The house was different, but between the sleeping mat there were still two feather dusters laid across the middle.

Perhaps because the day’s journey had been so exhausting, Shen Zhuxi barely had time to toss and turn a few times before sinking into a deep and dreamless sleep.

The next morning she was the last to wake. Li Wu had already prepared breakfast. After she washed up, the four of them sat together around a square table.

Shen Zhuxi looked at the expressionless maids standing around them and started to say something, then stopped.

“They were sent by the Xiangzhou Prefect, who holds me in high regard.” Li Wu picked up a chopstickful of pickled cabbage stem and dropped it into his rice porridge.

His manner was light and offhand, but Shen Zhuxi grasped the deeper meaning at once.

During her time in the Cuiwei Palace, had she not been surrounded by spies — both inside and outside the palace — every single day?

“I understand.” she answered carefully.

Li Wu gave her an approving look.

“There’s a cook assigned to the household, but as long as I’m home I’ll still be the one cooking. When I’m out, you don’t need to go looking for food outside.” he said.

“If I need to find you, which government office should I go to?” Shen Zhuxi asked idly.

“Someone as important and busy as me — how could you possibly find me at the office? When I’m attending to official duties, you’ll just have to wait for my summons.” Li Wu said.

Shen Zhuxi had a spit already at the tip of her tongue — but then, catching herself in the act of descending to Li the Windbag’s level, she hurriedly swallowed it back down.

How shameless of him to speak of summoning her. The only people under heaven with the standing to summon her were the Emperor and the Empress!

Shen Zhuxi simply pretended she had not heard him talking nonsense and bent her head over her porridge.

That shameless fellow Li Wu knit his brow: “Did you hear what I said? What matters more — your porridge or me?”

Shen Zhuxi nearly choked on a mouthful of rice porridge.

Li Que at the same table gave a barely suppressed snicker at the spectacle. Li Kun, entirely accustomed to the proceedings, buried his head in his porridge and slurped away. The maids standing to one side, hearing such an utterly unprecedented exchange for the very first time, had bewildered expressions breaking through their normally blank faces one after another.

Shen Zhuxi’s face was red, unwilling to give him any reply — yet Li Wu was relentless, squawking on and on, determined to decide whether he ranked higher than a bowl of rice porridge.

“You matter more! You matter more!” Shen Zhuxi finally cried out helplessly.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught the smile at the edge of one maid’s lips. Shen Zhuxi, whose ears were already scarlet, felt them grow even redder.

“This morning I need to go to the Prefect’s office and make my first appearance. What will you be doing today?” Li Wu asked.

“I’m going to find Sui Rui.” Shen Zhuxi said.

“Me, me, me—” Li Kun coughed urgently several times, finally swallowed the cabbage stem stuck in his throat, and declared loudly, “I’ll take my pig pig out for a walk!”

“Go wherever you like — clearly the shuttlecock matters more than I do.” Li Wu said in a mock-wounded tone.

Li Kun laughed with sheepish embarrassment and grabbed Li Wu’s arm to placate him.

“Big Brother… Big Brother matters more…”

After breakfast, once Shen Zhuxi had finally seen off the nonsense-spouting Li the Windbag and confirmed that her appearance was in order, she set out in high spirits to find Sui Rui.

After Sui Rui’s Chicken Shop had opened in Xiangyang, it had won over the hearts of countless Xiangyang patrons both old and young. Shen Zhuxi asked one of the maids in the house, who quickly provided the exact address. But as Shen Zhuxi was a newcomer to the city, the directions left her somewhat confused. Out on the main street, she stopped several more people who looked to have friendly faces to ask the way, and finally found the Changping Road where Sui Rui’s Chicken Shop was located.

Before she had even reached the shop’s entrance, the familiar smell of roasted chicken drifted over to meet her.

There was a long queue of chicken buyers stretching out from the shop entrance. Shen Zhuxi was just about to join the line when Li Kun could not contain himself any longer and called out:

“Xiao Rui!”

That one shout not only startled Sui Rui, who was in the middle of serving customers, and Sui Rui’s father, but also startled Shen Zhuxi beside him.

Calling a young woman by her pet name so intimately, in full public view, was an extremely rude and improper thing to do!

Sure enough, Sui Rui’s father’s expression immediately turned black.

“You dimwit — what are you hollering!” he scolded Li Kun, then turned to explain to the customers in the queue: “He’s a simpleton — not right in the head… doesn’t know any better…”

“That’s enough out of you!” Sui Rui threw down the lotus leaf in her hand and shot her father an angry glare. “I am going to be taking over as head of this household, so I have no such thing as a ‘pet name.’ I have been out in the world and this name is mine for anyone to call!”

Sui Rui’s father’s mustache bristled with indignation.

