News of Xie Yuzhang’s entry into the palace to visit Consort Deng naturally reached Li Gu almost immediately.

Li Gu frowned, set down his brush, and asked, “Did something happen between them?”

Fuchun said, “Nothing at all. Princess Yongning wished to ask the Consort for something, but she arrived one step too late — the Consort had already given it away.”

Li Gu asked, “What item?”

Fuchun said, “That inkstone carved with mountain stream and water-ripple patterns.”

Li Gu had an excellent memory, but even so, he had no recollection of this particular piece, and asked, “What is it?”

Fuchun said, “From a short while back, when Your Majesty said you wished to reward the Consort — it was something this servant retrieved from the storehouses.”

Such gifts did not pass through Li Gu’s hands. He only had to say the word “reward,” and those below would take care of the rest. The attendants had done this often enough that they understood clearly what each consort favored, and they never erred.

Li Gu asked, “And then?”

Fuchun said, “And then Princess Yongning took her leave. She seemed perfectly cheerful and smiled throughout — nothing seemed amiss.”

Li Gu asked, “Is there anything particularly notable about that item?”

Fuchun said, “An ancient inkstone of a century’s age, a treasure of master craftsmanship.”

Everything in the storehouses was more or less of that description — meaning it was not the least bit out of the ordinary.

And yet Xie Yuzhang had always kept her dealings to the Noble Consort and had never on her own initiative sought out either Jinglan Palace or Yuzao Palace. Given the kind of discernment she possessed, there was no way she would rashly cross that line for the sake of a mere inkstone.

Li Gu was silent for a moment, then said, “Understood.”

Deng Wan waited for her trusted attendant to return with a report, but instead it was her own mother who arrived.

Deng Madam’s face still carried a look of indignation as she laid out her grievance: “Xie Shi has gone too far!”

Deng Wan was startled. “What has happened?”

Deng Madam said, “She beat Ninth until his face was black and blue!”

Deng Wan was even more startled. “When did this happen?”

Deng Madam said, “It was this very morning!”

This timing meant that Xie Yuzhang had beaten Deng Ninth, then walked in here to see her without so much as a change of expression. She had certainly not come for an inkstone.

Deng Wan steadied herself and asked, “Why did she beat Ninth?”

Deng Madam said in fury, “Ninth only gave her a painting. Ninth has a headstrong streak, but he has never been a depraved lecher — he has never wronged anyone behind closed doors! Yet Xie Shi was completely unreasonable and had him harmed!”

But Deng Wan did not simply take her mother’s account at face value. She turned to her attendant and said, “You tell me.”

The attendant did not dare meet Deng Madam’s eyes, and kept her head bowed. “Ninth used that inkstone carved with mountain stream and water-ripple patterns to make a wager with others, saying he would… become Princess Yongning’s… intimate companion.”

Deng Wan was both stunned and furious. “What a disgrace!”

Deng Wan was the legitimate daughter, though not from the main branch of the Deng family. When the chaos in Hexi had ended and Li Gu had killed until his hands were numb, the Huo and Wang clans had been destroyed, and every great family had trembled in fear. When it came time to forge an alliance, none of them dared to put forward a concubine’s daughter — but none were willing to offer their truest, most prized main-branch legitimate daughter either. In the end, it was Deng Wan who was put forward.

Cui Yingniang’s situation had likely been much the same. Deng Wan had met a few women of the Cui clan before, but had never met Cui Yingniang.

Deng Wan’s mother had lost two children in infancy, and when she bore Deng Wan, her own health was damaged, so the grandmother took the infant to raise. After her mother recovered, she lost two more children in succession before Ninth finally survived.

Her father was not the eldest son and had the temperament of a man content to drift through life like idle clouds. Ninth was spoiled by his mother and had always followed his father’s example, and though he had never done anything truly wicked, he had developed a willful, reckless disposition.

Deng Wan had originally forbidden him from coming to the capital, precisely out of fear he would cause trouble. She had firmly ordered her father to keep him in Hexi to study. Her mother had always resented this.

