Half a month later, five great military commissioners led their armies and arrived one after another at the Bailling Plains to set up camp.

On the night the five military commissioners gathered together for the first time, the welcoming banquet hosted in honor of the assembled commanders was held at the Xiangzhou Prefect Li Wu’s residence.

Having done something once made it much easier the second time around.

This occasion did not allow for on-the-ground reconnaissance to learn each guest’s preferences in advance, but there were simpler methods available. Li Qia and Li Wu shared the same interests, so of course Li Qia had no desire to lose face before the other four military commissioners and their advisors.

Shen Zhuxi sent him a letter, and within a few days she received detailed profiles and preferences for every guest who would be attending.

With the intelligence in hand, everything else became straightforward.

Shen Zhuxi drew on the format of palace banquets, adapted and simplified it for that evening’s welcoming banquet — not aiming for guests to be dazzled by a blinding display of riches, but simply for something novel and enjoyable that would make the evening worthwhile.

In the front courtyard, cups and goblets clinked and the atmosphere was lively and warm. Even from where Shen Zhuxi sat in the rear garden, she could faintly hear bursts of laughter and applause drifting from the pavilion where the banquet was being held.

She was sitting on a swing by the lake, with Diniang gently pushing her back.

“The welcoming banquet has turned out so successfully — why doesn’t my lady go make an appearance?” Diniang asked, curious as she was unaware of the full situation.

“I don’t enjoy that sort of occasion. It’s peaceful here.” Shen Zhuxi said, brushing past the real reason. “You don’t have to stand stiffly for two or three hours like a wooden post — instead you get to keep me company on the swing like this, and there’ll be good food sent to your room later. Is that not a good arrangement?”

Diniang smiled a little shyly. “It’s wonderful — truly wonderful! Of course I think it’s great. But my lady…”

“What about me?”

“When I was still in Xuzhou I heard people say…” Diniang hesitated for a moment, then said, “There was a Zhao family in town — and because the young mistress’s health was poor, someone sent their own daughter to the young master as a concubine.”

“Did the young master accept?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

“Of course he did,” Diniang said, puzzled. “Unless the relationship is particularly bad, who would refuse someone sending a gift to their door?”

Shen Zhuxi couldn’t help tightening her grip on the swing ropes.

A wave of worry rose in her heart, yet she thought of the promise she had made to Li Wu — to trust him once — and did her best to reason herself into calm: it won’t come to that. That insufferable Li Wu is far too reluctant to have another mouth to feed in the house.

The red and round sun had already half sunk into the lake water. At the edge of the sky, the lake shimmered with scattered fragments of golden light. A gentle breeze passed through, and Shen Zhuxi’s skirt swayed along with the lotus leaves on the water.

“The wind is picking up — let me go fetch my lady a warmer coat!” Diniang said.

“There’s no need, let’s just —”

Shen Zhuxi had just started to say “let’s go back to the room,” when her gaze fell upon Wang Shiyong emerging from behind the decorative rocks in the garden. The words withered in her throat.

Wang Shiyong stared unblinkingly at Shen Zhuxi rising from the swing, and spoke in the slow, grinding cadence of a millstone: “What a coincidence, to run into Lady Li here — I heard you weren’t feeling well…”

The last time Shen Zhuxi had seen Wang Shiyong was back in Xuzhou. Compared to then, she was noticeably thinner and more frail, and the clothes she wore were the plain cotton skirt of an ordinary commoner. Her ever-present maid Chun Guo was nowhere to be seen either.

“How did you get here?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

“I walked. How else would I get here?” Wang Shiyong smiled faintly, brushing her hand over a half-dried water stain on her skirt. “I said I needed somewhere to change my clothes, and your maids brought me to a side room in the rear courtyard. Since I was already at the side room — I took a little stroll, wandered a little carelessly, and ended up here. Nothing so strange about that. What’s stranger is you — Lady Li, who supposedly fell ill from overseeing the welcoming banquet preparations. Why aren’t you lying in bed resting, and instead you’re out here by the lake in such thin clothes, letting the wind blow on you?”