Sui Rui wiped her hands on a nearby towel, paid no heed to her father’s darkened expression or the curious looks from the customers around them, and walked quickly toward Shen Zhuxi and Li Kun.

“How did you two get to Xiangyang so quickly?” Sui Rui said, delighted to see them.

“Li Wu was recognized by the Xiangzhou Prefect and is now working for the government office. We naturally followed along and moved here.” Shen Zhuxi said.

“How wonderful — we can be together again from now on!” Sui Rui said happily, taking her by the hand.

“And me… and me…” Li Kun said anxiously, trying to get a word in.

“Yes, and you.” Sui Rui turned to look at Li Kun. “Did you kick the shuttlecock I gave you?”

“I did, I did…” Li Kun nodded repeatedly.

Shen Zhuxi said in surprise, “That feathered shuttlecock was a gift from you?”

“Yes — on my last visit to see you, I’d already prepared a present for him. There was a bit of a misunderstanding before, and I felt a little awkward about it…” Sui Rui smiled. “I hand-picked the feathers and strung it together myself — it’s a token of goodwill.”

She pulled Shen Zhuxi closer and lowered her voice. “He actually kept it?”

“…Not only kept it, but treasured it dearly.” Shen Zhuxi said.

And wasn’t that an understatement — it had nearly driven his big brother to madness.

Sui Rui was finally satisfied. “The thing itself isn’t worth anything, but I made it with my own hands. If you dare throw it away, I’ll never give you anything again.”

“Won’t throw it away, won’t throw it away.” Li Kun gave a whole string of promises.

“Too many people here — let’s go somewhere else and walk.” Sui Rui said.

“Aren’t you needed at the shop?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

“My father’s there — nothing will go wrong.”

The three of them walked off toward a less crowded part of the street. Sui Rui was bursting with excitement after so long apart, and chattered away with Shen Zhuxi in high spirits. Along the way, Shen Zhuxi noticed a pastry shop selling taro cakes. Unable to resist the insistent Li Kun, she was about to buy several extra to bring home, but when she asked the price she was stunned.

“How much is one taro cake?”

“Twenty copper coins each.” the woman at the stall said coolly.

Shen Zhuxi abandoned her original plan and said, “…One, please.”

The stall woman, who looked as though she could not care less whether you bought or not, handed over a taro cake directly with her bare hand. Shen Zhuxi hesitated before taking it, but Li Kun had no such qualms and grabbed it outright, biting straight in.

After the three of them had moved on from the pastry stall, Shen Zhuxi said, “Let me tear off a small piece to taste.”

She pinched a small piece from the taro cake and put it in her mouth. The cake itself was coarse, clearly cut with a lot of rougher grain, and the taro paste inside was also rather lacking — it was certainly not made from pure taro.

Shen Zhuxi frowned. “Xiangyang’s prices are outrageously expensive.”

Back in Yutou County, taro cakes so much more delicious than this had sold for only seven copper coins apiece. If you bought a lot, Ding Sanniang would even offer a discount herself.

“It’s not that Xiangyang’s prices are high — grain prices everywhere have gone up.” Sui Rui said with a sigh.

Shen Zhuxi was taken aback. “Why?”

“There have been hardly any rains since autumn this year, so the harvests have been poor — and on top of that, with two emperors overhead, each demanding grain and money, the officials who don’t want to offend either side can only scrape it out of the common people.” Sui Rui said, her expression troubled. “At least grain can still be bought for now, but with prices changing daily like this, who knows what winter will bring.”

“Local officials are actually paying taxes to the false emperor? They are officials of the Great Yan!” Shen Zhuxi’s face paled with shock.

“The Great Yan cannot offer them protection, so naturally it’s every man for himself in a crisis.” Sui Rui said with a cold laugh. “The Great Yan has brought this on itself entirely.”

Had it been anyone other than Sui Rui saying this, Shen Zhuxi would have turned and walked away on the spot.

She held back her anger and pressed on. “Why do you say that?”

“Over a decade ago, the Great Yan Emperor forced laborers from every family to build that Penglai Palace for Lady Bai the favorite consort. My family was only spared because there were no men of the right age at home. But before we could breathe easy about Consort Bai falling out of favor and the Penglai Palace being left half-finished, along came Lady Jiang, Consort Ning… The Great Yan Emperor never cared a thing for ordinary people like us — today climbing towers, tomorrow touring the south of the Yangtze…”

Shen Zhuxi listened with a reddening face. The anger that had been building in her chest dissolved entirely.

“To speak the truth of my heart — after the Great Yan Emperor fell, I actually found life a little easier to bear.” Sui Rui said.

“…Do other people feel the same way?”