This time, when Li Gu wished to reestablish the Academy of Scholarly Refinement as a gesture of imperial grace, Deng Wan had permitted Deng Ninth to come to the capital. She had not expected that the moment he arrived, he would do something so inexcusable!

Deng Madam said, “What’s the harm in a young man being a bit free-spirited?”

Deng Wan snapped, “If he wants to be free-spirited, let him be free-spirited with the women in his own household. Xie Shi is a first-rank princess — she is of the same rank as I am! Where did he get the audacity!”

Yet she immediately knew where her brother had gotten his audacity, for her mother said, “She’s not a real princess!”

Deng Wan’s fury broke fully through. She said in a sharp, hard voice, “Mother, watch your words! She has the gold seal! She has the jade registry! She was appointed by the Emperor with his own lips! In what way is she not a real princess!”

Deng Madam made to say more, and Deng Wan said, “Mother — do you not respect the institutions of this dynasty, or do you not respect the authority of His Majesty?”

There was nothing left to say after that. Deng Madam’s confidence deflated, and she said only, “Even so, she had no right to use violence.”

“Violence?” Deng Wan said. “She found her way back from Mobei in glory. Let alone violence — I would not be surprised if she has taken a life before. Ninth humiliated her so grievously, and she only gave him a beating? That is already light. Even if it were me — if someone humiliated me like that, see for yourself whether I would bear it!”

Deng Madam’s face darkened like the bottom of a pot. But this daughter had not been raised by her own hand. Several years ago, the affair of the great princess’s death had also created a rift between them. Only in these past two years had things gradually thawed, and her husband had said: do not estrange yourself from your daughter again. She is of the rank of one of the Four Consorts now, and what’s more, she has given birth to a prince.

She had come to complain and been scolded instead. There was nothing to do but swallow her resentment and accept it.

Deng Wan then said to her attendant, “Go back with Mother. Take that inkstone and send it to Princess Yongning’s residence. Tell the Princess that I failed in overseeing my younger brother, and offer her my apologies.”

The attendant accepted the order and ushered Deng Madam out.

Xie Yuzhang received the ancient inkstone very shortly afterward.

This inkstone had once been one of Xiaoyao Marquis’s most cherished possessions, and Xie Yuzhang had seen it often enough as a child. The inkstone had a small chipped corner — the work of her own mischievous hands in childhood. The moment she heard the name of it, she knew that the inkstone in Deng Ninth’s possession must have come from Consort Deng.

She said, “It was never really a major matter. I have already had a talk with Deng Ninth — I believe he has come to understand what he did wrong. That is sufficient. Please don’t leave just yet — I can’t very well be the one to keep the Consort’s things without offering something in return. Ruixiang, Jinluo — go to the storeroom and bring that jade-carved potted landscape. Send it to the Consort as a return gift.”

Consort Deng’s attendant thus brought the jade-carved potted landscape back to Jinglan Palace.

Deng Wan listened to her attendant’s full account and let out a quiet breath, then said, “Have it placed in this room.”

The attendant was reluctant and murmured, “It’s an eyesore to look at.” She also said, “My lady, why should we bow our heads to her? She is only a princess of a different surname — and the Emperor has not even taken her into the palace.”

Deng Wan said, “Acknowledging a wrong when one has done wrong is not bowing one’s head. Am I to say that Ninth was in the right? That Princess Yongning was in the wrong?”

The attendant fell silent.

Deng Wan said, “Listen to me — put it right here. When I look at it in the future, it will remind me: there is not a single thing that can be handled carelessly, not the tiniest lapse that can be afforded.”

And all of this had unfolded by no later than evening.

Li Gu visited Jinglan Palace that night.

The Second Prince was still in Deng Wan’s arms, babbling and cooing — too young to have yet fallen asleep. Li Gu took the child from her and held him, gently entertaining him.

Taking advantage of the pleasant mood, Deng Wan said, “My younger brother — I had thought that after these few years of studying at home, he would have gained some maturity. But now that I have summoned him here and taken a look at him, he is exactly the same as before. Your Majesty need not give him a place in the Academy of Scholarly Refinement. Let him have a while longer playing about in the capital, and then I will send him back to Liangzhou to continue his studies.”

