Yet Gu Yanxi left all the same. Shao Yao tipped her head back and laughed with abandon — Hua Hua was hers now!

A childlike, unguarded spirit was the rarest thing in the world, and the Hua family all felt warmly toward this girl. Never mind her extraordinary medical skill — the way she shielded Zhi’er was fierce and unwavering.

Joyful as she was, Shao Yao was no fool. She hugged the medicinal pot and said, “I need to go to the pharmacy for a few herbs. Hua Hua — you absolutely cannot get out of bed, understood?”

“Understood, little mother hen.”

“Even if you call me a little mother hen, I’m still going to manage you.” Shao Yao tossed her head and dashed out.

Hua Zhi smiled. She genuinely adored Shao Yao. Growing old together with her one day — that would certainly never be lonely.

She reined in her wandering thoughts. Hua Zhi looked at her father and Fourth Uncle. “Is there something you need to discuss with me?”

“You were unconscious throughout. There are things that need to be properly talked through. Let me go and invite Grandfather in.” With that, Hua Pingyang stepped out of the room.

This left the father and daughter who had never been particularly close suddenly alone together. Hua Pingyu felt rather at a loss — he was not a man of many words, and moments like this left him even more unsure of what to say. Right, he should ask about her injuries. Hers were far worse than his own.

He had just opened his mouth when his daughter’s voice came first. “Father, how are your wounds?”

“Much better.” Hua Pingyu managed a smile. “That young Shao Yao has real skill. Once she changed my dressings, I improved quickly.”

Hua Pingyu was ill at ease; Hua Zhi wasn’t sure how to be at ease with this father of hers who only ever looked severe. She settled on the safest topic available. Seeing the visible relief on her father’s face, she found it both funny and a little bittersweet. In this era, closeness between father and daughter was uncommon — but the feeling itself was just the same.

“Shao Yao’s master is a divine physician, I believe his surname is Yu.”

“Divine Physician Yu?” Hua Yizheng had just stepped over the threshold and happened to catch those words. “I know of him. He had quite a reputation among the common people in his day. The Emperor once wished to summon him into the Imperial Medical Academy, but Divine Physician Yu spent the better part of every year deep in the mountains, and the imperial summons never reached him. The matter was eventually dropped. I never imagined Shao Yao was his disciple — no wonder she is so capable.”

Hua Pingyang helped his father to a seat, then went to close the door.

Hua Zhi tried to push herself upright. Her hands had barely tensed when her grandfather spoke: “Stay lying down. We’re only talking. It’s no hindrance.”

“Yes.”

Hua Yizheng found it nearly impossible to connect the granddaughter before him — compliant and mild — with the figure from that night, whose eyes had been razor-sharp and whose very silhouette had breathed a killing edge. He was astonished, yet felt no resistance to it. This eldest granddaughter of the Hua family, regarded by outsiders as so obedient she was almost timid, had never been what others imagined her to be.

They say a person’s hand reveals their character. It was only after seeing a piece of her calligraphy she had not had time to put away that he had learned she wrote wild cursive with such striking form and spirit. A person like that could not possibly be truly obedient. Just as she could also produce neat, meticulous small script to conceal herself — her compliance was nothing more than a convenient disguise.

He still had no idea where she had learned all the things she knew, when she had grown up right before his eyes.

He let out a quiet sigh and turned to what mattered. “Yanxi came to find me earlier and asked me to submit a memorial detailing the attack on the Hua family. After what has happened, you will certainly be noticed by those with ill intentions. From here on, you must take care in the capital — avoid going out as much as possible, and if it cannot be avoided, have Yanxi accompany you.”

Hua Zhi smiled, her expression bright and animated. “Grandfather, you really are nothing like other people’s grandfathers.”

“As if I have any desire to be different.” Hua Yizheng gave her a stern look. “If Hua Ling or Hua Rong had dared to carry on like you, I would have broken their legs. As for you two — what happened has now passed through our side of the family’s knowledge, at any rate. As for his side, I make no demands. Whether he takes this to heart is for him to show.”

“I understand. You needn’t worry about any of it — I know what I’m doing.”