Sui Rui said, “If the Great Yan were to change dynasties, the ones weeping would probably only be the imperial family, who knew nothing but lives of luxury.”

Shen Zhuxi fell silent, her chest heavy and blocked.

So all those things she had heard inside the palace about a great and peaceful age — they had all been an illusion. The common people did not love and revere the Great Yan. Her Father Emperor was no enlightened and benevolent ruler after all.

And all the lavish splendor she had taken for granted inside the palace had been built upon the flesh and blood of ordinary people.

Sui Rui was right about one thing — since leaving the palace, Shen Zhuxi had seen with her own eyes that she was truly the only one among the imperial family mourning the fall of the Great Yan.

The rulers had changed, and the people went on with their lives in the same orderly way as before.

The Emperor’s grief was not their grief.

The Emperor’s joy had instead become the burden pressed down upon their shoulders.

When the Emperor fell, they were collectively relieved — and might even have cheered.

Was that the Emperor’s fault? Or the fault of the common people?

All her life, Shen Zhuxi had been taught to believe that the Emperor could do no wrong — yet now she found herself questioning even that.

Had the Great Yan truly come to this point with the Emperor entirely blameless?

“Let’s not talk about these unpleasant things anymore — look quickly, the peonies that flower peddler is carrying are gorgeous!”

Sui Rui’s voice pulled her back. Shen Zhuxi looked in the direction she pointed and saw a flower peddler with trouser legs rolled up and straw sandals on his feet making his way through the marketplace with his carrying pole.

Among the peonies he carried, Shen Zhuxi could name every variety at a glance. The common varieties such as Xuelian and Fenzhongguan were hardly worth mentioning — but nestled among the ordinary blooms was one pot that made even Shen Zhuxi stop in her tracks: a superb Wandou Green.

“Your flowers are quite lovely — how much are they?” Sui Rui called out to stop the peddler, her eyes already on the Wandou Green in the rack.

“You have a fine eye, my lady! This is a premium Wandou Green — right now you can take it home for just fifty taels of silver!”

“Are you robbing me?!” Sui Rui cried out in alarm. “It’s just one flower — you want fifty taels from me?!”

The peddler’s expression soured. “My lady, this is no ordinary flower. This is a premium Wandou Green — if sold in the capital, one hundred taels would be more than a fair price!”

“Then why don’t you go and sell it in the capital?!” Sui Rui snapped. “And one hundred taels — I can tell you’re trying to take advantage of my out-of-town accent!”

“You — there’s no reasoning with this country woman!” The peddler hoisted his carrying pole in a huff and strode off.

“Who are you calling a country woman?! Stop right there — you’re going to explain yourself to me today —” Sui Rui was furious, hands on her hips, hurling words at the peddler’s retreating back.

Shen Zhuxi hastily grabbed her by the hand and steered her away from the strange looks all around them.

“Why are you pulling me away? I’m going to give that swindler a piece of my mind today —” Sui Rui said, still fuming.

“Sui Rui —” Shen Zhuxi said helplessly. “The Wandou Green really does command that price. He was not cheating you. If his Wandou Green were a deeper shade of green, it would have buyers in the capital coming to pay a thousand taels.”

Sui Rui clicked her tongue, unable to believe it. “Are there really people in the capital who would spend a thousand taels on a single flower? Do they have nowhere to spend their money?”

…Wasn’t that exactly it — too much money and nowhere to spend it.

Shen Zhuxi said, “The Wandou Green we just saw — though it wouldn’t fetch a sky-high price, fifty taels is still more than fair.”

The wistful note in her voice caught Sui Rui’s attention.

“You want to buy it?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Shen Zhuxi shook her head. “Never mind.”

Li Wu worked so hard for his money — how could she bring herself to spend it so carelessly?

“Li Wu earns so much in underhanded dealings — just tell him to buy it for you.” Sui Rui said without a second thought.

“Sui Rui, you promised me!” Shen Zhuxi protested.

“Alright, alright, I won’t say it… Truly, you can’t be talked to about this. You’ve been fed some kind of enchantment potion by Li Wu as well.” Sui Rui said with a thoroughly fed-up look on her face.

“I heard Li Kun call you Xiao Rui just now — is that your nickname?” Shen Zhuxi asked. “Can I call you that too?”

“My father always calls me Xiao Rui. Li Kun must have overheard him.” Sui Rui glanced at the side at Li Kun, who gave her a vacant, good-natured grin in return. “Call me whatever you like.”

“Alright, Xiao Rui!” Shen Zhuxi said at once.

“Mm.”

“Xiao Rui!”

“Mm.”

“Xiao Rui!”

Sui Rui turned to look at the beaming Shen Zhuxi and said, caught between laughter and exasperation:

“…Are you a puppy?”