Li Gu’s gaze moved to the jade-carved potted landscape that had been newly added to the room. That too was a fine object, its worth certainly no less than the ancient inkstone carved with mountain stream and water-ripple patterns.

He said in an even, gentle voice, “Very well.”

The Emperor’s gentleness and forbearance extended only to those he considered family. The very next day, a clear and unambiguous message passed through the palace: the matter of reestablishing the Academy of Scholarly Refinement was abandoned.

The many sons of noble families who had gathered in the capital in hopes of entering the Academy were universally disappointed. Their fathers and elder brothers inquired in all directions but could learn nothing — no one knew the reason.

The mind of the Emperor was truly impossible to fathom.

Among them, several families received the particular distinction of having an imperial envoy arrive to reprimand them — ordered to rectify the conduct of their households and not disgrace their clans. The family of Consort Deng was conspicuously among those named.

Deng Wan’s father’s face went ashen. He called the household manager at once. “Pack Ninth’s luggage. He leaves today.”

Deng Ninth, faced with being sent back to Hexi, put up no resistance. He said only, “I want to visit Princess Yongning’s residence first.”

His father said in fury, “What more do you want to go there for? Don’t drag your elder sister and nephew into this any further!”

Deng Ninth said, “I’m going to apologize to her.”

Deng Wan’s father agreed.

But Deng Ninth had not gone to apologize. He had insisted on seeing Xie Yuzhang, and Xie Yuzhang agreed to receive him. He asked, “I want to know who that person surnamed Lin is. I want to see his painting from when he was sixteen — I want to know whether it truly surpasses mine.”

Young people — the things that truly got under their skin and drove them to persistence were never quite what one expected.

Xie Yuzhang couldn’t help but laugh, but she told him nonetheless. “The Central Secretariat Drafter Lin Zi, Lin Zhongxun. He has a painting called Beauties at Kickball. If he doesn’t know where it is, tell him I sent you.”

Deng Ninth then left. But before he went, he looked at Xie Yuzhang for a long time, then said, “I love most to paint portraits of beauties. Of all the beauties I have seen in my life, you are the most beautiful.”

Xie Yuzhang scoffed, “You’re so young — how many beauties have you even seen?”

A woman’s appearance was the thing most swiftly lost. Let her fall ill for two months, and she’d be a hollow shadow of herself, too afraid even to look in a mirror.

But these hard-won insights about life were not hers to impart to someone as young and green as Deng Ninth.

Having been put down again, Deng Ninth left in an indignant huff. He inquired where to find him, then went straight to the Lin residence in Xuanping Ward.

Lin Zi had not yet returned from his duties, nor had Lin Third Uncle, and Ninth and Tenth had gone to their lessons. But since this was the younger brother of Consort Deng, and he insisted on seeing Lin Zi, the household manager could only keep him company in awkward silence — and gave him a meal, at least.

Words had to be exchanged, of course. Deng Ninth introduced himself as being of the Deng clan of Hexi, then asked about the household. The manager replied, “Our master’s family is of the Lin clan of Jiangdong.”

Deng Ninth was struck with some unease.

He sat there stiffly for more than two hours until Lin Zi finally returned from court. The moment he actually laid eyes on Lin Zi, Deng Ninth felt even more out of sorts.

Xie Yuzhang had praised only Lin Zi’s natural talent and genius. Deng Ninth had never expected that Lin Zi’s appearance would be of such resplendent, luminous beauty. He had always been fond of painting portraits of beauties, and in his understanding, a beauty was not exclusively a woman. Deng Ninth had long considered himself quite the beauty in his own right — but now, standing before Lin Zi, he felt for the first time the sting of his own inadequacy.

He was still convinced of his own talent for painting, however, and mustered his spirits to ask Lin Zi whether he might be permitted to see the Beauties at Kickball.

Lin Zi looked genuinely puzzled. “I have no such painting in my collection.”

“Not in your collection — you painted it yourself.” Deng Ninth thought to himself: how can a person not even remember his own paintings? Precise recall was after all one of the marks of a keen mind. Take himself, for example — he remembered every painting he had ever made, even the scene in which each was painted and the reason behind it, perfectly and completely.