“What does it have to do with you!” Diniang burst out, unable to hold herself back. “Somebody come! Come here!”

“You had better not make a scene. If others come rushing over, your mistress’s efforts to keep things discreet will be for nothing,” Wang Shiyong said.

“You’re talking nonsense!”

Though Diniang had no belief that Shen Zhuxi had anything to keep discreet, Wang Shiyong’s words successfully quelled her impulse to call out. Diniang hesitated, uncertain whether to summon anyone, and turned to look at Shen Zhuxi, who was the one who could make the decision.

Shen Zhuxi looked at Wang Shiyong, her expression composed.

“Your name wasn’t on the guest list. Did you slip in by attaching yourself to Li Qia? Does Li Qia know?”

Wang Shiyong said furiously, “Stop using other people to put pressure on me! I have nothing left now — what do I have to fear!”

“You went to a great deal of trouble to sneak into the welcoming banquet, yet you didn’t go to the banquet hall to find Li Wu — instead you used ‘changing your clothes’ as a pretext to come to the rear courtyard. You came here specifically to find me, didn’t you?” Shen Zhuxi said.

“Do you really need me to answer that?”

“What do you want with me?”

“I want you to leave Li Wu! I am the wife he properly took through the front doors!” Wang Shiyong cried out shrilly.

Wang Shiyong’s obsession far exceeded what Shen Zhuxi had anticipated. She said in genuine surprise:

“…You still want to marry him?”

“He is all I have left!” Wang Shiyong glared at Shen Zhuxi, her voice breaking with grief. “You destroyed my family and left me wandering homeless like this — surely Li Wu ought to take responsibility for that?!”

If this had been the Shen Zhuxi of before, she might truly have been caught off guard by those words.

But this was no longer the same Shen Zhuxi. Having witnessed that insufferable Li Wu’s own brazen shamelessness, Wang Shiyong’s version fell a little short.

Shen Zhuxi replied with calm, reasoned precision: “I showed you kindness and saved your life, yet you repaid that kindness by trying to steal my husband. I did not destroy your family — yet you nearly destroyed mine. Who exactly should be taking responsibility here?”

“If it weren’t for you, Li Wu would have had no reason to refuse me!” Wang Shiyong clenched both fists, her eyes burning with resentment. “If you hadn’t existed, Li Wu wouldn’t have fled the wedding, my father wouldn’t have been struck down by a stroke from the rage of it, and Xuzhou would never have been engulfed in flames of war!”

“Li Wu fled the wedding because he has loyalty and conscience. Your father was struck down by a stroke brought on by his own actions — he reaped what he sowed. As for Xuzhou falling — that came from the fact that every neighboring city was frantically reinforcing its defenses, while Xuzhou alone chose to spend a fortune settling a private grudge rather than spend a single coin on its fortifications!”

Shen Zhuxi’s words, ringing and forceful, left Wang Shiyong speechless for a long moment, and she could only tremble with fury, glaring at her with hateful eyes.

“If you hadn’t plundered Xuzhou’s relief army, would Xuzhou have been reduced to such devastation?” Wang Shiyong said through gritted teeth. “I was born the legitimate daughter of the Wang clan of Xuzhou, a family of a hundred-year standing — yet because of you, my family is destroyed and I have nothing. Don’t you feel even the slightest guilt toward me and the people of Xuzhou?”

Shen Zhuxi paused, then met her eyes directly and said, slowly and deliberately:

“I feel guilty toward the people of Xuzhou. Toward you, not in the slightest. If you continue making unreasonable demands, don’t blame me for showing no mercy.”

“…And what can you do if you show no mercy?” Wang Shiyong let out a mocking laugh. “If I spread the word, everyone will know that Li Wu still has a wife.”

“And everyone will know that you were abandoned by your groom on your wedding night,” Shen Zhuxi finished for her. “Everyone will know that in Li Wu’s eyes, you weren’t worth as much as a few cases of dowry.”

