Tendrils of sandalwood incense drifted through the quiet chamber.

As the most venerable woman in the Great Qing dynasty, the Empress Dowager was dressed with almost austere simplicity. From head to toe, she wore not a single ornament save for a jade bracelet too long-worn to be removed.

She was not reciting sutras at this hour. She reclined against her cushion with her eyes closed, resting. Occasionally she would raise a hand to cover a soft cough.

“Your Ladyship, Yuxiang has returned.”

The Empress Dowager opened her eyes. “Let her in.”

Yuxiang paused at the doorway to brush the cold from her clothes, then warmed herself briefly by the brazier before pushing open the door and entering the quiet chamber. “Your Ladyship, this servant has returned.”

“Did you see her?”

“Yes, this servant did.” Yuxiang knelt beside the Empress Dowager’s feet, gently lifted them into her lap, and began to press them with practiced, measured hands. As she worked, she continued, “This servant’s impression is that she is a fine young woman. She holds her own whether met with gentleness or firmness, and has considerable nerve. She seems to command respect.”

“Lady Wan’er waited until she returned before letting herself go — she must have had her reasons. It seems this old one underestimated the girl. I had been worried she wouldn’t be able to manage the elders. But looking at it now, I was too hasty in my judgment.” She paused. “And Hua Jing?”

“Still under the awning. When this servant arrived, she wept quite pitifully and at great length. But when this servant left and glanced back, the brazier was burning vigorously and the blankets were stacked thick. She hasn’t been mistreated in the slightest.”

The Empress Dowager gave a quiet laugh. “As though you wouldn’t have seen through what was behind it. That child has thought things through most thoroughly on all sides. This old one rather wants to see how she intends to deal with Hua Jing in the end. If she does nothing herself, this old one may have to step in.”

The Empress Dowager’s smile remained unchanged — yet somehow, viewed from any angle, it sent a chill crawling up the spine. Having lived within the palace walls for the better part of a lifetime, she had learned little else. But as for those methods that could quietly end a life — those, she had mastered without ever needing a teacher.

“This old servant senses that Your Ladyship may not have the opportunity,” Yuxiang said. “That young miss is not one to hold back timidly. Though Hua Jing is her aunt after all — if she wishes to avoid being seen as the one who struck down a senior, she will have to be rather clever about it.”

“Raised on the same rice, drinking the same water, yet the people they turned out to be are utterly different.” The Empress Dowager thought of her own second son, and felt a profound sympathy with Lady Wan’er. “Has Yanxi entered the palace today?”

“His Majesty has summoned the Shizi to the palace every day these past few days.” Yuxiang looked up briefly at her mistress, then lowered her gaze. “This servant overheard a fragment — it seems the Shizi went to pay his respects at the Hua family, and His Majesty was somewhat displeased.”

“Yanxi went to offer condolences at the Hua family?” This was news to the Empress Dowager. She had been kept in the palace and held up as an ancestral figure for years, long since removed from the affairs of state — and she had had no idea that Yanxi had any connection to the Hua family. “Who was he going for?”

Yuxiang kept her gaze lowered. “This servant dared not inquire further. This servant only caught that single phrase in passing.”

The Empress Dowager’s brow creased faintly. “Go to him. Tell him this old one misses him and wishes him to come share a meal.”

“Yes.”

Inside the inner chamber of the imperial study, Gu Yanxi — whose face bore no trace of injury and whose appearance was only a third of the likeness he normally presented — was holding the Emperor in place while the imperial physician removed a full head of silver acupuncture needles.

The moment he released his hold, the Emperor pushed him aside and sprang upright. He rolled his neck a few times and found it considerably more at ease. He cast a sidelong glance at his nephew, a smile curling beneath his mock glare. “I see your nerve has grown considerably. You dare lay hands on this emperor now. If you knew how to do this yourself, would you be planning to stick needles into me with your own hands?”

“Yes.”

The Emperor raised a hand and gave him a sharp knock on the head, yet felt thoroughly gratified inside. If Yanxi had not genuinely cared, he would never have committed such an audacious act. Those sons of his were respectful enough — calling out “ten thousand years” at every turn, their mouths always full of tender concern. But all those fine words, weighed against what Yanxi did, amounted to nothing at all. Just today, he had mentioned an ache in his head, only to be promptly pinned down and put through a head full of needles — in the entire world, only one Gu Yanxi had the nerve.