In that instant, he privately concluded that Lin Zi, however beautiful, was probably not very intelligent. He recalled Xie Yuzhang’s words and told him, “It was Princess Yongning who told me about it.”

Since Xie Yuzhang was involved, Lin Zi thought for a moment, then called for a maidservant. “Go ask the elder young mistress — does she know of this?”

The maidservant went, and quickly returned, carrying a scroll in her hands.

Lin Zi took it first and unrolled it, studying it for a moment before the memory returned. “Ah — so it’s this one.” He passed it to Deng Ninth.

Since childhood, Deng Ninth had been praised for his exceptional talent in painting. That praise had grown many times louder after he became the Emperor’s brother-in-law. Deng Ninth had long since come to believe himself a once-in-a-generation genius who needed only to grow one more year older to call himself a great master.

Deng Ninth took the scroll, opened his eyes wide, and studied it with great care.

And then, little by little, the young man’s confidence was ground to dust.

After a long while, he looked up, his eyes red-rimmed, and asked, “Do you still paint?”

Lin Zi said, “I have not painted in many years.”

Deng Ninth was outraged. “With such talent as yours! How could you! Why did you stop!”

Lin Zi looked at this boy who had grown up sheltered in comfort and had not yet been pressed flat against the earth by the hardships of the world. He simply smiled faintly, took his own youthful work gently from Deng Ninth’s hands and rolled it back up, then told his servant, “See the guest out.”

He personally brought the painting back to Lin Fei, and asked as he did, “This painting is from so many years ago — how does it come to be in your hands?”

Lin Fei took it from him, tucked it away, and told him, “Back then, I dug a pit for the Princess.”

The little princess had loved playing and put off the assignment her teacher had set a ten-day span before until the eve of when it was due, and then pleaded with her companion Lin Fei to paint it for her. Lin Fei refused. The little princess lost her temper and tried to use her status to force the issue.

Lin Fei, who was just as young then and in truth didn’t much want to be the companion to this girl who wouldn’t apply herself to her studies, decided to dig a pit for her instead.

She took out one of Lin Zi’s paintings and gave it to the little princess. At the time, the little princess hadn’t yet developed much of a discerning eye and only thought it looked quite good. She happily submitted it to her teacher. The teacher looked at it, burst out laughing, and took it to show the Emperor, who, upon hearing it was the little princess’s assignment, laughed heartily as well.

The little princess was still standing there in complete bewilderment, not understanding what everyone was laughing at, and still less understanding why the adults could see at a glance that she hadn’t painted it herself.

She hadn’t known then what a name the Third Young Master of the Lin family had made for himself in the world of painting.

Later, when she understood she had been tricked, she ran to tell the Empress. The Empress, from her sickbed, laughed and reprimanded her, then summoned Lin Fei and praised her for what she had done — giving the wayward little princess an excellent lesson.

The Empress also instructed the little princess to keep that painting carefully, and to remember this day: Did you think being a princess meant you were untouchable? If you don’t use your own wits, then a clever person who wants to trick you can trick you.

And so the painting had remained in Xie Yuzhang’s hands ever since.

“Later, when I was taken into Zhaoxia Palace, I had nothing of my own to speak of. She thought of it and found this painting for me — it became my only keepsake of my family.” Lin Fei said. “When I followed her to Mobei, I brought almost nothing. But I brought this painting. She knew.”

Lin Zi asked again, “What is this Deng Ninth affair about?”

Lin Fei already knew what had happened the day before and told him.

Lin Zi smiled and said, “Good.”

Lin Fei nodded in full agreement. “I am not worried about her — she would never allow others to bully her.”

Then she sighed quietly. “What a pity, though — that she cannot live the life she wishes to live.”

Lin Zi, curious, asked, “What kind of life does she wish for?”

Lin Fei thought of the old playful exchange — two for me, three for you — and smiled faintly. “…I’m not telling you.”

Lin Zi: “…”

Another day passed, and on the fourteenth day of the third month, Noble Consort Li held a spring banquet in the palace.

Xie Yuzhang and Lin Fei went together, hand in hand.