Wang Shiyong had been struck at her deepest wound. She went pale and said, “…You’re bluffing.”

“Feel free to test whether I’m bluffing.” Shen Zhuxi said. “I am nothing more than a woman confined to the inner household. It is my husband who shows his face in the outside world. As long as he doesn’t feel it’s shameful, what do I have to feel ashamed about, shut away in the inner household?”

And as for whether Li Wu would feel ashamed — the answer was a certainty.

His skin was thicker than the ground beneath their feet, and to this day Shen Zhuxi had yet to discover a single thing that could make Li Wu feel shame.

Shen Zhuxi offered her a kind word: “I advise you to stop wasting your efforts. There is no shortage of men in this world — why do you insist on entangling yourself with a man who is already someone else’s husband?”

“I have already lost so much for Li Wu’s sake — I want him! He is all I want!” Wang Shiyong’s eyes reddened, and she grew increasingly agitated. “If I give up now, who will give back everything I’ve already lost?!”

“Then go and say that to Li Wu,” Shen Zhuxi said, finding this burden too hot to hold. “As long as Li Wu agrees, I will voluntarily relinquish my place.”

If she could talk Li Wu into it, why would she be here doing this?

Wang Shiyong glared at Shen Zhuxi with undisguised hatred. “…You’ll regret this.”

“Will you leave on your own, or shall I have someone come escort you out?” Shen Zhuxi said.

Wang Shiyong turned and began to walk back.

Shen Zhuxi had barely breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her lift her skirts, and without a second thought, jump straight into the lake.

“Help! Someone help me —”

Wang Shiyong cried out loudly, thrashing about desperately in the water.

“Wretched creature!”

Shen Zhuxi was so furious that her Imperial Consort mother’s usual expression burst from her lips before she could stop it.

Diniang, who had never seen much of the world, was still standing there in a daze — but a veteran of a thousand trials in palace intrigue had already taken off at a sprint, and plunged into the lake right behind her.

That snapped Diniang out of it. She broke into a frantic shout that in an instant drowned out Wang Shiyong’s cries.

“Come quickly! My lady has fallen into the lake! Somebody come!”

Wang Shiyong was just drawing breath to call out when a pulling force from below dragged her straight under the surface.

Shen Zhuxi held her breath and pulled Wang Shiyong deeper, watching her gulp down mouthful after mouthful of lake water before finally releasing her grip.

She kicked her feet through the water and made for the surface. Hearing the clamor of voices above, she broke through — not before scattering her hair loose, letting it fall and obscure her face.

“Help — help me —” Shen Zhuxi called out, using the act of shouting to draw in a great lungful of air which she held tightly inside.

The lakeside was already ringed with people — not just the household maids and servants, but many of the guests attending the welcoming banquet as well.

Li Wu had jumped into the lake at the very first moment. After catching sight of Shen Zhuxi breaking the surface only to sink again, he plunged headlong into the water and swam toward her at full speed.

The lake water was dark and murky, with duckweed drifting through it.

Shen Zhuxi sank slowly downward, her skirt and dark hair swirling and floating above her face.

The hand she reached out was seized by Li Wu in a firm grasp. A powerful force pulled her toward the surface, and as she turned her head, she glimpsed Wang Shiyong, face contorted in agony, kicking desperately through the water and just barely managing to push half her head above the surface.

“Save me…” Her faint plea drifted across the lake.

“Look — isn’t that someone the Zhenchuan Military Commissioner brought? Wait, there’s another person in the water —”

The murmuring that rippled through the crowd made Li Qia clench his jaw. Left with no choice, he jumped into the lake and swam toward Wang Shiyong, who had gone under again.

Li Wu carried Shen Zhuxi up onto the bank. A maid who had been standing at the ready immediately came forward and draped a clean outer robe over Shen Zhuxi’s drenched body.

“Are you all right?” Li Wu’s face was grim, and he asked urgently.

