Gu Yanxi slid his own tea cup toward A’Zhi and nudged it gently to her lips, but his words were addressed to Xiao Liu. “Go to your room and think through this matter carefully. Any part you do not understand, you are welcome to come and ask. Do not let A’Zhi’s good intentions go to waste.”

Xiao Liu obediently agreed. At the door, he turned back to offer his thanks, then stepped out. He knew that while it was true he had been placed at the forefront by Elder Sister Hua, the reality was that as the son of Noble Consort Zhen and the grandson of General Sun, he had never had a way to escape this to begin with. One could even say he had already walked once to the edge of death. It was Elder Sister Hua who had mapped out for him a path with the most hope of reaching the light. Even though the way ahead was thick with thorns, he now had a chance of cutting through them — rather than being tripped by the thorns first and never being able to rise again.

He did not feel that what existed between himself and the Hua Family was a simple exchange of mutual benefit. First and foremost, he had appeared before Elder Sister Hua first; he had called her sister for half a year and been looked after by her as a little brother for half a year — and only after all of that did everything else follow. He understood clearly where the cause lay and where the effect.

Hua Zhi smiled gently. “If you were like the other princes, I would not be expending this effort on you.”

It felt rather as though he was being praised. Xiao Liu bowed his head and scratched at his face, and beat a retreat in a manner that was, oddly, something like a hasty flight.

Hua Zhi’s smile was warm and soft. This Xiao Liu, with his emotions worn so openly on his face — she did not know how many more times she would get to see this side of him.

Her hand was suddenly empty, then suddenly warm again. Hua Zhi looked down at the tea cup placed in her hands, steam curling gently above it, and her smile deepened. Such a childish little rivalry for attention — she could happily watch this for a lifetime.

“Wu Xing is with the Seven-Constellation Division but answers to me. Regarding the black gunpowder, even within the Seven-Constellation Division, very few know of it. Among those who know both its existence and its full destructive capability, there is only Wu Xing, myself, and Chen Qing — even Wu Yong knows only the broad strokes. I will keep this matter suppressed for now. There is no need to worry about the Emperor learning of it.”

“I worry both about him learning of it and running amok with it, and about there being people of impure motives around him — or remnants of the Chaoli tribe that have not yet been cleared out — and it becoming a secret that everyone ends up knowing about.”

“Do not worry. I have taken precautions against all of that.” He rose, fetched the thin blanket, and draped it across her knees. He touched her fingertips, felt some warmth returning, and was quietly satisfied. Whatever difficult mission came his way, he could handle it — but with A’Zhi’s constitution, there was nothing he could do to make her truly strong all at once.

It was a rare moment of leisure. Hua Zhi had no desire to let it go to waste when there were still things to be done, so she called for large sheets of paper to be brought. Layer by layer she applied paste and hung each sheet on the boat to dry in the air. After enough layers had been added, when she felt the stiffness was sufficient, she cut the laminated paper into uniformly sized cards and began fashioning a set of playing cards. Two through ten were straightforward — she simply converted the numerals into Chinese characters. The Jack, Queen, King, and Ace could stay; but the designs on the three face cards needed to be changed, and the Jokers would also need to be made more fitting for Daqing.

She explained the general rules briefly, described the significance of each card, and then handed everything over to Xiao Liu to figure out.

Gu Yanxi had no wish to tire A’Zhi. After she gave a demonstration, he took over all the work himself. Hua Zhi, in the comfortable torpor of a creature settling in for winter, was only too happy to comply, and settled back with her hand warmer and her blanket to direct operations from a comfortable remove.

“Elder Sister Hua, would this work?”

Hua Zhi, who had been half-drifting toward sleep, took what was handed to her. She glanced at it, then noticed his hair was in complete disarray. “Nian Qiu, go and tidy his hair for him.”

Xiao Liu stood perfectly still and obedient, watching Elder Sister Hua with anxious eyes, afraid that something he had done was not up to standard.

Nian Qiu pretended to retrieve the comb so she could cover her smile. Though she knew perfectly well this was a prince, having spent so much time with him and having watched him trail after their mistress like a little shadow, she and the other maids had long since lost most of their sense of awe.