“Very well. Don’t hold it against this emperor. If you had told me earlier that Hua Yizheng had once done you a service, I might have gone easier on him. He went, and it is done. It is no great matter.”

Compared to all those households rushing to distance themselves from the Hua family, Yanxi’s conduct made him appear all the more upright and straightforward in contrast. “Find time to go back and have a look around. I can see you’ve nearly forgotten which direction the Prince’s Manor gate faces.”

“Forgotten is forgotten. I have somewhere else to be,” Gu Yanxi said, without any particular concern. “If Your Majesty has no other instructions, this subject will take his leave.”

“No rush. Stay and dine with this emperor before you go.”

Gu Yanxi was about to decline when the voice of Eunuch Laifu carried in from outside. “Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has sent someone to request the presence of the Shizi.”

“It seems this emperor will have to wait for another time. Go on. Her Ladyship has been in low spirits lately — spend some time with her and keep her company.”

“Yes. This subject takes his leave.”

Gu Yanxi departed with long, unhurried strides. In his every word, every movement, every gesture, there was neither the fearful deference of an ordinary subject before the Emperor, nor the eager-to-please performance of an imperial prince seeking favor. He walked as though he were strolling through his own home.

And was it not, in a sense, his own home? The Emperor’s lips curved with a faint, cool smile. Those sons of his had all forgotten that he was both sovereign and father — the imperial palace was where affairs of state were decided, yes, but it was also their home.

He simply liked Yanxi’s direct nature — say what needs saying, come when there is a reason, otherwise don’t bother. Even if he never heard a flattering word from him, at least he never had to guess which words were sincere and which were pretense. Yanxi acted without hesitation — as today, when he had barely finished saying his head ached before being firmly pinned down for a full head of needles. In the whole of the world, only Gu Yanxi had that kind of audacity.

The Emperor looked toward Laifu. “Has the person the Empress Dowager sent to the Hua family returned?”

“Yes. Her Ladyship sent someone with a few burial accompaniments. They offered incense and returned.”

“Now this is truly interesting. This emperor punished the Hua family — yet Her Ladyship the Empress Dowager had a long-standing friendship with Old Madam Hua, and Yanxi has received a debt of gratitude from Hua Yizheng. It almost makes this emperor appear to be the heartless one.”

Laifu’s pulse quickened with alarm, though his face betrayed nothing. He turned the situation with a single deft phrase. “And yet what debt of gratitude could surpass that owed to Your Majesty? Even the Empress Dowager only moved to preserve the Hua family’s women and children after Your Majesty had already issued his punishment. And had the Shizi not gone to offer condolences today, Your Majesty might never have learned that he owed a debt of gratitude to the Old Master Hua. All of this shows that both Her Ladyship and the Shizi have placed Your Majesty first — and no one could ask for more than that.”

The Emperor was so pleased by this that his brow relaxed and a smile reached his eyes. He raised a finger and wagged it in Laifu’s direction. “What gifts has Yanxi been giving you, to have you pleading his case so earnestly?”

“This servant is deeply wronged. Knowing the Shizi’s temperament, the fact that he has not already taken this servant to task for allowing Your Majesty to suffer a headache due to inadequate care is already a great mercy.”

The Emperor laughed outright, plainly delighted. This, after all, was the nephew he had raised beside him since childhood — if the truth were told, the bond between them was not the slightest bit lesser than with any of his sons.

Laifu quietly exhaled, the cold winter air having soaked through to his back entirely.

“How long has Hua Yizheng been in the northern territories?”

Laifu rapidly counted in his mind. “Nearly four months.”

The Emperor clasped his hands behind his back and paced back and forth for a time. “Send someone trustworthy and tight-lipped to Yinshan Pass. Have them observe how the Hua family members are conducting themselves there.”

Laifu bowed his assent, and stole a glance from beneath his lashes at the Emperor’s frame — which had visibly lost some of its former straightness. His lips moved, then stilled. He chose not to remind the Emperor that those exiled to that place were not only the Hua family — and that compared to the scholarly Huas, it was the military men among the exiles who posed the far greater danger.

But he dared not speak it. His Majesty had grown increasingly unpredictable in temper this year. Seven palace attendants had already died this month. There was no need for him to add himself to the count.

The Emperor suddenly clapped his hands together, turned, and walked briskly out. “It has been some days since this emperor dined with Her Ladyship either. This emperor cannot let that young scoundrel take all the credit.”