Word of the movement on this side reached the Old Madam before long. She listened to it all in silence, made no comment on the matter itself, and said only: “Let this be the last time. Even if Zhi’er were to open her doors and let anyone from any branch come and inquire freely, conduct like this — this lack of trust — would make her uncomfortable. Whatever she intends to do, whatever she has done, she stepped forward of her own will at the hardest moment and took everything upon her shoulders. Everything she does will only ever be for the benefit of the Hua Family.”

Nanny Su was covered in shame, and murmured her agreement.

The Old Madam did not offer the usual words of comfort as she might have done in the past. Times were different now. If the Hua Family was to depend on Zhi’er to keep it standing, she as grandmother could not afford to hold her back. Cui Xiang was one of her own people, and the woman’s conduct reflected on her own attitude. Such a thing could not happen again.

Hua Zhi’s thoughts, however, were occupied with no such small matters. Once she had seen to every arrangement that needed making, she came before the Old Madam once more to raise the matter of dissolving the betrothal.

“The sooner this is done the better. If we wait for the Shen Family to make the first move, not a shred of goodwill will be left between the two families.”

This time, the Old Madam did not refuse her proposal. She only asked, “Does your mother know of this?”

“I will explain everything to her.” As long as she made clear that it was all in service of bringing Father home, her mother would swallow any objection she had. It was not that she did not care for her daughter — it was simply that, weighed against her daughter’s marriage prospects, her husband coming home clearly mattered more.

The Old Madam understood this as well, and sighed. “Zhi’er, rest assured — the Hua Family will not fail you.”

Hua Zhi gave a curtsy, and all that remained unsaid was understood between them.

“Tomorrow I plan to go out to the residence and the estate. I will spend the night at the estate. Grandmother need not worry.”

“Take plenty of people with you, and put your own safety above all else.”

“Yes.”

Having made her decision, the Old Madam wasted no further time. Early the next morning she sent someone to deliver a visiting card to the Shen Family. She dressed in a deep blue gown and fastened her hair with a single plain silver hairpin, and stepped out the door.

After days of the Hua Family’s doors firmly shut, the sight of movement at last drew attention from those who had been watching. When people saw that the attendants accompanying the covered sedan were familiar old servants from the Old Madam’s side, curious eyes turned toward them.

When the sedan was carried through the gates of the Shen residence, no one found it surprising. It seemed the Hua Family could hold back no longer and had come out to seek help. The question was whether Master Shen dared to involve himself in Hua Family affairs.

The same question was weighing on the Shen household. Shen Zhui, the Shen family patriarch, happened to be at home on a day of leave; from the moment the visiting card was received, he had not once stopped pacing the floor.

The two families had been acquainted for many years — even the seasonal gifts exchanged between them had always been a little more generous than what was customary. But with the current state of affairs, the two families were no longer well-matched, and the Hua Family now carried the Emperor’s disfavor. Even if Shen Zhui still remembered the old friendship, he could not in good conscience continue to regard this betrothal as real. Yet severing ties with the Hua Family the moment misfortune struck was also something he could not bring himself to do — even if it cost him no loss of imperial favor, he would invite people to point fingers at him.

And yet of all things, it had never occurred to him that the Old Madam would come calling at a time like this. With so many eyes watching, it would hardly do to turn her away — though how to receive her, and in what capacity, would still require some thought.

The Shen family’s Old Madam did not keep her visitor waiting long. She barely had time to take her seat and receive tea before she came hurrying out, supported by her maids and manservants, with a wide smile and an apology already on her lips: “I was sitting in the prayer room for a while and have rather a smell of sandalwood about me. Forgive me for keeping you waiting, elder sister.”

Though she had already sensed the shift in the Shen household’s demeanor, these words still warmed the Old Madam. As long as some fondness for the old friendship remained, all was not lost — even if the tea had grown cold, she hoped it had not grown cold too quickly.

“It is I who am intruding.”

The words “I” rather than the usual familiar “elder sister” with which she referred to herself — the Shen family’s Old Madam caught this, and a flicker of uncertainty crossed her eyes. She could not quite make out what the Hua family’s Old Madam had come for.

After a few words of pleasantries, the Old Madam came to her purpose directly: “The two families have been friends for many years, and I have never been one to speak in roundabout ways before honest people. I have come today to dissolve the betrothal.”