“Good, as long as you do.” Hua Yizheng steered the conversation firmly back on course. “Once this matter spreads, the ugly talk is one thing — I know you don’t care about that. But a reputation, sometimes, draws unwanted attention.”

Hua Pingyu’s expression had already shifted. “Father!”

Hua Yizheng paid him no attention and simply looked at his granddaughter. “Have you considered this possibility?”

“It would only be the imperial family, and nothing else. There’s no need for excessive concern — things won’t reach that point. First: I am the daughter of a convicted official. The Emperor himself ordered the Hua family stripped and exiled. Would he then turn around and take a Hua daughter? He wouldn’t — if only for the sake of his own face, he would never do such a thing. The same applies to the princes. However much they might look favorably on me, they would not dare act openly. And if they wished to resort to underhanded methods — well, they would have to have the ability to see it through.”

Hua Zhi shifted slightly upward to find a more comfortable position. “Second: you think too highly of me, Grandfather. I have not distinguished myself to a degree that would make any of them take particular notice. Third: you think too little of Yanxi. I trust in his sincerity toward me, and I am certain he would never stand by and watch things reach that point.”

Whether he had thought too little of Yanxi, Hua Yizheng couldn’t say — but he was quite certain he had not thought too highly of Zhi’er. Rare things were coveted precisely because they were rare. Could one find another person like Zhi’er anywhere else in the capital?

And the trouble was, Zhi’er’s weakness was all too obvious. If someone were to use the Hua family as leverage—

“Zhi’er, let us make a three-point pact.”

“Please speak.”

“First: whatever happens, your own safety comes before all else.”

Hua Zhi shook her head without a moment’s hesitation. “If what happened that night were to happen again, I would make the same choice. It isn’t that I don’t protect myself — most of the time I have already weighed the likely consequences and prepared a response before I act. It’s only that some things happen faster than one can account for, and I had no other choice.”

“Do you know — in that moment, what we wanted most was to charge in alongside you. To bear it with you. To die with you.”

“That would have been a needless sacrifice. Someone had already gone ahead to find Yanxi, and I had even given him Jia Yang’s command token — there was no way he would fail to find him. Once Yanxi learned what was happening here, he would come as fast as he possibly could. What I needed to do was hold them off. I was calculating the time in my head throughout.”

Hua Yizheng did not argue the point. He continued. “Second: it is my hope that when the Hua family returns, it will be by an upright and proper path. Even if it takes longer, that is of no consequence. As long as there is a Hua man still living, he will strive toward that end.”

“Are you afraid I might resort to underhanded means?” Hua Zhi shook her head. “I won’t. Even if I do employ stratagems, they will be open and aboveboard — the kind where others can see the pit ahead and still walk into it.”

“Third: no matter who uses the Hua family as leverage against you, you must not yield to coercion. Zhi’er, your grandfather is not as helpless as you seem to think. The men of the Hua family are not as useless as you imagine. Not everyone is as thoughtless as the second prince. The Emperor may be wary of our family — but he only dared to exile us. And the exile spared all those below ten years of age. Why? Because we bear the name Hua. The Hua family — the foremost civil lineage of Great Qing. With the second prince’s fate as a warning, no one in the future will dare to raise a blade against us so lightly. So — do not fall for such traps.”

What Hua Zhi wanted to say was that she had never underestimated her grandfather, never underestimated the elder men of her family. It was only that she… could not bear it. Could not bear to see the hands that held brushes forced to take up blades instead.

As she had once said — she could never become who they were. But she revered them for it.

They would rather break than bow. They were full of the scholar’s proud spirit. They might even be called bookish to a fault. But they should never have been exiled.

For now, she could only say: “Grandfather, I give you my word. The Hua family will return by a righteous and proper path.”

Author’s note: This chapter is meant to echo an earlier one — I wonder if any readers still remember when Hua Zhi gave the Hua family three promises of her own, and now the Hua family turns around and makes a three-point pact with her because they care about her. Feelings go both ways.

Please do leave comments, everyone — when I can’t find the strength to write, I go and read the reviews to find motivation. Long comments especially welcome.