“I was pretending… I’m fine.” Shen Zhuxi said quietly. “Play along with me.”

She buried her face in his chest, trembling visibly, and in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, she cried: “I couldn’t make out who pushed me…”

That insufferable Li Wu proved himself reliable, exactly as expected. He erupted into rage at once, his words landing like stones striking the ground:

“There were only three people here — if it wasn’t you, then who was it? Diniang, was it you?!”

“It wasn’t me!” Diniang shouted by reflex.

Good. That narrowed it down to one person.

Every eye in the crowd shifted to Wang Shiyong, who had just been dragged to safety.

There was an art to making accusations.

Coming straight out and naming who pushed you seemed too aggressive and confrontational. Claiming you had accidentally lost your footing seemed as though you were trying to sweep everything under the rug. But saying “I couldn’t make out who pushed me” — that established you had been pushed, while at the same time appearing innocent and helpless, in a way that wouldn’t rub anyone the wrong way.

These precious lessons in inner-household maneuvering had all been taught by her Imperial Consort mother. But this was the first time she had put them into practice.

Her opponent was Wang Shiyong. In some ways, this was rather overkill.

Wang Shiyong, who had just been hauled ashore by Li Qia, had her eyes rolled back and was barely clinging to consciousness. But upon hearing Shen Zhuxi move first to seize the advantage, she burned with indignation and the last of her strength, and hastily tried to speak: “It was clearly you who pushed me first…”

“You’re lying!” Diniang, who had by now fully committed to her role, cried out. “You’re the one who made the first move and pushed someone — and then when you saw people coming, you jumped in after her! My poor suffering lady was already ill, and you’re trying to take her life! You attacked my mistress — today I’ll fight you to the death!”

Diniang launched herself forward, biting and striking at Wang Shiyong. Wang Shiyong’s clothes were soaked through and clinging to her figure. She clung desperately to the lapels of Li Qia’s robes, stumbling back from Diniang’s onslaught with nowhere to hide, while on all sides, looks of condemnation and contempt bore down on her. She cowered and shrank in on herself, pressing closer and closer to Li Qia.

“Enough!” Li Qia, who had taken several blows from Diniang himself in the chaos, shoved her away in fury and said with a darkened face, “We’ll deal with this matter afterward —”

He turned a furious glare on Wang Shiyong. “You promised me you wouldn’t cause trouble — so how did you end up here?!”

“I… I just couldn’t let it go…”

Wang Shiyong stopped mid-sentence and, with exquisitely timed artistry, “fainted” away. All that remained were the guests left to their own imaginations, and Li Qia, whose face had gone a most unpleasant color.

Of all the people present, Li Wu alone was internally overjoyed: the dung heap has landed on someone else’s shoe!

Li Qia had let his momentary soft-heartedness lead him to bring Wang Shiyong along to the banquet, and had now stirred up this enormous scene — he too had no face left to speak of.

He was in no position to make any further requests, such as asking to use a room to treat Wang Shiyong. He had no choice but to take Wang Shiyong and make a hasty departure from the Li residence.

Shen Zhuxi was also taken by Li Wu to the rear quarters to be examined.

With both host and hostess absent, the welcoming banquet lost its momentum after a short while and broke up hurriedly. All that was left behind were colorful rumors in endless varieties, spreading like wildfire through the allied forces encamped at the Bailling Plains.

Wang Shiyong, her clothes soaked through, having been dragged ashore by Li Qia — the question of who she belonged to was now perfectly plain for all to see.

Several days later, Shen Zhuxi heard that Wang Shiyong had been taken as a concubine by Li Qia.

She had been born the daughter of a prefect, and yet the formalities that should have accompanied such a match were entirely absent. Li Qia seemed to have intentionally meant to humiliate her — not even a small palanquin was provided. Just like that, she was taken as a concubine, and that very night was sent packing to his home.

There, a fierce and formidable First Wife was waiting with her sleeves already rolled up.