Everyone in the Hua household knew that Hua Zhi was formidable. Had she not been, she could not have protected the family left behind in the capital; had she not been, she could never have had the means to extend her reach all the way to Yinshan Pass. Even so, what they had personally witnessed of her capabilities amounted to no more than the combat she had displayed that one night — everything else remained abstract and intangible.
Until this moment.
What they had engaged with most in recent days was the sand table exercises. It looked like a game, yet those who immersed themselves in it came to understand how much it contained. They had fought against one another, watched their elders do the same, and often gathered to observe when Lady Shao Yao and General Wu Yong played — and even then they had felt themselves hopelessly outmatched. But after these two rounds, holding themselves up as comparison, what they had called combat was no better than a group of children at play.
They also came to understand what it meant to apply learning with true flexibility. The tactics they had studied, which had seemed unimpressive, were not unimpressive in themselves — it was that they could not use them, or used them too rigidly. Only after witnessing this first-hand did they grasp the full distance between themselves and Hua Zhi.
Wu Yong was equally astonished. He had guessed that Hua Zhi, as the creator of this thing, would naturally be very skilled — but he had not imagined she would be this skilled.
“Shocked, are you?” Shao Yao stood to one side, insufferably pleased, as though the one who had won were herself. “I have been telling you — I have never once beaten Hua Hua.”
Wu Yong thought to say that he had already thought highly of her, only not quite to this degree — but in the end he only shook his head and looked at Hua Zhi, whose body still seemed somewhat frail, unable to fathom how a woman could know the books of military strategy so thoroughly by heart.
Hua Zhi glanced at Shao Yao. Shao Yao understood and went to wheel over the chair that had not been used for a few days.
Hua Yizheng had barely begun to speak when Gu Yanxi got there first. “Where does it hurt?”
“I have been standing a long time. A little tired.” Hua Zhi blinked at him. Gu Yanxi swallowed whatever he had been about to say and wheeled her back to the room.
The sounds from outside seemed to be a post-battle review. Hua Zhi relaxed, and took the water Gu Yanxi had poured for her, draining it in one go.
“They are a little undisciplined, yes, but your body has not yet fully recovered — why push yourself like this?” Gu Yanxi refilled her cup, his tone plainly disapproving.
“Did it show?” Hua Zhi rested her chin in her hand, her expression gentle, with not a trace of the all-or-nothing air she had carried moments before. “I have been a little anxious. Ever since I brought them all out from the quarry, they have been like this. They have not grasped what Grandfather and I intended. I can understand the loosening that follows prolonged hardship, but if this goes on, it will do the Hua family nothing but harm. I cannot stay here indefinitely, so this was the only method I could think of to shake them out of it.”
Gu Yanxi understood what A’Zhi meant. He had been here three days now. The older generation were managing well enough, but the younger had grown a touch too relaxed. Their relaxation was not idleness or misconduct — they had simply returned to the life most familiar to them: the younger ones reading and practicing calligraphy, the older ones working through poetry and the eight-legged essay style, as though the Hua family’s crisis had already passed.
To outsiders, the Hua household members conducted themselves in a manner that commanded respect. But in Hua Zhi’s eyes, if this continued, the Hua family might truly end up taking permanent root in Yinshan Pass — and that ran contrary to her goals. She could not allow it.
What she could do was use herself to awaken those young members of the Hua family who had lost their direction.
No one willingly accepts being surpassed in every regard by a woman.
“Have you considered that they might pull away from you because of this?”
“I have. But so what?” Hua Zhi lifted her chin slightly. Distance meant nothing — she had already prepared herself for the possibility that the family might cast her aside once they regained their footing. “I can only be responsible for my own clear conscience. I cannot compel others not to act against theirs.”
Gu Yanxi touched her cheek. He understood her pride. She would not beg for anything — including affection. If the Hua family failed her one day, she would probably do no more than give a faint smile, then keep her distance and never seek them out again, without a single superfluous word.
And yet how great would the hurt be within her heart — Gu Yanxi sighed silently, his tenderness aching without an outlet.
The strong medicine had clearly taken effect. The young members of the Hua household grew more serious, and no longer treated the sand table exercises as play.
Hua Yizheng watched it all and felt reassured. This girl’s approach had been more effective than any words could have been. Thinking of her, he furrowed his brow slightly. A mind as sharp as hers — how could she not know the consequences of acting so extremely? Why subject herself to that?
Hua Zhi had no intention of explaining. For her, what was past was past. The progress on the First Imperial Prince’s situation was far more pressing.
“Even those around Wu Yong were not spared?”
“The Seven Lodges Division has people trailing the false eunuch around the clock for all twelve periods. Unless she does nothing at all, the moment she acts she will show her hand.” Gu Yanxi was clad in nightwear. To avoid drawing attention, he had been moving at night these past few days, and tonight he had returned earlier than the nights before — so Hua Zhi had not yet gone to sleep.
“Today she dressed as a woman and went to the only shop in Yinshan Pass that sells cosmetics and rouge. One of Wu Yong’s concubines happened to be there. The Seven Lodges Division never trusts coincidence. After discovering the two had made contact, they put the concubine under suspicion as well.”
“But without proof or evidence…”
Gu Yanxi shook his head. “They have schemed for so many years — they would not easily leave behind a handle to be seized.”
Hua Zhi frowned. “Then how do we prove the concubine is a problem?”
“Hand her over to the Seven Lodges Division for interrogation and the evidence will emerge. Three days of punishment they can endure — Shao Yao’s drugs, they cannot. I have sent Shao Yao to inform Wu Yong. If you are not tired, you can sit in with us.”
His concubine had caused trouble, and the one sent to notify him was Shao Yao, of all people. Hua Zhi felt a flicker of sympathy for Wu Yong. She glanced down at her own carelessly thrown-together clothing and rose. “I’ll go change.”
Gu Yanxi went to swap out his nightwear as well. By the time both of them had finished, Wu Yong had already arrived. His expression was as dark as still water, subdued enough that even the usually boisterous Shao Yao was sitting quietly to one side.
When she spotted Hua Hua, she bounded over and began making expressive faces at her.
Hua Zhi poked her and felt another wave of sympathy for Wu Yong — though she also felt a measure of relief that Shao Yao had not yet awakened to matters of the heart. When it came to love, the harm done to others was not hers to bear. So long as those close to her could perfectly avoid it, that was enough.
Wu Yong drew a long breath and bowed deeply to Gu Yanxi. “I have failed in my duty. I will submit a memorial tomorrow requesting the Emperor’s censure.”
“The outcome has not yet been determined. General Wu need not rush to conclusions.”
Wu Yong shook his head. He knew his own situation — the Seven Lodges Division would not have brought this before him without a degree of certainty. “I have had her detained. How does the Shizi wish to proceed?”
“Hand her to Chen Tu.”
“Yes.” Wu Yong raised his head and looked at Shao Yao, who was nestled against Hua Zhi acting spoiled. She happened to glance over at that moment and, catching his eye, flashed him a guileless grin — the picture of open-hearted innocence. He knew she was not truly ingenuous, yet the purity of her heart was equally genuine. What had first drawn him in had been those clean, clear eyes of hers — so clear they rendered her unfortunate face all but invisible.