After coaxing her mother into good spirits, Hua Zhi went to pay her respects to the other elders one by one, saving Fourth Aunt’s quarters for last.

“I figured you’d be coming around about now.” Wu Shi smiled, though her eyes held a complicated expression. Knowing something and seeing it with your own eyes were two very different things — the sight of those injuries last night had kept her from sleeping, and she could only imagine how terrifying the ordeal must have been to leave a person in such a state.

Hua Zhi leaned in to get a closer look at her. “Yingchun said you seemed a little out of sorts. You do look a bit pale.”

Wu Shi pressed her fingers to her temple. “I’m almost too embarrassed to bring it up. Do you remember Hua Yan from the Fourth Branch?”

“Vaguely, I think — tall, slender, quite pretty, wasn’t she?”

“The Hua Family has never had an unattractive daughter.” Wu Shi looked at the young woman before her. She had never once thought of Hua Zhi as the most beautiful among the family’s daughters — but ever since Hua Zhi had stopped hiding herself away, no one in the Hua Family could compare. Whether a person was beautiful or not wasn’t only a matter of features; it was also bearing, presence, and above all, that particular quality of bold and decisive courage that was hers alone and could not be imitated.

Hua Zhi didn’t bother putting on airs in front of Wu Shi; she looked rather at ease. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Now, what has Hua Yan gone and done?”

“I don’t know when she got acquainted with that young man from the Feng Family, but a few days ago the Feng Family sent people to carry Hua Yan away.”

Carry her away? Hua Zhi straightened up. Did she mean what she thought she meant?

Wu Shi smiled bitterly. “Yes. She was willing to become a concubine, just to enter the Feng household.”

“Has she no shame?” Hua Zhi’s expression turned cold. “I believe I made it very clear that the Hua Family would never stoop to the Hua Family’s methods of marrying off daughters as a means of clinging to our place in the capital!”

“No one in the Fourth Branch agreed to it. Never mind that Feng Changyü already has a legitimate wife — even if he didn’t, his character alone would be enough for the Hua Family to refuse outright. But the Feng Family has already come to our door, and they’ve been putting out word, both openly and in whispers, that the two of them have already been meeting in secret. This matter may not be so easy to suppress.”

“Then we don’t suppress it. What use is there in keeping someone who has already turned her heart elsewhere? If she insists on walking the path to her own ruin, I’ll simply help her along.”

“Zhi’er, never mind what happens to Hua Yan — but this affair may well damage the reputations of the other Hua Family daughters.”

Hua Zhi could well imagine the fallout once this became known. But the Feng Family…

She remembered clearly how her maternal grandfather had warned her to be wary of two clans in particular: one was the Wei Family, and the other was the Feng Family. Now that she had mapped out all the connections in the capital, she knew that this Feng Changyü was indeed from that very clan. The reason she remembered him at all was because his name was well known in the capital — though for entirely the wrong reasons.

“I’ll go over there myself.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Wu Shi had been weighed down by this matter all night, her heart heavy with distress. But seeing how composed and steady the eldest young miss appeared, she felt her own nerves settle. As they walked toward the Fourth Branch’s quarters, her mind drifted to other things. “Do you know a young man from the Jiang Family? While you were away, he came to call on you.”

“Jiang Huanran?”

“That’s the one. That’s the name on his calling card.”

“I know him. We ran into each other on the way south — he helped out a little. Did he say what he wanted?”

“He didn’t. When he heard you weren’t home, he left.”

Hua Zhi let the matter drop. Jiang Huanran had done his part in the seafood venture, so she would bring the Jiang Family in to share the profits — that would be repayment enough for the comradeship they had shared back then.

Wu Shi watched her, not a flicker crossing those serene features, and quietly sighed to herself. The Jiang Family had an admirable reputation; if not for the enormous burden of the Hua Family weighing everything down, Zhi’er marrying into that household wouldn’t have been a bad life. What a pity.