“The two Joker cards using a tiger and a lion is not bad. But these three face cards need to be revised again — keep them simpler. These are ultimately for gambling purposes, so there is no need to make them elaborate. Clean and clear is better.”

With a direction to work from, Xiao Liu immediately knew what to do. In the end, the Jack was given a bamboo motif, the Queen was given osmanthus blossoms, and the King was given azaleas — things commonly seen among ordinary folk, posing no conflict with the refined and rare flowers favored by the nobility, and sparing them any needless complications.

On the last day aboard the boat, Hua Zhi taught them a few basic ways to play. It was not just Xiao Liu, who was young and had little self-restraint — even Gu Yanxi found himself feeling something he could not quite suppress, a pull to keep playing, to play again.

“No wonder gambling is said to ruin a person.” Gu Yanxi picked up the deck — worn at the corners after half a day of play — and turned it over in his hands. “Even we are like this. If this were to spread, would it not harm people?”

“Every form of entertainment that has ever appeared in this world was born not with the intention of harming anyone, but as a diversion. Take Leaf Cards, for instance — at its core, that is also a form of gambling. Yet which palace consort, which noble lady of the great families does not know how to play? Gambling has existed since antiquity. It is only in a Jinyang manipulated by outside hands that things have been pushed to such an extreme. Even if someone were to truly use these… playing cards for gambling, they are far harder to manipulate than a pair of dice. If they can draw away the attention of the people of Jinyang, that would not be an entirely bad thing.”

Hua Zhi smiled. “I only just thought of that angle myself. As for what comes of it — that depends entirely on how you manage the rest. And in the future, selling playing cards alone ought to make for a perfectly decent business.”

If this could gradually ease the gambling habit of Jinyang’s people, perhaps Jinyang could return to something like normal — much like a certain city famous throughout the land for its love of mahjong. The entire world knew how much its people adored the game, and yet they had never allowed it to stop them from getting on with their lives. People, first of all, still had to survive.

Gu Yanxi did not dwell on his misgivings for long. Hearing A’Zhi lay it out like this, he extricated himself from the tangle of worry and began turning his mind toward how to make use of all this.

When the boat finally made its labored way into port, it was nearly mid-afternoon. The pier was already battered by wind, and today the gusts were strong enough to whip the river into rolling swells. Hua Zhi, bundled up thoroughly, was sheltered within Gu Yanxi’s arms as they disembarked, and was escorted directly into the carriage.

Inside, Hua Zhi hurriedly unwound her neck covering and gasped for air — she had nearly suffocated.

Outside, Chen Qing spoke to the Shizi in a low voice. “Before I came out, a report had arrived: the Fourth Prince went before the Emperor and spoke against you. The Emperor did not take everything he said entirely at face value, but he is quite displeased that you went straight to Yuzhou after returning from Shadow Mountain Pass.”

He paused, then added, “The Emperor knows the eldest young lady went to Yuzhou. That you went directly to where she was — I suspect that is where the Emperor’s displeasure lies.”

Though Gu Yanxi had already prepared how he would handle the situation, he considered for a moment, then tapped on the carriage panel and lifted the curtain. “I will head back to the palace first to make my report,” he said in a warm tone. “There is no urgency to the matter in Jinyang. You did not sleep well on the boat — go home and rest properly first.”

“All right.” Hua Zhi answered without any fuss, then lowered her voice to add, “Do not go head-to-head with him. Find where he is soft and work from there.”

Gu Yanxi brushed a hand across her upturned face, gave a sound of agreement, then glanced back at Chen Qing. Chen Qing understood and bowed his assent.

Beyond Chen Qing, Gu Yanxi also left behind every person he had brought on this trip. Things were not as they used to be — while the Emperor would not move against his own money-making machinery, that did not mean others would refrain from making moves against him. As he departed, he ushered Xiao Liu into the carriage as well. Xiao Liu was another piece that could not be allowed to go wrong.

Xiao Liu rubbed his bruised backside and settled near the door, leaning against the carriage wall. Only once the sound of hoofbeats was fully beyond hearing did he dare speak ill of anyone. “Yanxi-brother must be jealous that I get to keep Elder Sister Hua company.”

Hua Zhi nodded. “You are absolutely right. He is jealous.”

Xiao Liu: “…”