These words genuinely caught the Shen family’s Old Madam off guard — so much so that she forgot she had herself been making just such plans, and hurried to ask: “Why the sudden—”

“I will not conceal it from you, younger sister. This is my eldest granddaughter’s own wish. She is determined to face hardship alongside the Hua Family and does not wish to leave her home at a time like this. I told her that the Shen Family would never treat her poorly the way others might, simply because the Hua Family has fallen on hard times — and she said only that she and your young master were never fated to be, and that she had no fortune to come to the Shen Family and enjoy a comfortable life.”

The Hua family’s Old Madam pressed her hand to the corner of her eye, where a redness had crept in. “She has a mother who is not strong, and younger siblings still small and in need of care — her worry is understandable. It is my own heart that cannot settle, no matter how I think about it. I ask that you not press me further, on account of our old friendship. Only — with the Hua Family having been subjected to confiscation, there is very little of value left in our hands. I would ask that you calculate how much was spent in total on the betrothal gifts and bride gifts, and let me write you a promissory note. Once the Hua Family recovers from this, we will repay every tael.”

Compared to the name and reputation the Shen Family was preserving, money was of no consequence! The Shen family’s Old Madam suppressed the relief surging in her heart and said, with an expression of genuine regret: “It is the Shen Family that lacks the fortune to take on such a fine young woman. Please do not speak of a promissory note, elder sister — that would be to embarrass me, to embarrass the entire Shen Family. My old master already feels he has let down the friendship between our families by not being able to offer any help. To bring up money on top of that would truly wound the feeling between us.”

“These are two separate matters. There is no principle in the world that says one dissolves a betrothal without returning what was given. I cannot allow my Zhi’er to be spoken ill of either. The Hua Family may have fallen on hard times, but there is no one in the Hua Family who knows how to owe what they will not repay.”

With neither side willing to give way, the Shen family’s Old Madam was eventually, after much back-and-forth, half-persuaded into writing out a promissory note then and there. The Hua family’s Old Madam pressed her fingerprint to it.

The two families parted on good terms. The Old Madam inclined her head toward the Shen family’s Old Madam, who had come to see her to the gate, and stepped into the sedan chair. Something in her heart felt, strangely, a little lighter — just as Zhi’er had said: both families had kept their goodwill intact, and the Hua Family had preserved its dignity. The Shen Family might not go out of its way to help the Hua Family in the future, but at least they would never be the ones to deliver a blow when the family was already down.

On the other side, the Shen family’s Old Madam hastened back to the inner courtyard and reported the Hua family’s Old Madam’s purpose without concealing a single detail, then concluded with feeling: “The Hua Family’s bearing — I genuinely admire it.”

Shen Zhui shook his head. “The one who truly has bearing is probably the Hua family’s eldest daughter — the one who proposed the dissolution. What a pity.”

“I have met that girl a few times. She seemed quite remarkable. But is it really as the Hua family’s Old Madam said — that she was the one who proposed the dissolution, a girl that young?”

“Given the Hua Family’s current circumstances, there is only one reason the family would withdraw from this betrothal without the slightest clinging or reluctance.” Shen Zhui drummed his fingers on the table. “Compared to becoming the Shen Family’s daughter-in-law, the Hua Family’s eldest daughter is of far greater use to them by staying where she is.”

The Shen family’s Old Madam frowned slightly. “Are you not overrating her, old master? What can a young girl do?”

He, too, would like to see what she was capable of. Shen Zhui shook his head with a quiet sigh. He genuinely hoped she could make something of it — that Hua Yizheng, such a man of integrity, should be banished to exile, was a genuine waste.

“Keep a watchful eye on things from now on. When there is a chance to offer some help, extend a hand.”

“It is not that I am unwilling to help — but the Hua Family is under the Emperor’s disfavor. Would our involvement have any effect on the Shen Family?”

“If the Emperor truly harbored a disfavor toward the Hua Family deep enough to be beyond repair, even the Empress Dowager could not have saved the Hua Family’s womenfolk.” Shen Zhui saw it clearly — and yet even so, persuading the Emperor to permit the Hua Family’s men to return was no easy thing. The Emperor’s word, once given, was not so simply undone.

The Shen family’s Old Madam sighed. “What I fear is that those who bear old grudges against the Hua Family will seize the moment to stir up trouble and make things even harder for them.”