But then again, she had turned away a match with the Shen Family without a second thought — it stood to reason that the Jiang Family hadn’t moved her either. Wu Shi wasn’t sure whether to feel relief or regret; there was an uneasy, unsettled feeling in her chest, though also a quiet gratitude that the Hua Family had found such a measure of stability at last.

The Fourth Branch had no idea Hua Zhi was back. The moment the family’s elder matriarch came out to greet her, the guilt on the old woman’s face was plain to see.

Hua Zhi offered a proper bow. “Great-Aunt, I’m home.”

“Welcome back, welcome back.”

Hua Zhi took a stack of letters from Baoxia and handed them over. “I only returned last night, so I didn’t want to disturb anyone.”

Not only the old matriarch, but the wives and daughters of every household lowered their heads in shame. They had been unable to share any of the burden; and here she was, barely back, not even given a moment to catch her breath, already having to deal with this disgraceful business. Just thinking about it made their faces burn.

With people like this before her — people who had done nothing wrong and yet were already blaming themselves — Hua Zhi found she couldn’t direct her frustration at them even if she’d wanted to. She stepped forward to support the old matriarch and came straight to the point: “Where is Hua Yan?”

“Locked in her room.” The old matriarch patted the hand that steadied her and sighed deeply. “It’s my fault. I thought she had nowhere else to go, and that going to visit Hua Qin a few times was harmless enough — there was no need to keep such a close watch on her. I never imagined she had other plans entirely. Zhi’er, Fourth Great-Aunt knows you’ll have your way of handling this. Don’t hold back on my account. Do what must be done. We cannot let one rotten piece of fruit spoil all the other unmarried daughters of the Hua Family.”

“With those words from you, I know exactly what to do.”

When they arrived at the young woman’s courtyard, Hua Zhi let go of the old matriarch’s arm. “You don’t need to come in. I’ll go alone.”

“But that won’t do…”

“It’s fine. I need to find out for myself what possessed her to throw away all sense of dignity.”

The old matriarch had nothing more to say. She stopped where she was and did not move forward — but she made no move to leave, either.

A servant unlocked the door and pushed it open, then stepped to the side with hands folded, waiting.

“Not keeping me locked up anymore? As if locking me away would—” The cold laugh was still curving at the corner of her lips when the sound died in her throat. Hua Yan stared at the person who had entered, momentarily frozen, before instinctively rising to her feet.

Hua Zhi studied Hua Yan in silence — a girl who stood half a head taller than herself. The beauty of the Hua Family daughters was not the kind that struck one breathless all at once; it was the kind that put people at ease. Growing up in such a household, literacy was taken for granted, and with brothers and elders all deeply learned men, the atmosphere had seeped into them over the years, leaving each daughter touched with a certain bookish grace. Beautiful, poised, cultured — before the Hua Family’s fall, their daughters had always been sought after.

Hua Yan had all of that, and something else besides — a more vivid, striking kind of allure. Especially now, as she stood there with resentment barely restrained, a certain sharpness in her bearing that only heightened that vibrancy.

She did have something to offer, Hua Zhi concluded.

With that quiet assessment made, Hua Zhi settled into her seat with unhurried ease and gestured for Hua Yan to do the same.

Pressed down step by step without room to push back, Hua Yan had no choice but to comply. She sat down on the other side of the octagonal table, her gaze lowered, not looking at the person across from her — whether out of unwillingness or something she couldn’t quite name as fear.

“I hear you’re willing to enter the Feng household as a concubine. They even sent a sedan chair to your door.”

“…Yes.”

“Why?” Hua Zhi genuinely could not understand it. The Hua Family still had a chance to recover — if she could just hold on, she could be married properly with all three officiants and six rites. Why would anyone choose to become a lesser wife?

Hua Yan raised her head, her gaze deep and still. “Elder Cousin, I’m sixteen. And I’ve already had one engagement broken off. After that, it will be near impossible to marry into a respectable family. I don’t want to wait it out in the Hua Family anymore. I don’t want to be an old maid for the rest of my life. I don’t have your abilities. All I want is somewhere I can live — somewhere to live without that constant weight on my chest.”