right now I am still unwell, and I have the prior merits of supporting the Dragon’s rise and protecting His Majesty in my favour — no one will come to trouble the Hua Family in these circumstances.” In the garden pavilion, Hua Zhi lay reclined on a chaise lounge padded with cushions. The summer heat had everyone else sitting in rivulets of sweat, yet she still had a light blanket draped over her.

This was her first outing since her days of convalescence in bed. Hua Yizheng and his son had barely stepped through the door upon returning home, court robes still not yet changed, before they came directly over. Grandmother and granddaughter had never stood on ceremony with one another — and after two years of tempering, Hua Yizheng was all the less inclined to underestimate his granddaughter’s abilities in this regard.

“But the pie is only so large. If the Hua Family has taken a great portion, there will naturally be less for the others to share. The Hua Family, sitting upon the largest piece, will inevitably become the target of all sides — and that has nothing to do with how much the Hua Family has accomplished. When interests are at stake, who cares about any of that?”

Hua Zhi spoke with an air of total ease — yet struck directly to the heart of the matter. People had the shortest of memories. The greatest of merits, once the moment had passed, amounted to little — had the sky not fallen after all? Was Daqing not still standing? Surely the prosperity and continuation of one’s own family line mattered far more.

Hua Pingyu found this daughter — who handled weighty matters as though they were nothing — somewhat unfamiliar to him. No matter how he tried, he could not connect her to the quiet, well-behaved girl who had once been content within the inner household. In the days since his return to court, without any need for deliberate inquiry, he had come to learn something of what Zhi’er had lived through these two years. The more he learned, the less he could picture how that daughter of his — who had once moved through life with so little presence — had done it.

Every single one of those things had been so very difficult. Cleverness alone was not enough. Boldness alone was not enough. Courage alone was not enough. All of these had to be woven together into a single person — and Zhi’er, as it happened, had each of them in exactly the right measure. And so there was the first female official in the history of the present dynasty, and so she had become Grand Tutor to the Son of Heaven.

And yet…

He watched his daughter, who had been speaking and had now begun to doze mid-sentence, and Hua Pingyu felt his heart ache with a grief he could not fully name — wishing with everything in him he could have borne it in her place.

Hua Yizheng’s heart was no less pained. He let out a long sigh, rose, and was just about to call someone over to attend to her when he saw the Prince Regent walking through the moon gate with the stride of a man who carried the world at his back. He gave a silent bow. Gu Yanxi, with the lightest of footsteps, gathered her up — blanket and all — into his arms.

Hua Zhi caught the familiar scent and, without so much as opening her eyes, smiled and nuzzled closer — and sank back into sleep. She had forgotten she was in the presence of her closest elders. She had forgotten how improper this must appear.

Fortunately, the Hua Family men had long since grown accustomed to it. During the days of treating her illness they had witnessed far more than this — compared to that, this was truly nothing to speak of.

Author’s note: Only the very last little bit left now. I’m taking a little more time to polish it — everyone please don’t rush.